IHe
\
,/
PERTH, WA: March 9, 1995
PRINT POST APPROVED P P602669/00303
Number 2935
Archbishop Hickey warns prospective Catholics to expect opposition from the world
POST ADDRESS: PO Box 50, Northbridge, 6000 W.A. LOCATION: 587 Newcastle Street, Cnr Douglas St (near Loftus St)
TELEPHONE: (09) 22 77 080
FAX: (09) 22 77 087
PRICE 60c
Easterembrace Jesus himself was tested and had to reject cessful. EW MEMBERS entering the Church N had to be prepared to encounter hostil- the temptation to abandon his mission and "Jesus asks us to respect life and treat ity and resistance from the world around accept the world's vision. sacred. The world tells
human sexuality as "Jesus asks us to live in communion as us to do as we please, that sexuality is an brothers and sisters. The world tells us to be individual right to be used for one's perand self-sufficient," the arch- sonal satisfaction. individuals A difference in Western society between "Jesus asks us to submit our mind and will the way of the world and the way of Jesus bishop said. was becoming increasingly clear he told 86 "Jesus asks us to be like little children if to God if we want peace. The world says we people who will be entering the Church at we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. don't need God and that we are masters of The world tells us to he aggressive and suc- our own destiny." Easter. The church nevertheless asks us to be positive about the world around us, the archbishop said, because it is God's creation and all people are his sons and daughters them, Archbishop Hickey said at a cathedral ceremony last Sunday.
At the same time the Church has learned to be a bit wary of the world because she has suffered rejection and persecution in many countries from the until beginning today. Archbishop told prospective the Catholics that their faith would affect others for good.
In St. Mmy's Cathedral last Sunday, the scrolls of their names rest on the altar while Archbishop Hickey personally greets 86 prospective Catholics and their 99 sponsors.
111.11111111111MMEMINIMMEMW
!mrr,-7".MIMML'
r
He cited his own whose mother, fourth anniversary of death occurred last Sunday, as a convert at the time o f her marriage, whose faith grew and influenced profoundly and shaped the lives of all her children and grandchildren. 411M111111111111
Bishops: Sex guide distasteful, dangerous L'ederal Health Minister Lawrence's continuing defence of the Cleo safe sex guide has drawn criticism from the Catholic Bishops AIDS Resource and Reference Centre in Canberra. "The Guide really advocates a range of distasteful and dangerous sexual practices," says a Centre statement which also criticises the role the Commonwealth Department of Health played in the production, reportedly with a $250,000 subsidy.. "Anal sex, in particular, is among the highest of high risk behaviours for the transmission of HIV/AIDS, yet the Guide offers its youthful readers the advice that
great numbers of women enjoy anal sex either, 'purely for pleasure' or 'to lessen the risk of pregnancy'. supported by enthusiastic accounts from various young women," says the statement. "The message is clear:you've just got to try it!' "This approach in the Guide does not square with the Health Minister's defence of it. "Were it aimed simply at conveying 'safer-sex' information to those who are already engaging in these practices, it would hardly be necessary to describe the experience, how to achieve it, with such relish.
The Guide, however, positively promotes the joys of anal sex, among other things, and then adds the education: '...but be sure to wear a condom'. "Granted the very high risk of unprotected anal intercourse, and granted the fallibility of condoms and of human beings, the Guide is encouraging very risky practices, regardless of any other objections one may have to it. "Dr Lawrence's endorsement of the Guide, and the reported commitment of $250,000 of public money to its production, places the Health Minister in a false position in regard to her responsibilities for the fight against HIV/AIDS.
"It is disappointing that Dr Lawrence, who could be a role model to the young women readers of Cleo has appeared to endorse the entirely adolescent attitude to sex that Cleo purveys. Sex is presented simply as an experience, a buzz, a thrill. "There is no trace here of sex as part of real love, of relationship.as a matter touching one's own self-worth and integrity and that of someone else. Here there is simply sex as climax and-how-toget-it. "It is incredible that a distinguished national figure should lend her authority, and that of her office. to this impoverished,. depersonalised view of sex and life."