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vocErtion, n. Divine call t
nes4for,a career or occupation, as (far the ministry), has never had the of v., little or no v. to literature; emp fy ment, trade, profession, as mechanical, • aU rv. are overcrowded, mistook his (chose the wrong) v. Hence vocastionAL a., voca•tionalLY 2 adv. [f. L vocationem (vocare, see VOCABLE SC• -ATION)]
What's God's plan for you?
Page 2
Vocations Week 2002
Search for holiness
holiness
Or why we'd all better get used to changing the way we think
T
his weekend sees the conclusion of National Vocations Awareness Week, an effort by the Church throughout Australia to heighten people's consciousness and understanding of one simple concept: answering God's call in each of our lives. But that's about where the easy bit ends. For at least the last 100 years or so in Australia, and probably in many other places, Catholics have thought of the word 'vocation' as describing an individual who had gone off to be a priest or a nun or a brother. That such a person had answered God's direct call in their own lives was actually a wonderful thing, essential for the good of the Church and of wider society. But, by implication, many good and conscientious Catholics had accepted the idea that a priestly or religious vocation were the only kinds of vocation, or that these things were somehow 'superior' to life as a layman or woman, or that the only way to be holy was to become a priest or religious. Those of us who married and had families or simply lived as single people often allowed ourselves to accept thinking of the lay vocation as a `second-best' state of life. While the Church has a rich patrimony of officially-declared men and women saints, most of these seemed invariably to be clergy or members or founders of religious orders, often carrying out in their lives a heroic and seemingly superhuman witness which seemed to be well beyond the reach of any mere lay man's or woman's life. But in recent years a revolution has been going on in the Catholic Church, especially since the Second Vatican Council, in the understanding of vocation, particularly the lay vocation, and just how important it is - not just for the Church but for the entire world. Part and parcel of this has been a growth in understanding how all Christians share a universal vocation, a vocation to holiness. Whether one is a Pope or a garbage collector is irrelevant. Both are called to holiness. And not only this. More and more people realise that the brilliant leadership of figures such as Pope John Paul II can only make its full impact on the world if the laity finally discover the fullness of their own vocation, that way of living and participating in the world and the workplace that priests, nuns, bishops, and even popes simply cannot live. This does not mean more lay men and women rushing off to become liturgical assistants or specialists, nor does it mean more clergy and religious rushing off to become indistinguishable from the lay vocation. This development of understanding of the lay vocation has also included an understanding of the importance of the lay apostolate, spreading the faith of the Church by the witness of our lives. It has involved a development of understanding in how one of the primary ways the laity can be holy and witness to their faith is by seeking sanctity through their own daily activities - as workers, as family members, as members of a thousand and one groups and communities. Thank you St Therese. Ills no accident that while Pope John Paul II has canonised an unprecedented number of individuals as official saints of the Church he has also asked the relevant Vatican departments to look for examples of laity who could also be canonised. One of the high points in this policy came when he canonised a married couple, Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrochi, on 21 October last year. Two of Luigi and Maria's children became priests and were actually on hand to see the leader of the Church canonise their mum and dad. Two of their official relics are their wedding bands. In part, this is also connected with the Pope's own understanding of the high vocation of marriage, parenthood and family life and his promotion of the sexual love of spouses within marriage as a reflection of the inner life of nothing less than the Trinity. But more of that in a future edition of The Record. Suffice it to say that such teaching and thinking is, to say the least, a sophisticated advance in the Church which has helped lay the foundations of hope for the future. This edition of The Record hopes to help raise the lay vocation to the same place in readers' thinking and reflection as the other vocations to priesthood and religious life which Catholic newspapers have so often concentrated on in the past. We also want to focus all our readers' minds on thinking in a new light about what holiness is and the relatively simple steps that can be taken to setting one's self on the path to reaching it. The good news is: holiness is well within our grasp. It is an exciting challenge to think about how we can become the people God had in mind when he created us.
Seven d
by Pope John Paul II following a recommendation by the archbishCongratulations Monsignor op himself. "I was in shock" described the newly Monsignor Tim appointed Monsignor; "It came as a complete surprise to me." Monsignor Corcoran said that he was not the sort of person Corcoran that indulges in public attention, but was
none the less very honoured to have this title given to him. "No one at the seminary knows about TUESDAY August 6 it yet, so this story will be the first anymight have seemed one hears of it" Monsignor Corcoran like any other Tuessaid. day for Fr Tim CorcoArchbishop Hickey told The Record: "1 ran of St Charles am delighted that the Holy Father has Seminary, only he did granted the distinction of "Prelate of not count on being Honour" to Fr Tim Corcoran. called in to Archbishit is entirely fitting that the Vicar Genop Hickey's office at Monsignor eral and Rector of St Charles Seminary 11.30 am that day for Tim Corcoran be accorded this honour. It recognises an important meetthe importance of both roles in the Arching. "Normally we meet on 1, (iriesdays, so diocese of Perth and the worthiness of I felt a bit anxious. I didn't know why I the recipient. was going in" Monsignor Corcoran said. "Ihave no doubt that his recognition by Much to Monsignor Corcoran's com- the Holy Father will be warmly applaudplete and utter surprise, he had been ed by priests and people of the Archtold that he had just been appointed a diocese." By Stephen Spiteri
PRIESTHOOD
Come, follow me (Mark 10.21)
ST CHARLES SEMINARY 30 Meadow St, Guildford WA 6055 Please contact the Vocations Promotion Team Rev Dr Armando Carandang, Tel/Fax 9470 9113 Email: prvocation@hotmail.com
Rev Doug Haffis, Tel 9223 1351 Email: doug@catholic. org
Rev Joseph Tran, Tel 9310 1747 Email: nhut@lycosmail.com
habits of holy apostolic people
When Opus Del needed a clergyman to win the hearts of cynical, busy Washingtonians, it chose a Web-savvy former investment banker-turned-priest to preach the Word two blocks from the White House. Some of the people who seek FR JOHN MCCLOSKEY aid end up converting, including former abortion activist Dr Bernard Nathanson, economist Larry Kudlow and columnist Robed Novak. Here, Fr McCloskey provides a guide for those who wish to take up the path of discovering what holiness is.
to know, love and serve Jesus the same way tine. Your goal is to be you learn to love and stay in love with any- like them, contemplabody. your spouse, family members,and close lives in the middle of friends, i.e. by spending a considerable the world. amount of time with Him on a regular and, in Iwant to stress severthis case, daily basis. The payoff, if you will, is al points before examthe only true happiness in this life and the ining the habits. vision of God in the next. There are no easy One, remember that substitutes. Sanctification is a work of a life- growing in these daily time and it requires our determined effort to habits, just like taking cooperate with God's sanctifying grace com- on a diet or a physical exercise program, is a ing through the sacraments. gradual work in progress. Don't expect to The seven daily habits thatIpropose to you insert all seven or even two or three of these are the morning offering, spiritual reading in your daily schedule immediately, any more (New Testament and a spiritual book sug- than you would attempt a 5 km race after not ou are reading this because you are gested to you by your spiritual advisor), the having run regularly or attempting to play Interested in taking your spiritual life Rosary Mass and Communion, at least fifteen Liszt after your third piano lesson This haste more seriously from this point on. You minutes of mental prayer, the recitation of the would be inviting failure and God wants you heartily assent to one of the key points of the Angelus at noon, and a brief examination of to succeed at both your pace and His. You Second Vatican Council: the importance of conscience at night should work closely with your spiritual advithe doctrine of the universal call to holiness. These are the principal means to achieve sor, and gradually and fruitfully incorporate You also know that Jesus is the one way to holiness. If you are a person who wants to the habits into your life over a period of time holiness, "lam the way, the truth and the life." bring Christ to others through your friend- in a way that fits your particular situation It The secret of holiness is constant prayer which ship, these are the instruments by which you may even be that your life circumstances could be defined as continual contact with the store up the spiritual energy that will enable require a modification of the seven habits. Holy Thrifty, "Pray always and do not lose you to so. Apostolic action without the sacraSecond, at the same time you must make a heart" (Luke 18:1). ments and a deep solid interior life will in the firm commitment with the help of the Holy There are various ways to come to know long run be ineffective. You can be sure that Spirit and your special intercessors, to make Jesus. We are going to speak briefly about all the saints incorporated in one way or them the priority of your life - more imporsome of them in this article. You want to come another all of these habits into their daily mu- tant than meals, sleep, work and recreation.I
y
Continued throughout this edition....
want to make it clear that these habits cannot be acquired on the run. That is not the way we want to deal with people we love. They must be done when we are most alert, during the day, in a place that is silent and without distractions, where it is easy to put ourselves in God's presence and address him. After all, is not eternal life more important than our temporal life? All that will remain at the time of your particular judgement will be the amount of the love of God in your heart. Third, I want to point out that living the seven daily habits is not a zero sum game. You are not losing time but rather, in reality, gaining it I have never met a person who lived them on a daily basis who became a less productive worker as a result, or a worse spouse, or who had less time for his friends, or could no longer grow in his cultural life. Quite the contrary, God always rewards those who put him ftrst. Our Lord will multiply our time amazingly as he did with those few loaves and fishes that fed the multitude with plenty left over. You can be sure that Pope John Paul II,Mother Theresa, or St Maximilian Kolbe pray, or prayed, a lot more than the one and one-half hours that isrequired for the seven daily habits spread throughout the day. (See following pages)
Search for holiness
Vocations Week 2002
Page 3
Living out the Gospel of life Vocation story By Anne-Marie Langdon Before my conversion in Advent 1990, I was a Sunday Catholic. I went to Mass, prayed occasionally and tried to be nice to people. But, I always had a nagging sense that there had to be more to being Catholic than that. Finally, I was lead back to the Sacrament of Penance and it was like having blinkers removed from my eyes. The world looked so new and fresh. Suddenly I began to meet people with a real, living faith. People around me recommended books and videos and tapes, and I began to learn about my Catholic faith. It was in the Cenacles of the Marian Movement of Priests and in the Secular Franciscan Order at Balcatta that I was formed in my faith. Prayer and the support and encouragement of others challenged me to allow God to more deeply transform my life. During a period of five years, I was being formed like the Apostles in the first cenacle of Jerusalem. Praying the Rosary became particularly Important as I deepened my relationship with Mary and learned the Gospel through meditating on the mysteries. The Rosary remains a firm foundation for my prayer life today. In 1994 I was professed as a Secular Franciscan. It was Francis' love for Christ in the crib and on the Cross, and especially in the Eucharist that drew me to the Franciscan life. Like Francis, I hope to see in all I meet the face of Jesus, especially in those who need a listening ear and word of encouragement. It was 1995 when I felt that perhaps my profession as a Secular Franciscan should be lived out differently. I was working in the Ministry of Justice and had plenty of opportunities to share my faith and live it out. But somehow it didn't seem to be the way for me. Then just after Easter The Gospel of Life, John Paul ll's encyclical on the value and inviolability of human life was available in English. I bought it and read it on the train over the next few days. I read it twice and I knew I had found the answer to what I should do. It was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In the Gospel of Life, the Holy Father brought together so many things that had been in my mind and made sense of them. He describes the core of the Gospel of life in this way: It is the proclamation of a living God who is close to us, who calls us to profound communion with himself and awakens in us the certain hope of eternal life. Ills the affirmation of the inseparable connection between the person, his life and his bodiliness. It is the presentation of human life as a life of relationship, a gift of God, the fruit and sign of his love. It is the proclamation that Jesus
Reprints of Old Catholic Truth Society Pamphlets
Fr McCloskey's Seven Steps to Holiness
The first habit is the morning offering, when you kneel down and using your own words, or a formula, you briefly offer up all the day ahead for God's glory. What is not so simple is what has to happen before the offering. As the founder of Opus Del put it
"Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a set time, without granting a single minute to laziness. If with the help of God, you conquer yourself in the moment. you have accomplished a great deal for the rest of the day. It's so discouraging to find yourself beaten in the first skirmish (The Way. 191). In my pastoral experience, those who can live the "heroic moment" in the morning and in the evening going to bed on time will have both the physical and spiritual energy throughout the day to stop what they are doing in order to live the other habits.
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going wrong in the lives of individuals afraid because I didn't seem to be the and nations because of the rejection of right person or have the right skills but I the Gospel of life. I knew I had to get can see that God has always gone before involved in living and proclaiming the me to prepare the way and to prepare Gospel of life. me for whatever He has asked. But how? At Pregnancy Assistance, I have come I wasn't a doctor or a nurse or a lawyer to learn more clearly that the Gospel of or a social worker. I just couldn't see life is about sanctifying every aspect of where I could fit in. So I wrote to the daily life, seeing Jesus in every person Archbishop and told him I wanted to do and situation. I know that I am being something pro-life. Establishing a crisis called upon more and more to give of pregnancy centre was not one of the myself ideas I had. But with the help of a lot of The words of the Gospel mean so much other people who knew a lot more about more today because I am being chalit than I did, I could finally bring the lenged to live them about - to put perskills I had learned in Government and sons before things and to share God's my faith together as Pregnancy Assis- love and plan for us. God has given me tance began. Now six years later I can so much. Like Mary I can truly say "He see God's hand in preparing me spiritu- that is mighty has done great things for ally and with the skillsIneeded to do His me". He has taken a very timid and shy work in helping mothers and babies, and person, who loves to be in control of her sharing this Gospel of life in schools and life and taught me to trust Him. I still other settings. have a long way to go, but what a blessI knew how to organise and plan and ing it is every day for me that I can live Anne-Marie Langdon delegate and listen. I'd had a lot of prac- and proclaim the Gospel of life. has a unique relationship with every per- tice in the preceding years. Now son, which enables us to see in every I know a lot more than I did a human face the face of Christ. It is the few years ago, and I also know call for a "sincere gift of selr as the fullest that I will always have more to learn. way to realise our personal freedom." At times I was very much Now I understood why so much was
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Our Website: www.rcinet/redemptau/vocations.htm ..„.
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Page 4
Vocations 'Week 2002
Search for holiness
Youth interest surpasses expectations said. "There is more interest in the church, in God and prayer." Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, one of many US cardinals and bishops working the By Carol Zimmermann, CNS US Conference of Catholic Bishops' booth, said today's young Those promoting voca- people are "going against the tions over- world and looking for better were whelmed by the answers." The cardinal, who greeted long response from youth at lines of people and posed in dozens of pictures on July 24, said Toronto's WYD. he "never expected to see not hundreds, but thousands" of people at Benedictine Sister Rosann an event promoting vocations. Ocken wondered how she would For him, the fact that it was tough attract young people to her order's to find the booth through the booth during the vocations exhib- crowds was encouraging. it at World Youth Day. Archbishop Roger Schwietz of For starters, she brought along Anchorage, Alaska, said he felt a 6,000 medals to give away. similar thrill with the crowd. But half of them were gone dur"We've come through this diffiing the first day, as a constant cult time in our country, and it stream of young people stopped doesn't seem to have left a pall on at her booth near the back of an our young people, who are filled exhibit hall filled with booths rep- with joy. It's great for us old folks resenting hundreds of different who have been in the trenches for religious orders as well as lay awhile," the archbishop said. ministries and missionary groups. It wasn't so bad for those new to "I never dreamed we would get religious life, either. such a response," said the nun in Eric de la Pena, who was handa full-length white habit wearing ing out buttons and literature at a pin that said, "Ask me what it's the Franciscan booth, planned to like to be a Benedictine." start his novitiate program with Sister Rosann, who periodically the Franciscans at the end of July. has been a vocations director for He said he thought the crowd, her order over the past 15 years, eager to pick up one or more of was surprised by the vocations the Franciscans' 60,000 buttons or interests of World Youth Day del- grab a cookie, was part of an overegates. all trend of curiosity about reliShe said she knows that not gious life that was unique to the everyone who took a medal will World Youth Day experience, consider religious life, but was where "people are so open" to encouraged by the fact that a fair thinking about their faith. number of youths signed up to "Everyone here is so bold. They receive more information. are not forced to be here. They're I t's a clear movement," she proud of their Catholic faith. and
Vocation story
One of the estimated 2 million young people gathered at Tor Vergata University for a prayer vigil with Pope John Paul I I two years ago stands holding a candle. Photo CNS. Reuters they are asking questions about said, adding that has own decision religious life," he told Catholic was not "something out of the News Service. De la Pena. 30, of sky." It has been a process of comNew York City, worked as a phys- ing to see that this is where "all ical therapist for five years before my desires are being fulfilled over considering his call to a vocation. time," he said. "I felt like there had to be someChavty did not put a lot of stock thing more. It couldn't all be about In the huge crowd filling the hall just paying your credit card," he or stopping at the Jesuit booth, said. which did not have any giveaways Erwan Chavty, a 28-year-old but did have computers displayJesuit novice from Paris working ing Jesuit Web sites around the at the Jesuit booth, admitted that world. it was difficult to explain the call"God is working; the numbers ing to a religious life in this day don't necessarily matter," was his and age. overall take on a day when, after "It's so strange in our world to talldng to dozens of men, two or think of being a priest or nun." he three men were seriously consid-
ering joining the Jesuits. Many youths seemed to be interested in the giveaways, particularly at the Oblates of Mary Immaculate booth, which was giving away free T-shirts to people who sang. Among those clustered in line waiting for their chance to sing, at least one said he was considering a vocation. Josh Davis, an 18-year-old from St Luke's Parish in Dayton, Ohio, said he has told people he wants to "either be a priest or have 14 kids."
