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"Be indefatigable in your purpose and with undaunted spirit resist iniquity and try to conquer evil with good, having before your eyes the reward of those who combat for Christ." -BISHOP MATTHEW GIBNEY 1874
THE PARISH. THE NATION. THE WORLD. Western Australia's award-winning Catholic newspaper since 1874 - Wednesday December 16 2009
Archbishop calls on parishes to indude Aboriginals
Perth, Western Australia $2
Refugee who lost his older brother to Taliban's brutality makes new life here, uses talents to sculpt God's Saints
We can, and should, be doing more to draw the first Australians into the life of the Church, especially when they are often the most distant from it, Archbishop tells Cathedral blessing ceremony A RCHBISHOP tions," the Archbishop Barry Hickey has said. called on the Catholic R egarding Church, especially Aboriginal disadvanparishes, to draw tage, the Archbishop into the life of the said it was a national Church the many shame that on so many Catholic Aboriginal measures of disadvanpeople whose famitage, Aboriginal peolies received their ple were so prominent. faith from Catholic Ways of reducing these Missions. were not easy, but there His call came durseemed no reason why ing an Aboriginal cercompulsory secondary emony for the blesseducation could not Archbishop Hickey ing of the Aboriginal be enforced at least in pathway in front of urban areas, nor why the Cathedral which was held skills education with subsequent on Tuesday evenin at the newly employment opportunities could refurbished St Marys Cathedral. not be made compulsory for all, The pathway depicts elements Aboriginal or not. of traditional Aboriginal life and Education and work could not the coming of Christianity in 16 only overcome earlier disadvanpanels etched on black granite by tage, but could also restore personNoongar artist Laurel Nannup. al dignity and stabilise family life. Many Aboriginal people, for The low expectation policies of whatever reason, remained at a this and former governments only distance from the Church, the perpetuated disadvantage. Archbishop said. It would be very His experience with young regrettable if they ever thought homeless Aboriginal men and they were not welcome. women over the past ten years Archbishop Hickey issued two revealed that few had gone past discussion papers on the Church Year 6, and none past Year 8. and Aboriginal people on Tuesday Not one came from a stable famas well (see page 8 in this weeks ily and not one was raised in a famRecord). ily where the father was present. Parish Councils and priests "Family stability is beyond the should take active steps to include power of governments, but govthem in all parish activities. ernments could provide condi"Nor should they consider them tions that made it more likely," 'the poor' as this stigmatises them Archbishop Hickey said. and fails them by low expectaArchbishop's discussion papers - Page 8
Mehdi Rasulle, the Afghan refugee who sculpted the statue of St Joseph the Worker and Blessed Mary MacKillop located just inside the main entrance of St Mary's Cathedral, is pictured with his wife Joanne and 12-month-old son Eolann after Archbishop Barry Hickey blessed the images during a special ceremony on December 13. 'HOTO: ANTHONY BARICH
LOVE IN ART
BY ANTHONY BARICH National Reporter
A
n Afghan refugee whose brother was executed by the Taliban crafted a statue of St Joseph the Worker in Perth's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception based on what he learned of the saint in Muslim studies as a boy. Perth Archbishop Barry J Hickey blessed the statue in a special ceremony on December 13 at the Cathedral that was officially opened on December
8 after being closed for three years for a $32.9 million restoration and completion project. The sculptor of the statue is Mehdi Rasulle, 25, one of 11 children who was born in Kabul and arrived in Australia illegally by a boat crowded with over 200 people in 2001. Mehdi's statue of St Joseph has words inscribed in Hebrew, that reads, from right to left, "Joseph, son of David", referring to the term the angel used to address Joseph when appearing to him in a dream telling him not to fear taking Mary as his Please turn to Vista 4
Ile
Page 2
THE PARISH
SAINT OF THE WEEK
October 24, 1933 — December 2, 2009
1850-1917 mber 22 As a child in Italy, Francesca Cabrini dreamed of going on mission to China, but was rejected by two congregations because of poor health. She founded her own order, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in 1880 and founded schools and orphanages in Italy. In 1889 she and six sisters established an orphanage in New York City to serve Italian immigrants. She and the Cabrini Sisters set up numerous schools, hospitals and orphanages in the United States and South America. This patron saint of immigrants was the first U.S. citizen to be canonized. Dec. 22 is her feast in the universal church, while Nov. 13 is her U.S. feast. 1 1011.
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FR BRIAN Morrison was a dear friend to thousands of people throughout Western Australia, Archbishop Barry Hickey told over 500 mourners at a Requiem Mass at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 11. The diversity of individuals in attendance indicated that his abundant love had no boundaries. Archbishop Hickey concelebrated the Mass with Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton and Bunbury Bishop Gerard Holohan, with almost 40 other priests in attendance. Premier Colin Barnett stood alongside family, friends and representatives of the many organisations that Fr Brian had contributed to and individuals who had been personally touched by a life spent reaching out to others. The Archbishop's suggestion that Fr Brian had, despite several final anointings, hung onto life so that he could be buried the newly restored Cathedral, was greeted with applause and laughter by those who recognised the tenacity and determination of a man who continued to push himself right to the very end. Born in Melbourne in 1933, Fr Brian was ordained in the city's St Francis Church in 1968, before being transferred to Bunbury with the Blessed Sacrament Fathers. It was there that he began spiritually and materially reaching out to those in need in an inner city chapel, before moving to Perth to develop the Crisis Care Centre. It was this role that provided him with an outlet for his boundless desire and energy to assist the most vulnerable,
Receiving God's love, not lots of things, brings joy
Archbishop Barry Hickey prays during the Mass of Christian Burial for Fr Brian Morrison PHOTO. MARK REIDY
both locally and overseas. Whether it was prison chaplaincy or counselling those addicted to drugs in WA, assisting those affected by bushflres interstate or providing relief for victims of floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and bombings overseas, Fr Brian was always willing to do what he could to improve the lives of others and his enthusiasm and humour inspired many to follow his example. Fr Brian made several trips in the early 1990s to deliver food, clothing and medical supplies to children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine and eulogist, Dirk Avery, told the congregation that this desire to put others before himself may have contributed to the cancer that eventually claimed his life. Kelli Maree Rainford, 28, said that she also knew Fr Brian as a man who "would
always put himself last", and said that he had helped give her a second chance at life. Needing a liver transplant as a 3 month old, Ms Rainford explained how Fr Brian had been one of the main contributors in getting her to the US in 1984 and becoming Australia's first liver transplant survivor. She said that they had always remained close friends. Archbishop Hickey told those gathered that Fr Brian's death had been a beautiful one. The priest told the Archbishop that he had been at peace - that he had forgiven those who needed to be forgiven, had received forgiveness and was ready to meet his Saviour. "He has now gone to meet the One who gave His life for him", the Archbishop said, "Just as he had given his life for the little ones".
accumulating lots of things, but from feeling loved by the Lord and being generous to others, Pope Benedict XVI said. Real joy is feeling that one's personal and social life "is touched and filled by a great mystery, the mystery of God's love," Pope Benedict said on December 13 before his midday recitation of the Angelus with pilgrims in St Peter's Square.
On the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete (Latin for 'rejoice") Sunday, the Pope said Advent helps people "rediscover the meaning and pleasure of Christian joy, which is so different from that (joy) of the world; "It's necessary to try to live every single day in the way the Nativity represents, that is, with Christ's love, his humility and his poverty; he said.
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AT Tradition Stained Glass and Leadlights you nor only find a studio steeped in history going back three generations but also a bustling art studio specialising in the latest techniques in art glass for modern and contemporary commissions. Tradition Stained Glass has been producing stained glass since 1908 and has had the pleasure of working on many historic buildings such as the Parliament of Western Australia and many churches throughout WA. It also undertook the complete restoration of many stained glass windows at the Catholic Education Office in West
Leederville, and just recently was commissioned to make new matching handpainted stained glass for the reception of the head office and adjacent entry doors to staff offices. Tradition Stained Glass also had four of its latest works blessed by Bishop Donald Sproxton on June 21 at St Simon Peter Parish in Ocean Reef. These beautiful handpainted windows were the culmination of many years of hard work and dedication. As with all works carried out by Tradition Stained Glass, it is its aim to be creative at the highest level and to excel in craftsmanship at all times. Viewed online at www.traditionstainedglass.com.au and latest works can be viewed in an updated gallery.
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The Record PO Box 75 Leederville WA 6902 587 Newcastle Street, West Perth Tel: (08) 9227 7080, Fax: (08) 9227 7087 Website: www.therecord.com.au The Record is a weekly publication distributed throughout the parishes of the dioceses of Western Australia and by subscription. The Record is printed by Rural Press Printing Mandurah and distributed via Australia Post and CTI Couriers.
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THE PARISH
Duo relish completion priests Survival warrior BY PETER ROSENGREN WHEN Archbishop Barry Hickey called during the December 8 opening of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for anyone present who was also present at its 1930 opening to stand up, he spotted Fr John Chokolich but missed Mary Hadock. Mary, sitting a long way back into the main body of worshippers, may also have been obscured as the late afternoon sun flooded in through the 10 metre high glass windows behind her. Not that it mattered. Later, The Record managed to get Mary and Fr Chokolich, who assisted with the anointing of the walls of the Cathedral during the ceremony, together briefly after the end of the ceremonies to reminisce about the historic occasion they had both attended 79 years earlier. Mary still recalls the date - May 4, 1930 - when she was seated down near the front of the building on the left hand side. She was, she told The Record, aged six at the time. "It's a picture I've never forgotten," she said. "A priest got a chair for me so I could stand up on it to see what was going on." However, she said, being able to be present at the 2009 completion of the Cathedral was a dream come true for her. "Tonight was fantastic," she said. "It's been my prayer for a long time to see our Cathedral finished. I've hated seeing it deteriorate:' She said she had often prayed for the repose of the souls of the Hassels, the Perth couple whose bequest of $2.5 million to the Archdiocese for the completion of the Cathedral had been a key factor in kicking the whole project off several years ago. Meanwhile, Fr Chokolich, who migrated to Australia as a boy from Croatia, was also enjoying the moment. He recalled how he and his family started attending, occasional services at the Cathedral in 1924. Then, the Chokolich family lived out in the 'bush' in Wanneroo together with many other working migrants. The Cathedral was not the only Perth church they attended. On special occasions they would
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Fr Joseph Tran BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER
Mary Hadock and Fr John Chokolich, both of whom were present at the opening of St Mary's Cathedral in 1930, recall the event after the close of the opening and re-dedication of the Cathedral by Archbishop Barry Hickey on PHOTO: PETER ROSENGREN December 8.
also travel in to West Perth or the Redemptorist Monastery at North Perth for religious services as there was no church where they lived. A young priest - and future Archbishop of Perth - Fr Redmond Prendiville would travel out to Wanneroo each month to celebrate Mass for Catholic families. Another young priest, 'Doc' Sullivan, would also travel out regularly from the Cathedral to celebrate Masses and hear confessions. Fr Chokolich still has clear memories of the 1930 opening. "My three uncles and I came down in a new truck; he said. "We pushed through the crowd [estimated to be 17,000 people at the time] to the door. We could hear Archbishop Clune speaking inside; he had a tremendous voice.
He didn't need microphones like people do these days; he told the paper. Later, he sensed a vocation to the priesthood and was sent to Rome as a seminarian for the Archdiocese in 1936 before being ordained there in the midst of a world war in 1941. Because he didn't have a passport he was stuck in the Vatican until the end of the war in 1945. "When the allies liberated Rome they asked the Vatican for a priest who could speak English, Croatian and French to be sent to Africa," he said. "Montini [the future Pope Paul VI] asked me if I'd go and I said 'yes": he told the paper. After spending 18 months in Algiers and another year in Naples, he returned to Perth.
THE young Whitford parish priest wears jeans, plays the violin, enjoys the movies and likes to kick the soccer ball around in King's Park. Born in Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, South Vietnam, Fr Joseph Tran, 39, told The Record there are 10,000 Catholics in his parish, with 1,700 people attending Mass and practising the Faith. There are also two Catholic primary schools and three Catholic high schools in the parish of Our Lady of the Mission, where he has been for seven years, two as priest in charge. From a family of nine, Fr Joseph's father was a medical doctor who worked for the South Vietnamese Government before the Communists took over. He was put in prison, then released because they found out that he was a good doctor. "We tried to get on a boat, but the Communists found out - we ran for our lives; Fr Joseph said. "I was not allowed to go to school after grade 5, aged 11. "My dad tried to escape again but this time he said it was too dangerous, and took no children, with about 121 people in a small boat 12m by 2.5m which got lost at sea for nearly five days. "They met pirates who came and took everything - money, watches, rings - it was very lucky that he survived. "An oil tanker found them and picked them up and they
were taken to an Indonesian refugee camp for more than two years. "He was able to help many refugees in the camp, being a doctor. Then he was interviewed by Americans and Australians and he chose Australia - he knew Australia had a much better chance to sponsor his family from Vietnam. "I felt very sad because I couldn't go to school and my dream was to become a doctor like my dad or an engineer or teacher. “mi mum said 'Don't lose hope. ' He learned to be an electrician at the age of 10 or 11, learnt music and the violin, art and portraiture, to make money. "All these skills God has given to me would help me later in life to survive," he said. After four years his father sponsored the whole family to come to Australia. Fr Joseph came in 1984, at the age of 14 and attended John XXIII College, which gave him a scholarship. Then he went to Curtin University and did civil engineering and graduated but never worked. "I love science, love people and wanted to share my faith. In my final year, I thought very hard about the priesthood," he said. "I was contacted by the then Fr (now Bishop) Justin Bianchini, who was in charge of the seminary, who took me in to help me to discern my vocation in St Charles Seminary."
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December 16 2009, The Record
THE PARISH
One Cathedral down, one more to go BY ROBERT HIINI Parish Reporter AS Perth Catholics lay eyes on their newly refurbished Cathedral in the coming weeks, some of the challenges besetting Perth's first Catholic church are a reminder that the maintenance of historic buildings is never ending. Despite relatively recent rennovations with the assistance of Lotterywest grants, St John's ProCathedral requires additional work if it is to be preserved, according to Archdiocesan archivist Sr Frances Stibi PVBM. Begun in 1843 in the nascent days of the colony and completed in 1855, the makeshift application of cement and acrylic paint to its external walls over continuous decades has stopped the building from 'breathing', Sr Stibi said, resulting in internal damage from damp. In 2008, the church's woodshingle roof, applied in the 1970s, was replaced with special corrugated iron from Adelaide, matching the roof it would have had for most of its existence as per heritage laws. Sr Stibi told The Record that St John's Pro-Cathedral was most probably adorned with a Black Boy shingle roof when it was first
Above, the interior of the first Catholic Church in Western Australia, St John's Pro-Cathedral. The Church has been home to a community c elebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Eucharistic Liturgy (the "Latin Mass") since 1995 and is still very much in use. PHOTOS: JUSTINE STEVENS
built, a readily available material but highly namable. Despite what remains its humble aesthetic, the church is teeming with historical significance. Built on land granted by Governor Hutt to hold 120 people, the church went through a number of structural and functional changes in its early decades, including the establishment of a Free School in the church which began operation in 1844. Arriving in Western Australia
with five other Sisters of Mercy, the pioneering Mother Superior, Ursula Frayne, described the church in something of a squalid state when she saw it in 1846: "Imagine a room about thirty feet long by fifteen feet wide and twelve feet high; a shingle roof, through which the sun, moon, and stars could be distinctly seen; a few planks laid loosely on the ground did duty as flooring; door spaces, but no doors; window spaces but no windows; an old wooden coun-
ter, the gift of a retired shopkeeper served for an altar," Mother Ursula Frayne said. "A faded green tablecloth, with yellow corners, did duty as an antependium, and a strip of calico, unhemmed, was the only altarcloth. Such was the church and its furniture. "Poor as it was, it bore testimony to the undying faith of the Irish Catholics, for it was the offering of a few. Some gave their time and labour, others gave materials, while
a few gave their mite in cash:' The first preistly ordination in Western Australia, of one Timothy Donovan, took place in the church on January 6, 1849. The church which began its life as The Church of St John the Evangelist has also borne the names, 'The Cathedral of St John the Evangelist,' 'The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: and 'The Children of Mary Chapel' over its 156 year history.
