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4rehis4op Hiekey's Pilstente
Letter: estoling lnAiviAttitc et,qess;m - Pitge
May Day Jubilee for workers
Pope sets Divine Mercy Sunday
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Mission families caII From Peter Rosengren in Melbourne Catholic families should think about whether they are called to become missionary families to the poor, either in Australia or abroad, a high-profile American Catholic Church leader told the national Catholic family gathering in Melbourne last weekend. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver in Colorado said it might sound =realistic for married couples to start living as missionaries, but some were called to that life. "I'd wager my (air) ticket home that God is calling at least half a dozen of you to be active missionary families, either here in Australia among the poor, or in some other country," he said last Saturday, 29 April. "What's so outlandish about that? Protestants have been doing it for years," he said, adding that in his own Denver archdiocese there were at least three missionary families from abroad living and working for the church in Denver. The archbishop gave a keynote address to the "Dare to Dream" national gathering of Catholic families at Dallas Brooks Hall In Melbourne. His address to the gathering, a major national event for the Jubilee year organised by the Australian Catholic Bishops' Committee for the Family and for Life, was on 'The Family: A Community of Life and Love." The gathering attended by about 700 families from around Australia, including WA, also heard from the Governor-General, Sir William Deane, Federal Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, both Catholics, and many other Australian speakers. Archbishop Leonard Faulkner of Adelaide who chairs the Australian Bishops'
no'or Rosengren
Archbishop Chaput urges families at the Melbourne gathering to consider missionary work.
Committee for the Family and for Life, told The Record the bishops' expectations for the gathering had been more than fulfilled. 'To see these wonderful families from all over Australia was, for me, a sign of hope for the family, and consequently for the Church and society,' he said. The Archbishop also said he was confident there would be a renewal of familybased evangelisation at the local level in the Church. 'No gathering like this will ever answer all the questions but it will have created a momentum to really be that evangelisation of families by families,' he said. Archbishop Faulkner also received a spe-
cial report from Michael and Patricia Brady of Adelaide. The couple presented Archbishop Faulkner with a copy of /n Their Own Words, the results of an invitation issued by the bishops in 1999 to Australian Catholic families to communicate their own stories of family life, its joys, challenges, rewards and struggles. Archbishop Chaput, a Franciscan Capuchin, came to national prominence in the US just over 12 months ago as he comforted the grieving families of students killed in the Colombine high school massacre. He gave parents at the Melbourne gath-
ering suggestions on how to build Catholic families to help create the civilisation of love envisaged by Pope John Paul II. Supporting missionary families had to be a community effort, Archbishop Chaput said. "Every missionary family needs three things: prayers, friendship and material support. So if six of the families here today were to go on mission, surely 60 more could tithe to support them," he said. And even if a family was not called to go somewhere else, "living the Gospel ardently where you are is missionary. Living the teachings of the Church joyfully and loyally in the specific circumstances of your life is missionary," he said. Archbishop Chaput urged parents to learn the habit of gratitude and teach it to their children. "Gratitude unlocks joy, which is maybe why we've had so little joy even within the Church for the last 30 years," he said. "We've done a great job over the last three decades arguing about what's supposed to be wrong with the Church and her teaching. But we've done a pretty poor job of being grateful for the Church as God's gift to us: A mother who guides us, corrects us and comforts us out of love, for the sake of our own salvation," he said. The night before, Governor General, Sir William Deane, opened the gathering and cautioned fellow Catholics against being too aggressive in their efforts to protect the family unit, as they see it, from external threats. He urged Catholics, the Church and the State to concentrate instead on promoting the "unique positiveness" of the family. Continued on Page 4; Editorial - Page 7; Catholic marriage and the language of the body - Page 9; NZ Bishops submission on same sex relationships and families - Page 15
Family gathering 'very enriching' for West Australians The Morans also attended the How to Drug-proof Your Child It was as simple as this: Western workshop at the conference, one Australians contacted by The of more than 40 on a variety of Record who travelled to the family-related issues at the two national Dare to Dream gathering days of the gathering. Mrs Moran, a recently-graduatof Catholic families in Melbourne ed social worker, said she was all said it had been a great event. Neville and Marian Moran, from now interested in getting involved the Lesmurdie parish, attended in the drug-proof-your-children program and helping it spread in the gathering with their 15 yearPerth. old daughter Elisha. One spin-off from the gathering 'It was fantastic,' said Mrs was that participants from BrisMoran, who described the gath- bane had expressed interest in ering as 'very enriching: the Retrouvaille experience and Her husband said the event had there was reason to hope it might been a 'wonderful recognition of now spread to Queensland, she families; they're so often taken for said. granted.' John Barich, the president of the Both have been involved for the WA Branch of the Australian Famlast 20 years in Marriage ily Association, said the whole Encounter; they presented a event had been an excellent preworkshop at the gathering on the sentation. Retrouvaille experience - a selfSome of the testimonies given help program designed to help by participants had been heartheal and renew troubled mar- rending and witnessed eloquentriages. ly to the power of the Catholic From Peter Rosengren
Lesmurdie's Neville and Marian Moran and daughter Elias at the gathering.
faith to heal people's lives and help them to be truly happy. 'The central thing is the way the gathering addressed the problem of sexuality in the modem world and its solution - which is the teaching of the Pope,' he said.
'It showed that the Church is not saying 'don't have sex, but experience it according to God's plan for you and you will be truly happy',' he told The Record. Mr Barich said that while calls for tolerance of family-type living
Judith Pimeton of Doubleview, left, and Karen Hayes of Shenton Park: hope grows from a radical Christian life.
arrangements other than marriage were well-meant, caution must also be practised. Continued on Page 4
Workers' Jubilee celebrated members joined the Pope on the massive, 1,563-square-metre stage constructed ROME (CNS) - Celebrating one of the expressly for the jubilee event - a "cathebiggest events of Holy Year 2000, Pope John dral to work," as organisers dubbed the Paul II appealed for a globalisation that open-air structure. The 79-year-old pontiff, recovering from a extends beyond the economy to encomheavy schedule the previous day with the pass worldwide solidarity At the Jubilee for Workers, held on 1 May canonisation of St Faustina Kowalska and on the Tor Vergata University campus on an evening prayer service, spoke clearly the outskirts of Rome and attended by and forcefully but appeared to tire as the about 200,000 people, the Pope called for more than three-hour event continued. Representatives of several countries prea resolution to labour inequality and injussented the Pope with gifts symbolising the tice throughout the world. Despite technological progress, he said, event's themes, among them a prayer mat "realities such as unemployment, exploita- from Africa, representing "a spirituality of labour that respects the religious experition of minors and low wages persist." He warned that "the organisation of ences of all people," and a computer from labour does not always respect the dignity the Americas, recognising "new technoloof the human person, and the universal gies in the service of the integral promodestination of resources is not always given tion of men and women." The jubilee year encourages the faithful due consideration." Calling on management and employees to rediscover "the meaning and value of to address outstanding labour issues, the work, to face the existing economic and Pope urged the crowd to "work so that the social imbalances in the world of labour, economic system in which we live does not re-establishing the correct hierarchy of valupset the fundamental order of the priori- ues," said the Pope, who was a factory ty of work over capital, of the common labourer in Nazi-occupied Poland. good over private interest." Holy Year 2000 also offers the opportuni"Globalisation is a reality present today in ty "to open our eyes to the poverty and every area of human life, but it is an area marginalisation, not only of individuals but which must be managed wisely. also of groups and peoples," he said. "Solidarity, too, must become globalised," As he has several times, the Pope called he said. on wealthy nations and individuals to The festive day began with a Mass reduce or remit the debt of developing presided over by the Pope, at his feet thou- countries. sands of multicolored flowers and behind "Here is a jubilee gesture which would be him a projected image of a crucifix by the so desirable," he said. 13th-century Italian artist Cimabue. Labour delegates from many countries Some 300 concelebrants and 300 choir attended the event, including John By Benedicta CipoIla
MANNING & ASSOCIATES
Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, an umbrella group encompassing 68 US unions and more than 13 million workers. The heads of Italian labour unions were seated front and centre at the Mass. In years past, the unions organised Rome's May Day festivities, which traditionally included a free concert in the square outside the Basilica of St John Lateran. This year they joined forces with the Vatican in promoting the jubilee event and evening musical extravaganza, "Concert for a Debt-Free World." Its star roster included Canadian singers Alanis Morissette and Lou Reed, the British pop duo the Eurythmics, Israeli singer Noa and Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour. The Pope praised the cooperation between the Church and secular unions, expressing his hope that their common effort at helping poorer nations would help solidarity to "ring out at this historic encounter." *Elsewhere, the Vatican called upon financiers, bankers, economists and ethicists to help prepare a document of detailed ethical guidelines for the world of finance. More than 200 economic experts from 20 countries participated in a 30 April conference, "On Ethics and Finance." The meeting was organised by the Vatican's "Centesimus Annus - Pro Pontifice" foundation, instituted in part to diffuse Catholic social teaching. During the meeting, participants examined a second draft of a 13-page document titled "Global Economy and Finance: Prob-
A giant electronic display shows Pope John Paul II at the start of the 1 May Mass celebrating the Jubilee for Workers in Rome.
lems and Perspectives for the Year 2000." A final version was expected to be made public in February. The draft document framed itself in part as a response to the Pope's call in his 2000 World Peace Day message "for a new and deeper reflection on the nature of the economy and its purposes" in the light of new challenges posed by globalisation.
