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theca thr,iicr,cord
It's official: WA's Catholics give more than $1m
Bayswater celebration is Bishop's 'homecoming'
ASH SEASON: Archbishop Hickey's Lenten pastoral Page 8 letter
• $2
Calling all women
• By Anthony Barich
Hundreds of women from around Western Australia and Perth are expected to attend a women's forum in Perth on March 14 to express their concern about abortion and its impact on women. Women's Forum Australia will run the forum for women to "stand together and declare that we deserve better than abortion" at the University of WA's Octagon Theatre, and will feature speakers from across the political spectrum including Kate Doust, MLC (ALP), Barbara Scott, MLC (Liberals) and Katie Hodson-Thomas,
• By Anthony Barich
Continued on Page 2
Perth, Western Austri,
Thousands have attended gatherings in east, now it's happening in WA - and it's drawing support from across the political spectrum
Agency reveals donations from WA to Caritas smashed the one million dollar barrier last year
Perth Catholics' donations to Caritas Australia have passed the $1 million mark for the first time during the 2005-06 financial year. Apart from the 2004-05 year when the Asian tsunami hit, it is the first time Perth has reached that figure Parents grieve for their and with interest, totalchild following the 2004 ing $1.6m. tsunami. Perth Archdiocesan Caritas director Ann Fairhead attributes this to the awareness of international Catholic aid generated by the devastating 2004 Boxing Day Asian tsunami. Prior to the Asian tsunami, which took at least 150,000 lives in coastal areas from Somalia to Sumatra and left millions more destitute, Perth had never raised $1m. But a full year after the disaster, it has been
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2007
Continued on page 7
Claremont moves Mass Parish offers new Mass times to attract workers, shoppers
Good to be home: Bishop Donald Sproxton was back on familiar turf at Bayswater
parish last Sunday for its Golden Jubilee celebrations. He is pictured here on the very steps where he was photographed in 1960 with his First Holy Communion class. PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH STORY - Page 5
The VERONA Code
THE FUTURE? Perth priest reports on Benedict's intriguing message to Italian Church VISTA 2 & 3II+
St Thomas the Apostle Parish in Claremont is trialling new daily Mass times in an experiment to see whether more of those living and working in the area come to a midday rather than an early-morning Mass. Continued on page 4
CONSECRATED: The special love of the consecrated person
Page 13
•
a
IN
February 152007, The Record
Page 2
India bishop knows loss Donations pass $1.m Continued from Page 1
Caritas India's chairman will visit WA as Caritas' Lenten visitor this month. Bishop Peter Remigius lost four close family members in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. He knows the personal devastation that millions of people throughout Asia and the Indian Ocean experienced when they lost family members to the freak natural event. From Thursday, February 22 to Tuesday, February 27 Bishop Remigius, who is also chairman of Caritas India, will give a series of talks as a guest of Caritas Australia, speaking from the personal experiences that have touched his life. The Bishop, from the diocese of Kumbakonam in the south of India, was formerly the director of Caritas India and chairman of the Asia Partnership for Human Development. He believes in a comprehensive and strategic approach to international development which is firmly grounded in Catholic social teaching, and a strong collaborative relationship with the people of his diocese in India. Bishop Remigius has been instrumental in shifting the capacity-building objectives of development partners regionally and locally in India and throughout Asia from a charity model to a develop-
Inspired: Bishop Remegius will visit WA schools and centres later this month.
ment model. He also contributed to changing the structures of the local Church to promote involvement of the laity and increased gender participation. He is also actively involved in "animation" for participatory development - helping communities to help themselves become self-
Le_
The Record The Parish. The Nation. The World.
EDITOR Peter Rosengren Letters to: cathrec@iinet.net.au JOURNALISTS Mark Reidy reidyrec@iinet.net.au Sylvia Defendi (Parish/State) sdefendi@iinet.net.au Anthony Barich (Parish/State) anthonybarich@hotmaiLcom Paul Gray (National) cathrec@iinetnet.au Bronwyn Clune (International) clunerec@iinetnet.au OFFICE MANAGERS inc. sales/subscriptions
sustaining - and programs that promote environmental management. These remain major priorities of the Caritas Internationalis network. Bishop Peter Remigius' speaking engagements are listed in the next column.
PRODUCTION Terence Boylen production@therecord.com.au
A LIFE OF PRAYER
The Record is a weekly publication distributed throughout the parishes of the dioceses
• •.• .••
•
February 22, 9.30am: Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate (RSVP 9422 7925 or 0419 931 760 by February 20).
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... are you called to the Benedictine life of divine praise and eucharistic prayer for the Church?
TYBURN NUNS
Rev Mother Cyril, OSB, Tyburn Priory, 325 Garfield Road, Riverstone, NSW 2765 www.tyburnconvent.org.uk
February 22, 7pm: Lynwood/Langford parish centre, 20 Prindiville Way, Langford(RSVP94227925 or 0419931760by February 20). February 23: Visiting Geraldton diocese primary schools - St John's Rangeway, St Francis Xavier's Geraldton and St Lawrence' Bluff Point; plus Nagle College.
Contact the:
-
February 23, 7.30pm: Geraldton Catholic Centre. Further information on 9964 2716. February 24, 6pm: Mass, St Peter the Apostle, Bedford. February 25, 10am: Mass, Our Lady of the Rosary, Doubleview.
VISITING SYDNEY
February 27, 7pm: "Conversations on Tap", Fremantle Hotel, Cnr Cliff & High Sts. RSVP 9422 7925 or 0419 931 760 by February 23.
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Couples Corner Hints for a Happy Marriage with Derek Boylen Husbands need to accept influence Marriage researcher Dr John Gottman suggests that men need to accept influence from their wives. Women are usually much better at this as they are often well practiced at accepting influence from their husbands. However, if a marriage is to be a true partnership then men need to listen and allow themselves to be influenced by the needs of their wives. Catholic Marriage Education Services
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on February 10, 2005 at Leeuwin Estate, which raised $1.1m, which the State Government subsequently matched, bringing the total from that concert to $2.2m. Even without the concert, Perth Catholics donated $1.7m, bringing the grand total to $3.9m more than Melbourne ($3.5m) and Sydney ($3.1m). Brisbane was also outstanding, raising $1.8m without a concert. These contributed to Caritas Australia's total revenue for 2004-05 reaching $40,620,794. Western Australians' contribution to this through the tsunami benefit fund was $3,950,145 from Perth, Broome $66,310, Bunbury $82,519 and Geraldton $136,442. Building on this success, Archbishop Barry Hickey will Australia's launch Caritas Project Compassion for parishes and schools at St Joachim's Pro-Cathedral in Victoria Park on February 18 (this Sunday) at Ilam. Caritas is the official aid and development agency of the Catholic Church in Australia. "While the vision and stories are full of great hope, we try to make ourselves 'redundant' in a sense by making the communities we help self-reliant and selfsustaining, based on what they need, not what we think they need," Mrs Fairhead said.
Bishop Peter Remigius' Engagements:
Linda Jolliffe recaccounts@iinet.net.au Cathy Baguley administration@therecord.com.au
revealed that Perth Catholics raised $1.6m for Caritas Australia in the 2005-06 financial year. "It awakened in Catholics a sense that their Church has an agency out there, on the ground, helping people in need overseas," Mrs Fairhead said. Due to the increased interest, Caritas Australia has been forced to respond appropriately to the huge expectation that was generated by the tsunami. Staff numbers have increased dramatically at Caritas Australia's national office in Sydney in the areas of education, programs, promotion and administration. In the months after the tsunami, Caritas Australia for the first time joined "the big six" international aid organisations helping the people affected by the disaster. Caritas Australia was being mentioned in the same breath in secular newspapers as Red Cross, World Vision, Care Australia, Save the Children and Community Aid Abroad. "Caritas Australia is not the same organisation as it was before the tsunami," Mrs Fairhead said. "It is more well known and hugely supported." A fter the tsunami hit on December 26, 2004, British pop superstar Sting put on a concert
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Page 3
February 152007, The Record
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Page 4
The virus protection sacrament Once deleted, all traces of sins are removed Sydney-based freelancer discovers a user-friendly way of explaining to children a sacrament central to our faith as Catholics • By Joseph Wakim
'HOW does the priest make your sins go away?" It was chilling when my child asked this question before her first holy reconciliation. I had asked that exact question at her age when this sacrament was called confession and performed in private partitions rather than public pews. Today's generation has an apt metaphor to explain the magical moment performed by the priest. "What do you do if you let in a nasty virus that could destroy your computer?" I answered her question with a question. "I would call someone for help," she said. It is ironic that the central processing unit of a computer was
developed to imitate some human processes, and now I was asking my child to imitate a computer. Indeed, if the mistake is succumbing to a virus after opening up risky attachments, back-biting in chatrooms or visiting dubious sites, then we need an intermediary between us and the Creator. The priest can delete the sinful virus that is crippling our conscience and slowing down our performance speed. He holds a user name and password to absolve the sins and prescribes a commensurate penance. All traces are removed, even from the recycle bin. A great weight is removed when he gives us a visual and audio sign that the sins have been deleted. The priest then downloads the latest anti-virus software into our conscience through his counselling, and provides a short-cut icon on our mental desktop to prevent future infections and temptations. He provides us with the freedom of choice, but leaves it up to us to double-click the sacred icon regularly for preventative maintenance,
Parish experiments with midday Mass to attract workers, shoppers Continued from page 1
New Parish Priest Fr Charles Waddell announced the six-month trial this week. He said that early morning masses are already well-catered for by neighbouring parishes. The new daily Mass time for the parish from Monday to Friday will be 12.35pm; the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available before Mass from 12.00 noon each day. He said one advantage is that the Mass will be celebrated at a time not offered by neighbouring parishes, providing more opportunities for those who may
be unable to attend earlier Masses. He is hoping it will also provide an opportunity for teachers, parents, retired persons, shoppers and workers of Claremont to participate in Parish Eucharist. The midday time slot will also enable people to gather afterwards and share a 'brown bag lunch' in the garden, with coffee and tea available. People would also be welcome to socialise afterwards in activities such as a social game of cards or a game of scrabble in the Parish meeting room. The parish can be contacted on 9384 0598.
1R141 THEME PLIWEK Presents 100 years of
The Playboy Of The Western World By JM Synge Directed by Jim Motherway
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such as prayers. The real challenge lies in how to intervene before the sin is committed. How do we save our souls rather than save the sins? The answer lies in my favourite function key, usually the first option under the Edit dropdown menu: Undo or Ctrl + Z. Thus, we can erase all traces of the sins before they leave our mouths and fingertips, before they are saved or printed, especially if they are lies or spite. This "undo" function is our conscience that screens harmful actions and stops them materialising. It reduces the sin to something menial rather than mortal. Of course, the conscience and soul do not operate as simply as a computer, otherwise we would have much shorter life spans. But for a child who is trying to understand this mysterious sacrament, this human invention is my modern metaphor. What a refreshing resolution it would be to double-click this icon regularly. Joseph Wakim is a freelance writer. He is also a Maronite (Lebanese Catholic) based in Sydney.
EWTN joins forces with Perth Archdiocese for WYD • By Anthony Barich
International Catholic television broadcaster EWTN is joining forces with the Perth Archdiocese to promote the largest Catholic youth event in the world. 'World Youth Day' is the weeklong event to be hosted in Sydney July 15-20, 2008, whilst 'Days in the Diocese' is to be hosted nationally in each local diocese, including Perth, from 10-14 July 2008. EWTN Asia/Pacific regional manager Edwin Lopez visited Perth last week, primarily to meet in consultation with Archbishop Barry Hickey to seek permission to film WYD promotional material in his Archdiocese. While also interviewing the Archbishop, Mr Lopez met with Perth Archdiocesan WYD coordinator Anita Parker, to canvass opportunities to promote WYD. Mr Lopez recorded testimonies from various local young Catholics with the possibility of doing some promotional work for the Perth 'Days in the Diocese'. The international pilgrims will be invited to stay in Perth homes for a few days to share in the culture and faith of the Church in Western Australia. "It was an exciting opportunity to have a visit from the global Catholic network. "This will move forward our international promotion for the Perth diocese to host young international pilgrims for Days in the Diocese," iss ParYer said. 4, Mr Lopez also gathered footage of interviews with a number of Perth clergy of various orders on •
Joining forces: Anita Parker and Edwin Lopez at the Catholic Pastoral Centre.
how they discovered and responded to their priestly vocation.' This is intended to be added to an EWTN segment titled "The Call". If used, the interviews promoting WYD that were gathered are meant to "deliver information, inspiration or instruction to the EWTN viewers within a short time," said Mr Lopez. These brief messages can be shown repeatedly in the course of EWTN's regular programming to increase awareness of the upcoming youth events. They can be interspersed with commercials between shows, in progr i brea:ks,Auch.a. when *„i. station11ns given, or as intermission for long-winded segments. EWTN was created by a poor
cloistered nun with only $200 as capital. It was launched from a garage and has grown into what has become today the world's largest religious media network reaching out to over 110 million households in hundreds of countries worldwide. Relying solely on providence, Mother Angelica built a media empire without concern for budgets. EWTN offers straightforward solutions to life's puzzling problems through its wide variety of programming, such as daily Mass, tig_ys and current affairs,,il.ty$, talk shows, documentaries, teachings, children's animation and music for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Be counter-cultural - read 1"he Record
•
Page 5
February 152007, The Record
The Holy Spirit and a parish that inspired a Bishop The Spirit that inspired the Bayswater parish community at St Columba's forged a special bond in a young boy who would become Perth's Auxiliary Bishop. Anthony Barich reports. It had been a long time since Bishop Donald Sproxton sat as a somewhat confused nine-year-old in St Columba's Church in Bayswater with his mother and sister. Though baptised in Subiaco, he had his first Holy Communion and went to school at St Columba's, and when he returned as Perth's Auxiliary Bishop and led the Mass celebrating the Bayswater parish's 50th anniversary last Sunday, it was like no time had passed at all. "It's like a homecoming," Bishop Sproxton said, standing on the same steps that he stood on all those years ago when he had the photo taken for his first Holy Communion. "It's like coming home to some place that you know very well, and there are still some people here who I recognise from those early years." The people were as warm and friendly as ever - for everyone who walked that day through the doors of the church, designed by architect Anthony O'Hara (who designed St Joachim's) that was opened on February 10, 1957, eager volunteers handed out Mary holy cards and Rosary beads. The first thing the Bishop said to start his homily was: "It's good to be back among you." As Mr O'Hara watched on with his wife Ruth, standing behind Bishop Sproxton as concelebrating priests last Sunday were men who had helped shape the parish community - current parish priest Fr Huynh Nguyen, Dominican priest Fr Anthony Van Dyke, Fr Joe Parkinson and Fr Wayne Davis. Also there was Mgr Peter McCrann and Fr Russell Hardiman, the nephew of founding parish priest Fr John Russell. But as he sat in this church as a boy, the future Bishop was confused as he looked at the Station of the Cross that sits above the confessional - that is still there today - which describes Jesus being taken down from the Cross. However, it was a moment that triggered a curiosity to understand crucial elements Parish priests: 1946-85 Fr John Russell PP 1985 - 87 Fr Brian Morrison PP 1988 Fr John Kerrane (on loan from Ireland) 1988 - 95 Fr Bryan Rosling PP, during this time the Church was renovated, enlarged and a hall added. 1995 - 2001 Fr Patrick Turner PP May-August 2001 Fr Richard Robertsen and Fr Anthony Van Dyke minded the Parish. 2001 - 02 Fr Joseph Parkinson PP 2003 - now: Fr Huynh Nguyen PP.