Perth's first Vietnamese priest overcame persecution BY ROBERT HIINI Parish Reporter WHEN Fr Francis Ly was ordained by Archbishop William Foley 25 years ago on December 1, 1984 he was the first Vietnamese priest to be ordained for the Archdiocese of Perth. Since then, the Vietnamese presence in the Archdiocese has grown in leaps and bounds thanks in great part to the untiring efforts of Fr Francis Ly, Archbishop Barry Hickey told friends and guests at Fr Francis' 25th Anniversary Mass. Many of those who were present at his ordination were there for the Mass which took place at Good Shepherd Parish, Lockridge on December 1, 2009; a Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Hickey, Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and many Vietnamese priests from throughout the diocese. His six sisters, extended family
members and friends were there to see him thankfully accept the well wishes of his parishioners. Last year, Archbishop Hickey travelled with Fr Ly back to Vietnam to visit an orphanage the priest is supporting. The Archbishop described Southern Vietnam as "the most beautiful area" from which Fr Ly heard the call of God and sought to become a priest "under the most difficult of circumstances." He was ordained a deacon in Vietnam on July 3, 1981 before fleeing the persecution brought against Catholics by Vietnam's communist government in December 1982. He was sponsored by his sister Kim. After steadily improving his English, he was put on pastoral placement at Mundaring Parish in May 1984. Since then he has served in the parishes of Greenwood, Maida
Passionist gave his life to Christ at 13 Rev Fr Justin Ives CP WEST Australian priest Fr Justin Ives CP died in Adelaide on November 25. His funeral Mass was held at St Paul of the Cross Passionist Monastery, Glen Osmond, attended by three Bishops, including his lifelong friend Bishop Justin Bianchini of Geraldton, whose name he took as his Religious name. He was born Peter Frederick William Ives in Kalgoorlie on April 22, 1941, the first child of Leo and Lucy (nee O'Brien). He was educated by Dominicans at St Peter's in Bedford and then at CBC Highgate before entering St Charles Seminary at age 13 and
later the Passionist seminary in NSW at age 16. He was ordained in his home parish, St Peter's, Bedford by Archbishop Launcelot Goody on January 2, 1965. He served for then-Fr Goody when he was parish priest there. Fr Justin spent most of his priestly life in other States, but was parish priest of Kensington for five months in 1967. He is survived by his sister Judy, her husband Andrew McLean, their four children and two grandchildren. In a tribute to Fr Justin, the Passionists' Holy Spirit Province newsletter said: 'We know we have lost one of the great characters of our Province. 'His death is an occasion to marvel at what he was able to achieve."
Archbishop Barry Hickey joined Fr Francis Ly, family and friends for his 25th PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY AND GWEN CLUNIES-ROSS anniversary of priesthood.
Vale, Bentley and Maddington, as well as an eight year stint as fulltime chaplain to the Vietnamese
Community in Westminster from 1992 to 2000. The Gospel message for his
December 1 Mass was of the Good Shepherd, laying down his life for his sheep, an appropriated Gospel for Fr Francis, the Archbishop told a packed church. "We've seen evidence of that in the life of Fr Francis, that wherever he's been, he's thrown himself fully into pastoral ministry and in a sense, he's laid down his life for his people." Parish Council chairwoman Veronica Massang said that Fr Ly is a man "with passion for Christ and the poor" who has always tried to help people who are in despair or in need, through prayer and action. Parishioners Barry and Gwen Clunies-Ross described him as a good listener, someone who embraces new technology, and a keen enthusiast for Vietnamese music with one of his own cornpositions being played during celebrations after Mass.
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Page 5
THE PARISH
Monsignor's last wish granted History lesson given on Cathedral organs
Fr Chris Wilcock SJ conducts the St Mary's Cathedral Boys Choir accompanied by John Hargraves. Below, Director of Cathedral Music, Jacinta Jakovcevic gives PHOTOS' ROBERT HIINI historical background on the Cathedral's organs. BY ROBERT HIINI
Artist Gerry Darwin and wife Bridget (third and fourth from right) joined friends and families after Mass for an upclose view of Mr Darwin's Stations of Cross. Bernie Newsham (right), a fellow Armadale parishioer, was a model for one of PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI the figures, a Roman Centurion.
BY ROBERT HIIN1 Parish Reporter THE blessing of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception's new Stations of the Cross crowned the celebration of the first public Mass celebrated in the building on Sunday, December 13. Artist Gerry Darwin and wife Bridget were there with their extended family to witness the blessing of the 14 traditional stations by Archbishop Hickey as Cathedral parishioners returned after three years of attending Mass at St Joachim's, the temporary proCathedral in Victoria Park, and All Saints Chapel on St Georges Terrace, while the Cathedral was
being completed. Outgoing Dean Mgr Thomas McDonald was the Mass's Principal Celebrant, giving a brief rundown of the history of St Mary's before callin on congregants to engage in 'the great period of transformation" that is Advent. Mgr McDonald, who will remain as acting Cathedral Dean until the Mgr Michael Keating can move into the presbytery, said that it was his one major request of Archbishop Barry Hickey that he be allowed to celebrate the first public Mass at the Cathedral before moving to a new position in the New Year as Bateman parish priest Mgr Keating takes up the role.
Archbishop Hickey congratulated Mgr McDonald on three years of hard work, describing the Mass as at one and the same time, a "kind of farewell" and a "homecoming" for the Monsignor. A fter Mass, Mass-goers gathered for refreshment and parishioners from Armadale Parish who had modelled for Mr Darwin's Stations got a closer look at them in their new home, mounted on a glass and metal backdrop designed by Perth artist, Peter Bowles. Mr Darwin's grandson Joshua Loveridge, 15, was also present to see his own likeness depicted as the face of a Roman soldier taking Christ down from the Cross.
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Outgoing Deaon of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Monsignor Thomas McDonald, spruiks The Record during the 10am Mass on December 1 3, when Archbishop Barry Hickey blessed the Stations of the Cross. The Monsignor will remain acting Dean of the Cathedral until the Cathedral presbytery renovations are completed and Mgr Michael Keating can move in PHOTO ROBERT H11\
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Christ ultimate youth leader
Fr Dominic Savio CSsR
BY SHAUN PEREIRA THE Young Christian Workers' initiatives to further Christ -centred leadership development among youth leaders successfully culminated in an all-day November 28 Leadership Workshop at St Joseph's parish in Subiaco. Perth YCW joined youth groups from various parishes including St Joseph's, Infant Jesus Morley and The Redemptorist Monastery in North Perth to empower participants with a deeper spiritual understanding of their role as young ministers and secondly to strengthen their grasp of core leadership skills. Fr Dominic Savio CSsR, the Partnership's Spiritual Director, spoke on Answering Christ's call to evangelise our Youth as Leaders, reminded all that Jesus is the paramount model for Christian leaders. This delicate balance between responding to our God-given mission to serve and effective management was deftly handled by an accomplished panel of guest speakers, all driven by Christ to influence positive change in their lives and their communities. They were Mario Borg and Mike Sandrini from Disciples of Jesus, Christine Moro from the Como Baptist Community and James McMahon DSC DSM, a Catholic former SASR Commanding Officer. The youth leaders were given opportunities to personally and collectively review the effectiveness of their current leadership strategies and equipped with tools to better improve their communication and organisational skills. Since its inception in early 2009, the YCW Partnership, a review group of parish-based youth leaders, has been committed to collective action for growth and development of youth ministry in Perth. This has provided YCW with another platform to reach out at a parish level and to encourage interaction and cooperation among youth leaders. The support of the Faith-inAction Branch of the Knights of the Southern Cross towards the success of this workshop, both financially and in a mentoring capacity, is further proof that collaboration strengthens youth ministry. "In following Christ's example, we are reminded that Christian leadership encompasses all aspects of our lives," a statement from the YCW said. "Drawing upon international YCW founder Cardinal Joseph's Cardijn's words, 'We are always at the beginning', the Partnership looks forward to building on the values and skills gained in this workshop to better live and serve God and the community."
December 16 2009, The Record
THE NATION
Anglicans' welcome slow, cautious BY ANTHONY BARICH National Reporter INCORPORATING traditionalist Anglicans into the Catholic Church must be a "slow, cautious and prudent" path of implementing Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Constitution, says the Bishop in charge of the process in Australia. On November 9, the Vatican published Pope Benedict's Apostolic Anglicanorum Constitution Coetibus ("Groups of Anglicans") along with specific norms governing the establishment and governance of "personal ordinariates," structures similar to dioceses, for former Anglicans who become Catholic. Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter Elliott, a former Anglican himself, told The Record that such Anglicans are in for a tough next few years as the Ordinariate is established in Australia. The prelate, appointed to oversee the process at the Bishops' November 23-27 Plenary Meeting in North Sydney, said that while the Church of England made some pastoral provision for these traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, the Anglican Church has done nothing for them in Australia; "and the generous offer of Pope Benedict comes to them in that context". "They are at a stage of praying and discerning; Bishop Elliott said. "Obviously some are very tied to the churches where they worship, and great sacrifices will be required of them. "They will have to give up worshipping in familiar places that they love dearly and seek fellow-
Bishop Peter Elliott
ship with like-minded Anglicans on the journey into full unity with the Catholic Church:' The apostolic constitution, he said, gives "very clear guidance" on questions of local ordinaries, or Bishops, of the Anglo-Catholics. These will be worked out under the guidance of the Holy See and in conjunction with the Australian Bishops over the next few years. "I would hasten to add that we must not hurry this process. It must move slowly, cautiously and prudently," he said. "We will need more guidance from Rome on the exact way to proceed, but practical planning is already beginning at the local level in Australia among these groups7 He said that while Australia's Bishops welcomed the project, "we're under no illusions it will be a complex process of establishing
the Ordinariate in a stable and sustainable way". "Some are going around saying this is a blow to ecumenism. I would argue quite the opposite - it will eventually facilitate stronger and richer ecumenism and may well facilitate honest relations with all Anglicans; he said. Bishop Elliott has already met with Bishops, clergy and lay from the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) and Forward in Faith (FIF) Australia, and has planned a series of meetings with these groups and other individuals who have contacted him. He preached at a Solemn Eucharist for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception with the TAC at their St Mary the Virgin parish in Melbourne on December 8. On February 13 he will also address a meeting of FIF Australia members in Melbourne. "I think we have to be as welcoming as possible, as many of these people are deeply hurt and have suffered much by trying to maintain a Catholic conscience in a situation of rapid change," he said. The TAC, which claims a membership of over 400,000 globally, has parishes in Queensland (5), WA (4), Victoria (2), Tasmania, South Australia and NSW; and is also present in South Africa, the UK and Canada. FIF has parishes in NSW (3), WA (2), SA, Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory and is also present in over 63 countries. While the Bishops of England and Wales have appointed three Bishops to form a commission
to assist these Anglicans, their numbers are much greater, and it appears whole parishes will be seeking to be incorporated into the Ordinariate, which raises questions of property. "In Australia I would hope we could make available properties that are under-used or almost redundant, which would be preferable to sharing facilities; Bishop Elliott said. "But all this will have to be worked out gradually over the next few years:' Pope Benedict, he said, "has really put a challenge before these traditional Anglo-Catholics, and that is to resolve where the whole Oxford movement has gone and is going. We also need to bear in mind that the big challenge Anglicanism is already facing comes from the evangelical side of the spectrum, and that is something the Anglican Communion has to resolve," he said. He added that these evangelical Anglicans, particularly strong in Sydney and Nigeria, "do not accept the liberal agenda that dominates world Anglicanism in terms of biblical faith and morals". "They work in a classical protestant perspective, and they see that as compromised by the liberal trends in Anglicanism, just as much as the Anglo Catholics see their Catholic heritage compromised and excluded," he said. They're not interested in communion with the Catholic Church at all, he said, but "seem favourable towards the option of the Ordinariate for Catholic-minded Anglicans".
