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Dom Francis Byrne has finished his studies In Rome and is returning to Western Australia. Before leaving the Vatican he filed a story on Vatican Radio and its impact around the world. See pages 6 and 7.
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It was an arresting moment when Father John Jegorow was well and truly captured _z = in "Youth Appeal by constable Christine 5 Jenkins of Police and Citizens Youth Clubs and Mrs Margaret Pietsch from Lutheran Youth. The fourth annual youth appeal doorknock
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goes out to the community of Western _
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Australia next Sunday. z Inthelast four years Catholic youth groups have benefited to the total of s30.000 to %i 3 in youth work. E Official collectors will wear a mauve z coloured badge and represent one of the 5 three groups taking part, Catholics, Luthe- =
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rans and Police and Cmzens. Antioch, Catholic Parish Youth, Redemptorist youth groups in Perth as well as Bunbury and Geraldton will doorknock on Sunday August 24.
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LONDON: The need for the Church to develop educational programs about drugs and to contribute premises for rehabilitation of addicts has been highlighted by a report on drug addiction released by the Catholic bishops' confemce of England and Wales. The report emerged from the bishops' concern at the rapid spread of drug addiction throughout the country, and the wish of the conference to consider how the Church "might cooperate with statutory and voluntary organisations in responding to the problem". The report stresses a "practical, rather than an academic or theoretical approach".
Chairman of British bishops Cardinal Hume
Drug addiction, the working party asserts, is worse than alcoholism for several reasons: • drugs are taken deliberately to reduce self-control, and "social drug-taking" cannot be controlled in the same way as social drinking; • drug addiction takes hold more quickly, so that drug addicts are
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usually young, and deaths occur early; • drug addiction leads to offences to pay for the habit which may have "a more devastating effect on the families of addicts than is the case with alcohol"; • a chain reaction is created between the drug users and the dealers, who "are interested only in profit, not the lives or deaths of the users". The working party recommends a four-point plan of action for the Church. First, they cite the "real need to inform and educate" clergy, teachers
and lay organisations. They recommend publications and programs, adaptable at parish, deanery or diocesan level, to increase public awareness. But, they continue, "one should not underestimate the need for teaching about drug addiction and its consequences in schools, even in the upper classes of primary schools". Secondly, the report says the initial treatment and detoxification of the drug addict is a specialised task, and "it may not be appropriate for the Church to be involved in this field". But "rehabilitation after treatment is another matter".
As the addict recovers he needs to spend a prolonged period, perhaps six months or a year, in a supportive and therapeutic environment "in order to regain self-respect and self-control". The third area in which the Church might help, the report suggests, is in the provision of support for families who have suffered the "shattering" impact of drug addiction.
Pope to talk to farmers See p
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