Sep 2014 159 by EuropeAxess Media

JOY TO ALL MEN AND PEACE TO MANKIND

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Bishop

Archbishop Nichols, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, speaking at the culmination of the Installation, reminds us that the cathedra, a Bishops chair, should ‘always be too big for him’, emphasising the fact that authority is shared and mutually supported by all the brother bishops and archbishops.

he Right Rev. Ralph Heskett

was translated to the Diocese of Hallam and installed as the 3rd Bishop there on the 10th July 2014. The Bishop of Hallam is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hallam in the Province of Liverpool, England. The Diocese of Hallam takes its name after Hallamshire, an historical area of South Yorkshire, and was erected on 30 May 1980 from parts of the dioceses of Leeds and Nottingham. The diocese has an area of 1,030 km2 and covers the County of South Yorkshire, parts of the High Peak and Chesterfield districts of Derbyshire, and the district of Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire. The see is in the City of Sheffield where the bishop’s seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Marie.

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of Hallam Photos: Mario Hook & Bob Rae

Diocesan News

After taking his seat, Bishop Ralph receives the Crosier, the symbol of his responisbility as shepherd to his flock, from retiring Bishop Emiritus John Rawsthorne. The bishop’s official address is The Diocesan Centre, St. Charles’ Street, Sheffield. Bishop Ralph has been appointed as Apostolic Administrator to the Diocese of Gibraltar for the time being. A contingent of people from Gibraltar travelled to attend Bishop Ralph’s Installation Ceremony, in which Gibraltarian clergy, Fr. Danny, Fr. Paul, Fr. Charlie and Fr. John also participated.

Upon this Rock magazine is published monthly by EuropeAxess Media, Gibraltar. Editor: Fr. S. Chipolina: editor@uponthisrock.gi. Production Editor: A. Sargent angela@europeaxess.com. 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

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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. The magazine is online at uponthisrock.gi. You’ll find exclusive Christian gifts in the WebShop. COVER PIC: Gil Podesta’s Illustration of St.Bernard’s circa 1915. Photo: A.Sargent

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Forthcoming Events

Divine Mercy is In a two day Conference at the Cathedral, Father Peter shows how this devotion can be a powerful spiritual help to us today.

God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

rom the diary

of a young Polish religious, a special devotion began spreading throughout the world in the 1930s.

The message is nothing new, but is a reminder of what the Church has always taught through scripture and tradition: that God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness.

But in the Divine Mercy devotion, the message takes on a powerful new focus, calling people to a deeper understanding that God’s love is unlimited and available to everyone — especially the greatest sinners.

This message and the devotion to Jesus as ‘The Divine Mercy’ is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God’s mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread. The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us — no

matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy. It is a message we can call to mind simply by remembering three things: • Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world. • Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us. • Completely trust in Jesus.

ather Piotr Prusakiewicz CSMA (Father Peter) is a priest of the Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel in Warsaw, Poland. He was born in Torun in Poland in 1963 and ordained on May 23, 1990. By God’s providence Fr. Peter served as chaplain to the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw for three years, this is where Saint Faustina started her religious life. He learnt much from the sisters who new St. Faustina. During the past 14 years Fr. Peter has travelled to many countries in the world; this will be his second visit to Gibraltar, he was here in 2007, but he has also visited Australia, Aruba, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the United States of America, to name but a

few, always proclaiming and explaining the devotional practices proposed in the diary of Saint Faustina. The main charism of the Congregation of St Michael the Archangel (CSMA) is on the Holy Angels and Fr. Peter has also become a fount of knowledge on all things angelic. He has been invited to speak and lead retreats on this theme. It became apparent that people knew very little about the angels, and due to this thirst to know more, in March 2009 Fr. Peter published the first issue of ‘The Angels’ magazine. It is the only Catholic magazine in English covering topics relating to the Divine Mercy, St. Michael the Archangel, good & bad angels, angelic prayers, stories of saints and angels, personal testimonies, relevant interviews and much more from a Catholic perspective. For nearly ten years Fr. Peter has been the Spiritual director for English speaking pilgrims from around the world to the holy shrines in Poland including a pilgrimage to Rome, the Shrine of St. Michael the Archangel and other shrines in Italy. The Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel run a publishing house, orphanages, schools, and youth centres. They work with underprivileged, handicapped, abandoned and poor children including missionary work in 13 countries. It is a huge honour for us to be able to have Fr. Peter pay a return visit to Gibraltar as part of a visit to the Polish Communities on the Costa Del Sol.