Reconnecting Aboriginal people with culture key to policy progress: forum BY ANTHONY BARICH National Reporter RECONNECTING Aboriginal people with their own culture is the key to improving health in remote and metropolitan communities, a major forum hosted by the University of Notre Dame Australia's Institute of Health and Rehabilitation Research has revealed. Two men of Aboriginal descent who work at the coalface of Aboriginal communities were the two key speakers at Two Lizards Drinking: Close Conversation on Health and Healing in Aboriginal Communities at UNDNs medicine lecture hall on December 10. One of them, Darryl Kickett, a descendent of the Wilmen and Ballardong Nyungah people, has worked in government, university and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations for 30 years. He is now working to develop a Nyungah Health Consortium to bridge the gap in this region. The other, psychologist Darrell Henry, has worked for 20 years in the aresas of drug and alcohol abuse, Aboriginal family violence and child sexual abuse, focusing on healing. He is currently a clinician training Aboriginal community people in working clinically with chronic trauma and in old and new modern ways of healing. As frustrations were vented at existing bureaucracy in government assisting Aborigines with basic needs, both speakers called for Federal and State governments to stop talking and start real action
Dr Darrell Henry
Darryl Kickett
Prof Anna Haebich
to help those who are among the most vulnerable. With over 100 people taking part in the 'conversation', both speakers emphasised the importance of Aboriginal culture as a healing agent, as many Aboriginal communities are caught in an "unrelenting cycle" of bereavement due to high rates of tragic deaths, especially youth suicide. Dr Henry mentioned a successful project he started with the Warmun community in the Kimberley, taking Aboriginal elders and youth "back to bush", reconnecting with traditional practices of their culture, which has resulted in a profound change in "healir$ people and changing behaviour'. Narrogin-born Mr Kickett traced the history of the Nyungah people since the earliest days of the Swan River Colony and subsequent government policies of assimilation, the growth of the
Wheatbelt and other settlements that have left the Aboriginal community "stunned". Their problems worsened and they were often "squeezed into" Homeswest housing with little consideration for their personal wellbeing. Highlighting the plight of his people, he said there were 6,000 Aboriginal people in the south west area during the earliest days of the Swan River Colony; by the end of the 19th century there were barely 1,500. Mr Kickett spoke of his success in training locals in Narrogin, an area that was hit with a spate of youth suicides - to recognise signs when people may be moving in a dangerous direction of self-harm. Since he initiated this program 12 months ago - with no government assistance - there have been no suicides there. Event organiser Anna Haebich, Research Intensive Professor at
Griffith University and Visiting fellow with .the University of Notre Dame Australia's Institute For Health and Rehabilitation Research, told The Record that a central message was that in the current policy debate over Aboriginal issues, channelling any government assistance money to people whom the community trust is crucial. "Trust is a very important word in the context of these policy discussions. Aboriginal people are really the agents of change, not victims; Prof Haebich said, adding that government intervention such as that initiated by the Howard Government in the Northern Territory in 2007, often creates a culture of 'the white hero saving the Aborigine, the victim'. "The reality is that so many Aborigines, and their families, are strong. The key is building on Aboriginal strengths and using Aboriginal ways of working:'
December 16 2009, The Record
Page 7
THE NATION
SydneyYoungVinnies"miraculous success' It's been a "miraculously successful" year for Sydney Uni Young Vinnies who serve the homeless community in Sydney's inner city. Bridget Spinks discovered what motivates these 20-somethings to reach out. TWO Saturdays a month, a group of uni students fires up the barbecue in a public park to make breakfast for Sydney's homeless community. They call it "Brekky Van". To have access to the park and funding to buy the eggs, milk and bacon is a dream come true for the revitalised Sydney Uni Young Vinnies (SUYV) club that had to work hard to get the venture off the ground. Initially there was a lack of funding and doubts over whether the uni students could get enough volunteers, but SUYV knew they had to find a way. Once the St Vincent de Paul Society received approval from the City of Sydney Council to hold the event in the proposed public park, the students obtained funding support from the secular campus' union. The University of Sydney Union subsidises the Society for each member that attends the event. But instead of going to the students, this money buys the supFlies for Brekky Van. "Brekky Van wouldn t exist without the support of the Union," says incoming 2010 president and second year arts student, Kieran Walton, 25. From 8.30am, men and women are already assembling in Alfred Park just metres from Sydney's Central station. They're looking forward to the arrival of the van, the barbecue and the students. It doesn't arrive until just after 9. Chris is a volunteer actor with Milk Crate Theatre and living with attention deficit disorder and bipolar. While he describes himself as "extremely creative, extremely imaginative," he says he finds it hard to hold down a job because "little mistakes add up to a big mistake". He came along to Brekky Van because a friend told him about it. That's how people know about it; word of mouth. As soon as the St Vincent de Paul van pulls into the park, the students jump out and unload the barbecue. They fire it up and it's all hands on deck. Apart from budgeting and organisational problems one of Chris's biggest problems is loneliness. "I've been single for 14 years. Mission
Sydney Uni Young Vinnies after Thanksgiving Mass at St Benedict's Broadway with chaplain Fr Dominic Murphy OP. PHOTO. BRIDGET WINKS
Australia help, Milk Crate help but it's not the full package; it never will be; he said. "I don't go to charity unless I need to. I leave it for others who may need it more [than me but] when I do go, I appreciate it." Every day many thousands across Australia live in a state of 'homelessness'. The Australian Bureau of Statistics "does not have a definition for homelessness" but refers to a cultural definition proposed by researchers Chris Chamberlain and David MacKenzie in 1962, which divides 'homelessness' into three main sectors. Primary homeless refers to those without conventional accommodation who "sleep rough" on the city's sidewalks or similar. Secondary and tertiary states of homelessness refer to those who live in boarding houses and those in transitional or emergency temporary accommodation. In August this year, SUYV hosted a "Winter Sleepout" where up to 100 students, young adults, secretaries and graduates "slept rough" under the stars on the engineering lawns on campus. They slept in sleeping bags on nothing but cardboard boxes. They had lettuce and cheese sandwiches for dinner and in the morning, eggs and bacon a la the Brekky Van. Local actors and musicians provided the entertainment including performances by a polynesian soft-rock group, Fasi Moe Afi, and the Milk Crate Theatre. For this, the Young Vinnies Society won the University of Sydney Union Clubs and Societies "Best Major Event" award for 2009. The Winter Sleepout was the "turning
point" for SUYV as "it resonated with people; [they realised] SUYV was a good society to be involved in" Kieran Walton said. "People came [to the Sleepout] who had never been to night patrol and so from there, new students became volunteers; he said. Over the course of the year, SUYV has hosted over ten "night patrols" where the students gather in the middle of the city to provide tea and coffee to the homeless, one Wednesday night a month. The club's chaplain, Fr Dominic Murphy OP, has been to Night Patrol about four times. He primarily goes to provide pastoral support to the students, but has personally been changed by the experience and developed an admiration for the people they serve. "I had lost a friend and I was broken, deeply sad and there were these people who were very worse off and still hanging in there. I felt very much at home with them and inspired, and it helped me lift the grief, they knew what brokenness was; OK some of them were on the street, some of them were in special accommodation but they were still alive people, just boxing on," he says. One evening in September at Night Patrol, the club's president, Winey Suen, organised a "bake-off; The young Vinnies brought homemade cupcakes and muffins and were encouraged to ask for clients' comment on the cooking. "[That night] they had 45 minute pure food conversations. People clicked with the clients," Winey said. As well as hosting the Sleepout, the regu-
Mary MacKillop party formed BY ANTHONY BARICH
National Reporter
A WORKING party has been established to ensure that Blessed Mary MacKillop's expected canonisation in Rome next year will be a "time of grace" for the Catholic Church in Australia. Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart Congregational leader Sr Anne Derwin RSJ explained current arrangements for planning events locally and in Rome surrounding the canonisation when addressing the Australian Bishops' November 23-27 Plenary Meeting at Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney. The working party comprises Gerry Gleeson, who was secretary and permanent head of the New South Wales Premier's Department from 1977-1988, Chancellor of the Archdiocese Fr John Usher and Sr Judith Shippel RSJ, Project Manager of the Canonisation Committee at the Sisters of Joseph's Congregational Administration Centre at North Sydney. The working party is responsible for co-ordinating the planning on behalf of the congregation, the Bishops Conference and the
A portrait of Blessed Mary MacKillop hangs in the museum at Mary MacKillop Place in Sydney. The Fitzroy -born nun co-founded Australia's first Religious order, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, and is on her way to becoming the country's first saint. PHOTO CNS/NANCY WIECHEC
Archdiocese of Sydney. Blessed MacKillop co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph with Fr Julian Tenison Woods in 1866 to
educate poor children in outback settlements. She was beatified by the late Pope John Paul II in 1995. Sr Anne told the Bishops that the postulator of Blessed MacKillop's cause, Sr Maria Casey RSJ, was in Rome at the time for an indefinite period to assist with the ongoing process towards canonisation. In a wide-ranging discussion following Sr Anne's presentation, Australia's Bishops pledged to work with the Sisters to ensure that the canonisation of Australia's first saint would be "a time of grace for the Church in Australia", a December 4 statement by the Bishops said. The canonisation would present "a wonderful opportunity to engage with the community about what it means to live a holy life," the statement said. A Vatican medical board concluded earlier this year that there was "no scientific explanation" for a cure attributed to the intercession of Blessed MacKillop. The current miracle attributed to her intercession was the 1995 cure of a woman suffering from an invasive and inoperable cancer. The first miracle that led to her beatification was the 1961 cure of a woman from leukemia.
lar night patrol and ongoing brekky vans, in March the club organised "Fire Up," an appeal to raise money for those affected by the spate of natural disasters in February; the flooding in Queensland and NSW midnorth coast and the fatal Victorian bushfires. Seventy of the Young Vinnies stood up in lecture theatres to ask for donations. The club raised over $10,000. While SUYV is a club whose origins are the good works of a 16th century French priest, St Vincent de Paul, a number of the students who participate aren't motivated for religious reasons. "No, I don't have a faith - I don't do the work for spiritual reasons. I do it for a commitment to social justice issues. [We're all from] completely different backgrounds, but we're working for the same purpose and same reason,' one of the Vinnies volunteers and outgoing club vice-president, Kate Allsop, 25 said. The way some people living in homelessness can feel isolated or "get lost [in the system]" and the inherent associated sense of "unfairness and injustice" is what motivates her to help with SUYV. It's also the reason why she can see herself working with this issue as a solicitor. "Every time you find out the back story of one of the people we speak to at Night Patrol you realise that their lives up to a point were very similar to yours or your brother's or father's. And you realise that you don't really deserve to be born into the circumstances you've been born into," she said. Kieran Walton, who is motivated by his Catholic faith, first encountered the St Vincent de Paul Society while at school at Patrician Brothers in Blacktown. The work is synonymous with an idea of "service and helping others", he says. "It's an important expression of what we all should try and do: live for others, and serve others; there are plenty of ways you can do that, Vinnies is just one way of doing "If you don't put your faith into action, how do you justify the I Believe?" he says. For their chaplain, Fr Dominic Murphy OP, going to Brekky Van or Night Patrol is an "expression of self-giving love", doing something for the other without any reward. "That's one of the noblest things about a person that makes us who we are; that we give ourselves to the other and in doing that we discover a deep contentment. It's a lovely antidote to the selfishness. Generally, in a materialistic world, you measure yourself by the competition but here are people who can't do that. They stand right outside of that. And here you are connecting with them," he said.
Faithful youth to fight for religious freedom: US Consul BY ANTHONY BARICH
National Reporter
YOUNG people of faith should cherish their religious freedoms and fight to protect them, the United States' Perthbased Consul General Dr Kenneth Chern told an interfaith gathering on December 9. Young Christian Workers national secretary Marie Raheb, who attended the event at Dr Chern's West Perth residence, reported to The Record that the Christmas season was an important time for young people to reflect on the religious freedoms they enjoy and to recognise the efforts of those who have gone before them who fought to protect these freedoms. Dr Chern has held an interfaith meeting annually with youth representatives of many religions since he took up his duties as US Consul General in Perth in August 2007. This year, Miss Raheb, a teacher at St Benedict's Catholic Primary School in Applecross, attended with Catholic Social Justice Council project officer
Terry Quinn, joining representatives of Sikh, Hindu, Bahai, Mormon, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish and Anglican faiths. Participants were aged 16-60, though most were young. Miss Raheb, 28, said that the meeting, with the theme 'Our youth and the future', was a unique opportunity to network with youth movements of other faiths, and said she connected with a Jewish representative with the aim of holding joint dialogue sessions in the future. "It was great to have the opportunity to meet people of different faiths who are doing the same work we're doing in their own communities," Miss Raheb said. She said that youth delegates discussed challenges of youth ministry and shared positive ideas about future undertakings. She said that Dr Chern referenced the US and Australian Constitutions guaranteeing the free expression of religious belief, and an international convention held by the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, which embraces this concept.
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PARISHES
December 16 2009, The Record
Our first Australians and the Archdiocese Here are the two discussion papers by Archbishop Barry Hickey on Aboriginal people and the Catholic Church. Archbishop Hickey, who has a lifetime's interest and concern for Aboriginal Australians, asks that the faithful read and reflect on how our Aboriginal brothers and sisters can be drawn into a Church which has a place for everyone.