Bishops acknowledge ICEL reform is needed
OPTOMETRISTS
WASHINGTON (CNS) - Heads of the major English-speaking bishops' conferences that comprise the International Contact Lens Consultants Commission on English in the Liturgy Mark Kahienas (B. optom) said the need to revise the ICEL constiGrove Plaza, Cottesloe tution "is apparent, especially with 9384 6720 regard to increasing episcopal oversight for ICEL's work" to guarantee faithful translation and overall soundness. Such translations must be "faithful to the Latin text, theologically sound, pastorally and culturally sensitive, and liturgically effective," they also said. The bishops met on 25 April in Washington to discuss the revised ICEL conSAWMILLERS & TIMBER MERCHANTS) stitution required by the Vatican, as well as the commission's broader purpose. According to a joint statement authorised by the participants and released by the US Catholic Conference, "the meet- Conference presidents representing eight English-speaking regions from around the world ing involved an exchange of information, pose for a group picture at the US bishops headquarters in Washington April 25. From left is and it was not the purpose of the partic- Cardinal Thomas Joseph Winning of Scotland, US Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, Bishop Gerald Wiesipants to take any formal action on behalf ner of Canada, Bishop Michael Bowen of England and Wales, Archbishop Wilfred Napier of of their conferences." South Africa, Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy of Australia, Bishop Peter James Cullinane of New Last October Cardinal Jorge Medina Zealand and Irish Archbishop Sean Brady. Estevez, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacra- Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston- tial" service; the bishops thanked them ments, instructed the episcopal board of Houston, president of the US National and praised their work, "while also con426 Great Northern Highway. the commission to revise its constitution Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the sidering matters which have caused 25 April meeting was "designed to assist some concern." Middle Swan. WA 6056 "thoroughly and without delay." • The revised constitution, drafted by a ICEL grew out of the Second Vatican the ICEL episcopal board in the revision Council decision to begin using vernac- process and to assist the individual mem- working group of the ICEL board, ular languages in Catholic liturgies. ICEL ber conferences in their consideration of addresses this need practically and effectively, "and provides a good foundation was formed in 1963 by 11 bishops' con- the revision." Bishop Fiorenza, who hosted the 25 for further discussion and refinement." ferences repApril meeting, earlier said the revised • ICEL needs to have "regular consulresenting ICEL constitution would be submitted to tation and dialogue" with the Vatican Englisheach member conference for approval, Congregation for Divine Worship and speaking and "if approved, sent to the Holy See for the Sacraments. to countries after 8 years running a busy private Counselling Practice Regarding the last point, the bishops prepare com- the 'recognitio," a form of Vatican in Sydney. mon English approval. In their joint statement, the said translation is not the sole element His new office is located at the bishops, who met in executive session, "in making the vernacular liturgy the texts. ATTADALE BUSINESS CENTRE, SUITE A 11, also said they "found widespread agree- 'summit and source' of Christian life." Its constitu- ment" on several points: 550 CANNING HIGHWAY, ATTADALE. "Across a whole range of issues affecttion was TELEPHONE: 9317 - 3900 • According to canon law, episcopal ing the liturgy," they said in the joint drawn up in Day, Evening and Saturday appointments. conferences are competent to prepare statement, "the fraternal collaboration of 1964 and was Individual, Relationship and Marriage Counselling. and approve translations of texts that the conferences with the congregation last amended become liturgical texts after approval by guarantees that the liturgy will have its Work shop Trainer and Life Coach. in 1972. the Vatican. central place in the faith life of Catholic Specialises in: In a 20 April • ICEL staff, translators and advisers people." depression, anxiety career and work problems, adoptions statement, have provided "invaluable and essenMore on ICEL - Page 10 incest & sexual abuse, parent-child conflicts, mid-life crises,
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Northam honours Great Jubilee with Apostles' wall To mark the Great Jubilee St Joseph's parish, Northam, has a new Apostles' Wall and Grotto. Archbishop Barry Hickey blessed and opened the project last Sunday. It was the idea of parish priest Fr Robert Carrillo, and was interpreted and drafted by engineer Steve Atkins, a parishioner, and endorsed by the Parish Pastoral Council. The Twelve Apostles' Wall, the front fence of the Church grounds, is divided into 12 panels, with each panel dedicated and named after an Apostle, Invoking his intercession over the parish community. Fr Carrillo said the wall stands as a living reminder of our common relationship as people of God founded on the Apostles. It would help us "to realise our dynamic on-going mission to witness the mission of Jesus in our midst," he said. The Grotto is devoted to Our Lady Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia. Her statue stands in front of a painted background of the Blessedilinity, symbolised by a white triangle. "The Grotto stands as a symbol of the parish's devotion 2000,
Cathedral completion committee begins work
The committee meets for the third time last Monday afternoon. The St Mary's Cathedral Building Committee has begun work towards the completion of the Cathedral and had its third meeting last Monday. Its chairman is industrialist, Denis Cullity, and the deputy chairperson is Therese Temby, the director of Catholic Education Office of WA. Other members of the committee are Mgr Thomas McDonald, Dean of St Mary's Cathedral; consulting engineer Pewter Bruechle; director of Cathedral music, Fr Timothy Deeter; retired schoolteacher, Michael Jacques; Ballajura parish priest, Fr John Jegorow; Congregational Superior of the Sisters of Mercy, Sr Maura Kelleher businessman, James Malone; quantity surveyor, Terry Mere-
The grotto and wall with two of the Apostles' plaques showing. to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her continuous guidance of the people to come closer to Jesus: 'Ad Jes. um per Mariam, [To Jesus through Maryr Fr Carrillo said. Archbishop Hickey said it was a very "innovative" Jubilee year project. It was made possible by donations of money and family sponsorships in memory of deceased relatives; donated materials, free labour and skills; the help of some non-Catholic friends. and the generosity of parish womenin providing refreshments during busy-bees. - Glynnis Grainger
a rvest Pilgrimages hi A journey for the Great Jubilee.... Fr Carrillo, left, engineer andparishioner Steve Alkins, Archbishop Hickey, and Nick Spadaccini, chairman of the Jubilee project, stand in the grotto by the statue of Our Lady Help of Christians.
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National Catholic Family Gathering
Family gathering enriches WA visitors Continued from Page 1 'Compassion is a good thing but where does it become tolerance, then acceptance and then encouragement?' he said. He said he would like to see an event such as the Gathering held every two to three years, with emphasis on Catholic family-focused movements reporting back on their works. 'For example, I didn't know anything about the Focolare movement and the Neo-Catechumenal Way but now I see what they're doing and their dedication is fantastic,' he said. Karen Hayes from Holy Rosary parish in Doubleview and Judith Pimenton from St Aloysius parish in Shenton Park, both members of the Focolare movement, found the gathering gave a "great sense of affirmation that there's hope for the family." 'It showed that we needn't give up hope as long as we're prepared to live a radical Christian life,' Karen said. Judith was especially appreciative of the fact that, in calling the gathering, "the Bishops supported the young and their role in the family." The Saturday afternoon youth rally which saw, among other things, large numbers of young people engaging in Eucharistic adoration and confession 'was really, really special.' Fr Michael Moore, Rector of the Neo-Catechumenal Way's Redemptoris Mater archdiocesan missionary seminary In Morley, said it impressed him "just how this gathering announced to young married couples that they are families - society today doesn't put any emphasis on that.' Fr Moore said the testimonies from married couples and families "were like spotlights that showed that it is possible, despite the difficulties, to be a Christian family.' In fact, the testimonials from people on how their faith helped them deal with life's traumas had been like witnessing people's lives move from darkness to resurrection, he said. Carmel Suart, a consultant with Perth's Archdiocesan Catechist Service said "the whole idea of a family gathering was marvellous.' "It's my dream that maybe every diocese will be able to do something from that," she said. 'In my work.I see that families often feel that they're not at the fore or the centre of what the Church is about - and yet they are the first Church,' she said, adding: 'That came out strongly - the domestic Church.' The gathering had also showed that evangelisation took place first within the family. It also had emphasised the importance of prayer "and the different sorts of prayer for different families."
MP sets out challenge By Peter Rosengren The family is the hope of the nation but has been and continues to be under sustained and dire attack in Australia and throughout the world, Federal Liberal politician Kevin Andrews told Catholic families and others gathered for the opening of the national gathering of Catholic families in Melbourne last Friday night. Unless the family is strengthened the very fabric of society is under risk, he said. Mr Andrews, the Member for Menzies in north-eastern Melbourne and who has been Involved in pre-marriage education, said the overwhelming results of research showed that the physical and emotional health and well-being of individuals was strongly linked to the welfare of the family. Mr Andrews, a Catholic who hit the national spotlight in 1998 when he introduced legislation Into Federal Parliament which outlawed the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws, said Australia had been a stable society after the end of World War II but changes over the past three decades had had an adverse effect on the family and therefore of society. These had included the advent of the contraceptive pill, the entry of married women into the workforce, the widening of sole-parent benefits, the introduction of nofault divorce legislation and the rise of cohabitation as a pathway into marriage. There are at least 10 discernible trends in family life in western nations, including Australia, he said: • people are marrying less; on current indications 22 per cent of women will not have married by age 35 - the highest level in Australian history; • couples marry at an older age; grooms now marry on average at 29.8 years of age, brides at 27.7; • more couples cohabit before marriage; now two-thirds of all couples cohabit according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Family gathering participants attend one of the many workshops,
with the downside being that they run twice the risk of divorce of those who do not cohabit; • there has been a dramatic increase in divorce following the Family Law Act in 1975; now 40 per cent of marriages fail after 40 years - more than 150,000 children are now affected by divorce proceedings in Australia each year, • more people remain unmarried; the proportion of never married has doubled over the last 25 years;
• the rates of remarriage have fallen, more than halving since
1971;
• ex-nuptial births have increased to approximately 27 in every 100 today from four in every hundred at the end of the Second World War, • there has been an increase in single-parent families, now overwhelmingly headed by women and among the poorest in Australia; • the birth rate has fallen to the point where some demographers say the existence of nations concerned is now threatened; • the population is ageing. Mr Andrews said research showed there had been several major effects of these changes. Prominent among them was that rising rates of divorce and unwed childbearing meant the steady disintegration of the married, mother-father child raising unit.
Families were increasingly unable to carry out their primary social function: maintaining the population level, regulating sexual behaviour, socialising children and caring for family members. Authority had been transferred from families to other institutions. Youth suicide has increased markedly and reports of child abuse rose each year. Alcohol and drug abuse among teenagers had multiplied and violence increased. Welfare beneficiaries were much higher than three decades ago and single-parent families continued to be among the poorest in the community. "Many scholarly and official reports attest to a recurring association between a range of social pathologies and marriage and family breakdown," Mr Andrews said. A series of studies revealed that healthy family life was the optimal environment for the wellbeing of adults and children, he said. Married men and women had lower death rates than the unmarried; marriage seemed to protect against developing cancer and offered a better chance of survival after diagnosis; and premature death rates from cardiovascular disease, pneumonia and hypertension and stroke were all lower for the married. An Australian study showed married people had fewer mental
health problems. One recent study even found that a happy marriage was worth an extra $150,000 in the bank. Family relationships also had a major impact on the well-being of children, often extending into adult life with consequences for health, family life, educational performance and occupational status. One study found that only onequarter to one-third of divorces end up being better for children. "By contrast, about 70 per cent of divorces end low-conflict marriages, which would have been better for the children to have continued rather than ending," he said. However the MP also noted that the "admirable efforts of many single and step-parents" must be acknowledged. "One loving parent is better than two parents in chronic high conflict," Mr Andrews said. "However these facts should not deter us from advocating the approaches that seek to strengthen marital relationships and prevent family breakdown," he said. "Given that some surveys reveal that two in five people regret their divorce five years later, and up to 40 per cent believe that it could have been avoided, there is substantial case for renewed strategies to strengthen marriage." Mr Andrews said marriage breakdown had a wider effect "In other words, if we cannot preserve and support the institutions of community in which relationships are developed and nurtured, then we are not merely placing at risk the welfare of many people, particularly the young and the elderly, we are weakening the very foundations of society itself," he said. Supporting the family institution was therefore of profound importance. "The family is the hope of humanity, not just because it is an historically ubiquitous institution and remains central to the Christian understanding of our role in the world, but also because it is supported by the mounting social science research," he said.
Catholic families asked to go out on mission Continued from Page 1 While not challenging the Catholic and traditional legal view of a family as a man and a woman living in a married relationship with their children, if any, he urged the conference to remember that outside such living arrangements there were a variety of other structures that also regarded themselves as families. When Catholics seek to protect the family from external threats, they should be wary of a lack of charity or discrimination against those who do not conform to their idea of the family, he said. Christopher West, director of the Family Life Office of the Denver Archdiocese, ran a workshop on sex and Pope John Paul II's theology of the body at the gathering. Archbishop Chaput urged Australian parents to read four documents. "I don't want you to just read them, by the way.Iwant you to think and pray over them. I want you to discuss them with each other," he said. "[Sts] Peter and John were 'uneducated men of no standing' when they began their ministry. But they didn't stay that way. They matured into serious leaders and so must you .... that's part of
The Record, May 4 2000 Page 4
our duty as adult Catholics . . . . we should never stop learning about our faith." The four documents are: • Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, especially sections 47-52 which deal with the dignity of marriage and family. • Pope John Paul's 1981 Apostolic Exhortation from 1981, Familaris Consortio, which describes marriage as the beginning and basis of human society and the family as the first and vital cell of society • Pope John Paul's 1994 Letter to Families. • The Vocation and Mission of the LayFaithfulin the Church and the World [Christifideles Laid in Latin] which Archbishop Chaput described as "a kind of constitution on the dignity, nature and need for lay leadership in the Church and especially the world." Archbishop Chaput's other advice to parents included: • "What you do is more important than what you say. The greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother. "And of course the same applies to wives loving their husbands." • "Teach your children to seek
real freedom, not a counterfeit . . .. The more we debase the meaning of words like 'freedom' to sell cars and computers and cell phones and abortion and assisted suicide. . . . the more we debase ourselves." • "Teach you children to seek wisdom, not just knowledge," he said, adding later "The most important thing about knowledge is how we choose to use it. And that requires wisdom. Fools with tools are still fools." • "Help your kids know who they are by teaching them Catholic history. A community without a sense of history is like a person with amnesia." • "Teach your children to develop the virtues of the heart," he said, "fidelity instead of broken promises, patience instead of restlessness, simplicity in place of confusion, humility instead of pride, courage in place of cowardice, honesty instead of excuses, forgiveness in place of revenge, a hunger of justice in place of apathy." He urged parents to teach their children the sanctity of life. "That's why the killings at Colombine High School last year - as terrible and tragic as they were - do make a kind of sense.