Then...
that would form his faith and ultimately lead him into the priesthood. "As a little boy as I came to Mass here I'd be always looking at the Stations of the Cross and thinking how awful it was that Jesus should be treated this way and suffering this way," he said reflecting on his childhood. "It made me wonder about why is it that we come here to the church - this poor man has died. It was later on in life when Fr John Russell. I realised that the crucifixion is only one The start: Archbishop Prendiville leads Mass with Mgr Edmund Sullivan and part of the story - the other part of the story is the Resurrection, and through the Resurrection, the Spirit that's been given to us, the Spirit that enables us to continue the work of Christ and to be witnesses to Him in the world, to be disciples, to be the Church." It was this Spirit Bishop Sproxton spoke about - as did Frs Parkinson, Van Dyke, Davis and Nguyen - brought to life in the parishioners which has become the hallmark of the parish. Through the power of the Spirit, the parishioners all prayed for "young Sproxton", as Fr Russell would refer to him, as he went through the seminary. This Spirit was first manifested in Fr Russell, who, in the daily life of his ministry gave an example to Bishop Sproxton that inspired him. Though his family moved to another of Perth's then "satellite centres" in Morley, Fr Russell's legacy stays with the Bishop still. "I think it was the figure of Fr Russell (that inspired me)," Bishop Sproxton said. "He was everywhere. He would visit each home each year, so you knew him not just Hickey and concelebrating priests at St Columba's last Sunday. as the priest of the church, but as someone New Dawn: Archbishop who was out there listening. "He'd been here for such a long time he What St Columba's priests say was baptising people, their children and their grandchildren. It's priests like that Fr Huynh Nguyen: It's a beautiful community. The people come here because of - and we were very lucky at Morley to have friendship. I'm very proud to work with the community here for four years. priests like that too - who were very close to young people. Fr Anthony Van Dyke: To me they're all very co-operative. I had two working bees "That connection, that relationship with within a month's time for the garden, because it looked shocking, and I got 20 people them, I think helped me to be guided working for a whole day, and the other time I got 15. That sums up the friendliness and towards the priesthood myself." hard working nature of the parish. The Bishop's father was not a Catholic, but fully supported his family's Catholicity Fr Wayne Davis (preached at Bayswater while a seminarian): St Columba's adopted and him in his vocation - and in fact paid me as a parishioner, as I was from NSW and never had a home parish here. I came for his seminary studies. I was ordained a deacon here i'e" as a young seminarian and this became my home. The church was originally opened by That's why I came back to home. my it's so completed, was church new the ,fter )ust Archbishop Redmond Prendiville, former it. celebrate Bayswater priest Mgr Edmund Sullivan and Fr Russell, who was paris' priest from Fr Joe Parkinson: It's a parish that has a very strong core of people that has been very 1946-1985. welcoming of others, which made it very easy to be parish priest. There's such a good In 1991 the church was renovated and spirit, and people with really good, generous hearts. enlarged, with a parish hall added, under the tutelage of Fr Bryan Rosling. In his homily on Sunday, Bishop Sproxton paid homage to the determination and faith of past Bayswater parish priests and parishioners to build the church, and prayed that the same Spirit that inspired them may stay Personally escorted by with the parish for many years to come. Fr Tim Deeter & Mrs Yolanda Nardizzi "We owe a great due to Fr Russell and From the captivating ruins of Greece to the the parishioners of the day for their courtimeworn lands of Turkey, we continue our journey age, foresight and continual work in raising through the grace filled villages at Italy before funds to pay for the building," he said. culminating at Rome the eternal city. "When we feel like we can't muster the Athens (2) Meteora (1) Kalambaka (1) Thessaloniki (2) strength, the Spirit renews itself within us. Philippi Kavala Samos Patmos (1) Kusadasi (2) "No longer need we look to a building Ephesus Izmir Turin (2) Padua (1) Assisi (2) Rome (4) to get that inspiration, but to the community of faith the Spirit has built around the Departing 11th April, 2007 Eucharist. We receive the inspiration that Priced at $5995 comes from living within a community Single supplement $850 such as this." Pre paid tipping fund $90 Bishop Sproxton summed up Fr Russell, Optional Medjugoije Extension and in a way his whole experience at St From $595 (4 nights 5 days) Columba's, thus: "He was a truly amazing A 20 day pilgrimage journey man."
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February 15 2007, The Record
Page 6
Where human values and artistic merit meet Searching for a balance of solid entertainment, sound human values and artistic merit, MercatorNet has these films as the best of 2006. The Cave of the Yellow Dog Directed by Byambasuren Davaa. Starring Nansal Batchuluun, Urjindorj Batchuluun.
It may be chauvinism and Eurocentric ignorance, but one does not expect a lot from the Mongolian film industry. However, this simple, well-told tale is a gem which proves that Hollywood has no monopoly on talent. Director Byambasuren Davaa uses non-professional Mongolian sheep herders to chronicle the lives of the nomads there. The story line is thin: a young girl finds a stray puppy and hides it against her father's orders. It has a distinctly Buddhist flavour, but everyone can enjoy its message about the dignity of family life. Subtitles.
Children of Men
The Hidden Blade
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Starring Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Directed by Yoji Yamada. Starring Takako Matsu, Masatoshi Nagase, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Hidetaka Yoshioka.
This brilliantly directed film deals with two themes: world-wide infertility and the Bush foreign policy agenda. No children have been born on earth for about 20 years, so your response will depend on how worried you are about the former and how angry you are about the latter. A dark and decaying England has become an authoritarian state which treats international refugees with appalling brutality. Somehow a dishevelled London bureaucrat is handed the mission of delivering the world's only pregnant woman to mysterious scientists overseas. To reach a port, they have to pass through ghettos full of violent Muslim extremists as troops attack a mysterious uprising in support of the refugees. This is a dark but thought-provoking film. There is one brief scene with partial nudity.
Yoji Yamada's 2002 film Twilight Samurai was an Oscar nominee, and The Hidden Blade, the second in a proposed trilogy, is nearly its equal. Sociologically, the theme is the confrontation of traditional Japanese values with ruthless modernisation in the Meiji Era. An honourable samurai is asked to pursue and kill a friend who has turned renegade. There is a romantic subplot about a servant whom the tongue-tied hero loves. This is a splendid, deeply humane film about honour and tradition with brilliantly realised characters and a fascinating recreation of a vanished era. Subtitles.
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CHOOSE YOUR DEALER BEFORE YOU CHOOSE YOUR CAR
Lady in the Water Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Wright, Bill Irwin, Bob Balaban.
This modern fairy tale was panned by some critics as self-indulgent mythmaking by director M. Night Shyamalan, but others loved it. A depressed doctor now working as a janitor in an apartment complex, discovers that the person taking illegal night-time swims in the pool is a narf. A narf, he learns from a Korean woman, is a water nymph who belongs in the sea. But she is afraid to leave because of malevolent spirits who are prowling outside. The mysterious fairy-like creature draws together the eccentrics living in the complex as they battle to return her to the ocean. Spooky, atmospheric and quirky. One of the characters is a sour, twisted book and film critic - no doubt a dig by the director at hostile reviewers.
• Is it true that every year for the last 17 consecutive years I've been Australia's top selling Hyundai dealer?
Der Neunte Tag (The Ninth Day)
• Is it true that if somebody buys a used car from me, I will pay for a pre-purchase RAC or similar inspection?
Directed by Volker Schlondorff. Starring Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl
• I have a warehouse selling cars under $10,000. Is it true that I offer a full money back guarantee within one week?
Based loosely on a true story, this is a story about conscience and courage. Father Henri Kremer has been imprisoned in Dachau for opposing the Nazi regime. In an unexpected act of mercy, he is given a nine-day furlough to attend his mother's funeral in Luxembourg. There, an ambitious young SS officer offers him a deal: if he can persuade his bishop to write to the Pope urging him to support Hitler, he, his bishop, his fellow clergy and his dear ones will be spared the worst persecution. Even the New York Times described this picture as "moviemaking on the highest dramatic, psychological, and moral plane". Subtitles.
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Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, Alex Jennings, Helen McCrory, Roger Allam.
One of the most mysterious events of the 1990s was the torrent of world grief over the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Initially the Queen and the royal household were aloof and distant: after her divorce from Prince Charles, flibbertigibbet Diana was not Queen Elizabeth's favourite. It was Prime Minister Tony Blair's job to soften her and thus to ensure the survival of the monarchy. Director Stephen Frears does a splendid job of recreating the drama of those emotion-charged days. And the acting is marvellous, from the crusty dignity of Her Majesty, played by Helen Mirren, to Michael Sheen's buffoonish caricature of the PM. As MercatorNet's reviewer William Park wrote, "isn't it great to have a picture that one can wholeheartedly recommend?"
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Directed by Gore Verbinski. Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Tom Hollander, Bill Nighy.
Successful sequels are rare. Sequels which better the original are as scarce as doubloons in a charity box. This time the highly original, comical and swashbuckling characters of the first film are off to find the fabled Davy Jones's locker. The plot is threadbare, but the
special effects, acting and preposterous melodrama are terrific. Stealing the show is Johnny Depp as the mascarared, rum-swilling rogue Captain Jack Sparrow. And a cliffhanger ending promises a third instalment: something to look forward to!
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days Directed by Marc Rothemund. Starring Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Gerald Alexander Held, Johanna Gastdorf.
Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine is brought to life in a luminous performance by Julia Jentsch. In 1943, a group of college students set up a resistance movement in Munich called the White Rose. Sophie Scholl is captured while distributing pamphlets on campus with her brother Hans. Her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility. Despite his own atheism, the director has created a moving appeal to "decency, morals and God" based on the conviction that "all life is precious." Subtitles.
Syriana Directed by Stephen Gaghan. Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, Mazhar Munir.
Would you expect to see George Clooney in a neo-con shoot-em-up? Probably not. This cynical look at American involvement in the Middle East highlights corruption, complexity and cruelty in the West's engagement with the Arab world. Clooney plays a disillusioned CIA agent who has been thrown to the wolves by higher-ups. His story is interwoven with that of an educated Arab prince who wants to reform his country; an investment adviser working for the prince; the ambitions of a big oil company; and a young lad who becomes a suicide bomber. The narrative is a bit confused at times, but all the threads are drawn together in the tragic explosion which ends the film. This is Hollywood trying its best not to be Hollywood: solid but sombre. Some subtitles.
Tsotsi Directed by Gavin Hood. Starring Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Kenneth Nkosi, Zenzo Ngqobe.
This moving South African film won the Best Foreign Film award at last year's Oscars. It is the story of the conversion and redemption of Tsotsi, a despicable young thug in the Johannesburg slum of Soweto. One day he savagely shoots and paralyses a woman and steals her car for kicks. When it finally grinds to a halt, he discovers a baby in the back seat. His efforts to care for the helpless infant are comical and touching and ultimately lead him to rediscover his own humanity. An unpretentious but memorable film. Some subtitles.
United 93 Directed by Paul Greengrass. Starring J. J. Johnson, Gary Commock, Polly Adams, Opal Alladin, Nancy McDoniel, Starla Benford, Trish Gates, Simon Poland, Khalid Abdalla, David Alan Basche, Lisa ColOn-Zayas, Meghan Heffern, Olivia Thirlby, Cheyenne Jackson.
United 93 provoked a silly discussion about the proper moment for commencing 9/11 retrospectives. But if ever there was a tasteful way to approach this catastrophe, this is it. Director Paul Greengrass's docudrama relates the final moments of the hijacked plane which nosedived into a Pennsylvania cornfield. The actors are all unknowns, supporting the underlying theme that heroes are just everyday people under pressure. The scenes of confusion and incredulity in air traffic control are utterly believable. The hijackers are depicted as fanatical, but upright in a deluded sort of way. The only stinging political comment is made through the character of a German surrender monkey who insists that everything will be hunkydory if the passengers cooperate. A riveting and inspiring film.
Page 7
February 152007, The Record
Sisters doing it for themselves
Forums prove growing numbers are refusing to accept abortion Continued from page 1 MLA (Liberals) plus Christian Democrats representative Madeleine Goiran. High-profile author Melinda Tankard Reist, WFA founding director and author of "Giving Sorrow Words: Women's Stories of Grief After Abortion" and "Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics" will speak, among other things, on recent controversy over Catholic abortion counselling. "Women need more alternate sources of counselling which are separate from the abortion provider," she said, citing recent research from the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, as reported in The Record, showing only two per cent of Australians believed abortion providers should be giving counselling to women "as they know they have an vested interest in providing the abortion". "So any counselling which is one step removed from the provision of abortion should be welcomed," she said. Her own research, exhibited in her book "Giving Sorrow Words", shows that too often women feel they are "on a one-way assembly line". "They feel they need need to get off it and consider their options and directed to sources of support," she said. A mini-forum will also be held at Bunbury's Southwest Italian Club at 7.30pm, On March 13, the evening before the Perth forum. Women who have been "in the trenches" working on the ground, will feature prominently in the Perth forum, including Pregnancy Assistance manager Lydia Fernandez, a graduate of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Abortion Grief Counseling speaker Julie Cook and Linda Watson, founder of Archdiocesan organisation, Linda's House of Hope, which helps women and girls escape the trap of prostitution. Mrs Tankard Reist said Ms Watson was invited due to huge interest in her work. Bernadette Black, author of the newly released "Brave Little Bear", about her experience of falling pregnant and giving birth aged 16, will also speak. WFA started when, in an effort to confront the stereotype that it was only male politicians who want abortions reduced, a women's forum was hastily organised and, on extremely short notice, over 800 women turned up in late 2005 concerned about the number of women pressured into terminating their pregnancies. They also discussed issues from a woman's perspective like body image, the premature sexualisation of women and balancing work and family. The event was
Important discussion: The March 14 forum is an opportunity for women to discuss real choices for women rather than abortion. so successful a decision was made to do it regularly and the WFA became incorporated last year. WFA is currently compiling its second research paper called "Faking it", studying the impact of sexualised images on women's wellbeing, written by Selena Ewing and to be launched in Melbourne in July. This follows up on the WFA's previous study, "Women and abortion: An evidence-based review", based on medical literature. WTA is an independent think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy development about social, economic, health and cultural issues affecting women. The WTA appeared before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which has been described as an international bill of rights for women, in New York, in January last year. Tickets for the Perth forum cost $10, concession $5. Register your attendance by contacting Gill on 0432 872 985 or email perth@womensforumaustralia.org. For the Bunbury forum contact Adriana Lewis on (08) 9727-3046.
WFA's Objectives 1 To promote the advancement, wellbeing and freedom of all women. 2 To conduct and sponsor research about social, cultural, health and economic issues relevant to women. 3 To provide education to women and men about social, cultural, health and economic issues relevant to women; 4 To promote the equal participation and contribution of women and men in the work place and public life. 5 To promote a positive balance for women and men between family commitment and participation in the work force. 6 To mentor women in their contribution to public life.
disadvantaged and marginalised backgrounds including women with physical and intellectual disabilities, women with mental illness, refugee and migrant women and indigenous women.
7 To promote initiatives that work for improvements in the lives of all women, in particular women from
8 To empower women in their contribution to media and public debate and the formation of social policy.
Sproxton inducts more acolytes Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton visited Baker's Hill on Sunday, December 17 for the induction of three new acolytes. From left to right, Ted Gumly, the Baker's Hill acolyte assisting at the Mass, is pictured here with new acolyte Bernie Moore, Bishop Sproxton, Fr Geoff Aldous from Northam and the other two new acolytes, John Chitty and Tom Streatfield.