Aboriginal inclusion in the Catholic Church
F
rom the earliest days of the Catholic Church in Western Australia our pioneers sought to offer the Christian faith to Aboriginal people. One of the reasons given by Fr John Brady to Pope Pius IX why Perth should be made a Diocese with a bishop was the evangelisation of the Aboriginal people. In 1846 the first Catholic school was opened by the Sisters of Mercy, their first student being a young Aboriginal girl. Bishop Salvado opened an Aboriginal school in New Norcia on 8 December 1847. The outreach to the local indigenous people was the very reason for establishing a Benedictine Monastery at New Norcia! Land and farming skills were offered to many local Aboriginal people to encourage their settlement around the Monastery as happened across Europe. Their mission soon expanded to provide residential care to many Aboriginal children and supplies to the many indigenous people displaced by the spreading of pastoral properties. Soon Catholic Missions were scattered throughout most of Western Australia, particularly in the North-West with Kalumburu, Beagle Bay LaGrange, Lombardina, BaIgo and other smaller centres. In the south, Tardun and later Wandering Mission. Catholic education spread to many areas in the North West where traditional life was still sustainable as in Warnum (was Turkey Creek then) and Halls Creek. Many mission educated Aboriginal people still have fond memories of the missions and love to sing the Latin hymns of their childhood. Times have changed. The number of those with first-hand experience of the missions is dwindling rapidly. H a v i n g reached out to the Aboriginal people and affected their lives profoundly in many ways, the Church should pause and evaluate whether the subsequent generations still cherish their faith and whether they are in close contact with the Church communities, especially the parishes. Their active presence in the Church is, to say the least, patchy. In Broome and some remote communities the Church is still very significant to their lives. In large towns and cities they tend to be on the fringe of Church life, contact diminishing with each new generation. From a Perth perspective, the only one on which I feel qualified to comment, Aboriginal Catholic people are poorly represented in our parishes. They are better represented in our Catholic school system and in various Church Aboriginal ministries. The situation deserves greater scrutiny and consideration. Given that so much effort went into Catholic Missions, one would expect a better continuity of Church participation. Pope John Paul II spoke at Alice Springs about the inclusion of Aboriginal people into the Catholic Church. He spoke of their rightful place in the Church and the need for the Church to receive their gifts of culture, spirituality and faith. This is the challenge that faces us now. Catholic Aboriginal people are still numerous. Their inclusion in Perth in our parishes, organisations and ministries is very limited. It should be otherwise. We have a very active and effective Catholic Aboriginal ministry and excellent social assistance agencies like Daydawn, Djooraminda and Anawim, but their activities do not find any coun-
terparts in parishes. There are distinct services for Aboriginal people. The provision of such services is valid because similar services, and more, are provided for different ethnic groups. Special language Masses, prayer groups and cultural activities of ethnic communities assist their insertion into the life of the Church. Over two or three generations they become less necessary because of the integration of these groups into normal parish life. Provision of special services for Aboriginal people are of such a nature and may be even more necessary today because of the experience of exclusion by many Aboriginal people. The need of the Church to draw Aboriginal people more closely into her parish life is urgent. Church leaders and parish councils might do well to consider some questions: • Why are Aboriginal people so often absent from Parish Masses, from Parish Councils, from Prayer and Study Groups, from social activities and from positions of Church leadership at Parish level? • Is there a reluctance to include them? Is there a reluctance on the part of Aboriginal Catholics to join the Parish community and if so, why? • Does the Parish know how many Aboriginal Catholics live within the Parish boundaries? • What is the situation in Catholic Schools regarding Aboriginal students? Answers to these and other questions will inevitably lead to attempts to remedy the situation. One might be for instance: Conduct a Parish census. Form a reconciliation group. Set up catechesis for Aboriginal children and their parents or relatives, especially for the Sacraments. Invite the Aboriginal people to a Church function. Invite the parents • to utilise the local Catholic school. Form neighbourhood friendship groups with Aboriginal children. A word of caution. It would be a mistake to consider Aboriginal people generally as "the poor". Poverty, even the most abject kind, exists among them even in the city and must be addressed. But to consider all Aboriginal people as poor and needy, this is not the case. To see them only as the objects of welfare assistance is to stigmatise them and to fail them with low expectations. Parish communities are aggregations of equals, called to be brothers and sisters in Christ. It is part of our self-belief that we have received gifts that are to be shared - faith, friendship and love, openness, generosity and support in times of trial. We also have the key gift: the knowledge and love of Jesus. He urges us to share these gifts with others. Catholic Aboriginal people, no less than others, have a right to this experience. Apart from the key role of parishes, distinct Aboriginal Masses and Centres of catechesis and social interaction, other Catholic groups and societies might do well to actively seek Aboriginal membership, conscious that there may well be factors that inhibit the people from making an approach. I strongly urge all Catholic parishes and organisations to do all that is possible to remedy the low level of Aboriginal inclusion in the life of the Church
+ Most Rev B1 Hickey Archbishop of Perth 14 December 2009
Aboriginal disadvantage and the role of the Church
W
hile the Catholic Church has an obligation in human solidarity to support Aboriginal advancement in all fields, the Church believes it has a particular role in what is known as "Aboriginal Disadvantage". We need only recall the lapidary words of "Gaudium et Spes", "the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor and afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well" (G.S. No.1) Too many Aboriginal people are among the poor and afflicted. There is no doubt that Australia's indigenous population is markedly "poor and afflicted, registering abnormally high on nearly all indices of disadvantage, in health, education, rates of imprisonment, premature death and homelessness," to name a few. This is not to say that all Aboriginal people fall into this category. Clearly many have achieved recognition in a variety of fields and are offering leadership to overcome the disadvantaged position of their brothers and sisters. The term "disadvantaged" is a euphemism, but there are few acceptable alternatives. Sutton in his recent book makes the point that the collection of negative social indicators is not simply disadvantage but is better described as "suffering". A woman murdered in domestic violence is not "disadvantaged" but dead, he says. (The Politics of Suffering, p.76.) He goes on to say that efforts to deal with domestic violence so far have been abysmal. One could truly say that most if not all attempts to deal with a whole range of negatives have been disastrous. Have the present government policies been able to deal effec tively with penury, o vercrowding, homelessness, poor education, substance addiction, chronic poor health, sexual abuse, family disintegration, the lack of marriage, the absence of fathers in child rearing, turnstile imprisonment and the lack of core religious and family values? Perhaps they have made them worse. Many commentators have claimed the policy of self-determination followed for the past thirty or forty years has had the opposite effect of what was intended. It was thought that self-determination would produce a new set of cohesive community values and leadership forms to replace the tribal structures that were lost. It was unrealistic to expect this to happen. What cohesive structure could be formed from remnants of a traditional way of life given the fringe conditions they found themselves in? The policy of self-determination for all its good intentions and lofty ideals might well have resulted in a policy of neglect and abandonment. My personal experience of gross disadvantage in the City of Perth is revealing. Of the sixteen or so homeless Aboriginal men and women I have been in almost daily contact with over the past ten years, most left school at year 6, only two reached year 8. They then lived very unstable family lives, moving from place to place till they took to the streets. All of them resort to sniffing or other substances. Only one of them has ever been employed and none of them grew up with their natural father. Their lives are punctuated with police arrests, fines, imprisonment and violence. These beautiful people, capable of great charm and gentleness, some highly intelligent, have in their background abundant reasons for taking to the streets. The key factor in their distress appears
to be family instability and some horrifying experiences in childhood. Their invisibility to the world is for them a refuge and protection from further rejection. There are many things governments can and must do. There are other things they cannot do. It is possible for governments to provide housing and insist on education till the upper secondary levels despite the appalling record. It is possible, even necessary, for governments to offer training and employment opportunities and insist that money be received through work for those who can work. The poor attempts to do so till now do not reflect any serious purpose, nor an understanding of how important work is for self-worth and family functioning. It is possible for Governments to provide health clinics, safe houses, foster care and recovery centres, but they cannot strengthen parental relationships to provide for the safe upbringing of children, nor can they provide any motivation for them to do so. These are spiritual values. They are also the realm of the Church. In this we might discern a proper role for the Church in Aboriginal communities. The Church cannot neglect welfare provisions. One cannot leave people hungry or thirsty without incurring the wrath of God on the last day. Church support services and social justice advocacy are already well developed in many places. But welfare and advocacy are not enough. For a Church that preaches love and fidelity, forgiveness and respect, human dignity, the sacredness of life and the care of children, it must draw Aboriginal people into its culture of life. The Church has a commission to make Christ known and loved, to open hearts to receive his transforming grace and to call people into his Kingdom of love, peace and justice. It is not enough simply to say that the Aborigines are a "spiritual people". That might be so, but it is no excuse for not sharing the wisdom of Jesus Christ. To summarise some of these thoughts about the Church's role in Aboriginal disadvantage; there is much that we are called to do a. To critique publicly the failure of policies that are doing more harm than good. b. To offer within Church structures good education and employment opportunities. c. To be advocates and friends of those whose rights and dignity are being violated. d. To offer across Australia a range of positive helping services - safe-houses for children and women, health clinics, food and shelter for the homeless, addiction clinics, emergency relief and financial help. The list is long. e. In addition, to offer communities of love and friendship by forming prayer groups, mixed if possible, where prayers are said, stories are told, friendships are formed, the words of Jesus are repeated and reconciliation follows. Now that the "Missions" are gone, we need to look at alternative ways of offering the love of God to suffering people. What we offer is beyond welfare, beyond social justice advocacy. It is a home and a place where the love given and received is tangible and real. + Most Rev B1 Hickey Archbishop of Perth 14 December 2009 Illustrations: photos are of the Aboriginal Pathway at the newly refurbished St Mary's Cathedral
December 16 2009, The Record
THE RECORD VISTA
Betrayal For the second time in a decade (the first was in the US in 2002), Pope Benedict has stepped in to take control of the Church at national level to ensure the scandal of clerical sex abuse is dealt with head on. The problem: individuals in privileged positions who were not fit to care for animals were able to abuse children over decades while church leaders refused to address the problem. There are no excuses. BY CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service
p
ope Benedict XVI shares "the outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by Irish Catholics over cases of clerical sexual abuse and the way abuse claims were handled by church leaders, and he plans to write a special pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland, the Vatican said. The letter "will clearly indicate the initiatives that are to be taken in response to the situation," said a statement issued by the Vatican on December 11. The statement was released after the Pope and top Vatican officials spent 90 minutes meeting with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish Bishops' Conference, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. Cardinal Brady said the Pope's letter, which is expected early in January, will outline several initiatives, including public services of repentance for Irish Bishops and priests. "I asked him, in my opening remarks, to teach us, to help us be better shepherds of the people, to lead us on the way of repentance and so, therefore, there will be suggestions about celebrations of lament and repentance involving, first of all, we Bishops and priests," the Cardinal told reporters. Calling a papal pastoral letter to one nation's Catholics "quite a significant document," Archbishop Martin said it would be the beginning of a whole process aimed at "a very significant reorganization of the church in Ireland." "The climate in the Church," which allowed abusers to go unpunished, will only change once there is a renewal, a willingness to publicly accept responsibility for one's actions and greater involvement by laypeople in all areas of church life, the Archbishop said. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the statement summarising the meeting was approved by Pope Benedict and "obviously reflects his style and tone" in discussing revelations about clerical sex abuse. Pope Benedict, the statement said, "was deeply disturbed and distressed" by the contents
Pope Benedict XVI holds up the Book of the Gospels during the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops for Africa in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on October 25. The Gospel will be his authority in cleaning up the sex abuse crisis in the PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING Church in Ireland.
of a report by an independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, which looked at the handling of some 325 abuse claims in the Archdiocese of Dublin in the years 1975-2004. The report concluded that during those years, rather than being concerned about the victims, Catholic leaders were more interested in "the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church and the preservation of its assets." Archbishop Martin said it was
obvious during the meeting that the Pope was deeply ashamed by the report's depiction of clerical sexual abuse of children and the lack of action on the part of Church leaders. "I think anybody who has read that report, no matter how much they knew about the problems in the Church in Dublin, in Ireland or anywhere in the world, anybody with any sense of decency would be ashamed. And he (the Pope) said it himself," the Archbishop said. Describing acts of clerical sexual abuse as "heinous crimes,"
the statement said Pope Benedict asked Catholics to join him in praying for the victims. The Pope wanted "once more to express his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims and their families, and by society at large," the statement said. "The Holy Father shares the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland, and he is united with them in prayer at this difficult
Two reports, same sickening picture
congregations. The Ryan Report found physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse to be rife within the institutions run by Catholic men's and women's religious orders. •The Murphy Report received information about complaints, suspicions or knowledge of child sexual abuse in respect of 183 priests of the Archdiocese of Dublin. • While a significant number of the priests against whom allegations were made admitted child sexual abuse, some denied it. Of those investigated by the Commission, one priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another accepted that he had abused on a fortnightly basis during the currency of his ministry which lasted for over 25 years. • The Murphy Report found the majority of abuse was homosexual in nature, with the victim ratio running at 2.3 boys to 1 girl. • The Murphy Report flatly rejected statements by Irish Church leaders implying that the volume of allegations was a surprise. "Officials of the Archdiocese of Dublin and other Church authorities have repeatedly
claimed to have been, prior to the late 1990s, on "a learning curve" in relation to the matter. Having completed its investigation, the Commission does not accept the truth of such claims and assertions," the Dublin Commission said in its final report. • While the Murphy Report found some improvement in Archdiocesan responses dating from 1996, its description of the Dublin Archdiocese's handling of complaints, allegations and confirmed cases of abusing clerics can only be described as damning: "The Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The Archdiocese did not implement its own canon law and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the State."
T
he report of the Dublin ArchdioceseCommission of Investigation, also known as the Murphy Report, is the subject of Pope Benedict's action and forthcoming special pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland. It sets out a shocking pattern of abuse of children it found to be "widespread" in the Archdiocese of Dublin during the period of investigation from 1975 to 2004. The Report was presented to the Irish Justice Minister, Dermot Ahern, in November but only published last week. It follows on from the separate and equally shocking Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, generally known as the Ryan Report. The Ryan Report was primarily an investigation of the treatment of many thousands of children, over many decades, in residential institutions, including industrial schools, run by various Religious orders and
- Source: Report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation
time in the life of the Church," it said. The Vatican "takes very seriously the central issues" raised by the Murphy Report, including the report's questions concerning the governance of local Church leaders with ultimate responsibility for the pastoral care of children,' the statement said. Father Lombardi said Pope Benedict "does not want this swept under the carpet," but wants the Church to deal with the problem and, in the letter he will write, will indicate ways that could be done. The Jesuit said the Pope's letter would not be "just a letter of consolation or regret," but would try to help the Church in Ireland move forward while ensuring that such a betrayal of its mission would never occur again. The Vatican statement said Pope Benedict "assures all concerned that the Church will continue to follow this grave matter with the closest attention in order to understand better how these shameful events came to pass and how best to develop effective and secure strategies to prevent any recurrence." Father Lombardi declined to discuss the possible resignation of any Irish Bishop. He said the Vatican has a specific process for handling Bishops' resignations and that it was not part of the December 11 meeting. Irish news agencies had been reporting that Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, a former auxiliary Bishop of Dublin and the only still-active Bishop listed in the Murphy Report, had travelled to Rome earlier in the week to meet with Vatican officials. The press reports said Bishop Murray was expected to resign in the wake of the report's criticism of his "inexcusable handling of an investigation of a pedophile priest. Cardinal Brady said Bishop Murray had met recently with officials of the Congregation for Bishops "and we await further developments." Both Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin said it was clear that the Pope and all the Vatican officials present at the meeting had been following very closely the situation in Ireland and the sex abuse scandal in other countries. Father Lombardi said the top five officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State participated in the meeting: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of state; Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states; Archbishop Fernando Filoni, who is in charge of the general affairs section; Mgr Ettore Balestrero, undersecretary for relations with states; and US Mgr Peter B Wells, assessor for general affairs. The Vatican Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, was part of the meeting as were the heads of four Vatican congregations: Cardinal William J Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy; and Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Vis-r 2 Papal preacher says church must acknowledge weakness of some priests
Father Ranier° Cantalamessa
BY CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -Just a few hours before Pope Benedict XVI met with Irish bishops to discuss the clerical sex abuse crisis, the preacher of the papal household told him and other Vatican officials that as a matter of justice the church must publicly admit the weakness of some of its priests. But more is needed to renew the priesthood, said Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, giving his weekly Advent meditation on December 11. Father Cantalamessa said priests are called to be "the sweet perfume of Christ in the world," but - as St. Paul said - "We hold this treasure in earthen vessels," which can break easily. "From recent painful and humiliating experience, we know all too well what this means," the preacher said. The Capuchin spoke in the "Redemptorist Mater" Chapel of the Apostolic Palace less than three hours before the pope convened a meeting with Vatican officials, Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. The pope called the meeting to discuss a November 26 report detailing how church officials mishandled claims of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin and failed to assist the victims. Father Cantalamessa quoted Pope Benedict's June letter for the Year for Priests: "What is most helpful to the church in such cases is not only a frank and complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realization of the greatness of God's gift, embodied in the splendid example of generous pastors, religious afire with love for God and for souls, and insightful, patient spiritual guides. The preacher said, "Naturally, making the weaknesses public also must be done in order to bring justice to the victims, and the church now recognizes this and does so as best it can." However, he said, acknowledOng weakness is not enough to 'launch a renewal of priestly ministry." Renewal will come only from the prayers of priests themselves and all the faithful and from a renewed commitment by all priests to devoting themselves totally to serving God and their brothers and sisters, he said.
December 16 2009, The Record V ISTA
Irish abuse crisis
Irish Christian Brothers to donate $243 million to help abuse victims
Little room for doubt left as leaders begin to pay cost of ambiguity Dublin church leaders made 'mental reservations' in abuse cover-ups BY CIAN MOLLOY Catholic News Service DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) When is a lie not a lie? In addition to exposing how child abuse was concealed and perpetuated in the Dublin Archdiocese, a recent report raises questions about the interpretation of Catholic moral teaching on the Eighth Commandment and mental reservations. The report of the independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, said a mental reservation permits a church official knowingly to convey a misleading impression to another person without being guilty of lying. The report on how allegations of clerical child abuse were handled in the Dublin Archdiocese gave the following example: "John calls (on) the parish priest to make a complaint about the behavior of one of his curates. The parish priest sees him coming but does not want to see him because he considers John to be a troublemaker. He sends another of his curates to answer the door. John asks the curate if the parish priest is in. The curate replies that he is not. This is clearly untrue but in the church's view it is not a lie, because, when the curate told John that the parish priest was not in, he mentally reserved to himself the words 'to you,— the report said. In his evidence to the commission, Cardinal Desmond Connell, who served as archbishop of Dublin 1988-2004, explained, the concept: "The general teaching about mental reservation is that you are not
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland, speaks to the media outside St Peter's Square in Rome on December 11. The church leaders met earlier that day with Pope Benedict XVI to discuss a report issued in Ireland on clerical sexual abuse. PHOTO: CNSiPAUL HARING
permitted to tell a lie. On the other hand, you may be put in a position where you have to answer, and there may be circumstances in which you can use an ambiguous expression realizing that the person who you are talking to will accept an untrue version of whatever it may be ...." "It really is a matter of trying to deal with extraordinarily difficult matters that may arise in social relations where people may ask questions that you simply cannot answer," he told the commission. "Everybody knows that this kind of thing is liable to happen. So, mental reservation is, in a sense, a way of answering without lying." Andrew Madden and Marie Collins, two abuse victims who campaigned for the Commission of Inquiry to be established, told the commission how mental reservations were used in their cases.