for You

St. Faustina &

The Divine Mercy A Two Day Conference in English given by

FATHER PETER Fr. Piotr Prusakiewicz CSMA

Monday 29th September 2014 Cathedral St. Mary the Crowned: 11.45 Chaplet of the Divine Mercy 12.00 Talk by Fr. Peter on the Divine Mercy 12.25 Holy Mass 18.00 Chaplet of the Divine Mercy 18.15 Conference on the Divine Mercy 19.15 Holy Mass Catholic Community Centre: 21.00 Conference with Youth on Divine Mercy

Tuesday 30th September 2014 Cathedral St. Mary the Crowned: 11.45 Chaplet of the Divine Mercy 12.00 Talk by Fr. Peter on Sister Faustina 12.25 Holy Mass 18.00 Chaplet of the Divine Mercy 18.15 Conference on Sister Faustina 19.15 Holy Mass 15.35 A Talk on the Divine Mercy in Polish

JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU

Celebrating St. Bernard’s Day, 20th August 2014

Old St. Bernards

Illustrated O

Gil Podesta Brings the old building back to life in Watercolours

n August 20,1462 after 120 years of Moorish occupation, the Rock was re-captured for the by the Catholic King of Castille, ensuring religious freedom for all the citizens of ancient Calpe. The date chosen for the action was the Feast of the important Saint, Bernard of Clairveaux. The mosque on Main Street was subsequently rebuilt as a Gothic church and named after St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard.

What we now know as St. Bernard’s Church, was originally an armaments store, built by the British Forces, from yellow bricks imported from England. Church of England services were held in several churches for the Forces stationed on the Rock and it was felt that the Roman Catholics amongst them ought also to have their own church. The unused armaments store on the road to Europa Point was selected and converted into a simple church. There, Roman

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Catholic padres celebrated Mass for Forces personnel who were joined by a number of civilians. As part of the rationalization of military facilities on the Rock, in the 1980’s it was realised that, in a country whose population was largely Roman Catholic, where services were held in English, there was more than adequate provision for the Roman Catholic Forces personnel in the city.

However, there was a thriving community at St. Bernard’s, made up of local civilians with temporary but actively involved members of the Forces, and it was felt that this community should not be lost. Therefore, in the early 1990’s St. Bernard’s was transferred to the Diocese of Gibraltar. Naval padre, Vincent Docherty, had arranged for the priest’s house

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and the church hall to be part of the whole. The first civilian priest in charge, provided by the Diocese, was the late much loved Fr. Francis Little. He ensured that the switch from a military to a civilian church was completely seamless. Fr. Francis also took on the role as honorary chaplain to the Forces, a role which is still carried out by the priest in charge of St. Bernard’s. Fr. Francis was followed by Fr. Danny Hernandez, during Fr. Danny’s time at St. Bernard’s, the late Bishop Charles Caruana secured a government loan so that the original humble building could be converted to the pretty, modern church that now cannot be missed at the side of Europa Road. When Fr. Danny left St.

Bernard’s to join the Army, Fr. Charles Bruzon took over and saw the works to their completion, he himself has now left St. Bernard’s to join the Navy. Both these young priests, before being lured away by the military, kept up our social as well as sacramental life, including fund raising to pay off our building loan and for our parish charities, which is very much part of the St. Bernard’s ethos; even in the absence of a priest in charge we still sang with gusto at Mass, celebrated by Bishop Ralph or Fr. Derek, and produced tea and coffee afterwards so that the community could socialize. Angela Perera brings the story up to date. “After three years without an appointed priest, during which the Parish Council took an active role in keeping