Website offers remedy for birthday party stress Gift bags, long guest lists, hiring animals for rides, stretch limos... The kids' birthday party scene is getting out of control and some mothers have had enough. Hence the launch last month of Birthdays Without Stress, a website that arose from discussions in a parent education class in St Paul, Minnesota. With the support of Dr Bill Doherty of the University of Minnesota, a group met regularly during 2006 and interviewed other parents throughout the community. The launch attracted media attention around the world and 22,000 web hits by the fifth day, Doherty told Smart Marriages.com. SOURCE: MERCATORNET.COM
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February 152007, The Record
Page 8
editorial
The light begins to shine on life
r r wo events that feature prominently in this issue of The Record give great hope that the light is beginning to shine more brightly on the meaning of life in Australia. The light has never gone out, but it has been dimmed over the last few decades. One is a free seminar sponsored by The Record that offers parents and teenagers a deep and rational alternative to the brutally inadequate "safe sex" mentality which has contributed to so much physical, emotional and moral pain in our society. The other is an historic gathering organised by the Women's Forum Australia for women to "stand together and declare that we deserve better than abortion". The establishment of the WFA and its Perth launch are a declaration that women deserve better than they are receiving under the abortion regime currently dominant in Australia. The campaigners and the Parliaments that legalised abortion in Australia always proclaimed that they were "pro-choice", not "pro-abortion", but in practice there has been great financial and propaganda support for the choice for abortion, but relatively speaking almost none for the choice for life. The evidence from around Australia is that far too many women are offered no alternative to abortion, and no assistance of any kind when they refuse abortion. (Our own Pregnancy Assistance is one shining exception.) The founding director of the WFA - Melinda Tankard-Reist, who will be the keynote speaker at the Perth gathering - brought much of this to the fore in her two books Giving Sorrow Words: PO Box 75, Leederville, WA 6902 Women's Stories of Grief after Abortion and Tel: (08) 9227 7080, Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Fax (08) 9227 7087 Eugenics. cathrec@iinet.net.au Slowly - and now at a gathering pace - the community and the political world have come to realise that the commonly promoted impression that abortion is a simple medical technique with no consequences is a terrible fraud that belittles women and causes many of them immense trauma that undermines their personal, professional and family lives. The debate is not so much about abortion per se - although opposition to it will never go away - but about the levels of truth, care and compassion surrounding pro-abortion counselling, dishonest counselling, and the assembly line approach which together pressure many girls and women into abortions their inner sense is trying to resist. For example, only a few weeks ago Family Planning WA was advocating more late term abortions for 'psychiatric reasons' even though the whole medical world knows that there is no psychiatric condition for which abortion is a treatment, and certainly not the treatment of choice. Women from all walks of life are coming out in support of the principle that a society that allows abortion (and even funds it) has a serious obligation to ensure that women have access to all the truth about abortion and its consequences, and access to all the support they need to make a choice truly free of social, emotional, medical, economic and material pressure. These are the ingredients necessary for a truthful and compassionate society. The other encouraging aspect of this movement is that it has strong support from the two main political parties, and there will be speakers from the Labor, Liberal and Christian Democratic parties at the Perth meeting on March 14. FOR DETAILS OF THE WOMENS FORUM AUSTRALIA EVENT, SEE PAGE 7
Pastoral Letter for Lent from Archbishop Barry Hickey
Golden opportunity to get our prayer life back on life's track
Igior
For our children T
he other major meeting is a free seminar on February 27 by leading national educators Jonataon and Karen Doyle who will give parents and teenagers alternative choices to the disastrous "safe sex" delusion that has been promoted by our Health and Education Departments for more than 20 years. It is a fraudulent philosophy, but there are so many egos bound up in that that no amount of evidence is allowed to push officialdom towards the truth. It was introduced under the dishonest smokescreen that we were all in danger of AIDS, and so far it has not budged. Continuous reports show that Australia's teenagers have more pregnancies, abortions, sexually transmitted infections and episodes of self-harm than were imagined possible before "safe sex" was invented, but the only response from departments and governments so far has been to demand more of the same. Families and the community at large will have to generate their own pressure to ensure that our children are given a truthful education about what it means to be fully human. We must give them some understanding of the power of their own choices and the meaning and consequences of the choices they make. They have been betrayed by those who should have guided and protected them, and it is time for direct action to give them a better understanding of life and a better chance in life. As in the case of abortion, there has been too much falsehood and too little truth. Young people growing up find it hard enough to resist the falsehoods promoted so deceitfully by films, television, magazines and other mediums. It is worse when those false values are supported by health and education programs. Only the truth will set them free, and all of us have a responsibility to contribute to knowing and spreading the truth. FOR DETAILS OF THE RECORD'S SEMINAR FOR PARENTS AND TEENAGERS, SEE PAGE 3 AND VISTA 1
Ash Wednesday begins the season: Lent can be a deeply rewarding time for us to re-charge our spiritual life by beginning again - if we have let it drop - a regular prayer life, writes Archbishop Hickey. PHOTO C NS
A
sh Wednesday marks the beginning ongoing battle with sins, large or small. In our of one of the most important times quiet moments we will recognize our sins - our in the Church's year - the season jealousy, selfishness, our lust, our greed or whatof Lent. ever it is that we regret and want to change. I am pleased that people take God forgives. Lent very seriously. So confess your sins in the Sacrament of Penance They even look forward to this during Lent. time of prayer and penance. If serious sins have entered your life, ask God's I think the reason they look forward to it is grace to help you get rid of them completely. because they are aware of the need to focus their You will know a deep joy and peace in your lives a bit better - to get back on track, spiritually. heart if they are no longer in your life. I understand why Lent is important from a But don't forget the daily struggle with personal spiritual viewpoint, because I too feel the need to faults. reorder my priorities. Be aware of yourself and your weaknesses and I am aware that the pressure of work can affect take small steps each day to change, with God's my prayer life. help. The pace of life can easily lead to tiredness The Church doesn't require much from us durand neglect of prayer, of quiet ing Lent. meditation and of spiritual Only two days, Ash reading. Wednesday and Good Friday This can happen to me quite are days when we fast, that "If serious sins have entered your is, easily if I'm not careful. eat less - and abstain from Because our union with life, ask God's grace to help you eating meat. God is so important, let us get Only two days. get rid of them completely. our prayer life back on track. But the whole of Lent is to Even the busiest person can be a time of prayer, penance find a little time to pray each You will know a deep joy and and generous giving. day. Should you take on a parThe secret is in build- peace in your heart if they are no ticular penance? ing prayer into our lives, not Why not? longer in your life. trying to snatch a little free Giving up sweets, TV, alcotime now and then for a quick hol or other things is worthBut don't forget the daily prayer. while, not just because of the Let's look at our lives and struggle with personal faults." health benefits but mainly see where we can find a time for the spiritual growth that every day for quiet prayer. follows. If life has given you It could be first thing in the heavy burdens to bear, carry morning before breakfast. them with patience and hope, Or it could be before retirtrusting that Jesus is there by ing at night or at some other regular time, and I your side to help you cope. stress regular. "Come to me all you who labour and are heavily Family prayer is precious. burdened" Jesus said, "andI will give you rest". Those in families could work out a time to come This is your penance for Lent. together to pray - to say the Rosary, or use a book Look forward to the coming of Easter. of prayers, or listen to a passage from scripture to It was the tragic and glorious culmination of stimulate spontaneous prayers. Jesus' life and mission, when he achieved his vicInvolve the children, they'll love it. tory over death and sin by dying on the cross and This Lent work out something that suits you rising to new life at Easter. and try to build it in to your daily life, not as an extra but as a normal part of your day. Most Rev BIHickey Penance is another theme of Lent. Archbishop of Perth This has to do with conversion of heart and the 13 February 2007
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February 15, 2007
Page 1
Face it. Our society offers the young increasingly seductive options which seem liberating, but end up as a harvest of sorrow. Now there are answers.
St Edith Stein 01 1.44ai4• i!ii. ,•ItElQ-: s.!.? • VIEllic
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Conversion was no coincidence
A S Don't condemn the young: 'Nhen you've got the major influences in our society such as the media offering nothing better than constant programming of the kind shown above, it's little wonder the young - and not so young - go with the flow. The influence of media and entertainment industries, whose primary motive is money, is now pervasive - but it can be neutralised. All the young, and families in general, need is inspiration. A little of that will soon be here. Part of the message is letting the young know what they are really worth.
It's all about the CHOICES The forthcoming meeting organised by The Record and Natural Family Planning Services offers a new, refreshing and encouraging approach to families, especially parents and youth. Don't miss out! It's Free!
• By Mark Reidy
D
espite an increase in the sexual information given to teenagers over the past two decades, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and sexual violence have continued to increase, says international Educator, Jonathan Doyle. Doyle will be appearing in Perth in a free public seminar on February 27 with his wife Karen, to share their message of hope to young people, their parents and teachers. The couple recognised many years ago that simply providing young people with information did not equate to appropriate sexual decision making, and this led to their
Where:
Italian Club (Upstairs Room) 217 Fitzgerald St, West Perth (opposite tennis courts)
When:
Tuesday February 27, 7pm Parking at rear of building
For more information contact The Record on 9227 7080.
founding CHOICEZ MEDIA, a Canberra based company established to empower and equip adolescents with the knowledge, skill and motivation to make positive choices in their lives. The Doyle's are passionate in their belief that, despite living in a sexually saturated culture, it is possible for young people to navigate the critical years of their development without succumbing to the pressure to be sexually active. One of the messages they share is that each individual must come to know their own worth so that they wont give themselves away cheaply. Through both their talks and digital media resources, the couple encourage young people to stand back and critically analyse the impact of the sexual messages constantly being portrayed through both the media and peer pressure. They address issues such as self-respect, dignity, the value and uniqueness of others, how to distinguish love from lust, the impact of pornography, the rise of the female raunch culture and how these and other influences can shape their sexual decision making. The presentation in Perth will be directed toward empowering young people to
understand that each of them has control over their own sexual destiny and relevant information will be provided to assist them in making positive choices. The Doyle's believe, however, that it is crucial for parents, carers and teachers to also attend as it will provide them with the opportunity to not only learn about the culture that is influencing teenagers today, but it will also establish a platform for future discussion. Jonathan and Karen have successfully woven their understanding of the many sexual issues and pressures facing adolescents today with knowledge obtained during their Master's Degrees at Melbourne's John Paul II Institute to present a powerful message in a style that is appealing to young people. They have already delivered their message to thousands of teenagers and adults, have had their programs established in over 500 Christian and independent schools in Australia and have received endorsements from senior bishops and archbishops in Australia and New Zealand. Make sure you attend so you can hear this life-changing message. For further details see page 3.
Here's 401.11' chn.ince to improvt,
CHOICES tor parents, families and !wiring people
new compilation of Edith Stein's completed works presents evidence that her conversion was influenced by more than just her reading of St Teresa of Avila's autobiography. tein (1891-1942) was a Jewish philosopher and convert to Catholicism, who became a Carmelite and was later martyred at Auschwitz. The story of her conversion up till now had been attributed to mere happenstance as she unwittingly stumbled upon the autobiography of St Teresa of Avila. Devouring the book overnight, she decided to convert to Catholicism when she finished it at dawn. During the presentation of the complete works of Stein at the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome, Father Ulrich Dobhan, a German Carmelite and expert on Stein who supervised the German edition of her works, presented his own findings about Stein's conversion. From his research, he believes that Stein already knew of the existence of St Teresa of Avila's book and sought it out. "During the summer semester of 1918, during Husserl's lectures at the University of Freiberg on the subject of Rudolf Otto's book, Das Heilige, Edith probably read Teresa of Avila's name because it's mentioned in that book," Father Dobhan explained to ZENIT. Later, on May 24 or 25, 1921, at the house of Anne Reinach and her sisterin-law Pauline, in Goettingen, Germany, Stein chose the autobiographical volume: Life of St Teresa of Avila from their library. The reading of St Teresa's book was decisive in tipping Stein toward Catholicism instead of Protestantism, but Father Dobhan wants to clarify that "here we are not talking about the step from atheism to Christianity." "The exclamation of 'This is the Truth!' that is generally put in the mouth of Stein upon reading the autobiography of the saint, does not correspond to what she said, nor does it reflect Stein's spiritual process," Father Dobhan clarified. Stein's inquiry into Christianity had been maturing over time. As a philosopher, she was profoundly influenced by the work of Max Scheler during his Catholic period and the heroic witness of Anne Reinach, widow of fellow philosopher Adolf Reinach, who fell in the war in November 1917. While not the sole source of her conversion, the book did lead to her decision to become a Carmelite, where upon entering she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was canonised by Pope John Paul II in October 1998, and made a co-patroness of Europe in October 1999. - ZENIT.ORG
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Issue 26 MSC mission Office, PO Box 177 Kensington NSW 1465 Phone: (02) %970983, Fax: (02) %970984
History of MSC Mission Office The MSC Mission Office is now in its 10th year. When it was launched there was no fanfare, not even the raising of a glass to celebrate. Rather a letter was sent to the contemplative religious congregations in Australia requesting prayers for direction from God, and blessings on our efforts. Now on reflection we acknowledge that God has greatly blessed our endeavors, and given practical support to our isilissionaries and the people they serve. This support has come in the following ways: I) Prayers: Thousands have become "prayer-partners" and we have distributed over 200,000 prayer cards. 2) Lay Missionaries: (short term) about 80 people have (*red their services as workers in the Missions. These hIve included, nurses, camenters, architects, surveyors, Ilumbers, teachers, builders, engineers, librarians, watertank makers, sports teachers, artists, musicians, mechanics etc. While they have each done short term periods of service, some hI ' returned three or four times. 3) Financial support: Initially we had 5 1 a1nned to become a fund-raising agency, but as we wld true accounts of our Missionaries and their needs people started to send donations, with the result that, since our inception we have raised over $4,234,014.96. This money has been donatedfor specific I S 'cts all of which we have assiduously forwarded as requested. Often you, our donors, affirm in your letters and by your phone calls the following a s o the eat Cardinal Newman (photo on left): "I must say plainly this, that the comforts of life are the main cause of our want of love of God; and, much as we may lament and struggle against it, till we learn to dispense with them in pod measure, we shall not overcome it. Till we, in a certain sense, detach I urselves from our bodies, our minds will not be in a state to receive d e impressions, and to exert heavenly aspirations. A smooth and easy life, an uninterrupted enjoyment of the goods of Providence, full meals, soft raiment, well-furnished homes, the pleasures of sense, the feeling of security, the consciousness of wealth — these and the like, if we are not careful, choke up all the avenues of the soul, through which the light and breath of heaven might come to us." May God bless all our readers. Fr Adrian F Meaney MSC Bill & Mary Cox (photo on right) are lay missionaries from Mackay in Nt. Is They have worked at Chevalier Farm in Fiji on two occasions. The purpose of the farm is to educate disadvantaged young men. Bill is a master builder and Mary supports with secretarial work and domestic science. They are greatly loved and appreciated by the students and e a .l community — including the priests and brothers. The main purpose of Mission Outreach, a newsletter of the Australian Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, is to inform the people of Australia about our Missionary work in the world today. We will suggest areas where you can assist by your prayers, by your financial support and by becoming lay, religious or priestly missionaries. Design & Layout by Pixie Publications Pty Ltd, Burleigh Waters Qld 4220 Email: pixiepubgbigpond.net.au
Phone/Fax: 07 55200101
Father I thank you for your goodness! You show yourself to children! And in my life I see you leading me Into my childhood once again! Under the shadow of your guiding hand I walk the journey of my life! Across the years I see you leading me; And I am young again!
Global warming in the Pacific
I feel the waters of your life in me; They come from deep within my heart! Into your peacefulness you're calling me; And I am born again! Beside your waters I am growing still! Your Spirit rises in my heart! Renewing every fiber of my life; And I am strong again! Water supply in South Sudan provided by MSC Mission Office
Our duty to the Poor "It is our duty to do for the poor what Jesus Christ didfor us. And how did he practice charity toward us? Wasn't it by leaving his abode, by putting aside his ease and happiness, to come and visit us? He came and the whole world saw him and heard him. Yes, visiting the poor is a duty on which we should reflect seriously. According to the words of the Gospel, when our days are completed, when that last hour that we hardly want to thinA about has come, when we appear before the highest judge with nothing but our good and had deeds, it will be on our charity that our eternal sentence will be principally based, and in particular on our visits to the unfortunate: Who are you, our Lord Jesus Christ will say to us,Ido not know you;Inever saw you.Iwas poor,Iwas sick, and you did not come to see me nor to console me"...Fr Jules Chevalier MSC
Fr. Michael McKenzie (photo on left) spoke of his country, Kiribati, in these terms: "The' rising of the sun is a sign to us of hk, but th, rising of the sea is a sign to us of death." He went on to say, people on Kiribaii measure the rising of the sea in terms of tIlL• rows of coconut trees being destroyed, and tip_ amount of black soil now infertile as a result ‘,.. salt water. Islands once surrounded by peac< rt.! lagoons have become vulnerable to high tr.' and storm surges, making fishing more difficn and hazardous. Land based food sources are also ben;,; affected, as fewer and smallci fruit in harvested, while plants grown f.01. medicinL, are losing their potency. Salt watet beginnin, to seep into fresh water supplies, meant; , some islanders now must walk one or tv, ' kilometres to fetch water. The commandment 'Thou s-balt not takes on new meaning in the context of globtii warming, where the industry and lifestyle of people living thousands of miles away IP indirect ways of killing our people." Fr Michael McKenzie. Kiribati
Tax deduction facilities are offered for the following 1) Clean Water Projects 2) Supporting those suffering from HIV/AIDS 3) Disadvantaged youth projects
The Gaze of Jesus "The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze towards all children who suffer and are abused in the world, the born and the unborn. Towards children who are placed as soldiers in a violent world; towards children who have to beg; towards children who suffer deprivation and hunger; towards children who are unloved. In all of these it is the Child of Bethlehem who is crying out to us; it is God who has become small who appeals to us. Let us pray that the brightness of God's love may enfold all these children. Let us ask God to help us do our part so that the dignity of children may be respected. May they all experience the light of love, which mankind needs so much more than the material necessities of life." Pope Benedict XVI
MSC Mission to China
F
a quarter of a century, from 1926-1952, MSC missionaries worked in the North-Eastern part of Guizhou or Province, around the city of Shiqian. They were missionaries from Germany. Eventually they were expelled. To-day the position of the Church in China is very complicated.Since the middle of the 19th western century, political and economic powers greatly exploited China, and the Church became suspect because of its alliance with western powers. And even now many Chinese can still see Christianity as a tool of western imperialism. Fortunately the church is very much alive in China. The Chinese church has 10 million members, 71 bishops, 300 old and 700 young priests (ordained in the last 10 years) and about 2,500 religious sisters. True enough, relationships with the Vatican have not yet been normalized, but the Chinese faithful and their pastors subscribe strongly to the papal supremacy and the daily Masses include a prayer for the Pope. The Chinese Catholic Church, even under the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Organization has never made itself into a schismatic church. We have to recognize these realities, even while we recognize too that there are still many problems to be solved and wounds to be healed. There are restrictions on religions activities under the communist regime. The ban of foreign missionaries is one of them. Maybe a full mission to China will only be possible for the next generation. Meanwhile we can prepare for such a mission.
