Adelaide's Archbishop Faulkner attacks South Australia's abortion figures, saying more have been killed than the population of Mount Gambier. See page 3.
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PERTH. WA: 3 — 9 January, 1985 • t,
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WASHINGTON (NC) — The world today has lost its "sense of sin," and "the sacrament of penance is in crisis," Pope John Paul II says in a major new document, Reconciliation and Penance. Pope John Paul warns against ideas of "social sin" that would reduce personal freedom and reponsibility.
Special reports from the worldwide services of NC News look at the pope's new directive on sin and penance. See page 2.
He reaffirms Church teaching on the existence and nature of mortal sin and venial sin.
He said it was "an essential element of faith" that Christ instituted the sacrament of penance as the ordinary means of forgiveness of sins after baptism.
C OMING NEXT WEEK: The Loreto sisters this month celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of their founder, Mani Ward. Special features and pictures look at Mary Ward's life and the impact of her teachings down through the centuries.
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It would be "foolish" and "presumptuous," the pope said, "to claim to receive forgiveness while doing without the sacrament" of penance. He reiterated Church teaching on the need to confess mortal sins individually and rejected use of general absolution except in extraordinary circumstances, under the strict norms spelled out in the Church's general and liturgical laws. Reconciliation and Penance is based on the discussions on that topic by the 1983 W orld Synod of Bishops. He says sin is "the radical cause of all wounds and divisions between people, and in the first place between people and God."
A t St Brigid's church, the crib takes literally the angelic phrase from St Luke that Christ's birth is a joy to be shared by the WHOLE people. Students from Santa Maria College let their imagination loose and produced more than 100 dolls to greet the new born Saviour.
He calls penance, conversion and reconciliation the only ways to overcome such divisions. "Personal conversion is the necessary path to harmony between individuals." He deals at length with the relationship between personal and social sin, one of the most controversial issues the synod faced. Other difficult issues with which he deals include debates over the theology of sin and penance. the decline in use of the sacrament of penance. general absolution, and the pastoral
It would be "foolish" and "presumptuous," the pope said, "to claim to receive forgiveness while doing without the sacrament" of penance.
care of persons who have married outside the Church and are unable to receive the sacraments. While insisting "sin, in the proper sense, is always a personal act," the pope says "from another point of view. every sin is social, insofar as and because it also has social repercussions . . . There is no sin, not even the most intimate and secret one, the most strictly individual one, that exclusively concerns the person committing it." He spelled out several specific senses of "social sin" which he said correctly describe certain aspects of sin or certain types of sin. He warned, however, "there is one meaning sometimes given to social sin that is not legitimate or acceptable." • Cont page 12 • See also page 2
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John Paul II speaks out sharply against trends of thought denying or playing down sin VATICAN CITY: — Some of the pope's sharpest language in his latest statement is directed against trends of thought that would deny or play down personal sin and the need for the sacrament of penance. The renewal of the rites of penance after the second Vatican Council "does not sanction any illusion or alteration" in the Church's view of sacramental penance as "the ordinary way of obtaining forgiveness and the remission of serious sins committed after baptism," the pope wrote. "The confession of sins must ordinarily be individual and not collective, just as sin is a deeply personal matter," he said.
There is no illusion or alteration
He said the first form of the rite of penance, consisting of private preparation and individual confession, and the second form, in which individual confession takes place within the context of a communal penitential celebration, are "equal" as regards "the normality of the rite." "The third form, however reconciliation of a number of penitents with general confession and absolution is exceptional in character. "It is therefore not left to free choice but is regulated by a special discipline," the pope wrote. He said only the bishop can determine if the necessary conditions for
From NC NEWS general absolution exist in a particular case, and the bishop has "a grave obligation on his own conscience" to see that the norms are followed in such decisions. The pope also stressed the obligation of those who receive general absolution to confess any serious sins in individual confession "as soon as possible." No one who has received general absolution once is to receive it a second time "before a normal inte-
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2 The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
Based on the 1983 synod from NC NEWS
gral and individual confession," he said. He particularly urged priests not only to devote time to the ministry of penance, but also to receive the
sacrament frequently. If a priest does not confess frequently and properly, he said, "the whole of his priestly existence suffers an inexorable decline."
Appeal critic i talking 'rubbish' ADELAIDE: — Recent criticism of the African famine relief appeal by a South Australian politician has been slammed as "rubbish" and "having no basis in fact whatsoever." The response came from national director of Australian Catholic Relief, Mr Michael Whiteley. He was commenting on a statement made by SA National Party Leader, Mr Peter Blacker, that money sent to Ethiopia would be better spent on hungry South Australians.
by VINCENT ROSS
Mr Blacker said there were "important reasons for helping our own people first" and there was no effective control over what happened to money and food sent to overseas countries. Mr Whiteley said aid was definitely getting through to the needy in Africa and added he did not believe anybody in Australia was "starving." He said it was important to note that people in underdeveloped countries did not have the social support systems we have in Australia. "Icommend Mr Blacker on his concern for the needy people in this country, but I don't think anyone will die of starvation within the year," he said. "I'm talking about straightout starvation. "The fact is — in whole areas of Africa there arc literally millions of people who are at risk of dying for lack of food. • They don't have the support systems we have. "All we, and organisations like us, are doing is helping impoverished countries to provide the support system, we take for granted here in Australia." He does not believe direct ing funds overseas reduce, the amount of funding given to the needy in Australia. "There are obviously peo-
Mr Whitely ple in Australia who are struggling to survive in our economic situation," he said. "Take the example of a single mother with four children. "But there is support here to help those people get by. "There must he, and is, concern for lower income people in our own community.
"But it must also be recognised that Australia is a very wealthy country and, because of that wealth, it has a reponsibility toward needy countries. "I think it's a terribly selfcentred attitude to say the money should be going to people here in Australia," he said. Donations for famine victims to Australian Catholic Relief now stand at around 12.7 million, while the Combined Churches Appeal has raised more than $4.5 million. "The response to the appeal has been absolutely overwhelming," he said. "What we are surprised to find is the number of people, who Mr Blacker would consider poor, who are making donations of between $2 to $20 toward helping people in Africa. "We know from the letters we get from pensioners.
"Even these people realise that there are people in other countries who are worse off than they are," he said. Mr Whiteley was quick to denounce Mr Blacker's suggestion there was no effective control over money and food sent to suffering African countries. "That's rubbish," he said "What Mr Blacker says has no basis in fact whatsoever. "As far as most non-government organisations are concerned — the only effective distribution has been going on through the churches. "Even the Australian government is putting its aid through non-government organisations and giving them a say in distribution," Mr Whiteley said.
MILAN: - The new papal document on penance and reconciliation indicates an opposition to an expanded role for general absolution, according to Cardinal Carlo Martini of Milan, a member of the Council of the 1983 Synod of Bishops. Pope John Paul Irs 1 43 -page apostolic exhortation, based on the work of the 1983 Synod of Bishops, aims a t curtailing general absolution in places where its use has been i ndiscriminately widened, Cardinal Martini said at a Vatican press conference. The use of general absolution without individual confession of sins was one of the most debated topics at the month-long synod. Its use is now restricted to extraordinary circumstances, and the pope in his document emphasised those restrictions. The papal document, Cardinal Martini said, by stressing the exceptional nature of general absolution, "aims at helping those areas where its use has been too broad." Exceptional cases do exist that justify general absolution, the cardinal said, "but the tendency to indiscriminately widen its use, and make it something ordinary, is certainly not correct." Cardinal Martini added while there are social phenomena for which individuals are apparently not to blame, "the causes should still be looked for." • Cont page 12
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Archbishop slams i abortion figures
Surgery for sex change 'is not justified'
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ADELAIDE: — More than twice the number of population of Mt Gambier has been destroyed by abortion in South Australia since 1970.
Avito,to This picture of an adoring mother and baby is used in anti-abortion campaigns in the United States. ####•••••##########################,M#######
Paulists hand over to Salesians The Paulist Fathers of Victoria Park are to close their 30 year service in Western Australia and an order new to WA, the Salesians will take over the parish at the end of January. Salesian Father Luigi DiFiore spent some time in Perth earlier this year looking at various parish possibilities and Fathers Adrian Papworth and Michael Keogh will - be the pioneer community in WA. For Paulists Fathers Paul Kierce and John Taliana the move from Victoria Park means reporting to their order's Melbourne headquarters for a new assignment either to their new flourishing missions in Pakistan or Peru, or further work among Maltese migrant communities.
Change at Vic Park
staff reporter
took over the parish of Swanbourne and chaplain duties at the Hollywood Repatriation Hospital.
assistance to Maltese communities abroad until they got established in the local parishes.
In January 1979 the Paulists and the late Monsignor Tom Lenihan of Victoria Park changed parishes.
In 1954 Father Galca came to Perth and lived at Subiaco while serving the Maltese community. The following year they
A former assistant priest at Victoria Park Father Terry Micallef is provincial superior of the Paulist Society in Australia.
by a
Former Victoria Park assistant priest Father Vincent Magn) is now in the Paulist mission to Peru and in Pakistan there are five students in a new Paulist training venture. Founded in 1910 by Monsignor Joseph De Piro as a missionary order the Society of St Paul was asked by the Maltese bishops to give
This means more than the equivalent of twice the population of Mt Gambier will have been destroyed by abortion in this state since 1970. "What is so tragic is we seem to be taking this for granted. "Surely this is evidence of a widespread abortion men talky. "Fortunately we arc all becoming much more aware of the terrible nature of modern warfare and especially of the possible consequences of nuclear war. "Yet our society seems to be unheeding in this case of the devastation of little human beings when they are most vulnerable — in the wombs of their mothers," he said.
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Co-Adjutor Archbishop Leonard Faulkner said this in a pastoral letter to all Catholics in the state on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (December 28). In South Australia where abortion is legal, the Catholic Church mourns the death of the unborn on the feast of those massacred by Herod at the time of Jesus' birth. "I)uring 1983, according to the 14th annual Report of the Parliamentary Committee, there were 4,034 reported abortions in South Australia with a total since 1970 of over 46,000," Archbishop Faulkner said. "Probably there will be another 4,000 this year.
ROME (NC) — A Vatican theologian has stated sex c hange operations are morally wrong and cannot be justified by rea"psychic of sons therapy. Such operations are destructive of healthy organs and give no guarantee of improved psychic health, said Monsignor Carlo Caffarra, head of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University. He spoke at a one-day seminar on transsexualism sponsored by the institute. Transsexuals identify with the opposite sex, and sometimes undergo surgery and hormone S injections to adopt the sexual characteristics of the opposite sex. Surgical interventions have been judged admissible by the Church when a n organ - whether healthy or unhealthy - is S damaging the health of the whole organism, Monsignor Caffarra told a panel of doctors participating in the seminar. But surgery for transsexuals removes or destroys healthy organs that are not damaging the t biological organism, he t said. t
Paulists shortly to leave Victoria Park: Fathers Paul Kierce PP and Father John Tatiana.