A month before starting college. he had his mind set on the priesthood.
What does 'to be holy' mean? Just be close to God Christ's first followers were ordi-
giving presence to the realms of
Vocation nary, baptised men and women human enterprise such as the reflection going about their daily lives in family, education, politics, com-
town and countryside. Fathers merce, industry, science, mediand mothers, tradesmen, business cine and the media, transforming people, soldiers, craftsmen, them from within by the example slaves, whatever their jobs, they of their Christian witness. The We can live a life of holi- did not leave their place in life to great mission that Pope John Paul ness no matter what our seek union with God. They strove H has called "re-Christianising" to be close to God in and through the world depends largely on lay situation. the normal circumstances of fam- people living their vocation to ily. work, and social life, living in holiness right where they are - in Many Baby Boomers and Gen- harmony with their fellow coun- the home, the shop, the office, the eration X'ers see little relation- trymen. In unspectacular but real trade union, the university, the ship between faith and life. ways they were doing what hospital, on the sportsfield, wherAmong those who do, many do Blessed Josemaria calls making ever God has placed them. Even not realise that Christ invites each "heroic verse out of the prose of sitting in a traffic jam, we can person to be His apostle when He each day". practice the virtue of patience and says, "it wasIthat chose you, to go Their faith informed the chal- pray for our fellow drivers! out and bear fruit". lenges and duties faced in daily The Christian is to be salt and I was blessed with parents who living such as being a good light in the heart of society, turnlived their faith in the nitty gritty spouse and parent, working to the ing work into prayer, unobtruevents of daily life and my teach- best of their ability, being a kind sively showing many the meaning Pope John Paul II blesses a child during Mass in St. Peter's Square. During ers gave me similar example. So neighbour and responsible citi- of life and drawing others back to the service the pope asked the faithful to bear witness to Christian hope in it rang a familiar bell when I zen, living charitably with every- Christ. Cardinal Newman said, heard the teaching of Blessed one. Living the life of Christ, they "God has created me to do Him the face of hardship in the world. cAS Reuter-5 Josemaria Escriva that, "(God) attracted others to Him through some definite service: He has Fr McCloskey's Seven Steps to Holiness calls each and every one to holi- their consistent example and by committed some work to me ness. He asks each and every one their serenity and cheerfulness, which He has not committed to one direct conversation with to love Him: young and old, sin- maintained even in hard times. another. I have my mission...I am Jesus Christ, preferably before gle and married, healthy and sick, Then, as now, for the most peo- a link in a chain, a bond of conthe Blessed Sacrament in the learned and unlearned, no matter ple, marriage was also a divine nection between persons." Tabernacle. where they work, or where they path to holiness. When we conChrist gives Himself to us in His This is your "face time" or are." sider that the sacrament of mar- Church, making His grace abun"quality time" if you will, when What does "to be holy" mean? It riage gives ongoing grace to dantly available to feed and nouryou can open up in speaking simply means to be close to God. husband and wife, is the seedbed ish us for the great mission He about what is on your mind and The idea that God calls everyone of the family which is the domes- invites us to undertake. The more in your heart. At the same time to be holy, not only candidates for tic church and the building block we know Him and His Truth, the you will be able to acquire the the priesthood and religious life, of society, we glean some idea of better we may show Him to othThe second habit is at least 15 habit of listening carefully and was highlighted by the Second the greatness of the marriage ers. Today's tendency to sideline minutes of silent prayer. Over prayerfully like another Mary Vatican Council. time you may want to augment (Lk. 10:38-42) to see what Jesus vocation. The single man or Christ to the fringes of society When and how does God invite woman too can discover a life of challenges the lay person to deterthis with an extra 15 minutes at is asking of you and what he another time during the day. wants to give you. It is there that each person to live this union with holiness and fruitful apostolate in minedly re-position Him in the After all, who will not seek more we come to understand his sayHim? The Council document, the midst of their family, work and middle of the "market place" so time with such excellent com- ing. "Without Me, you can do Lumen gentium, says, "...precisely social commitments. that all may see His face and love pany? Prayer is simply one on nothing." through Baptism, we are all called The lay person, like leaven in Him and, in following Him, make to holiness." dough, should bring Christ's life the world new. By Virginia Monagle, Sydney
Living in love, faith, community - and God's providence Vocation story
The Trentins, part of the Neocatechumenal Way, describe their vocation as a family in the church today. "Will you have another one?" This is the question the midwife asked my wife Antonella ten minutes after delivering our tenth child. The same question was again asked of me by the barber, the lady at the counter of the petrol station, the bloke who came to fax the fence, the son's mate at soccer and even by my aunt in Italy. Deep down a doubt remains in the back of some people's mind when they meet us: "But don't these people have a TV" "Yes" was the quick and innocent answer of my 5 year old daughter to one such lady, "and we have two computers as well." Often today many get themselves involved in extreme sports or adventures because of their need for a strong experi-
ence, something nerve-racking, something to get their adrenalin running. I would say to them, lust come to our place at, say, 715 am on a normal weekday, when everyone is fighting over the toilet seat, or for a comb, for the sticker in the box of cereals, for "who has taken my toothbrush?" and "the school jumper you are-wearing is mine," and in a few minutes you could be like me, with your ears red and hot as an Indian curry. How could we ever have imagined that out of the two of us, my wife and I, children of the sexual revolution, woman's liberation and allergic to any moral value of the Church as we were, could God have done for us what was impossible even to think? The novelty has been that the Church has helped us to not be afraid of looking at our limitations and mistakes, by announcing to us, "that Christ has come for the sinner, not for the virtuous." He can restore love and forgiveness there where human resources have faded. Such has been our marriage, with many lows that we don't want to forget because it was there that we tasted the sweetness of the presence of Christ.
He is the One who has overcome death and offers us His Spirit of life. He has not left us alone, He has given us a community where we can receive the Word of God, the Sacraments and where our children could be helped to grow in their faith as well in their life (Tommaso and Maria are now in Toronto at the World Youth Day, an occasion where we hope they will ask themselves what is the plan of love that God has prepared for them). Twelve years ago we were sent as missionaries by the Holy Father John Paul II from our country of origin to Australia: since then we have lived in the Parish of St Gerard Majella, Mirrabooka, full of gratitude to God for how he has been providing for us every day. We would like this hope to be enjoyed by everyone else! "If God is with us, who can be against us?" says St Paul. If He has been so good until now, won't he provide for us in the future as well? So let my ears be red, my nerves on their edge, after all. my children, oops, the children God has given me are worth much, much more.
"The Trentin family in a rare moment of harmony." Tobia 17, Tommaso 16, Maria 14, Giovanni 12, Beniamino 10, Benedetta 7, Chiara 5, Teresa 4, Pietro 3, Anna 7 months.
Fr McCloskey's Seven Steps to Holiness
Priesthood a source of strength Scott Hahn set out to disprove the Catholic Church's biblical foundation but ended up becoming a Catholic (like so many others). He also loves the priesthood. If young men do not find the priesthood desirable, theology professor Scott Hahn feels it is because they do not understand it. Priesthood is so "intrinsically desirable," explained the best-selling writer, that even if a young man does not feel a call to the vocation, his reaction should be. "Wow,Isure wishIwas called to be a priest." Hahn, a former Presbyterian minister who joined the Catholic Church in 1986, is a professor of theology and Scripture at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. According to Hahn, it almost has become the norm to be "spiritually backward." Too many people in their 40s and 50s still have the faith awareness of 8-year-olds. he said, and measure success in terms of finances, education and social prestige. They go to Mass and "go through the motions." he added. Hahn said he believes the supernatural character of the priesthood has not been fully appreciated - and might never be. In his most recent book. First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity, he writes that a priest is a spiritual father by supernatural theological means. "I am the breadwinner in my natural family, I bring home the bacon, I bring home the bread," Hahn said. "But the priest in God's supernatural family gives us the bread of life in the very flesh and blood of Christ. I give my kids flesh and blood, but not that well. The priest gives us the flesh and blood of the Son of God. That makes him not less of a father. but more to me." Attending daily Mass as a family is a high priority for Hahn. "I feel as though the celibate clergy are a very profound sign of what we are all going to be in heaven," Hahn said. "There's no reason to not get used to it here. Celibacy is a powerful sign that a priest is really married in a sense. That's why the bishop wears a ring - in the ancient tradition that was a sign of the bishop's marital bond to the diocese." In an unpublished article that Hahn recently wrote regarding the sex scandal, he calls
attention to a similar occurrence in Church history. Hahn said. "Years ago the Pope assembled almost 200 bishops outside the Vatican to speak to them about the five biggest problems that he felt the Church was facing. The Pope called his talk the five wounds of the Church, picturing the Church as the mystical body of Christ." Those "wounds," he said, were the sins of the clergy and spread of heresy; the rise of militant Islam; the East and West division among Christians; the military threat from the Far East; and persecution by secular political power. "Now that's chilling for us to hear," Hahn said. "but even more chilling to realise that I am not quoting Pope John Paul II, but Pope Innocent IV who preached this sermon on June 28, 1245. at the Council of Lyons. "Seven and a half centuries later the problems remain almost in the exact same order," he pointed out. "SoIwould continue to say that the Church has to recognise that it continues to bear all of the marks of the body of Christ and all the marks of his disciples in their waywardness and their weakness. We are going to have this stuff with us, like the poor, always."
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The third habit is fifteen minutes of spiritual reading, usually consisting of a few minutes of systematic reading of the New Testament to identify ourselves with the words and actions of our Saviour,
and the rest of the time spent on a classic book of Catholic spirituality recommended by your spiritual advisor. As BI. Josemaria Escriva puts it. "Don't neglect your spiritual reading. Reading has made many saints" (The Way. 116). In a way it is the most practical of our habits because over the course of years of practicing it we will read many times the life of Christ and acquire the wisdom of saints and the Church by reading dozens of books which enlighten our intellect so we can put the ideas expressed there into action.
makes you think • There are critical turning points in everyone's life. Sometimes it's a birthday, a graduation, an accident or illness. . . even the death of someone close. They can really make you think. If you've reached a turning point, and you're thinking you want to do something that has: Meaning Commitment Belonging Spirituality Community Then maybe we have some options you haven't considered.
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Christian Brothers For information contact Br. Tony Hackett cfc Telephone: (08) 9450 5912 Email: tonyhackett@bigpond.com Visit: www.ozvocations.catholic.org.au/christianbrothers.htm
2' A Layman's meditations
by Peter Dwan
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oday's readings remind us that those who fear him and his glory will God helps in the storms of life. The dwell in our land... The Lord will make first reading ( 1 Kings 19.9, 11-13) us prosper." tells of Elijah's encounter with God on Mt In the second reading (Romans 9:1-5) St Horeb, sometimes called Mt Sinai. Paul says: "my sorrow is so great, my We need to know something of the mental anguish so endless, I would willbackground to this reading. During the ingly be condemned and cut off from reign of King Ahab (869-850 BC), idolatry Christ if it could help my brothers of became rampant in Israel. Ahab had mar- Israel." ried a pagan called Jezebel, a daughter of Here is extreme unselfishness, a willthe King of Tyre. She set up a temple to ingness to forego heaven in order that his Baal in Samaria and banished almost all fellow Jews might be saved. We Austhe prophets of the true God from the tralian Catholics might well ask ourselves country. what we are prepared to sacrifice in order Elijah remained to preserve the true that our fellow Australians might come to faith. He made life miserable for Jezebel. know Christ. Will we make a financial After his victory over the priest of Baal on sacrifice to enable the Catholic Enquiry Mt Carmel and his execution of 400 of Centre to put someone through its correthem, Elijah decided it was safer to leave spondence course? It costs $70 to put one Israel and escape the wrath of jezebel. person trough the course. Donations may The reading says: "When Elijah reached be sent to the Catholic Enquiry Centre. Horeb, the mountain of God, he went PO Box 363, Maroubra NSW 2035. into a cave and spent the night in it" (posWe might also ask ourselves whether sibly in prayer). we pray regularly for the conversion of The word of the Lord came to him and said: "Go out and stand on the mountain the Jews. The gospel (Matthew 14:22-33) tells of before the Lord." Then the Lord went by. Christ walking on the water, command'Then there was a great wind, an earthquake and a fire, but God was not in any ing Peter to walk on the water and calmof these things. In all these physical ing the storm. Our Lord sent the disciples ahead in a proofs of God's might and power, which boat to the other side of the lake, knowElijah felt were needed in Israel. God was not present. Rather he was in the sound ing that they would meet a storm, which he would calm, strengthening their faith of a gentle breeze. I God is to be found "in the sound of a n him. Jesus spent most of the night in gentle breeze", in the kind, charitable prayer.When the apostles saw Jesus understanding word spoken to a sinner walking on the lake, they were terrified. out of a true brotherly heart. A kindly "It is a ghost," they said and cried out in word will do more to produce this con- fear.But Jesus called out to them saying: version than torrents of abuse and con- "Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid!" Our Lord doesn't want us to be afraid, demnation. Elijah's encounter with God in turn prepared him to return, via Dam- but to have confidence in him. Impetuous Peter answered: "Lord, if it is ascus, to his country and his work. you, tell me to come to you across the "The late Mother Teresa of Cal- water." "Come", said Jesus. Then Peter got out of the boat and startcutta said that the more we ed walking to Jesus across the water, but receive in silent prayer, the as soon as he felt the force of the wind took fright and began to sink. "Lord! more we can give in the active he Save me", he cried. Jesus put out his hand life." at once and held him. "Man of little faith," he said "why did you doubt?" And as they got into the boat, the wind The late Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that the more we receive in silent prayer, dropped. The men in the boat bowed down the more we can give in the active life. The responsorial psalm (Psalm 84) says: before him and said, "Truly you are the "I will hear what the Lord has to say, a Son of God." These words were an acknowledgment voice that speaks of peace." Mother Teresa said that anything that disturbs our of Christ as the Messiah. Their full peace doesn't come from God. acknowledgment of his divinity came The psalm says: "His help is near to after his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
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www.catholicvocations.org. au If there is anything you wanted to know about religious life then this site has the answer. Catholic Vocations is a thorough web site with hundreds of links throughout Australia, the USA and internationally. The general range of information will not only satisfy those searching for their vocation and how to go about it, it will also provide answers for those curious about the choices many religious have made and why. The amount of information provided can be at times a little overwhelming but stick with it, the journey is worthwhile.
Fr McCloskey's Seven Steps to Holiness
The fourth daily habit is participating in Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion in the state of grace. This is the most important habit of all Page 6
the seven (cfr. John 6:22-65). As such, it has to be at the very centre of our interior life and consequently our day. Ills the most intimate act possible to man. There we encounter the living Christ, participate in the renewal of His sacrifice for us and unite body and soul, to the Risen Christ and ourselves. A.s Pope John Paul H says in his Apostolic Exhortation. Ecclesia in America: "The Eucharist is the living and lasting centre around which the entire community of the Church gathers" (no. 35).
Gay or straight, It makes no difference. We all have to pray.