Greetings from an Australian in China
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hope things are going well for you. We are in the middle of mid-term examinations here, but all is well and I'm a happy little Vegemite! I am attaching some photos and receipts that I received the other day (via the local bishop) from the parish priest of Shiqian which is the old MSC parish here in Guizhou Province. I am paying the school fees of six students who are in need of help. They are orphans or they are from very poor families. I was wondering if you and your office might be interested in supporting these students for the next few years? My monetary contributions, so far, have been very limited. Also, there is a senior school boy who wishes to enter the seminary in a couple of years and he also needs special help. He has the approval of the bishop. He requires extra money. Adrian, I paid the fees this term and I've attached some of the receipts. I've also enclosed a couple of photos. These kids are really needy as they are supported by the local Church which proudly continues the tradition handed down from our German confreres 70 years ago. To see it, is to understand.....Also, there are at least another four young people who need special help. If you agree to help Ipromise to get the receipts and maybe a few photos. To pay for next term we need AU$1,000 (that's approx. 6,200 yuan). It can be sent to me directly and I'll organize it from here.
Father Louis-Andre Navarre, MSC
F
ather Navarre, has an impressive list of "firsts" in the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; he was the first MSC to be consecrated a Bishop; the first to be appointed to the Missions; the first MSC to set foot in Australia and the first to administer the Sacraments; the first to found the two Missions of New Britain and Papua; the first MSC Superior of what eventually became the Australian Province of the MSC. He was born in Auxerre some one hundred miles south-east of Paris on February 3, 1836, and lived on a farm outside the city. His mother died when Andre was eleven years old and, since his father never went to Mass, Andre himself followed in his father's footsteps and gave up all practice of his religion. He was not hostile to religion and acknowledged a certain bond with God through nature. Eventually he received a `call-up' for military service, and it was while he was a solider that he made his first "Holy Communion" and began to be greatly interested in religion. He wrote "After my first Communion I abandoned all plans for the future and lived day by day." Eventually he experienced the call to be a Priest and in 1872 after years of study as a mature student he was ordained to the secular priesthood. His first appointment was to Velancay, not far from where Fr. Jules Chevalier was Parish Priest of Issoudun. He was greatly attracted to the MSC and in 1877 at the age of 41 he entered the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. From the beginning he was considered a natural leader — a person fit for all seasons. And it was at this time that Pope Leo XIII requested the MSC to take responsibility in the name of the Church for the vast areas of Melanesia and Micronesia. Fr Chevalier wrote to the Pope, "At your command we will let down the fishing net" and eventually three MSC were appointed to go to Micronesia. Their journey was long and tortuous but on September 29th, 1982 Frs Navarre & Cramaille, and Br Fromm offered the first mass at Matupit in New Britain, PNG. Thus began the wonderful stay of the Church not only in New Britain but in the nearby islands of Kavieng and Manus. And to support the work of the Missionary Fr Navarre was responsible for its setting up of the Parishes of Botany and Randwick in Sydney in 1885. Eventually he was to cooperate with Fr Henry Verius in founding the first Catholic Mission in Papua where the first mass was offered on July 4th, 1895. Louis Navarre was ordained as a Bishop in May 1887 and on September 22nd, 1889 Henry Verius was also made a Bishop. But Bishop Verius died in 1892 and Bishop Navarre took over at Yule Island. He retired in 1906 and died in Townsville in 1912. His remains now rest in the Cemetery at Yule Island, PNG.
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Yeif. s Sisters Kairo, Buraiata and Kiraruke outside their modest chapel at the centre for the rehabilitation of people with addictions. The centre is situated near the airport at Tarawa, Kiribati. While there the families live in much the same manner as they would in the villages.
We would appreciate your letters rvith suggestions and advice. Could you Pm a Mission Group in your area? There is so much to do, and so few to do it. Editoi
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******
I'm writing to acknowledge and thank you for the help with the new liner for the tank behind OUT church at Budoya. We paid Southern Cross immediately for the liner and it is now on the wharf here at Alotau. We only have to get it shipped to Budoya and we will be in business again. People all around have become dependant on the water it provides. They will be very happy to be able once again to draw from this supply. Fr Jim Moore MSC, Ladava
Our donation for the Clean Water Project is part of a family Christmas present to the Work of the MSC's. Our two teenage daughters thought this would be a good idea instead of spending money on extravagant presents for them or my husband and me. I have many happy memories of the year I spent teaching at OLSH High School, Yule Island, as an AVA in 1978. ,Wary Hicks. Here are some more stamps I have collected for the Missions. I have not forgotten a donation for your kindness and for the beautiful calendars you so kindly sent me during the year too! It is unique and very useful. My prayers are continually with you and your good work and prayers are continued for the Missions and those in need. M. Z.
Dear Father, I am happy to be able to tell you that your gift of S10,000 has been put to good use and has greatly helped us with our water problems for the 600 people living here on the school campus at Papitalai, Manus Is, PNG
As you know, nothing happens in a hurry in PNG and so, true to form, our purchasing, arrival of all parts and installing of the pump and related pipes took much time but now we are happy to say — it has been set up! It was wonderful to see the water flowing once again! And for this we are all most grateful and send many thanks to you and all your good helpers. God bless you all! I am sending some photos to get you into the picture here. I have not written on them but you will be able to see the story — starting from the creek supplying the water on to the pumps which just arrived in a crate, then housed in a corrugated iron shed, to our pipeline up the hill through the coconut grove and finally to the Southern Cross tank on top (photo below). Sr Rita Torpey OLSH, Lorengau
I have received a letter for my Sister superior from Pleiku in Vietnam. And the quote for each well is $29.500.000 Vietnamese dollars (about $2900 AUD). We are looking forward to hearing from you. Could you please contact me on this email which you now have received. I have a hmther a nriest and we know the
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Michael Smith (on right) is the Managing Director of pital Printing. In December 2006 he arranged a ith some generous friends and together they 000 to support the work of the MSC Mission hael is a former student of Daramalan, an MSC Canberra. Fr. Meaney is in the centre of the lying the cheque from some of the generous
rian, probably not me; well I'm Matthews, one of young men of the es of Marianhill ed your company • nastery when we ing back from w Guinea going la. I am now Priest and stationed at Nseluka Parish as the • f the Parish. a Parish is a rural settlement area made up of 36 ith average distance from one village to the 5.5 kilometers. The whole area has only 14 chools and 1 (one) upper Basic School. That St of the villages have no schools and children seluka central where the diocesan school is. es some young people to travel 15 to 55 posing a need for some to camp nearby the so many youths in this area go illiterate and d, poverty and many other social ailments will limated. This lamentable situation needs serious attention. ssistance through funding or any way possible ghly appreciated. ba Matthews, Zambia
This photo of Fr Meaney, Director of the MSC Mission Office, was taken after Mass with members of the Region of Mary and a Catechist in Kiribati Central Pacific.
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Sisters Kairo, Buraiata and Kiraruke outside their modest chapel at the centre for the rehab tation of people with addictions. The centre is situated near the airport at bati. While Tarawa, there the families live in much the same manner as they would in the villages.
I have received a letter for my Sister superior from Pleiku in Vietnam. And the quote for each well is $29.500.000 Vietnamese dollars (about $2900 AUD). We are looking forward to hearing from you. Could you please contact me on this email which you now have received. I have a r hi-other a nriest and we know the
Michael Smith (on right) is the Managing Director of
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ith some generous friends and together they 00 to support the work of the MSC Mission hael is a former student of Daramalan, an MSC Canberra. Fr. Meaney is in the centre of the ving the cheque from S0me of the generous
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2 Our donation for the Clean Water Project is r 'T.; c,), family Christmas present to the Work of the MS c) two teenage daughters thought this would be a g -0 (15 instead of spending money on extravagant pre: < Z them or my husband and me. I have man. memories of the year I spent teaching at OLSH High School, Yule Island, as an AVA in 1978. ,Ilary Hicks. Here are some more stamps I have collected for the Missions. I have not forgotten a donation for your kindness and for the beautiful calendars you so kindly sent me during the year too! It is unique and very useful. My prayers are continually with you and your good work and prayers are continued for the Missions and those in need. M. Z.
probably not me; well I'm atthews, one of young men of the es of Marianhill ed your company nastery when we ing back from w Guinea going la. I am now Priest and stationed at Nseluka Parish as the f the Parish. a Parish is a rural settlement area made up of 36 ith average distance from one village to the 5.5 kilometers. The whole area has only 14 chools and 1 (one) upper Basic School. That st of the villages have no schools and children seluka central where the diocesan school is. es some young people to travel 15 to 55 posing a need for some to camp nearby the so many youths in this area go illiterate and d, poverty and many other social ailments will limated. This lamentable situation needs serious attention. ssistance through funding or any way possible ghly appreciated. ba Matthews, Zambia
Detach coupon, fold and enclose in this envelope
I'm writing to acknowledge and thank you for with the new liner for the tank behind our cl Budoya. We paid Southern Cross immediately for the liner and it is now on the wharf here at Alotau. We only have to get it shipped to Budoya and we will be in business again. People all around have become dependant on the water it provides. They will be very happy to be able once again to draw from this supply. Fr Jim Moore MSC, Ladava
S n top (photo below). Sr Rita Torpey OLSH, Lorengau nobody cared to repair it. Therefore they go so far to collect clean water. At this place there is no clinic. There is a school which receives only grade 1 and 2, hence the S nly means of transport are donkey and Si '41,414 to all • L •• Sr Maria
This photo of Fr Meaney, Director of the MSC Mission Office, was taken after Mass with members of the Region of Mary and a Catechist in Kiribati Central Pacific.
Yeftes h2 the &Ivor Sisters Kairo, Buraiata and Kiraruke outside their modest chapel at the centre for the rehabilitation of people with addictions. The centre is situated near the airport at Tarawa, Kiribati. While there the families live in much the same manner as they would in the villages. * * * * **
I'm writing to acknowledge and thank you fo with the new liner for the tank behind Our Budoya. We paid Southern Cross immediately for the liner and it is now on the wharf here at Alotau. We only have to get it shipped to Budoya and we will be in business again. People all around have become dependant on the water it provides. They will be very happy to be able once again to draw from this supply. Fr Jim Moore MSC, Ladava
Our donation for the Clean Water Project is family Christmas present to the Work of the M two teenage daughters thought this would be a instead of spending money on extravagant pr them or my husband and me. I have ma memories of the year I spent teaching at 01 School, Yule Island, as an AVA in 1978. Mary Hicks. Here are some more stamps I have collected for the Missions. I have not forgotten a donation for your kindness and for the beautiful calendars you so kindly sent me during the year too! It is unique and very useful. My prayers are continually with you and your good work and prayers are continued for the Missions and those in need. M. Z.
We would appreciate your letters with suggestions and advice. Could you form a Mission Group in your area? There is so much to do, and so few to do it. Editor
I have received a letter for my Sister superior from Pleiku in Vietnam. And the quote for each well is $29.500.000 Vietnamese dollars (about $2900 AUD). We are looking forward to hearing from you. Could you please contact me on this email which you now have received. I have a A brother a priest and we know the MSC's in Vietnam. LI From Sister Tuyet, Vietnam ****** help. As I mentioned in the special your for Many thanks of the invoices showing copies E-mail I am enclosing how your Mission Office grant was spent. My computer knowledge is rather limited but I am trying to learn more with the help from others. Our Bishop said at the Deanery Meeting he will be inviting some of the former missionaries back in 2007 to celebrate the 75 years. Do you think you'll be coming? Once again many thanks, Bill Cunningham MSC', Papua New Guinea ******
Laying the pipeline at Epoho in Namibia Dear Fr Meaney, This is now winter time in Namibia and is very cold. I finished with Epoho project and the water is now available. People are happy. I gave my small report to Sr. Letitia Andowa. I hope she sends it to you. There are still many villages that need clean water. I visited Oshipeto they are really experiencing water problem especially the hostel children. They have 86 children in the hostel but they have only one well which provide water and the water is salty. In March I visited Ruacana. I found one community approximately 10km away from Ruacana. This community gets their water from Ruacana. They leave home at 1pm and come back at 8-9 pm. They said that the borewell was broken and nobody cared to repair it. Therefore they go so far to collect clean water. At this place there is no clinic. There is a school which receives only grade 1 and 2, hence the only means of transport are donkey and foot. Many greetings to all Sr Maria
Michael Smith (on right) is the Managing Director of National Capital Printing. In December 2006 he arranged a function with some generous friends and together they raised $29,000 to support the work of the MSC Mission Office. Michael is a former student of Daramalan, an MSC College in Canberra. Fr. Meaney is in the centre of the photo receiving the cheque from some of the generous supporters. Dear Fr Adrian, You will probably not remember me; well I'm Mwamba Matthews, one of those four young men of the missionaries of Marianhill who enjoyed your company at your monastery when we were coming back from Papua New Guinea going ONE to Zambia. I am now ordained a Priest and stationed at Nseluka Parish as the Chaplain of the Parish. Nseluka Parish is a rural settlement area made up of 36 villages with average distance from one village to the other of 15.5 kilometers. The whole area has only 14 primary schools and 1 (one) upper Basic School. That means most of the villages have no schools and children travel to Nseluka central where the diocesan school is. This makes some young people to travel 15 to 55 kilometres posing a need for some to camp nearby the school. If so many youths in this area go illiterate and uneducated, poverty and many other social ailments will never be elimated. This lamentable situation needs serious and quick attention. Your assistance through funding or any way possible will be highly appreciated. Fr Mwamba Matthews, Zambia
This photo of Fr Meaney, Director of the MSC Mission Office, was taken after Mass with members of the Region of Mary and a Catechist in Kiribati Central Pacific.
Pope Benedict recently said: "In dialogue with Christians of different denominations, we should commit ourselves to taking care of creation, without depleting its resources and sharing them in solidarity." Picking up this tone, L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, carried an editorial which asserted that ecological crises pose "a bigger global threat - than terrorism. Unless effective action is taken, the Earth will inexorably head towards death."
And the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew wrote:
Pope Benedict XVI and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew
"We are to practice a voluntaty self-limitation in our consumption °flood and natural resources. Each of us is called to make the crucial distinction between what we i•aftt and what we need. Only through such self-denial, . through our willingness sometimes to forgo and to say, 'no' or 'enough', rye will rediscover our true human place in the universe."
Formation of Clergy and Religious We support the formation of clergy and religious men and women in Papua New Guinea Central Pacific A frica India Mexico China Indonesia Vietnam
4 Pe€44€ 7C0ternkt Cal I•tdizut 4oviee4 dd eleeti
Dal Retreat, ilt4le4 2007
V 4. Ii I Seminary in Indonesia Can 2007 be as fruitful in Donations as 2006?
MSC MISSION OFFICE PROJECTS 2006 DISADV YOUTH
OTHER PROJECTS
TOTAL
$12,000
$ 39,405
$210,650
8,767
$ 41.867
PNG KIRIBATI
S 33.100
FIJI
S 74,131
S 49,000
$ 4,000
INDONESIA
$ 76,200
S
8,000
$ 5,000
S 27,000
$116,200
INDIA
$ 24,000
$ 38,845
$ 6,000
S130,000
$198,845
VIETNAM
S 52,200
$
AFRICA
$ 12,000
STH SUDAN
$ 10,000
THAILAND
S
$ 17,000
S
2,000
$127,131
$ 1,500
S 2,000
$ 57,700
$56,000
$ 6,000
$ 74,000 $ 30,000
S 20.000 $
2,000
PHILIPPINES
$
8,000
AUSTRALIA
$
5,000
$
5,000
2,000
HIV/Aids
SEMINARIANS
CLEAN WATER Value $142,245
COUNTRY
5 2,000
S S 10,000
6,000
$ 18,000 $
5,000
$ 15,000
$ 5,000
NAMIBIA
S
5,000
CHINA
$
4,265
TOTAL
$435,141
$154,845
$64,500
$35,000
$215,172
$904,658
Category"/0
48.2
17.1
7.1
3.8
23.7
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$
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South Sudan I write against the background of the noise of the generator just outside our fence! We had a prolonged interruption in the small community school that I supervise, at Makur Agar. In August, the local Commissioner had conducted a community peace meeting to settle differences among the Dinka Agar. The meeting had just concluded and participants dispersing when a gunman on a bicycle shot at close range one of the local chiefs. The death severely affected the school, because half the students and staff were related to the gunman and the other half to the victim. So we had a closure of school for several weeks. Very sincere thanks to all donors who gave so generously to Mapuordit needs and projects. You will be kept informed of progress. The ladies are delighted to think that they will have a simple permanent structure for their functions and meetings. Work has begun on both these projects. Sr Rita Grunke OLSH, South Sudan
Clean Water Programs Nearly 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe water, drinking according to the World Health Organization, and 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation. As a result, each year about 3.1 million children and adults worldwide die from waterrelated illnesses such as diarrhoea and malaria. • The lack of clean water kills almost 4,500 children per day • Every day in Africa, women and girls especially, walk as many as 6 kilometres to fetch water • Rapid urbanization is leading to increased pressure on water resources • The world will require 55 percent more food by 2030, increasing the demand for irrigation which already accounts for 70 percent of all freshwater used by humans.