Quality Service and Facilities, provided 24 hours of every day, at all above Funeral Chapels. The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
3
Rehce ord Those who tossed in good health as well as happiness and prosperity in their new year greetings were more topical than they imagined and closer to some of the serious questions facing human moral consciences. The Australian newspaper named as its Australian of The Year, Sydney heart transplant specialist Dr Victor Chang, who disarmingly observes that other heart surgery is harder on surgeons, physicians and nurses compared with his highly publicised field. Those who imagine that Asian migration is a recent question would do well to ponder that back in 1937 Dr Chang was born in Shanghai to Australian-Chinese parents from Tamworth and Narrabri NSW. Hence, the 15-year -old Hong Kong lad came to Australia to complete a distinguished leaving certificate with the Christian Brothers in Sydney, but was stateless until his naturalisation in 1972. Catholics can further ponder the paradox that Dr Chang's work takes place at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney but with both his sons at Catholic schools Dr Chang is described as not religious. Elsewhere in the media, especially television, there were further episodes in the frequent stories of Australian infants being taken overseas for a variety of transplants. The interviews follow a pattern of being suspiciously longer by television standards and exploiting the spectacle of parents on the verge of tears as they search inadequately for words or for answers to deeper questions that are not put by over -indulgent reporters. Meanwhile as a background chorus to the worst gastronomic week of the year one television station filled the vacuum with harrowing and explicit sermons to the effect that Australians are carelessly eating and drinking themselves to death in most instances. •••####N-1444~#~1.#0,
In the midst of all this it seemed pathetic to be reminded that for helpless starving infants in Ethiopia there would be no life-saving transplants, not even a transfer of the food that Western countries take for granted. Health, good or bad, is a matter-of-fact technology when dispensed in a consulting room or at the bedside. To the patient however health is a critical question, the question that few are prepared to face honestly, the question that has one stark alternative, death. The last century has brought mankind rapidly from the hit-and-miss witch-doctor medicine of thousands of years to a refined knowledge of the human body but surgical advances in the past decade have accelerated the notion that human beings are within sight of controlling life itself. There is no-one who does not want this technology. The Catholic Church in Perth can thank God that four parishes enjoy the good health of their pastors precisely because of heart surgery that did not exist barely a few years ago. There is no regret even for the risk taken by the four of Dr Chang's 14 transplant patients so far who have died including, a 16-year -old schoolboy last week. Artificial transplant patient William Schroeder is happy at his success so far. The attempt on a baboon heart transplant is seen as a permissible venture. Yet it seems only yesterday that Dr Christian Barnard was in the outer space of medicine with his heart transplants. No one would quarrel with the idealism of wanting this and other comparable technologies. The argument is flawless until the hard realities emerge to reveal that such medical treatment requires money, lots of it. Prt#4•44.04.11hM4.44.#414, ,###1
One of Dr Chang's grateful Asian patients provided $574,000 of the $750,000 his program has cost so far with $20,000 per patient per year as the anticipated cost for further cases. The infants being taken overseas are quoted in terms of tens of thousands of dollars per operation, much of it donated individually or by very supportive friends and relatives. Ordinary people who would faint into a relapse if they were handed the true cost of their quite ordinary sojourn in hospital are unable to gauge whether these figures are value for money or just dauntless human beings saying that life is worth it no matter what the cost. It is hard to overlook the cynicism however of a society which lets its heart bleed when extraordinary surgery is gifted to one infant while, as Archbishop Faulkner observes in this issue, the whole population of Mount Gambier is destroyed annually by abortion just in South Australia alone. At times when emotions are running high in the glare of publicity moral theologians are probably not popular when they make the rather impersonal-sounding, but correct, distinction between extraordinary and ordinary efforts to preserve life. If it is true that most people will not take the simplest steps to eat and behave sensibly and so spare not only their own health but the immense hospital system considered necessary to be ready to receive them, it is equally true that massive spending on treatment that is often still in the very experimental stage is a choice that individuals make, but which the community does not necessarily have to provide. Simply put, the news from many quarters this week demands an answer to the question: how valuable is a human life? The answer has consequences far beyond the sweet smile of a baby in its mother's arms. It reaches to the shores of Ethiopia and the jungles of Kampuchea. Otherwise we are kidding ourselves that we are compassionate about life.
4
The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
E1Not everyone can become an instant parish priest — but Father Regis OEM., managed to do just that! Sent over from Melbourne two weeks ago to assist the Midland Friars because of Father Peter's return to Melbourne, Father Regis became Stepping-in with prompt action in emergency situations is nothing new to Father Regis OFM. Ordained a priest in 1964, he began training for his pilot's licence on seven different aircraft to serve as a missionary pilot in the jungles of New Guinea. He also undertook a medical course, over four months, in a hospital and leprosarium containing 200 lepers, because as well as being a missionary, he was expected to be a jungle doctor to the 3,000 people in his area, and himself. Ultimately in the West Sepik area, he gave 1,000 medical treatments a month, dealing with such things as infections, malaria, pneumonia, dysentery, respiratory illnesses, meningitis, broken limbs, maternity work and stitching up wounds caused through tribal village battles and disputes. Untreatable cases had to be carried on a stretcher by 1 2 men in shifts, who would walk for 16 hours up and down mountains, along narrow jungle trails and swim rivers, to reach 'Nuku., a small regional district hospital in the Sepik district. The natives under Father Regis' care were among the last of the stone age communities.
[MC Completely naked and can nibals up until 1960, the code of behaviour towards their enemies, amounted to the 'five K's' . . . catch him, kill him, cut him, cook him and kai kai (eat him)! The government tried to educate, and legislated against cannibalism, how ever they had to counteract illiteracy and the remote ness of the villages which were devoid of TV, newspap ers and radios. Within the 3,000 popula tion, there were seven dif ferent language groups with each group showing disregard for the other. Father Regis tried to reverse the 'five K' code by preaching Matthew's Gospel of: "I was hungry and you gave me food to eat, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in, naked and you covered me, sick and you cared for me," thus teaching them to show care, offer hospitality and guide any strangers to the safety of other villages.
the temporary new parish priest when Fathers Ray and Hilary were suddenly taken ill and hospitalised. Learning of this with some humour, Record correspondent COLLEEN HOWARD also discovered Father Regis was rather interesting.
Ready to step into a breach
Bearing this out, he went on the 16 hour stretcher carrying treks - himself, on many occasions. Father Regis' substitution plan began to take effect, as he graphically illustrated when recounting a story, featuring one Peter Pii, an adult native of the village of Wassisi. Peter had walked the 16 hour trek to transport a problem maternity case to hospital. When the baby was taken by caesarian, they discovered a tumour, in equal size to the baby. As a result of this dual removal, the woman bled
profusely, requiring large transfusions. Peter volunteered, neglecting to tell them he had not eaten breakfast and had just finished a 16 hour stretcher bearing trek for the woman. C onsequently after the blood donation, he collapsed and was then severely ill himself. She recovered well and was up and about, but he was still hsopitalised! When Father asked why he had given blood under his circumstances, Peter replied: "Jesus gave his blood for me, so I gave my blood for her; this the least I could do, even if it killed me.Father Regis' with native labour, built a 14 bed hos-
pital at his main station, and 14 churches in the area for use as prayer and gathering centres. Located about four to eight hours walk apart, these churches were all built purely from jungle resources. In the absence of hewn timber, tree trunks were used as uprights, wall panelling of softwood saplings and interwoven thatched leaves as roofing. During his eight -year period in New Guinea, Father Regis also covered 38,000 miles giving retreats to English speaking Religious in the northern islands. Because of his isolation and so much physical work, he decided more mental stimulation was desirable. Thus his book. -How can you find God?", was born in the jungles of New Guinea. It expanded during the next 12 years, enriched by his eight years in the northern
New Guinea islands and a further two years in America as chaplain to major gaols in many parts of California; learning much in this capacity while dealing with the hard core criminal element. He also completed a Masters Degree at the prestigious University of Berkley, US, utilising his book material as his thesis. Travelling widely throughout America and upon his departure, across Europe and the Holy Land, Father Regis returned to Australia eight years ago. Since then he has worked in a live-in retreat house in NSW., and as a parish mission preacher travelling throughout Victoria, NSW., SA and Tasmania. The 38 chapter book (due for publication early 1985 by Spectrum Publishing Co.) reflects his ideas and experiences over the past 30 years, transposed in a simple form to be of interest to all people.
Bishops request study after 20 per cent drop WASHINGTON (NC) — The US bishops will study Mass attendance at the request o f Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati who said since 1970 his archdiocese had noticed a 20 percent decline in Sunday Mass attendance, and said he had the impression other dioceses were having similar problems.
DODO He asked the bishops to consider whether declining Mass attendance was a phenomenon and, if it was, why and what could be done about it. Bishop Mahony of Stockton, California, said studies in his diocese had found that although Mass attendance had remained steady, the make-up of those attending was shifting. Archbishop Pilarczyk cited Gallup Poll f igures on 1983 Mass attendance among US Catholics which indicated attendance was increasing slightly.
US concern at declining attendance According to the figures, 52 per cent of US Catholics attended Sunday Mass in 1983, compared to 47 per cent in 1977. He said his archdiocese has about 50 per cent attendance. G allup Poll figures from the 1950s indicated about 70 per cent of US Catholics attended Mass then.
CHURCH
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AN ESSENTIAL WORK DEMANDING VISION AND ASKING COMMITMENT ss,
I am issuing a call. I want more young men to consider sharing the priesthood with me and my brother priests. Please write to me, Archbishop William Foley St Marys Cathedral Perth WA. 6000 The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
5
Richard Wittenoom says the Middleton Beach area at Albany where he spent his childhood must be the ideal location in which a boy can grow up.
Descendant of first settlers moves with computer age
There was a boating, fishing, canoeing on Lake Seppins, exploring the bush and rocks near the beach, swimming, surfing and other delights. He looked back with enjoyment on those days when he came to Perth to board at St Louis, and later as a university student. Even now there is a touch of nostalgia. In 1955 he was the first student to move into St Thomas More College, an event immortalised by a picture in The West Australian of him carrying blankets up a stairway that was cluttered with builders' rubble. Five students shared what was to be the chapel and later the library, with only half a roof and no ceiling.
He was editor of the inaugural college magazine Utopia, of which he fervently hopes that all copies have been lost or destroyed. In 1957 he was co-editor of the university newspaper The Pelican with prominent left-winger Bill Hartley. He recollects editorial bias swung violently from issue to issue, depending on whose turn it was to occupy the chair. One of his vacation jobs was with the Tasmanian Hydro-Electricity Commission on aggregate plant optimisation at Catasunya Dam in the upper Derwent Valley; another was with Vacuum Oil Pty Ltd on ref uel ng installations in the North-West of WA and on bulk petroleum installations at Wyndham. After graduation he worked for seven years with H.C. Sleigh Ltd (Golden Fleece) as engineer and subsequently branch engineer responsible for the construction of metropolitan and country service stations and bulk distribution facilities. Richard started his present West Perth practice in 1967. He became involved in the development of township services and facilities for the Mt Newman project which was to be the firm's major client for the next 12 years.
MN.,44, 14 R ichard Wittenoom and Associates was responsible for most of the township site works, roadworks, water and sewerage reticulation and landscaping in Newman township and the company's Cooke Point and South Hedland areas. The firm specialised in similar work in country areas of the state and has worked for most of the coastal shires in the North on residential sub-division, roadworks programs, sewerage and drainage
6
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Today's People
A regular feature By BOB BOYLE schemes or structural engineering. In the early years the firm was heavily engaged in the structural design of mining company buildings against cyclonic loadings In the aftermath of Cyclone Tracey, Richard was asked by the Mt Newman Mining Co to investigate the structural capacity of the company's housing and other buildings. It was the first major test program after Tracey on complete structures. Tracey was quickly followed by cyclones Trixie and Joan, each of which was potentially far more powerful than Tracey. Richard became a cyclone f ollower, usually arriving in the town on the first available plane after the devastation.
cal experts charged with obtaining evidence before high -wind damage is covered up or repaired. In 1978 the Australian Government sent him to Sri Lanka with a team to review construction methods after a cyclone had struck the island's east coast.