An unwelcome prophet for some DAVID MORRISON, former gay activist, has discovered the Catholic Church's message that we are all called to be saints and that we are all children of God. Vocation story By David Morrison As a Catholic and as a homosexually oriented man,I am deeply grateful to the Roman Catholic Church for its position on homosexuality and homosexual acts. Roman Catholicism, almost alone among Christendom's Churches, refuses to either patronise homosexuals with a watered down gospel or brutalise them with a message of irredeemable hostility. The Roman Catholic Church loves me and all the men and women like me who live as homosexuals, looks at us as the adults we are, and says that we, too, can resolutely co-operate with the Holy Spirit to sanctify our lives. We are called to sainthood and the narrow road that brings us there. I did not recognise the value of this teaching easily. From the age of 21 to 28Ilived as a gay activist, accepting and preaching the message the gay community offers today: active homosexuality, as long as it was practiced safely and in commitment, was no worse than heterosexual activity under the same guidelines. Scriptural or other moral teachings which argued otherwise were simply outof-date and were probably written by. homophobes.Ispeedily went about accumulating the things that made up a successful gay life. I took a lover for a long-term relationship, got on the fast track at work and vacationed at gay resorts. My friends were gay, my relationship was gay, my workplace was gay-friendly and my life seemed filled with youth and pleasure. But I was not happy. My heart tossed restlessly, as St Augustine's had also, and every new pleasure sought brought only sharper pangs. After having so much of what the gay world took for granted, it wasn't enough and in the early spring of my twentyeighth year I turned my life over to Jesus Christ and began to explore what taking up my Cross meant. That exploration led me gradually, and with many fits and starts, to the Roman Catholic faith where I have lived, gratefully, ever since. The Church's teaching on homosexual orientation and chastity have been two great liberators on my journey. The uniqueness of Catholic teaching
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on homosexual orientation stems mainly from its lack of determinism. Men and women with a homosexual orientation are neither automatically candidates for praise (on the grounds of their being oppressed) or damnation (on account of inherent sinfulness). Just like everyone else, they can choose either good or evil. This is a position filled with respect because it recognises us as being children of God and not mere beasts subject to instinct alone. The Church's corollary position, that homosexuals are called to chastity. also contributes to this teaching's unique expression of grace because of what it teaches about love. Contemporary culture is filled with counterfeits to love. We say we "love" food, "love" our pets, "love" the outdoors, "love" our parents and children and "love" our spouses. But so much of the time we do not love them as much as what they can do for us. We love food for its taste. pets for their companionship, the outdoors for its beauty. We often bind up our love for parents, children and spouses with conditions and tinge it with selfinterest. This has played out most strongly in my experience of life before committing to chastity and life afterwards. When I was homosexually active with my partner we would sometimes call our sexual acts "making love", but it was not so much love as utility That is not love. It contrasts sharply with my experience after committing myself to chastity. To the surprise of almost everyone, and in defiance of all attempts to label us, our relationship has continued after ceasing sexual activity. We found that our emotional commitment to one another, and to our joint life together, grew after we stopped having sex because it was a wonderful realisation that what we mean to one another extends far past our bedroom door. All of us want, and deserve, to be accepted at a deep emotional level for who we are, not for whether we can fill another's needs. Paradoxically, this kind of emotional commitment suffers most when sex becomes part of a friendship. Chaste love can be difficult at times, but then so can all living in truth.Igive thanks to God that the Catholic Church understands this well enough to teach it, and to have supported an organisation in the United States called Courage, which exists to help homosexuals live out this teaching. Over the course of my two years in Courage I have made more, and deeper, friendships than I ever did during all the time I was actively gay and I am convinced that such a witness will help our surrounding culture come to a deeper understanding of the true nature of love. The author is an American writer and editor who lives in Arlington, Virginia. He can be reached at DCMorrison@aoLcom For more information on Courage contact (08) 9242 4068.
I
The little boy who changed Sir Alec
n his 1985 memoir Blessings in disguise, the British actor the late Sir Alec Guinness told about the events that led to what he called his "reconciliation with the holy, Roman, Catholic and apostolic church". In 1954 he was filming in Burgundy, France, playing the part of Father Brown in the film of G.K.Chesterton's wonderful detective stories. Having finished filming one evening, Guinness, still dressed as a priest, decided to walk back to his hotel. Along the way, a young boy of 7 or 8 approached him and took his hand, calling him "Mon Pere" (Father). The boy, chattering away, accompanied Guinness all the way to the village. "I reflected," Guinness wrote, "that a church which could inspire such confidence in a child, making its priests, even when unknown, so easily approachable, could not be as scheming and creepy as so often made out.I began to shake off my long-taught, long-absorbed prejudices." He became a Catholic in 1956. It would be a comfort for them and us, En these rowdy days, if our priests could remember that they are part of the same
The Record
the time we will not be aware that we are doing it It is a wise man who approaches the end of his life with the realisation that his real vocation was to be the husband of his wife. Anything else was incidental. PO Box 75, Leederville, WA 6902 And what of the little boy who held out Tel: (08) 9227 7080, Fax: (08) 9227 7087 his hand and led a stranger into the cathrec@iinet_net.au Catholic Church? What was his calling? His vocation at the time was to be a friendChurch and inspire the same confidence Those who always knew what they were ly, trusting little boy. He did it well. just by being priests. It is in the being, going to do could spare a thought for those To this day, he probably does not know more than the doing, that most of us who have never had any particular con- that his vocation was to trigger the conachieve what we are here for. viction about doing anything, but who just version of Sir Alec Guinness. The doing is seldom as well done unless got on with life, trusting that something It is not ours to know the plan. It is only we are being who we are supposed to be, would turn up and that they would do it ours to do what comes along and play our and for all of us that is being in harmony well. note in the symphony of creation. with God. Wanting to be anything else is In the long run, we will have our greatThe great advantage of being a Catholic a recipe for disaster. It leads us to wanti- est influence on life not because we were i s that we have easy access to the comng to make a name for ourselves when a good mechanic but because we were a through his teaching and his sacraposer there is only one name that matters. good person while being a good mechanand to the example and ments Remember how much trouble that caused ic. with the saints who have communion at Babel. That is why we want our sporting heroes music so well, and that we live his played This is as important for the young who to be of good character and are so disapin a community which provides so many have no real answer when asked (end- pointed when they are not. to do good things with othlessly, it sometimes seems) "What are you Whatever it is we do in life, the impor- opportunities others. ers for going to do when you leave school?" as it tance lies in the being - and specifically is for those approaching their three score in being good, which is another way of • The opinions expressed in this editoryears and ten and still have no particular saying being in harmony with the Holy ial, and any other Record editorial, are not idea what it was they were supposed to Spirit. That is the way we will help to har- necessarily those of the Roman Catholic monise other lives around us, and most of Archbishop of Perth. have been doing since they left school.
Aiming for Heaven, depending on Grace Vocation story
The Kelly Gang open a small window on what helps their vocation. Marriage is our way of getting to Heaven 'until death do we part'. We know marriage was God's will for us because we abandoned ourselves to God's will before we got married. If that had meant the Religious life then we would both have done that instead. God alone knows the big picture, so we left it up to Him, knowing that dodging His call brings unhappiness. That's not to say we weren't attracted to each other! But everything we've decided has been through reasons of prayer. Like emigration, changing careers and supporting the Dockers! 11.acy is a stay-at-home mum. We're trying to live a simple life without creating unnecessary needs. Being a single-income family requires sacrifice but we know
it's worth it in the long run. We right; right for us and the children. want to enjoy our children and We were not called to be hermits, give them the best we can. For us, our vocation is in the world, so we the best we can give our children pray daily for the grace to remain faithful to our calling. is our time. We've both noticed how selfish This decision means less material wealth but our perspective is we were before marriage, and an eternal one. 'fracy is a qualified since the birth of our children child-care worker so she knows we've noticed how selfish we were better than most how even the best before parenthood. We can see child-care centre can't compete how God offers to married couples with mummy. And all the elderly an opportunity to work as a team. people we meet keep telling us to That teamwork makes all the enjoy our little ones while they're many trials bearable. Our glue is young because we won't have prayer - it keeps our feet on the ground. Nothing fancy - just the them for long. It's the Little Way - the dishes, Rosary at home and regular Mass the nappies, the washing. We and Confession. This might seem laughed when we realised that all excessively pious, but we need all the Works of Mercy are offered in the help we can get Marriage has been a humbling God's package deal that He calls marriage. Our babies are fed, experience because it has made us given drink, clothed, welcomed realise the sacrifice each of our into the world, cared for when sick parents made for us. It's also clear and even visited in prison - just that the love we share with each picture the one year-old behind other and our children cannot be the bars of her cot and then being sufficiently contained in this life we're living on Earth, so our hope released every morning! God is very clever, and He's got is strong and we're happy in the a sense of humour too. It's tough prospect of growing old together. at times but we know it's totally if it be God's will.
Paul and Tracy Kelly hold children Catherine, left, and Jonathan.
Michael's spirit of freedom, his willingness to serve God Michael Merrifield tells why he decided to enter St Charles' Seminary. About five years ago, I decided to enter St Charles' Seminary in order to search out what I felt might be a call from God to become a Catholic priest. I was brought up in a Catholic family, and my parents always insisted that success in life depends on giving God first place in our lives, rather than achieving material gain. My parents taught me to pray at a very young age. As a small child I encountered God's presence and peace during moments of personal prayer. I have many happy childhood memories, and although my family has had its full share of conflicts, I always sensed that the bonds of love which held us together were far stronger than any forces which might have divided us. As a teenager, I went through a very painful period of
Seminadan Michael Hadfield loneliness and guilt, and I began to lose all sense of God's presence and peace. At that timeIwas invited to participate in a Catholic retreat weekend for young people (called Choice) and during that retreat I had a profound experience of God's unconditional love and mercy - an experience that I will never forget. In utter gratitude to God,Iimme-
diately felt that I wanted to offer my whole life to serve God, and from then on I began to actively participate in the life of the Church in order to develop my spiritual life and discover my particular vocation. After several years, I became part of a Christian community (the Holy Spirit of Freedom Community) that has a special ministry with young homeless people. During my time in this community, I encountered so many broken lives; young people whose shattered worlds seemed utterly devoid of love, and filled instead with all kinds of hurts, addictions, violence and heartaches. Yet, these broken people taught me so much! In the midst of all their pain and distress, many of them displayed a heroic faith. courage, perseverance, and a profound willingness to love and forgive. About a year prior to my entering the seminary, a person whom Itrusted asked me a simple question: have you ever really thought seriously about the priesthood? I had often shied away from questions like that before, because I assumed that a strong
attraction to the priesthood aged me to join the seminary (something which I had never simply as a more serious time of experienced), would be the first discernment. My time of formation in the semsign of whether one was called to inary has been very enriching and serve God in this way. I began to actively search out challenging. Apart from deepening my the possibility of the priesthood through prayer, seeking advice knowledge of the Catholic faith, from others, and by entering a living in the seminary communispecial house of discernment ty has helped me to achieve a which had just been set up in the much greater understanding of myself and those around me. diocese. As I, and several of my fellow While it is true thatInever experienced any blinding revelation seminarians, journey towards about my vocation during this making our next big committime, I did sense that God was ments to the diaconate and priestgently guiding me through the hood, I sincerely ask you to pray advice of a priest, who encour- for us.
Fr McCloskey's Seven Steps to Holiness
The fifth daily habit takes but a moment or two. It is to stop what we are doing to play the Angelus
or Regina C,oeli prayer to our Blessed Mother, according to the liturgical season, each day at noon. This is a Catholic custom that goes back many centuries. It is a wonderful way both to greet our Blessed Mother for a moment as any good child remembers his mother during the day and meditate on the Incarnation and Resurrection of our Lord. which Ore such meaning to our entire existence. Page 7
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Search for holiness
Vocations Week 2002
how? holiness? You want Fine. But ords W ISD
with Tony Evans
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okes often serve as safety valves, a means of letting the steam out of a pressure cooker, the pressure cooker thereby remaining safe, secure, and able to do its job successfully. Those old music-hall jokes about marriage are an example: 'marriage is a great institution...but who wants to live in an institution?' etc, etc. There aren't many jokes about marriage doing the rounds these days which is probably an indication of how serious is the attack on marriage from other more harmful sources. At one time you only made jokes about the seemingly unassailable - the Church is another good example. How reassuring and what a pleasure it is to discover, as I did the other day, a fresh, inspiring defence of marriage, especially when is comes from an unexpected source. The great German poet,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe statesman and philosopher, Johann Goethe (1779-1832), is best known world-wide for his allegorical dramatic poem, Faust, later adapted in many forms and translated into many languages. Goethe was also a novelist although his novels are seldom read today. One of them, available in English, has the strange title, Elective Affinities This is what one of the characters in that novel has to say about marriage:
icK Aarriage is the beginning
IV land the end of all culture, it civilises the savage and gives the most cultured the best opportunity of displaying their delicacy. "It must be indissoluble, for it brings so much happiness that any exceptional unhappinesses it may bring with it are, when weighed in the scales of happiness, of no account. "There can never be any adequate reason for separation. The scale of joy and sorrow in mortal affairs is so high that the sum which two married people owe one another is incalculable. "It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged throughout eternity." Maybe it is only if and when marriage returns to being as safe and secure as Goethe envisaged it, will we be able to make jokes about 'living in an institution' once again.
T
o ask catechumens "Do you wish to receive Baptism?" is to ask them "Do you wish to become holy?" So says the Holy Father in his apostolic letter welcoming the new millennium, in which he devotes considerable thought to the holiness of the laity - the universal call to holiness. The same question was asked about each of us when we were baptised, and the Pope gives direction about how to achieve holiness. "Training in holiness calls for a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer." ... "...the Sunday Eucharist and Sunday itself experienced as a special day of faith..." "The Sacrament of Reconciliation ... the rediscovery of Christ as the one in whom God shows us his compassionate heart and reconciles us fully with himself." ... "The primacy of grace ... trusting not in our own efforts but in the grace of God ... " ... holiness and prayer are inconceivable without listening to the word of God..." "... becoming servants of the word in the communities we live in..." Below are excerpts of John Paul ll's guides to holiness. The full text is the Pope's letter Novo Miliennio Ineunte, 31 40.
Holiness All pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. The Council Fathers (in Lumen Gentium) made the call to holiness an intrinsic and essential party of their teaching on the Church. The rediscovery of the Church as a people gathered together by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit was bound to bring with it rediscovery of the Church's holiness. Holiness is a gift from Jesus ... and is offered to all the baptised. The gift in turn becomes a task which must shape the whole of Christian life. Since Baptism is a true entry into the holiness of God ... it would be a contradiction to settle for mediocrity. The ways of holiness are many, according to the vocation of each individual ... andI thank the Lord he has enabled me to beatify and canonise many lay people who attained holiness in the most ordinary circumstances of life. The time has come to re-propose to everyone this high standard of Christian living ... and call for genuine training in holiness. Prayer Training in holiness calls for Christian life distinguished able all in the art of prayer. Prayer develops that conversation with Christ which makes us his intimate friends so that "you abide in me and I in you".
Pope John Paul II waves to the crowds during his recent trip to Mexico. Prayer involves the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ... in the liturgy ... but also in personal experience. The great mystical tradition of the Church shows how prayer can progress as a genuine dialogue of love to the to the point of possession by the divine beloved. It is a journey sustained by grace, but demands intense spiritual commitment. Intense prayer does not distract us from history (daily life) ... opening our heart to the love of God opens it to the love of our brothers and sisters and makes us capable of shaping history according to God's plan. It would be wrong to think that ordinary Christians can be content with a shallow prayer that is unable to fill their whole life. It is therefore essential that education in prayer ... should create in parishes and all-pervading climate of prayer. Sunday Eucharist I stress particularly the Sunday Eucharist and Sunday itself experienced as a special day of faith.
Fr McCloskey's Seven Steps to Holiness their study as a weapon, the Rosary is most effective, because this apparently monot-
onous way of beseeching Our Lady, as children do their mother, can destroy every seed of vainglory and pride" (Furrow, 474). The Rosary is a habit that, once
The sixth habit is also Marian - praying the Holy Rosary each day and meditating on its mysteries, which surround the life of Our Lord and Our Lady. As Bl. losemaria puts it, "For those who use their intelligence and
acquired, is hard to break. By repeating words of love to Mary and offering up each decade for our intentions, we take the shortcut to Jesus, which is to pass through the heart of Mary. He cannot refuse her anything!