things going, always requesting advice and support from our Diocesan Priests, we were finally appointed a Priest in charge in October 2013. Fr. Victor Ghio has been there for us since then.” Back in 1915 a Captain W. C. Black was stationed on the Rock and his photo album from that time ended up in an auction in England, and was spotted by Gil Podesta. On his return from the UK Gil, a keen Member of the Heritage Trust, who is particularly interested in the preservation and past functions of old houses Gibraltar, was poring over these photos. Captain Black had taken a few snaps of chaps in uniform reclining in deck chairs on the top of the cliffs, and with a magnifying glass Gil identified St. Bernard’s in the background. After the publication of his books ‘Sketches of Old Gibraltar’ Gil had begun working on a series of watercolours depicting the many animals that were kept on the Rock around the 1900’s. Knowing that there were small subsistence farms along Europa Road and the South District, he was inspired to compose the image above. This shows a goatherd leading his animals to graze on the flat grassy areas in the South. He is approached by a young girl with

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a jug. It was common practice for the goatherd to milk a goat ‘on the hoof’ into a the customer’s jug. Many Gibraltarians speak highly of the warm frothing milk obtained from the goats in this way. Gil explained “In the main those who tended the goats were Maltese, though quite a few were Spaniards employed by Gibraltarians.” He goes on to explain that records show some 14 families kept goats and other animals around the South District. “So I set out to illustrate what might have been a daily scene outside the Church.” Gil continues “A friend of mine heard about the project and as if by divine intervention, brought me a photograph of a goatherd only a few yards away from the Church.”

“It gave me huge satisfaction that I somehow was able to connect this little Church with a bit of the South’s past history. I feel I have to thank Captain Black and the goatherds of so long ago for giving me the inspiration to create this watercolour.”

Sources: Bishop Caruana’s ‘Rock Under A Cloud’, Christine Thompson’s historical notes, and Wikipedia.

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words Kat Chandler

Back to School

Education: Home & Away My brother and I were very fortunate to experience education in different countries and cultures as well as homeschooling.

his has given me a different perspective now, as my children journey through their academic years. My eldest is nearing the end of her childhood and my youngest is about to enter organised learning, her daily life of free play will soon be relegated to weekends and holidays. I was born in Iceland where formal schooling doesn’t start till the age of six. So after kindergarden in the mornings

my brother and I spent the day with our grandparents. As a self employed mother living in a country far away from any family, I am counting down the months until my youngest starts school so I can increase the amount of hours I can work. It would be great if my youngest could have another three years with her grandparents, going to the shop, the park, or sitting at home on a rainy day singing nursery rhymes. I feel very fortunate, having had those

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years and all the memories of my grandparents. We rush our children into school so we can earn enough to live life to a standard that ends up distracting us from the important things. My brother and I didn’t need computer games or hundreds of dvd’s to keep us entertained. I would make a play house under a table, play songs on my toy record player and if we got rowdy and started chasing each other around the apartment or arguing, the firm words of my

grandparents would settle us down. When we moved from Iceland to England, I was a free spirited confident six year old. I was excited and fearless on starting school. When we were shopping for my first ever school clothes, I was told that it had to be black, grey, white, gold & red, in any combination, and I decided to go to school dressed entirely in red! I wore a red blouse, a red skirt that twirled when I spun, red knee socks, red ribbons in my hair and smart black shoes (they didn’t have red in my size). I stood out, literally, like a sore thumb! But I didn’t care. I skipped into school and was known from that first day as “The Girl in Red” to the tune of Lady in Red. To begin with, I loved school. Flying through the reading levels and loving homework. Even changing school a couple of times didn’t dampen my enthusiasm, in fact it taught me how to make new friends and integrate into pre-established groups of friends. There was always a bit of trouble with one or two kids, I stood out and had an accent, I’m sure we all know that it takes less than that to make you a target for kids taking out their insecurities on others. When I was 11 years old, my brother Pete, was 13, my parents decided to do something radical. They swapped our house for 60ft catamaran! They named it ‘Evangelark’, (short for ‘The Ark of Evangelisation’). We left school at the beginning of the summer holidays and moved onto the boat. It was brilliant! We found out about tides as