Brother Pye's 100th Birthday
Aiden Kantilla, Bro John Pie, Robert (Biscuit) Tipungwuti
These Sisters from India belong to the congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. They work in schools, hospitals, with street children, and do all forms of social and pastoral activities. They were founded by an MSC Priest in Germany and now work in over 25 countries.
In Kiribati the Sisters support disadvantaged women and their children. As the photo indicates, they receive much joy from this work.
Br John was born on the Murray River at Mulwala in December 1906. His father was a policeman and his mother gave birth to 3 girls and himself. As a young man he boarded at Marist Brothers School, Wagga and at age 24 he joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Soon afterwards he took his vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. Br. John worked for 10 years at Downlands College in Queensland. Next he was appointed to the Diocese of Darwin to work in the aboriginal communities. This was in 1941 during the war, and while he was a good teacher of religion, he became better known as a teacher of young men the love of sport. While Br. Pye was at school he excelled in sprinting and was captain of the football team. And as he played Aussie Rules so well it was only natural that this was the code he introduced. The locals embraced this sport with a passion, and in turn brought their own unique style to the game. The Tiwi Football league was established, starting with five teams: Pumarali, Tapalinga, Imalu, Tuyu, and Irrimaru — and the rest is history. In time players from Tiwi Islands became AFL Stars. Above all Br. John has found the Aboriginal people of Port Keats, Bathurst, Melville Islands, and Daly River friends and genuine family members. He has recorded the history of the Missionaries among these people in a number of books but what he has achieved in 100 years will take many 7 years to record.
gofilen Book, of the SacredHeart
You are constantly in our prayers, and here at the Sacred Heart Monastery a Novena of Holy Masses is offered at: Easter, Christmas. Feast of the Sacred Heart. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart; and there is a special Mass each First Friday of the month. Your intentions as well as those of your family and friends are remembered in these Masses.
MSC MISSION OFFICE PO Box 177 KE,IN:ITON NSW 1465
FAX: (02) 96
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Moreover, our Missionaries in the field are offering Mass for you at: • Easter — Papua New Guinea • Christmas — Japan Blue Book, • Feast of the Sacred Heart of Our Lady — Africa • Our Lady of the Sacred of the SacredHeart Heart — Kiribati You have been so generous and it is our wish to reciprocate to the best of our ability. Each day our benefactors are recalled in our daily Communit MSC MISSION OFFICE prayers. FAx: (02) 9697 0984 PO Box 177 KENSINGTON NSW 1465 Emu.: rnsurno .6on cont. Pm: 02 9697 0983 WEB: wwwinsanwon.concornau
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We acknowledge ALL correspondence, and always send RECEIPTS.
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I wish to support: Clean Water Projects or or Children's Programs 1 1 Vietnam In
LI
HIV/Aids Programs Seminarians in (not tax deductible) PNG El India
or flCentral Pacific
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EIwish to claim a tax deduction ElI wish to remember MSC Missions in my Will
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February 152007, The Record
Page 2 • Vista
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• By Mark Reidy \AT ith Italian Church numbers declining at a similar rate to the rest of Europe, it came as a surprise to many when Pope Benedict XVI declared in October last year that the Church in Italy had the potential to become an example of Christian witness for the rest of the world. Speaking in the city of Verona at the Fourth National Ecclesial Convention to 2700 invited clergy and laypeople, the Pontiff offered encouragement and hope to those present. While not dismissing the hurdles that needed to be overcome of existing within a culture that often desired to exclude God from public life, Benedict chose to focus on the "lively reality" of the Church's presence in the lives of people of every age and social level. During the Convention, entitled, "Witness to the Risen Lord, Hope of the World", the Pope claimed that, diffused within the Italian population, was a deep awareness of the grave risks associated with detaching from their Christian roots. He believed that this understanding had resulted in a renewed effort of evangelisation and catechesis, particularly to and within families. Benedict stated that such beliefs were being expressed and strongly formulated by many important cultural figures, even " those who do not share, or at least who do not practise, our faith." He believed that it was a time of great opportunity for the Church and Italian Catholics to keep alive, and to even increase, their capacity to contribute to the cultural and moral growth of Italy. However, he emphasised that this linking of faith and the daily life of the nation could only find its strength in the Holy Spirit and could not be mustered through limited human resources. He believed that if the Italian Church could continue to give positive and convincing responses to the longings and questions presented by the people, then a great service would be rendered, not only to the nation, but also to Europe and to the world. But it was essential, the Pontiff said, that the foundations of this much-needed Christian witness branch into all areas of human experience and that they be both concrete and practical in content. Disciples of Christ, he claimed, must recognise and welcome authentic cultural values in areas such as science, technology, politics, human rights and religious freedom but must simultaneously be aware of the dangerous fragility of human nature and see evangelisation, not as an adaptation to culture, but rather a purification of it. "This is the task that is before us", he proclaimed, "A fascinating adventure that is worth our effort, to give a new thrust to the culture of our time and to restore the Christian faith to full citizenship in it." In order to do this he urged Catholics to abide by the words of St Peter and always respond to those
February 152007, The Record
Vista • Page 3
Not a convention, a spiritual uniting
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who ask the reason for their hope with the "gentle power that comes from union with Christ". This, he said, must be constantly witnessed in the lives of the faithful, both in thought and action and in personal and public behaviour. He invited members of the Italian Church to replicate the Christian communities of the first centuries by establishing a strong unity between "a faith that befriends intelligence and a life praxis characterised by reciprocal love and caring attention to the poor and suffering." The Pope stipulated the fundamental importance of education in this process of weaving Catholicism deeper into the Italian way of life. He believed that the formation of the mind, without neglecting the freedom and capacity to love, was a key to correcting the imbalance between, "the rapid growth of technological power and the more laborious growth of moral resources". True education, he said, awakened the courage to make definitive decisions and this gave meaning to freedom, as it allowed love to mature in all its beauty.
Ihis is the task that is before us - a fascinating adventure that is worth our effort, to give a new thrust to the culture of our time" - BENEDICT XVI Benedict then acknowledged the Italian Church's continued tradition of addressing moral and material poverty by reaching out to the needy, sick and marginalised through numerous organisations, parishes and individuals. This work, he said, "makes visible God's love in the world and so makes our faith in the Incarnate, Crucified and Risen God convincing." He then urged the Italian lay faithful to be participants in the political arena, as citizens under their own responsibilities, but illuminated in their quest to build a just order in society by faith and the Magisterium of the Church. These responsibilities, he said, must include challenging the political and legislative choices that contradict fundamental values such as the guardianship of human life from conception to natural death and the irreplaceable role of marriage and family in society. The Pope encouraged the Italian Church Community to continue with their endeavours in the fields of education, charity, civic and political responsibilities and prayed that, in communion with the larger Church, they "would bring with renewed impetus to this beloved Nation, and to every corner of the earth, the joyful witness of the Risen Jesus."
The main game: Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass at Bentegodi stadium in Verona, Italy on October 19, 2006 for about 50,000 people, during his visit to the northern Italian city for the Fourth National Church Convention. In his homily, the Pope urged Italian CNS PHOTO/ALESSANDRO GAROFALO, REUTERS Catholics to recapture the energy of the Apostles, who faced hardships as they proclaimed Christ as saviour to a sceptical world.
Paganoni Catholic faithful from across Antonio Fr the nation for the official opendescribes his time in Verona last year as more of a strong spiritual ing, with each group carrying large placards of those they had experience than a Convention. The five-day gathering in chosen as living witnesses of the October of 2700 clergy and lay- Risen Lord in the world today. The Church of past and people was the fourth such event was then symbolically Church present the Italian by organised since the closing of the Second linked at the opening service through a spectacular presentaVatican Council and for the first time included representatives of tion of Italian Saints. The message of hope that the Italian community abroad. Fr Paganoni, Perth's Vicar for Pope Benedict shared during Migrants, was one of three to his address on the fourth day of the Convention, in which he travel from Australia. He was deeply moved by the praised the way the Church had powerful impact the Convention been woven into the Italian culture, became a reality for Fr had on many dimensions intellectually, visually and of Paganoni. Not only were most aspects the heart. Despite the diverof the program presented by lay gent views expressed and proposed throughout the week, Fr people, many powerful witnesses Paganoni said he perceived a in their own sphere of influence, great spirit of convergence, as but also, the daily mechanics of participants were able to put the event were faultlessly managed by thousands of 18-35 year aside their differences. olds who enthusiastically served He believed that inspirational prayer combined effectively those in attendance. Fr Paganoni came away from with enlightened conferences Verona with feelings of optiand workshops to ensure that participants were able to rea- mism. "The Convention was son, argue and contemplate with a moment when the Catholic Church emphatically expressed both intellect and heart. he said. But he believes itself", drawn togethall were They er, he said, by the Convention's that such opportunities must theme, "Witnesses to the Risen continue to occur, particularly in Australia, so that the strucLord, Hope of the World". tures and movements within for Fr Particularly moving Paganoni, and embracing this the Church are able to come theme, was the arrival of the together and express themselves and not remain isolated from one another. By doing this, he believes, the message that was clearly expressed during the Verona Convention will become increasingly apparent; that the real business of the Church is about creating holiness and that each individual is called, in their own unique way, to shine the light of the Risen Lord, Up close: Pope Benedict XVI celebrates an open-air the hope of the CNS world. Mass at the Bentegodi stadium in Verona.
The Holy Spirit guides Bayswater to 50 years S
aint Columba's parish in Bayswater has been a place of spiritual and communal formation for many, including Bishop Donald Sproxton. Last Sunday they celebrated 50 years since the opening of the current building on February 10, 1957. For the full story see page 5
Anticipation: Parishioners wait for the 50th anniversary Mass to begin on Sunday.
Starting: Fr Nguyen (left), Bishop Sproxton and Bishop Peter Quinn move into place.
Blessing: Bishop Sproxton and Fr Huynh Nguyen with a Papal Blessing. for the parish.
February 152007, The Record
Page 4 • Vista
One thing's for sure, Hicks is an enigma
Paul Gray observes how David Hicks, an Australian held prisoner by the US military in Cuba, has become a topic of growing interest to Catholics. The bishops of Australia have put their name to a statement of concern about David Hicks' case. One in particular, the Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, has voiced his anger at the long delays in bringing Hicks to trial. In more muted tones, Cardinal George Pell is another who has raised his concern about the issue, publicly. Now, the Hicks issue is on the front-burner nationally, as Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer come under raking fire in Canberra, from the Opposition and human rights agencies, over what the latter allege is the Government's neglectful attitude towards Mr Hicks. Responding, Mr Howard has appeared to give ground, inch by inch, on the question. From an original position of outright defiance, the Prime Minister now voices modified outrage at the detention without trial of Mr Hicks, an Australian citizen. Undoubtedly influenced by Catholic Church leaders, and other interested community voices, the usual "loyal dissenters" within the Coalition Party room have also begun pressuring Mr Howard on the issue. Politics aside, the case of Mr Hicks is a complex one for most Australians to understand. The essential point raised by opponents of Hicks' continued incarceration is
A drag: US Army police escort a detainee to his cell in Camp X -Ray at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
PHOTOS: CNS
that he is being punished, through deprivation of freedom, without having had the opportunity to have the case against himself tested in a court of law. This may mean, in fact, S .1 F) IIi: --. WTI __, that he is an entirely innocent man, wrongly detained. Alternatively, he may be guilty of serious offences. The principal objection in the case ii t a ... v is that, without a trial, it is imposow sible for any reasonable person to l0.1 know which is true. II I 4 I All that can certainly be known is that Mr Hicks is a convert to Islam who chose to travel to Pakistan sp-- - 4 ••., -,,ii to study his new faith. Pakistan, glip, through its madrasa (high school) demand Demonstrators the release of David Hicks from Guantanamo Protest: system, is home to some of the centre in a march from detention Parliament to the US Embassy in Canberra. Bay most extreme exponents of radical Islamic ideology on earth. These madrasas have played a Hicks is that he was in Afghanistan five years of debate about his case, key role in fostering the beliefs shortly after September 11, 2001, is the specific detail about what he of the "Taliban" movement, previ- and that he was arrested by the is believed to have done. Did Mr Hicks fire a gun at ously in power in Afghanistan, and Northern Alliance, a group then fighting against the Taliban govAmerican soldiers? Did he fire a closely linked to the al-qaeda moveernment. What is not known by the gun at anyone else? Did he plant a ment led by Osama bin Ladin. What is also known about Mr vast majority of Australians, after bomb? Did he conspire with others
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to have bombs planted, either in Afghanistan or other countries? Despite the general wide availability of knowledge in this media age, few people in Australia or the United States can answer such questions. Claims about Mr Hicks' activities, however, exist in plenty. The most detailed set of these occurred in an article by journalist Piers Akerman this month. Mr Akerman reported the contents of US Defence department files. He also referred to "a chronological precis of (Mr Hicks') activities on file with the US defence department." Mr Akerman reports that Hicks "saw bullets flying" during a retreat from frontline fighting against "Coalition forces" in November 2001. The article claimed that Hicks engaged in detailed training in A fghanistan in activities such as marksmanship, "kidnapping techniques" and "assassination methods." Basing himself on the US Defence Department file or files, Mr Akerman also made the claim that Mr Hicks joined a group of fighters "engaged in combat against Coalition forces." These are serious allegations - the most serious yet to have been levelled against Mr Hicks on the public record so far. The concern in the mind of human rights activists will be that a miscarriage of justice may occur if these charges cannot be sustained through a fair and open legal process. Miscarriages of justice are not unknown in the English tradition - despite the fact that the legal systems of the United States, Britain and Australia are highly regarded, not only by legal historians but by ordinary people. Two examples of miscarriage of justice, both British, are the 1970sera cases of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. These two cases involved serious allegations of terrorist action and conspiracy by Irish people. The fallout from those cases, which seriously embarrassed Britain's legal establishment, was memorable. The Australian Government will be hoping for no repeat occurrence in the case of David Hicks.
Survivors of Killing Fields serve up lessons Notre Dame students have been inspired by Cambodians Meeting with survivors of Pol Pot's infamous 'Killing Fields' proved to be an inspiration for five students studying in the School of Arts and Sciences at The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle. The students accompanied by Associate Professor Neil Drew spent 12 days in Cambodia as part of a social justice program run in conjunction with the Catholic organisation Caritas Australia. The self-funded trip was organised and led by Janeen Murphy, the Western Australian Caritas Global Education Officer. In Cambodia the students were hosted by staff from Australian Catholic Relief (ACR) which is funded by Caritas Australia. During the two week stay the groups visited many projects funded by Caritas and other international aid
organisations throughout the country. Travelling by bus they covered several hundred kilometres to visit many isolated communities, meeting and speaking with community members about a wide range of issues including HIV Aids, poverty, homelessness, sustainable livelihoods, community empowerment and life in Cambodia since the fall of the Pol Pot regime. Associate Professor Drew explained that the aim of the trip was to learn more about Caritas work and mission in Cambodia. They saw first-hand how a community can rebuild itself after experiencing such a horrific and destructive event. "The first place we visited was a killing field outside Phnom Penh. It was a graphic and confronting experience but one that provided the necessarycontext for understanding the projects we visited over the following two weeks. It was an amazing experience, one which provided a huge range of positive
outcomes for students and for the University. We intend to make the trip an annual event," he said. One of the students, Tricia Green, who is majoring in politics and history, said the trip to Cambodia enriched her studies in so many ways. "Academically the concepts I had been studying, such as grassroots democracy, the politics of globalisation, and genocide were transformed from abstract concepts to the reality of people's life," she said. "The trip provided me with vocational direction, as well as some brilliant memories." A goal was to awaken a sense of justice and a commitment to spreading the message of our shared obligation to make a positive contribution to world affairs. The students will form the inaugural Caritas group on the Fremantle Campus. They are producing a DVD documenting their trip and will speak at a range of events about their experiences throughout the year. I
I
Freedom: Notre Dame students experience the innocence of Cambodian kids. •
February 152007, The Record
Page 9
The World FEATURE Pope's man causing revolution
Kicker: Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone speaks at a dedication ceremony at Rome's Termini train station in December. The Vatican secretary of state frequently goes outside Vatican walls to give speeches, say CNS PHOTO/DANIELE COLARIETE, CATHOLIC PRESS Mass or join a debate in a manner unlike his predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
Pope's No. 2 man breaks the mould of secretary of state • By John Thavis
Listening to an early morning talk show on the radio one recent morning, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone grew annoyed as callers c omplained about the Vatican's "silence" on soccer violence. So the Vatican's secretary of state picked up the phone and soon found himself on the air, giving listeners an earful. Cardinal Bertone pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican newspaper and the Cardinal himself had all condemned the recent killing of a policeman at a soccer match and said if people didn't know that, they weren't paying attention. He added that it was a huge mistake to suggest, as some listeners had done, that the Pope was somehow detached from the concerns of average people. "This is just typical boorish ignorance," he said. Historically, a Vatican secretary of state communicates in discreet, closed-door conversations and not via talk radio. But five months into his new job, Cardinal Bertone already has signaled that he's going to be different.
