PERTH, WA: June 1, 1989
Number 2638
Registered by Australia Post P ublication No. WAR 0202
POST ADDRESS: PO Box 50, Northbridge, 6000 W.A. LOCATION: 26 John St, Northbridge (east off Fitzgerald St).
TELEPHONE: (09) 328 1388
FAX (09) 328 7307
Quote In the 20 years, from the 1966 census till the '86 census, the Catholic Church in Australia gained a million members. It increased from just over three million in 1966 to just over four million at the last census, and it still remains 26 per cent of the population as it was 20 years ago. So it still retains its percentage of the population and grows with it.
PRICE 60C
Crucifix that comes with a story
A crucifix pictured above and blessed by Archbishop Foley recently was made from wood from the Mogumber reserve settlement and an olive tree on the original "Subiaco" foundation of the Benedictines on what is now the McAuley Centre at Wembley. The significance of the crucifix to the Anawim Centre is told on Pages 6 & 7.
Mass concern The church is not declining in numbers.
However, since the early 60s, there has been a marked decline in Mass attendance. Fr Michael Mason, a M elbourne -based Redemptorist priest and sociologist, had also noted the following in an interview with the The Advocate.
The decline in Mass a ttendance among young people, especially young women, is causing real concern. Fr Mason was clarifying some points he had made at a recent meeting of South Australian priests (see page 2). His comments had been reported out of context in a news item published in the secular press. Fr Mason noted that those no longer active in the Church often give as their reason that:
• The Church seems relevant to the modern world;
less
• The Liturgy is less well done than it used to be, that it lacks a sense of reverence; • That the Church is less important in the life of many Catholics.
from around 50 per cent in the early 60s to around 30 per cent now, he said. The early 70s had been a time of turbulent social and cultural change that affected all mainstream denominations. There had been a
By MANNY C ANDAPPA in
The Advocate
Mason said. Commenting on the decline in Mass attendance among young
The Mason said: Church is no longer the oppressed minority that it used to be, sticking close together, spending time together, everybody knowing the other person in church. "Now people complain
Where have the young ones gone?
"In the 20 years, from the 1966 census till the general revolt against all '86 census, the Catholic forms of authority in Church in Australia society — family, state, million a gained and naturally it would members. It increased also have affected the from just over three Church, Fr Mason million in 1966 to just observed. over four million at the It had also been the last census, and it still te aftermath of immedia remains 26 per cent of Vatican Second the the population as it was a time of — Council 20 years ago. for change major "So it still retains its Catholics. percentage of the popula"And I think we were tion and grows with it." fairly clumsy in impleFr Mason commented. menting those changes, The decline in Mass and we didn't explain attendance had been things very clearly," Fr
women, Fr Mason observed that it used always to be higher than the men. The reason for the decline, he noted, was that women's socialisation, education and career patterns now followed those of men much more closely. They entered a world of work dominated by secular thinking and were less insulated from the world. Attributing another reason for a deline in fervor among Catholics Fr
that parishes have grown so large the people don't have any sense of belonging. They feel like anonymous persons wandering around the world. "In a society where we are accepted, and where Catholics aren't a group notably discriminated against, we tend less to stick together as the Irish-Australian minority. "So for a whole host of reasons the Church is less important in the life
of many Catholics and has receded in importance in the Australian social and political world generally. "It is generally slow to relate itself to the issues of the day. and so Catholics find Church less central to their lives now." Commenting on today's liturgies, Fr Mason said: "Some people find liturgy concentrating on 'this worldly' aspects of community, with not so strong a reference to the sacred, to the 'otherworldly'. "It used to be that churches were places where great emphasis was placed on the sacredness of the place, a place for silence and prayer. "If they see the Church as no longer a particularly sacred place, but a place where the Christian community gathers,
and if they see it as equally appropriate for celebration and conversation, that's got something to be said for it. "But it loses a certain value in terms of the sacredness of the place. "They are both legitimate emphases. Not that one is right and the other is wrong. "But Ithink pastorally it may be important to many people to maintain that sacredness of place about the church and it would be desirable to have gatherings of the Christian community which are not of a particularly sacred kind somewhere else. "I'm not decrying the importance of Christian communities meeting as human communities, but it's probably good to keep the church for a particularly sacred kind of celebration."
Syngarny or the sin game warning MELBOURNE: The Catholic Bishops of Victoria warned the public last March that the Victorian Government was allowing destructive experimentation on human life up to the stage of syngamy. "We also warned that the same lobby which destroyed the original Act will soon be agitating for destructive experimentation on humans beyond syngamy," said Victoria's nine Catholic bishops this week.
"We were right. That forecast has been fulfilled." A procedure has been approved to allow the destruction of one hundred human embryos at the four cell stage beyond syngamy. Because of public reaction against this, the Victorian Minister for Health has launched a
major review of legislation on post-syngamy human embryo experimentation. Urging Victorians to protest against destructive experimentation on human embryos at any time after conception, the bishops continued: "In a democracy we accept that we have to explain our point of view to the general public. The scientists and their allies must be equally frank."