"[In the US] we've created the environment where Colombines can happen, and we've done it by our own self-absorption and callousness." Parents must also teach children how to live 1 Corinthians 13 which says the greatest virtue is love. "Ask yourselves why, after 20 centuries, an instrument of execution - the cross - is still the world's greatest symbol of hope? "Scripture says that no greater love than this exists: that a man lay down his life for his friends. If we really want to be free, we need to love as Jesus did," he said. Finally Archbishop Chaput urged parents to learn the habit of gratitude and teach it to their children. "Gratitude unlocks joy, which is maybe why we've had so little joy even within the Church for the last 30 years." "We've done a great job over the last three decades arguing about what's supposed to be wrong with the Church and her teaching. "But we've done a pretty poor job of being grateful for the Church as God's gift to us - a mother who guides us, corrects us and comforts us out of love, for the sake of our own salvation," he said.
SVP launches Winter appeal, new leader The Federal and State Governments should increase funding to meet the needs of the homeless, the Society of St Vincent De Paul said last Tuesday as it launched its 2000 Winter Appeal with the release of a report on homelessness. WA Society president John Meahan, who is retiring, also announced that former WA Police Commissioner Brian Bull would take the president's chair from August. The appeal was launched at SVP headquarters, Camillus House, East Perth. The national report called "Living at Risk, breaking Australia's cycle of homelessness" recommends that the Federal and State Governments jointly establish and fund family support and neighbourhood centre services; that they provide resources for the Home Visitation Program to be maintained and expanded, and that they jointly establish local drug and alcohol rehabilitation and treatment services. The Federal and State Governments should also increase funding to meet the needs of the homeless, social housing, and low-cost housing, the report says. Mr Meahan said SVP had re-located, with Main Roads WA, people living under the Narrows Bridge and a good number of homeless had moved into the new Northbridge Tunnel when the workers moved out, during its construction. Mr Bull started his own local conference of St Vincent de Paul in Midland after he retired from the police force in 1994.
SVP has five regional computers in the
New SVP president-elect for WA, Brian Bull, at the Winter Appeal launch last Tuesday.
metropolitan area and Mr Bull mans the one for Swan on a Monday. Mr Bull said "we see people at their worst," and "it is very frustrating." His wife had been a member of SVP for more than 40 years. "The Society has gone from strength to strength under John Meahan's presidency," he said. He would be following the course set by Mr Meahan, who was retiring after his five years as president had expired. Mr Bull said SVP had branched out into the area of mental health where the need was "increasing considerably." "We will be pursuing the needs of youth and the special needs of Aboriginal peo-
ple," he said. "One group is looking at a way to provide a better education for Aboriginal people, if they are to be given a chance in life. "They are assessing a scheme that is very successful in Israel - a mentor systern." Mr Bull said SVP was hoping to finance a person to go there to study this system and see if it would be successful in WA. "It targets the young people who are dropping out of the school system and can be used not only for Aboriginal people but right across the board," Mr Bull said. Accommodation for young people was also needed; SVP has a home for homeless youth from Homeswest on a temporary basis in conjunction with Rotary and the City of Perth. "I will endeavour to expand the lowcost food outlets, currently at Fremantle, Armadale and Beechboro, and we are opening one at Mandurah - which has one of the highest unemployment ratios in the metropolitan area - in the next few weeks," he said. "People must hold a Health Care card - the shops allow them to pay something for the food. No genuine request for help has ever been refused in spite of budget constraints." SVP has to buy furniture to give away as people are not giving their furniture away, preferring to sell it. "Requests far exceed what we have available," he said. - Glynnis Grainger
20th century martyrs Priests move, bishops meet to be remembered VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Christian representatives from all over the world are expected to join Pope John Paul II in a 7 May prayer service that will commemorate "new martyrs" of the 20th century, but without naming them. The highlight of the ecumenical celebration at Rome's ancient Colosseum will be the reading of testimonials for eight categories of Christian witnesses who died for the faith. Many of them were victims of Communist regimes or Marxist groups. A list of more than 12,000 new martyrs based on names sent in by Christian communities around the globe will eventually be presented to the Pope, but will not be published, Vatican officials said at a press conference on 28 April. "The reason is that this is not an exhaustive or exclusive investigation. The purpose was not to make a list but to stimulate an awareness of martyrdom in the Church," said Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, head of the Vatican's jubilee commission. He said the Pope's initiative aims to show that martyrdom is not a divine call made to a few, but a normal part of the faith of every Christian.
More WA News - Page 14 52
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Suffering has place in God's plan Sometimes, we Peter Dwan continues with his meditations on the readings for Sunday's Mass. This week the third Sunday of Easter, Year B
T
he readings for the third Sunday of Easter show that suffering is a part of God's plan. In the first reading (Acts 4:13-15,17-19) we have an extract from St Peter's sermon, in which he said that while the Jews had demanded the reprieve of a murderer, while killing the prince of life, God raised Him from the dead. We need to remember that Christ's death wasn't an unmitigated tragedy, because the Resurrection followed. As the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta once wrote: "Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen." St Peter said: "Now, I know brothers that neither you nor your leaders had any idea of what you were really doing; this was the way God carried out what he had foretold when he said through all his prophets that the Christ would suffer." We need to remember that there is no place for anti-Semitism in Catholic living. The Jews didn't know what they were really doing. It was our sins which caused Christ to suffer, and the prophets all said that Christ would suffer. Of all the ways in which mankind could have been redeemed, God chose the way of suffering, in order to show
A Layman's Meditation us that suffering must be accepted when a refusal to suffer would constitute a refusal to love. In the second reading (1 John 2:1-5) we have two very important points. The reading says: "If anyone should sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ" We need to remember that when we sin, all isn't lost. God wants pardon after we sin. Our spiritual welfare isn't just in our own hands; not only do we have the prayers of cloistered Religious, the prayers of Our Lady and the Saints, we also have those of Christ Himself. If we lose our souls, it is because we refuse to co-operate with the graces which come our way. The reading also says: "We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments." If we don't keep the commandments, we don't know God. Our idea of God is to some extent deficient. Maybe we think that God is a spoilsport, taking the fun out of life, whereas He wants our happiness both here and hereafter. Of course, we know the saying: "No pain, no gain," but too many of us fail to realise that suffering is an integral part of God's plan for a fallen world,
and we refuse to obey God when keeping the commandments involves suffering. The Gospel passage (Luke 24:35-48) contains two main sections: the first telling how the disciples saw the risen Lord, and how Christ invited them to touch him, and how He took and ate a piece of grilled fish. This section highlights the physical nature of Christ's resurrection, and records his words: "Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you see I have." The second section tells how Our Lord opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and it records Christ's words: "So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that in his name repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." The Church has a message of hope for a world bewildered by the mystery of suffering. Christ suffered and died so that we might have eternal life. His sufferings prove how much He loves us. Will we be prepared to make sacrifices, to suffer a little, in order that we may be able to help missionaries proclaim the Gospel, in order to help them to convey to the suffering people whom they serve the Christian insights into the mystery of suffering? People want a philosophy of life and unless we help them seek it in the right place, they will probably seek it in the wrong place.
To Jesus through Mary ... a column of Marian devotion By Cindy Wooden
S
ometimes it seems that Pope John Paul II and his predecessors are the only people who have not revealed the so-called "third secret of Fatima." On the Internet, Catholics of various stripes, New Age seekers and even miraculous medal marketers claim they know the secret and will share it. Top Church officials who really have read the secret say it is not frightening and it adds nothing essential to Fatima's message of conversion and prayer, especially through daily recitation of the rosary. But many of those who have hit the information superhighway, supposedly with the secret, say it's not so innocuous. Most of the Internet revelations fit into two broad categories: • God will destroy the world with earthquakes and flooding, or with nuclear war. • The Antichrist is destroying the ,I1 Photo CNS.1 Catholic Church; or the reforms of the The Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima will be the Second Vatican Council are. Off the Internet mainstream, one Web site of Ike beatification of Fatima visionaries master claims wearing a medal of Our Francisco and Jacinta Marto la mid-May. Lady of Fatima can help you win the lot- ing down her recollections of the apparitery. tions at the request of her superiors. Another cites Fatima as proof, along Responding in 1941 to requests for with UFOs, that "we are not alone." more information, Sister Lucia said, "The As Pope John Paul prepared to travel to secret is made up of three distinct parts, Fatima, Portugal, from 12-13 May to beat- two of whichI am now going to reveal." ify two of the shepherd children to whom The first part of the secret, she said, was the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in that Mary had shown the children a 1917, the thoughts of many turned to the vision of hell "where the souls of poor secret. sinners go." The Pope, who is deeply devoted to Our The second part was that Mary wanted Lady of Fatima and credits her with sav- devotion to her Immaculate Heart and ing his life in 1981 when a Turkish gun- Russia to be consecrated to her. man tried to assassinate him, has read While the first two were published, Sisthe secret but not revealed it. ter Lucia wrote the third part of the secret It was only 18 years after the appari- In 1943, put it in a wax-sealed envelope tions that Sister Lucia dos Santos, the and gave it to her bishop, who sent it to only surviving Fatima seer, began writ- the Vatican, where it remains. Cardinal Advertisement
Message from Our Lady, Queen of Peace, given to Marija Pavlovic Lunetti for the village of Medjugorje and the world on April 25, 2000
"Dear Children! Also todayIcall you to conversion. You are concerned too much about material things and little about spiritual ones. Open your hearts and start again to work more on our personal conversion. Decide every day to dedicate time to God and to prayer until prayer becomes a joyful meeting with God for you. Only in this way will your life have meaning and with joy you will contemplate eternal life. Thank you for having responded to my call: (It is accepted that the final authority regarding apparitions of Our Lady at Mediugorle rent. s with the Holy See of Rome)
The Record, May 4 2000 Page 6
Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and one of the few people who actually has read the secret, said it is not sensational or apocalyptic. In a 1996 interview with Portugal's main Catholic radio station, the cardinal said, "To all the curious I would say I am certain that the Virgin does not engage in sensationalism; she does not create fear. She does not present apocalyptic visions, but guides people to her Son." Through her apparitions to small children - the Fatima seers were Z 9 and 10 years old - Mary's purpose was "to call the world back to simplicity, that is to the essentials: conversion, prayer and the sacraments," Cardinal Ratzinger said. Marianist Father Johann Roten, director of the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton, Ohio, said it is natural that people would think the remaining Fatima secret is sensational or apocalyptic. "What people want is their rosaries turning to gold or the sun spinning in the sky," something out of the ordinary which points to the supernatural, he said. However, Father Roten said, all of the major apparitions - like the prophecies of the Bible - place the warnings about sin and the end of the world "in a larger context which is one of salvation and hope and promise of happiness which will overcome all of these intermediate warnings and punishments." The Marianist, who has done extensive research on Marian apparitions and alleged apparitions, suspects the third secret is not of immense importance. The fact that Popes Pius XII, John X;(III, Paul VI and John Paul II chose not to reveal the secret "is for me reason enough to say that it is not that important," he said. "If it really would provide a better understanding of the faith," one of the popes would have revealed it, he said. If the secret contains a harsh judgment of the Church or the Second Vatican Council, he said, Popes Paul and John Paul II would not have "espoused the whole philosophy of Fatima" and visited the shrine in Portugal. Especially if the third secret regards something that has already passed or is not really important, perhaps it is best not to reveal it, Father Roten said. "Because as soon as you reveal it and it turns out to be something that falls flat on its face, it doesn't have the same kind of attraction anymore," he said. - Catholic News Service
need to stop, smell the flowers around us
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With Penny Ashcroft
L
urking somewhere inside each one of us is the little child we were. Never has this been so evident to me as on Easter Saturday, when my seventeen-year-old daughter and her friend andI went along to the children's Mass for Easter in Busselton. We walked in to a church gaily decorated with bright drawings and beautiful flowers and a buzz of excitement coming from the many children who sat on the floor in front of the altar. Tambourines and maraccas in their hands, they were a delight to watch and listen to. The liturgy of the Mass was directed towards the children, but one could feel and see that all the adults enjoyed it also. The children's joy was infectious and every musical instrument was used with great gusto. We three, like other adults present, found ourselves joining in not only with the singing but the hand actions as well. A comment from my daughter summed it up very well. "This is a Mass that makes you feel really good," she said. Of course, the value and effect of the Mass is still the same whether we experience joy or sadness at Mass. Yet, it was good to let the child in us show forth for a while, and the feeling of freedom that brought with it was very uplifting. Since that weekend I have watched my grandchildren while they are playing and interacting with their parents, grandparents and aunties with a greater awareness and appreciation of their capacity to show love and happiness along with a dependence on us all for security and love in return. Their giggles bring smiles to our faces, their tiredness brings out tenderness in us. Once recognised for the sheer beauty they can emanate, watching children at play and at rest can warm us to the core of our being. What life and laughter there is in the bond of love. In the simplicity of children there is a great message for us also. Some years ago, I read a story about some American pioneering families who sold their homes and journeyed westward, looking for the great opportunities they had heard about. Day after day they travelled on looking towards a golden future, but one afternoon an axle broke on one of their wagons and they were at a standstill. Then one of the children asked "Why do we have to keep going? Why don't we make our farm here?" At first the adults laughed at the child's simplicity, but then looked around and saw that this was indeed promising country, a wide valley surrounded by gentle hills. They cleared the land and built their homes there. Those pioneers were people of vision. They dreamt of a bright future, but they were so intent on looking ahead that they failed to recognise the good land that lay around them. They were so set on moving towards the future that they did not appreciate the gifts that were at hand already. It took the fresh eyes of a child to help them see the beauty that was all about them. How often is that the case with us? How often do we miss the beauty that surrounds us,in nature, events, people or because we are so intent on pursuing the future? Wouldn't it make a difference in our lives if we were able, more often, to live in the here and now, to appreciate the present moment. Everything that exists or has ever existed has been given life by God. There is so much to look at, experience, and appreciate. Life has its ups and downs, but the 'downs' can be tempered a little if we can cultivate the ability to stop, look, listen and appreciate the wonders that surround us each day. From the gift of a friend who is a good listener, to the freshness of a walk along a beach, to the beauty of children at play, God is in all and ever-present to us.
