What's Inside... Brother Manion CFC remembered - Page 5 Bishop Healy writes of how Pentecost and a pro-life mentality go together - Page 2 PRINT POST APPROVED PP602669 00303
PERTH, WA: May 23, 1996
Number 2998
St Louis Jesuits play again - Page 13
POST ADDRESS, PO Box 75. LEEDERVILLE, 6902, WA LOCATION: 587 Newcastle Street, Cnr Douglas St (near Loftus St)
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First graduation from Notre Dame's Broome campus - Page 3
PRICE 60c
A mother repents - Page 8
Personal relationships 'concern youth most' By Peter Rosengren Personal and social relationships have been uncovered as the most important elements In the lives of young Australians in the first stage of the Australian Catholic Bishops' inquiry into youth. The findings were released this week in a 32-page report entitled Lean on Me that will serve as the basis for the second stage of the bishops' consultation - reflection on the first stage findings during 1996 with a view to action. The secretariat of the Bishops' Committee for Justice, Development and Peace (BCJDP) is conducting the consultation for the bishops. Secretariat members presented the report to the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' conference, Cardinal Edward Clancy, in Sydney this week. The report says that a reference group of young people who
analysed the results of the consultations held around Australian dioceses had identified four key themes of importance to the youth of the nation: relationships, identity, unemployment and the Church. Youth consultation project coordinator Bishop Kevin Manning said this week the report's title Lean On Me, was evocative of one of the clearest messages emerging from the listening - that young people gave enormous value to their personal and social relationships. Racism was another issue raised regularly throughout the consultation, appearing in responses from almost every diocese. Family breakdown, violence and abuse, the environment, violence and law and order, drug abuse and unemployment also featured prominently. Although less numerous, responses on the subject of the Church indicated that young people questioned or rejected much
with the way priests related to the young. The second stage of the consultation will ask the community to reflect on the themes raised by the report so suggestions can be developed to address them. The third and final stage will see all participants asked to suggest and take action on the issues. Responses from young people were gained mainly through discussion groups, open forums and questionnaires distributed in parishes and schools.
Cardinal Clancy, right, enjoys the report this week with BC,JDP secretariat members Sandie Cornish and Dr Michael Costigan, left, and Sydney Church Office workers Kym Donohue and Assunta D'Angelo. Photo BCJOP
The vast majority who responded were linked to the Church through factors such as attending a Catholic school or being part of a parish youth group.
of what they saw in the Church. "There was a feeling that the Church was not in touch with the community, that it was out of date and didn't address the things that are important to the
Consultations were also held with young people from nonEnglish speaking backgrounds, the armed forces, young people at risk or in crisis, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
lives of young people," the report said. Church teaching on sexual morality was widely questioned or rejected, while some of the material indicated dissatisfaction
National Churches Trust in God brings eternal youth back gun controls Leaders of fifteen Australian churches have given strong support to Government moves to restrict access to firearms, saying that they welcome the initiative taken by the nation's political leaders towards developing effective national gun controls. The National Council of Churches also urged Australians to maintain their strong support for Federal and State Government efforts to control the sale and possession of firearms. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Edward Clancy, told The Record that while the church leaders' statement was in part a response to the recent Port Arthur incident, it was also motivated by similar events in recent Australian history "Anything that leads us towards a less violent society is desirable," Cardinal Clancy said. The cardinal said it was important for Australians to maintain their stand in favour of restricting access to firearms, especially in view of the opposition beginning to emerge from the gun lobby. 'The key word there is 'maintain' the strength of (community] support because obviously other voices are being raised now by those who aren't in favour of the
restrictions that are being suggested," Cardinal Clancy said. "They will, of course, bring more and more pressure to bear on government." He added that the heads of churches had thought it was appropriate at their recent meeting to add their own word of support to strengthen government resolve on the matter. The church leaders' statement also commended government moves to investigate the impact of violence in the media, particularly the visual media. Cardinal Clancy said he was personally convinced of a link between violence as it was portrayed in the media and real-life incidents. "Violence in the media [has] an influence on people and [has] therefore played a part in the terrible occurrences that we have had in recent year," he said. Representatives of the Salvation Army, the Uniting, Baptist, Lutheran, Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, the Churches of Christ, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and the Armenian, Antiochan, and Romanian Orthodox churches signed the statement.
Youth in old age: Slovenian children surround Pope John Paul II on his birthday last Saturday.
By John Thavis LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (CNS) The familiar, wooded East European mountains helped set the mood. So did the sound of a Slavic language not so different from his native Polish. But most of all, it was the presence of young people that stirred up memories for Pope John Paul H of his mother and the World War II sufferings of Poland on his 76th birthday. Last Saturday, in the middle of a three-day visit to Slovenia, which borders Austria, Italy,
Hungary and Croatia, two meetings with youths offered an aging Pope rare moments for public reminiscence. Gathered in the courtyard of his residence in Ljubljana, 100 schoolchildren sang an earlymorning "Happy Birthday." They offered a few homemade presents and stammered through memorised poems. Who could resist engaging in a little nostalgia? Not Pope John Paul, who watched from a balcony before joining the party "How old are you? Seven, 8? You know, I was once 8 years
to. CNS/Reutets
old, too," he told the kids, glancing appreciatively at a book of drawings they gave him. "But today I'm celebrating my 76th year, at five o'clock this afternoon, give or take a little," he said through a translator. The children crowded around the beaming Pope, and he hugged a few of them. His years showed in the stooped pose and the small, somewhat halting steps through the courtyard. But his wide grin seemed to come straight from the Pope's own childhood. Continued on Page 9
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