Instead of spending all day behind the scenes, dealing with foreign affairs and the administrative problems of the universal Church, Cardinal Bertone frequently goes outside the Vatican walls to give speeches, say Mass or join in a debate. That's a contrast with his diplomatically trained predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. "I think we're seeing a different style. Cardinal Sodano was an office person, at his desk from 7 in the morning until midnight, and he'd get his energy from that," said one Vatican source. "Cardinal Bertone is more of a people person, an extrovert, and he needs the energy that comes from being in circulation," he said. The media has warmed to the Cardinal's personality and given him ample ink and airtime. As a result, the 72-year-old Salesian is building a reputation as a kind of populist pastor willing to speak his mind on a wide spectrum of topics - from the importance of religious art to medical ethics. Over the last few months, Cardinal Bertone has popped up almost everywhere: talking about the Holocaust at a book presentation, preaching about ethics to Italy's finance police, blessing a garbage collectors' Christmas creche, celebrating Mass for typography workers, sampling truffles from Italy's Piedmont region, viewing an
exhibit on Russian Orthodox spirituality and cheering at a Churchrun soccer tournament. Pope Benedict is apparently used to seeing his secretary of state come and go. In December, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Pope asked him where he was headed, and the Cardinal said he was off to the outskirts of Rome to lead a procession. "Another one?" the Pope quipped. More than anything else, soccer has made Cardinal Bertone a household name in Italy. The Cardinal is a longtime fan, and as Archbishop of Genoa he once did radio play-by-play for a local soccer match. Last fall, he declared - jokingly, he later insisted - that the Vatican should field its own national soccer team for the World Cup. More recently, he said it would be beautiful if the Vatican could send an athletic team to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and hear the Vatican anthem played in a Chinese stadium. His high public profile has left some people wondering whether the new secretary of state has any energy left over for diplomacy or Church administration. Some say it's not easy for ambassadors to get a meeting with Cardinal Bertone, but others report that the Cardinal has prioritised well and has done
his homework on the most pressing international issues. A fter chairing a closed-door Vatican summit on China in January, Cardinal Bertone drew praise for his knowledge of the various aspects of the situation and his ability to direct the discussions to conclusion. "It was extremely well organised, and Cardinal Bertone came well prepared. By bringing together the Vatican's diplomats, evangelisation officials and the bishops from the Chinese Church, the Cardinal was implementing the Pope's idea that Vatican diplomacy should not be detached from pastoral reality," said one informed source. Alberto Melloni, an Italian Church historian, said Cardinal Bertone helped design a "diplomatic masterpiece" during the Pope's visit to Turkey last fall, when the Vatican made clear that it did not oppose Turkish entry into the European Union despite the Pope's previous statements as a Cardinal. In effect, Melloni said, Cardinal Bertone led the Pope to "rethink" the Turkish question, but without making it appear as a reversal of position or a tactical political move. Melloni said Cardinal Bertone has shown that he's not interested in revolutionising Vatican foreign policy, but is happy to work with the diplomatic machine he's inherited.
"He's not undertaking an antiSodano operation. He didn't arrive with a vacuum cleaner, with the idea of sweeping out the people chosen by his predecessor," Melloni said. As for his penchant for keeping in the public eye, Melloni said the Cardinal has always liked to socialise and communicate. "He's a true Salesian, he wants to be with people," the historian said. Some think Cardinal Bertone's time is being taken up by too many strictly Italian events, like liturgies for Italian youth groups or visits to Italian hospitals. But Popes and Vatican officials have often spoken to the universal Church through the pastoral environment that surrounds them, and quite logically, it's the Italians who are inundating the secretary of state with invitations. Italy, to be sure, is enjoying Cardinal Bertone's ascendancy. The fact that the German Pope chose an Italian Cardinal as his right-hand man was extremely important to a country where many consider the papacy on temporary loan to foreigners. And though everyone agrees it's too early to talk about papal elections, Cardinal Bertone's popularity already has led some observers to place him at the top of the list of Italian "papabili" in the event of a future conclave. (NS
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he World
February 152007, The Record
Debt cancellation still a priority Debt cancellation and relief needs to go to a deeper level, say social activists • By Mark Pattison
1
n January, as many of the world's political movers and shakers met in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, thousands of would-be societal movers and shakers met in Nairobi, Kenya, for the seventh World Social Forum. According to two US participants in the social forum who recently returned from Kenya, there was one message aimed at participants of the economic forum: Debt cancellation and relief for the world's poorest nations are still high on the to-do list. "Debt is a big object of talk in international circles and civil-society groups," said Marie Dennis, director of the Washington-based Ma ryknoll Office for Global Concerns. She was one of about 15 from Maryknoll attending the January 20-25 social forum, which she said drew 70,000 participants from all over the world. Dennis is also a member of the board of Jubilee USA, a coalition of more than 60 faith-based and nongovernmental organisations working for debt relief. Dennis told CNS that 2007 is considered a jubilee year in the same way that 2000 was. "It's the seventh year since the jubilee year," she said, and "in the Judeo-Christian tradition" the seventh year is a jubilee year. As activists raised their voices for debt reduction and relief for heavily indebted poor countries during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, she said "this is the year to take another big step forward" on those issues.
Grass-roots: Participants at the World Social Forum walk through the streets of a slum area in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
"Some of that happened at the World Social Forum. There was a very clear call that the world debt crisis is not just a financial problem for the countries of the South (the Southern Hemisphere), but a political problem," she said. Dennis added the United States has a "mixed record" on debt relief. "I think there are times when the US has played a positive role. In the '90s there was a time when the US was pushing for debt cancellation programs," she said. "Most recently, the US pushed very hard at the Inter-American Development Bank to cancel the debt of the most heavily indebted countries in Latin America." However, she said, the United States insists that "right reform"
of a nation's economy be implemented "in conjunction with debt cancellation, and that has continued to cause a problem in many countries." Dennis said the 2007 call is for more debt cancellation for more countries at a deeper level, without conditions, but also a cancellation or elimination of debt that is illegitimate and odious, which is beginning to be recognised as a serious issue and needs much, much more attention". She said Tanzanian delegates to the World Social Forum "talked about the positive impact on education in Tanzania" after debts were alleviated there. "New schools were built, but there are more schools (yet) to go. More teachers are needed, more supplies," she said.
Fr Seamus Finn, director of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office for his order, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, was one of 27 Oblates at the social forum; 12 were from Africa, representing eight African nations. Fr Finn said he thinks social activists are "much more savvy" than they had been in dealing with institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and answering their questions. "There's the question always which I think is true at a personal level and a household level, and economists would say it's true at a global level - if you forgive a debt you've got to find a way to account for that hole," said Fr Finn, another Jubilee USA board member.
PHOTO/ANTONY NJUGUNA, REUTERS
"That's the argument at the core here. If the IMF cancels the debt, where are they going to get the resources to get it? They're going to have an imbalance on their balance sheet," he said. By the same token, many heavily indebted nations have paid far more in interest on their loans than what the principal originally was. "On some of these indebtedness and repayments, we're going back to the '80s," Fr Finn said. "The system put these kinds of burdens and quantified them - this amount of money, this amount of interest. "Any reasonable person would say, `Geez, there's got to be some way to put an end to this and get out of this.' That's got to be another part of the discussion."
Weak need to be protected by law
Lay movements help Bishops
Pope says the weak are at mercy of others when laws not based on morality
Pope says lay movements can help Bishops care for their own souls
When laws are based on compromise or consensus instead of moral values, anyone too weak or without a voice to participate in the debate is left at the mercy of others, Pope Benedict XVI said. The Pope decried the loss of a firm moral foundation in law and scientific research when he met with participants in a February 12-14 conference on natural law and morality. Natural law refers to a common human code of right and wrong, a code that people access through use of their consciences and reason. The most basic expression of natural law, he said, is "to do good and avoid evil" and from that flows a recognition of other values, such as respect for human
life and dignity, freedom, justice and solidarity. Those values, the Pope said, are norms that precede any human law" and not simply rights granted by a legislature or an international agreement. In fact, he said, "every legal order - internal or international draws its ultimate legitimacy from being rooted in natural law." Natural law "is the only valid bastion" against the whims of the powerful or the deceit of those who try to manipulate public opinion, the Pope said. When natural law and ethical norms disappear from public debate and discourse, "legislation becomes increasingly just a compromise between different interests" or an attempt "to transform into ri,;nts private interests or desires." Pope Benedict said that one of the most important areas where natural law is being attacked today regards the family founded on the marriage of a man
and a woman open to having children. "No human law can subvert the norm written by the Creator without dramatically wounding society in that which constitutes its basic foundation," he said. "To forget this would mean weakening the family, penalising children and making the future of society precarious." The Pope said biomedical research is another area of great concern because many people seem to think that scientists should be free to pursue any project that is scientifically feasible. "When it reduces a human being to an object of experimentation, technology abandons the weak to the will of the strong," he said. "To blindly entrust ourselves to technology" without insisting that scientists observe a moral code, he said, leaves humanity open to all sorts of manipulation and violence "with devastating -CNS results for all."
A bishop can turn to Catholic lay movements not only when he needs an organised group to implement his pastoral plans, but also when he needs to care for his own soul, Pope Benedict XVI said. When a movement gathers its "bishop-friends" together, it helps them experience "a more intense communion of hearts, a stronger mutual support and a greater shared commitment to showing that the Church is a place of prayer and charity, a house of mercy and peace," the Pope said. Pope Benedict spoke on February 8 at a joint audience for 80 bishops participating in a conference sponsored by the Focolare movement and 110 bishops attending a meeting organised by the Community of Sant'Egidio.
The Pope said that from his days as a professor in Germany he has been convinced that "really, the movements are a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church." The fact that the movements have reached out to bishops who draw strength from their spirituality and activities proves that "the diversity and unity of gifts and ministries are inseparable in the life of the Church," he said. Pope Benedict said the variety of lay movements responds to the variety of needs and blessings found among the world's peoples. "In the rich Western world where, even though a culture of relativism exists, at the same time there is a widespread desire for spirituality, and your movements witness to the joy of the faith and the beauty of being Christian," he said. In the world's poorest countries, he said, "they communicate the message of solidarity and make themselves the neighbours of the poor and the weak" with love that -CNS is both human and divine.
February 152007, The Record
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The World
Carthusians' silence blows away misconceptions Documentary filmmaker says monks showed him a new side of Catholicism • By Mark Pattison If you accept the maxim that the Catholic Church thinks in terms of centuries, then documentary filmmaker Philip Groning's dealings with a Carthusian monastery in France moved at lightning speed. Groning first approached the monks in 1984 with the idea of filming a documentary about their life in community. He got a reply saying the request had come "too early," and that perhaps in "10 or 13 years" the monastery would be ready. Eventually, 16 years would pass before Groning got word that the monks were ready to discuss the possibility. "The question I asked myself was, 'Does this project still fit in with my life?" Groning said in a phone interview while in a New York City taxi heading to an airport for a flight to his native Germany after doing some prerelease publicity for the film, "Into Great Silence." "I re-read the outline from 1984 andI thought, 'This is a fantastic outline." Groning said he was born and raised Catholic, but that he "had a big problem with that when I was
He was his film's director, writer, producer, executive producer, cinematographer, sound editor and composer, although most of the music is Latin chant sung by the monks. Despite the vow of silence, "Into Great Silence" is hardly a silent movie. The ringing of bells, the shuffling of feet, even the ambient sounds of nature all can be heard with great clarity. "When it's so quiet, you hear sounds you don't usually hear. You don't hear the water dripping that way, or if you do you couldn't record it," Groning said. "In the monastery you can hear every event separately." The absence of words also means there are few characters to follow in the 169-minute movie. The few who are distinct are two novices, one of whom is from Africa, who are welcomed into the monastery - the ritual, with words in French, is included - and an elderly blind monk interviewed near the movie's end who speaks about life, How's the serenity: A scene from into Great Silence," a documentary by filmmaker Philip Groning about monks at a the end of life and his own life. PHOTO: CNS, COURTESY OF ZEITGEIST FILMS Carthusian monastery in the French Alps. Groning said it was "a very deliberate choice" on his part not to focus growing up. One of the reasons I monastery, very much of the other as dark as I had thought. Being a on anyone in particular. "It's clear that if you follow one person along, Christian is a joyful thing." made the film was to understand side showed". you don't drift into the plot." "Into of lifestyle the adopted Groning grace, divine "It's all about where I came from and get reGreat Silence" has proven quite vow a take They Carthusians. the comabout divine providence, left. I that religion attached to the pletely trusting God, completely of near-total silence - hence the popular in France. It will premier And in a certain way, I did." Asked to explain, Groning trusting that God will lead you," film's title - at their monastery in the US on February 28 in New said his Catholic upbringing in Groning said. "This is a side of in the French Alps, the Grande York City, but a release date has not the 1960s was "very much about Catholicism I had not lived when Chartreuse. He filmed there for six been announced yet for Australia. -CNS guilt and sin and confession. In the I was a child. The religion was not months over three separate trips. Watch this space.
Church is growing with strong numbers in Africa and Asia Church growth rate bigger than overall poplulation increase CNS - Latest Vatican statistics confirm that the Church's population and ministerial workforce are continuing to shift to developing countries, especially those in Africa and Asia. Figures released on February 12 showed that the overall number of Catholics increased to nearly 1.12 billion at the end of 2005, an increase of 1.5 percent from the previous year.
The Catholic growth rate was slightly higher than the rate of overall population increase, which was 1.2 per cent. Catholics now represent 17.2 per cent of the global population, the Vatican said. The statistics were released in connection with the presentation of the 2007 edition of the Vatican yearbook, known as the Annuario Pontificio, which catalogs the Church's presence in each diocese. The Church's population grew fastest in Africa, where the number of Catholics increased 3.1 per cent in 2005, about half a percentage point higher than the overall population growth rate on the continent. In
the world in brief Contemplate Christ, fight for life Contemplating Christ nailed to the cross should stimulate people to protect human dignity and "to fight every form of contempt for life," said Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 message for Lent. "May Lent be for every Christian a renewed experience of God's love given to us in Christ, a love that each day we, in turn, must 're-give' to our neighbour, especially to the one who suffers most and is in need," said the message. The message was released at the Vatican on February 13. The theme of the message is "They shall look on him whom they have pierced." Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year is February 21. Easter is April 8. Using the Greek words "agape"
Asia, the number of Catholics was up 2.7 percent, and in the Americas up 1.2 percent. In Europe, there was a very slight increase in the number of Catholics, the Vatican said. Similar geographical differences were reflected in the number of priests and seminarians. The number of Catholic priests around the world was 406,411 at the end of 2005. That was an increase of 520, or about 0.1 per cent, over the previous year. Broken down by continent, the increase was 3.8 per cent in Asia and 3.6 per cent in Africa. Europe and the Americas showed a decrease of about half a percent-
and "eros," the papal message said that love has two fundamental forms. Agape "indicates the self-giving love of one who looks exclusively for the good of the other," it said. Eros "denotes the love of one who desires to possess what he or she lacks and (eros) yearns for union with the beloved," it said. While agape better describes God's love for humanity "God's love is also eros," the papal message said.
Pope re-focuses Lent on us While calling Catholics to perform concrete acts of charity during Lent, Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 Lenten message focuses not on social problems, but on an individual's relationship with God, said Archbishop Paul Cordes. Presenting the Lenten message at a February 13 press con-
age point in the number of priests, while the number dropped 1.8 per cent in Oceania. The global distribution of priests continued to swing slowly toward Africa and Asia, which at the end of 2005 had 20.3 per cent of the world's priests; in 1985, that number was about 11 per cent. Europe continued to lose priests and was home to 48.8 per cent of the world total; in 1985, Europe had 58 per cent of the world's priests. The distribution numbers were relatively unchanged for the Americas, which has about 30 percent of the total number of priests, and for Oceania, which has about
ference, Archbishop Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, said the Pope departed from the customary social focus of papal Lenten messages in order to emphasise that Christian charity must have a religious motivation. The 2007 message, a meditation on the crucified Christ as the fullest sign of God's love, called on Christians to contemplate Christ's suffering and then work to alleviate situations in which human life and dignity are threatened by poverty, oppression, exploitation, loneliness and abandonment. Archbishop Cordes said Christians must be pleased that "the biblical commandment of love for one's neighbour" is being followed by a variety of foundations and philanthropic agencies that have no religious motivation. But at the same time, he said, they must
one per cent of the total. Regarding seminarians, the Vatican said that globally the number increased 1.2 per cent in 2005, from 113,044 to 114,439. Africa led the way with an increase of 3.46 per cent, followed by Asia with 2.9 per cent. The Americas had an increase in seminarians of 0.6 per cent, while Oceania remained virtually unchanged. In Europe, the number of seminarians dropped 1.9 per cent. For every 100 seminarians in the world at the end of 2005, 32 were from the Americas, 26 were Asian, 21 African, 20 European and one from Oceania, the Vatican -CNS said.
ensure their own acts of charity flow from and witness to the love of God.