Hope for marriage, family in sacramental help S The Record upport for the family is one of those 'motherhood' objectives that we all hear from politicians and other community leaders. But once we get past this agreed objective and into discussion and action in the community as to what a family is and how to support it, then the tower of Babel begins to look like an asylum of the sane. Australian governments since at least the Second World War have all developed financial and social welfare programs of varying success to support the family. But, despite these positive initiatives in Australia and in some other countries, marriage and family, particularly in Western culture, has never been under greater attack than before in human history. And it is not just an attack that is being repelled. The assault is advancing as the increasing and high rates of divorce, cohabitation before marriage, single parent families, abortion and contraceptive practices reveal. In the midst of this creeping social cancer, last weekend's Jubilee national Catholic gathering on marriage and the family in Melbourne, Dare to Dream, gave some hope of a cure. Sponsored by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Committee for the Family and Life, the gathering brought together about 700 families from around Australia to hear local and overseas ideas
on how to stop marriage and family break- lives, they have moved further from God and his plan for marriage and the family down and reverse the current trends. Perhaps the most important witness of to the point of either denying outright His the gathering was that true religion, in the prerogatives in this area or misreading end, is the only salvation for marriage and them in the light of ideas that are borrowed more from those who deny God the family. Marriage and family are natural social rather then those who understand and units that have sufficient resources within freely obey them. The mission of the Church and Catholic themselves to perform their objectives of bringing children into the world and sanc- families today is to witness to the saving message that Catholic teaching offers to tifying parents and children. This was the situation with the family of contemporary marriage and family. And what is it that the Catholic Church Adam and Eve before their Original Sin. But the fall, as God tells us directly in the has to offer that nobody or organisation Bible, set man against woman, child can give? It is the full range of sacraments or sancagainst child, even while they were trying to live the natural goodness that exists in tifying (making-whole/holiness) grace that Jesus won for us on Calvary and in His marriage and family. Of course, this fractured relationship Resurrection. A baptised Christian has an advantage between God and his children, and among the children themselves, was restored by if he or she takes advantage of it - over a God's Son, the new Adam, Jesus Christ, by non-Christian in living the natural law His bodily death and resurrection, 'sacrament' of marriage and family as he although the effects of Original Sin remain or she has the roots of their family tree to distract us as we try to live marriage planted by the waters of salvation. But a Catholic, properly offering and celand family. lYagically, as men and women have ebrating the eucharistic sacrifice of the gained more control over their physical Mass and receiving Jesus Body and Blood
Arounof T
7a4le
Serving the common good
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he Editor (The Record 13 April) may have chosen an unfortunate topic around which to commence a debate regarding the correct meaning of words. Then again, because too many people think with their emotions, the topic may have been appropriate. There has increasingly been a great need to examine the use of words and what they mean. After the recent Nasdaq and Dow Jones collapse, a news item announced that "two
trillion dollars worth of wealth had evaporated overnight" when no such thing happened. On the other hand, billions of dollars worth of real wealth did evaporate on the night the atom bomb exploded over Hiroshima. The great 13th century Dominican and theologian, St Thomas Aquinas, explains the difference - real wealth results when human effort is applied to what nature supplies. Money, he adds, is a human invention and merely a symbol; it is artificial wealth which may be exchanged for real wealth. Recent editorials of The Weekend Australian highlighted the need for readers to question the meaning of words. In that newspaper - when David Irving, the British historian, lost his damages case - a court
in Holy Communion, has a weekly, in not daily, opportunity to grow and maintain those roots of grace that feed their family tree from the living blood and water that flows from the side of Jesus. And if husband, wife and children make monthly and proper use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, then they gain access to a spiritual bonus draw that will keep the social workers and divorce lawyers at bay. The sacraments will not make all aspects of marriage and family a matter of sweetness and light all of the time, but they do give families solid and true hope that they will be able to truly forgive one another and grow in unity among themselves and with God, all of which is just another name for growth in holiness. Not withstanding the excellence of the social programs revealed and promoted at last weekend's national Catholic family gathering in Melbourne, it is the spiritual riches to be found and guaranteed in the Catholic Church that are the final hope of marriage and family. It is the main hope and cure that Australian Catholics have to offer their fellow citizens, a hope and cure that Australia urgently needs. • The opinions expressed in this editorial, and any other Record editorial, are not necessarily those of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth.
Leilers fo
eolifor
While I can feel for anyone who has sufjudgement was extolled as having estabfered this experience, and the injustice of lished truth (15-16 April, 2000). A week later, Easter Weekend (22-23 April It, it should be seen in the light of all the 2000) in the same newspaper, doubt is cast injustices that have gone on through the on the existence of an absolute nuth. ages and will go on into the future. If communication is to serve the good, What about the convicts who were sent readers need to be aware that words used to Australia in the colonial days, many for therein may be twisted to serve another petty crimes - this broke up families. purpose. What about children born into alcoholic John McKay homes or children subject to sexual abuse Falcon or abuse in general - slavery, and legion other injustices that break up families. We need a serious commitment to conith reference to your recent edi- templative prayer and to learn to be, and torial. (13 April) and responses, then let our actions flow from our being. and also all the general publicity given to the Stolen Generation,Iam get- Clive Shearer Esperance ting heartily tired of hearing about it.
Learning to be
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Pope declares Divine Mercy Sunday at canonisation VATICAN (CNS/VIS) - Pope John Paul II proclaimed the second Sunday of Easter as Mercy Sunday throughout the world last Sunday as he declared fellow Pole Faustina Kowalska the first saint of the new millennium, calling her "a gift of God for our time." At a canonisation Mass on 30 April in St Peter's Square, the Pope said the humble life of the Polish Mercy sister, who died in 1938 at the age of 33 and whose diary account of visions and revelations inspired Divine Mercy devotion worldwide, "is tied to the history of the 20th century." The Pope told the 150,000 people present that Christ entrusted the new saint with His message of mercy in the period between the First and Second World Wars: 'Jesus said to Sister Faustina: 'Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustingly to divine mercy'. "Through the work of this Polish nun," he said," .... It is not a new message, but it can be seen as a particularly illuminating gift that helps us to live the Easter Gospel more Intensely, in order to offer it as a ray of light to the men and women of our time." 'It is important,' he went on, that we accept in its entirety the message that comes to us from God's Word on this second Sunday of Easter. "From now on, throughout the whole Church, this day will take the name of 'Divine Mercy Sunday': As Archbishop of Krakow. the Pope took a personal interest in Sr Faustina, helping to retract a Vatican ban on her diary by demonstrating it had been based on misleading translations of the nun's writings. The ban was lifted in 1978, six months before the current Pope's election. Born Helen Kowalska to a poor peasant family in central Poland, St Faustina entered the Warsaw convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925.
Photo' Diane Graham
The parish of St Francis of Assisi in Maida A woman holds a photo of St Faustina Kowalska above the huge crowd in St Peter's Square for the Vale marked the canonisation of St FaustiPhoto. CNSiCatholic Press Photo 30 April Mass marking the canonisation of the Polish nun. na and the Feast of Divine Mercy at last Krakow and Plock and the Sunday's 9.30am Mass with the blessing Warsaw, cities of In the last years of her brief life, the nun kept a diary in which she recounted her Lithuanian city of Vilnius, part of Poland of the devotional picture of Jesus as the many visions of Christ, who told her to prior to Word War II. The Pope declared the fount of Divine Mercy. new saint the patron of all four cities. "With Acting parish priest, Father Patrick Um, spread his message of mercy. The canonisation Mass, held in St Peter's this act,I intend to transmit today this mes- solemnly blessed the "Image of Divine Mercy" raised above the sanctuary. The Square under a cloudless sky, was one of the sage to the new millennium," he said. The faithful must be open not only to God's altar was decorated in the red and white biggest events of Holy Year 2000, with some 200,000 pilgrims in attendance. Some 50 car- mercy but to the practice of mercy toward theme, representative of the blood and others; God's love and brotherly love are water which gushed forth from the heart dinals, bishops and priests concelebrated. of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for all. A short At least 300,000 faithful turned out at St inseparable, the Pope said. "The people of today must be inspired by talk on the message and devotion of the Faustina's sanctuary in Krakow for a Mass of Thanksgiving before watching the canonisa- this love in order to face the crisis of mean- Divine Mercy was given and after Mass the ing, the challenges of diverse needs, above congregation joined in celebrating both tion in Rome via satellite. At the Vatican, pilgrims waved banners all the need to safeguard the dignity of each the Feast of Divine Merry and the canonisation of St Faustina with a Devonshire from the four cities where St Faustina lived human person," the Pope said. - Catholic News Service tea. - Jean Heagney. in convents during her lifetime: the Polish The Record. May 4 2000 Page 7
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Features
Another Aussie religious quietly at work for the Church overseas By Glynnis Grainger
A
n Our Lady of the Missions Sister has spent 13 years in Senegal in north-west Africa, a French-speaking former colony of France. Sister Margaret Spain, who is visiting Perth on leave, told The Record recently she was one of an International group of seven Sisters from six countries based at two communities there. She visits Australia every three years for a holiday. Sr Spain is the only Australian and the other Sisters are from New Zealand, France, Peru, two from Kenya, and one from India. More than 90 per cent of the population is Moslem and French is the official language. Her main work has been in a program of literacy for the women of the villages in their own language. "Imanage to get along in the main local language, 'wolos; one of six local languages," she said. "We work mainly in the fields of health and education - the other Sisters are mainly involved in the health side."
A Senegalese woman takes part in a literacy program.
Sr Spain at The Record office.
To help defray costs, the local people pay something when they come to the clinic. The Sisters are also trying to make it a self-supporting work as much as possible so they are not completely reliant on donations. But they do rely on help from friends - people who have come to know of the work there.