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we waited on mud flats for the boat to be lifted high enough to begin our journey. We became competent in using the ICAO Alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie...) on the ship-to-shore radio. We just had to look up into the sky from the aft deck to practice our cloud recognition and weather forecasting. My brother also became very familiar with the huge engines that powered the boat and assisted with their maintenance. Come September, as we slowly made our way down the south east coast of England and over to France, my mother took on the responsibility for our education. She had bought all the books she needed to keep with the curriculum and created a timetable including 15 subjects. We sat for three hours each morning to work or read. In the afternoons we had ‘Expressing through Art’ lessons and crafts like ‘Soap Sculpture’. Not only did we get one to one attention, but we got to study History and Geography by visiting places of interest where we stopped on our journey. When we were cruising down the Canal de Neuffossé through Arques we learned about glass making at the Arc International factory and the story of Joan of Arc. In Belgium my father taught us how to make bread, we built a portable oven by the side of the canal and baked our loaves over an open fire. We learned Dutch from children we befriended in Holland and when my parents were thinking of

taking us on through Germany, we took German lessons with a lady my mother got chatting to at the local church. We came to understand about distances and depths as we watched the radar to see if we could make it along a particularly shallow stretch of canal. Living in different cultures, shopping in the local shops, talking to harbour masters and lock keepers and children playing along the banks, this is how we learned respect for all, no matter what language they spoke or what colour their skin, everybody, everywhere was just getting on with their lives, working, playing, living, laughing, telling us their stories and wishing us well on our way, hoping to see us come back one day to regale them with our adventures some more. For two years this adventure lasted, and when we re-entered institutional education, I was two years ahead of everyone else in my age group! From this point, while I enjoyed the social aspects of being back in school, my enthusiasm for studying steadily declined. I didn’t realise it at the time, but looking back I can see that having had such a rich experience, spoiled me for what now seemed a vanilla world of conventional education. My teachers’ enthusiasm for their subject became far more important than the information itself or the format in which

it came. It didn’t matter if I was copying off the board, researching from books or watching movies on the projector. If the teacher didn’t care, then neither did I. If my individual passions and abilities weren’t nurtured, if I had to learn in a way that made the subject, even my favourite subject of art, become dull and lifeless, then I was unable to maintain my own enthusiasm. I know that this is not everyone’s experience, or even anyone else I know! And what my mother managed to do, bringing learning to life like

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that, I’m not even certain I could manage myself with my girls.

But I now know that there are other ways to learn, and the most important thing a teacher can do is to share their enthusiasm for their subject. Photos: Left to right, my brother on the bows of the ‘Evangelark’ catamaran in Belgium 1991, gazing across the wide open spaces of the Zuyderzee in Holland, 1992, on a ‘Discipleship’ retreat Gibraltar, 1994.

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Consecrated Life

Invitation S

Anniversary Reflection

eptember 7, 2014 marks the first anniversary of my solemn Consecration to a life of virginity. Even though it’s only a year it’s still hard for me to find the words to express how I felt on the day. So instead, I’ll just share one small memory. I originally chose September 7 as my consecration day, because I wanted to be consecrated on a Marian Feast, and last year the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, fell on a Sunday, and as many of you know, Saturdays are dedicated to our Blessed Lady, who herself was the first woman

to become a consecrated virgin, so we settled on the 7th. It was during those few days before my consecration, as I spent more time preparing myself for that day, that it I pondered on this thought. Sitting one day at the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe, reciting the Office in the silence of the chapel, it came to my mind that if I were marrying a mortal spouse the following day, I would be changing my last name to my new husband’s—and therefore “losing” my own name in a certain sense. It reminded me of how, when I was very young, it used to strike me as a bit unfair that women generally took their husbands’ surnames, and were sometimes even addressed by their husbands’ name alone (as in ‘Mrs. John Smith’). To be very honest, when I was a little girl I used to marvel at how much you would have to love somebody to allow your own name to be basically taken over by his! But that bright hot morning, on Saturday 7 September 2013, I

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Maria Louisa Aguilera O.V.