For 2000 years, Christian time has been measured by that first day of the week when the Risen Christ gave the Apostles the gift of peace and of the Spirit. We do not know what this millennium holds in store for us. but we are certain that it is safe in the hands of Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Sharing in the Eucharist should really be the heart of Sunday for every baptised person. It is a fundamental duty to be fuffiled not merely to observe a precept, but as something essential to truly informed Christian life. The Lord's day becomes the day of the Church and the mark of our shared identity. Reconciliation I ask for renewed pastoral courage in presenting the Sacrament of Reconciliation as the means to rediscover Christ as the one in whom God shows us his compassionate heart and reconciles us fully with himself. The causes of the crisis in this sacrament have not disappeared, but the Jubilee Year showed that many, including the young, benefit from it. Dear brothers in the priesthood, we must not give in to passing crises! The Lord's gifts - and the sacraments are among the most precious - come from the one who well knows the human heart and who is the Lord of history The primacy of grace The primacy of grace is an essential principle of the Christian view of life. While God asks us to invest all our resources of intelligence and energy .. we must remember that without Christ we can do nothing.
Photo CNS/Fteuters
It is prayer which roots us in this truth. It constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life of holiness. Otherwise, our efforts come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening sense of frustration ... like the apostolic fishermen who laboured all night and caught nothing until Jesus told them what to do. Listening to the Word Holiness and prayer are inconceivable without listening to the word of God. Scripture has its rightful place of honour in the public prayer of the Church. Individuals and communities are also making extensive use of the Bible ... and evangelisation and catechesis are drawing new life from attentiveness to the word of God. It is especially necessary that listening to the word of God should become a life-giving encounter in ancient and ever valid tradition of lectio divina which draws from the biblical text the living word which questions, directs and shapes our lives. Proclaiming the Word We nourish ourselves with the word in order to be servants of the word ... especially in societies and cultures which have not been or are no longer Christian. Christ must be presented to all people with confidence. The radical message of the Gospel must not be hidden from adults, families, young people or children. The generous availability shown by the young in recent times must be treated as a new talent put into our hands by the Lord so that we can make it yield a rich return.
Search for holiness
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Vocations Week 2002
A place where seekers can discern Casa Frassati offers a unique aid in Australia to those wanting to find what God is asking of them By Brenwen Clune "It is rare to find people in today's world, who stop and ask what God wants of them," says Father Tim Deeter, who runs Casa Frassati Vocations Discernment Centre. It was for that reason that the discernment centre was set up five years ago to provide people with the time and place to discern what their vocation is in life. In that time Fr Deeter has helped over 250 people who have come to the centre wanting his help with spiritual guidance. The centre has just moved to its third location in its five years of operation into Gibney House in Mount Lawley. The building has historic value having been built by former Archbishop Gibney and has been restored under the guidance of Fr Deeter. Although the centre provides free accommodation for young men thinking about entering the priesthood, Fr Deeter is quick to point out that it is intended to be there as a resource for all callings in life - be that single religious life, single lay life or marriage. "This is not a place just for people who want to become priests." says Fr Deeter. "We are a vocations discernment centre and everyone has a vocation. So the centre is not just for that one per cent or so who want to become priests - it's for those who really want to consider what it is they want to do with their lives." Discerning one's vocation is not always about finding out whether you have a calling in life, for many it's about discovering that in fact they are not called to religious life, says Fr Deeter. "Through the centre I deal with a number a number of people who very quickly realise for some reason they are not called to the priesthood." he said. "For some reason, Catholics
think that if they want to do something for God they have to become a priest or a sister or a brother, but that would cut out 97 per cent of people who want to do some-thing pleasing for God with their lives. "Even when couples are talking about married lifeI always talk to them about the fact that they are called to contribute to the Church in some way. Not just by going to Mass, but by doing something in the parish or the parish school, anything they can do to better our society." Male guests at the house are encouraged to use the time as a retreat experience. This may mean that people who are studying or working give up some of their activities, which they generally opt to do. As well as daily Mass and reflection, men considering the priesthood are encouraged to go out with Fr Deeter on his duties to get a good idea about the work of a priest. "Some people might say why not
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The new location for Casa Frassati at 50 Vincent Street, Mount Lawley. The house was built by former Archbishop Gibney and has been restored under the guidance of Father Deeter.
"We are a vocations discernment centre stay with a parish priest? But you is in the and everyone has a know much of his work office and meeting people for vocation. So the counselling appointments, which someone thinking about the centre is not just for priesthood could not really sit in on. that one per cent or "With me they can see a variety of things that a parish priest can so who want to do as well as a priest in education or a hospital ministry. If they do a become priests lot of little things all over the archit's for those who diocese - things that the Archbishop asks me to do and things really want to con- that parishes ask me to do then get to realise priests can do sider what it is they athey number of different things." Fr Deeter might also suggest to want to do with the young men and women who come and see him that they spend their lives." time with a religious order. Part of - Father Deeter his role is to make them aware of
Web tjuide Carole McMillen
vvww.vision-guide.org This site is primarily about representing the magazine Vision, which is an annual religious vocation discernment guide, however very little is said about what is in it, who writes it and the reason ills considered to be comprehensive most the resource available for those seeking information on religious life.Idid however find the directories on this site to be very impressive. You need to bear in
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mind that they are all American based, but the overview of each order is very good and through the various web addresses international information can be found.
the different religious groups at work in the community Father Deeter in the restored chapel at Casa Frassati, where he helps people "We have had several girls enter- discern their vocation. ing religious communities who first began counselling and spiri- four days to seven months. "No, ment is to help them collect infortual direction here at Casa Fras- not everybody leaves here having mation. "People come in and say 'Well sati - we have two girls with the resolved their situation," says Fr what shouldI do?' That, you have Ursuline Sisters and one with the Deeter. "Usually though, they have nar- to find that out through prayer, Franciscans of the Immaculate who is making her first profession rowed the field down and have a but I can do everything else to good idea of what they want to do. help people discover what it is of vows," says Fr Deeter "For exampleIhad a young man God is asking of them." "So that's three girls and I've In the meantime, the door to seen several young men who are who interrupted his nursing studFrassati is always open to Casa diswe and here come to ies communities various in now studying to be brothers and some cerned that he probably had a anyone wanting some spiritual who are studying to be priests at calling to work in the medical guidance in their life. The centre is located at 50 Vincent Street, St Charlie's Seminary and in field as a priest or brother." Mount Lawley and the phone discern can't he says Deeter Fr other parts of the country." Overall Fr Deeter has had 35 for someone what their vocation number is (08) 9328 4518. The guests who have lived at the cen- is. "What I can do and what is a house can accommodate up to tre staying there anywhere from very important part of discern- four guests at a time.
Fr McCloskey's Seven Steps to Holiness
The seventh habit is the brief examination of conscience at night before going to bed. Again the holy Founder of Opus Del says "Examination of conscience. A daily task. Bookkeeping - never neglected by anyone in business. And is there any business worth more than that of eternal lifer (The Way, 235). You sit down, call on the Holy Spirit for light and
for several minutes go over your day in God's presence asking if you behaved as a child of God at home, at work, with your friends. You also look at that one particular area which you have identified with the help of spiritual direction in which you know you need to improve in order to become a saint. You may also take a quick look to see if you have been faithful to those daily habits that we have discussed in this article. Then you make an act of gratitude for all the good that you have done and an act of contrition for those areas in which you have willfully failed. Then it is off to your welldeserved rest, which you strive to
make holy through your interior dialogue with the Holy Trinity and your mother Mary as you drift off to sleep. If a person honestly looks at their day, no matter how busy he is, (andInever seem to meet people who admit they are not busy unless they are permanently retired), he can usually find that he wastes some time each day. Think of that needless extra cup of coffee when you might have been able to drop by and visit the Blessed Sacrament for 15 minutes before beginning work. Or the half-hour or much more wasted on watching vapid and Inane television programs or videos. Then there is the corn-
muting time spent sleeping on with yourself, and with God. the train, or listening to the radio These habits, lived well, enable in the car that could be used for us to obey the second part of the great commandment "to love our the Rosary. How about that newspaper that neighbour as ourselves." We are on earth, as was the could be read in ten minutes rather than twenty minutes, leav- Lord, "to serve and not to be ing room for your spiritual read- served." This can only be achieved by ing? And that lunch which could be our gradual transformation into finished in a half-hour, leaving another Christ through prayer and the sacraments. time for noon Mass? lb live the seven habits will Don't forget that half hour spent us to become holy and enable of end the at time away frittering the day when you could have apostolic, always assured that done some good spiritual read- when we fail in something big or ing, examined your conscience small, we always have the loving and gone to bed at a fixed time Father awaiting us in the Sacrarestoring your energy for the next ment of Penance and the prayerful help of our spiritual advisor day's battles. The list goes on. Make up your own. Be honest to put us back on the right track.
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Vocations Week 2002
Trust God and the answers will come mitment to the consecrated single life,
Answering
ELENA and MARK REIDY share their story. It is a real witness to God's faithfulness when they try to put Him first in their lives.
the call to holiness
Elena's story Mark and I first met abut 17 years ago whilst working as volunteers on a soup van in Melbourne. We became good friends, and yes, I was keen on him back then. But he had other interests! The next few years my relationship with Jesus became increasingly important, as did the desire in my heart to work with the poor. Finally, after much agonising I followed the call to give up everything: career (I was a registered nurse), family, possessions etc, and join the Holy Spirit of Freedom Community (now recognised as a lay association of Christ's faithful). It was an extremely difficult decision as it was hurting the people I loved the most; my parents and brother (we were a migrant family). From my parents' perspective it was as if I was throwing away everything they had sacrificed their lives to give me. Also my brother felt abandoned in his teenage years. It was a real call to trust God that despite their pain, he would ultimately work it all for good (Rom 8:28). Today, I see the results. Not only are my parents stronger in their faith, they have also reached out as loving grandparents to some of the broken in our society that we work with. Also my brother, who was very much a "wild boy" had a conversion joined the HSOF community, married my best friend and they are now expecting their third child and continuing their commitment to their own vocation in God. But back to my own story. For 15 years I lived by Divine Providence. a life of prayer and ministry to those on the streets and those most marginalised in our society. For many years the decision of whether I was called to make a corn-
Feature story reality, not just a state of eternal existence How can I possibly do this? There aforpossible a chosen few. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was is no way I know that I can live my a young man who lived in Thrin, Italy, at the turn of the last century. Born into a very wealthy family, Pier life in remotely the same way as Giorgio's life could be paralleled by many of us at some of our own journey. He was a student stage some of the Saints I most admire who studied engineering. At university he was - or is there? Involved in politically active groups that opposed By Joanne Grainger Special Projects Officer, Catholic Vocations Office, Melbourne 1 )u1-iiig the World Youth Day celebrations in Rome 2000. Pope John Paul II challenged the two million youth present: "Do not be afraid to be the Saints of the new millennium." As one of those pilgrims in Rome I can't forget my first reaction to that call by the Holy Father. How can I possibly do this? There is no way that how I live my life can be remotely in the same league as some of thoseIknew were Saints - for example Therese of Lisieux or Francis of Assisi. Beginning on Sunday August 4 and concluding Sunday August 11, is National Vocation Awareness Week. The purpose of this week is for the Catholic Church community throughout Australia to focus upon the call to Vocation each one of us has through our Baptism. Answering the call to serve Christ and others through becoming a priest or religious has traditionally been the understanding of the term 'vocation'. The invaluable work that many priests and religious have within our schools, health care, parishes, amongst the poor and disadvantaged will always be seen as men and women choosing to dedicate their lives solely to the Lord through their activities, prayer and service. However, each one of us in all states of life is called to make a commitment to the Lord. As the Council Fathers stated in the Vatican II Conciliar documents, "all the faithful are invited and obliged to holiness and the perfection of their own state of life" (LG 42). Therefore whether you are a student, married, single, active in mission work, a member of a lay community, a priest or religious man or woman, we are all asked to live each day following in the foot steps of Christ. For it is only through the imitation of Christ that we can achieve this call to holiness as he is the divine teacher and model of all perfection" (LG 40).
"I thought what the Pope was asking was too difficult." I thought what the Pope was asking was too difficult.Iwas happy enough to be just a young woman who thought that to be a practicing Catholic was to go to Mass each week and be good to others, and so decided to dismiss his specific call, for it was too difficult to achieve. However, being one who likes a challenge,Ithought about this idea of sainthood and how as a Church community we could rise to this specific request. For to achieve sainthood is really to answer the call to holiness which the Church highlights is our true life Vocation. One saint's life ,has highlighted to me that for each of us holiness is truly
the fascist and socialist regimes predominant in Italian politics. Pier Giorgio was also an avid sportsman, passionate about mountaineering and bicycle riding in the nearby Alps. He was very popular throughout Turin among his peers and also the poor and homeless with whom he spent a lot of his time and money hoping to improve their quality and standard of life. Pier Giorgio developed a strong spirituality that he shared with all he met, which in turn assisted with his commitment to the Dominican Tertiary Order aged 21. He stated in a letter to a friend: "The faith given to me in Baptism suggests to me surely: of yourself you will do nothing, but if you have God as the centre of all your action, then you will reach your goal." At the age of 24, Pier Giorgio died from Polio which he contracted through serving the poor and ill within Thrin. On 20 May 1990, Pier Giorgio Frassati was beatified and titled by the Holy Father as the Man of the Beatitudes. Pier Giorgio's' life highlighted to me exactly what the Pope called each one of us to consider as our true vocation, the vocation to holiness In every element of our lives. For it is these little commitments to the Lord that will make us the saints of this millennium. Through answering this call to holiness, we will be challenged often to question this commitment we make to the Lord. Sometimes our faith-inspired views will be against the current trends in modern society. Remaining focused upon Christ has never been more important. National Vocation Awareness Week is a time for the Church community to acknowledge individuals who have made a visible commitment in faith through their priestly and religious vows and commitment in marriage and other states of life. It is also a time to make a renewed commitment to your vocation to what the Lord planned when he created you. Will you answer the challenge? Do not be afraid... (Lk 24:49), for on your journey the Lord takes each step with you.
We are now at another crossroad much prayer and sharing I finally realised that Jesus was not calling me and searching for God's direction. We to make that commitment to Him. I both feel a call to work with the brodidn't know if I would ever marry, but ken, lost and unloved in our world. I know I was open to the possibility. With our family now as our main priIn the meantime, I tried to keep liv- ority we realise our call may be difing out the call he had given me, as best I could. Mark's story I, on the other hand, had decided all those 15 years ago that the doing of good deeds, not to mention having a good time was more important than a life of prayer and faith. So my work on the soup kitchen, my career of with working Mark and Elena Reidy with baby Joseph John abused children, and teenagers and even a few trips to ferent from the one we had as single war torn Bosnia to work with refugees people. But we also know that God was incorporated among a hectic has a call for each person, whether social life. they be religious, single or a family But despite the facade of a busy and unit. exciting life there was an underlying We are all equally important in the gnawing inside that something was eyes of God and he has a plan for missing. Among all my activity came each of us, whether we know it or not! a search for some meaning in life, in all the wrong places! My investigations into various religions and philosophies, including anything New Age, proved fruitless and the gnawing continued. After years of irregular contact with my dear friend Elena, and endless questions and doubts about her lifestyle and spiritual choices, I found myself visiting the HSOF in Perth and Pemberton. One thing led to through and another 'chance' (God) everything We are approximately 5,000 fell into place and I joined & brothers worldwide. priests the community four years We see ourselves as an ago. And as God's script international family. unfolded so too did my love We have given ourselves to God for the most abandoned. We are involved in a variety of missionary works in Australia and throughout the world. • parishes • education • overseas missions • youth • prison chaplaincies • hospital chaplaincies • social welfare We are the
A remarkable story Vocation story
www.catholicvocation.org.au The Catholic Vocations website is a large resource of information for those discerning a vocation. It includes many pages including personal stories, prayers, discernment and the vocation newsletter God Knox. It is also the only website that contains contact details for every religious congregation within Australia including detailed information on the various congregations, testimonies, photos and links to the congregation websites. The website receives over 1500 visits each month and new information and resources are added regularly.
for Elena. A marriage was born - fol-
Vocation was a major issue for me (I take a lowed nine months later by the beaustory long time to make decisions!). After tiful Joseph John!
A candlelight procession makes its way through the Vatican gardens to celebrate the feast of St Martha on July 29. Normally, non-Vatican residents are Photo CNS/Rofax Rossi allowed in the gardens only as participants in paid, limited-sized tours.