"We still need a lot of outside financial support as the people have really very few resources of their own," Sr Spain said. The Sisters' communities are located in two places 100km apart - one on the coast called Mboro and the other at a place inland called Ndondol. At present Sr Spain is at Mboro where the climate is quite hot, around 40C. "Ienjoy the heat and have worked in Broome, WA, for six years," Sr Spain said. "Senegal is a very dry country and the people are very dependent
on the rains which are not all that apparent" The rain is necessary for their food crops - millet and some rice and their main cash crop is peanuts. "We are able to get rice and fish and there is an increase in the amount of vegetable-growing," Sr Spain said. "Vegetables and fruit are fairly readily available and occasionally we will have meat such as beef, sheep or goat, or chicken, which is vulnerable to disease. *Senegal is a peaceful place with no major disasters, wars or
famines. Ills the good news stories about Africa that we don't hear." Senegal has been independent from France for the last 40 years, and has a democratic republican government. Sr Spain goes back to country Victoria - where her mother and relatives live - in one week's time for one month before she returns to Africa. The Our Lady of the Missions Website which gives information about their missions all around the world. including Senegal, is: http://rndm.tripod.com
Sister is world champ again Crucifix to spread By Anthony Barich
I
f music be the food of love, play on," said Shakespeare in 'Twelfth Night." Replace "music" with "sport" and you have the motto by which 69-year-old US triathlete Sister Madonna Buder lives. Sr Buder, a member of the Sisters for Christian Community from Spokane, Washington, has devoted her competition in triathlons to God. After waking up at lam with jet lag last Sunday, 30 April, here in Perth, she won the 6569 age group of the World Mathlon Championships. It was her seventh championship. She dedicated the three legs of the race to her three brothers and dedicated the whole triathlon to her late parents. She said her mother was devoutly religious, dedicating each of her children to God while still in the hospital while Sr Buder's father, a nonCatholic, was hesitant to baptise them. The sporting genes came from her father, a champion oarsman who also played handball at a high level until age 70, she said. "I'm starting to wonder whether this (triathlon) is such a good idea any more, as I'm nearly that age," she said. "But I keep saying to God,
Photo Anthony Barich
Sr Buder walks after crossing the finish line at Langley Park on the Swan River foreshore to win the world triathlon championship for 60- to 69-year-olds.
'You'll let me know when (to give it away) won't you?" Sr Buder is the current record holder of the iron-man event in Hawaii and Canada for her age group. "As long as God has given me the strength and skill,Isee no reason whyIshould stop," she said. Yet Sr Buder, who began competing at age 48, said the athletes she associated with needed her as much as she needed them. "Athletes draw strength from me:I can't understand it," she
The Record, May 4 2000 Page 8
said. "They ask me 'When's Mass?' - like I'm supposed to know the Mass timetables of the local church in every city we visit all over the world. "But I give them spiritual guidance and give help to those who need someone to talk to," she said. As she is globe-trotting, she does God's work by ministering to those who are lucky enough to cross her path except if it's on the triathlon track "I don't know how people get along without faith," Sr Buder said. "An event like this literally brings people to their knees. It is a time when faith is needed." Her additional role as a guardian ad litem - an advocate for troubled youths in law courts - requires her to do the work of "the FBI, lawyer, and confidante, all rolled into one," she said. 'They need someone to talk to, to share their hard times with," she said. 'To the little ones you just say 'I'm your friend." Along with being an athlete, confidante and spiritual guide, she is also a published poet and author and has won an award for black-and-white photography eight times as a nature photographer. "I wake up every morning and say to God, 'OK, God, what'll it be today? Whatever ills, guide me,- she said. "Life is never dull and there's never enough time."
Gospel in South West By Glynnis Grainger
A
statue of the body of Christ constructed by Fr Alphonsas Savickas, the Salvatorian parish priest of Mundaring, will be hung on a cross on a hill near Margaret River this week and lit up at night for motorists to see. The corpus is a copy of a life-sized wood carving of Jesus in the South Tyrol, which was originally part of Austria and is now in Italy. A Willetton man anonymously paid for the materials for the corpus "in thanksgiving for all the favours bestowed on his family by Jesus and Mary." Fr Savickas said his idea was a "votive offering of thanks and petition because I am going to work in Siberia for about five or six years." He said his Lithuanian background had put him in touch with many survivors of the Gulag concentration camps who had been sent to Siberia by the Communist dictator, Josef Stalin. "In this Jubilee year we are reminded that the last century had many martyrs," Fr Savickas said. He is visiting Siberia to get their stories; and tell of the heroic lives of those who didn't survive. Bunbtuy Bishop Peter Quinn is holding a Mass at Bove's Farm, south of Busselton, on Sunday 7 May to bless the crucifix with the 'corpus' statute from Mundaring. It will also be a special Marian function attended by Fr John Phalen from New York who is promoting the Family Rosary Crusade in WA at present. There will be singing from 12.30pm, Mass at 1pm, followed by Rosary, a procession and Benediction. The corpus has a wire frame, filled in with fibreglass and coated with copper
Fr Savickas' body of Christ waits at Mundar-
ing.
Photo Colieen McGuiness-Howatrl
foil, then lacquered over to prevent verdigris forming. "We started work in March and it is quite heavy and very hard, and it takes two to manoeuvre it," according to Mundaring parish council secretary Annie Bowler, who helped on the project. She said Fr Savickas would say a Mass at Bove's Farm at about 4pm on Wednesday, 3 May, with a mini-pilgrimage to the cross, weather permitting. "The corpus is more than two metres tall and slightly larger than life," Miss Bowler said. It was hung in its temporary position against the trunk of a jarrah tree in the grounds of the Sacred Heart Church and draped with red cloth during Holy Week
Features
estalin InA`tv`tAttale 0
ver the past eighteen months one of the controversial areas in Australian Church life has been the Sacrament of Penance. In a number of Dioceses, what is known as the "Third Rite", or general confession followed by general absolution, became routinely used, especially around Easter and Christmas. The Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome made it clear that the use of the "Third Rite" was only for genuine emergencies, and that its widespread use had to cease. The occasions when its use was legitimate were outlined in the Code of Canon Law. Many people, who had welcomed general absolution, were unhappy at Rome's intervention, but finally accepted the ruling. The point that the Sacred Congregation was making was that we should not lose the "First Rite", that is, individual confession followed by individual absolution (and penance). The widespread and uncanonical use of general confession and absolution tended to undermine individual confession and absolution, and deprive people of the deeply personal and spiritual experience of the Sacrament. At the same time there appeared in a number of Perth Parishes, a variant of the socalled "Second Rite", that is, the reconciliation of several penitents with Individual confession and absolution. This variant involved the presentation of a list of sins, individual absolution and
penance, and the burning of the list afterwards. It was often used either during Mass or in place of the Penitential Rite of Mass. Some time ago I called a meeting of the Priests who were using this variant. It was clear that many people found it appealing. The writing down of sins led them to a thorough examination of conscience and a profound sorrow for their sins. One priest told me that, whereas only a handful ever went to individual confession, when this practice was introduced around eighty per cent participated. I readily acknowledged the pastoral concerns of the priests for their people in offering this form of confession. I asked them to separate the Rite from Mass, make sure penitents expressed their sorrow for their sins when they presented them, and allow time for the priest to raise issues or ask questions on the presentation of their sins. I then allowed the practice to continue on an experimental basis while seeking further clarification about the integrity and liturgical correctness of the practice. Just before Easter I received a letter from the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship pointing out that the experimental Rite was indeed irregular, and must cease. They pointed out that it was an incorrect application of the liturgical and canonical norms surrounding the Sacrament, that it would compromise the inviolable seal of sacramental confession, and that it was capable of interfering with the constitution-
corlesscon
In a "Circular Letter" sent by the Congregation to all Australian Bishops, the practice one sometimes hears about of confessing only one sin was also to be eliminated. This is clearly so, as one is obliged to confess all mortal sins. The selection of one sin, therefore, is inadequate if there is more to confess. The Congregation makes a distinction between the Sacrament of Penance and non-sacramental Penitential Celebrations. In these latter celebrations different ways can be used to encourage sorrow for sin. Where the Sacrament of Penance is involved, the liturgical norms and rules are to be observed. As with Rome's intervention regarding the "Third Rite" so also in this matter, the Sacred Congregation urges us to find ways of reviving the practice of individual confession to re-discover that "uniquely profound and transforming human experience that is individual, integral confession and absolution" (Pope John Paul II, 1998). In this we have a great challenge. While in the Cathedral numbers for confession are quite large, in many parishes the numbers are few. While I fully acknowledge the pastoral motivation of those priests who offered the al requirements of the Sacrament. I fully experimental Rite, I ask them now, as I ask accept this determination from Rome and all priests, to find other ways of calling peohave written to all our Priests informing ple back to the practice of individual confession. them that the practice must cease. Most Rev B J Hickey Ihave also called together the priests most involved in this practice to discuss the impliArchbishop of Perth cations of the Roman instruction. 2 May 2000
Archbishop's
Pastoral Letter on Confession
'Bring God and the Church right into the bedroom' From Peter Rosengren in Melbourne
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n American speaker set the national Dare to Dream gathering of families in Melbourne abuzz when he delivered a workshop on sex and Pope John Paul Hs theology of the body last Saturday morning. More than 200 people stayed behind to ask questions and learn more about the subject after he delivered his workshop promoting the Pope's radical new vision of human sexuality. Christopher West. 30 and married with two children, is the Director of the Family Life Office for the Denver diocese in Colorado. He told workshop participants Pope John Paul II had created a theological time bomb with his theology of the body, set to go off some time in the third millennium. lust as the sexual revolution had bred a culture of death, the Pope's theology of the body would create a culture of life, he predicted. In fact, Pope John Paul II had said that the call to nuptial love between husband and wife that is stamped in each's sexuality 'is the fundamental element of human existence in the world.' 'It does not get any more important than that,' Mr West told his audience. In formulating his theology of the body, delivered at 129 general audiences between September 1979 and November 1984 - five years' worth - the Pope had revolutionised the way the Church looks at sexuality, he said. Meanwhile, rather than keeping the Church out, as is so often called for, baptised Catholics need to bring God and the Church right into the bedroom and the marital embrace, he said. 'When you are a baptised Catholic you bring the Church with you into the bedroom," he told an audience clearly fascinated by his message. "And in that union as male and female, husband and wife, you are called to reflect the very love and life of God, to reflect the very union of Christ and the Church.' Pope John Paul has shown that it is in and through the human body and its sexuality that people can see the revelation of the
mystery of God. 'So by looking at the body-, the deepest meaning of the body and sexual difference and union, we have a key to understand the very mystery of God,' Mr West said. 'If you take nothing else away from here today, take this away: that the body reveals the mystery of God,' he urged. In fact, he pointed out, Pope John Paul even goes so far as to say that the marital embrace is an icon of the inner life of the
from beginning to end, is a story about mar"This is a man who is not interested in 'surface solutions,- Mr West said. riage. 'The Bible starts with the story of Adam 'He is interested in going to the root of the and Eve and their call to marriage and it problem, to the first cause of the chain reacends with a description of heaven [in the tion which has brought us to the culture of Book of Revelation] as an eternal wedding death in which we live.' feast,' he said. And, he said, 'His search has taken him Heaven, he said, was therefore going to to humanity's rejection of God's plan for be the consummation of a marriage life and love that is stamped in our very between Christ and the Church. He urged sexuality, stamped in our very creation as conference goers to pray in front of the male and female.' Quoting the Pope he said: 'Human life, its dignity, its balance, depends at every moment of history and at every point on the globe on who man will be for woman and who woman will be for man.' And while the Holy Father has shown that if we live the truth of our sexuality we fulfil the very meaning of our being and existence, the opposite is also true; if we do not, we destroy ourselves. 'Welcome to the culture of death,' Mr West said. adding 'The root cause of the culture of death is misuse of the great gift of sexuality." He said that for those who dismiss Pope John Paul as 'brilliantly conservative' it should be pointed out that it was in the first years of his pontificate that he proposed the most progressive vision of human sexuality that the Church and the world 'has ever known.' 'This somewhat obscure collection of Wednesday audiences is sure to change the Church and the world for ever and set Photo: Peter Rosengren Christopher West sells a new theology of sex to gathering participants. a new standard for Catholic theology,' he Trinity. "The marital embrace reveals to us Blessed Sacrament and ask "Lord, what said something of the very essence of the divine does it mean that you made me a man, or "We will see it happen. We are on the mystery that God is life and love,' Mr West a woman. Show me the mystery of your verge of a new sexual revolution. And just said. revelation in my body." as the old sexual revolution has bred a culThe Holy Father is saying "we image God He also urged them to be thankful for the when we live in a life-giving communion sexual union of their parents which con- ture of death this new sexual revolution will breed a culture of life - we will see it of persons, because God as Father, Son and ceived them. in our lifetime. Spirit is a life-giving communion of perMr West said the experience of living first sons.' 'This is what our Holy Father is talking under the Nazi regime and in the shadow 'But it goes even deeper than that,' Mr of its death camps, and later atheistic Com- about when he talks about crossing the West pointed out. "We image the llinitari- munism, had been the crucible in which threshold of hope, and the new evangelisation building a culture of life. This is why an mystery but we also image the union of the current Pope had been formed. it's so important. Christ and the Church, which is the bringThese experiences had led him to search ing of the Trinitarian mystery into the 'He is bringing to the modern world a his life for the deepest answers throughout world.' to life's hardest questions, among them: depth of understanding of what it means to And God's eternal plan for all of us is what can lead man, bestowed with God- be a human being that has never been articnothing less than to marry us, he empha- like dignity, to drink from the dregs of raw ulated and he does it in a way that a modsised, pointing out that the entire Bible, evil? ern audience can relate to. The Record, May 4 2000 Page 9
Features The cord years
ago
With Mary Busher, Perth Catholic Church Archives volunteer
Excerpts from the WA Catholic Record 5 May, 1900.