suddenly thought, how happy I would be if my name could be ‘hidden’ under Jesus’ in the same way that a wife’s name is ‘hidden’ under her husband’s! In Jesus, I had truly found the one whom I loved enough for this to be so. Of course, it should go without saying that God, who deliberately created us as unique individuals, doesn’t ask that we should give up our own personalities when He calls us to a consecrated life. Still, at that moment, I couldn’t think of a greater joy or privilege than to be known simply as Jesus’ spouse. Sacred Scripture and the Church’s teachings paint us a stunning picture of the power and majesty of the Holy Name of Jesus “And for this God raised him high, and gave him the name which is above all other names; so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the

Father” Phil 2:9. But I am also grateful that every year on the day before the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it also gives me a chance to savour this mystery in a personal and more intimate way, as if I am reborn again and I remember my consecration day and how I felt that joyful longing to give myself over entirely to the one who bears the Most Holy Name. So, one has been trying to settle down, combining both a job and one’s personal life as a consecrated woman.

Now I would like to invite you to join me to pray the Divine Office on Saturdays in the peaceful surroundings of the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe. Beginning with Morning Prayer on Saturday, 6 September at 11am.

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Madeira Mass Clockwise from left: Bishop Ralph lays a wreath at the memorial dedicated to the Gibraltarians who died in Madeira during the war. Bp. Ralph and Mgr. Charlie with the Mayor of Funchal. The whole group assembled after Mass outside St. Peterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where the statue of Our Lady of Europe is. In the chapel at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace 550m above sea level, there are two plaques, one commemorating the pilgrimage of the Gibraltarian women who climbed there on foot in 1941 to pray for

peace, and another to commemorate the visit by Bishop Caruana in 2004 when the statue of Our Lady of Europe was first presented to the island. Kitty Pereira and Mercy Sene carry the statue in procession around the outside of the Cathedral, both Zakinthos and Mercy were in Madeira during the war. 10 years after the statue of Our Lady of Europe was first presentated Bp. Ralph concelebrates Mass with the Bishop of Madeira, and Mgr. Charlie Azzopardi.

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We WILL be a Children: God’s GIFT

FAMILY Adoption and ethical fertility treatments gave us hope that we would welcome the gift of children

y wife, Emily, had tears in her eyes over the new reality that we were facing — we did not know whether or not we would ever be able to conceive a child. Our desire to start a family, as well as our anxiety, grew immensely after each cycle. I proposed to my wife on March 19, 1999, the feast of St. Joseph. My proposal combined two related questions “Will you be my wife and the mother of my children?” Her “yes” would mean not only a marriage, but also motherhood. In the midst of this uncertainty and disappointment, I told my wife “We will be a family.” I said this not because I thought she would eventually get pregnant, but because we were open to the gift of adoption, which brought a sense of hope where there appeared to be none. Our exclusive, conjugal love would allow each of us to become a parent, and our children would be the fruit of our love. We were open to life from the beginning, but we did not know that this openness would also mean being

open to adoption. We married in our early 20s, right after graduating from Loyola University, New Orleans. Because we were both young and healthy, we never worried about the possibility of infertility. But we soon learned that not only children, but also fertility itself, are gifts that should not be taken for granted. Considering that a woman’s fertility sharply declines in her 30s, or even her late 20s, according to experts, this reality affects a growing number couples who marry later in life. After one year of marriage and failing to conceive a child, we discussed alternative ways to become a family. SEEKING HELP The powerlessness we experienced in failing to achieve a pregnancy led us to register for a natural family planning class, which taught us to read the signs of fertility. More than merely being open to life, we actively sought to create life, and NFP enabled us to know which days provided the best chance for conception. It also allowed us to discover irregularities related to

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a potential health problem. We turned to a local fertility clinic in New Orleans for more answers. I remember passing by a wall of baby pictures at the clinic, which offered an initial sense of hope that maybe one day our newborn baby’s picture would be there as well. But at what ethical price? As I sat next to my wife, the doctor told us “We want results.” I quickly responded “No, I want my wife to be healthy.” Each month as I observed the severe physical pain my wife endured at the end of her cycle, I wanted her first and foremost to feel well. Continuing our consultation with the fertility doctor, though, it became clear that he was not interested in discovering the root causes of my wife’s infertility. As I learned later, achieving a pregnancy, instead of healing the whole person, is commonly the primary goal of fertility clinics and of parents. My wife and I agreed that the way we became a family was important. Following the treatment plan set forth by the fertility doctor would have required technicians to control and manipulate my wife’s body. With the path of in-vitro fertilization, our child would have been “made” using sterile instruments rather than “begotten” from our conjugal love. Though every child is a gift no matter how they come into the world, not every child is afforded the dignity that he or she deserves at conception. After leaving the clinic, we turned our attention to adoption and looked for a different doctor.