Madden was the first Irish clerical abuse survivor to go
public. In 1995 he said the Dublin Archdiocese had paid him compensation for being abused by Father Ivan Payne and that the priest was still in parish ministry and in contact with children. The Murphy Report, as the commission's report has become known, said that during a meeting in 2003, Cardinal Connell apologized for his handling of the Father Payne case. "He was, however, at pains to point out to Mr. Madden that he did not lie about the use of diocesan funds in meeting Father Payne's settlement with Mr. Madden," the report said. The cardinal "explained that when he was asked by journalists about the use of diocesan funds for the compensation of complainants of child sexual abuse, he had responded that diocesan funds 'are' not used for such a purpose; that he had not said that diocesan funds 'were' not used for such a purpose. By using the present tense, he
had not excluded the possibility that diocesan funds had been used for such purpose in the past. According to Mr. Madden, Cardinal Connell considered that there was an enormous difference between the two." In Collins' case, after her abuser was convicted in 1997, the archdiocese issued a press statement claiming that it had cooperated with police in relation to her complaint, a claim that upset her deeply. The report said a friend of Collins, Father James Norman, told police that he asked the archdiocese about the statement and the explanation he received was that "we never said we cooperated 'fully," placing emphasis on the word 'fully:" "The American phrase, 'don't ask, don't tell' is appropriate to describe the attitude of the Dublin Archdiocese to clerical sex abuse for most of the period covered; the report said. "The problem as a whole never seems to have been discussed openly by the archbishop and his auxiliaries, at least until the 1990s. Complainants were told as little as possible. The note 'Gain his knowledge, tell him nothing' for dealing with complainants and witnesses, typifies the attitudes of the archdiocese; Under the heading "Coverup," the report said: "As can be seen clearly from the case histories, there is no doubt that the reaction of church authorities to reports of clerical child sexual abuse, in the early years of the commission's remit, was to ensure that as few people as possible knew of the individual priest's problem. There was little or no concern for the welfare of the abused child or for the welfare of other children who might come into contact with the priest. Complainants were often met with denial, arrogance and cover-up and with incompetence and incomprehension in some
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John Kelly, shown gesticulating in the photo at left and holding the executive summary of a report by the Commission t o Inquire Into Child Abuse, above, says he was abused while in Daingean Reformatory between 1965 and 1967. He was speaking to the media in Dublin, Ireland, in May when the report, known as the Ryan Report, was released.
Boys eat in a massive dining hall, above, capable of holding more than 800 students at the Artane Industrial School in Dublin, Ireland, in this undated photo. The photo was contained in a 2,600-page report released in Ireland in May by the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse.
PHOTO: CNS/CATHAL MCNAUGHTON, REUTERS
BY MICHAEL KELLY
Catholic News Service
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) - The Irish Christian Brothers announced plans in late November to contribute A$243 million for assistance to victims of abuse in government schools and orphanages run by the congregation. "We understand and regret that nothing we say or do can turn back the clock for those affected by abuse," said Brother Edmund Garvey, a member of the congregation's leadership team, on November 25. "Our fervent hope is that the initiatives now proposed will assist in the provision of support services to former residents of the institutions as well as the facilities, resources and scope to protect, cherish and educate present and future generations of children." Figures reviewed by a governmentappointed assessment panel show that the brothers' total contribution amounts to 67 per cent of their assets. The remainder of the assets will be used to continue the congregation's work educating 37,000 young people in 96 schools around Ireland and for the welfare of brothers.
Boys operate laundry machines at the Artane Industrial School in Dublin, Ireland, in this undated photo contained in the Ryan Report.
cases:'
PHOTO: CNS/COMMISSION TO INQUIRE INTO CHILD ABUSE
Sisters of Mercy pledge $191 million to compensate the victims BY CIAN MOLLOY Catholic News Service DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) One result of the Ryan Report
into Irish government schools
schools run by Catholic religious orders is that Ireland's Sisters of Mercy have pledged to contribute an additional A$191 million to compensate victims of abuse. That equals the amount that
18 religious orders - including the Sisters of Mercy - agreed to pay under terms of a 2002 deal with the Irish government. The Christian Brothers announced in late November they would contribute an additional A$239 million. Four other religious congregations have also announced additional contributions. In May, an independent commission on child abuse issued a report that said a climate of fear created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment permeated most of Ireland's residential care institutions for children and all those run for boys from 1940 through to the 1970s. The
report also said that in several institutions managed by the Christian Brothers, sexual abuse of boys was a chronic problem. Following a June 4 meeting with the Irish prime minister and other government ministers, the 18 orders agreed to an independent audit of their assets, so their ability to pay further compensation could be determined. More than 10,000 former residents of religious-run institutions in Ireland allege they were abused while in care. Irish Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said he would not comment on the offer from the religious orders until all
offers from congregations had been received. Details of the additional compensation packages have been posted on Web sites belonging to the various orders, which also reiterated apologies for having failed the children in their care. The remaining orders were expected to publish their compensation packages by midDecember. Once all the packages are announced, a government panel will study the asset reports of each of the orders to assess if the compensation is acceptable. - Contributing to this story was Michael Kelly.
Faces of a crisis: Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland and Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, above, address the media just outside St Peter's Square in Rome on December 11. PHOTO CNS/PAUL HARING
Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, left, who is facing calls for his resignation in the wake of the PUBLIC ACCESS IMAGE Murphy report released on November 26. A clearly affected Dermot Ahern, Ireland's minister for justice, equality and law reform, pauses as he addresses the media on November 26 after the release of a report detailing failures of church leaders' handling of sex abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The report, also known as the Murphy Report, has resulted in calls for bishops' resignations and further investigations and prosecution. PHOTO: CNS/CATHAL MCNAUGHTON, REUTERS
The brothers are the first congregation to announce their new contribution. The Christian Brothers' latest contribution includes a donation of 30 million euros to a government trust plus an additional 4 million euros to counseling services for victims. It will also involve the transfer of Catholic schools' athletic fields, valued at 127 million euros, into the joint ownership of the government and a voluntary Catholic schools trust. Under the terms of a 2002 deal with the Irish government, the 18 religious congregations received indemnity from being sued by victims in exchange for contributing 128 million euros to a victims compensation fund. Irish Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said he would not comment until all other offers had been received.
Vista 4
December 16 2009, The Record
THE PARISH
The Gatt Line is ready
Jesuit's response to Amnesty travesty to fight for life Benenson Society to oppose coerced abortions after Amnesty supported legalised abortion BY ANTHONY BARICH
National Reporter
Father Michael Gatt smiles for the camera during a recent visit to The Record office. Fr Gatt's annual Christmas LifeLine,manned by the well known priest and fellow Osborne Park p[arishioners, is now in its 18th year and will once again reach out to those who are alone or troubled at Christmas, a time that is meant to be see people come together and be happy. PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
W
hile the Gatt-Life-Line may have progressed to adulthood, its founder Fr Michael Gatt says that the need for it is greater than ever as he prepares to man the phones over Christmas. Heading into its eighteenth year of operation, the Parish Priest and five of his St Kieran's Osborne Park parishioners will answer over 100 calls in the Christmas and New Year period, if previous years are any guide. Callers ring up for a varie-
ty of reasons, Fr Gatt told The Record, including loneliness, anxiety, thoughts of suicide, addiction and family disputes which tend to intensify at this time of year. Despite the challenges involved, Fr Gatt describes operating the Gatt-Life-Line as "my favourite time of the year"; an opportunity to connect with people who need help and to make, often lifelong associations with people in followup work. That work is varied and engag-
ing, he said, and once involved a desperate call at lam from a woman searching for a way to pickup her children from an access visit that had gone wrong. Fr Gatt said he was still in friends with a Brisbane woman whom he helped face a shoplifting charge 30 years ago, keeping in regular phone contact. The Gatt-Life-Line will be in operation between ??? and ??? and can be accessed by calling 08 9444 1334 or 9444 8650 or by emailing gattline@bigpond.com.
A new organisation formed by a Jesuit priest in direct response to Amnesty International's acceptance of abortion has been launched in Melbourne. The Benenson Society, founded by Chris Middleton SJ late in 2007 after Amnesty International and its Australian branch widened their focus and adopted a pro abortion policy despite public calls by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference not to do so, was launched at the Thomas Carr Centre in Melbourne on December 10 by Fr Tony Kerin, Episcopal Vicar for Justice in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. The Benenson Society says it will oppose any policies of women being forced to have abortions, as sometimes practised in China, and oppose the use of rape as a weapon of war, as perpetrated in Darfur. While AI changed its policy of neutrality on the appropriate public policy in addressing abortion, the Benenson Society will maintain this policy of neutrality, "leaving it to the conscience and judgment of its members as how best to reduce abortion rates", a statement on its website said. Named after London-born Peter Benenson, the Catholic lawyer who founded Amnesty International, the society's aim is
to provide its members, especially students, with the opportunity to be involved in the promotion of human rights by lobbying governments on behalf of prisoners of conscience, for the end of torture and the death penalty; and asserting the rights of all to basic freedoms. The Benenson Society's symbol is a stylised white rose, inspired by the White Rose Society, a group of Catholic and Protestant students and teachers at Munich University who opposed Nazism with letters and pamphlets, with six of them paying the ultimate price of being guillotined for their stand for human rights. A membership lapel pin will soon be made available. Exiled politician Clovis Alidor Mwamba, a member of parliament of the Democratic Republic of Congo, described at the launch his fight for human rights and the Rule of Law in the DRC, his imprisonment, death threats, his torture at the hands of government soldiers, offers of inducements and bribes to stop his fight for democratic rule, his escape and recent resettlement in Australia. Fr Tony Kerin said that the opportunity for students to advocate for human rights is a vital learning experience. "They will quickly become aware of the influence and value of letter writing campaigns both for the encouragement it gives to political prisoners knowing that someone cares about them; and for the positive influence a number of letters can have on even the most ruthless of governments," Fr Kerin said. The society's website is www. benensonsociety.org.
Muslim Afghan refugee's work celebrated in St Mary's continuedfrom page 1 wife though she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Mehdi spent five and a half months at Curtin Detention Centre, located on the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) base north of Broome, WA before being granted a visa, and has now started a family with Joanne, an Irish woman. Though he keeps in touch with his family by phone, they are scattered throughout the Middle East. He has not seen them since he left on his own, but hopes one day to bring them all to Australia. His wealthy father ran a transport business until fighting broke out in the country over 15 years ago and he lost his job. His oldest brother Nik Qadem became a working and teaching artist after completing university and military service. Another older brother, Abbas, also took up art, but later gave it up under pain of death to become a panel beater. In 1996, the Muslim fundamentalist group the Taliban had taken control of Afghanistan's government and ruled until the 2001 United States-led invasion drove it from power. These six years proved tragic for Medhi's family, which belongs to the Hazara ethnic minority. Once the Taliban, of the Pashtun ethnic group, came to power, life became tough. As his oldest brother Nic Qadem, who taught him sculpting, also taught classical art which included the Christian-inspired Renaissance art, his whole fam-
Josephite Sisters Joan Lift Katherine Hitchcock, Anita Gallagher, Gemma Scott, Pauline Morgan, Margaret Kane, Kathryn Summerfield (top row), Julian Della Franca, Maureen Hodge, Eileen Johnson and Gail Lambert (bottom row) with the image of their foundress. PHOTOS: ANTHONY BARICH
ily was charged with preaching Christianity - though they are Muslims. Though his family spent much time moving from place to place in hiding, his brother Nik Qadem was found, prosecuted and executed by shooting. "The same thing would have happened to me if I had stayed there," said Mehdi, who has forged an impressive reputation in WA as a sculptor artist, though depicting living things is against Islamic doctrine which would have made him
a Taliban target back home. He was commissioned by Aquila Estate's cellar door outlet in Carabooda, WA and has been awarded many public contracts and private commissions, including his latest, by Perth Archbishop Hickey himself. When Mehdi drew a sketch of St Joseph from what he'd learned as a child of the saint as the father of Christ, who in the Muslim faith is a highly regarded prophet, the Archbishop loved it. Mehdi also crafted the image of Blessed Mary MacKillop above
the statue of Joseph the Worker. Sister Pauline Morgan, head of the WA Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, told The Record after the ceremony that the Sisters were "really pleased" that their foundress received pride of place in Perth's Mother Church. "With the imminent canonisation of Mary MacKillop, it's important that people know about her," said Sr Pauline, who was appointed was WA leader of the congregation in March 2008. The Sisters are preparing for her
expected canonization in Rome in 2010. Perth is one of the few places Blessed MacKillop did not visit, though she did set foot in Albany, in the south-west of WA. In her last 'sending out', Mary MacKillop sent a group of her Sisters to the monastic town of New Norcia in WA to teach in 1906. Archbishop Hickey said during the December 13 blessing of the statue at the Cathedral that St Joseph is more than the man charged with bringing up Jesus significant though that role was. "There is much biblical importance to him, as the prophecy in the Old Testament said that the Messiah would come from the House of David:' Archbishop Hickey said. "He enabled the prophecy to be fulfilled. Jesus, belonging to the House of David, would inherit the throne of David forever." During the service, Archbishop Hickey handed all the contract workers who had worked on the Cathedral a pouch containing a medal inscribed with his signature and an image of the Cathedral. During a special acknowledgement of the workers, the Archbishop said that the project became a labour of love for many of them, and some had told him personally that it was a privilege to work on such a sacred building. "The workers took great pains to finish it in the best possible way," he said, "with love, skill and devotion, as they knew it was a sacred building. "It was with great joy that they brought it to completion."
December 16 2009, The Record
Kids bitz ARTISTS WEEK Julia Broadhurst, 6 years old, of Carine
CHILDREN MRS LYNCH'S KINDY CLASS HOLY ROSARY SCHOOL DOUBLEVIEW t aa,etiniott LLUSTRATINQ I On the weekend Mrs Lynch went to visit Peter Kendall. Peter Kendall is an artist and illustrator of lots of children's books. He also draws pictures of People. Mrs Lynch bought two books from him. One was called `The House That Sneezed' and the other was called 'A Sausage Went for a Walk'. I had a go at drawing a picture from one of the books. Learning Areas: English and Art
"My mum in God's garden"
My favourite book is "A Sausage Went for a Walk' My favourite port is the egg flying. 1
Glordaha Marra ILLUSTRATING On the weekend Mrs Lynch went to visit Peter Kendall. Peter Kendall is an artist and illustrator of lots of children's books. He also draws pictures of People. Mrs Lynch bought two books from him. One was called 'The House That Sneezed' and the other was called A Sausage Went for a Walk' I had a go at drawing a picture from one of the hooks. Learning Areas; English and Art
SPOTLIGHT ON SAINTS ST JUDOC Judoc, sometimes called Josse, (d 668) was the son of the king of Brittany. Instead of living as a prince, he decided to become a religious and was ordained a priest around 636. After he made a pilgrimage to Rome, he made the decision to live as a hermit near the mouth of the Canche River. Later, the name of the river was changed to the St Josse. After his death, his body remained incorrupt. According to tradition, Charlemagne allowed the hermitage of Josse to be used as a shelter and stopping place for travellers. We honoured him on December 13
PUZZLE John had a ministry of Baptism, but people of Bible times had many occupations. Using the hints, fill in the blanks to match the people with their professions: I tax collector silversmith tentmaker fisherman coppersmith tanner 1. Paul (Acts 18:1-3) 2. Matthew (Matthew 9:9-11) 3. Simon (Acts 9:43) 4. Demetrius (Acts 19:24) 5. Alexander (2 Timothy 4:14) .uawaysij .9 6. Simon Peter (Matthew 4:18-19) -Jaddo) .s iowsianlis xel .E 'Jauuel 'Ja)lewua I :siamsuv
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My favourite book is "A Sausage Went for a Walk'. Iliked it because the sausage slipped away with t he toast.