Chinese cathedral evangelises Local and foreign Catholics expressed hope that a newly renovated Gothic cathedral in southern China would boost evangelisation. Local media coverage of the cathedral's official reopening should make more people aware of the cathedral's existence and boost evangelisation, Guangzhou resident Han Weizhou told UCA News. Han, who attended the February 9 Mass celebrating the formal opening of Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Guangzhou Diocese, said he feels the cathedral is a more comfortable place to worship now CNS that it has been renovated.
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February 152007, The Record
Opinion
the family is the future
Your child is no mini-me
• With Derek Boylen
our child is unique. Sometimes, when we get busy with daily life and the necessary duties of being a parent we forget to appreciate the uniqueness of our children. Most of the time relatives and friends point out the similarities between children and their parents. We can fall into the trap of thinking that our child is simply a mini-me. The truth, however, is that God has entrusted us with a completely new individual unlike anyone who has ever or will ever exist. The total number of people currently living on earth is approximately 6 billion. The total number of humans who have ever lived on earth is approximately 90 billion. However, according to Tony Buzan (author of Brain Child) if we were to exhaust all the possible permutations and combinations of the human genome we
could easily fill 50 million million planets with as many people on them as there are on earth today before we would ever see two people with exactly the same genetic make up. But even then they would be born into different eras, with different parents, dealing with different social norms and pressures. Your child is unique, sui generis. It is difficult to appreciate just how unique each child is. What amazes me even more is the enormity of God's personal love. Scripture assures us that he knows each of us personally by name, even before birth (Jeremiah 1:5); that he has scribed us on the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49:16). Jesus goes even further to assure us that he even has a special room prepared for us (John 14:2). In order for children to develop a healthy sense of their own uniqueness they need to know that there is something special about themselves. When we take the time to stop and appreciate our child's unique gifts, strengths, thoughts and qualities we help to build their self-esteem, courage and confidence. Children need to know that others think they are special. They need to understand that they can know and do things that no-one else can. And they need to be encouraged to express themselves appropriately in their own way. I sometimes wonder if our children
More than just spawns: Children need to know that there is something special about them.
actually appreciate how unique and important they really are in helping to build the kingdom of God. It's important that as parents we remind our children that they are a special gift from God, particularly in the early years. It won't be long before they hear that some of their friends were an "accident" or a "mistake." When I hear such statements I can't help but wonder
if this isn't part of what John Paul II termed the Culture of Death; to think of people as "accidents" or "mistakes." We need to help our children develop a language that sees people as gifts, sometimes unexpected, but special, unique gifts none-the-less. Beyond a personal appreciation of our own uniqueness we also need to help our children to realise that everyone
else is unique too. Each person has a unique experience of the world, a unique personal history, unique ideas and is loved uniquely and infinitely by God. It's our responsibility to use our unique qualities, skills and knowledge to love others as he loves us. Uniquely. Derek Boylen is director of Catholic Marriage Education Services for the Archdiocese of Perth derek.cmes@perthcatholic.org.au
life, the universe and everything
Don't underestimate kids, even the lost ones "The Lost Prince" unfolds
as a vignette of ANNA KROHN sees life in the British Royal Family during the in a boy's portrayal epochal years of 1905-1919. As meticulous, rarefied and spectacular as of Prince John are the drama's palatial settings, the arrays an extraordinary of state-heads and the Edwardian costumes, it is not the detailed grandeur that makes portrait of an the drama shine. Rather it is that the suffragettes, the revolutions, the assassinations underestimated and the "war to end all wars" are seen child through the calmly knowing yet strangely
T
he British actress, Helen Mirren, probably deserves the many awards and nominations for her lead role as Queen Elizabeth II in the film, "The Queen". Mirren studied photographs and footage of the 12 year-old Princess Elizabeth. She found that in meeting the girl, she could reclaim the concrete humanity and character of "The Queen", lost beneath the caricatures whipped up by gossip columns and political commentators. But there is another dramatisation of a "lost" royal which deserves attention even though it is screening here on late night TV. The two-part tele-drama, "The Lost Prince", was produced by the BBC and is written and directed by the Londoner Stephen Poliakoff, who like Helen Mirren, is the English child of a Russian-born father. Poliakoff, with his hairy appearance and his ability to snatch awards is not unlike the Kiwi director, Peter Jackson. His writing displays a particular penchant for subtle and intriguing intra-familial and inter-generational mysteries and secrets.
distant eyes of Prince John, the youngest and disabled son of King George V and Queen Mary (The present Queen's grandparents). Prince John Charles Francis was the last of the King and Queen's six children. At the age of four the prince experienced the first of many violent epileptic fits. He seems also to have had other learning and social disabilities (probably within the range of what is called today "autism"). At the Coronation of his parents, the doctors advised the Royal Family to keep the boy shut away from the public eye and away from rest of the family - made up of relatives who were most of the crowned heads of Europe. According to Poliakoff's extensive research through photograph archives, Queen Mary's diaries and through the wonderful letters the little prince sent to his relatives - including the fated daughters of Czar Nicholas - Prince John was not himself blotted out by this stern isolation. Poliakoff says: It turned out Johnnie was very far from being the monster child ... but he was also capable of interesting and humorous observations about people and situations and inspired devotion and love from his nurse "Lalla", a
The Lost Prince: Daniel Williams is Prince John in this heart-breaking series.
devotion that lasted nearly half a century after his death. Matthew Thomas is the boy actor, who with brilliant and three-dimensional insight catches the sometimes disturbing self-enclosed calm and buoyancy and at other moments the eccentric accuracy of vision of a child who was called "not quite right." Poliakoff refuses to dismiss the child's existence as a wasteful tragedy but he never hides either the embarrassed humour or the acute and puzzled suffering of those who love him. The love of Prince John's nurse "Lalla" is inspiring and fiercely defensive of the boy's dignity while the love of his mother, the formidable Queen Mary is deeply moving for all
her ram-rod carriage and restraint. "The Lost Prince" tells a universal story beautifully of the attraction we feel when we encounter any human being in a concrete way. It also tells of the mystery of disability and the mixture of inspiration and injustice which greets it, even when it occurs in the grandest of families. It is notable, that a medical culture fixated with appearances, (and therefore sometimes forgetful of the person) and that would advise that Prince John be kept alive though hidden, would later shorten the life of his dying father, King George V with a lethal dose of morphine. Anna Krohn is an adjunct lecturer and tutor at the John Paul II Insttitute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne.
February 152007, The Record
Life
Page 13
Passionate response to God: The Holy Father has thanked Religious for their unconditional and passionate response to God's call to love others. Here, Franciscan Fr Giuseppe Contran embraces a youth with severe disabilities at the Brother Pedro Social Services Hospital in Antigua, Guatemala. CNS
By your example, Benedict tells the consecrated, you proclaim to a bewildered world that God is Love On the World Day of Consecrated Life, also feast day of The Presentation of the Lord on February 2, Benedict XVI reflected on lessons from SS Simeon and Anna at St Peter's Basilica. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am glad to meet you at the end of the Eucharistic Celebration that has gathered you in this Basilica this year too, on an occasion so meaningful for you who belong to Congregations, Institutes, Societies of Apostolic Life and New Forms of Consecrated Life; you constitute a particularly important element of the Mystical Body of Christ. Today's liturgy recalls the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the feast chosen by my venerable Predecessor, John Paul II, as the "Day of Consecrated Life". With great pleasure I address my cordial greetings to each one of you present here, beginning with Cardinal Franc Rode, Prefect of your Dicastery, to whom I am grateful for his kind words on your behalf. Ithen greet the Secretary and all the members of the Congregation which looks after a vital sector of the Church. Today's celebration is especially appropriate for asking the Lord for the gift of an ever more consistent and incisive presence of men and women religious and consecrated persons in the Church journeying along the roads,of the wort4. Dear brothers anrsisters, the feast day we are celebrating reminds us that your Gospel witness, to be truly effective, must stem from a response without reserve to the initiative of God who has consecrated you to him with a special act of love. Just as the elderly Simeon and Anna longed
to see the Messiah before they died and spoke of him "to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Lk 2:26,38) so also in our time, especially among young people, there is a widespread need to encounter God. Those who are chosen by God for the consecrated life make this spiritual longing their own in a definitive way. In it, in fact, they have one expectation: the Kingdom of God: that God reign in our will, in our hearts, in the world. In them burns a unique thirst for love which can he
"Consecrated life, therefore, is by its nature a total and definitive, unconditional and passionate response to God. - Benedict XVI quenched by the Eternal One alone. By their example they proclaim to a world which is often bewildered but, in fact, increasingly in search of meaning, that God is the Lord of life and that his "steadfast love is better than life" (Ps 63[62]:4[3]). By choosing obedience, poye,.rty,and chastity for the Kingdom of Heaven, they demonstrate that any attachment or love for people and things is incapable of definitively satisfying the heart; that earthly existence is a longer or shorter period of waiting for the "face-to-face" encounter with the divine Bridegroom, an expectation to be lived with
an ever vigilant heart, to be ready to recognise and welcome him when he comes. Consecrated life, therefore, is by its nature a total and definitive, unconditional and passionate response to God ("Vita Consecrata," n. 17). And so, when one renounces everything to follow Christ, when one gives to him all that one holds most dear, braving every sacrifice as did the divine Teacher, the consecrated person who follows in Christ's footsteps necessarily also becomes "a sign of contradiction", because his/her way of thinking and living is often in opposition to the logic of the world, as it is almost always presented in the media. Indeed, in choosing Christ we let ourselves be "conquered" by him without reserve. How many people thirsting for the truth are struck by this courage and attracted by those who do not hesitate to give their life, their own life, for their belief. Is not this the radical evangelical fidelity to which every consecrated person is called in our time too? Let us give thanks to the Lord so that many religious men and women in all the corners of the earth may continue to offer a supreme and faithful witness of love to God and to the brethren, a witness that is often marked by the blood of martyrdom. Let us also thank God so that these examples may continue to inspire in the souls of many young people the desire to follow Christ always in an intimate and total way. Dear brothers and sisters, never forget that a4n4 tim ect!tsfqated is the Lord in the rcist'place who ensures its success in accordance with his plans. This certainty that the Lord leads us to a successful conclusion despite our weakness; this certainty must be a comfort to you, protecting you from the temptation of discouragement in the face of the inevitable
difficulties of life and the many challenges of the modern epoch. Indeed, in the difficult period in which we live many Institutes may feel a sense of dismay at the failings they discover within them and the many obstacles they encounter in carrying out their mission. Today that Child Jesus who is presented at the Temple is alive among us and invisibly supports us so that we may cooperate faithfully with him in the work of salvation, and he does not abandon us. Today's liturgy is particularly evocative because it is marked by the symbol of light. The solemn procession with candles which you made at the beginning of the celebration points to Christ, the true light of the world who shines in the night of history and illuminates every seeker of the truth. Dear consecrated men and women, burn with this flame and make it radiant with your life so that a gleam of the brightness that shone from Jesus, the splendour of the truth, may shine everywhere. By dedicating yourselves exclusively to him ("Vita Consecrata," n. 15), you witness to the fascination of the truth of Christ and the joy that derives from love for him. In contemplation and in activity, in solitude and in fraternity, in service to the poor and the lowly, in personal guidance and in the modern areopaghi, be ready to proclaim and to witness that God is Love and that to love him is sweet. May Mau,. the 21,*4v. iatc,ach you to transmit to men and womefrUday this divine fascination that must transpire from your words and actions. As I express to you my grateful appreciation for the service you render to the Church, I assure you of my constant remembrance in prayer andI warmly bless you all.
Page 14
February 152007, The Record
Movies
It's all in the faces of the soldiers • By Justin Myers
The Japanese perspective on a World War II battle seems very different from the American - until you see the faces of the soldiers. With a skilful stroke of originality, Clint Eastwood made two films, back to back, each dealing with a different side of the same historic battle. His previous Flags of Our Fathers addressed the battle of Iwo Jima from the American perspective, in particular the people and circumstances surrounding that famous photograph. In his latest film, Letters From Iwo Jima, which is aptly seen as a companion piece to Flags, Eastwood goes into the tunnels with the Japanese soldiers, presenting the battle from their perspective. Letters is the superior film, though such an assertion is perhaps misguided. This is not a sequel, nor are these two films which offer diametrically opposing viewpoints. Rather, they are two sides of the same coin. Flags of Our Fathers explored the nature of heroism, the concept of patriotism, and the efficacy of war propaganda. Letters From Iwo Jima delves into the same themes more profoundly. Dreadfully bereft of supplies and underfed, the Japanese soldiers dig in and anxiously await the arrival of the American troops on the island. Iwo Jima represents the first patch of Japanese homeland vulnerable to the enemy, so a loss here would be emotionally scarring. Many of the Japanese soldiers suffer from dysentery. Few of them know that much of their navy and air fleet have been destroyed and that no help is coming from the mainland. Most of them do know that the oncoming Americans greatly outnumber them and have impressive support from the air and the sea. Victory appears realistic however, because they have been taught, from the beginning of the war, that Americans are lazy and weak. They fight too emotionally and they are savages. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who lived briefly in the US and befriended quite a few Americans, knows better. He is played with gentle poise by Ken Watanabe, who first won over western audiences in Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai (2003). General Kuribayashi realises that an improbable victory on Iwo Jima is possible only through superior strategy and the prudent utilisation of his men. American patriotism as presented in Flags was a contrived one, well intentioned but based on half-truths. The Japanese patriotism
A Sympathetic General: Ken Watanabe stars in a scene from the movie Letters From Iwo Jima.'
presented in Letters is a forced one, based on honour, but also on fear and coercion. Even if the lazy Americans prove too numerous to defeat, the greatest honour for a Japanese soldier is to die in defence of the Empire. Even if all hope of survival vanishes, a Japanese soldier should take down as many of the enemy troops with him as he can. Furthermore, they prefer suicide to surrender. Some buy into these notions whole-heartedly. Others, like the simple baker, Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) not so much. He loves his country but he also loves his wife and baby daughter whom he has never met because of the war. Ninomiya, a member of the Japanese pop group Arashi, demonstrates that he has a future on the big screen. This is his fourth film, the first to play widely to an international audience. His portrayal of Saigo rings true and elicits sympathy without pity. Also of note in the cast is Tsuyoshi Ihara as Baron Nishi, a soldier who also made many American friends when he won a gold medal in equestrian riding at the Olympics in Los Angeles. The cleverly shot battle scenes contain discrete moments of thorough gruesomeness but this is not overdone. In Flags, the
combat segments were presented in a washed out picture, with emphasized blue and black hues. Similar scenes in Letters are even more stark with greens and grays predominating. Sometimes it almost seems as if the film were shot in black-and-white, with only the faintest hints of colour appearing here and there; and then a bomb explodes and a bright red fire leaps forth with startling crispness. Perhaps the film-makers are trying to say that however dismal the battle may have seemed to the Americans, it was even more bleak for their enemy. Whatever the reason for this visual style, it is undoubtedly worthy of note. Eastwood began shooting Letters immediately after wrapping on Flags. No overt narrative connection exists between this film and its predecessor, though we may get a glimpse of what exactly happened to Jamie Bell's character from Flags. It is no small achievement that such a prototypically American director succeeded in producing a film that appealed to the Japanese; and that a film with an almost solely Asian cast and almost entirely in Japanese, was so well received in America. Just about every scene contains clear reminders both of how different and of how similar East and
Prior& 015/WARNER
West are. The eastern culture seems so remote from our own in a scene where the Japanese are methodically killing themselves to avoid surrender - until we see the frightened, hesitant faces of some of these soldiers. Like its predecessor, Letters From Iwo Jima raises interesting questions about heroism without definitively answering them. Is it always heroic to die for one's country or one's beliefs? How far should a soldier, of any culture, push this? Even when escape is possible? Even when surrender is an option? All the way to the point of suicide? (Of course, this last question is not even raised in the West). Perhaps, when defeat in the battle is inevitable, it is more heroic to escape and fight another day. When escape is not possible, perhaps it is more heroic to surrender and return to one's family and vocation in life. Ultimately, the film bemoans the senseless waste of life, unavoidable in any war, and leaves it at that. In my review for Flags of Our Fathers I mentioned that I was looking forward to more quality work from Clint Eastwood. How briefly I had to wait. Justin Myers is a film reviewer and teacher of Latin and Greek in the Washington DC area.
