What's Inside ....
PERTH, WA: August 31, 1995
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Bunbury drives on to the information superhighway with an experiment in diocesan communication - Page 3 Archbisop Hickey spells out his concerns with the Taylor Bill on help for the dying - Page 6 Mother Teresa urges an end to the use of land mines - Page 3 Colleen McGuiness Howard talks to a local Christian from Palestine about the difficulties of the Middle East peace process - Page 9 How a US parish beat back a fundamentalist attack - Page 11
an leads in Beijing By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) Pope John Paul II has chosen Mary Ann Glendon, a professor of law at Harvard University, to head the Vatican's delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women. While Mrs Glendon was not among Vatican negotiators participating in the UN preparatory meetings for the Septembe 4-15 conference in China's capital Beijing, she reportedly met with Vatican officials in late July or early August for an in-depth discussion of the Vatican's position. A professor of law at Harvard since 1986, Ms Glendon, 56, is married and the mother of three daughters. An Australian, Monsignor Peter Elliot, formerly of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, who now who works for the Pontifical Council for the Family, is on the delegation. Heading the Vatican delegation is not Ms Glendon's first papal appointment. In January 1994 Pope John Paul named her to be among the original members of the new Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a group of scholars conducting research on social concerns. In March, the Pope also named her to the central committee charged with planning Catholic activities for the jubilee year 2000. Ms Glendon is a founding member of Women Affirming Life and is also a member of the
Pope John Paul II board of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Ms Glendon taught at Boston College Law School for 18 yearsbefore being named the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard. Author of the book. Abortion and Divorce in Western Law, as well as eight others, she has focused much of her scholarly research and writing on the law as it relates to family life andabortion. Addressing a Boston pro-life gathering in January, Ms Glendon said that "as long as the abortion industry continues to exploit the suffering of women, the pro-life movement will be there to speak the truth." The Supreme Court's Roe vs Wade decision legalizing abortion was supposed to mark a great advance for women," she said. "But as we approach the end of this troubled century, violence against women and chil-
dren has reached horrifying proportions." The legalization of abortion -contributed to the cultural process of dehumanization" and lent the Supreme Court's prestige to "what was a weakness in us Americans - our impatience with complexity, our temptation to go for the quick fix when faced with a painful problem," Ms Glendon said. In a 1989 speech to diocesan pro-life directors, Ms Glendon said her research on abortion in the United States and Europe led her to the conclusion that adding restrictions to legalized abortion does not necessarily reduce a country's abortion rate. The cultural norms of the society seem to be much more influential, she said, so in order to reduce abortion rates the pmlife movement must "attack the conditions that foster abortion and the abortion mentality." The United States generally ranks last among Western democracies in funding social programs for prenatal care and childbirth and in enforcing paternity and child-support responsibilities, she said. Addressing those issues would create a more "hospitable attitude toward children." In a 1990 speech in Salt Lake City, Ms Glendon urged members of the pro-life movement to increase their outreach to women because "the Roe vs Wade decision promotes irresponsible male acts." She also said the pro-life movement had "dropped the ball over and over again" by focusing
all of its concern on the unborn and failing to promote efforts to protect "born life." 'And the churches should promote social change that welcomes and supports motherhood she said. children," and Motherhood right now is a highrisk occupation." Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls had said in midJune that the Holy See delegation most likely would be led by a woman and that at least half of the members of its delegation would be women. Within weeks, rumours were circulating that the Vatican's choice had narrowed down to two women, both of whom were university professors, married with children; one reportedly was from Europe and the other from the United States - Ms Glendon. Professor Glendon is a respected scholar whose progressive approach to women's needs and concerns will place the Holy See and the Catholic Church in a leadership position at the conference," Raymond Flynn, the US ambassador to the Vatican said.. 'In addition to her legal scholarship, she is noted for her advocacy of social and economic justice and for the rights of working women and single mothers,"Mr Flynn said, who knows Ms Glendon from his days as mayor of Boston. The US government looks forward to working with Professor Glendon at the conference," he said.
If Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the US delegation, he said, "my guess is that you will not see a world conference in our lifetime where more dedicated and competent American women will lead delegations of two of the most influential public voices in the world today." The Vatican delegation, also includes: Archbishop Renato Martino, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, assistant head of the delegation; Janne Haaland Matlary, a senior researcher and associate professor at the University of Oslo, Norway; Irena Kowalska, professor of statistics at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and member of the European Community's coordinating committee on policies regarding children; Carmen del Pilar Escudero de Jensen, a professor at the Catholic University of Chile; Mgr Frank Dewane, a US canon lawyer and collaborator with the Holy See's permanent observer mission to the United Nations; Mgr Diarmuid Martin, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Mr NavarroValls, a Spaniard; Teresa Choi, a Malaysian and vice president of the International Union of the Catholic Press; Claudette Habesh, a Palestinian who is president of Caritas Jerusalem; Kathryn Hawa Hookwap, president of Nigeria's National Council of Catholic Women. Glendon interview - Page 2 Mgr Elliot interview - Page2
Schools continue Church's rich art tradition Archbishop Hickey last Monday underlined the importance of the Church's involvement in art over 2000 years as he opened the Angelico Art Exhibition at the Banlcwest Tower. "Art, as much as words, and perhaps more so, has attempted over the centuries to capture the deepest religious feelings the wonder and awe of divine revelation and the often numinous and transcendental experiences of the human soul," he said. "Art has flowered in the liturgical life of the Church, in the design and decoration of Churches, and in the illustration of sacred manuscripts. Painting, music, movement, sculpture and architecture have come together in order to express human sentiments in response to the Divine call." Concerning the particular relevance of art to Catholic education, the Archbishop said: "Schools wish to encourage their students in artistic expression and creativity Committed as they are to the full development of students as a central aim of Catholic education, the schools obviously see the merits of artistic expression in the context of development of the full person. It is not sufficient to concentrate only
on intellectual achievements. The expression of the inner spirit is just as important." The Angelico Exhibition features art and sculpture from Catholic secondary schools throughout the State. The 1995 Angelico Prize for Most Outstanding Work went to Ed Napoleao for his work entitled "Time" (right). Ed is a Year 12 student at Lumen Christi College, Gosnells. The second prize went to Vincent Karlsson for "Self Portrait". Vincent is a Year 12 student at Christian Brothers' College, Fremantle. Third prize was shared between Michelle Domahidy, Year 12, John XXIII College, Mt Claremont, and Vanessa Thomas, Year 10, Ngalangangpum School, Warmun.
The following students' work was highly commended by the judges, Ted Snell, Head of Curtin University School of Art, and Sandra Murray, Curator, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of WA: Josh Alach, Yr 12, Servite College, Tuart Hill, Adam Cave, Yr 9, Mazenod College, Lesmurdie, Natalie Clements, Yr 12, St Brigid's College, Lesmurdie, Damien Martyn, Yr 12, Trinity College, Perth, Kasia Mierzejewski, Yr 11, Mercy College, Koondoola, Shannan Snowball, Yr 12, John XXIII College, Mt Claremont
Ed Napoleao's prize-winning work, Time, at the Anglelico Exhibition