By Doreen Snell As a little girl I used to love going to Church. I used to go every Sunday with my family to St Joseph's at Bassendean, on my way to school at St Michael's School and regularly in my breaks. I loved the nuns and at home I'd dress up in my wheat bag Doreen Snell habit, make my own little altar and play 'nun'. When I was 10 or 11 I joined the Legion of Mary and had a beautiful time visiting the people at the nursing homes. But my vocation was not to be a nun. In 1965 I was hit by a car and was unconscious for six weeks. I have never fully recovered. WhenIwas well enough, dear Mother Edna let me finish the school year so I could be with girls my own age and to try and learn something. In 1967Iwent to Mercedes under the guidance of Mother Dolores. Sister Gerard was my teacher,I loved her because she treated me the same as the other pupils. She became my role model. I loved everyone and thanked God for making me so special.Ihad to leave school because I couldn't concentrate, and worked for a year at St Anne's Hospital in the kitchen. Despite a reputation for keeping a spotless work area and singing while I worked I had to leave due to health reasons. I went to a rehabilitation centre for about a year. While there I helped myself by helping others. Talldng to them and praying for and with them. Over the years there have been many trials and tribulations but my love for God and his love for me has given me the strength to get through them. I feel blessed by this love and I know how much it has done for me and knowing thisIcan think of no better way to thank God and to help others than to be the best personIcan be and live by example like those gorgeous sisters of my childhood. To me, this demonstrates the oneness of the Catholic Church. Jesus, through his priests and nuns, has shown us the way and ills our responsibility and pleasure as wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, friends and strangers to pass the truth onto others.
Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Who are you? Are you, also, one of us in spirit? For further information please contact: Vocations Director St Mary's Seminary 62-94 jacksons Road Mulgrave, Vic 3170 Ph. (03) 9795 3535 Fax. (03) 9701 0222
vocations@oblates.com.au
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Vocations Week 2002
Search for holiness
From teenage rebel to defender of the Faith on air
Raymond and Theresa de Souza interview Archbishop Barry Hickey on The Layman's Hour.
to respond to the needs of the laity entrustVocation ed to his care, to face the Jehovah's Witstory nesses and fundamentalist Protestants' By Raymond de Souza I had to give much thought to define in my mind what prompted me to follow the vocation of a lay Catholic Apologist. First of all, a definition: an Apologist dedicates a great deal of time in life to study Catholic doctrine from the standpoints of the rational motives of credibility and the biblical and patristic foundations of everything Catholic. Thus, apologetics aims to show how Catholic doctrine is in perfect agreement with sound reason, Sacred Scripture and the faith of the early Christians. How did I get into that? After a sorely wasted teenage in a nominally Catholic family in Brazil. I met a Catholic man who changed my life, the [late) Professor Plinio Correa de Oliveira. Strictly speaking, he taught me neither Catechism nor theology. He endeavoured to teach the mind of the Church, which enables one not only to believe in everything Catholic, but also to 'think Catholic'. It was up to me to learn dogma and morals elsewhere. Accordingly, because God created everything for His glory and our salvation, every human endeavour has a religious dimension: depending on how we do theology, liturgy music, clothing, food, art, business, politics, law, etc. we may be moving towards salvation or... away from it. The distinction made today between `religion' and 'life' is artificial, unnatural. We aren't pure spirits, we live in the world, and we must continuously restore everything in Christ. Sursum corda! Christ abhors mediocrity and lukewarmness.
"I learned that by regular study at home, with trustworthy Mends, good books and tapes, virtually any Catholic can learn to defend the Faith." In this context I studied apologetics. I couldn't afford tertiary studies, even if I stumbled onto an orthodox university whichI never did. These days, a BA. in Theology is no longer a guarantee of fidelity to the Church. I learned that by regular study at home, with trustworthy friends, good books and tapes, virtually any Catholic can learn to defend the Faith. Later Imet another truly humble man, as I've met few in my life: Father Almeida, the chaplain for the Portuguese community in Johannesburg. He realised that his seminary formation had been wanting - Humility is the Truth. Great emphasis on administering Sacraments, little on teaching the mind of the Church, none in the art of defending the Faith - apologetics. He frankly admitted that he needed help
Inroads into the Portuguese community. He grieved as he saw many a parishioner grow cold to Marian devotion and end up in the Bible-bashing camp. We had become friends. He knew that clergy and laity exist not to compete, but to complete. He asked me to give weekly talks in his parish. It was then that I realised that it wasn't enough to simply 'share my faith', or 'talk about Jesus', or let the Spirit speak through me'...Ihad to study, and study very hard, to be able to explain the truth and refute error. Later on, in the Christchurch Diocese, supported by Bishop Basil Meeking, I developed many apologetics studies in public talks at the Catholic Education Office conference room. There, nearly every Monday evening was an Apologetics evening. Lay Catholics were able to learn not only the Faith. but also how to defend the Faith they were learning. Another person who helps me in my vocation of lay Apologist is a gorgeous, long-haired Californian brunette, whose hazel eyes and captivating smile changed my life for good: Theresa, my beloved wife.
"Aware that nobody becomes wealthy by promoting the Catholic Faith, she realised that, by marrying a lay Apologist, she was in for a life of comparative frugality." Aware that nobody becomes wealthy by promoting the Catholic Faith, she realised that, by marrying a lay Apologist, she was In for a life of comparative frugality. Since she had always been involved in Catholic Action in various ways, she saw in that marriage the fulfilment of her life vocation. Today, her example as wife and mother, her encouragement and support have been major elements in the fulfilment of my vocation. Every Sunday evening we host together the first Catholic talk-back broadcast in Western Australia, "The Layman's Hour" (Radio Fremantle, 10Z9 FM at 7:30 PM). I am also very grateful to Archbishop Hickey for his support of the Apologetics apostolate of St Gabriel communications, and hope to be of greater service in the Archdiocese in Faith education programmes. Yes, true happiness in life lies in the fulfilment of one's vocation. Everyone must find out what one's is. When more and more Catholics will do just that, the face of the earth shall be renewed. St Gabriel Communications offers free ebooks on Catholic Apologetics. Their web site can be visited at http://www.saintgabriel.ihietnetau/mahLhtml
HowIfound my vocation as a Lay Catholic Evangelist Vocation story By Eddie Russell fmi A calling or a vocation is something that comes from the Holy Spirit, impacts the soul, inspires the heart, crucifies the flesh, submits to authority and gives life to others. A few years ago I heard an account of a young man in India who had converted from Hinduism and became a Catholic. In his zeal for his newfound Lord, he began sharing his faith with others. This had such an effect that hundreds of Hindus accepted Jesus and so he began many prayer groups in his area. Eventually, concerns were expressed to the local Bishop who called in the young man to answer for his actions. "Who gave you the authority to do this?" the Bishop asked sternly, "You did my lord Bishop!" the young man replied, "When did I do that?" the Bishop asked, "When you baptised me", the young man said. The Bishop then admitted with a smile that he did have the right to evangelise due his baptismal call and then gave him his blessing to continue. As I look back on my own conversion and the radical change it made to my life, I remember the first thing I wanted to do was to tell everyone what had happened to me. I did, and I was ridiculed and rejected for it but it did not dampen my zeal. In fact, it only confirmed the truth of the Gospel, and that encouraged me even more. At that time I was running my own design studio and had artists working for me. In my enthusiasm I would talk to them about Jesus and what he could do. Even though, initially, they were bored with my newfound beliefs, two of my staff eventually accepted Jesus and were baptised as Catholics. No matter where I was, or who I was with, the conversation would soon turn to Jesus, either directly or indirectly imparting the wisdom I learned from the Bible, sometimes with a positive effect and, at other times, not so positive. Later, through the Baptism of the Holy SpiritIdiscovered the ability by the Grace of God to not only talk about the Gospel but to demonstrate its truth and power. I began to see that the Great Commission was not just a polite suggestion made by Jesus as an optional extra before he ascended, but an eleventh commandment that applied to every baptised believer. As a result I became involved with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and soon entered into leadership of a small parish group. Always desiring to see true potential ignite and grow in the lives of others it was a natural thing for me to speak and teach. In those early days I could see in my mind's eye thousands of people in front of me and my heart filled with compassion; I saw myself preaching a message of love and grace which they accepted. Some 14 years later this had not come to pass. Finally (for personal reasons), when I had decided to retire from leadership and teaching Life in the Spirit Seminars, the Lord called! However, it was not the knock-you-off-yourhorse experience as one might have expected. One day in 1989 two young men, Graham and Guy bounded enthusiastically into my studio and said. "Ed, the Lord has given us a Bible seminar and we'd like you to put your material in to complete it." They showed me the folder containing the programme and one look told me of its potential. Archbishop Foley approved the seminar, blessed us and gave his permission to teach it. Thus the Bible seminar called Set My People on Fire began in 1990 and this time I accepted the calling in obedience and not from personal ambition. The following year God gave me a prophetic vision called "Flame" ministries, and that began a new career and life in the service of Our Lord: Then after 37 years in the advertising business,I was thrust full time into the Jesus' business. However,
Eddie Russell
this time there was no money, no training, no good reputation to go on, minimal possessions and no place to live; there was just a dream in God and a fire in my heart to see him loved and glorified. That was 12 years ago now and it seems the call to be a lay Catholic Evangelist is just beginning. In fact. it seems the calling comes each day and often at different times throughout a day as my fleshly man seeks to run to a comfortable place and take its rest. It's then that the Lord calls me back again. I sometimes struggle, fight and resist, but eventually throw my arms in the air and say, "OK Lord, you win. I'll do it, but please show me how, because I certainly don't know." A few years ago when I was struggling with a personal matter and wondered ifIshould give up my ministry I went to see Archbishop Hickey for help and advice. After listening attentively and encouraging me often, he finally asked, "Do you believe you have a call from God to do this work?". "Yes, I do."! told him. "Then get on with it!" the Archbishop said. So I did. During these years I have preached the Gospel to as few as two people for 15 weeks in Perth and to over 8,000 in one week in Singapore. ! have also preached the Gospel to thousands in Malaysia and England whereIhave seen the lame walk. the blind see, the dead raised to life, the sick recover, captives freed and demons flee, all in the name of Jesus as he said it would. If we give God our availability God gives us his divine ability. I left school at 15 and was not good at English. In fact,I still can't tell you the difference between verb and proverb. And yet in my 40's I wrote a book which has gone all around the world touching many lives. That simple book on God's desire to heal us is now also published in German and recently in Slovenian, Croatian. Spanish and Portuguese and available in every country in the world that speak those languages. At the time of this writing I am preparing to leave Perth for an invitation to preach conferences, rallies and retreats all over Mexico beginning in Mexico City in August/September and then possibly on to Miami, England and Singapore. Next year in 2003 Ihave been invited to preach to laity and priests in all the former Communist Eastern European countries and the Bible seminar that began this work will be taught firstly in Slovenia and form a Catholic Charismatic Bible College there. So what constitutes a vocation? It is most certainly an act of God that impacts the soul, inspires the heart, crucifies the flesh, submits to authority and gives life to others. That being the case, then I have to accept in faith and humility that the ministry and work of a lay Catholic Evangelist is my vocation and it was there from the very beginning and only now being fully realised. However, I can also testify that I could not do these things by my own strength, stealth or ability - I am simply incapable of them. The 26 years since I became a Catholic have had their seasons; some were longer, some shorter, some very painful and some so beautiful that I cannot see any other way to live out my own baptismal calling. Flame Ministries' website can be visited at http://wwwflameministries.org
Search for holiness
Vocations Week 2002
say,I say... F
irst time I saw the David Wenham movie Molokai, I wept bucketloads of tears. Some of those were tears of sorrow, at the sight of all that leprosy and human suffering. But some of them were tears of joy. Espedaily at the part where we see a leprosyinfected Fr Damien (played by Wenham) pouring a glass of Belgian beer that he's just brewed right there in the leper colony. Beer! I've long believed it's one of the greatest commodities ever invented - and here was the image of a great Catholic saint who likewise saw its virtues. Lest you think that the beer-pouring episode was mere cinematic licence by a modern film-maker, there's in fact strong evidence that the real-life Fr Damien of Molokai was himself a fan of the amber fluid. It may have been entirely medicinal - or then again, maybe not. But it's recorded in an excellent recent biographical study of Fr Damien by Belgian journalist Hilde Eynikel (Molokai: the Story ofFr Damien) that one of the first
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with Paul Gray
items the famous missionary ordered to genuine desire to love God and our fellow He ordered the purchase of a gift for be sent to him after arriving in Molokai human beings. "his" orphan boys after his death. The gift was hops. And that is exactly why we should thank was to be not Bibles, but marbles. Not that He also ordered building timber to make God for the example of a man like Blessed Fr Damien neglected catechesis. He gave churches and houses for the sick, and he Damien de Veuster - Fr Damien. himself daily to teaching and preaching ordered medicines for their comfort too. For not only did he make the supreme the Word of God during his 17 years in the Worthy and important things. sacrifice for the sake of his fellow human leper colony. But let's not overlook the beer. That was beings, by placing himself in isolation with But he knew the meaning of childlike joy. also mighty valuable. the condemned lepers on Molokai and and fun. Marbles and beer, he realised, are Just how valuable it was is a fact I was eventually succumbing to the disease him- as much a part of life as are suffering and forced to realise during question time at a self. death. speech I gave recently on the topic of Fr The example of psychological good He also brewed them beer! This, surely, Damien's heroic self-sacrifice for the lep- was a man who could and did appreciate health that is given to us by Fr Damien is ers of Hawaii. the good, enjoyable things of life - and he important to remember as we contemOne member of the audience expressed was prepared to enjoy them even while plate the issue of where our own lives are leading. serious reservations about my heaping of living a life of exile in a leper colony. Each of us, lay and religious alike, are praise on the work of a man like Damien. It wasn't only beer, of course. The realThis, she thought, was encouraging a dan- life Fr Damien appreciated the needs of called to a special vocation to become gerous and unhealthy psychological ten- the average person, including the orphan more and more like God: the vocation to holiness. dency - a tendency towards extravagant children on Molokai. That God is not just a God of suffering self-denial that is buried deep within the That was why, shortly before he died, he Belgian psyche. took money from donated funds which and sacrifice. He's also a God of joy. Contemplate that, if you like beer, next Fair enough, I replied. We should all be had been sent to him - funds which were on the lookout against the unhealthy then the subject of contentious wranglings time you have one. And if you find yourextremes of self-denial, which can become involving his religious superiors - to make self enjoying it, remember you're in good company. a sign of twisted egotism rather than a one last significant purchase.
Seeing your daily work within God's plan How can the job we do each day possibly be a spiritual thing?