P ANORAMA a roundup of events in the archdiocese Saturday February 17 BO SANCHEZ VISIT Bo Sanchez, international Catholic preacher and author is coming to Perth. Founder of the largest Catholic media ministry in the Philippines, including his own TV show "Preacher in Blue Jeans", radio programs and the publishing of devotional and inspirational magazines. 7.30pm, 67 Howe St, Osborne Park. Cost by donation. Information: Mario on 9202 6843 or email mario@disciplesofjesus. org. Sunday February 18 CARITAS AUSTRALIA Get ready for Project Compassion 2007. Official Launch of Project Compassion: 1 1 am Mass, St Joachim's Pro-Cathedral Victoria Park, Celebrant: Archbishop Hickey, Parishes to conduct local launch. Sunday February 18 TAIZE MEDITATIVE PRAYER 8pm, Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. Everyone welcome to come and join in this beautiful way of praying through song, scripture and silence. Bring a torch and a friend. Enq: Sister
Maree 0414 683 926.
9422 7925.
Tuesday February 20 STEPS OF THE DIVINE FIAT IN MARY A talk by Fr Hugh Thomas CssR at Casa di Luisa Piccarreta, 59 Newton Street, Spearwood 10.30am2pm. No charge. Holy Mass will be celebrated at 11am. Please bring plate for shared lunch. For further information please phone Jenny/Michele 9494 2604.
Wednesday February 21 LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR Many have experienced a renewal of faith or a 1st time encounter with Jesus through attending this course. You are invited to come along and bring your friends to join in the excitement of this lifechanging course. Introductory Night February 21, 67 Howe St, Osborne Park, 8pm. For enquiries ring Mario on 9202 6843 or 0411 641 245.
Sunday February 18 BENEDICTINE OBLATES OF NEW NORCIA Our chapter will meet 2pm at St Joseph's Convent, York St, South Perth. This is our first meeting this year and we would like everyone to attend as we want to make plans for our 50th anniversary (Sept 2008). Vespers and afternoon tea will conclude the meeting. Please contact Secretary: Adrienne Byrne 9388 3026. Visitors and enquirers welcome. Tuesday February 20 CARITAS AUSTRALIA Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Lunch, 12 noon - 1.30pm, Cost: Gold coin donation. Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St Highgate (Parking off Harold St), Follow signs to Seminar Room. RSVP Essential
Wednesday February 21 ASH WEDNESDAY LATIN MASSES Day of Fast and Abstinence. 10am Low Mass (preceded by Holy Hour at 8.45am - 9.45am). 12.10pm Low Mass and 6.30pm Sung Mass. Ashes will be distributed at all Masses. Also Stations of the Cross on Fridays in Lent at 5.30pm followed by Holy Mass beginning February 23, 2007 at the Pro-Cathedral. At St John's Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Ave, Perth. All welcome, inquiries Fr Michael Rowe 9444 9604. Thursday February 22 CARITAS WELCOMES BISHOP REMIGIUS - CARITAS INDIA Public Forums 9.30am - 11am Catholic Pastoral Centre, Seminar Room, Highgate. 7-9pm
Lynwood/Langford Parish Centre, 20 Prendiville Way,Langford RSVP Essential 9422 7925 by Tues 20th Feb. See story page 2. Friday February 23 HEALING FIRE - BURNING LOVE HEALING SERVICES 'On the Road to Emmaus' a Scriptural Way of the Cross presented by Jenni Young. Come and experience an intimate encounter of Jesus' healing love for you as he takes your wounds upon himself and makes you whole. Friday 23 February at 7.309.30pm and every last Friday of the month thereafter in the Church, 270 Camberwarra Dr, Whitford. For more information please contact Jenni Young on 0404 389 679 or 9445 1028. Friday February 23 ALAN AMES IN GLEN DALOUGH Alan will be speaking of his conversion experiences at St Bernadette's Catholic Church, Cnr Leeder & Jugan Sts, Glenda lough, after 7 pm Mass on Friday 23 February 2007. Healing prayers will follow. Eng: Loretti Crameri 9444 4409. Saturday February 24 THE MONTHLY NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF GOOD HEALTH To be held at the Holy Trinity Church, 8 Burnett
February 152007, The Record
Page 15
Classifieds
P ANORAMA continued
Street Embleton at 5pm followed by the Vigil Mass at 6pm. Enq: 9271 5528 or 9272 1379. Saturday February 24 to Sunday February 25 LENTEN RETREAT "Healing of relationships conducted by Fr Hugh Thomas CCsR, at the Redemptorist Monastery Retreat Centre, Vincent St from 9am Sat 24 Feb, and ends on 5pm on Sun 25 Feb 2007. For more details and registration contact Gertrude (9455 6576/0411 262 221), Rita (9272 1765), or Rose (0403 300 720). Saturday February 24 CARITAS WELCOMES BISHOP REMIGIUS FROM INDIA. 6pm Mass, St Peter the Apostle (Wood St) Bedford. Sunday February 25 CARITAS AUSTRALIA welcomes Bishop Remigius from Caritas India. 10 am Mass, Our Lady of the Rosary (Angelico St) Doubleview. 6 pm Masss, Monastery North Perth. Sunday February 25 CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION AND MASS (MANDARIN) The Perth Chinese Catholic Community (PCCC) welcome all to join in our Lunar New Year celebration and High Mass at the Holy Family Church, 45 Thelma St (cnr Thelma St & Canning Hwy), Como, at 4pm. Cultural lion dancing and Chinese musical instrument performances will follow after High Mass. Enq: PCCC Centre 9312 7649. Tuesday February 27 CARITAS WELCOMES BISHOP REMIGIUS FROM INDIA 7pm - 9pm 'Conversations on Tap" (SIP-style forum) Fremantle Hotel, Cnr Cliff and High Streets, Fremantle. RSVP Essential 94227925 by Fri 23. Wednesd3y February 28 PREGNANCY ASSISTANCE INFORMATION DAY Are you Pro-Life? Compassionate? A good listener? An information day will be held on Wednesday 28 February from 9.30am to 2.30pm for those who would like to know more about becoming a pregnancy support volunteer. To register, ph Pregnancy Assistance on 9328 2926. Monday February 26 to Friday March 2 LENTEN MISSION Queen of Apostles Parish, 55 Tudor Avenue, Riverton, Lenten Mission from Monday, 26 February to Friday 2 March (both days inclusive), from 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm daily, with question time to follow. Directed by Fr Greg Donovan. Enquiries: Parish Office 9354 0707 or Fr Paul 9354 0713. Friday March 2 to Saturday March 3 ALLIANCE AND TRIUMPH OF THE TWO HEARTS All night Eucharistic vigil in reparation to the Two Hearts. Holy Mass 9pm Friday at St. Bernadette's Church, 49 Jugan Street, Glendalough. Followed by all night adoration with rosaries, hymns etc and silent prayers. All are welcome for any length of time. Concluding with Parish Saturday Mass at 7.30am with Reconciliation available at 7am. Enquiries: Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845. Friday March 2 PRO -LIFE PROCESSION MIDLAND The first Friday Mass, procession and Rosary Vigil will be held on 2 March commencing at 9.30am with Mass celebrated at St Brigid's Church, Midland. The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate will lead us. All are invited to witness for the sanctity of life and pray for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349. Friday March 2 to Sunday March 4 M ARIST FR PAUL GLYNN Enjoy a quiet, non-stress retreat with the dearly loved author and retreat master, Fr Paul Glynn. Father will give two retreats at God's Farm 40km's south of Busselton, coach bookings now only for R etreat 1: March 2-4. Retreat 2: March 9-11. Details: Betty Peaker s.f.o. Ph/Fax: 9755 6212. PO Box 24 Cowaramup 6284. Saturday March 3 W ITNESS FOR LIFE PROCESSION The next first Saturday Mass, procession and Rosary vigil will be held on March 3 commencing with Mass at 8.30am at St Anne's Church, Hehir St Belmont. We proceed prayerfully to the Rivervale abortion centre and conclude with Rosary, led by Fr Paul Carey SSC. P lease join us to pray peacefully for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349. Sunday March 4 DIVINE MERCY An afternoon with Jesus and Mary will be held at St Joachim's Church, on the corner of Shepperton Road and Harper Street in Victoria Park, at 1.30pm. Programme: Holy Rosary and Reconciliation with Fr
John Reynolds on St John of the Cross, followed by Divine Mercy Prayers and Benediction. Afterwards in the hall - Video with Fr John Corapi on the Sacrament of Confession - Refreshments etc. Saturday March 10 LENTEN RETREAT DAY "Dancing our sorrows', 10am - 4 pm. St Catherine's House of Hospitality, 113 Tyler Street, Tuart Hill. To register phone 9271 3873 Monday 26 March SPIRITUALITY AND JUSTICE: BEING HUMAN IN A CHAOTIC WORLD. 5pm -8.30 pm at the Perth Theological Hall, Worship Centre, Murdoch University (including light refreshments and worship) Registrations to 9360 6880 or a.watson@murdoch.edu.au. Every Monday SCRIPTURAL PRAYER PROGRAM The Council for Australian Catholic Women (CACW) is offering a Scriptural Prayer Program developed in the Jesuit tradition. This form of prayer can lead to more reflective living, greater spiritual depths and promotes lay spiritual leadership in the Church. Led by Kathleen Brennan (ibvm). 26 Feb, 26 March, 7.30pm, 49a Vincent St, Highgate. Enq: 9345 2555. Every Saturday HOLY HOUR St Francis Xavier's Church, 25 Windsor Street, East Perth, every Saturday afternoon from 2.30pm a Holy Hour will be held with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet and prayers plus Reconciliation and Benediction. Every Sunday BULLSBROOK SHRINE Mass celebrated with Rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at 2pm at the Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Reconciliation in Italian and English before every celebration. Monthly Pilgrimage last Sunday of the month. Anointing of the sick during Mass on the second Sunday of the month. Side entrance of Church and Shrine open daily 9am and 5pm for private prayer. Enq SACRI 9447 3292. Every Monday WEIGHT MANAGEMENT FOR THOSE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS The Emmanuel Centre are offering to help people who gain weight because they are using medication for their mental illness. The group helps participants to manage their weight safely and healthily. Mind-Body-Life meets at the Emmanuel Centre on Mondays from 12.30-2.30pm. Free. The group starts with a weigh-in, then a talk on nutrition and healthy eating tips, goal setting and then half an hour of exercise. Enq: Amanda - Emmanuel Centre, 9328 8113. Every 1st and 3 Friday of the month CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL Every 1st Friday of the month, Praise and Worship Evening held at St John and Paul's Church, Pinetree Gully Road, Willetton at 7.30pm and every 3 Friday of the month, Catholic Adult Faith Education by Fr Greg Donovan held at U Goody Bioethics Centre, 39 Jugan Street, Glendalough. All are welcome, Enq: Rita 9272 1765, Rose 0403 300 720. IS YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER UNDECIDED AFTER SCHOOL? If your child has finished school unsure of what they really want to do, offer them a productive year discovering God's purpose for their life while learning practical life skills. They will develop leadership skills, communication and public speaking skills, and learn more about the Catholic faith and deepen their own faith in God. Contact Jane Borg (Acts 2 College) on 9202 6859 or 0401 692 690. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Alcoholics Anonymous can help. Ring 9325 3566. AL ANON FAMILY GROUPS If a loved one's drinking is worrying you - please call Al Anon Family Groups for confidential information meetings etc... Phone Number 9325 7528 - 24 hrs. LINDA'S HOUSE OF HOPE APPEAL To enable us to continue to provide and offer support for girls wishing to leave the sex trade we need your help. We have achieved already new offfices which are now complete at the rear of the shelter and are fully functional. Donations are also required to complete the internal layout of the shelter itself. Please send donations to Linda's House of Hope PO Box Z5640, Perth, St George's Tce 6831. Ph: 0439 401 009. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.
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A DVERTISEMENTS ACCOMMODATION • DENMARK Holiday House 3bdr x 2 bath, sleeps up to 8. BOOK NOW. Ph: Maria 0412 083 377.
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REUGIOUS PRODUCTS • RICH HARVEST -YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, baptism/communion apparel, religious vestments, etc? Visit us at 39 Hulme Court (off McCoy St), Myaree, 9329 9889 (after 10.30am, Mon-Sat) We are here to serve. • CATHOLICS CORNER Retailer of Catholic products specialising in gifts. cards and apparel for baptism, communion and confirmation. Ph: 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Road, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.
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MI BEREAVEMENTS AND THANKS WARD (Nina) Neville, Dot, Rose and our families express our sincere appreciation and thanks to all relatives and friends for their graceful expressions and prayerful support at the Funeral Mass, Catholic burial and wake for our late and dear mother, mother-in-law, nana and great-grandmother. We also express our gratitude to the staff at Ascot Nursing Home, Bayswater; Fr Van Huynh Nguyen. PP St Columba, Bayswater for his timely attendance and administration of the last sacrament; Fr Ossie Lewis. PP St Mary's Leederville for his support and celebration of the Funeral Mass and burial. Thank you all and, may she have eternal rest in the house of the Lord.
MI PICASSO PAINTING
EVENTS • PILGRIMAGE Dear Pilgrim, You are invited to come on a 15 Days Spiritual Pilgrimage. Medjugorje: 6 Days. Rome: 4 Days (audience with Pope). Garabandal: 4 Days. Spiritual Directors: Fr Paul Fox & Fr Aruiraj. Depart Perth: Wed 16 May 2007. Cost: $4958 P/P (twin share). Call Helen Cockrell Tel: (08) 9453 3218/0431 689 128. Sky air services - 9TA1220. Thank you for responding to my call.
FURNITURE REMOVAL III ALL AREAS Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.
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Official Diary - February 16
Caritas Reconciliation Forum, John XXIII College - Reflections by Archbishop Hickey
18
Project Compassion Mass, St Joachim's, Victoria Park - Archbishop Hickey 25th Anniversary Mass for Sr Jacinta RGS, Mirrabooka - Bishop Sproxton
19
Blessing for Impact World Tour - Bishop Sproxton
20
Meeting and Dinner, Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem - Bishop Sproxton
24
Convivenzo Eucharist, Yanchep - Archbishop Hickey
25
Mass at University of Notre Dame - Archbishop Hickey Closing Mass of Youth Leadership Summit, Catholic Pastoral Centre - Bishop Sproxton Missioning Ceremony and Para-liturgy for Personal Advocacy Service - Bishop Sproxton
27
Rite of Election, St Patrick's Basilica - Archbishop Hickey
28
Presentation of Medals to Cathedral Leadership Gifts Committee Members, Cathedral Presbytery - Archbishop Hickey Mass to celebrate Pontifical Recognition of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, Claremont - Bishop Sproxton
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February 15 2007, The Record
More great books and videos from
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G OD'S CHOICE Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church
Sanctity (friendship with God)
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Saint Companions for Each Day
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This collection of brief life sketches of some 400 saints presents a panoramic parade of some of the outstanding heroes and heroines of the Catholic Church who, by their holy lives, untiring labours and sacrifices have, through the centuries, helped to sustain that indestructible marvel. $15.95+postage
It's Lent again soon and we begin the journey towards the crucifixion and resurrection of the Son of the Living God. The epic film, The Passion of the Christ, is being hailed as the most powerful portrayal of the suffering and death of Jesus ever presented. The movie has changed lives, inspired hearts, and evoked questions. A Guide to the Passion was written to help you understand the many theological and artistic elements of the movie. By understanding the film better, we not only get into the mind of its creator but also glimpse the mind of the Creator of all things. $8.95 + postage
Reflections
Genre
Faith
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Perth evangelist Eddie Russell takes us on a cosmic adventure unfolding the mystery of faith as he explains the creation of the universe by the Word of God. With the dexterity of a celestial navigator he traces the cosmogony of Faith in Hebrews 11: 1-3, and the biblical names of the Mazzaroth to expose the deception of the horoscope revealing God's plan of salvation in the stars. $32.50 +postage
George Weigel, who set the standard by which all portraits of the modern papacy are now measured with Witness to Hope about JPII, now gives us an extraordinary chronicle of the rise and rise of Pope Benedict XVI plus an unflinching view of the Catholic Church at the dawn of a new era. $29.90 +postage
DAILY LENTEN MEDITATIONS Adults
The Eucharist: In Communion with Me
Daily Lenten Meditations
Designed to promote the Catholic Faith through appreciation of Christ's great gift of Himself to us in the Eucharist, this documentary in VHS format is a marvellous educational and evangelical tool to acquaint people with this most Blessed Sacrament. $19.95+postage
When John Paul II died the world's Catholics felt orphaned after 26 years of fatherly love for the global Church. Here he has left us his teaching as a help to those who wish to live the Catholic Church's season of Lent more meaningfully. It also gives enquirers his hopes for a world in which the respect for Truth and the knowledge of God's love bring joy and peace to the hearts of many. $20+postage
Call: Linda or Cathy on (08) 9227 7080 or via cathrec@iinetnetau for further information or inquiries
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