The manual he prepared was described by an expert from the British Building Research Establishment as "probably the most useful wind loading code in existence in the world today." In 1978, also, he was one of a group who formed an
organisation aimed at overseas rural development proMPW Rural jects Development Pty Ltd — which has now established a favourable record with international agencies such as the Australian Development Assistance Bureau, t he Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and United Nations agencies. In the past three years Richard and members of his local engineering firm have worked overseas on aid projects in Uganda, Burma and Thailand. At the age of 39 in 1977. Richard commented that at his time of life he would never go surf -boarding or get into computers. Now he is an active windsurfer and deeply involved in the computerisation of civil engineering consulting practice. "Engineers have always been trained in computing procedures,- he said. "However, most of the older generation of engi-
neers have little real understanding of either the potential or the limitations of electronic digital computers in carrying out (and in many cases superseding) traditional procedures." Computerisation could make the present big offices with high overheads a thing of the past in some types of work. The implications of such a development, which could be forced on a wide range of professionals by the economic situation, would be sustantial in a number of areas of employment such
Richard Anthony Wittenoom, principal of consulting engineers Richard Wittenoom and Associates Pty Ltd, was born at Albany on January 27, 1938. He was educated there at St Joseph's convent, in Perth at St Louis from which he won a general exhibition with five distinctions in his Leaving examination, and at the University of Western Australia. He has been chairman of the Holy Rosary (Nedlands) parish council, chairman of the Loreto Nedlands P and F, and involved with his wife in Marriage Encounter. He was the structural engineer for the building of the new Loreto Junior School. Now that he has given up flying as a hobby, his main outside interest is in boating. He was commodore of the Royal Perth Y acht Club from 1976-78, president of the Yachting Association of WA and chairman of the Parmelia Race management committee. His grandfather's grandfather was the Reverent John Burdett Wittenoom, first Chaplain to the Civil Establishment, who arrived in the Swan River Colony in January, 1830, and who established his home about where the Weld Club now stands on a block of land that extended from the Esplanade to St George's Terrace. Richard and his wife Rosalie (nee Dodd) have four daughters. T hey are Susan (22), a final-year architecture student at UWA; Jane (20), undertaking a course in psychology at UWA; K at (19), studying agriculture at UWA; and Philippa (9), a pupil at Loreto Nedlands,
as drafting and secretarial support staff. He is chairman of the WA local users' group of the Digital Equipment Computer Users" Society (DECUS) and was for the past two years national chairman of the R SX Operations System Special Interest Group of DECUS.
Richard said an interesting factor in his overseas work had been the aspects of the Church seen during these visits.
"You come to realise," he commented, "that the Church, its people and its organisations are very much the same whether you are in Nedlands or on the east coast of Sri Lanka. "In some areas there are major problems, such as whether the government allows conversions. "In Thailand I was keenly aware of the Church being a minority and almost an alien element, but its ongoing nature was brought home to me by the sight of children in Bangkok being baptised in the cathedral before Mass.
eN40411 , ' This gave him and other WA experts much data on which to base claims that university and government groups in the eastern states were over -reacting to Tracey in the structural regulations being introduced or planned. He became chairman of a group appointed to advise on building code requirements and to review actions which should be taken in WA in response to moves to dramatically increase the severity of the provisions of the Australian Wind Loading Code. The influence of the committee, which completed its task early in 1984, was felt not only in Australia. It was consulted by a committee of the American National Standards Institute on a code for construction for hurricanes. Recently Richard has been chairman of a sub-committee of the State Advisory Committee, Natural Disasters, reviewing the need for a manual of procedures for construction for high winds in WA. He has also been a member of the "first response' group of techni-
The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
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Richard Wittenoom, a descendant of the first chaplain of the Swan River Colony, and a recognised expert now on cyclone. proof building construction, works with a computer in his West Perth consultancy,
DATELINE. . . overseas news roundup
Briefs: LT:VATICAN CITY (NC) — The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has labelled as "absurd" a pledge by an Italian Socialist legislator to propose a bill to legalise euthanasia, saying the idea was based on "suppressing those who pose problems" for society. The newspaper editorial criticised a recent round-table discussion in Rome on euthanasia at which Senator Loris Fortuna said he would soon propose legislation making some form of euthanasia possible. The newspaper quoted Fortuna as saying he was "ready to take up the cross of humanity" in proposing the legislation. "He is forgetting the one person in history to do so chose to die for others, and not to kill them," the editorial said. EPRAGUE: Father Bohumil Sitavanc of Kolin was called in recently by the local office for religious affairs and questioned about a note he sent to the parents of his parish reminding them of their right to register their children for school religious instruction. In Czechoslovakia consent of both parents is required and they must meet a deadline for giving such consent. Father Sitavanc was warned such a circulation could be seen as "illicit duplicating" and "interference in family life", which if repeated could lead to his loss of licence to work as a priest. Keston College report
John Paul II encourages Paraguay
Bishops try Archbishop to curb the siege IVF in B Iii
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LONDON (NC) — The joint bioethics committee of the Catholics bishops of Great Britain and Ireland has urged immediate legislation to bar experiments on human embryos which would be likely to cause damage. The statement is a reply to the report of the Warnock Committee, a British government-appointed panel on in-vitro fertilisation whose majority recommended permitting experimentation on human embryos up to 14 days after fertilisation.
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S ANTIAGO, (NC) — Archbishop Juan Francisco Fresno of Santiago has condemned a state of siege rdered by Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, saying it has caused fear ° 1 nd anguish among Chileans He also said the action, which imposed strict censorship, has interefered with relations between the Church leadership and the faithful . "I fear the state of siege could mean a serious reverse for understanding and for peace in the country," the archbishop said in a pastoral letter ordered to be read at every Mass. The pastoral gave the archbishop a means to get around government attempts to control his communications. E arlier, two statements by the one on the exile of the archbishop head of the archdiocese's human rights organisation and another on a government raid on a shantytown were censored by the government.
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VATICAN CITY (NC) — Pope John Paul II has encouraged the Parguayan bishops to continue their social action work of "translating the preferential option for the poor into concrete works of assistance and promotion." "It is true the love of all people does not admit any exclusion. "But it does admit a particular pledge in favour of the most needy." the pope said to a group of Paraguayan bishops at the Vatican to report on their dioceses. The pope asked the bishops to give special attention to the needs of three specific groups: • Indians, "many times reduced to pernicious living conditions." • Shantytown residents, living in unhealthy conditions and without stable sources of work. • Peasants, lacking land, housing, economic stability and decent education and health services. Paraugay is one of South America's poorest countries. It has a literacy rate of 40 per cent. Its per capita annual income (total national income divided by population) is the equivalent of $1340. By contrast, Uruguay, with approximatey 3 million people, has a per capita income equivalent to $2780.
The bishops' panel described that recommendation as "shameful." In a statement last July, the British bishops called experimentation -"unacceptable" unless the welfare of the embryo was the first consideration. It also said such legislation should bar any freezing or other storage which holds no definite prospect the embryo would he unimtransferred paired to the proper MOSCOW: — The Vatimother, and any seleccan's criticism of liberation among human tion theologians who use embryos aimed at Marxist concepts shows transferring only the the Holy See has joined fittest or most desirathe United States in a fight against commuble.
Soviets accuse Vatican
nism, according to the Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda. The Vatican "is playing the game of American imperialist politics and of Latin American military dictatorships," said a Pravda article. The article criticised a document on liberation theology made public in September by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The congregation document criticised branches of liberation theology which uncritically use Marxist concepts such as class struggle.
ELLIOTT & ELLIOTT OPTICIANS AND OPTOMETRISTS Contact LENS CONSULTANTS PERTH PICCADILLY ARCADE 321 8151 PERTH 154 WILLIAM STREET 321 5304 C OTTESLOE 19 NAPOLEON STREET 384 5605 F REMANTLE 30 MARKET STREET 335 2602
The majority of the committee said in-vitro fertilisamorally tion was unacceptable even in the simplest case of fertilising an egg in the laboratory and transferring the resulting embryo to the mother. But they said they did not judgement that want imposed by law.
The bishops' panel described the practice of freezing human embryos as "unacceptable- because "it kills most of the embryos and harms others." It disagreed with the Warnock committee's recommendation for a licensing agency to oversee the freezing of embryos for artificial insemination. The bishops' committee said artificial insemination should not be available as a public service. It also had "strong misgivings" about the long-term implications for society of any practice of in-vitro fertilisation.
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US help for Asian r efugees W ASHINGTON (NC) — The US Catholic bishops have decided to give the bishops of Thailand $4 million in the next three years for refugee camps in Thailand. Each bishop will contribute 2.6 cents per year per Catholic in his diocese in the next three years to generate the $4 million. The Thai bishops are taking over major refugee camp services currently conducted by Catholic Relief Services, the US bishops' overseas aid agency. Pope John Paul II had personally appealed for financial aid from the I-S bishops after he visited a refugee camp in Thailand during his Far East trip
earlier this year. The Catholic Church in Thailand, with only 12 dioceses and 200,000 Catholics, is unable to take up the financial burden by itself of replacing CRS's services in the camps.
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The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
7
In this age of computers, robots, space travel and modern medicine, one is tempted to say, "Don't worry. Technology eventually will solve all our problems." But for all the good technology creates, there is a moral responsibility to use technology wisely for the good of all and not at the expense of some. The church has a unique contribution to make to the moral development it hopes will accompany technological advances.
T
KNOW YOUR FAITH
To give life to somebody His hair was gray, his face lined with age. He did not look as old as the 73 years to which he admitted, but he was clearly over the "senior-citizen" boundary. Appearances were deceiving, however. When he stood to address the assembly of 400 religious educators only those who already knew him were not surprised by the youthful spirit and enthusiasm Sulpician Father Eugene Walsh conveyed. He spoke with the comfortable informality of anybody's grandfather, but he communicated a vision of worship that was fresh and vigorous and hopeful. Wherever he goes, one of his main themes has been the ministry of the celebrating assembly — the people who worship together. Father Walsh insists that all who form the assembly, clergy and laity alike, "make the Mass." They celebrate together and each has a responsibility to help make worship a life-giving experience for others. Father Walsh goes so far as to suggest that the reason for coming to church on Sunday is "to give life to somebody else." For centuries the Mass was seen as the action of the priest which was piosly observed by the assembled
lay people who often said other prayers to occupy their time and express their own spirituality. Today the Catholic Church is attempting to regain a sense of its worship as the work of all the people — which is what the word "liturgy" meant in its Greek origins.
The liturgy does not belong to the priest alone. It is worship which all the members of the church celebrae together. Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, various ministries have been reintroduced in the Mass. Parishes now have readers, communion distributors, song leaders, servers, ushers, greeters, choirs and folk groups. All work together with the priest to fulfill the various roles that the liturgy requires. The growth of these ministries is a clear symbol that the community is more involved in the liturgy. Yet the most basic of all the ministries in the Eucharist is the one most often overlooked — that of the assembly itself. The whole assembly offers the eucharistic sacrifice. The whole assembly celebrates the eucharistic meal. In his writings and in his speeches, Father Walsh has
Sophisticated were troublemakers By Father John Castelot St Paul's converts at Corinth were a troublesome lot. Like most Christian communities, they represented many levels of society: free citizens and slaves, rich and poor, men and women, Jews and gentiles, simple and sophisticated. It was the sophisticated who caused most of the trouble. The Corinthian society 2000 years ago got as excited about philosophies as many people do today about sports and music. The Corinthians fancied themselves to be extraordinarily intellectual. In fact, though they were intelligent, immature pride blinded them to the weaknesses in their pet theories. Once the Corinthians subscribed to a fascinating idea, they judged everthing
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against its background_ This led to distortions of the truth. Paul, for instance, had insisted on the principle of Christian freedom: That salvation is a free gift from God, not something we earn. He put his case in a nutshell in Galatians 5:1: "It was for liberty that Christ freed us." Like children with a new toy, some Corinthians were fascinated. Seeing and hearing nothing else, responsible freedom degenerated into unbridled license. School was out. No more classes, no more homework,
no more restrictions. The Corinthians could eat and drink what they wanted. sleep with whomever they wanted. Not even the ordinary conventions of social decency bound them. One man married his stepmother and considered this quite smart, a protest against the strictures of social morality. If some fellow Christians had serious misgivings about the propriety of buying meat used in pagan sacrifices, the Corinthians did not. After all, they knew that idols were a fiction. So what
difference did it make? In all of this, the Corinthians forgot something very important: Freedom can never be absolute. As long as even just two people live together, the freedom of one is limited by the rights of the other. As for eating meat already sacrificed to idols, Paul admitted the Corinthians were right. The fact that food is used in pagan sacrifice does not taint it. But some Christians thought it did, Paul observed. He warned against parading freedom in such a
way that others, who thought it wrong to eat meat sacrificed to idols, were tempted to do what they believed was sinful. Here is Paul's reaction: "Because of your knowledge, the weak one perishes, that brother for whom Christ died...If food causes my brother to sinIwill never eat meat again, so that I may not be an occasion of sin to him" (1 Cor. 8:11-13). We have obligations to our brothers and sisters, and those oblgiations limit our freedom. Charity is the
supreme law that Christ left us. People with an axe to grind love slogans and the Corinthians had theirs: "Everything is lawful for me." Paul however cautioned: "That does not mean that everything is good for me" (1 Cor. 6:12). The same principle applies to Christians today. We "can" do so many things today. But freedom demands that we count the cost to human society. The only acceptable freedom is responsible freedom.
reminded us that this basic principle makes demands on each of us. Every person who joins the worshipping assembly has a responsibility for creating good worship, a responsibility no one else can fill. That responsibility has several dimensions. • It requires that each person contribute to creating an atmosphere of hospitality in the church — that we be attentive to each other. A climate of warmth can help us all be open to others. That openness in turn makes it more likely that we are open to experience God's presence and God's power in our worship. • It requires that every member of the community put personal energy into the common actions of the assembly — joining in the prayers and responses, contributing to the singing, listening attentively to God's words, entering into the spirit of the liturgy.