BIBLE ACCENT: Luke, who wrote one of the four Gospels, was a travelling companion of Paul's, 0,even when Paul was left alone by some of his other fellow missionaries. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul refers to Luke as the "beloved physician." Because of the similarity of writing style, most scholars believe that Luke also was the author of the Acts of the Apostles, especially because of the knowledge of the ministry of Paul that is evident in that book. Luke opens his Gospel with an introduction where he says he wrote his narrative based on reports of eyewitnesses and by consulting many historical records. Where the Gospel recounts the life of Jesus, the Book of Acts records important events of the beginning of the Church. .
CHILDREN'S STORY JOHN PREACHES ABOUT THE MESSIAH, REPENTANCE By Joe Sarnicola Fifteen years had passed since the beginning of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. And the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, while he was in the desert. John travelled across all of the Jordan calling for everyone to repent and to be baptised. By so doing, John was fulfilling the words of Isaiah that had been foretold many years before, when he wrote, "A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." John was not always polite when he proclaimed his message. "You brood of vipers!" he said. "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance. ... Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." When the people heard John's words, they were afraid, so they asked him, "What then should we do?" John answered, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." When some tax collectors came to be baptised by John, they also asked, "Teacher, what should we do?" And John said to them, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed." To the soldiers, John said, "Do not practise extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages." Because of the things John said and did, rumours started to spread that he was the Messiah. When John learned of this he said, "I am baptising you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire." After this, John did not always preach a message of repentance. He also preached about the good news that the Messiah was coming soon. And one day, when John was baptising people Jesus came to be baptised as well. When this happened, heaven opened up, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended on Jesus and a voice from the sky proclaimed, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." READ MORE ABOUT IT: Luke 3
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December 16 2009, The Record
THE WORLD
Pope resumes Vietnam diplomacy amidst intimidation, violence against Catholics
Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi, Vietnam, attends a Mass as part of the holy year celebration outside a Catholic church near Hanoi on November 23. The Catholic Church in Vietnam marked the 350th anniversary of the establishment of its first two apostolic vicariates and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of its first dioceses. Right, Nuns hold candles while taking part in the opening ceremony of the holy year celebration outside a Catholic church near Hanoi, Vietnam, that same day. PHOTOS: CNS
For first time, Vietnamese president meets Pope, top Vatican officials VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI's meeting with Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet marked an important step toward normalising relations with the communist nation, said the Vatican. The encounter on December 11 was the first time a president of communist Vietnam met with the Pope and high-ranking Vatican officials. Pope Benedict and President Triet spent 40 minutes in closeddoor talks discussing "cooperation between church and state" and the current international situation, particularly "the commitment of Vietnam and the Holy See in the multilateral field," said a Vatican statement. The Vatican was pleased with the visit as it marked "a significant stage in the progress of bilateral relations with Vietnam:' the statement said, adding that it hoped "outstanding questions
may be resolved as soon as possible:' President Triet had told an Italian newspaper earlier that his government wanted to establish diplomatic ties with the Vatican. "We are working to open diplomatic relations with the Vatican," he said in an interview with Corriere della Sera published on December 8. Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City told the Asian church news agency UCA News on December 10 that many people would like to see the two countries establish ties soon. He said there have been goodwill gestures recently between the two sides, which have created the right conditions for closer relations. The Vatican and Vietnam have not had diplomatic relations since 1975 when the country was reunified under Communist rule. At that time, the government severed ties with the Vatican and confiscated Church property. Despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, Vatican diplomats make annual visits to Vietnam to discuss Church-State relations and specific questions related to the appointment of
Bishops, seminary enrolment and the functioning of Catholic institutions. The Vatican and Vietnam established a formal committee to discuss diplomatic relations after Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met Pope Benedict in January 2007, which marked the first time a prime minister from Vietnam's communist government met the Pope and top officials from the Vatican's Secretariat of State. There are continued restrictions on Catholic life in the country and the Vietnamese government continues to insist on approving candidates for Bishop before the Pope names them officially. UCA News reported that the Vietnamese government has slowly relaxed some of its religious restrictions since Prime Minster Dung's visit to the Vatican in 2007. The news agency said local church and government officials have begun to have constructive talks concerning religious and social issues. Local Church officials have been hoping that the establishment of formal diplomatic relations will translate into more freedom for the local Church.
Cardinal Man told the Romebased missionary news agency AsiaNews that his diocese has been able to rebuild and run more than 190 facilities such as kindergartens, vocational schools and charities and that the diocese's major seminary has 180 seminarians and 300 priestly candidates. The people's attitude toward the Church has shifted from hostility to its being seen as "an organisation that could serve the people and help in the nation's development:' Cardinal Man said. However, government force and intimidation are still levied against some religious groups, AsiaNews said. Church property has been seized and Religious and laypeople have been threatened or attacked for not following government orders, it added. In September, government authorities in central Vietnam erected a wall around a small school that had been built by local Catholics after it was used by the local parish for catechetical purposes. Police used force to prevent Catholics from leading and attending catechism classes at the building. Bishop Paul Bui Van Doc of My
Tho said Church leaders "need concrete instructions from the Holy See when being confronted with sensitive issues in which a tiny mistake would cause enormous damages to the Church and country," AsiaNews reported. When the Vatican intervened last February to discourage church-led protests on the grounds of the former apostolic nunciature in Hanoi, the government returned the building to the Catholic Church. Cardinal Man told the Vatican news agency Fides on December 11 that he hoped the Vietnamese president's meeting with the Pope would result in greater harmony among all people in Vietnam. The Church hopes that Vietnam may become "a new human community where truth. love, justice and peace reign:' he said. According to a Vietnam News Agency report, Vietnam has six state-recognised religions and more than 20 million believers, half of whom are Buddhists. Catholics comprise the next-largest group at more than six million people, just slightly more than seven percent of the population.
UK Equality Bill threatens priesthood English, Welsh Bishops say Equality Bill redefines who can be priest BY SIMON CALDWELL Catholic News Service LONDON - The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales said they could be at risk of prosecution under a proposed law unless they accept women, sexually active gays and transsexuals as candidates to the priesthood. They made their claims in a briefing for Catholic members of the House of Lords, Britain's upper political chamber, ahead of a scheduled December 15 debate on the Equality Bill, which aims to stamp out discrimination in the workplace. The Bishops said the bill defines priests as employees rather than officeholders. Under the terms of the bill, the Church would be immune from prosecution only if priests spend
A newly ordained priest blesses his sister at Sacred Heart Cathedral in New York in June. The Bishops of England and Wales say that an Equality Bill currently before Parliament could send Bishops to prison and threatens the priesthood. PHOTO: CNS
more than 51 percent of their time in worship or explaining doctrine. According to the briefing, a copy of which was obtained by CNS on December 8, the government definition will, in effect, make it "unlawful to require a Catholic priest to be male, unmarried or not in a civil partnership, etc, since no priest would be able to demon-
strate that their time was wholly or mainly spent either leading liturgy or promoting and explaining doctrine". "The bill fails to reflect the time priests spend in pastoral work, private prayer and study, administration, building maintenance, etc," the briefing said. "This contentious definition
was drafted without consultation and has been maintained by the government despite the concerns of the Bishops' Conference and representations made by most religious bodies in the UK.' The Bishops asked Catholic lords to try to either strike out the contentious definition or widen it to protect priests and lay employees "whose credibility ... would be fatally compromised if their personal lives were openly at variance with the Church's teaching:' In a December 8 statement given to CNS, a government spokesman rejected the claims of the Bishops, saying that an exemption "covers ministers of religion such as Catholic priests:' An amendment to the bill to protect the liberty of the churches was voted down in the House of Commons in November. The bill is likely to become law early next year. Richard Kornicki, the Bishops' parliamentary coordinator, told CNS in a December 8 phone interview that the Bishops believe it is not possible to meet the criteria of the government defini-
tion of a priest. According to legal advice received by the Bishops, he said, this could lead to legal actions for sex discrimination if the church rejected women, married men, gays in civil partnerships or transsexuals who asked to join the priesthood. "The government is saying that the Church cannot maintain its own beliefs in respect of its own priests:' he said. Neil Addison, a Catholic lawyer who heads the Thomas More Legal Centre which specialises in religious discrimination law, said that in the worst-case scenario the Church could not only be sued but Bishops could face imprisonment and unlimited fines and Church assets could be sequestered. He said the bill would have the effect of making it impossible for the Bishops to discipline clergy who wanted to live "alternative lifestyles:' Earlier, the Bishops said the bill could force Catholic schools and health care institutions to remove crucifixes from their walls in case they offend non-Christian employees.
December 16 2009, The Record
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THE WORLD
Russian alliance to save Europe's soul Ecumenical allies? Orthodox, Catholics take aim at European secularism BY JOHN THAVIS
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY - For years, the Vatican has suggested that a promising area of ecumenical cooperation was a joint struggle by Christian churches against the moral and social challenges posed by a predominantly secular society. Now the Russian Orthodox Church has come forward to propose a strategic alliance with the Catholic Church aimed, in effect, at saving Europe's soul from "Western post-Christian humanism". The offer came in an introduction written by Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion to a book of speeches by Pope Benedict XVI on Europe's spiritual crisis, published in Russian by the Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate. In an unusual move, the Vatican newspaper published almost the entire introduction in its December 2 edition. Archbishop Hilarion, who is president of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, took a combative tone in his text. He denounced the "militant secularism" adopted by an increasingly united Europe, warned that reliFion was being closed off in the 'ghetto" of private devotion, and urged Christians to confront their governments on issues like abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage - even to the point of civil disobedience. Archbishop Hilarion's proposal came as 140 Christian leaders in the United States met in New York and issued the "Manhattan Declaration" pledging renewed zeal
Pope Benedict XVI greets Bishop Tichon, head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Central and Western Europe, during his general audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican on October 21. Right, An Orthodox priest leads a service at the PHOTOS: CNS Cathedral of Life-Giving Trinity in Perm, Russia, on December 6.
in defending the unborn, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and protecting religious freedom. The Manhattan Declaration, too, urged non-compliance and perhaps even civil disobedience when Christians are asked to participate in acts like abortion, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia. There were many parallels in the Russian Orthodox initiative, along with one big difference: the Russian Orthodox Church, in the words of Archbishop Hilarion, speaks with the moral authority and practical experience of survival under communism. That chapter of ideological repression has similarities with what's happening to religion in Western Europe today, he said. "For religion, militant secularism is just as dangerous as militant atheism was. Both tend to exclude religion from the public and political sphere, relegating it to a ghetto, confinin§, it to the area of private devotion, he said.
The Archbishop added that in modern Europe the "unwritten rules of political correctness" are increasingly applied to religious institutions, to the point that believers can no longer express their religious convictions publicly because it would be considered a violation of the rights of nonbelievers. Archbishop Hilarion said Europe's political unification had brought with it the risk of a new pan-European "dictatorship" that would impose a single model of secular humanistic values on all European countries. The process has been abetted by the Western media, he said, which focus almost exclusively on the scandals and shortcomings of Christian churches and ignore their spiritual richness and social contributions. He suggested that this may be part of a wider design of intimidation and "progressive marginalisation of Christianity from society, up to its complete expulsion." The Russian Orthodox view is
that the religious beliefs of the population of each state should be reflected in its legislation. For Christian populations, that would mean rejection of practices like euthanasia, homosexual marriage, pornography and prostitution, he said. He noted that the Russian Orthodox Church has taken strong public positions against abortion, surrogate motherhood, artificial insemination and sex-change operations. It's crucial, he said, that churches have the right not only to hold these beliefs but also to profess them in society and influence public policy, without being accused of intolerance. In case of a conflict between the Church's moral teachings and civil law, the Christian must have the right to follow his religious beliefs, Archbishop Hilarion said. In particular, he said, when a civil law contradicts divine law on an essential matter, it "ceases to be law and becomes illegal." When respecting such a law would force the Christian to corn-
Dutch euthanasia architect admits mistake Former Dutch Health Minister admits error of legalising euthanasia AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (LifeSiteNews.com) - The former Dutch minister who successfully promoted the legalisation of euthanasia has now admitted that the government's move was a mistake, and says that they should have first focused on palliative care. Els Borst, who served as Health Minister for the Netherlands from 1994 to 2002, proposed the country's infamous euthanasia bill. When it passed in 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia. In 2008, Dutch doctors reported 2,331 cases of euthanasia, 400 cases of assisted suicide, and 550 deaths without request. Borst drew criticism from some Christian political parties shortly after the passage of her bill for comments she made in an interview. Echoing Christ's final words on the Cross, Borst exclaimed: "It is finished" Now, however, she thinks the government acted too soon, as she told Dr Anne-Mei in the inter-
Els Borst
views for the latter's new book on the history of euthanasia, entitled Verlossers naast God ("Redeemer under God"). The legalisation of euthanasia came "far too early," Borst said, admitting that the government did not give enough attention to palliative care and support for the dying. "In the Netherlands, we first listened to the political and societal demand in favour of euthanasia," she said. "Obviously, this
was not in the proper order." Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, agrees with Borst that the Netherlands has been ineffective in providing proper palliative care. "Even today they still do not have effective palliative care in place in the Netherlands," he told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN). "It's all good to say that:' he said, referring to Borst's comments, "but what are they doing now to protect the vulnerable?" "Now [euthanasia has] become socially accepted. "So how are you going to fix your mistake now, thank you? And how many thousands of people died because you didn't properly care for them? How many thousands killed?" Dr The, who has studied euthanasia for fifteen years, affirmed that the foreign perception of inadequate palliative care in the Netherlands is not unfounded. Further, she explained that in all her years, nearly all the doctors she has met struggle with euthanasia due to moral issues or emotional reactions. Borst's regret over the situation in the Netherlands is particularly important given that that countryhas served as a model for euthanasia advocates in other countries. Schadenberg noted, for exam-
ple, that Canadian MP Francine Lalonde, who currently has a bill before Parliament to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide, has "imported" the Netherlands' approach into Canada. As in the Netherlands, Schadenberg explained, Canada "lack[s] the proper care for those either a) at the end of life, or b) experiencing disability or chronic disabling conditions." "Without the proper care in place, is [legalising euthanasia] not the wrong thing to be doing?" he asked. "Really what the debate in Canada needs to be about is how we care for all Canadians." Schadenberg went on to point out the "slippery slope" occurring in the Netherlands, which the country's politicians deny, he says, through "a systematic cover-up." "How can you say there is no slippery slope in the Netherlands - knowing that you now allow euthanasia for newborns, and you went from originally just the terminally ill, [and] now it's also for those who are mentally ill?" he asked. "You have allowed your definitions to wander so wide that you haven't even noticed it." Borst's comments, Schadenberg says, are "simply telling us: do not make the same error as the Netherlands."
mit a grave sin, the Christian is held to denounce it through legal means and, if necessary, resort to civil disobedience, he said. "Obviously, disobeying a civil law is an extreme measure that a particular church can adopt in exceptional circumstances. But it is a possibility that cannot be excluded in advance, if a system of secularised values becomes the only operating one in Europe," he said. Archbishop Hilarion noted the recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that crucifixes hanging in Italian public schools violate religious freedom. The court's decision, he said, went against the right of each state to preserve its own traditions and identity, and represented another attempt to erase Europe's Christian roots. "I think in all these areas we can collaborate with the Catholic Church in defending the Christian tradition against militant secularism," he said. The Archbishop said it was a "sad spectacle" to see European churches abandoned by the faithful and turned into pubs, half-empty cathedrals, seminaries without students and empty religious houses. While the Church communities themselves are partly responsible for this situation, the disruptive effects of secularism should not be undervalued, he said. In contrast, he said, the Russian Orthodox Church has emerged from decades of repression with new vigour: new churches are being built, seminaries are full and millions of people are returning to God in a "religious renaissance. Vatican officials made no formal response to the Archbishop's text, but read it with great interest. At age 43, Archbishop Hilarion is considered a young mover and shaker in Moscow. Partly educated in the West, he has been open to dialogue and recently held extensive talks with Pope Benedict and other Vatican officials.
in brief...