THE PATH LESS TAKEN

Adoption is usually an infertile couple’s last option when all other avenues have been exhausted. But for us, it became a real and joyful alternative as soon as we accepted the possibility that we may never conceive. We asked ourselves “How long are we willing to wait? And for that matter, why wait for something that may never happen? Let’s become a family now rather than later.” The decision to adopt helped us to see more clearly what we truly desired — family life. We signed the paperwork to begin the adoption process after almost three years of marriage. We didn’t realize that it would take three more years of paper signing, interviews, home studies and personal reports before we would receive our son, Antonio. In the meantime, my wife came into contact with Dr. Thomas Hilgers at the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Neb., through a friend who taught the Creighton method of NFP. Emily sought treatment from Dr. Hilgers through mail and phone correspondence. After analyzing three consecutive months of her fertility charts and blood specimens, Dr. Hilgers prescribed medication to help regulate her hormonal levels. Emily was also scheduled to have surgery for endometriosis. But three months before the scheduled surgery, we discovered that she was pregnant. Our five years of infertility had suddenly come to an end. After a long history of negative pregnancy tests, we experienced the joy of seeing test results read positive. Nine months later, Ignacio was born. And after four months of being a family, we received news about the referral for Antonio. I remember seeing the picture the adoption agency had sent us via email. Staring at the computer screen, I cried, realizing that Ignacio would soon have a brother to play with. Our family would grow again, but this time it would be through the gift of adoption. Since that time, my wife has given birth

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to two daughters, Caterina and Lucia. SURPRISE AND WONDER

Our family’s experience helped my wife and me to understand more profoundly the reality that every child is a gift. The giftedness of the child rests upon who he or she is — a unique person who elicits from his parents joy and gratitude. The nature of this gift includes surprise and wonder, because children come to their parents as they are, not as we want them to be. Without this sense of surprise and wonder, we can turn a child from a ‘someone’ to a ‘something’, from a gift to a right. And if we see having children as a right, then we are tempted to justify any means necessary to secure that right. When Emily and I struggled to conceive, we were comforted by the fact that the Catholic Church recognizes that the desire for a child is a natural part of conjugal love, and that infertility can involve great suffering. The Vatican’s 1987 instruction on Respect for Human Life notes that the desire to conceive “can

be even stronger if the couple is affected by sterility which appears incurable” (Donum Vitae, 8). The Catechism of the Catholic Church encourages infertile couples who have exhausted legitimate medical options to pursue adoption, to practice generous service and to “unite themselves with the Lord’s Cross” (2379). If you ever visit the Pope Paul VI Institute, you will find a picture of our family on the wall with many others. The difference between the institute’s wall of baby pictures and the one I saw at the fertility clinic, lies in how those infertile couples became a family. This how determines whether or not children will be treated as persons from the moment of their conception. With much gratitude, Emily and I are now expecting our fifth child in June 2012. We know that each pregnancy may be our last and are grateful for the children God has blessed us with. Today, the desire to become a mother and father is full of hope, thanks to adoption agencies and to

Photo by Mary Lou Uttermohlen

Carlos Gamundi

The author and his family sit in a park near their house in Louisiana. a growing number of doctors who offer ethical treatments for infertility. I can attest to the fact that for the married couple who is struggling with infertility, there is still hope of becoming a family. CARLOS GAMUNDI, a member of St. John Council 10176 in Folsom, La., is a Ph.D. candidate at the Pontifical John

Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C. This article appeared in the 12/29/2011 issue of Columbia magazine and is reprinted with permission of the Knights of Columbus, New Haven, USA.

