What's inside... Full text of Pope John Paul II's letter to women -Pages 10- 11 Archbishop Hickey launches a new resource kit to help introduce an Aboriginal perspective to studies across the whole school curriculum - Page 3 PERTH, WA: July 13, 1995
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Letters to the Editor and Book Review - Pages 6 - 7
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Colleen McGuiness-Howard travels to the Kimberley to see the work of the Sisters of St John of God- Pages 8 - 9
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Pope praises women By John Davis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - In a letter addressed to the women of the world, Pope John Paul II praised women's historic contributions as mothers, wives and social leaders, and said they needed greater protection against persistent forms of violence and exploitation. The letter, made public on Monday, endorsed the modern mainstream women's movement as a substantially positive process that must go forward. At the same time, the Pope said men and women rightly had a "diversity of roles" - in society and in the Church - that reflected their complementary natures. The all-male priesthood, for example, did not detract from the role of women and was not a sign of male domination, he said. He condemned abortion as a grave sin, but stressed that responsibility for abortion extended far beyond the woman involved. The Pope said his unprecedented letter was an attempt to speak "directly to the heart and mind of every woman" before the start of the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held in China's capital Beijing in September. Vatican officials expect tough debate during the conference over issues of abortion, gender difference and women's role in the family. The papal letter, how-
ever, avoided controversy and took a positive tone. It included thanks for all that women have done, an apology for the Church's failure to always recognise these contributions, and a condemnation of what the Pope called the "long and degrading history" of sexual violence against women. In a reference to prostitution and sex tourism, he blamed the "widespread hedonistic and commercial culture" for encouraging systematic exploitation of sexuality and corrupting "even very young girls into letting their bodies be used for profit." He praised "those women who, with a heroic love for the child they have conceived, proceed with a pregnancy resulting from the injustice of rape." Even in cases of rape, he said, the choice to have an abortion always remained a grave sin. "But before being something to blame on the woman, it is a crime for which guilt needs to be a ttributed to men and to the complicity of the general social environment," he added. The Pope urged changes to make women's equality a reality in today's world, called for equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancement and equal family rights for men and women. But in listing the obstacles to women's equality, he also said that "the gift of motherhood is o ften penalised rather than rewarded."
"Certainly, much remains to be done to prevent discrimination against those who have chosen to be wives and mothers," he said. The Pope opened his letter with a series of "thank yous" - to women as mothers, wives, daughters and sisters, professionals in various fields and religious. Their contributions in all these areas, he said, reflected the "genius of women." He elaborated on this term throughout the letter, attributing to women some specific gifts: • An ability to "see persons with their hearts," independent of ideological or political systems. • A willingness to give themselves generously to others, particularly in education and especially in serving the weakest and most defenceless. This in effect provided a "cultural and spiritual motherhood" for societies, he said. • A natural "insight" that helped make human relations more honest and authentic. "I know of course that simply saying thank you is not enough," the Pope wrote, opening a brief analysis of how women's dignity had been unappreciated at times by the Church and the rest of humanity. He said this was largely a product of historical conditioning. In various times and places, he said, women had been unacknowledged, misrepresented, relegated to the margins of soci-
tory of humanity. While time had largely buried the evidence of women's contributions, humanity owed a debt which could never be repaid to this "immense feminine tradition," he said. "Yet how many women have been and continue to be valued more for their physical appearance than for their skill, their professionalism, their intellectual abilities, their deep sensitivity," he said. The Pope emphasised that while the Church upheld the equal dignity of men and women, this did not translate into a "static and undifferentiated equality" Pope John Paul II between the two sexes. Men and women were complementary, ety and even reduced to servi- and were created to help each tude. He said assigning blame for other, he said. this was not easy, considering In both society and the Church, how people's attitudes are he said, there existed a "certain shaped by their culture. diversity of roles (that) is in no "If objective blame, especially way prejudicial to women." This in particular historical contexts, diversity should never be has belonged to not just a few imposed arbitrarily, but members of the Church, for this I expressed what was specific to am truly sorry," he wrote. These being male and female, he said. shortcomings did not reflect the In the Church, this idea had a teaching about particular application in the allChurch's women's equal dignity, he said. male priesthood, which the Pope "When it comes to setting said reflected Christ's choice to women free from every kind of entrust only to men this ministerexploitation and domination, the ial task. This "in no way detracts Gospel contains an ever relevant from the role of women" or other message which goes back to the lay people, he said. attitude of Jesus Christ himself," He said, however, that the who treated women with open- Church needed to do a better job ness, respect, acceptance and of making it clear that the priesttenderness, he said. hood was not about domination The Pope said it was time to but service. Letter to women, full text examine the past and look at how Pages 10-11. women had influenced the his-
Recapture YiWs WAs missionaries of charity 'apostolic spirit' •
By Peter Rosengren The Church needs to recapture the apostolic spirit of the Young Christian Workers movement to overcome its growing introspection following the Second Vatican Council, according to Archbishop Barry Hickey. Archbishop Hickey was speaking in St Mary's Cathedral last Sunday during a Mass to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movement in Western Australia. "I think after the Second Vatican Council ... we became a little introspective, and started looking inwards (and) there's nothing wrong with that," he said. "But if we are too introspective we forget to look at the vision of the Church which is for the whole world - to christianise society, to raise people's minds and hearts to God, to build up God's kingdom in the world. And perhaps we have
gone too far by being introspective and need to recapture again the vision that the YCW certainly has." At the Mass concelebrated with current and former chaplains of the YCW, Archbishop Hickey, who was also once a YCW chaplain himself, lauded the remarkable movement that revolutionised the role of the laity in the Church and said that it was needed now more than ever. "I hope when we do look back (this) will enable the Church here in Western Australia to hold to a vision of lay spirituality and lay activity in the world which we must not lose. If anything we need it more now because our world is increasingly secular," he said. Archbishop Hickey also recalled his own early involvement with the YCW when he was appointed as an assistant priest to West Perth where there were four flourishing YCW groups: English and Italian speaking for men, and for women. Continued on Page 2
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Sister Cabrini of the St John of God Sisters in Derby cares for a patient in the Numbala Lunga Nursing Home, carrying on a near-century-long tradition of St John of God care in the Kimberley. Record journalist Colleen McGuiness-Howard spent a week in the Kimberley discovering the work of the sisters. Read the first of two reports on Pages 8 and 9.