Media 'poison' POPE Benedict XVI has hit out at the mass media, accusing it of deadening sensitivity to violence, exploiting individuals and ignoring everyday acts of love and kindness. Speaking during a ceremony in Rome's historic Piazza di Spagna, where he paid homage to a statue of the Virgin Mary, the Pope said the media "poisoned" people's souls, EU Times reported. "It recounts, repeats and amplifies evil, making us accustomed to horrendous acts, desensitising us and, in some ways, poisoning us. This poison makes our faces darker and makes us smile less, stopping us from greeting one another or making eye contact. The mass media makes us feel like spectators, as though evil only concerns others and as though certain things could never happen to us," he said. Benedict said media exposure often prevented people from looking below the surface of others to the soul underneath. He urged the faithful to open their hearts and view others with "compassion, love and infinite tenderness, particularly those who are most alone, most desperate and most exploited".
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Giving every day to God helps us see Christ work
December 16 2009, The Record
Eyes on the prize and all is well with Catherine Parish The immediacy and passion of the Psalms makes them ever freshly appealing. Reading Psalm 83 just this morning, the following lines started out from the page: "...they are happy whose strength is in You, In whose hearts are the roads to Sion. As they go through the Bitter Valle, They make it a place of springs ...'
Sister Clare Rafferty RSM Prayer was an important part of my parents' lives and was also lived out in the way they interacted with others. They passed that on to me and it had a strong impact. The Mass has been a central part of my prayer life from the time I was young. I regularly accompanied my mother to morning Mass and I grew in my understanding of the Mass through the instructions given by the Sisters who taught me. This gave me a much deeper devotion to it. I believe these foundations led to my call to be a Sister of Mercy. It was a call to serve others with whatever gifts and talents I had been given. Each day, time is set aside for personal prayer. This includes meditation on the Scriptures and the life and writings of the with Debbie Warner Foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, Venerable Catherine McAuley. I also pray the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Sisters of Mercy, which allows for community prayer as well as reflection and petition. Jesus exhorted us to pray always and by giving every day to God in my morning prayer I can make all that happens in the day a prayer. The Foundress also encouraged this. She called the Sisters to awareness of the Christ within us in our daily lives and particularly when interacting with others. We can always pause briefly and acknowledge the God within no matter what is happening. I believe I can come to a greater understanding of myself if I pray with an open heart and mind. This urges me to deepen my relationship with God. I want to follow Jesus in the way He interacted with and respected people, modelling the way to do it in a spirit of humility. In order to be the person I was created to be and to do the work God intended me to do, prayer has to be a priority in my life. Reading on the scriptures and the works of the spiritual writers opens up new avenues of thought and prayer. These have great value as they bring the scriptures more effectively into the present day. I think this kind of reading is very important in feeding the mind and the soul. It encourages a deeper prayer life. My ministry is undertaken at St Catherine's House of Hospitality, in Tuart Hill. It is a place owned and administered by the Sisters of Mercy. This gives me the opportunity to reach out in warm hospitality to all who come to the House. Hospitality is an important part of the Mercy way of life and it is not only encouraged by the Foundress, but lived out in all her interactions with others. The House is used for retreats, talks or to just have a few hours' respite during a busy day. For enquiries contact: 9443 9020. To all who come, for whatever purpose,I try to ensure that they feel better for having spent time here. Having the Chapel in the House also gives me the opportunity to make short visits to pray for those who have asked for prayer and regularly to pray for all who have been to the House over the years. I work at encouraging, supporting and doing whatever I can for people in the true spirit of mercy and love.
Howl Pray Now
If you have a story to tell please contact Debbie via dwarrier750gmail.com
I am sure we all know these people - people who pass often unobtrusively through the bitter valley that is this life, making it a place of springs for those around them. Two of those people indeed were sitting next to me as I read. The Psalmist obviously knew them too, those people who seem able to lighten the burdens of our lives just with a word, a touch, an understanding smile, an offer to help, an offer to pray for or with. This psalm is full of exquisite longing for heaven, for dwelling with God in His house, where one day is better than a thousand elsewhere. Yet it is deeply aware also of the place of humankind in the world, the necessity to pass through earthly life doing what we can to make fertile with the springs of charity the hard and dry world we live in, so that our lives and
the lives of others might bear fruit even in the Godless desert that this world can sometimes seem to be. The Psalmist understands all too well what that feels like, and what a supreme challenge it is. The Jews were also a group of religious believers with a well defined and cohesive faith, fundamentally at odds in many ways with the pagan world in which they perforce found themselves (often through their own unfaithfulness). Yet then, as now, those who keep their eyes on the prize of eternal happiness with God are the happy ones, no matter what society they live in. They are the ones who go through their earthly lives making life better for everyone around them, ameliorating the bitterness of the valley of tears with their inner happiness, their sweetness, their strength, their willingness to support, to listen, to help, to advise. They aren't necessarily the strongest,
the youngest, the most beautiful, the smartest. They are just the faithful ones, the ones who see Christ in all people, and seek to serve people in any way they can in answer to Our Lord's dictum that whatsoever we do to others, we do also to Him. The freshness and truth of these ancient Psalms is a reminder that our Catholic faith is fundamentally simple, it is deeply attuned to the human heart and the human psyche, it is full of primal emotion and passion as well as intellectual rigour and profound philosophy. The event we are looking forward to on December 25, the culmination of the momentous Incarnation celebrated nine months earlier on March 25, is a poignant reminder of the profound immediacy, the simplicity and the heartrending appeal to our humanity that is our faith, made manifest in the humility of God made Man.
Married Anglicans don't change script Anglican Rite and married priests Now that Anglicans will be welcomed into the Church with their married priests, does this mean that the Church's rule on priestly celibacy will change? Also, will Catholic priests who have left and married be able to join the Anglican rite and return to the ministry?
By Fr John Flader Since the announcement that groups of Anglicans will be welcomed into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining their own traditions, many questions have been raised about what this means for the tradition of clerical celibacy in the Church in general and in the Latin Rite in particular. First of all, we should remember that the Church has had married priests for a long time. The Eastern Catholic Churches, or rites, such as the Maronites, Melkites, Ukrainians, etc., allow married men to be ordained priests and many married priests from these rites are ministering to their faithful in Australia. In addition, some married ministers from other denominations such as the Orthodox and Anglicans who have converted to the Catholic Church, have been allowed to function as priests in the Latin rite. So the fact that there will now be some married priests in the Anglican Rite as well is nothing new. In spite of the presence of these
married priests, the Church's general rule on clerical celibacy in the Latin Rite remains firmly in place. This is clear in Pope Benedict's Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus (AC), dated November 4, 2009, which puts restrictions on married clergy in the new Personal Ordinariates - similar to dioceses - to be established for the Anglican Rite. While those ministers who are married at the time of entering into communion with the Catholic Church may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church, those who are unmarried must remain celibate (cf AC VI, 1). In order to preserve the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule the Ordinary is to admit only celibate men to the order of priesthood.. Nonetheless, he may petition the Holy Father for the admission of married men to the order of priesthood on a case by case basis (cf AC VI, 2). As regards their seminary formation, candidates for ordination in an Anglican Ordinariate are to be prepared alongside seminarians in the Latin Rite, although they may also receive formation in the Anglican patrimony in houses of formation of their own (cf. AC VI, 5). In view of their studying side by side with Latin Rite seminarians, the question has been raised as to whether this may not lead Latin Rite seminarians to wish to join the Anglican Rite in order to be married priests. As mentioned above, this is not possible since as a rule only celibate men are to be promoted to Holy Orders in the Anglican Rite. But more importantly, those who were baptised as Catholics are not eligible for membership in an Anglican Ordinariate unless they are members of a family belonging to the Ordinariate. This is laid down in the Complementary Norms issued by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in conjunction with the Apostolic Constitution, and also signed on November 4,2009 (cf Art 5, 1). The Norms also establish that the Ordinary may accept as seminarians only those men who belong to a parish of the Ordinariate or who were previously Anglican and have entered into full communion with the Catholic Church (cf Art 10, 4). Would a Catholic priest who has left the Church and now ministers as an Anglican priest be allowed to serve as a priest in an Anglican Ordinariate? This possibility is dealt with expressly in the Complementary Norms and the answer is no (cf. Art. 2). In view of this, it is also clear that Catholic priests who have left the ministry and have married would not even be allowed to join an Anglican Ordinariate, let alone serve as priests. Many other practical questions remain to be answered, but we give thanks to God for this new initiative which can bring a large number of people into communion with the Church. - director@oeccom.au
December 16 2009, The Record
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We are inheritors of a radical legacy
Unearthing
treasure By Fr Sean Fernandez
Attadale parish priest and Notre Dame University lecturer Fr Sean Fernandez has a burning desire to unearth in Catholics a stronger sense of the awesome faith traditions they have at their disposal. In this the Year for Priests, he begins a series exclusively for The Record.
I
would like to take you for a brief ramble through the thickets of my mind. Two issues in the news recently struck me and led my mind to wander hither and thither. The first was the release of the Murphy report out of Ireland which detailed grave failures on the part of the Archdiocese of Dublin in dealing with issues of child sexual abuse. The second was what seems to be a commonplace of Australian politics: that Tony Abbott's Catholic faith would be detrimental to his electability. The two stories are not related except for their fortuitous (in the strict sense of the word) appearance in the national press. That terrible things happened
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and there was institutional failure in Dublin cannot be disputed. Cardinal Brady of Armagh and Archbishop Martin of Dublin have admitted as much. It seems to me that most Australian dioceses have faced these issues and adopted frameworks which are transparent and emphasise the protection of the vulnerable. Yet I could not but feel disheartened and ashamed at the Church's failure to live up to its own standards. The Murphy report makes for interesting reading on this very point. It states that if the Church leadership had actually applied Church law, offenders would have been dealt with more effectively. There is Church documentation going back to the second century (AD 153 to be more precise) condemning predatory behaviour against children (see 1.18 of the Murphy Report). The Church from its earliest days rejected the notion that children were merely the property of adults. This was a novel attitude toward the young and weak. It was accepted practice in the Roman world for unwanted babies to be exposed to the elements and so killed. The head of the family paterfamilias - pretty much held power of life and death over those in his family. The practice of the members of the Christian community was very different; all life was precious. We are the inheritors of this radical legacy - a legacy which has been undermined in modern times. We must ensure that we do not betray that tradition protecting the vulnerable both within and without the Church. Now about my second thought, one not changed in the slightest by Tony Abbott's being elected leader of the Federal Liberal Party. The media take it for granted that the majority of people are wary of Catholicism. And there seems to be a great deal of effort put into denigrating the Church. It is common wisdom that the Catholic Church is stuck in the 'Dark Ages' while the world has moved on. Society has become the more enlightened, knowledgeable and humane as it has left behind its Christian past; the Church was the great obstacle to progress, especially in the sciences.
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CHRISTIANITY
Just think, we could have been exploring the galaxy by now
An atheist poster playing on the all-too popular misconception about Christianity's influence on humanity and progress. Any historian worth his salt, Fr Sean Fernandez says, will tell you the opposite is true, and that Chrsitianity in fact saved and built western civilisation.
This attitude is not new - there was a peculiarly English-Protestant historical interpretation which took this for granted. In this view the Middle Ages was a period of stagnation in which human society was Church-ridden. I shall make three points regarding the distorted picture of history which still prevails, but which recent historical research has shown to be false. Firstly, the 'Dark Ages' were not so dark; the Middle Ages do not represent a pause in human progress. The flowering of thought which the Gospel brought about continued through the Mediaeval period. Charitable institutions continued to be built; learning continued, great universities were founded. Historians like Eamon Duffy have shown that pre-Reformation English Catholicism, far from being oppressive and lifeless, was vibrant and life-affirming (my word). Secondly, the Church has not stood in the way of scientific discovery. Martin Rudwick offers a corrective to the distorted view of the relationship between Church and science in his history of geology. History shows that Church leaders and institutions have been intimately involved in scientific endeavour throughout Western
history. One could well argue that scientific methodologies could only arise within a view which saw the world as a unity and as reasonable - Christian worldviews in other words. And finally, so-called humanistic values like compassion are part of our everyday language because of Christianity. Philosophers like Charles Taylor have shown that the contemporary humanistic values have complicated origins, but one can discern their roots in Christian beliefs. Rene Girard, the man of letters and member of the Academie Francaise, concludes that we, as a society, are only concerned for the weak and the victims because of the Gospel and the innocent victim crucified. However, all this research seems not to have had its impact on the popular press; old bigotries thrive and are propagated. The pre-Christian world was a harsh and cruel place where the weak were given no quarter. We forget this. Christianity introduced new values. There is a danger that as these values become detached from the roots which gave them birth and sustained them, they will be emptied of meaning. There are already clear signs of this - the acceptance
of abortion is one such sign. Why should the unborn be cherished? And today there are moral philosophers - occupying respected positions in academia - who argue that parents should be able to leave their newborn to die. The vision which gave birth to Western society is fading. That is not to say that there was some golden age when everything was rosy, but for a time the imagination of the West was caught by the Good News that God became man in Jesus Christ and this gave birth to a new vision of the human. As this vision has faded, the ultimate value has become the free, unconstrained exercise of choice and power. Yet, as Pope Benedict said in Sydney, 'experiences, detached from any consideration of what is good or true, can lead not to genuine freedom, but to moral or intellectual confusion, to a lowering of standards, to a loss of self-respect, and even to despair'. A society that is not nourished by Christian faith may well become progressively harsher and more inhuman. We need to find ways of helping people realise that the Gospel is true freedom. I have touched all too briefly on various topics. And I have made very bold (and sweeping) statements. I hope in the future to show that these are not my imaginings, but are based on solid historical research. Bernard of Chartres wrote that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants. I feel myself not to be on the shoulders of giants, but in a baby carrier glimpsing a little of the vistas around me. I shall in the future give you sources and resources so that you may stand on the shoulders of true giants.