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 at the Specialist Medical Clinic, Unit 7, First Floor, ICC Building, Casemates Square, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 49999 www.ladyofeuropefertilitycare.com

On R

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Anne Mesilio writes... Time for play is being eroded. The Western world is not immune, digital entertainment competes with homework and group activities such as Boy Scouts. Building developments and increasing traffic erode play areas by stealth. There seems to be increasing “stranger danger” and we keep our children close and safe from abduction. I recently came across an initiative called ‘Play England’. At first I wrongly assumed that it was about football but it is actually a Charter for Children’s Play, setting out a vision for play. It states, for example;

Let the Children

Play

• Children have the right to play. • Every child needs time and space to play. • Adults should let children play. • Children should be able to play freely in their local areas. Whilst play is often seen as just fun, it is the vital activity that children use to learn to interact with their world and gain

mental, physical and social skills to succeed in their adult lives. For too many, these adult lives will be blighted by the traumas they were forced to witness as children in conflict areas. Wars youngest victims are becoming more and more vulnerable and according to UNICEF, 2 million children have been killed in conflict, 4-5 million have been disabled and 12 million have been left homeless, this number is rising every day and this heart wrenching. “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world” John 16:21. What a world of suffering and misery it must be for children whose young lives are blighted with the terror of daily air strikes, explosions and death. Where destruction, fear, hunger and muted terror are the ‘norm’. The headlines scream at us “X amount of people killed, most of them children.” The ones who survive, picured playing in the rubble of their childhood. One mother described it thus “whenever my 6 year old hears

“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn around, Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Touch the ground.”

emember this? Part of a skipping rope rhyme popular during the 50’s and 60’s, it seems like a lost generation. Then children played marbles, hopscotch, tag, ball games, etc., usually outdoors. Especially during school play time and all summer long, come rain or shine and at every opportunity. The 50’s were a difficult time as people who had lost the best years of their lives to World War II were coming of age. Technology had not advanced to the stage it is today and even though this was to be the age of television, it had not yet arrived. Children played in the streets. Looking back, maybe these were the good old days of play. There is a lesson to be learned from them and applied today. It is September, a turning time of the year as summer draws to a close; schools reopen to welcome old and new pupils to help fulfil the promise

of childhood. Proverbs 22:6 tells us “teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their lives”. There is an appalling downside to this as according to UNICEF, conflict around the world has seriously injured or permanently disabled millions of children, millions more have endured sexual violence, trauma, hunger and disease caused by war. What sort of lessons are these children learning from their elders about ‘how we should live?’ There are, according to reports, 25 million children of primary school age out of school because of war. Eventually, we will all pay the price, where schools have become targets, this will lead to illiteracy and poverty on a great scale.

“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Touch your shoe, Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear That will do.”

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PRAY for children affected by war the rockets falling, she covers her ears and shouts, crying, not to hear the bomb”. This vortex of violence tears countries apart and a dreadful reality is that often families and children are specific targets.

The physical, sexual and emotional violence to which they [children] are exposed shatters their world. War undermines the very foundations of children’s lives, destroying their homes, splintering their communities and breaking down their trust in adults.”

– Graca Machel in her 1996 report ‘The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children.’ One of the gravest effects of war is the way it disrupts education, which is the best weapon against poverty and conflict. There are silent killers

too; poverty, hunger, preventable diseases. Let the children play. Childhood should be a magical time, not perfect, that’s an illusion, a magical childhood is filled with things like stories, hugs, silliness, mud baths and children making their own magic. It is a sad indictment on us in this affluent, safe and greedy western world when we shrug and sigh in muted response to this terrible suffering, do we really live in a ‘global village’? Surely our lives have become interdependent, giving us a sense of responsibility towards our fellow humans. Whilst all of this is happening so far away, much nearer home, heinous acts of child abuse are reported daily, domestic violence tears families apart, bullying acts cause fear and loathing and loneliness. Those who are less fortunate, at home or abroad, often do not know how to ask for help.

“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn out the light, Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Say good night.”

For how many children will it be a safe and good night?

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Below a Memorial to the 105 children of Lidice who were killed in a tragic episode in Czechoslovakia during WWII.

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