CJ If any one of us fails to offer our unique contribution to this common worship, the assembly suffers and our worship is less than it should be. We all recognise that a priest or a lector who does a half-hearted job hurts us all. It is just as true that anything less than full participation by any one of us diminishes us all. Finally good worship requires that worship extend into all of life. Everyone has the responsibility to carry the spirit of worship into our daily lives and thus work to further kingdom of God in our own time. We will have more to take with us if we have fully entered into the liturgy. And each member of the assembly will be enriched to the extent that all have given of themselves in our common worship. All receive if all give and all share. Thus we become, as the fourth eucharistic prayer puts it, "one body in Christ, a living sacrifice of praise."
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Technology carves inroads to many areas of our lives. As technology's scope expands, what ethical issues are raised? Dominican Father David K. O'Rourke thinks that the great advantage of technology is its capacity for serving the needs of human beings — for helping solve the problem of world hunger, for example. But every change in the world seems to lead to some unplanned results which can be detrimental. The unplanned results need to be considered now, not later, he writes. Dolores Leckey thinks that the technological age has a way of pressuring us to expand moral awareness. In an age when the marvels of medical technology are seen everywhere, there might be a temptation to leave one's health in the hands of machines. But, she writes, that would ignore our own responsibility to protect the gift of life. Katharine Bird discovers in an interview with Father Kevin McCoy how a medical ethicist might help families faced with difficult decisions on medical care. Keeping the dignity of the human person in mind is a key consideration. Father John Castelot points out what a troublesome lot the Corinthians were in misinterpreting St Paul's teaching on freedom. Sometimes, concern for other Christians means not doing something even if we possess the ability to do it, the priest suggests.
Who makes moral decisions for computers? By Father David O'Rourke Several months ago I purchased a personal computer. Until then, I never had anticipated how helpful it could be. I am even
The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
using it to write this article. But I have a question: How does a computer discover the difference between right and wrong? Make no mistake, the question is important. From the assembly lines of big automakers to the vineyards of California near my home, the stainless-steel hands of computerized machines are hard at work. Technology is reshaping the world. Yet, I suspect that ethical dimensions of the technological revolution are being seriously overlooked. Cha-
rles Muscatine, an educator at the University of California, says universities are becoming expert at helping students master modern technology. But, he maintained, these institutions are not teaching what is perhaps the greatest need — how a person makes ethical decisions. Before asking how quetions of right and wrong enter the world of technology, let's be clear on definitions. We talk about technology, but what does it mean? Think of technology and
you may well think of a computerized world. We readily draw mental pictures of it — complete with elaborate control panels and technicians who quietly keep watch over their oscilloscopes and robots. But what technology is really about is something different, something we can't put into images. Technology isn't principally about machines. Technology above all is about information. It has to do with storing, controlling. communicating and using information.
Today information can be processed almost instantaneously. Knowledge can be put to use in ways that change the world and change people's lives. This raises ethical issues. Let me give an example. Several weeks ago a commission of US bishops conducting a hearing for the national pastoral letter on the economy heard an expert on world geography, agriculture and climate conditions told of some ways knowledge is put to use to change the world. He cited the Green Revolution — the
development of new food plants to increase production. New strains of rice are of special interest in underdeveloped nations. But the witness also talked about how the unplanned effects of science and technology commonly turn out to be greater than anticipated. For instance, the Green Revolution is bringing a new dependency on a very narrow genetic pool in the plant world. Once there were many varieties of rice. When stronger strains were
developed, they gradually replaced the many varieties. That might mean that, in the event of a new rice disease, a huge part of the world's rice crop would be wiped out. The risk needs to be considered now, not later. This brings me back to my original question. How does a computer recognize the difference between right and wrong? Obviously it doesn't. No technology does. Technology relies on human beings for decisions about ethical matters.
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uestion that is crucial
humanity Can develop the moral capacity to decide wisely how to use its technology?
That crucial question would confront people in the latter part of the 20th century, German theologian Father Romano Guardini observed many years ago. Now, in the final decades of the century, his question illuminates many corners of contemporary life. Two events in my life this summer highlighted the importance of his question. At a meeting of European Catholic laity on peacemaking, my small discussion group, which included participants from eight different countries, focused on the recent TV film, "lbe Day After." The film raised the question: What might life be like after a major nuclearweapons attack? One participant from an country Eastern-bloc thought the film did nothing to convince viewers of the real horrors of nuclear war since everyone knew it was a fantasy. I suggested that while it was clearly fiction, it had some basis in truth. Another member recalled that during World War II she had seen an actual Blm of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with her War Office colleagues. Though of different faiths, they knelt and prayed for a long time afterward in the viewing room, she said.
E EE A young Greek teacher said that a kind of despair settled over his primary school children after seeing the TV film. Later our group was struck by this fact: Our very discussion had been stimulated by technology — by films and by television. We were eight people struggling with a common language, English. We found a connecting link through the communications media. These media, with all their limitations, can draw people into dialogue about their fears and their hopes for the world, we decided. Theycan help to expand our sense of moral responsibility for the world and for each other. Later, when I visited a hospital where a friend was having a defective pacemaker replaced, I again had the opportunity to reflect on the strengths and limitations of modern technology. A hospital's cardiac-care floor is a prime vantage point for viewing the wonders of medical technology. There one sees machines to steady an irregular heartbeat and machines to monitor the heart rhythms of a whole floor of patients. one sees the kidney dialysis equipment — and, with a little imagination, one can envision the devices for human organ transplants. I tend to gaze uncritically on these wonder machines. That's
By Dolores Leckey why it was good for me to read Jane Brody's book, "The New York Times Guide to Personal Health." Ms Brody contends that much of modern medicine provides "sickness-care," not health care. Her analysis indicates that even with all the marvels of medical technology, there is still much we ought to do ourselves to protect the gift of life. Taking personal responsibility for good health, she suggests, means "avoiding hazardous behaviours" such as cigarettes and excess alcohol; "pursuing healthenhancing activities" such as regular excercise; and taking time for routine checkups and other protective health measures. I find Ms Brody's suggestions helpful in these times when we might be tempted
to leave things up to medical devices. And — much like the peacemaking meeting I attended earlier — she helps me to expand a sense of what moral responsibility means, even in a technological age.
Technology not only challenges us .right here on Earth, it also is doing so among the stars. Space travel is upon us and it offers adventures of all kinds, even adventures of grace, if we are to believe British writer C.S. Lewis. But it presents moral dilemmas: Does the technology of space travel deserve such large expenditures of money when whole populations — in Africa, for example — are on the verge of starvation? What about space stations
being used as battle stations by one country or another? Surely space technology is of such magnitude as to warrant public discussion. Technology saves lives and stretches human creativity. It aLso touches the dark side of humanity. That is why I believe the Church has a place in the technological dialogue. The Church encompasses spiritual wisdom and tradition, as well as respect for scientific truth. The Church has a unique contribution to make to the moral development it hopes will accomtechnological pany advances. For certainly in our time, the Church's pastoral concern is like that of Isaiah, articulating a vision of peace and justice and freedom for all.
Mixing old with new The campsite was nestled on a heavily wooded mountainside. In it, young Girl Scouts moved happily about from one activity to another. They made pottery jars and they wove placemats on 100-year-old looms. They swam, they biked, they sang — and they programmed computers. They programmed computers? Yes. In a cabin alongside a gurgling mountain stream, a group of computers awaited groups of the girls each day. A computer history was on hand to introduce the young learners to skills increasingly regarded as essential in the electronic age. More and more schools are finding a place in the curriculum for computers. Among parents computer skills are a frequent topic of discussion. Parents are worried that children who lack the right kind of computer background will lack a necessary skill for survival in adulthood. Parents and educators have a sense that computer technology is changing society in profound ways. Computer technology often is regarded as one way humanity currently carries on the work of God's creation. The assistance computers provide in meeting worthwhile goals speedily — e.g. in planning and monitoring valuable social programs, or in assessing emergency medical needs — can be seen as a way human beings carry out God's desire that they extend dominion over all the earth. But risks accompany almost every new effort to extend humanity's earthly dominion. People may grow apprehensive, fearing they will become victims of their own creations. Some begin to wonder what kind of place will exist for them in the world 20 years into the future. In the midst of the pluses and minuses of an emerging world, people can lose perspective. Some then may make decisions about the future much more on the basis of their fear of what is happening in the world than on the basis of their real values and hopes in life. It seems that a chain reaction occurs. Humanity extends its reach into the world through technology. But the changed world of tchnology reaches back, changing the ways people live, the ways they use their leisure time, the kinds of jobs they find — even, it is said, the way they think. The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
9
Acceptance is the name of the game, says Anne Roberts. As a mother who has seen 10 years of mental disorder wreck the life of her now 28year-old son she can talk about the helplessness, the hopelessness, the humanity and the humour. Originally diagnosed as schizophrenic, her son was later reassessed and said to have an obsessional compulsive neurosis. At least that's the c losest a diagnosis could get, given the wide and often changing dimensions of mental illness. What that has meant for Anne and her husband is thankfully, unimaginable for most of
An ordeal that goes beyond any ideas
us.
For Anne the answer is to have a part of the house that is kept private; somewhere that her son doesn't go. "Ihave to have somewhere thatI feel is separate from it all," she said. "Igrow trees because I have to see something thrive,Ihave to have some control over that at least. . I have no control over my son and his illness. "If I hadn't had an intrinsic faith I think I would have fallen apart. "When things get hardIsay, 'Let Go, Let God.'! have reached the point where Idon't expect answers this side of life. "I ask for the strength to cope but I have to say there is also a lot of fun, a lot of humour. . . on his good days we share a joke. And I'm proud of my son too, because he has stuck in there. However hard it is for me it is so much worse for him.
Apart from two or three episodes of living away from home, their son and his problems have been very much a part of their life_ That means almost nonstop depression, long bouts of lethargy where he doesn't move from his bed and an endless and constantly changing range of obsessions. There are no pictures on the walls (they may fall down and kill him); only white toilet paper can be used, all his shirts must be the same, day after day he must wear identical clothes, sometimes all the doors and cupboards will be left wide open (in case someone is hiding there), he will only drink from one cup and if it can't be found he becomes increasingly distressed; at one stage he was convinced he had a seven-foot tapeworm, at another that he was dying of kidney failure . . the list goes on and on. "As he works through one obsession another takes its place," Anne said. "He agonises over everything he eats. "He will have to know exactly what is in the salad, what is in the shepherd's pie.
OAN.o ,Arft smoke doesn't "He because he is worried about his lungs, he doesn't drink because he is worried about his liver and he won't take drugs because he is worried about his kidneys. 'While lam glad he doesn't drink or smoke it's the obsessiveness that gets you down. "And, of course, because he won't take drugs it means he usually won't take any medication for his condition either. "His life is so impoverished. "He is ruled by his obsessions. "He has no aptitude for sharing, he is incapable of small talk. "He used to paint but he doesn't do that any more.
