PERTH, WA: May 31, 1990
Registered by Australia Post Publication No. WAR 0202
Bid to bug pope's room foiled
Number 2690
• Page 4
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Priest ordained in Geraldton On the night of May 23 Father Brenton Taylor was ordained by Bishop Hickey in St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Geraldton. Born in 1947 he was educated in Scotch College, Perth. A convert to Catholicism he entered St Charles Seminary in 1982, completing his studies in St Francis Xavier Seminary, Adelaide in 1989. Newly ordained priest Father Brenton Taylor celebrates Mass with Bishop Hickey who had just ordained him.
Present at the ordination were his father, his brother Tony with his wife Cheryl and many friends from Adelaide, Perth and Geraldton.
Twenty-two priests concelebrated at the Ordination Mass with the enthusiastic participation of a packed cathedral. Father Brenton Taylor spent many years in the commercial world, mainly in advertising in Australia and overseas. After his ordination Father Taylor expressed his joy at the wonderful response of the people. "I realise," he said, "that their enthusiasm was not just for me, it was evidence of their appreciation of God's gift of priesthood and the ordination of another priest for the Diocese of Geraldton."
Big Medjugorje row ---- Page 7
rn osers
DAMNED IF IT DOESN'T RAIN AND DAMMED IF IT DOES SYDNEY: Eritrea needs peace, peace and rains, and if they could have that for a number of years I think we would be seeing a totally different picture of the Horn of Africa, says Australian Catholic relief worker Maureen Postma who has just returned from the area. In a cruel irony the rains expected to fall in Eritrea over the next few months may well sound the death knell for thousands of people who have been on the brink of starvation because the rains failed last year. Insufficient rain then meant that few crops grew. These same rains now may sever the villagers' only life line — food aid.
Maureen Postma said many of the tracks used by the food aid trucks were river beds. The coastal plains in the north of Eritrea are often transformed into rivers and lakes during the rainy season. So the trucks carrying food through this barren land could be held up for days or even weeks. 'There is virtually nothing in the food storage so they need a continuing supply of food aid delivery up until November and the pledges that they've got only cover about one tenth of their expected needs for the next six months," she said. She said if the food supply could be maintained people would
ride out the famine and then be able to harvest their own crops in November. And while distribution throughout the country is maintained the people will remain in their homes and continue to work the land. This, she said, was vital in diverting a disaster similar to that experienced in 1984/ 85 when thousands of people left their homes in search of food and thousands fell victim to disease that spread rapidly among the weakened masses in the refugee camps. Ms Postma said much had been accomplished in Eritrea since the last famine more than five years ago and that early warning of the
famine now affecting the country had adverted another major crisis. The people, she said, were also better prepared with only 35 per cent suffering malnutrition compared with 70 per cent in 1985. Eritreans had achieved some remarkable accomplishments considering the conditions under which they were forced to survive. Food distribution was efficient and quick and a sense of good organisation oprated within the country. Committees took care of social needs ranging from health care, agricultural development and land reform to education and women's issues. Village health workers, birth attend-
ants and bare foot doctors were being trained and the Eritreans produced their own medications, surgical drips and saline solutions. An adult literacy program had also started and soldiers often had classes during lulls in the fight for independence.
"The joint relief program within Ethiopia is also a very efficient way and a very reliable and trustworthy way to deliver food in areas of need. We are able to account for both the money that we receive in support from the Australian community and for the support that we receive through the A ustral ian government." • See Page 7.