Railway challenged
G
reenough Farmers Club members wanted the Government to end the monopoly of the Midland Railway Company. Club member Mr T. Clinch told a Producers Conference in Perth: "This Company which obtained a concession of land on the plea of advancing the settlement of the Colony, keeps locked up a stretch of country from Midland Junction to Walkaway, 230 miles in extent and covering an area of some 3,500,000 acres. The few tenants permitted to live on these estates are subjected to the time-honoured process of a rise in rents according as improvements made by them become apparent. "Lately the rent of the tenants has been doubled and in some cases trebled. This is a matter which might well come under the consideration of those who are responsible for the well-being of the country. introducing as it does the most detestable feature of Irish landlordism - the worst system of land proprietorship in the world." The conference voted unanimously in favour of ending the monopoly.
New Norcia Easter
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aster Sunday at New Norcia was heralded by the joyful ringing of all the bells in the mission at 3.30am. The bell ringing lasted for 15 minutes, then the monastery community began to sing the solemn Matins and Lauds, accompanied by the organ and several instruments played by young Aboriginal men. High Mass was celebrated at 9am. With the exception of a couple of solos in the Gloria and Credo, the whole of the mass was sung by the Aboriginal boys. .... On this occasion one and all paid a visit to the remains of the recently deceased Father Dominguez.
Lascars pantaloons
A
Customs detective observed two Lascar sailors from the ship, the Sultan, making their way to the town attired in the most airy Singapore fashion with garments large enough for any publican. The detective accosted and inspected them and found in their pantaloons quantities of tobacco and cigars adroitly hung with tape so as to avoid detection. The smugglers were arrested and fined.
Girls win praise
D
ominican Convent students at Greenough held a concert in St Catherine's Hall in aid of the Indian Famine Relief Fund. The young ladies were specially praised for the quality of their solo and duet singing.
Bishops clash on ICEL. By Jerry Filteau WASHINGTON (CNS) - In a letter to America magazine the Vatican's two top liturgy officials have taken issue with a 4 March America article by Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Philadelphia. The letter appeared to signal a new roadblock to the revised Sacramentary in English for use in the US, which is awaiting final approval in Rome. The officials warned that if too many original new texts are put into liturgical rites alongside the traditional ones, "the substantial unity of the Roman Rite is placed in jeopardy." The new Sacramentary includes about 300 original prayers. Bishop Trautman told CNS that in light of the letter and other recent decisions in Rome, "I don't have any illusions about the present Sacramentary being endorsed. .. .I think there's going to have to be a revision." In his 4 March article, Bishop Trautman had questioned some structural changes that Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, has called for in the International Commission on English in the
Liturgy. The commission was formed by English-speaking bishops' conferences in the 1960s to develop common liturgy texts. The bishop criticised the cardinal's proposed ban against ICEL preparing original texts and questioned his wish to give his congregation veto power over all ICEL staff and consultants. He also took issue with recent Vatican decisions on methods of translation in English. In a response due to appear in the 13 May issue of America, Cardinal Medina and the congregation secretary, Archbishop Francesco Tamburrino, defended the cardinal's position. Contacted by telephone, Bishop Trautman said, "I don't think it responds to the concerns that I have raised," but "I welcome the letter in an effort to clarify further the issues surrounding English translation of liturgical texts by ICEL" The US bishops approved the text of the ICEL-prepared revised Sacramentary over a four-year period, 1993-9Z but the worship congregation has not yet given the final confirmation needed before It can be used. The Sacramentary, the book of prayers used at Mass throughout the year, includes some 3,000
prayers. About 300 of those in the ferences throughout the Englishnew version are original texts speaking world still decide individually which of those texts they developed by ICEL The Sacramentary currently in will adopt for their own country, use in the English-speaking world and Bishop Trautman argued that this is an appropriate exercise of dates back to 1973. From the mid-1980s to the early the oversight bishops have over '90s, developing a new Sacra- the development of the liturgy in mentary translation along with their own country. new original texts was one of He noted that for more than 25 years English-speaking Catholics ICEL's biggest projects. In their letter Cardinal Medina have had original texts composed and Archbishop Tamburrino took by ICEL as part of their liturgy, sharp issue with the approach of including the current alternative combining original texts with a opening prayers at Mass and various prayers "for pastoral circtuntranslation project "When the composition of new stances not envisioned in the texts is undertaken as part of the Latin editions of liturgical books." same project as the translation of Among examples he cited the the Roman liturgical books," they special prayers in the funeral wrote, "then there is the danger liturgy for someone who has comthat the authentic and integral mitted suicide and for someone transmission of the tradition will who had died after a long illitess. give way to a product which aims Cardinal Medina and Archbishto replace the tradition with an op Tamburrino said the composientirely different reality, and tion of new texts is "one form" of which fails to convey the wealth the legitimate inculturation of the contained in the former." liturgy but said it should not be Bishop Trautman asked CNS, "Is done by an international body. that assessment of danger authen"A commission charged with ticated in the congregation's view preparing texts for countries as regarding original texts of the Ital- diverse as the [US) and the Philipian, Polish, French, German and pines is not the type of body withSpanish - all of which are in pre- in which such proposals can be sent use and approved by the initiated on the proper basis and respective conferences of bishops carried out in the proper manof those countries?" Bishops' con- ner," they said.
Brigid couldn't help giving everything away
B
y the sixth century, the old Empire of Rome was gone, and Christianity had begun to spread out into the barbarian world. The Church encountered non-Mediterranean peoples and was enriched by their different perspective on Christianity and spirituality. Ireland, however, was far from completely Catholic when Brigid was born near Dundalk in Ulster in about 453. Brigid's mother, Broicseth, was a slave, and her father was a nobleman, called Dubthach. Dubthach's wife was not pleased at her husband's relationship with the slave woman, understandably enough, and insisted that she was sold when she was pregnant. Consequently, Brigid was born in the home of a Druid. Before Brigid was born and when she was a small baby the Druids prophesied she would be a sacred person, and that she would hold the land in which she lived until the crack of doom. During her childhood she performed many miracles and Bish-
op lbor of Cell Dara in Leinster identified her as the holy woman he had seen in a dream. Le Generosity was an important Perth historian Dr Jennifer Skerritt sheds part of pagan Celtic culture. some light on Catholic history to mark 2000 Nobles gave lavish gifts to their years of Christianity. This week: friends and to poorer dependants. Charity is also an imporSt Brigid AD c. 453-524 tant Christian virtue. Brigid developed the habit of distributing everything she could to his chariot. Dunlang was not She was named after Briga, one to the poor and needy. a man. stupid of When the most important Celtic godthey It was very difficult for her family to criticise or stop this behav- returned to his house, he gave desses. At that time, many wells and iour, even though she became a Brigid a more valuable sword, released and her lakes marfrom her in Ireland were sacred to serious menace to their economthe goddess Briga. riage obligation. ic wellbeing. He probably realised that he As the whole country became Her father and brothers decided to arrange a marriage for her, had escaped cheaply. Brigid con- Christian, it was simpler just to or failing that to sell her as a tinued to give away her family's declare these wells and lakes goods to the poor, until finally blessed by Saint Brigid, than to slave. Her father left her outside in his they were only too glad to let her try and change the ancient customs of the country people. chariot while he negotiated her go to religious life. consecrated She Similarly, the St Brigid's feast was and gathmarriage with a local king, ered a group of pious virgins day, on the first of February, took named Dunlang. While she was waiting, Brigid about her to found the first nun- over the pagan festival of Imbolc which celebrated the ewes comgave her father's sword, worth nery in Ireland, at Kildare. Brigid was born at a time when ing into milk ten cows, to a passing leper. Brigid was a Christian saint When her father returned, he Ireland was only partly Christwas furious, but, as he was dri- ian. Her own upbringing was whose cult helped ease the conving home, he found that Brigid among both Christians and version of Ireland by replacing the Celtic goddess. had been miraculously returned pagans.
bi e4rist 2000
No traduality' in Church confession law Continued from Page 11 7. Statement of Conclusions: Final Declaration of the Interdicasterial meeting of the Roman Curia with a representation of the Bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Australia, 14 December 1998, no. 45. 8. Pope John Paulll, Allocution to the Bishops of Ireland, 26 June 1999: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 91 (1999) 1065-1072, here no. 8, p. 1072. 9. Cf Conc. Oecum. Flor., sessio VIII. Bulla unionis Armenorum; Denz. Schoen. 1323. 10. Statement of Conclusions, no. 45 11. Cf. Code of Canon Law, cann 961, §1, 20; 961, §2. 12. Pope Paul VI, Allocution to the Bishops of the region of New York in the United States of America, 20 April 1978: Ada Apostolicae Sedis 70(1978) p. 330. 13. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Poenitentia, 2 December 1984: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 77(1985) 185-275, here no. 33, p. 270. 14. Cf Code of Canon Law, can. 986, §1; Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Normae pastorales circa absolutionem sacramentalem generali modo impertiendam, 16 June 1972; Acta Apostolicae Sedes 64 (1972) pp. 510-514, here no. IV, p 512.
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15. Cf. Code of Canon Law, can 986, §1; Catechism of the Catholic Church; no. 1464. 16. Pope Paul VI, Allocution to the Bishops of the region of New York in the United States of America, 20 April 1978: Ada Apostolicae Sedes 70(1978) pp. 328-332, here p. 331. 17. Cf Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1484. 18. Pope John Paul II, Allocution to the Bishops of Australia, 14 December 1998: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 91 (1999) pp. 580-586, here no. 5, p 584. Cf. also Pope John Paul II, Allocution to the Bishops of I reland, no. 8: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 91 (1999) p. 1072. 19. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Poeitentia. no. 33: Ada Apostolicae Sedis 77 (1985) p. 271. 20. Cf. Rite of Penance. no. 36; Appendix II. 21. Rite of Penance, no 37. Cf also Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Normae pastorales circa absolutionem sacramentalem generali modo impertiendam, no. X: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 64 (1972) pp. 513-514. 22. Cf Rite of Penance, no. 13. 23. Cf Sacrasanctum Concilium, no. 22. §3. 24. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1395.
25. Catechism of the Catholic Church. nos. 1367. 1394. 26. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1395. 27. Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 15 September 1999, no. 5. 28. Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reamciliatio et Poenitentia, 2 December 1984, no. 31: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 77 (1985) p. 258. Cf also Pope John Paul II. Allocution to the Bishops of Portugal. 30 November 1999, no 4: L `Osservatore Romano (1 dic. 1999) p. 4. 29. Pope John Paul 17, General Audience, 22 September 1999, no. 5. 30. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1458. Cf also Code of Canon Law, can. 988. §2. 31. Pope John Paul If, General Audience. 15 September 1999, no. 4. 32. Pope John Paul II, Bull Incamationis mysterium, 29 November 1998; Acta Apostolicae Sedis 91(1999) pp. 129-143. here no. 5, p. 133. 33. Pope John Paul II, Allocution to the Bishops of Portugal, 30 November 1999, no, 4.