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The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
Record reporter ROSLYN ROSS continues her in depth feature on mental disorder in this second and final part of a series which looks at one of Australia's biggest health problems . . . a problem many people choose to ignore or lock-out of their minds,
"His days are spent playing chess with a computer; it's a mechanical mind so there's no need to relate emotionally." For Anne the answer is to have a part of the house that is kept private; somewhere that her son doesn't go. "I have to have somewhere that I feel is separate from it all," she said. "I grow trees because I have to see something thrive. I have to have some control over that at least . . I have no control over my son and his illness. "If I hadn't had an intrinsic faith I think I would have fallen apart. 'When things get hard I say, 'Let Go, Let God.' I have reached the point where I don't expect answers this side of life. "I ask for the strength to cope but I have to say there is also a lot of fun, a lot of humour . . . on his good days we share a joke. And I'm proud of my son too, because he has stuck in there. However hard it is for me it is so much worse for him. "Anne Roberts has not got the heaviest load and at least my husband hasn't left me. "That happens a lot in these cases. "I'm not saying we're the better for having him like this; I wish he didn't have such a burden, but I do have a lot to be grateful for," she said. For Anne and her husband the births of their three sons had been a cause for joy. There was little warning of the tragedy that would later strike. Their eldest son would die in a traffic accident at the age of 16, knocked off his
bike while riding home from cricket, and their sensitive second son would be emotionally devastated by the incident It was to be the beginning of his long and brave battle for mental health. There was 17 months between him and his elder brother and four and a half years between him and the youngest
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"He was always more introverted than the others and always prone to anxiety,Anne said, "but I can't say we ever expected him to turn out like this.The shy, quiet boy was to run home from school every day for the first three weeks after he started and would later be assessed as very intelligent but displaying no real performance in his schoolwork. "He was doing so badly at school that when he was seven we took him to a child guidance clinic. We were told he had a high IQ and his problem was anxiety based," she said. In 1966 the family emigrated to Australia from England and the thought of moving to the other side of the world loomed as an enormous threat to their security-seeking son. -There is certainly often a pre-disposition to mental illness in people," Anne said, "but there is no evidence that there is more trauma in the background of those who break down. "Such children tend to be more sensitive, creative and intelligent and certainly, as
a young child, our son's behaviour made no real impact on the family. "I suppose we were just more aware of his needs. There was no real problem in his early years with social isolation. "The move to Perth was obviously very difficult for him and he became increasingly anxious as we looked at a lot of houses. "In the end I decided the very next four-bedroomed house we walked into we would buy. ' We did and we are still there." Always at the bottom of the class, coming 39 out of a group of 40, their son was to reach a turning point in Grade 7. "There was a quietly spoken Irish principal at the school who also taught Grade 7,- Anne said. "The teacher obviously understood him and for the first time he relaxed. The teacher picked up his science/maths bent and he made real progress.
c 4ft "By the time he got to high school he was doing extremely well." But life was to strike a crushing blow to the highly intelligent and sensitive boy. It was 1971 and his elder brother was head boy at R ossmoyne High . . . he was hit by a car while riding home and was killed instantly. "The youngest boy was very angry about it and got it out of his system that way, but our other son didn't appear to grieve," Anne said.
was the hardest thing to live with even though the delusions made life difficult. It wasn't just weeks of it, it was months and years. "I suffer from osteo-myelitis and have one leg shorter than the other and at one stage my son convinced himself that one of his legs was shorter than the other. "He knows it is not congenital but he still went to the doctor and was told he was holding his pelvis at a certain angle. "He worked for a dye manufacturer for a while but became too distressed about the danger of chemicals.
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"He was 141 2 / and he just walked out into the night. When he came home he went to his room and laid on his bed for two or three days. He saw no point in going to school; he thought, might be next.' We dragged him off the bed and got him back to school. That was June and in the August he went to Thredbo and appeared to be functioning fairly normally. We were still concerned about depression and we took him to the child guidance clinic. 'The doctor said he was suffering from 'normal mourning grief and he would get over it. "I suppose it was then that he began to withdraw socially but he was still doing so well at school . almost too well. "He got six distinctions in his Leaving, it was almost as if he was pouring everything he had into his work. "He won a scholarship and went to UWA. "For the first year he did very well, in fact he got a Letter of Commendation from the School of Mathematics. "Everything seemed okay. He was running, chess was an important part of his life and then in the second year things began to fall apart . assignments were not getting in, he was leaving late for University or spending days lying on his bed or in Kings Park. "He failed to attend so many lab sessions he received a letter of inquiry.
"It was then I really began to worry_ "I rang the sub-dean of the Science faculty and went to talk to her. "I thought maybe his assessment of his own potential was too high. "But she said there were no doubts about his potential but much of his work was showing disassociated thought, his concentration was fragmented and the goods just weren't being delivered," she said. For Anne and her husband the difficult part was persuading their son he had a problem and should seek help. "He was over 18, an adult in his own right, we couldn't just take him to the doctor," she said.
,414 The first assessment was for psychotic depression. He was told to take all pressure off, to book into Heathcote Hospital and to take antidepressants. His answer was, 'No.' For the Roberts it was an agonising time. His drawings had become increasingly morbid and his ability to talk about the situation was minimal "How do you know what is aggravated adolescence and what is a problem," Anne said. 'That is the difficulty that faces every parent in this position.
'The sad part Is you just have to wait. "If you seek help too soon you just get patted on the head and then, when things finally become severe and you get some sort of diagnosis, you are asked, 'why you didn't come sooner?" But there is no easy way out, she says. Civil rights do have to be considered and adults have the right to choose what will happen to them, unless of course they break the law. "It's a revolving door because a large part of the mind is still rational," Anne said. "You don't just suddenly go completely out of your head, it is a slow process of distorted perception, low energy levels, inertia and allconsuming anxiety. For 18 months her son was counselled by a clinical psychologist — with little noticeable result. It is to his credit, says Anne, that despite his many problems he still managed to complete his degree. "It may have taken five years instead of three to get his Bachelor of Science but at least he did it," she said. 'The psychologist told him he must have no goals but the psycho-analysis didn't do much good. He was very depressed and the family was impotent. We had to learn to detach ourselves emotionally and to lower our expectations. "It was hard for us because most depressions can be eased by medication but he wouldn't take any.
"It was a strain on our marriage . . when someone appears to be able and you can't see the disorder it is hard to come to terms with." It was even harder for her husband. Like many men he found the situation almost incomprehensible. For him the answer was, 'Pull your socks up,' 'Sink or swim,' or 'if only they brought back conscription.' "It's like trying to kick a car with a flat battery," Anne said. "His self esteem had never been high and now it was at an all-time low." It was in this mood, she said, that he stopped a Catholic student on campus and asked her to pray for his sanity.
Some of his friends have stuck by him, says Anne. Some have worked through to a level of acceptance where they can say to themselves, 'it's wasteful and tragic but it's not without hope!' "It was a time when we all had to learn to accept that you can go on caring, but only in the knowledge that there is nothing you can do," she said. "His moods ebbed and flowed and meanwhile he completed his degree. He tried to work in the vacations but delusional ideas would upset him so much he had to SUN:). "He was frightened to live but he was even more frightened of dying." The year of 1976 was a very bad one, says Anne. "At that stage he was virtually suicidal and my husband and I had legally separated for six months," she said. "It was the depression that
"He got so worried because the workers wouldn't wear the gloves and masks they were supposed to. "His worry of course was very real, but it was exaggerated to the point of mania. "Although there is often an element of logic in the delusions they reach such extremes that the person is incapacitated. "I don't know if I've ever known him not to worry,'" she said. Attempts to live alone or share with friends proved largely unsuccessful. In August of 1983 when he was six weeks into his Honours year the crunch came. "He went completely to pieces and had to withdraw from Uni," Anne said. ''He went to WAIT to do one or two computer units, trying to keep his toe in the door but it was too much." On one dreadful stormy night he rang home and asked to speak to a friend who was boarding with his parents. He didn't want to see his parents but they went anyway. They found him alone in the flat, with no heating and no food in the fridge. He was deeply depressed and huddled under an old, grey blanket on a mattress on the floor. "At that stage we decided. 'You've tried to do it yourself and you're losing, it's time for help,' Anne said. He was admitted to hospital and diagnosed as obsessional compulsive neurosis. He was in hospital for five days and then had to leave because he developed obsessions about the other patients.
"There is a new drug that mollifies the obsession so people can function," Anne said. 'The doctor said our son ought to give it a go for six weeks and could he come home. We said it was conditional upon him sticking with the medication." The results, said Anne, were dramatic. "It was like a resurrection. He had humour, he had energy, he was painting and his art was very expressive. "The said part was he
didn't think there was anything different about him, even though everyone around him did," she said. At the end of the six weeks he stopped taking the drug. 'The doctor had told him he had three choices — Anofranil, suicide or psychosurgery," Anne said. 'When he decided to come off the Anofranil after six weeks our hearts sunk." In such cases, says Anne, the parents often become the figure of blame. ' We have very often been the culprits in his illness," Anne said. "He blames me for not breast-feeding him and therefore not establishing a n important bond; he blames us for not loving him enough; he blames his traumatic birth. " 'Yes, his birth was difficult and perhaps there was some oxygen deprivation. Who knows, and how much does it matter now.'' It is interesting, she says, that one doctor has stated the advances in obstetric care will lead to a decrease in mental illness in the future. But the reasons why are not the important thing for Anne Roberts. She is mor concerned with 'how.' On two occasions in the last few years her son has voluntarily returned to hospital . . once overnight and again for a couple of hours. He has now reached a stage where he is prepared to try Anofranil again. Anne Roberts greets the decision with controlled enthusiasm. She is long past the stage of elated optimism.
,414 "You have to learn to focus on the factors in your life which are happy and pleasurable," she said. "You have to keep a sense of humour and accept you have very little control over the outcome." One of the positive aspects, she says, is that you learn to control your own stress. "You have your own life to lead," she said. "The worst thing they can do is kill themselves. You can watch them as much as you like but if they really want to kill themselves they will, if not this time, then the next." People are shocked by such statements, she says, but her answer is that she has already lost two sons . . . one physically and the other mentally . . . and life has to go on. The grieving process is a very important part of mental illness. With the onset of such disorders the personality dies and the ill person will never be the same again, even if they recover. As a counsellor with the Association for Relatives and Friends of the Mentally III she sees many people displaying anger, confusion and guilt and says they are all part of the grieving process; a process that takes time. On the positive side, she says, both her husband and herself have worked out
their priorities in life. have values "Our changed," she said. "We get much joy from the very small things which no-one else would notice . . . from the birthday remembered, the cup of tea or the kind gesture." For ptople in this position, says Anne, the first step is to tend to your own emotional health. 'The health,er you are the better you can cope," she said. Anne, a former teacher, took a unit in Death and Dying at WAIT which gave her some perspective, in 1975 she did a Community Development Centre course in Health and Welfare Auxiliary Workers which helped her to begin to resolve her own residual grief and she went on to do various chaplaincy workshops_ She says she has learned a lot from her son and that most people feel anxious only when they are faced with a situation which makes them helpless.
"One of the reasons that people like me see a psych atrist now and again is to sound out my own doubts and to be assured that I have done all that I can. "You see the pain rubs off At times he gets more hostile and depressed and that is hard to take." Her son hasn't eaten in the dining room with his parents for three years. He takes a tray and sits in the lounge "He can manage a one-toone conversation sometimes but isn't able to cope with social situations," she said. Of his anxieties, she says, it is important to accommodate such things only to the point that the family feels is reasonable. "Most of his obsessions are with cleanliness or contamination," she said. "I went home the other day and he had re-washed every shirt he owned because he was worried I had used bleach and hadn't got it all out. "I use bleach in the toilet too and he worries it will get onto the seat and affect his skin. "Sometimes you can ignore it, sometimes you laugh and sometimes I just scream, 'Fall on your head, will you!' "The most unattractive f eature of psychoses or mental illness is the selfcentredness. "Their world really is turned inward, they have no time or energy for anyone else. 'Their life is one of instant gratification of needs, like a child. Sometimes I feel I'm back in kindergarten. 'There is no thought for anyone else and often it is the small things that irritate the most . . like drinking all the milk during the night so there is none left for breakfast. "It asks a lot of you, it asks you to love unconditionally.