By Richard McCord, CNS Given the impact of work on people's daily lives, it makes sense to ask if working has anything to do with developing a relationship with God. Jesus prayed that his followers would be made holy in the world, not taken out of it (John 17:15). Speaking specifically of lay men and women, Vatican Council II taught: They are called by God to contribute to the sanctification of the world from within ... by fuffiling their own particular duties' (Constitution on the Church, 31). Modern Catholic teaching understands work not as punishment or an experience of alienation from God but as a means of sanctification and an opportunity to co-create with God. The worker, workplace and work itself have dignity in God's eyes. Its not always easy to maintain this belief. We can let work overwhelm us and thus lose all perspective. We can strictly compartmentalise our work, keeping it off limits from the rest of our life. We might wonder if Catholic teaching applies to all work situations. Some jobs and work conditions are so demeaning that they seem to call merely for endurance or escape, though Photo' CNS/Mtmr Forsyth Spirituality and work must converge. If we're going to become holy, it has to happen where we are. some jobs support and even promote transforming a little bit of ing conditions, more just policies with spiritual growth. They work worker, whether in the board- less carpets) but her attitude. She refers to a room as her 'masterthe world and moving it closer to or simply by giving Christian wit- well in certain settings but usual- room or the boiler room. piece' and compares her tasks to assembly noise of an quality in the assuring ly not practice of through word ness to colleagues The God's reign. plant or the bustle of an office or - simply doing good work - caught painting a picture. When she finI think spirituality and work and example. • Third, work can be viewed as a store. my attention. The need for quali- ishes, she steps back and smiles, must converge. In a sense, there's not really a choice. If we're going a means of transforming the largDisciplines which help to devel- ty products and services as well and says the room smiles back The Washington Post Sunday to become holy, it has to happen er world beyond. Teachers can op a spirituality of work must as the challenge for anyone to where we are. see their work as a way to lift peo- arise from the rhythms and expec- turn in the best possible work is Magazine described Smith as the 'hotel housekeeper [who] transThere are three ways to under- ple out of poverty and ignorance. tations of the workplace itself, just universal. formed a job of hard physical person's work can a how the he Medical researchers might imagLiturgy of determines stand as reciting the The worker who transform the world in Christ and ine their labours in a worldwide Hours arose from the work pat- will do good work regardless of labor into a state of grace. All men contribute to growth in holiness. struggle against deadly diseases. tern of a monk's day. temptations to do otherwise may and women are called to perfect • First, the occasion of work can These ways of recognising the Publisher, businessman and simply relish the feeling of being themselves through work,' be an opportunity to change our- spiritual growth potential in our writer Gregory Pierce has done satisfied with a job well done. But declared Pope John Paul II on the selves, to become a better person, work are not mutually exclusive. more than anyone Iknow to iden- that same worker may also see feast of St Joseph the Worker in often by practicing virtue in the Sometimes all three can be pre- tify the unique spiritual disci- his striving for quality as a way of 2002. Annie Smith and so many othmidst of difficult or dehumanis- sent at once; other times we must plines of work. His new book, drawing closer to God, who creing conditions. In other words, we settle for one approach. Whatev- Spirituality @ Work 10 Ways to ated all things in an original state ers who practice the discipline of 'good work' are living examples find God not in the lousy job itself er the case, spiritual growth in Balance Your Life on the Job, of perfection. and through work does not hap- describes such practices as living but in how we respond to it. Annie Smith is a hotel house- of our call to holiness in and • Second, there is spirituality in pen without specific practices or with imperfection, assuring qual- keeper in Washington, D.C. For 24 through the workplace. ity, deciding what is "enough* or years she has cleaned 15 rooms a the workplace itself. disciplines. ransforming t (McCord is director of the U.S. Silence, prayer, spiritual read- making the system work day. What sets her apart is not just We might do this through collecEach of these is remarkable for her work's quality (beds made bishops' Secretariat for Family, tive action or by small steps taken ing, fasting and other actions are personally to achieve better work- traditional disciplines associated the fact that it can be done by any tightly, gleaming bathroom, spot- Laity, Women and Youth.)
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Search for holiness
Vocations Week 2002
Finally,Isaw the Way God was calling me hold of me. At that moment of my
This was the beginning of a new Vocation life the Church did not mean any- chapter to my life. Little by little, story thing to me, so much so that I together with some brothers and
decided to leave it. This was cer- sisters, I began to discover the tainly not the best solution to the holiness of God and his Church. emptiness in my life. The forgiveness of my sins gave My name is Fr Freddy HernanMy mother, who had also left me a new understanding of life. dez Bolarlos, a diocesan mission- the Church, came back through For 12 years I remained in this ary priest of the diocese of Perth. the Neocatechumenal Way. She community where I experienced I was born in Costa Rica, a Cen- then, invited me to give it a try, but the richness of the Church in contral American country, a third as a teenager, I thought 'your crete. child of a Catholic family of four mother should not tell you what Through the Word of God, the children. These few lines are a to do.' Eucharist and the community I short sharing of my experience of Although I saw changes in my started to discover the possibility life. mother's life and the people that to forgive and to experience the To start with, it is a real miracle were with her in the community love of God in my history, and that today I am in the Church. For I was not interested in coming even of becoming a priest, though many years I took for granted the back to the Church. Problems at I was very afraid of this possibiliblessings of being part of the home and school increased and ty. Nonetheless, the Lord, through Catholic Church. the happiness that I was search- Catechists, encouraged me to take As a teenager Ihad experienced ing for was refusing to appear. the risk and to search for my vocathe pressure of contemporary In a desperate mood, and at the tion in life. society which proclaimed that my Insistence of friends and relatives, This is the reason why, after a happiness was to be earned by time of discernment, I made my own hands. That is the reason myself available to be a missionwhy I tried to search for what life ary priest anywhere in the world. could offer in order to be fulfiled Thus I was sent to Australia, out as human. In that way I can say of the 39 different destinations to that I was completely blinded by which I could have been sent. what the world was inviting me to During this time in Australia I go for. have been in the Diocesan Mis- Deacon Freddy Bolanos stands centre with fellow Neocatechumenal Way deaAt home my search for my own sionary Seminary Redemptoris cons late last year. All were ordained as priests in November. way of living provoked many Mater of Perth for eight years. ‘N, hen I look back it seems to been involved in. In conclusion I problems, because my way of life There I did my studies as well as me that it was only yesterday that can say that God has been very was neither perfect nor Christian. at Notre Dame University. Ibegan this journey to become an good to me. and I am sure he will This produced in myself a sense To learn the language, to pass adult Christian and priest, continue to help me in my strugof resentment against my parents. I went to the Catechesis of these the exams and essays, to live although I know this journey is gles as man, priest, and as a Chrismy history and God. Catechumenal communities. In under the providence of God have for life. tian. However, as a young man I the beginning I did not under- been concrete miracles given to On the other hand my experiI can also say that God, through thought I knew how my life stand much, but I recognised that me by Jesus Christ. At the end of ence at Our Lady of the Mission the Spirit of his Son Jesus Christ, should be. I still remember that God was calling me back to Him. my seminary studies and after Parish in Whitford has been of has been very faithful to me and for me to go to nightclubs and There was a strong announce- missionary experience in places great value. has given me Catechists, formahaving fun at any price was the ment of the love of God for me in such as Humpty Doo, Sydney. and My service as assistant priest tors, parishes, and communities motor of life. Nevertheless, and his Son Jesus Christ, who was Brisbane, I was ordained as a has been enriched by the support where I could grow in faith, trust, fortunately, a sense of emptiness coming to give life for free and the priest by Archbishop Hickey on of my parish priest, parishioners and understanding of my life and and dissatisfaction was getting happiness that I was longing for. November 9 last year. and different groups that I have God. By Father Freddy Bolands
Through the Word of God, the Eucharist and the community I started to discover the possibility to forgive...
A spirituality of work - it can be done Locating the Creative or Redemptive Dimensions of Your Work By Father Robert Kinast My nephew was a mobilephone company's top salesman three years in a row. Then he was promoted to sales manager and outperformed everyone else in the company. Recently he quit. He said, "My work became a job." He didn't mean the long hours, stiff competition and demanding clients. He meant that the company saw him only in terms of how much money he could bring to the bottom line. Business consultants describe this kind of situation as production taking precedence over people or the marketplace controlling the workplace. The work equation's human factor is diminished; people are treated as a means to an end, objects. It doesn't have to be this way. My brother-in-law works for a manufacturing company that keeps employees primary and maintains an attractive, healthy, efficient work environment. From a Christian perspective this fits with what Pope John Paul II described as a spirituality of work in Part V of his encyclical "On Human Work? A spirituality of work does not have to mean praying with coworkers each morning before heading to your cubicles or hanging inspirational posters around your work area. It means bringing a faith perspective to the work you do and its setting.
CNS Reuters
Stone mason Mohammed I3enabdelhoued cleans a sculpture on the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Spirituality in the workplace doesn't mean praying with co-workers. It's more seeing work through faith-filled eyes.
The work you perform probably falls into one of two categories: producing things (like mobile phones) or providing services (like selling, improving and repairing mobile phones). These categories correspond to two major themes in Christian life: creation and redemption. --Work that produces things con-
tinues creation. Such work develops the natural resources God gave us and shapes them for use in people's lives. Seeing your work as a continuation of God's creation puts the work in a spiritual context, even if no one else thinks of it that way. It can also help you recognise more clearly when your company's products
are harmful. --Work that provides a service to people corresponds to redemption's meaning. just as the grace of redemption enables us to overcome sin's effects and achieve the life we were destined for, so services help people do things they cannot do for or by themselves, and to achieve a more fulfiling life.
Providing day care or financial counselling is not the same as offering a person eternal salvation, but it participates in the process of helping each person advance toward that goal. Interpreting your work as a participation in creation or redemption leads naturally to respect for the setting where you do your work. This has two aspects: the workplace itself and the people you work with. My uncle, a mechanic, took as much care cleaning and storing his tools as repairing automobiles. He made It almost enjoyable to bring a car In for service. Respecting the workplace means keeping common areas clean, beautifying your work area (if possible and permissible), leaving equipment in good condition for others, conserving resources, avoiding waste. In one school where I taught, paper for the whole year was stacked in the copying room -- a clear reminder that there was only so much paper We all had to use it responsibly.Showing respect for the workplace also shows respect for co-workers. It signals that you want their work experience to be as pleasant and efficient as possible. Another way of doing this is to recognise when a co-worker prefers not to be interrupted. Respecting his or her time and space, and the environment you share, is important for workplace spirituality and for keeping work from becoming a job. (Father Kinast is director of the Centre for Theological Reflection In Largo. Florida.)
Search for holiness
Vocations Week 2002
St Alphonsus inspires a life of redemption among many
Pa!e 15
The not-so-famous five doing great things
The life and witness of St Alphonsus Liguori By Fr. Hugh Thomas C.Ss.R. Aged 26, Alphonsus Liguori was a brilliant young lawyer headed for the top. Then came the biggest opportunity of his life. He was to argue a case involving land worth millions of dollars. He did his work thoroughly; he compellingly proved his case. The opposing lawyer was pathetic. But the Judge had been bought, and Alphonsus suffered a humiliating defeat. He was devastated, locked himself in his room for days and refused to eat. Yet this failure was the way God set his life in a new direction, towards the priesthood. He left the law courts and did voluntary work in a hospital for people with sexually transmitted diseases. After spending some hours there each day he would go to a church where the 40 hours' devotion was going on and spend 2 or 3 hours before the Blessed Sacrament. In his distress and disillusionment over his failed legal career he found comfort only in Jesus Christ. An intense love for Jesus grew In his heart and a desire to give his life to Him as a priest. Alphonsus was from Naples. He had a warm passionate nature. His relationship to Jesus was personal and intimate. At a time when most other preachers presented God as distant and severe, he presented a God who had gone to tremendous lengths to draw us closely to Himself, a God who became a helpless baby, a suffering victim on a Cross, a 'prisoner', to use his own Image, in the tabernacle. Alphonsus founded a congregation of men to promote this message of a warm, loving God, a God of Mercy and 'plentiful redemption'. These men are the Redemptorists and they continue this work in Australia and throughout the world today, by means of a great variety of apostolates. Here in Perth, Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton first thought of becoming a priest when attending a Redemptorist Retreat House and praying in front of the icon most associated with the Redemptorist Congregation, that
Some of the women from Australia and New Zealand who joined the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in July last year.
St Alphonsus Liguori
The same novena draws thouof Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. The icon was given to the sands to the Redemptorist Congregation in the 19th centu- Church in Singapore and also in ry by Pope Pius IX with the order the Philippines. The theme of redemption to 'make her known.' The Famous Leper Priest Father means that the Sacrament of Damien, whose life has just been Reconciliation is also a strong covered in the spectacular film component of the Redemptorist Molokai, also discovered his identity. The North Perth own vocation as a priest during monastery run by the congregation offers the Sacrament six a Redemptorist mission. And the most famous priest in days a week and people come today's Church, Pope John Paul from all over Perth to take advanused to stop by an image of tage of this important focus in Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Redemptorist ministry. It is no accident that St Alphonsus is the each day on his way to work. Each weekend a novena to Our patron saint of moral theologians Lady of Perpetual Succour, a and confessors, those whose Redemptorist speciality, draws mission is to offer sensitive and hundreds of people from all over compassionate assistance and Perth to the North Perth insight to those who seek healRedemptorist Monastery. There, ing and reconciliation. Perhaps appropriately, Perth one can hear petitions read out from faithful from all walks of Redemptorist priest Fr Peter life asking Mary to intercede for Black C.Ss.R works and teaches their special, and often quite as a moral theologian at Notre pressing, needs- hope to meet Dame University in Fremantle. But Redemptorists really work the right spouse, a request for a husband to find work, the des- in many roles: As mission preachers who travperate prayer of a parent dealing with a child addicted to drugs, a el all over Australia reaching out plea for aid from Heaven to to those confused or alienated patch up a marriage facing form the Church; they are prestormy seas. But just as touching sent among the Aboriginal peoare the 'thank-you's' from those ple throughout the country, and who want others to know their among alcoholics and homeless, bringing compassion and care. prayers have been answered. Redemptorists work among migrant and low-income workers in poor parishes. They also work in monastery churches, parishes and retreat centres. They work among the laity and work as hospital chaplains, counsellors and psychologists. One ministry known to many Catholics will be their work as writers of the Sunday parish bulletins, of the Majellan magazine, also as teachers and as theologians. And Australian Redemptorists work as overseas missionaries in China, the Philippines and Singapore. These are just some of the Redemptorist works. They might be the sorts of job you could be doing one day in the not-too-distant future. In Perth the Redemptorists are based at 190 Vincent St. NorthPerth.For information on their work visit their website: The congregation says the Novena at the Redemptorist Monastery in North www.rc.net/redemptau/voca tions.htm Perth.
At the end of July of 2001, five reached a deeper appreciation of women from across Australia and what refuges experience from the New Zealand came to Sydney to first hand lived experience of one join the Sisters of St. Joseph of the or two of their members. In comSacred Heart novitiate. Two ing together and celebrating their women came from Western Aus- differences the women feel they tralia, two from New South Wales are generally more able to stand under others and appreciate culand one New Zealander. They are a unique group of tural differences. They bring an women as their backgrounds enormous amount of energy with range from teaching, carpentry, them wherever they go, with comimmigration work, working in a ments often being made about nursing home environment to their diversity and connectedmother and grandmother. Unique ness. A desire to be with and help the also in the age range, varying from 25 to 53, with no two of the poor in the spirit of their founder women coming from the same Mary MacKillop, was the commonality which first drew this culture. Their cultural backgrounds vary group of women together. At prefrom Dutch/Italian (Julia Della sent they are completing their first Franca), New Zealander/Maori year of novitiate with each about (Michelle Hughey), Chinese/ to go out and experience ministry Cambodian (Hun Do), El Sal- in Adelaide, Melbourne, the Kimvadorian (Dora Garcia), and Aus- berley, Queensland and New Zealand for 3 months. This will tralian (Liz Koziol). Each of the women would agree allow them a variety of ministry it's a wonderfully gifted and experiences in which professed graced time where each is able to sisters already work. Recently learn something of each of the Tracey Tohl has also joined the other cultures. They have also Novitiate.
Joy comes from serving others, not money Elsa Maria Cornejo is a young woman of El Salvadorian background, who was brought up in Australia, and became a postulant in this province in April 2001. At present she is in the novitiate of our Congregation in Guatemala. "At the moment I feel an overwhelming sense of joy to be able to work at the service of others.,"Elsa said. "Although I am constantly surrounded by situations that are hard to deal with, I feel God's presence amongst the poor is an inspiration to my life. "My attitude towards a materialistic lifestyle has changed Elsa Maria Cornejo incredibly. Now I realise that to see the changeIwish to see in the aged care facilities, visiting and world,Imust start by letting go of taking communion to the elderly everything that holds me back in and sick in their homes; coordilife - both mentally and material- nators of Government School Catly - and fight for a future, which echetics at Diocesan and parish will manifest the Kingdom of God. levels; counselling in schools and "It is a change of attitude which private practice; volunteer work brings about freedom, but only with the St Vincent de Paul Sociwhen that change involves culti- ety; teaching English to migrants vating the three theological and refugees; adult faith educavirtues - speaking the truth tion - seminars, courses and defending human rights and pro- retreats; active involvement in our overseas missions both in Austecting life." and in missionary countries, Sisters of St Joseph of the tralia spiritual formation of SJA AssociApparition (SJA) ates; senior sisters and ministry of The order was founded by St intercession. Emilie De Vialar who was born For further information contact: on 12 September 1797 and died Sr Angela Basile SJA, 62 Lefroy 24 August 1856. Road, Beaconsfield WA 6162 Ph: (08) 9335 1576, Fax:(08) 9366 Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition do a varied amount of 1133 Email: stjoapabaiinet.net.au work including pastoral assistants Pamphlets are available. School in parishes; pastoral work in schools, hospitals, hospice and visits can be arranged.