Vatican Letter on Confession to Australia's Bishops
No `graduality' in applying Confession law Circular Letter concerning the integrity of the Sacrament of Penance
would represent, it must be noted, in particular, that such abuses run the risk of creating confusion in the minds of the faithful as to whether a sacramental absolution may or may not have taken place. 9. It is to be recalled that the "Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins - that is proper to the Sacrament of any risk that this traditional practice of the 5. Local Ordinaries and priests, to the Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly Sacrament of Penance fall into disuse" (7). degree that it applies to them, have an the sacrament of those who are in full comhrough a mysterious sharing in the Indeed, in this Jubilee Year Catholics are obligationin conscience to ensure that pen- munion with the Church". (24) victory of our Lord Jesus Christ on called in a particular way "to encounter itents have regular and frequent scheduled At the same time, since the sacrifice of the Cross, the Sacrament of Penance anew the uniquely transforming experi- opportunities for individual and integral Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are overcomes the division between man and ence that is individual, integral confession confession of sins in all parish churches one single sacrifice, whenever the faithful and absolution" (8). God caused by sin. and insofar as possible in other pastoral receive the Body and Blood of Christ In this precious sacrament the repentant In accord with the law and practice of the centres. (14) worthily, they are strengthened in charity, sinner receives, as a gracious gift of the Church, the faithful must orally confess In addition, priests are called upon to be "which tends to be weakened in daily life; Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit and their sins (auricular confession) (9), except generous in making themselves available and this living charity wipes away venial through the ministry of the Church, that in cases of true physical or moral impossi- outside of those scheduled times to cele- sins". (25) reconciliation, which is "concentrated in bility (eg, extreme illness or physical con- brate individual and integral confession "By the same charity that it enkindles in inhibiting speech, speech whenever the faithful would reasonably us, the Eucharist preserves us from future Christ himself, the Lamb without blemish dition offered for our sins (1 Pt 1:19; Rv 5:6;12:11)" impediment, etc.). ask for it. (15) "Other works, for lack of mortal sins". (26) This disposition would exclude commu- time, may have to be postponed or even whose "pain and abandonment is thus 10. Diocesan Bishops are reminded of turned into an inexhaustible source of com- nal celebrations of the sacrament in which abandoned, but not the confessionaL" (16) "the importance of the necessary pastoral passionate and reconciling care for instilling a greater apprelove".(1) ciation of the sacrament in the PeoFor this reason, on the occasion ple of God, so that the message of of the ad lhnina visit to Rome in reconciliation, the path of conver1998 of the Bishops of Australia, sion and the very celebration of the Holy Father himself and this the sacrament can more deeply Congregation for Divine Worship touch the hearts of the men and and the Discipline of the Sacrawomen of our day". (27) ments made several observations In response to God's sacramenconcerning the authentic discital gift: pline of the Sacrament of Penance, It would.. . . be foolish, as well as In particular concerning the altopresumptuous, to wish arbitrarily gether exceptional situations apart to disregard the means of grace from which 'general absolution" and salvation which the Lord has may never be administered. provided and, in the specific case, Since this Great Jubilee of the to claim to receive forgiveness Year 2000 "implies a rediscovery while doing without the sacrament of the Sacrament of Penance in its which was instituted by Christ preprofound meaning as an cisely for forgiveness. (28) encounter with the One who forSince "reconciliation in Christ is gives us through Christ in the Spirachieved in a pre-eminent way in it"(2), this Dicastery has the celebration of the Sacrament considered it opportune to proof Penance", (29) Diocesan Bishmote a deepening of an authentic ops are to recommend strongly the understanding of the sacramental frequent reception of the Sacradiscipline, as well as a correct ment of Penance, even in those application of the rite as clearly cases when, after a diligent examdetermined by liturgical and ination of conscience, penitents canonical norms. remain unaware of any mortal To that end, and after having sins, both by promoting this teachattentively studied the matter, this ing themselves and by reminding Dicastery wishes to state that: confessors to counsel the faithful Photo. CNS/Reuters 1. The norms in force concerning Individual confession in Vietnam: a Catholic priest hears confession last yaw at La V . that "the regular confession of our the Sacrament of Penance are venial sins helps us form our conscience, 6. The Holy Father has pointed to the perfound in the Rite of Penance of the Roman penitents are invited to present a written fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves sonal nature of sin, conversion, forgiveness Ritual and in the Code of Canon Law (3), list of sins to the priest confessor. be healed by Christ and progress in the life (17) as the reason why reconciliation It should be noted that such innovations and and are based on divine law, the constant of the Spirit". (30) doctrine of the Church and her traditional also risk compromising the inviolable seal the Rite of Reconciliation of several peniIn the pursuit of that authentic "rediscovindividual confession and absosacramental confession. tents with of practice. ery" of the Sacrament of Penance to which 3. In giving consideration to the authen- lution "demands the personal confession the Holy Father calls the Church, "a careThis Circular Letter recalls those very norms, and therefore, it does not constitute tic discipline of the Church concerning of sins and individual absolution". (18) Poenitentiae Since individual and integral confession ful rereading of the Ordo an innovation, nor a modification to the "general absolution", the recent interdicasgreat help durPenance") will be a ("Rite of terial meeting of the Roman Curia with a of sins is not only an obligation 'but also ing the Jubilee for deepening our under law in force. It does not revoke anything permitted by representation of Bishops of the Episcopal an inviolable and inalienable right" (19) of standing of the essential elements of this the faithful, any innovation which would the dispositions of law in force concerning Conference of Australia noted that: i nterfere with their fulfilment of this oblig- sacrament". (31) communal celebrations have not . . . Sacrament of Penance. the Especially in this Holy Year, "'when Jesus' Infrequently occasioned an illegiti- ation, such as when penitents are invited invitation to conversion makes itself more Rather, it recalls those norms concerning or otherwise encouraged to name just one mate use of general absolution. This the authentic discipline of the Sacrament deeply felt' (32) may one of fruits of the illegitimate use, like other abuses in sin or to name a representative sin, is to be Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 be the genof Penance which the Holy See, in the Rite the administration of the Sacrament of eliminated. of Penance, the Code of Canon Law and eral return of the Christian faithful to the 7. As an aid to a more fruitful reception sacramental practice of Confession". (33) Penance, is to be eliminated. several discourses of the Holy Father has The teaching of the Church is reflect- of the Sacrament of Penance and in the already repeatedly expressed. Jorge A. Cardinal Medina Estevez, ed in precise terms in the require- hope of fostering the spirit and virtue of Therefore, it should be dearly stated that Prefect Congregation for Divine faithful, the Rite of among the penance ments of the Code of Canon Law (cf. there may be no "graduality" in the appliWorship and the Discipline esp. canons 959-964). In particular it is Penance includes material for 'Penitential cation of the norm of law of the Sacraments. described as gathwhich are celebrations", clear that "A sufficient necessity is not The Congregation for Divine Worship ... considered to exist when confessors erings of the people of God to hear the 20 March, the Solemnity of itself has no faculty to deviate from the legcannot be available merely because of proclamation of God's word. (20) Saint Joseph in the Great islation in force; indeed, its responsibility faithful do should be taken that the "Care a great gathering of penitents, such as Jubilee of the Year 2ooa is to safeguard and promote these norms can occur on some major feastday or not confuse these celebrations with the celFrancesco Pio Tarnburrino, and, additionally, to assist Bishops in the ebration of the Sacrament of Penance", (21) pilgrimage" (canon 961, §1, 2°). Archbishop, Secretary exercise of their pastoral ministry. particular, by making clear to them that Footnotes: The bishops will exercise renewed vigin 2. The divine constitution of the Sacrailance on these matters for the future, such celebrations are preparatory in nature ment of Penance requires each penitent to . Pope John Paul H, General Audience, 22 Sepaware that departures from the and do not include the sacramental for- 1 confess to a priest all mortal sins, as well tember 1999, no 3: L'Osservatore Romano (23 sins. of authentic tradition do great wrong to giveness sett 1999) p.6. as any specifying moral circumstances that the Church and to individual It is to be borne in mind that such penihe remembers after a diligent examination . Pope John Paul H, General Audience, 15 SepCatholics.(10) tential celebrations may not make use of 2tember of conscience. (4) 1999, no. 1: L'Osservatore Romano (18 4. With respect to the administration of the sacramental formula of absolution, nor sett 1999) p.4. Cf Apostolic letter, Tertio For this reason the Code of Canon Law adveniente, 10 November 1994: Ada Aposstates clearly that "individual and integral "general absolution", the exclusive author- should they employ the concluding formuconfession and absolution is the sole ordi- ity enjoyed by Diocesan Bishops to deter- la from the Penitential Rite at Mass, nor tolicae Sedis 87(1995) pp. 5-41, here no. 50, nary means by which a member of the mine whether a grave necessity is truly any other formula which could be mis- 36. 3. Cf. Code of Canon Law, cann. 959-991. faithful who is conscious of mortal sin is present in a given case in their diocese (11) construed to be an absolution from sin. 8. Neither the Rite of Reconciliation of 4. Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 988, §1; Catereconciled with God and with the Church. does not permit them "to change the Physical or moral impossibility alone required conditions, to substitute other several penitents with individual confes- chism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1454, 1458. conditions for those given, or to determine sion and absolution, nor the aforemen- 5. Code of Canon Law, can 980. excuses from such confession? (5) In specifying this obligation, the Church grave necessity according to their person- tioned Penitential celebrations may be 6. Code of Canon Law, can. 989. Cf. also Cone integrated into the celebration of the Mass. Oecum. Trid., sessio XIV, cap. IV: Denzingerhas insistently reiterated that "all the faith- al criteria however worthy" (12) Indeed, the Diocesan Bishop makes "this (22) ful who have reached the age of discretion Schoenmetzer 1683; sessio XIV, Canones de In addition to the unauthorised innova- sacramento poenitentiae, can. 8: Denz. Schoen. are bound faithfully to confess their mortal judgement graviter onerata conscientia, and with full respect for the law and prac- tion (23) in the celebration of the respec- 1708; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1457. sins at least once a year". (6) "Energetic efforts are to be made to avoid tice of the Church." (13) tive rites and of the Mass that this practice Continued on Page 10 The following is the full text of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Circular Letter concerning the integrity of the Sacrament of Penance sent to Australian Catholic Bishops and dated 20 March, the date this liturgical year for the Solemnity of Saint Joseph the Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Archbishop Bany Hickey referred to this letter in this week's pastoral letter on Confession.
T
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International News
Indians receive apology
In Brief Gay case settled
By Use Alves SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) - The Brazilian Catholic Church apologised to the indigenous and black populations for the discrimination against them in Brazil during the last 500 years. The president of the Brazilian bishops' conference, Bishop Jayme Chemello, delivered the apology at a 26 April open-air Mass to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the first Mass on Brazilian soil. "Father, we ask for your forgiveness for the sins committed against our brothers, especially the indigenous, whose rights were not always respected," said Bishop Chemello. "We (also) ask forgiveness for not always having respected the dignity of our black brothers and sisters." The Mass was celebrated by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in Santa Cruz de Cabralia, the same spot where Franciscan Father Henrique de
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (CNS) The Santa Rosa Diocese announced on 24 April it had reached a settlement in the civil lawsuit brought by a priest of the diocese against former Santa Rosa Bishop Patrick Ziemann and the diocese. Officials said the diocese wanted to forego a potentially lengthy and expensive trial as well as make it easier for its newly appointed bishop to "give undivided attention" to his new duties. Father Jorge Hume Sales had sought $8 million in a suit in which he charged Bishop Ziemann of sexual coercion. The bishop admitted to a consensual sexual relationship.