• Coat page 12
The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985 11
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1983 synod
• From page 1 This 'Nage, he said, "contrasts social sin and personal sin . . . in a way that leads unconsciously to the watering down and almost the abolition of personal sin, with the recognition only of social guilt and responsibility." Pope John Paul describes St Thomas Aquinas' distinctions between mortal and venial sin as "the doctrine which became constant in tire Church." He declares certain acts "if carried out with suf-
Ordeal fora mother
• From page 11
"You have to focus on what they can do, not on what they once did and cannot do anymore. "You have to abandon all that and live each day at a time.' For Anne Roberts, one day at a time takes her closer to the tiny glimmer of hope that some obsessive disorders abate after the age of 30. Maybe this will happen with her son. And through it all, she says, the deepest hurt came some years ago when she and her husband attended wedding celebrations for one of their son's university friends. "There were 40 young people there," she said. -They were living life to the full, studying, travelling, marrying, working . . . all those things we take for granted and all the things that my son may never know." There is also the pain of having the ill person dropped from conversation by other people. "It's too hard for them to salk about so they don't," she said. "On his 28th birthday he didn't receive one card from our relatives
ABC religious radio, TV A double episode of ing from the new Humanism greatest of them met at Mar- Campion of St Patrick's The Christians can be in Florence, which in turn burg in 1529 in the hope of College Manly. seen on ABC TV com- would lead to the northern agreeing on a shared Com- He considers 19th and 20th mencing at noon on Humanism of men such as munion, but their fundamen- century Australian CatholiEremus, and suggest a new tal differences over the Sunday January 6: cism under the microscope — r oad for the Church far meaning of Christ's words a popular religion but also a Episode 6: "Princes and r emoved extravagances of 'This is My Body' kept them religion of law. Prelates" Rome — but which Rome's apart. There were two disastrously stubborn resistance to change Had they agreed, the history On 6WN Monday to Frilow points for the Papacy: the would make impossible. of Protestantism might have day January 7 to 11 MEDITATION features "Come Council of Constance, where been very different. an emperor deposed three In the event it became a and dance — Celtic poepopes and arranged the cho- Episode 7: "Protest and movement full of great leaders try and prayer." ice of a fourth, and where the Reform" but without a consistent view. F ather Gregory Burke, Czech reformer, John Hus, One of the most dramatic Yet there was one country was condemned to be burnt stories in Christian history is where all the different strands at the stake in 1415; and the t`iat of Martin Luther, the of the Reformation came sack of Rome in 1527 by an tormented young monk from together in a struggle for emperor's which a cloister at Wittenberg who supremacy army Britain. — included German Lutheran married a nun and was surtroops among its most violent rounded by a family of children and a crowded table of On 6WN at 10.15 pm on sections. Friday January 11 in AusIn between these events students and admirers. flowered the greatest glories But Luther was only one of tralia the program Forum of Renaissance Rome, deriv- many 'reformers'. Some of the features Father Edmund
12 The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
ficient awareness and freedom, are always gravely sinful." He notes some bishops at the synod suggested a "threefold distinction of sins, classifying them as venial, grave and mortal." The distinction can help indicate "there is a scale of seriousness among grave sins," the pope says. "But it still remains true," he adds, "that the essential and decisive distinction is between sin which destroys charity and sin which does not kill the supernatural life: there is no middle way between life and death." The pope also rejects the idea the only mortal sin is "an act of 'fundamental option— to reject God. In reply the pope declares "mortal sin exists also when a person knowingly and willingly. for whatever reason, chooses something gravely disordered."
0.C.D., Prior of the Discalced Carmelite Priory, Brisbane, reads and introduces the poetry of the medieval Irish monks. The poems have verve and spontaneity and they bring together a lyrical appreciation of beauty and a contemplative view of Christ's pervading presence.
Sense of sin • From page 2 He said the document "tends not to exhaust all the themes of social or cultural sin, but to illustrate those meanings that could obscure the sense of personal sin." "When a certain acceptance of social or structural sin begins to obscure the ethical responsibility of individuals, then the Church senses that we're on the wrong track, and gives a warning," the cardinal said.
The document shows the Church is not merely thinking of itself, Cardinal Martini said, when it indicates the roots of modern evil, which he said "are o ften hidden behind alibis and excuses." As the Church tries to "unmask the idolatries that attack individual dignity," he said, it refuses to simply abandon man to a mere recognition of sin. Instead, it gives him hope through reconciliation, the cardinal said.
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in England — it's almost as if he is dead, a non-person. "My husband escapes by detachment, by keeping busy and men are always good at changing the subject. There are friends who walk in and say to her son; 'No good asking you what you've done today,' that is hard too. 26 John Street. Perth WA 6000 But she remembers the • Correspondence • The Editor. The Record. PO Box 50 words of the clinical psy- : Aberdeen Street. Perth 6000 chologist who said her son 11 Advertising Vanguard Service Telephone 328 1388 was one of the angriest • • registered for posting as a newspaper Category "A" (111 • people she had seen, and • Produced in WA Printed and published weekly by Edward van Heemst. one of the strongest. • 26 John Street. Perth She is proud of him, in this, • Established 1874 Ss the hardest fight of all. No • physical disability can be as bad, she says. His life may be hard to understand, but it is a life. is is * "You can confuse attend- 4 Remodel that old bathroom 4 ance with experience . . 4 Add • some people may travel the 4 ! PRESTIGE and Value • * world and learn nothing, • • to your home * others may go no further • • than the letterbox but have • a far deeper experience," she said. Her son may not have gone much further than the letterbox, but in this world, that may be further than most of us will ever travel.
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Youth Forum
'Review of Life' approach and nourished by our relation- consider acting out the gos- relationship with God, and Many people may ship with God through prayer. pels seriously by struggling our struggle to know him be familiar with the Continually we must strive to with the poor in all of the better in order to do His will. See, Reflect, Act be open to doing God's will, above situations, to place Our relationship with God, method (Review of for this to be our goal when ourselves as the hope of the and our action are thus necesstudy situations, invol- See-Act; a rational problem member feeling hurt by this we are reviewing situations world. Life) which TYCS, vement sarily ONE. person in the way they have in community solving method. There is someAt the same time, our daily which concern us. Y CS, YCW and groups or politics. thing about the review of life acted. Anne Harris Secondly, we came together action and presence as ChrisCatholic Social Basically, in a review that goes far beyond this When we do not reflect on because we want to do God's tians in the world is ever TYCS Fulltimer Office 328-10-1 Apostolate use in we See a situation, get deduction process — that is it we may often come up with will to create a better world, nourished and guided by our our faith in Jesus and our aggressive action. Howtheir movements. the facts of the situa- desire to live the values which an of or to bring the Kingdom ever, when we reflect on the
Talking about TYCS. .
tion, Reflect on the God. When we review we situation we may begin to This is the process values present in the we witness in His life. have to discern the values in In fact, because our moveunderstand this person and that movements use to situation and reflect on situations which are promotments are based on our faith, why they act the way they do. try and help members gospel principles and this building of a better ing on the values which we Most importantly. we sec the live their faith in every A ct to "bring God's world and in turn build on uphold in our life, the Reflect Christ in this person who is situation — be it rela- Kingdom on earth." them, and try to change these tionships with friends The review of life can be a section is the CRUX of the hurting us. negative values into positive life It is where we review of and family, work or simple method of deduction: ones. Therefore we need to
Peace Meeting VATICAN CITY (NC) — Pope John Paul II is scheduled to meet at the Vatican with young people from around the world during a symposium on peace sponsored by a Japanese r adio station. symposium, The which is expected to a ttract about 5,000 youth between 15 and 29 years of age, is being sponsored by JOQR, a Tokyo commercial station in cooperation with the Japan Catholic Bishops' Conference, according to symposium organizers. The chairman of the board of the station, Yoshio Akao, was made a Knight of St. Gregory in 1980. The station has 37 affiliates in a national network. JOQR, in a press release, said that "the symposium is held at the Vatican in the presence of the Holy Father becuase the pope truly symbolizes the cause of world peace."
The symposium was designed to precede the beginning of the UNdesignated International Youth Year, 1985, the JOQR release said. The majority of participants are expected to come from Japan, but other countries are also scheduled to be represented, organisers said. The meeting with the pope is scheduled to include brief statements by young people from Japan and 14 other countries, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany and the Philippines. The symposium agenda includes a Mass in St Peter's Basilica celebrated by Bishop Stephen Hamao of Yokohama. Bishop Hamao is president of the Bishops Committee for Youth of Japan. The symposium is also being supported by the Japanese section of Vatican Radio which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, said Sister Ignatius lshino, a member of the Daughters of St Paul, who heads the section.
Catholic Youth Council
CATHEDRAL MASS Sunday January 27 at 7.30pm Families welcome
Catholic Youth Council
International Youth Year 85
BUSH DANCE Friday January 25
St Thomas More College
Music for all ages
International Youth Year
CONFERENCE January 24-28 1985
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increase our knowledge of Christ's life and values inherent in the Kingdom. Practically. in a review we ask ourselves "What would Christ do in this situation?" Perhaps a way to help answer this question is to look at the values that are operating in the situation: are they signs of the Kingdom or signs of the absence of the Kingdom.
less insecure and more a person of God. This involves great strength in moving from the position of 'you hurt me' to looking at our own weaknesses in an attempt to work Signs of the Kingdom: Love towards a better relationship dignity, peace, liberation. community, justice. forgive with this person. So. the 'Reflect' section of the ness, concern and equalit
review is the one which challenges us greatly to understand the way in which Christ would respond to a situation. 'the great hope I hold is that In the practice of the Absence of the Kingdom: our relationship with God is 'Reflect' part of the review I Hate, worthlessness, violence. perhaps the most secure see us necessarily doing two oppression, domination. indibecause He knows everything things. Firstly, we believe we i,idualism. selfishness, injusabout us and yet He still loves are not acting alone, that tice. revenge, apathy. and us. I think the knowledge of Christ is working in solidarity inequality. this helps us to become strong with us through the Holy Also in our meeting. and and overcome the fears and Spirit. To go into a weekly personally, we need to search barriers we have towards meeting and try to practice for what Christ was teaching seeking out the Christian our faith in review we must by educating ourselves on the response in any situation. allow ourselves to be open to gospels ( what do they mean). One of the things I've God working through us. We and by reading about Chrisnoticed in reviews is that if can choose the easiest action tianity the group has reflected on a or miss out the important All Christians, in review situation the action following challenges of our faith if we groups or not are constantly will be somewhat different do not approach our meeting challenged to let their faith in from what one expected with a desire to do God's will, God move them to be an when first they heard of the however difficult and soul active part of their world, to situation. For example. when searching it might be for us. consider all involvements we are reviewing a situation Our faith is not only made ( family, friends, workplace. in a group between a group up of a review group meeting. school, tertiary institutions. member and a friend, we actions throughout the week and the wider society), to be usually start with the group and Mass. Our faith is guided a matter of faith. We need to
DEE
News of youth, new CHANGES The Data Processors group met at the Youth Office for the first time recently to discuss changes in the work place and how their work affects them. They were later addressed by a medical specialist and a union representative.
International Youth Year 85
Catholic Youth Council of WA
discern what God really asks us to do. Perhaps this is why it is almost the most difficult part of the review; the part of Consequently, our action is the review which makes us not one of revenge but more most aware of our weaknesses probably one of looking at hut also our hope to grow, to how we can love this person live the Gospels. more, perhaps make them feel
CONFERENCE It was encouraging and supportive for those arranging the four Zone meetings recently afternoon, to find the 100 or so delegates who attended were enthused at the thought of gathering together of 400 young people for the IYY Conference in January to discuss their faith and lives as Catholics in society. Country Zone meetings have been arranged for Bunbury. Narrogin and
Albany and planning for meetings in Northam, Moora, Merredin, Mingenew and Kalgoorlie is underway.