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Search for holiness
Vocations Week 2002
Laughter behind the grille llentemPlatic.n a
Gelorup Carmel The Carmelite vocation, lived apart from the mainstream, generates interest and questions. The Rule of Cannel is short and simple, biblically based and centred on Christ. Its spirit is that of the desert: silence, solitude, simplicity and unceasing prayer. Since the 13th Century it has inspired Carmelites to a way of life in which one is free to ponder the word of the Lord and to grow in union with him. St Teresa of Avila's vision and spirit created a new family in Cannel where in joyful love her followers could grow in friendship with Christ and be wholly dedicated to the mission of the Church. Since then the Teresian Carmelites have been contemplative at the heart of the Church. United with St Teresa in her lifetime St John of the Cross gives us with her the spiritual foundation of our family in the Church. Cannel has been blessed with many great spiritual guides and Saints including St Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity and St Edith Stein, who show the power of the Theresian spirit up to our own day. Bishop Myles McKeon invited a group of nuns from Bangkok Cannel to come to the Church in Bunbury to make a foundation. In 1977 they began their life in Dardanup. In 1984 their permanent Monastery was blessed by Bishop Quinn at Gelorup. The sisters on their part are deeply grateful to their friends here and to God who has brought them to live their life of prayer and love among the faithful o the Bunbury Diocese.
Carmelite sisters at Gelorup, just outside Bunbury, gather In prayer behind the grill which separates them for life from the weft
Carmelite Life The life of Carmel is a balanced Christian and human life, known for its joyful laughter as much as for its profound silence. St Teresa wanted her communities to be joyful because Christ is present in His family gathered together in love. There is time each day for the sisters to have recreation together. For St Teresa prayer is a loving and growing relationship with Christ. Priority is therefore given in the community timetable to personal silent prayer. Such prayer is central to the identity of a Carmelite, whose life
is witness to what prayer really means. To create a spirit of prayer throughout the day silence is generally observed. The community renews its life and vocation daily by celebrating the Eucharist. proclaiming the word and singing the praises of God. The praise and gratitude, the remembrance of the mysteries of salvation and the pre-taste of the heavenly meal celebrated in the Mass are extended through the day by the Divine Office. Each Carmelite community supports itself by its own work. The sisters in Gelorup make altar
breads and vestments to earn their living. The offices and duties that are necessary for life together are also shared, so that sisters work in the sacristy, kitchen, laundry and garden. The work of formation of new sisters is undertaken by a sister within the community. The sisters are enclosed and follow the directives of the Holy See regarding separation from the world. The purpose of enclosure is that the sisters might be free from distraction and anxiety so they can give themselves totally to the Lord. • Their way of life is a hidden one
Photo Peter Rosengren
of prayer and self-giving. It is above all a Gospel way of life. It demands a generous love, good psychological and physical health and mature Christian dedication. Those the Lord calls to Carmel know the blessings of His peace and the freedom he alone gives. The Carmelite Sisters at Gelorup. and Nedlands (see below), would be happy to tell those interested in their vocation about their life. The Sisters at Gelorup can be contacted at: Mother Prioress, Carmelite Monastery, Gelorup Rise, WA 8230.
The path of silence and solitude also brings joy Nedlands Cannel
Our Charism he Discalced Nuns of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt Cannel belong to a religious family, endowed with its own proper charism in order to fulfil a special mission in the Church. Around the year 1206, a group of hermits living on Mount Cannel, in the Holy Land, requested and received a Rule of life from St Albert, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. This Rule forms the basis for all Carmelite life. The Order became known as the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. By choosing Mary as mother and patroness, the Order places itself under her protection; and it takes the mystery of her life and of her union with Christ as its ideal model of consecration. With Mary, Carmelites strive to contemplate the mysteries of Christ and imitate Him. Another inspiration of the Order of Carmel is the Prophet Elijah and his followers who dwelt on Mount Carmel, living in awareness of the presence of God and giving witness to His greatness. The Order spread to Europe during the 13th Century, and in the 14th Century established the first Carmelite monasteries for women. Saint Teresa of Jesus Saint Teresa (born in 1515) entered the Carmelite Monastery
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of the Incarnation in Avila on November 2. 1535 when she was 20 years of age. She lived as a devout and loving member of that large community for 27 years. As her relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ grew, though with many vicissitudes on her part, she began to experience mystical graces in prayer and became convinced that God wanted her to found. in the Order, a monastery which would be small-
er in numbers and strictly enclosed, where it would be easier to focus attention on Prayer. On August 24, 1562, with the permission of the Holy See, St Teresa founded the Carmelite Monastery of St Joseph, in Avila. This was followed by other foundations of Nuns and Friars. As her spiritual life developed, the contemplative purpose of her foundations took on a more dynamic aspect. Her original intention of
Carmelite sisters in the Nedlands Carmel process to prayer.
gathering a group of people who would be 'good friends of Jesus', loving and adoring God, who would aid the Church by their prayers, expanded in a great love for the missionary work of bringing Christ to all. She knew that force of arms could never win souls for the Lord and that it was only through the quality of their lives of union with God, their fidelity to their vows, prayer and penance, that they could fulfil the call of Our Lord. Gifted with great wisdom, Teresa organised the life of her monasteries with a balance of prayer, work, recreation, rest and care for the welfare of the Sisters, in such a way that many generations of people have been able to live out their call with great happiness, in many different cultures and areas of the world. Saint Thresa died in 1582. Some years later the Nuns went to France and beyond. In 1885, the Carmel of Dulwich Hill in Sydney was founded from the Cannel of Angouleme in France. In 1935, seven Sisters from the Dulwich Hill Cannel came to Western Australia to found the Nedlands Cannel. They arrived on May 28, and the ceremony of enclosure was carried out on June 16 of that year. The Carmelite sisters in Nedlands can be contacted at: Carmelite Monastery, Adehna Rd, Dalkeith, WA 6009. Tel (08) 9386 3672.
Discerning a Carmelite Vocation
A
c Carmelite vocation (as any vocation in the hurch) is a gilt a response to the call of the Lord rather than simply one's own choice. In fact the call may be heard and persist even when one feels only reluctance to consider it In Carmel, we see that love is at the heart of both God's call and our response. Some indications of this call are: • The attraction to a life of silence and solitude as one's relationship with God grows and deepens through contemplative prayer. This desire for the solitary life in Carmel is balanced by the desire to live with a community of like minded women in an atmosphere of mutual support and encouragement. Community life is also the greatest challenge and means of a genuine self-giving life. • Also, the desire to make a difference in the world of our day and to help in the innumerable difficulties that face the human race today, can find fulfillment in a life dedicated to intercessory prayer; 'More things are wrought through prayer than this world dreams of.'
Search for holiness
Vocations are in need of an image revamp Faith can lead us to fulfillment of life through discerning our vocation and that "call within a call" By Richard McCord, CNS ly son will graduate from university next spring. He tells me he's already "stressed out" by thoughts of landing a job and beginning to make his way in the world. I offer what advice and encouragement I can, aware how confusing it can be for a young person today to gain a sense of direction In life. There are so many options. New fields of work are created all the time. Experts say a person should be prepared for several major career changes in a lifetime. Parents may be reluctant to steer children into certain life choices, thinking they have little knowledge of what is involved or no guarantee that things will work out. In the face of all this, it's no wonder some young people find ways to avoid making commitments to a career, to another person or to any significant choice. How might we view this situation through the eyes of faith? The concept of "vocation" is the place to begin. To believe in a God who calls people is to say. in effect. that God has important and special work
for you to do. The opening paragraphs of the Catechism of the Catholic Church use the word call" five times when speaking about the meaning of life in Christ. All of us could probe this belief more deeply. It is fundamental to faith. For some it might also shed valuable light on the process of getting launched after college graduation. No matter what our situation, it can make a major difference to begin viewing life in vocational terms and not just as a series of smart or dumb, short-term or long-term decisions we make. Where have all the vocations gone? This question is often asked by people wondering why there are fewer priests and sisters now than 40 years ago. These are important matters, and serious new efforts have begun to address the need for priestly and religious vocations. There is some evidence that the picture is improving. But beneath this crisis there exists a deeper, more extensive problem. We no longer talk or preach or teach as much as we once did about every person having a vocation, a call from God, to be and to do something with one's life. Do we lack a broad and imaginative understanding of being called personally by God and of connecting such a call with what we could do practically with our lives? Pope John Paul II has urged the Christian community to promote a new "vocational culture" in
Vocations Week 2002
Pa 'e 17
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Making a career choice can be a big leap forward, made easier with some help from God.
Photo CNS
young people and families. He tion to priesthood or religious life, Lord; there are different workings uses 'culture' in the broad sense some to the single life and most but the same God who produces all of them in everyone" (1 Cor of values, attitudes and behav- to marriage. It was a simple, straightforward 12:4-7). iours that combine to stir up in a Whatever our vocation,I think it person the freedom to actually message - and an inspiring and energising one at that! Why? is important not to regard it as stafeel called by God. Among the many components Because we felt God loved us tic - as a pigeon hole, so to speak of a 'culture of vocation' - grati- enough to have a plan for us that A vocation can lead one into the tude, openness to mystery, a sense required reaching beyond our- state of marriage or into conseof individual incompleteness - I selves and dreaming and possibly crated life, but an essential part of that commitment is the necessity found one particularly striking: even sacrificing. If a vocation involves our dream of continuing to grow. It is legitimate, in fact, to speak for our best selves, it is just as "Today people in the accurate to talk about vocation as of a "call within a call." Church appear to have God's dream for us. Ideally, the Mother Teresa of Calcutta understood her special call to two dreams should converge. a diminished The concept of vocation conveys serve the poor, while living her religious vows, in these terms. a deep sense that: vocational Ibelieve there is an urgent need - Our life has a meaning. consciousness." - The Lord calls us in the midst to renew our image of vocation. of this life to be his disciples and Doing so will benefit all types of specific vocations and could enerthe ability to dream and think big. witnesses. - And, saying yes is not a restric- gise a generation of young people More than 40 years ago when I was in Catholic elementary tion on freedom but helps free- searching for meaning and direction. school. I remember vividly how dom to mature. St. Paul wrote, "There are differour teachers promoted a culture of vocation, though they would ent kinds of spiritual gifts, but the (McCordis the director of the U.S. not have called it that. They left no same Spirit; there are different bishops' Secretariat for Family, doubt that some of us had a voca- forms of service but the same Laity Women and Youth.)
The spirit of Edmund Rice recast for a new age By Brian Coyne Recently,I had the pleasure of a long chat with Br Brian Clery about his vocation as a Christian Brother. Br Brian coordinates the spirituality program at Aquinas College. His enthusiasm for the work he undertakes today is palpable. He believes the well-rounded man has a balance in his life across the physical, the emotional, the intellectual and the spiritual dimensions of his being. The task of the school is to help the young man to integrate these four dimensions of personhood. The role of the Christian Brothers has changed enormously in the 50 years since Brian Clery "joined up" at the age of 14. He says, "if you look back over the history of the Church you see that the various religious orders fluctuate. They seem to rise up at certain times to answer a particular need." While he believes he is at the end of an era he is an optimist regarding the future. "There are very few religious working in Catholic schools today. In an earlier phase of our history, when discrimination against Catholics was a very real phenomenon, tens of thousands of men and women answered the 'call'. "They established an education system that did lift my generation - and more so the generations of
my parents and grandparents - so that we were given a decent chance competing for the jobs, wealth and higher education that today we largely take for granted." As the last Christian Brother working at Aquinas, Brian Clery has become an icon, or symbol, of a whole complex set of values. He sees three areas where the spirit of the Edmund Rice is being recast for a new age. The first is the Edmund Rice ethos which new generations of lay teachers are discovering in the Christian Brothers schools. "Edmund started out his life as a married man and was very comfortably off. The circle seems to have turned right around. We were following the spirit of Edmund in raising the disadvantaged up through education and, In many ways, that was what was achieved in Australia. Catholics today are not at the disadvantage they once were. We are now handing the baton to new generations who face entirely different challenges to the ones that were faced in the past." The second area where he sees a new spirit emerging is in the many areas of voluntary service. "Edmund's great gift to the world was a spirit of service - particularly to the underprivileged. Aquinas, and indeed all the schools in the Edmund Rice Family around the world today, are instituting structured programs of community service as an essen-
tial part of the educational cur- number of inquiries from men in the 25-35 year age group in the riculum." The third area is perhaps a sur- last few years.! think it has always prise. Over recent years and for been apparent that married life is the first time in a number of not for everyone just as being a decades there have been a grow- priest or a brother has not been ing number of inquiries from men for everyone. The climate seems who have been out and about in to be changing. "In the Brothers, men do not the world for a while but who are now considering a religious voca- actually have to take their final tion. Br Tony Hackett, the col- vows for nine years so there is league of Br Clery's who is plenty of scope for a long period responsible for vocations, told me, of discernment without making a "Yes, we have had a rise in the final commitment."
For further enquiries about the Edmund Rice Community Service Program at Aquinas contact Mr John Richards at Aquinas on 9450 5222. For further information about the Edmund Rice Volunteers Program contact Br Kevin Ryan at the Holy Spirit Province Centre on 9365 2800 and for help in discerning a Vocation to the Brothers please feel free to speak to Br Tony Hackett at the Vocations Centre on 9450 5912.
Brother Brian Clery talks to students at Aquinas College, where he is Director of Spirituality.
Photo Brian Coyne
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Search for holiness
Vocations Week 2002
Small prayer turned my life around Vocation story By Gez Bilston Hi my name's Gez, I'm 19 years old and I'm originally from Melbourne. It's just amazing to be able to share with you how the Lord has worked in my life and the joy that comes from knowing Jesus and growing more and more in love with him. I grew up in a Catholic family. My parents took us to Mass every Sunday but that was pretty much the extent of it - we never talked about who God was, why we did go to Mass, or what sort of relevance God had in our lives. So I really grew up with this kind of distant image of God - the classic long white beard, sitting up in the clouds.I remember getting to primary school and being shocked because I always thought God's name was Peter cause at Mass everyone said, "Thanks Peter God" - that wasn't actually right! OnceI moved into high school I quickly realised how much pressure there was to "fit in". There were so many groups - different people hung out with each other because they wore these types of clothes, or listened to this type of music, or did these things on the weekend. I realised that you had to do "cool stuff" to be popular and make friends. So I started to perform. I started to act in ways I thought people wanted and expected me to. I soon realised that Mass wasn't a cool thing to do - so I really said no to God at that point in my life. By the timeI got to year 10! was pretty mixed up. I wasn't at all happy. I had become this person I thought people wanted me to be - I did things I thought they wanted me to - not because I wanted to, or necessarily felt comfortable with, but just because that was what people expected of me. I started to really question life, what its purpose was. At about this time we got a letter saying we would be having the "Disciples Youth Mission Team" running an upcoming reflection day. My friends and I all had a bit of a
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98.5 SONSHINE FM's RADIOTHON Friday August 16 to Sunday
August 18
Jez Bilston (left) and her fellow DYMT colleagues after a big day on mission
laugh about how dodge we thought it would be and tried to work out ways we could pull off a sicky or get out of it some other way. Thankfully. I did end up going on the day and it turned out to be quite different from what I expected. I met a young group of people excited about their faith which was somethingI had never encountered before. They had self confidence, a purpose, they loved each other and they spoke about a relationship I never had experienced, one with Jesus Christ. I left the day really struck by the way they acted and what they had to share - they had something I desired for my own life. I kept in contact with the Disciples Youth Mission Team and started going on Anchor weekends, fun days and anything else the team was running. Ibegan to learn of God's love for me and his desire to be in a close relationship with me. The problem was I was still hanging around with the same people and still getting involved in the same
things - I was still "performing" personally and for the wrong rather than just being me. things I have done. Because I was in contact with That night there was a committhe team I was invited to a week ment ceremony, a chance to make long summer camp. When I got a commitment to Jesus. I went up there I was blown away! There and lit a candle and quite simply was over a hundred people there said "Jesus I commit this day and and they all had this joy and peace the rest of my life to you". That in their lives, they loved each prayer really stuck with me, after other, they wanted to know me for I left the camp and right up until whoIwas not what Idid, and they today I still say it everyday. loved the Lord. Since then my life has really As the week went on I learnt so turned around. I have so much much - I had so many questions joy and so many beautiful friends answered.Isat down with a friend who just want to get to know me one afternoon and explained to for who I am. Having the opporhim my situation - that I knew tunity to serve on the Disciples God loved me and wanted to have Youth Mission Team is just amaza relationship with me but I was ing. Being able to share with other still falling into peer pressure. He young people how much God said. "You know you can leave this loves them and how much joy week and go on with your life like there is in knowing our Lord is a It is. but what you have to realise privilege! is that Jesus died for you". I thank God for bringing me to For the first time in my life I Perth in 2002 and the opportuniheard that. I had heard it many ty not only to evangelise to young times before through my ears but people but to grow in my own for the very first time I heard it in faith journey and to continue to my heart - I understood it ... that fall more in love with Christ. Jesus died for all of humanity and Drs website: www.disciplesofall of our sins, but he died for me jesus.org
98.5 Sonshine FM's annual on-air party Radiothon takes place in four week's time three days of mayhem as celebrities, TV personalities and pales drop by the Radiothon phone centre to eat merrily, talk freely and raise funds for 98.5 Sonshine FM. Radiothon is Sonshine FM's premier fundraising event, a weekend where hundreds of listeners give to support the stations' on-going work, broadcasting a positive message to thousands of people across Perth and beyond. Sonshine FM's General Manager Barry Grosser says, "As a community radio station Sonshine FM relies solely on donations and business subscriptions from listeners, members of the community and business sponsorship. This just covers our daily running costs." "Radiothon funds help us continue the work of the Sonshine Careline, our off-air telephone counselling service which has received over 55,000 calls in its fourteen year history. Funds also help us upgrade our on-air equipment and other capital works," says Barry. This year's Radiothon target is $100,000. Key Radiothon events include: • Appearances from Channel 2, 7, 9 and Network 10 personalities live from the Radiothon phone centre. • Meet the 98.5 Sonshine FM personalities and their guests via the station tours. Saturday and Sunday, Aug 17-18, l0asn-4pm. • Live music from Scope Music artists The Jive Express, Kirste.