Fr Sean Fernandez is parish priest of Attadale and Senior Lecturer in the College of Philosophy and Theology, Notre Dame Australia. He took his Bachelor of Theology at the Flinders University of South Australia in 1994. In 2001 he completed his Licence in Sacred Theology (Fundamental Theology) at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and in 2006 gained a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian. His thesis, written while he was resident at the Irish College, Rome, and Magdalene College, Cambridge, was on the Trinity. He taught theology at the Gregorian and his first published writing was an article in According to Your Word, a book of essays in honour of Desmond Cardinal Connell.
Just when we're settling into sin, Advent interrupts Being Heafd By John Heard
'Advent Interrupts' In this hot, vast land we call Australia, one can long for snow. Certainly, it is diverting to imagine Advent in the North, in New York City (if you have been there) - and most people can dream of Dickens' London (the city that soothes and perfects Ebenezer Scrooge). The snow is white there, in the Northern places. It lightly coats things first - trees, cars, and slowmoving people - and then it falls more determinedly. It is still gentle, though, the snow in the Northern Hemisphere. As imagined by an Australian, Advent
snow (in Rome, in London, in Washington DC) is dust. It is confetti. It flutters and swirls. Of course, that is nonsense. Still, the Northern Advent and Christmas imagery is compellin4. Certainly, in a hot, dry land, ones thoughts turn naturally to winter fantasies. Indeed, our inherited stories, our visual cues, all our accumulated English-speaking ideas about what Advent and Christmas should be (no, must be), these encourage us to long for snow. We yearn for a White Christmas, as silly as that sounds. In the middle of a desert continent, many Australians actually experience a genuine desire to roast Christmas chestnuts, drink eggnog, and wear cable-knit sweaters. Certainly, Catholics down under can become dis-orientated. Red dust. Dust storms. Heat and wind? What does that have to do with what is going on in the Church? A similar thing occurs in Lent.
Many of the symbols, then, point to spring and summer, to new life. In Australia, however, the shadows really do lengthen on Good Friday, and there is no climatic relief in sight. There is actually less daylight, not more, on Easter Sunday. So what? Australian Catholics grow up, then, between two worlds. There is the world we know from the cultural and liturgical cues provided by our historically Northern, culturally European faith and then there is the great hulking, sometimes rudely physical fact of our sunburnt continent. It really does hulk, too. Australia is massive. It fills one's mind with silence, dust, and heat. There is no support in those facts and impressions, however, for cultural relativism. It is too easy to observe the fact of Australia's difference, to parse our unique climatic experience of Advent for instance, and then make some tired claim about the Mass (too
European) or the faith (stuffed with cultural, rather than properly spiritual, add-ons). People, even well meaning Australians, have been making those sorts of claims for decades. A Catholic in the North is the same in essentials (body, heart, soul, and mind) as a Catholic in the South. It would be irrational to claim otherwise. All Catholics are human, too, at least as far as we know. Man needs God, which is certain. God does not change, which is faith. The Catholic Church is where man finds God. Ergo, end of story. What one can say, however, is that Advent takes Catholics by surprise. Again, it is like Lent. Both seasons come when we are settling down into sin. Perhaps we are lazy and weak, content to miss truth, and beauty, and goodness - but Advent calls us out of that rut. Advent calls us back to Christ. Advent in Australia might be unique in this: In Australia, perhaps, one feels a little different
by the time Advent arrives. For same sex attracted men, certainly, Advent down under comes as a Summer shock. The Summer sun brings with it Summer bodies, and Summer's special temptation is carnality. However, the Church calls us out of that rut. Advent calls us back to Christ. For Catholics generally, and finally, Advent interrupts the flow. It pushes us forward into the manger. We turn our minds to Christmas, to the shepherds, and their flocks, and the angels, and the lowing beasts, and that unimaginably sweet vision of Mary - beautiful and holy - swaddling the Son of God. Advent prepares the way, then, and it cleans us up. Done right, Advent makes us ready for all the wonder of Christmas night, and it does not matter where we are or what climate we experience. Advent is everywhere, and it is now. 0 come, 0 come, Emmanuel.
PANORAMA
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December 16 2009, The Record
A roundup of events in the Archdiocese
Panorama entries must be in by 12pm Monday. Contributions may be emailed to administration@therecord.com.au, faxed to 9227 7087, or mailed to PO Box 75, Leederville WA 6902. Submissions over 55 words will be edited. Inclusion is limited to 4 weeks. Events charging over $10 will be put into classifieds and charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisement. Friday December 18 MEDJUGORJE EVENING OF PRAYER 7pm to 9pm at All Saint's Chapel, Allendale Square, 77 St George's Terrace, Perth. All are warmly invited to an evening of prayer with Our Lady Queen of Peace. Evening consists of Adoration, Rosary, Benediction and Holy Mass. Free DVD on Fr Don Calloway. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480.
Sunday January 3 DIVINE MERCY 1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor Street, Perth. An afternoon with Jesus and Mary, with Fr Andre Maria F.F.I. on The Epiphany and the Three Wise Men. Refreshments later. Enq: John 9457 7771. Saturday January 10 ST PADRE PIO DAY OF PRAYER 8.30am at St Brigid's Church, Morrison Road and Great Northern Highway, Midland. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, silent adoration and Benediction. Holy Mass at 1lam, celebrant Fr Tiziano Bogoni using St Padre Pio Liturgy. Confession available. 12noon BYO lunch to share. Tea and coffee provided. Enq: Des 6278 1540. Tuesday January 26 DIVINE MERCY PILGRIMAGE TO ST ANNE'S BINDOON 12noon BYO lunch. 1pm, Holy Hour and Exposition, followed by Eucharist Procession, Rosary, and Benediction. 2.30pm Holy Mass, later Divine Mercy Chaplet, Consecration, Blessing of New Divine Mercy Image from Cracow - touched the relic of St Faustina and veneration of Cross. Tea provided. 4.30pm return to Perth. Transport call Francis 9459-3873 or 0404 893 877. Enq: Lawrie 9576 0491, 0448833472 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.
Thursday December 24 TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS OF CHRISTMAS 8.30pm at Good Shepherd Parish, 42 Streich Avenue, Kelmscott. Fulfils Christmas Day obligation. All welcome. CHRISTMAS LATIN MASSES 11pm at St Anne's Church, 11 Hehir Street, Belmont. Rosary and Carols followed by Midnight Mass. Dawn Mass, 8am at St Anne's Church, 11 Hehir Street, Belmont. Day Mass will be celebrated at St John's Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Avenue, Perth at 10.15am. All welcome. Enq: Fr Michael Rowe 9444.9604. Friday December 29 MEDJUGORJE EVENING OF PRAYER 7pm to 9pm at St Bernadette's Parish, Jugan and Leeder Street, Glendalough. All are warmly invited to an evening of prayer with Our Lady Queen of Peace. Evening consists of Adoration, Rosary, Benediction and Holy Mass. Free DVD on Fr Don Calloway. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480. Friday January 1 TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS 12noon, at Good Shepherd Parish, 42 Streich Avenue, Kelmscott. All welcome. Saturday January 2 DAY WITH MARY 9am to 5pm at St Joseph Church, 22 Hamilton Street, Bassendean. Day of prayer and instruction based on the Fatima message. 9am Video, 10.10am Holy Mass, Reconciliation, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.
LEAGUE OF ROSARY Invites all Catholics to pray their Rosary of Joyful Mysteries on Sundays of Advent at home or in Church until 6 January 2010. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us. 2010 JOSEPHITE - MARY MACKILLOP CALENDAR NOW ON SALE Be inspired by Mary MacKillop's inspirational quotes. Order your calendar by phone on 9334 0999 or mriddlera)sosjwa.org.au. Every Sunday PILGRIM MASS - SHRINE OF THE VIRGIN OF THE REVELATION 2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Road, Bullsbrook. Commencing with Rosary followed by Benediction. Reconciliation is available before every celebration. Anointing of the sick administered during Mass every second Sunday of the month. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation, last Sunday of the month. Side entrance to the church and shrine open daily between 9am and 5pm. Enq: SACRI 9447 3292. Every Sunday LATIN MASS 2pm at the Good Shepherd Parish, 40-42 Streich Avenue, Kelmscott, according to the 1962 missal, with Rosary preceding. All welcome. Third Sunday of the Month OBLATES OF ST BENEDICT 2pm at St Joseph's Convent, York Street, South Perth. Oblates affiliated with the Benedictine Abbey, New Norcia welcome all who are interested in studying the rule of St Benedict and its relevance to the everyday life of today for lay people. Vespers and tea conclude the meeting. Enq: Secretary 9457 5758.
BARRY
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Fourth Sunday of the Month HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE 2 to 3pm at Morley Parish Church, 47 Wellington Road, Morley. Includes Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Our prayers are powerful in assisting those called to the priesthood and Religious life to hear with a disciple's ear the call of God for them. Come and pray. All welcome. Enq: 9276 8500.
Second Saturday of the Month DIVINE MERCY HEALING MASS 2.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor Street, Perth. Main Celebrant Fr Marcellinus Meilak OFM. Reconciliation available. Refreshments provided later. Enq: John9457 7771.
Every Monday LUNCHTIME MEDITATION Christian Meditation comes to the city. 12.15 to 12.45pm, Wesley Uniting Church, corner William and Hay Streets, Perth. Ecumenical Christian meditation, in the tradition of the desert fathers and mothers. All welcome. Enq: christianmeditation@iinet.net.au, w ww.christianmeditationaustralia.org or 9444 5810. Every 2nd Wednesday YEAR OF THE PRIEST HOLY HOUR 7 to 8pm at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 2 Keaney Place, City Beach. Reflections on St John Vianney, Patron Saint of Priests. Light refreshments later in the Parish Centre. Every Thursday TAIZE PRAYER 7.30 to 8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener Street, North Beach. All parishioners and friends are invited for prayer and meditation using songs from Taize. In stillness and candlelight we make our pilgrimage. Spend some quiet time with the Lord. There will be no meeting in January. Every Thursday HOLY HOUR Commencing 1 lam to 12noon on January 7, at Sts John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Road, Willetton. Please come and pray for a vocation in the parish. Enq: John 9457 7771. Every First Friday ALL NIGHT VIGIL - COMMUNION OF REPARATION 7pm to lam at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee Street, Mosman Park. All are invited to Communion of Reparation with, Mass, Rosary, Confession and Adoration. Celebrant Fr Bogoni. All warmly welcomed. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 3 57. First Friday of the Month THE ALLIANCE, TRIUMPH AND REIGN OF THE TWO HEARTS 9pm at St Bernadette's Church, Glendalough. There will be Eucharistic Adoration, Rosaries, hymns and reflections etc. Concludes with midnight Mass in honour and thanksgiving of the coming reign of the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Enq: Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845. First Friday of the Month COMMUNION OF REPARATION ALL NIGHT VIGIL 7pm to lam at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee Street, Mosman Park. Vigil will have Mass, Rosary, Confession and Adoration with Fr Bogoni. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357. First Friday of the Month HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE 7pm at the Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins Street, Glendalough. Mass celebrated by Fr Saminedi followed by Adoration with Fr Don Kettle. All welcome.
CKEY Perth, WA
Saturday following the First Sunday of the Month DIVINE MERCY HEALING MASS 2.30 to 3.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, Windsor Street, East Perth. Reconciliation available with Fr Marcellinus Meilak OFM. Refreshments will follow afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771. ACTS 2 COLLEGE OF MISSION AND EVANGELISATION -2010 ENROLMENTS/ SCHOLARSHIPS Now open for full and part-time study at Acts 2 College for Semester 1. 16 week courses commence week of March 1, 2010. All courses may be taken towards a Certificate IV in Christian Ministry - national code 51881. Acts 2 College has available one full scholarship and three part scholarships for study at the College in 2010. The full scholarship is through an essay competition; the part-time are based on financial hardship. Enq: Jane 9202 6859. AL-ANON/ALATEEN FAMILY GROUPS If your home is unhappy because someone drinks too much, we can help you. For understanding and support to families and friends of problem drinkers. Enq: 9325 7528. SACRED HEART OF JESUS - PIONEERS Any Pioneers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus out there in society, we invite you to attend if you would like to meet other members in prayer and reflection. Enq: 9457 7771.
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PERSONAL SEEKING LADY Guy 40s tall, prof educa, smoker, social drinker, conservative, loyal, creative, likes reading, café, hty food styles, walking, swimming, DTE Reasonably ambitious. Dry SOH. Seeks lady friendship view to a long-term relationship, marriage if culturally compatible and complementary. Some or more Christian values. Ph or SMS: 0419 543 093 (afternoon). CHRISTIAN SINGLES Change your life now. Join up and join in. Social activities. Drinks and games nights. Dating. Ph: 9472 8218 www.figtrees.com.au.
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RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS C ATHOLICS CORNER Retailer of Catholic products specialising in gifts, cards and apparel for Baptism, Communion and Confirmation. Ph: 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Road, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat. OTTIMO Convenient city location for Christmas gifts, books, cds/ dvds, cards, nativity sets, candles, statues, bibles, medals and much more. Shop 108, Trinity Arcade (Terrance level), 671 Hay Street, Perth. Ph 9322 4520. Mon-Fri 9am-6pm. YOUR HARVEST RICH CHRISTIAN SHOP Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, Baptism/Communion apparel, religious vestments, etc? Visit us at 39 Hulme Court (off McCoy St), Myaree, 9329 9889 (after 10.30am Mon to Sat). We are here to serve.
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Daily Mass Readings 20 54TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT When she gives birth Vio Mic 5:1-4 Ps 79:2-3.15-16.18-19 Come to our help God, here I am! Heb 10:5-10 Mary greets Elizabeth Lk 1:39-44 21 M St Peter Canisius, doctor of the church (0) Winter is past Vio Song 2:8-14 [Alt. Zeph 3:14-18 No evil to fear] Ps 32:2-3.11-12.20-21 Find joy in God Mary greets Elizabeth Lk 1:39-45 221 Vio 1 Sam 1:24-28 1Sam 2:1.4-8 Lk 1:46-56
This is the child The childless wife Great things for me
25 F THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD Solemnity, Vigil Mass God rejoices Wh Isa 62:1-5 Ps 88:4-5.16-17.27.29 Covenant decreed Acts 13:16-17.22-25 Jesus, as Saviour Mary with child Mt 1:1-25 MIDNIGHT MASS Child born for us Isa 9:1-7 Ps 95:1-3.11-13 The Lord's coming God's grace revealed Titus 2:11-14 Mary gives birth Lk 2:1-14 DAWN MASS Isa 62:11-12 Ps 96:1.6.11-12 Titus 3:3-7 Lk 2:15-20
Your Saviour comes Joy for the upright God's compassion They saw the child
23 W St John of Kanty, priest (0) I will send Elijah Vio Mal 3:1-4.23-24 Teach me your paths Ps 24:4-5.8-9.10.14 His name is John Lk 1:57-66
MASS DURING THE DAY Herald of peace Acclaim the Lord Light of God's glory We saw his glory in 1:1-18
24Th Vio 2Sam 7:1-5.8-12.14.16 A house of cedar A dynasty for ever Ps 88:2-5.27.29 the way Preparing Lk 1:67-79
26 SST STEPHEN, first martyr Feast Red Acts 6:8-10;7:54-59 Grace and power Ps 30:3-4.6.8.16-17 Rock of refuge Not you who speak Mt 10:17-22
Isa 52:7-10 Ps 97:1-6 Heb 1:1-6
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