THANK YOU A barbecue to say thank you to all YCS assistants was held at the home of Rosa Speranza, on Sunday, December 16.
CONFERENCE Twenty-five young people came to hear how they could fully participate in the January IYY Conference during the Bunbury Zone meeting last Sunday afternoon. During the weekend Ann Harris and Peter Shootee travelled to Narrogin and Albany to give country participants the opportunity to become conversant with the aims and benefits that can be gained by the coming together of 300 young people from all over the State. During the coming weekend zone meetings will be held at Merredin, Kalgoorlie and Northam.
GET-TOGETHER The "getting-to-knowyou" barbecue which YCW held recently was a great success. Sally Frisina, the organiser, provided an opportunity for new YCW members to meet and mingle with "oldtimers" and fulltimersll Gemma Wooltorton, your fulltimer has been visiting various parish priests to make contact and to look at the possibility of setting up new groups, and has been very pleased with the reception she has received. She sends them all best wishes for Christmas and the New year.
CPY is looking ahead in 1985
To my mind, the Catholic Parish Youth Movement goes into 1985 with some fairly big decisions to make. As a fu//timer for the past two years,Iam very conscious of the effectiveness of our work in the 30 parishes where we have been involved over the past t welve months. The one aim of our Movement is "to develop communities in parishes that will enable young people's faith to grow." Growth, whether personal or spiritual, takes time, a long time. In order for people to grow,Ias a fulitimer need to spend time with young people. My most frequent dilema is, Which young people from which parish do Ispend time with? Which parish amIgoing to aid in developing a community of young people. Ithink CPY's big decision to address in 1985 is, how are we going to work to see this happen? Ihave been involved in Youth Ministry in various capacities over the past five years andIhave seen many different styles of youth ministry. From all my observations, the conclusionImost frequently arrive at is that we need to have more trained youth ministers working within a parish. There are many ways in which CPY can address this concern of spending time with young people. It requires vision, discussion, brave decisions, and most of all spiritual direction. Iask that you keep CPY and it's members in your prayers - especially in this year of decisions. JULIA PICKERING YOUTH OFFICE 328 8136
Wanted. Those who would strive to make it perfect.
Not those who merely dream of, or wish for, a better world. But, those few who would actually dedicate their lives striving to bring peace and justice to the world: to bring love and freedom to the world. So that, with God' grace. the world may become perfect. If you have ever considered becoming a Priest. Brother or Sister. consider it again. C We need you and, God knows. the world needs you. For further information on vocations Priest. Brother or Sister, please contact Brother Robert Callen.
'Dart:
Orearr
Religious Vocations Council
100 Fern Road, Wilson, Western Australia 6107. Telephone (09)451 5737
The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985
13
Record Kids Club Holiday ideas THAT COSTS YOU ALMOST NOTHING • make home-made ice-cubes • borrow a video • visit the local milk-bar • buy a magazine • make your favourite biscuits and cakes • learn to play the mouth organ • photograph your favourite things • create a new drink • write a letter to someone you know • build a tower out of straws and pens
1 4 4 hi. I 4 4 ki. 14 R oland Harvey's Incredible Book of Almost Everything, published by The Five Mile Press, $ 9.95.
Elijah felt a gentle breeze and heard a soft whisper. It was the Lord "Go back down the mountain," the Lord told Elijah. "Continue to speak out in my name. I will be with you."
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Elijah was fleeing for his life. Queen Jezebel ordered the prophet to be captured and put to death. The queen was angry with Elijah. She wanted the people of Israel to worship the gods of Canaan. She built altars and temples in honor of these gods. She tried to get everyone to pray at these altars. Elijah was a prophet of the true God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Elijah did all he could to keep the people from turning to the false gods of Canaan. He challenged the queen and her prophets. "there is only one true God," Elijah insisted.
ElCI So Queen Jezebel ordered Elijah to be killed. Elijah hid in the desert. He was afraid. He was discouraged. He seemed to have failed. People continued to worship the f alse gods of the queen. Elijah wondered if God really cared. He wondered if God was still with him. One day he sat in the shade of a tree and prayed for death. "0 14
The Record, 3 -- 9 January, 1985
Lord," Elijah cried, "let me die. Take my life." But he did not die. Elijah decided to go to the place where God first told the Hebrews how much he loved them. At Mount Horeb God made a bond, a covenant with the people he chose. On top of Mount Horeb Moses had talked with God. "Maybe there I will find strength to go on," Elijah thought. "Up on the mountain top I may find God, just as Moses did." So Elijah walked across the desert until he came to Mount Horeb. He remembered how Moses once led the Hebrews who had escaped from Egypt across the same sands. Elijah cimbed to the top of the mountain. He remembered how Moses found God there in the midst of lightning, earthquake and fire. Elijah rested in a cave near the mountain top. He heard God asking him in his heart, "Why are you here, Elijah?" "I have been trying to keep people faithful to you, Lord," Elijah prayed. "But your people keep turning from you to false
gods. They have torn down your altars. They do not keep your covenant with them. Now I alone am left. And the queen wants me killed." "Go outside and stand on the mountain," the Lord told Elijah. "I will come to you." Elijah went out and stood on the mountain. There was a violent wind blowing. "It is like when Moses met God in the wind storm" Elijah thought to himself. But he did not feel God's presence in the wind.
At last! the book that has everything — well, almost everything — to educate, stimulate, puzzle, test and wcupy the most enquiring mind. This 192-page bumper book is jam-packed with games, quizzes and short stories from specially selected writers. , It also tells how complicated instruments such as cameras and computers work, and instructions are provided on how to make an electronic keyboard. The workings of the silicon chip are explained and did you know that a whale eats four tonnes of food each day. Have you ever contemplated a game of volleyball? Well, the rules and tactics are explained in words and diagrams. And what of the recipe for coconut ice or marshmallow cocoa? Thev have both
found their way into this latest creation from Roland Harvey. While Roland's book is aimed primarily at boys and girls, adults will also find that many articles will help broaden their general knowledge. Well-known children's illustrator, Bob Graham, has joined Roland and their creative pens have added even greater imagination and amusement to this outstanding collection of fact and fiction. The book is certain to provide hours of pleasure for the entire family.
C] El Suddenly there was an eathquake that shook the mountain. It was like the time Moses felt God's presence in the earthquake. But Elijah did not experience God's presence. Then fire seemed to shoot out of the mountain in as Moses' time. But Elijah did not find God in the fire. Then Elijah felt a gentle breeze and heard a soft whisper. It was the Lord, Elijah knew now the Lord was with him. "Go back down the mountain," The Lord told Elijah. "Continue to speak out in my name. I will be with you." Elijah went down the mountain with new hope. +le now trusted the Lord would be with him no matter what might happen.
Join up to win Please print clearl and don't forget sour date of birth and a stamp so %e can send sour membership form to
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A look at books Compiled by Roslyn Ross.
-r1 \
Feminist viewpoint
new titles, new titles
The Gourmet's Tour de A Little Tour in France, by Henry James, published by France, 2' Great French Oxford University Press, Restaurants and their Christian Feminism, tradition; to show how God readers to digest, discusses marital relationship remains is not certain new foundaFavourite Recipes, by Henry $9.99. edited by Judith Weid- is present in women's expe- the changes in women's roles "a major part of female expe- tion." James' travel sketches des- Viard, published by Oxford rience and how that differs in secular society and how this rience and great numbers She recommends that men man published by and cities, University Press, $39, seek no change in this area" and women take up the chal- cribe landscapes Harper and Row (San from men's experience, as affects the way they live, castles, people and France's most wonderful cathedrals, Notre Dame biblical scholar by the times to Women's experience with lenge offered Francisco, 1984), incidents that occurred on his restaurants, chosen for their $12.95. Reviewed by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenz.a marriage and family is now At the same time, as Con- search for the means to best six-week journey in 1880, as decor, gracious hosts, and puts it. She cautions readers "simultaneously the corner- stance Parvey of Wellesley "foster human life." Katherine Bird. well as his personal impres- above all sublime food supernotais to remember that there Feminism are stone of College tradition and the observes, the "ground Christian This book assists readers to sions of the French. bly presented, from Paris to better understand where many feminist theologies — major focus of lifestyle under conventional man- ble for what it doesn't do as the provinces, are vividly accomplishes. no one feminist speaks for relationships is shiftit all, change," woman well what writes Nanette as Christian feminists are today Popular Enamelling, evoked in this beautiful book. by — and where they hope to see The book's editor, the Reve- Roberts of the United Church ing. The old equilibrium is Men don't come across as the Erika Speel, published by Colour photographs of restauthe Christian churches tomor- rend Judith Weidman, now of Christ. Still, she adds, the disestablished and as yet there enemy to overcome. Oxford University Press, rant interiors and dishes, a editor-director of Religious row. With a few exceptions, table of recipes and a map of $13.99. the authors avoid using a News Service, points out this A comprehensive and locations round out this uniis a book "by Christian women strident tone or being overly detailed instructional book on que book. defensive in pressing their who are still hanging in with modern and traditional enathe church," Though they find points. melling techniques for Home Applications and much to criticise in the varClare The feminists represented Night Sky, by beginners and students of the Games for the Apple 11/11 here take it for grunted that ious churches' treatment of Francis, published by + lie Computers. by craft. women, the authors are workthe Christian tradition and Pan, $6.95. Timothy Banse, published Scriptures were interpreted ing for change within the Reviewed by Roslyn Upholstery. Repair bY Oxford Universit3' Press. Basic churches. from an exclusively male Ross. and Restoration, by Robert $19.99. point of view for centuries. Clare Francis is one of published by Practical instructions to help McDonald, Theologian Rosemary Radthose writers who find Press, owners do those things they University Oxford ford Reuther of Garrett-Evan'instant fame,' and with the bought their Apple's compu$ 27.50. gelical Theological Seminary completion of this, her first author's immense know!. ter for home applications The in Evanston, Ill, argues that Yale University theologian novel she became a dollar balance, edge and enthusiasm for the (cheque-book feminist theology is needed Letty Russell thinks that a millionaire before a single most budgeting, weight loss eVall12a subject makes this today because of "the histor- monumental shift in thinking copy had been sold. That's informative and understanda. hon. car ownership eNUIUdical reality of sexism in human is occurring in the way men not a had way to go. And hie book with projects for the tion. etc.) and exciting new and women can minister. It neither is Night Sky if you societies." complete beginner and many games (Jet Jockey, Dungeon Sbe sees sexism as "an expres- would be helpful now, she are looking for some solid practical hints for the more Master and others). sion of broken mutuality suggests. to look at women as holiday reading. upholsterer. experienced between the genders" and as "participants in a common While it is not the most The Religion of Protesta "fundamental expression of journey to discover the mean- perfect prase I have ever Brit- ants. The Church in English Book of Best Cakes, .4 sin alienation, oppression and ing of life and ministry in read and will never be conisb Recipes, by Mary Nor_ Society 1559-1625. by fallenness." Christ in the midst of diversity sidered a literary classic, it Came In From The Cold and Ms Francis writes compe- wok, published by oxford Patrick Collinson. pub The feminists' interest, then, of nation and denomination." does make good reading. The Thornbirds sort of epic. tently and strings out a &shed by Oxford University University Press. $18.99. is to uncover the hidden story The second half of the book, Night Sky follows in the If you like such things. you reasonable yarn. Her story Press. $19-99Advice on equipment. ing,reof women in the Christian which will be easier for most tradition of The Spy Who will like Clare Francis. intertwines the destines of dients and methods for mak- This revised and extended three totally dissimilar peoing cakes of all kinds — version of the Ford Lectures ple during the perilous years piddle and yeastcakes, on. for 1979 contains a series of before and during World gerbreads, fruit cakes. studies of the constituent War II. sponges, tarts — with recipes elements of past-Reformation ecclesiastical and religious from all over Britain. ogo His scholarly work offers having the fear of God Entertaining Satan, life. A concluding chapter NOW IN PAPIIII/K1 I II PIENO$IRM IICTION DIVOT Witchcraft and the the modern reader some before thine eyes thou hast The Batsford Book of investigates the extent of Tapestry wearing. by Atec voluntary and semi-private Culture of Early New insight into the society entertained familiarity with England, by John Put- which allowed and in fact, Satan. the Great enemy of Pearson. published k)' religious activity in early nam Demos, pub- condoned, such witch God and mankind . . . $ 02x7f.50ord . University Press. Stuart England. lished by Oxford hunts. It is a book which She was said to 'have done University Press, highlights the medical and works above the course of Instructions and ideas for Eagle Defiant. United 1' $18.50, Reviewed by psychological ignorance of nature to the loss of lives of designing and weaving a fiat States Foreign Polk:y in the an age which was deter- several persons (with sevRoslyn Ross. woven tapestry. With details 1980s. edited by Kenneth For anyone today turning mined to find answers- eral other sorceries), and in on making a loom. discussion Oye. Robert Lieber and . . . those 'answers' were of particular the wife of Arthur to look hack at the times of warp and weft yarns and Donald Rothchild. pubwhen 'witch trials' and course most easily found in Howell . . . V'hat brought lished by Oxford University essential techniques. the devil, these charges againt poor 'witch burnings' were the Press. $29.50. In 1650 the town of East- Goody Garlick? Was her order of the day, comes a Designer Knitting from SeParate chapters by leading sense of unreality, almost hampton voted to bring the personal appearance or Handspun Yarns, by Nina authors in each area focus on make-believe. But there was following charge against one behaviour unusual? Was she defence, economics and Shuttlewood and Janet d Clare Francis herself is no Briggs, publishedby oxford energy, and particular regions: no make-believe about it, as Elizabeth Garlick: that 'Not known to have a grudge against Elizabeth Howell? stranger to risk and success. University Press. $24.99. Professor Demos points out. the Soviet Union, Middle East, Was the town of EasthampRegarded as Britain's foreIt was all very real. 31 original and elegant knit- Asia, Western Europe and ton acting irrationally due to most solo yachtswoman, this ting patterns, together with a Latin America. Together a some interior stress? Demos petite woman was a member system that enables you to use starting picture is created of gives a new perspective on of the first all-women crew any yarn together with any a foreign policy defying conwitchcraft in this and over in the Round-Britain race; pattern, are included. straints in a world of increas100 other such cases, crea- established a new women's ingly complex international tively investigating the sur- record in the 1976 TransaThe Batsford Book of affairs. viving historical documents tlantic single-handed race Lampshades, by Angela Fishfor answers to these ques- from Plymouth in England to burn, published by Oxford Jane Austen, Feminism tions. Newport, Rhode Island. University Press, $22.50. and Fiction, by Margaret
Finding 'instant fame'
ElE E
The Ways of witchcraft
OA
FRANCIS !?1iVFU1' -
Youth booklet
EVANSTON, Ill. (NC) — The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry has published a booklet designed to help young adults face choices in their religious life. The booklet, Your Choice, first appeared in April and will be published twice a year. It contains articles that examine lay and religious ministries in an attempt to assist young Catholics in decisions about whether to take on a religious vocation, lay ministry, volunteer work or a religious career. It also contains postcards from religious organizations and Catholic graduate and undergraduate programs throughout the country so interested youths can send away for more specific information. Further information is available from Cathy Krane, Managing Editor, Your Choice, 701 Main St, Evanston, III. 60202.