St Therese, family and books led me to my calling Vocation story By Sr Romanus Dee Hosea House of Prayer Dardanup.
I attribute my religious calling to a few things mainly: - A loving prayerful family. - Good Christian books - including the lives of the saints - were available at home andIread them from a very early age. - A deep love for my Patron Saint, Therese of Lisieux. Idid not attend a Convent school and only saw Nuns a few times when they visited our school. I
I always had a yearning to be a nun, which must have been a calling from the Holy Spirit within. always had a yearning lobe a nun, which must have been a calling from the Holy Spirit within. I want to say I have never had regrets for my decision after 54 years. Initially,Ithought it was all about saving my own soul. AsImatured in the religious life, of course I came to realise that I
do this with and through others. My desire is still to bring others to know and appreciate the God who loves them unconditionally. For a lot of years, as a nursing sister, opportunities for this presented themselves daily. Now as I minister in a prayer house, ills as the Irish song puts it 'adding lustre to the scene'. I began my religious journey in the St. John of God congregation sharing in the lives and following In the steps of hundreds of dedicated women since 1871. Especially while we were young, community life was the strength which sustained us as we shared the joys and the sorrows of the journey. Our sisters made a foundation in Pakistan 20 years ago; native women have now joined our ranks and have recourse to University education as they train for their various ministries. I believe they will carry our St John of God Spirit into the future. In many of our hospitals throughout Australia Ihave tended the sick and made many friends and hopefully departing this life I will leave behind me "Footprints on the sands of time". Ibelieve that religious life today Is as relevant as it ever was.
Sr Romanus Dee, Fr Kelly and Noela Horsley outside the prayer house, where she now works.
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AUGUST 9 Mass at John XXIII College - Bishop Sproxton School Assembly, Bayswater - Bishop Sproxton 9-16 Pastoral visit to Kalgoorlie/Kambalda region, including Confirmation (St Joseph's 10 August. St Mary's 11 August) 10 Mass at blessing of presbytery, Lockridge - Bishop Sproxton 11 Confirmation. Fremantle - Bishop Sproxton Confirmation, Scarborough - Bishop Quinn 13 Meeting of Heads of Churches - Bishop Sproxton 14 WACRI Meeting - Bishop Sproxton 16 Blessing and opening of extensions, Canning Vale Primary School - Bishop Sproxton 17/18 Confirmation, Yangebup - Mgr Thomas McDonald 18 Mass, Procession and Benediction for Feast of the Assumption. Mundaring - Bishop Sproxton 20 Visit Confirmation candidates. Bassendean - Bishop Sproxton Meeting with Foundations Catholic Ministry - Bishop Sproxton 21 Confirmation, Cloverdale - Archbishop Hickey
Archdiocesan Panorama DISCERNMENT RETREAT A retreat for young adults who are exploring their future. An opportunity to learn more about married. priestly and religious life as vocational options, with time for Reconciliation and Eucharistic adoration. Friday. August 16, 8pm until Sunday. August 18, 2pm. at St Joseph's, Safety Bay. Information: Frank Colangelo - Ph: 0414 956 239 or Tony Hackett. Ph: 9450 5912 DAY OF PRAYER Holy Spirit of Freedom invites all to a day of prayer to be held in the hall behind Sacred Heart Church, Mary Street. in Highgate on Saturday August 17. We start with quiet prayer in the Church at 9am. Please bring something for a shared lunch. Morning and afternoon tea will be provided and the day will conclude about 5pm. Details: Liz Hare 9228 1800. FEAST OF OUR LADY MARIA SANTISSIMA DEL TIN DARI The celebrations will begin with a Triduum, which will be preached by Father Carlo Bertolini OME, from Thursday Sept 5 to Sunday Sept 7 in the Basilica Saint Patrick Fremantle at 7.45pm. The concelebrated Solemn Mass will be held on Sunday. September 8 at 9.45am. Principal celebrant: Fr Carlo Bertolini. The procession through Fremantle will leave the Basilica at 2pm. MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT GROUP Northern Area Mental Health Support Group Carer's meeting is held on Monday August 12, 7.30pm at Our Lady of Lourdes parish. Marda Way. Nollamara. Details: Pat Mahoney 9275 2809. PRAYER SERVICE Prayer Service against sickness and evil is held on Sunday August 11, 2.30-4.30pm. at St Mary's Pro Cathedral, Victoria Avenue, Perth. Enquiries: Fr John 9361 2000. JOHN XXIII TALKS Relationships: 'Getting the love you've always wanted. Presenter: Ean James (Clinical Psychologist) 7.30-9.30pm S5 Tuesday August 13. 'Inner Peace, Inner Freedom'. (Ignatian spiritualityTalk 1). Presenter: Murray Graham (Inigo director) Saturday August 17, 11am-1pm. Cost: Donation. Multipurpose Room, John XXIII College, Mt Claremont. FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION Sung Latin Mass and Benediction. Thursday August 15; Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament to take place after the 1.10pm Low Mass till the evening Sung Mass at 6.30. The Feast of the A ssumption is a Holy Day of Obligation. St John's Pro Cathedral, Victoria Ave, Perth. All Welcome. Inquiries: Fr Michael Rowe Ph: 9444 9604 ISSUES FACING CATHOLICS LIVING IN TODAY'S SOCIETY Monday Sept 9, Therese Temby - Director of Catholic Education - Catholic Schools Meeting the Challenges of Today's Society. Tuesday Sept 10: Archbishop Barry J Hickey - The Family. Wednesday Sept 11: Fr Walter Black - Director, LJ Goody bioethics Centre - Moral Issues.Thursday Sept 12: Fr Paul Baczynski - Director, Crossroads Community -Youth. Friday Sept 13: Gerry O'Neil - director of Spirituality, Aquinas College - Building Parish Community.Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided. Friday night will end with a supper, please bring a plate. Enquiries: Fr Geoff Beyer Ph: 9330 3727 HOW DO I KNOW THERE IS A GOD? St Gabriel Communications invites Perth Catholics to learn how to present the mind of the Church to your children and friends. Switch on to "The Layman's Hour" with Raymond and Theresa de Souza (Radio Fremantle 107.9 FM on Sun August 11 at 7.30pm) and find out how to explain the existence of God. If you have a question, doubt or objection, ring 9494 2100 to join.
CHILDREN'S CATECHISM ON AIR! How well do your children - and you. too - know the Bible and the Catholic Catechism? Parents, children in Catholic schools and RE teachers are c ordially invited to put their knowledge to the test. Radio Fremantle (107.9 FM every Sunday at 7.30pm after the family Rosary). ONE FAITH - MANY CULTURES The Knights of the Southern Cross (Cathedral branch) invite you to attend a colourful performance by the various cultural communities. Music, dance and instruments in a display of unity in variety. Saturday. Sept 21, at 1.30pm in Mercedes College. A fund-raising initiative by the Cathedral Knights to establish a 'Catholic Answers' office. Ring 9202 1300 to be included. PRAYER VIGIL A peaceful prayer vigil with Rosaries and hymns is made outside the abortion clinic at 2 Cleaver Tce, Rivervale on Sat August 17 from 11am to 12 noon. Please join us. Inquiries Colin 9409 4543. HEALING MASS A Healing Mass in honour of St Peregrine, patron of cancer sufferers and helper for all in need will be held at the Church of SS John and Paul, Pinetree Gully Rd (off South St) Willetton, on Thursday August 15. at 7pm. Information: Noreen Monaghan 9332 8292. MEMORABILIA FOR ST DENIS, TUART HILL In preparation for a special remembrance of the last 50 years to be held on the weekend of October 5/6. the Parish is looking for any memorabilia, photos, news articles or stories from previous parishioners. Material can be sent to: 'Parish History', Cl- Presbytery, 60 Osborne St. Joondanna WA 6060, or contact Barbara 9328 8113 (work). Margaret 9444 3889 (home), Fr Paul's pager 9480 5960. Contributions need to be in by August 31. OUR LADY'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS AT ST MARY'S CATHEDRAL Saturday September 7 (1st Saturday). Program: 8am Eucharistic Adoration, praying especially for our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. 9.45am Meditative Rosary led by Fr Timothy Deeter. 10.30am Holy Mass (Rosary bouquet to be taken up with Offertory gifts). DAY WITH MARY AT ST CATHERINE'S CHURCH GINGIN Sat August 17. Mary's Assumption is a pious myth. True or false? Find out! Coaches depart St Mary's Cathedral Victoria Square for Gingin at 9am. S14 return. (Contact Francis Williams 9459 3873 or 0404 893 877). Please BYO. Inquiries: Franciscans of the Immaculate 9574 5204. SOLEMN VESPERS - ST MARY'S CATHEDRAL Solemn Vespers will be sung by the Cathedral Choir to celebrate the Dedication of St Mary's Cathedral on Sun 11 August at 4.30pm, preceding the 5pm Mass. All are welcome. EUCHARISTIC REPARATION There will be a Holy Hour on Sunday August 11 at 3pm at Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Collick St, Hilton, for the parishioners and the World Apostolate of Fatima. Fr J. Watt will officiate. CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY Cross Roads Community conducts on the first Monday of the month a Healing Mass at 7pm at East Fremantle Church. On the second Monday of the month, there is a Healing Mass at 10am at Spearwood Church. On the third Monday of the month, there is a healing Mass at 7pm at lnnaloo Church. At Cross Roads Community, there is a Support Group for Families & Friends of substance abusers on Wednesday, 7-8.30pm and on Friday. 2-3.30pm Support and Growth Group for substance Abusers. Each Friday there is Holy Mass at 7.30pm followed by fraternity, prayer and guest speakers on occasion. All are warmly welcome. Queries:Cross Roads Community on 9319 8344, www.crossroadscommunity.com.au
Page 19
e Last Word
Jesus, lover of my soul... Maybe I started under the bed -
Vocation Ican't really remember - but withstory in a few minutes I was lying on
my bedroom floor reading The Hero of Molokai. I read on and on and simply What a privilege! What a joy to loved whatIwas reading the story be invited to be a follower, friend, of Fr Damien de Veuster, a priest disciple and lover of Jesus as a from Belgium who volunteered to religious! go as a missionary to the HawaiTo have God set his heart upon ian Islands where he worked with me and name me as his 'very and eventually gave his life for own'! Yes a unique privilege and people who were suffering with wonderful joy, a joy that deepens the dreaded illness called leprosy. with each and every day of my livIso well recall thinking to myself ing. at the timeIwas reading this story: Across the years I have felt and 'Wow, one day I would love to be known myself to be a part of like Fr Damien.I would love to be God's precious dream, and now, someone who makes a difference he is an integral part of mine. to the lives and hearts of God's He is my life, my love, the 'love' people!" (I guess my bedroom got of my heart!I would like to invite cleaned up). you into my story, into the journey of my vocation as a religious sis"Across the years I ter. This sacred and exciting journey have felt and known has unfolded over 30 years and as I look back over the shoulder myself to be a part of of my heart, I cannot help but marvel at and applaud God's God's precious dream, beautiful, tender and love-filled and now, he is an inteways. My story began when I was 13 gral part of mine." and my dad had invited a SaleScene Two: Two years later, the sian priest for dinner with our family. Shortly after arriving, this night before Ash Wednesday, our priest looked in my direction and, family of eight was gathered with a big smile, said: "Sue,Ihave around the table enjoying our a surprise for you!" evening meal. "For me?" I replied as he gave My mum was in the kitchen me a book called The Hero of churning out piles of yummy panMolokai. I leafed through a few cakes as fast as she could go and pages that night before falling we were eating them equally as asleep but within a day or two fast as we could go! this book found its way, as did In the midst of chipping golden many other bits and pieces, under syrup, lemon juice, sugar, sticky my bed - where it remained fingers, and lots of "Mmmmmunopened for the next six months. mms", my dad took an alarm Then, one Saturday morning, I clock out of his pocket and placed was summoned by my mum. it in the middle of the table. I heard words, which most kids "Guess whatIam going to do for fear "Your room is an utter dis- Lent?" he asked. grace! Go and clean it up and There was a moment of silence don't come out until it is finished." as we looked at the clock, then at By Sister Susan Shannon
Dad and then back at the clock "I'm going to go to Mass each morning." He proudly announced. We cheered him on: "That's great, Dad! Good on you!" We were unprepared for his next line: "Who wants to come with me?" I took a big bite of the pancake In front of me. To go to Mass each morning for the whole of Lent was the last thing I wanted to do. Silence reigned. And when I slowly looked up, there was my mum standing behind my Dad mouthing the words to me: "Go with him." I wanted to climb under the table but with a huge effort, I smiled at Dad, took a big breath and said, "I 'd love to come with you, Dad!" Little did I know that going to daily Eucharist was to become so very special for me and a treasured lifetime practice. It was during this time of daily Mass that I met the Jesus Fr Damien loved. A fire was kindled within my heart and, from this time, I began to grow in my deep and personal love union with Jesus. After completing Year 12,I went on to work in the Taxation Office as a law clerk I was putting out my wings and really enjoying myself - lots of friends, fun times, dances, parties, a little travelling ... yes, life was good. However, within my heart, there was something of restlessness. I was feeling an inner calling to gift myself, my life, my heart and my love to Jesus. Yet at the same time, I experienced fear and hesitation. I just kept putting things on hold and continued on with my life. It was while I was at Mass one Sunday that Jesus left me in no doubt as to what he wanted me to do. During his homily, the priest was telling the story of a statue, which had been badly damaged
Sister Susan Shannon of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart during World War II. It was a statue of Jesus and the arms had been blown off as bombs were dropped. Some soldiers had offered to have the statue fixed when the war was over but the priest had another idea. He simply wrote out a sign "I have no hands now but yours" and hung it around Jesus" neck"
Daughters ot Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as they live a spirituality of the heart in union with Mary and try to echo with their lives the very heartbeat of Jesus' heart - his love, compassion and tenderness. My vocation story had been and continues to be a love story, a love journey! It is still unfolding and God continues to surprise me in so many ways. My life within the Church has "It was a precious love been adventurous, exciting and experience and I decid- joy filled. Sure, there have been and downs, but I have coned to respond to Jesus' ups stantly experienced the fidelity, invitation and become a intimacy and joy of God's enduring love along the way. religious sister." Within my heart,I feel a wealth of gratitude for the gift of the preAsIsat and listened to this story cious vocation God has entrusted I could hear Jesus speaking with me with! love to me: "I have no hands now As for the future, it is in the Susan but yours; no arms, feet, hands and heart of God, but! have lips, heart but yours. confidence enough in his uncon"Will you gift yourself to me in ditional love to sign a blank love and be mine?" It was a pre- cheque and trustiully and joyfulcious love experience andIdecid- ly live the rest of my life with and ed to respond to Jesus' invitation for him and his people! You see I and become a religious sister. I believe that the best is yet to chose the Congregation of the come!
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Archbishop Hickey
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