For those who wish to make their own lampshades this informative book with clear and functional drawings, provides the perfect starting point. Basic steps of construetion, tools, materials and styles are given, Mirror of the Orient. by and Sabrina Roland Michaud, published by Oxford University Press, $27.50. The brilliant colour photographs of the Michauds are coupled with exquisite repoductions of 14th and 19th century miniatures to carry the reader into the timeless haunts of Persia, Turkey. Afghanistan and central Asia
Kirkham, published by Oxford University Press, $/4.99 (paperback). $50 (hardcover). In this highly stimulating new study of Jane Ati,ten, Margaret Kirkham turns on its head the standard critical view of the first major woman novelist in Engli,h. The First World 4ar 1914-1918 by John - .1-raine, publishedby PL, mac. $10.95. Firstly published in I -5, this classic accountan• of World Wart is now reismied in a paperback edition with specially drawn maps and a new introduction by the author.
The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985 15
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Despite some widespread publicity in the secular Press, many people are still doubtful about the advantages or otherwise of the 12 category scheme for Federal funding of non-Governmental schools. In this special feature, eminent Tasmanian Jesuit educationist, Father JOHN DOYLE, examines the pros and c ons of the new scheme, and how it will effect Catholic and education schools.
The Commonwealth Schools Commission's report for 1985 sets down the principles to guide federal school funding for the next eight years and shows what typical schools will receive. As from this year, private schools and systems will be put into one of 12 categories of need (see table). Till the community standard is reviewed in 1988, schools whose private income is 88 per cent or more of the standard will receive 12 per cent or 1 3 per cent of the standard from the Federal Government, and the neediest schools (private income, 10 per cent or less) wil l receive 33 per cent or 36 per cent. Schools may appeal against their categorisation, a nd arrangements have been made to hear appeals promptly.
ED CI Short-term emergency assistance is available, too, and "schools which are reclassified under the new arrangement . . will have their grants maintained at the 1984 level in money terms until they reach their appropriate level of grant" ( 2.28). The present intention is from 1988-1992 schools in categories three to 12 will receive from 20 per cent to 45 per cent of the revised standard, compared with the 16 per cent to 36 per cent they receive in 1985 (see table). This seems very straightforward, but it is really quite complicated.
Setting principles for school funding by Father JOHN DOYLE Si St John Fisher College There are still quite a few grey areas. In general, federal aid is meant to bridge the gap between a school's income from private and state sources and an arbitrary community standard which would provide adequately for its day-to-day costs. Increased state support will therefore reduce federal aid, just as increased private resources will. It is unfortunate the state contribution has often been overlooked because of the emphasis on federal aid. I believe the original idea was State and Federal Governments should aid private schools dollar for dollar. The community standard is $ 2195 for a primary place, $ 3240 for a secondary place. But it is not the same for all schools. The actual figure is to be "negotiated in a flexible manner" with both state and private school authorities. This is reasonable for the cost of the same service clearly differs from school to school. A place in a small rural school, for instance, or one in a Year 11-12 college, costs more than an equivalent place in the model school used to fix the standard. Like the guidelines, the report also accepts the fact
that systems have to fund general services which individual schools cannot reasonably provide for themselves and to maintain institutions offering special services beyond the capability of ordinary schools. It has therefore set the standard for government systems at $2414.50 and $3564 — 10 per cent above the norm. Moreover, schools are still entitled to grants associated with particular commission projects. It is therefore the negotiated standard which will determine how much federal aid schools will be getting from now on, not an invariable $2195 or $3240. Appendix C describes how a private school's assessable income is calculated in order to determine its category of need.
Contributed services are included, along with fees and other revenue intended to pay for tuition, board and capital works. (There is no mention of contributions from State governments; but I presume they are going to be taken into account.) At the same time there is to be a "generous allowance for capital-related costs", as
well as a deduction of up to $3000 per boarding place. Wisely, private schools will have to inform parents of what part of their income is government aid. The commission has set up a panel (Appendix D) to advise on federal funding for new private schools, as well as on the conditions governing their establishment. Substantial extensions or alterations to existing schools would be subject to the same conditions. In general, federal grants will be made only to schools that service developing areas (2.33) in conformity with "established priorities". Proposals are to be submitted two years before a school is meant to open — presumably to allow for the "impact studies" foreshadowed in the ministerial guidelines, which are printed with the report. An unsympathetic government could easily use these conditions to deny funding to small schools a group of parents might wish to open. Some are already having trouble with requirements for registration as they have been set down in the report of the Australian Education Council. The Federal Government believes it has now "put the State aid debate behind it". I am not so sure. Federal, state and private partners in the educational enterprise, it is hoped, now have four years to sit down
calmly together and reach consensus about their respective responsibilities for funding public and private schools. Instead of worrying about money, the schools' commission will be able to devote its resources to educational issues such as the quality of schooling.
To this end, the Curriculum Review Centre has been reestablished, and there is a new Quality of Education Review Committee which is to advise the minister early next year about "strategies to relate Commonwealth resources . . to improved educational outcomes and t o the achievement of national objectives" — objectives and outcomes that will a lso affect what money schools will receive. The emphasis on educational matters is admirable and overdue. But it will not end the great debate. On the contrary, it will make clearer what the State aid debate is really about: the right of governments to interfere in the internal and professional life of a school (its discipline, its pedagogy, its curriculum and its philosophy) and their obligation to support as equitably as they can all schools for which there is a reasonable public demand.
Large schools or small, selective or comprehensive, single -sex or co-educational, lock-step promotion or promotion on performance, external examinations or internal assessment — these are only a few of the educational issues that divide the community. It is doubtful whether available research supports any one position unambiguously enough to justify its imposition as government policy on educational grounds. This is why I can see no end to "the great debate" until the schools" commission's needs policy moves from the notional needs of the schools and systems (however refined the procedures used to calculate them) to the actual needs of individual boys and girls (suitable schooling) and their parents (ability to provide the kind of schooling they want for their own children). All things considered, then, I welcome the commission''s Report for 1985. It has not ended the anachronistic State aid debate; but it has brought a solution nearer by clarifying the terms of the debate. Is it too much to hope that by 1988 — or 1992 at the latest — Australia will have a dual school system that would be a model for other countries? If Federal, state and private authorities continue to work together as the report expects them to, I do not think it is.
Attachment C
TWELVE CATEGORY SCHEME FOR COMMONWEALTH RECURRENT GRANTS FOR NON-GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS LINKED TO commuNny STANDARD (a), 1985-1992 (est. December 1983 prices) Category
Primary 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Secondary 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Percentage of Standard from Private Sources by 1992
cro
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
88+ 76-87 51-75 46-50 41-45 36-40 31-35 26-30 21-23 16-20 11-13 0-10
265 333 333 534 534 534 534 726 726 726 726 726
12 16 16 24 24 24 24 33 33 33 33 33
265 353 361 534 540 545 530 734 736 739 742 746
265 333 370 534 548 560 571 744 751 760 768 776
265 353 380 534 558 579 599 757 772 787 802 817
265 353 395 534 576 603 636 775 797 819 842 865
265 353 412 534 591 631 676 791 821 852 882 913
265 353 429 534 603 661 718 805 841 878 917 954
265 353 435 534 611 672 737 810 830 893 936 978
265 353 439 534 615 680 746 812 856 900 944 988
12 16 20 24 28 31 34 37 39 41 43 45
88+ 76-87 51-75 46-50 41-45 36-40 31-33 26-30 21-25 16-20 11-15 0-10
420 560 560 849 849 849 849 1154 1154 1154 1154 1154
13 17 17 26 26 26 26 36 36 36 36 36
420 560 567 849 853 861 868 1157 1162 1167 1172 1177
420 560 575 849 858 876 894 1163 1176 1190 1202 1212
420 560 586 849 865 896 929 1171 1195 1220 1239 1260
420 560 603 849 877 925 975 1179 1215 1252 1284 1317
420 560 620 849 888 956 1022 1187 1236 1285 1330 1372
420 560 637 849 898 986 1070 1193 1253 1311 1365 1416
420 560 644 849 904 999 1092 1197 1260 1323 1385 1446
420 560 648 849 907 1004 1102 1199 1254 1328 1393 1458
13 17 20 26 28 31 34 37 39 41 43 45
610.8
620.1
633.9
652.3
672.5
689.7
698.9
703.2
Estimated cost SN1: a)
1984 (b)
600.2
Per student grants tied to the Community Standard or S2.195 primary and S3.240 secondary.
Existing assessment procedures based on SRRI as the primary measure of need have been used to illustrate the link between the 'percentage of standard from private sources' ranges a nd per capita grant amounts for 1084: for 1935 and beyond the lir. will reriect new assessment procedures.
16
The Record, 3 — 9 January, 1985