Nuclear warning
Coimbra celebrated the first Mass on Brazilian territory in 1500. Although the bishops' conference had authorised indigenous representatives to be near the altar, religious officials were taken aback when a Pataxo Indian went up to the altar and gave a moving speech about the years of domination and suffering which reduced the indigenous populations from 6 million to fewer than 350,000 throughout Brazil. "It was more than 40,000 years in which 900 tribes with different cultures were nourished in this land. But after (the colonisation) more than 6 million Indians were exterminated," said Pataxo tribe representative, Jerry dos Santos Jesus. "Today there are only 350,000 of us. It has been 500 years of suffering, of massacres, exclusion and discrimination. Years of devastation of our forests, rape of our women and killings of our forefathers." Later Bishop Jose Santana de Oliveira of Eunapolis apologised
Members of Brazil's Pataxo tribe attend a Mass in Porto Seguro as part of the country's 500th anniversary celebrations on 26 April. Photo: CNS/Reuters
to Cardinal Sodano for the protest speech. • Brazil's Indigenous Missionary Council said it will petition the Organisation of American States' Council of Human Rights for a hearing on crimes against Indigenous. The missionary council said on
24 April it would ask the OAS human rights council to denounce crimes committed against the indigenous population, not only during mid-April celebrations of Brazil's 500th anniversary but during the six years President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has been in office.
Elian seizure leaves nun devastated 'Famine in
UNfl'ED NATIONS (CNS) The Vatican's foreign minister said on 27 April that nations continuing to rely on nuclear weapons showed that "the rule of law, confidence in others and the will to dialogue are not yet priorities." Archbishop jean-Louis Tauran, whose formal title is secretary for relations with states, called nuclear deterrence "a distressing solution for a world overwhelmed with weapons." "Sowing the seeds of death and mass destruction, we will most certainly not win the war, but together, with mutual trust and collaboration, we can win peace," Archbishop Tauran said.
- The Miami nun who broke her neutrality on the Ellen Gonzalez case earlier this year by advocating the 6 year old be permitted to stay in the United States said she was "heartbroken and devastated" over his seizure by federal agents. "I was shocked that a peaceful transfer, which according to all reports appeared so close, failed to materialise," Dominican Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, president of Barry University, said in statement about the 22 April seizure. "It's a real travesty of justice that this had to come to such a needless and violent transition," she said. "My only hope lies in the
promise of resurrection, that from this devastation, a new life can arise for all concerned." Earlier in the battle over whether Elian should go back to Cuba or be allowed to stay with relatives in Miami, Sister
O'Laughlin was asked by her friend, US Attorney General Janet Reno, to host a meeting between Elian and his grandmothers from Cuba. She later flew to Washington to urge Reno to allow the child to stay in the United States. She was not part of the negotiations between Reno and Miami civic leaders working to transfer Elian to his father just prior to Elian's seizure, according to Barry officials. Barry spokesman Joe McQuay said Sister O'Laughlin joined Miami political, community and religious leaders at a press conference on 22 April in calling for calm and reconciliation between the Gonzalez family members, but added that she preferred a less visible role for the time being.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) - The crisis in Zimbabwe, where white-owned farms have been invaded by people demanding land, raised concerns that a similar situation could arise in neighbouring South Africa, where 80 per cent of land is still controlled or owned by whites. "There is great expectation of land restitution, and we need to be careful that slowness in settlement does not lead to a situation like Zimbabwe," said Bishop
Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, who heads the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference justice and peace department. According to government statistics, less than 13 per cent of land in South Africa is controlled by black people. The National Land Claims Commission has received more than 63,000 claims so far but, according to National Land Claims Commissioner Wallace Mgoqi, only about 55,000 of these are legiti-
mate. By early April, close to 4,000 claims had been settled, he said. Bishop Dowling said in 24 April telephone interview from Rustenburg, "The pace is slow because the government is taking the legal route, looking for willing sellers and offering compensation." The bishops' conference said in an 8 April press statement that the farm invasions in Zimbabwe hold a lesson for other counties in the region, particularly South Africa.
By Tom Tracy
wEsr PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNS)
Pardon support SAN SALVADOR (CNS) Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacelle of San Salvador supported the request for a pardon from two ex-soldiers in jail for the 1980 killing of three US nuns and a lay worker. "Let's show mercy and pity. They (the jailed soldiers) have shown repentance, and that's the correct conduct," Archbishop Saenz told reporters after Easter Mass on 23 April in the capital.
That' picture: Elian is taken by US federal agents from the home of his Miami relatives in a pre-dawn raid on 22 April. photo CNS/Reuters
South Africa faces Zimbabwe lessons
Kosovars link up WARSAW, Poland (CNS) Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim leaders have formed a joint council to promote democracy and human rights in Kosovo, a year after the Yugoslav province was subjected to NATO bombing. They said they would also help rebuild each other's places of worship and take concrete steps to ensure a better future for local inhabitants.
parts only' ADDIS ABABA. Ethiopia (CNS)- Despite images of starving children broadcast around the world in recent weeks, Ethiopia is not yet suffering a widespread famine, relief officials said. Yet a Catholic Relief Services worker said many parts of the country are at "high risk" of severe drought and food shortages. While the situation in Gode in eastern Ethiopia and several other villages in the south and east of the country remains critical, the now welltelevised scenes of emaciated children and dead cattle do not tell the whole story. "That pocket of Ethiopia has been severely hit by the drought, but it's not representative of the entire country," said Anne Bousquet country representative in Addis Ababa for Catholic Relief Services. the US bishops' international relief and development agency. Relief officials say 8 million Ethiopians will need food aid in coming weeks to stave off a full-blown disaster. And if the drought does not ease, another 2.6 million people will also need assistance.
, Catholic Armenians protest 1915 massacre by Turks By Judith Sudilovsky
Lithuanian letter WARSAW, Poland (CNS) Lithuania's Catholic bishops apologised for their church's failure to defend persecuted Jews during World War II, as well as for past instances of "nationalist egoism." "Although the Church was faithful to the mission entrusted to it by Jesus Christ, it did not avoid mistakes caused by its members' weakness," the bishops said in a pastoral letter released in mid-April. •
JERUSALEM (CNS) - Demanding recognition and an apology for the crime committed against their people, Jerusalem's Catholic and Orthodox Armenians commemorated the 85th anniversary of the Turkish massacre of Armenians. This year, for the first time, an Israeli government official attended the 24 April ceremony. Education Minister Yossi Sand told the several hundred Armenians gathered at the Armenian Orthodox St James Church in the Old City he was committed to the having the story of the Armenian genocide become part of the Israeli educational curriculum. "Iam aware of the special meaning of this date, and maybe today
The Record, May 4 2000 Page 12
Catholic and Orthodox Armenians march in Jerusalem on 24 April in remembrance of the 1915 massacre of more than a million Armenians by Turkish soldiers. Photo: CNS/Debbie Hill
you are less alone," said Sand. "This is a day which has to be one of soul-searching of what happened so that it will not happen
again in this new era. Genocide is the root of all evil, and we have to do everything we can to cut it." Catholic Armenians celebrated
Mass in their church, then joined the Orthodox at St James Church. Holding banners and waving Armenian flags, together they walked to the nearby Armenian Orthodox cemetery and a memorial for the victims of the massacre. The 1915 massacre was the last of a series against the Armenians. During World War I, Armenians from the Caucasus region volunteered to help the Russian army against the Turks, and they recruited Turkish Armenians from behind Turkish lines. On 24 April, the Turkish government ordered the deportation of Turkish Armenians, and more than a million died of starvation or were killed by Turkish soldiers. April 24 has been chosen for the annual Memorial Day when Armenians remember their dead.
International News
Abortion procedure on trial By Patricia Zapor WASHINGTON (CNS) - In its first major abortion case in eight years, the US Supreme Court, on 25 April, took up the question of whether State laws outlawing one type of abortion are constitutional. Arguing in defence of his state's law prohibiting what is known as partial-birth abortion, Nebraska Attorney General Donald Stenberg described the issue before the court as about defining the "bright line between abortion and infanticide." Several justices, while referring to the late-term procedure as "gruesome," seemed most troubled by how the State Legislature defined what it outlawed. They questioned whether the definition was so broad that other types of abortion would be considered to be illegal because of the vagueness, and whether there was a compelling state interest in banning one abortion procedure. Several exchanges between the justices and the attorneys focused on legal points such as whether an exception should have been Included in the law permitting partial-birth abortions in case of a health risk to the mother. They also questioned whether the Federal Court was justified in interpreting state laws in conflict with how the state Attorneys General read their own laws, which they helped draft. Justice Antonin Scalia's questions repeatedly came back to what he called "the horror" of the procedure, describing how the challenged type of abortion is favoured by some doctors pre-
cisely because the foetus is killed ered illegal because their descripafter being mostly removed from tions are similar. "These are both very gruesome the mother's body. The lawyer for the doctor who procedures and it's difficult to tell challenged the law said it's clear one from the other," said O'Conthat once a child is totally outside nor. "I'm not certain the statute the mother's body it has separate doesn't prohibit D&E also." Why didn't the Legislature simrights that are unaffected by those of the mother, and that to lcill it at ply use the term "D&X," to avoid that point would be murder. this confusion, Ginsburg asked. Stenberg said the Legislature But the Nebraska law is intended to create a "new line" between approved an amendment clearly those rights, based on the location saying it did not intend to prohibit of the foetus within the mother's D&E abortions. Also, at the time body, said Simon Heller, repre- the law was passed, he said, there senting Nebraska Dr Leroy was a great deal of confusion about who called that type of Carhart. In one exchange with Scalia, abortion by what name. In a D&E abortion, the foetus is Heller agreed with the justice's description of the procedure as killed in the womb and dismembeing aimed at reducing the risk bered before it is removed. In a of perforating the uterus of the D&X, or partial-birth abortion, the woman having the abortion, goal is to remove the foetus from while still enabling death to be the womb intact and alive. Once caused before the baby's intact in the birth canal, its brain stem is body is fully removed from the severed and the brain suctioned out, enabling removal of intact birth canal. Heller contended that nothing body, and minimising the risk of In the court's previous rulings injuring the woman with surgical establishing a right to abortion instruments, explained Heller. Nebraska is one of 30 states to entitles a state to outlaw a procedure that he said may sometimes have banned the procedure. The 8th US Circuit Court of be the safest method of ending a Appeals last year declared pregnancy Other questions from the jus- Nebraska's law unconstitutional. A month later, the 7th Circuit tices revolved around whether the law's description of "partial-birth upheld the partial-birth abortion abortion," known to doctors as bans of Wisconsin and Illinois. While the justices considered dilation and extraction, or D&X, was so broad as to cover other the constitutionality of the ban, types of abortion not targeted by dozens of protesters both for and against the law stood outside the the law. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg court in a steady rainstorm, wavand Sandra Day O'Connor were ing signs and shouting slogans at particularly concerned about the each other. The court is expected to issue a type of abortion known as dilation and evacuation, or D&E, and ruling in the case before it whether it also would be consid- adjourns in July.
Book foreshadows social catechism ings of the nature of Catholic social teaching, the human person, the family, the social order, VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Seeking to whet Catholics' appetite for the the role of the state, the economy, Church's social teaching, the Vat- work and wages, poverty and ican released a collection of what charity, the environment, and the it considered the most important international community. The book was edited by US Fr papal pronouncements on the subject over the last hundred Robert Sirico, founder and president of the Acton Institute for the years. The book gathers "the most sig- Study of Religion and Liberty, nificant and relevant texts of the based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dominican Father Maciej Zieba, Church's social magisterium from (Pope) Leo XIII to the current president of the Tertium MillenPope," said Archbishop Francois nium Institute in Krakow, Poland, Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, presi- also worked on the text. Bishop Diarmuid Martin, secredent of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, at a press con- tary of the justice and peace council, said not only would the book ference on 27 April. Titled The Social Agenda: A Col- help Christians to better know the lection of Magisterial Texts, the social teaching of the Church, but 225-page book contains nearly also "to renew it to be adapted to 370 quotations, most a para- modern situations, and to renew graph's length, from some 75 the enthusiasm for social docChurch documents. The texts are trine, so that in the future century organised under the main head- opening before us we will have a By John Norton
generation of committed Christians in society, at the economic, political and international levels." Archbishop Nguyen Van Thuan said the collection was intended as a preparation for the future release of a compendium of the Church's social doctrine, commonly billed as a "catechism" of social teaching. Msgr. Giampaolo Crepaldi, the justice and peace official in charge of the project, said the catechism would be divided into three main sections. After a section dealing with the theological and anthropological underpinnings to the Church's social teaching, the document would examine a wide range of classic social doctrine themes. A final section would focus on the teachings' pastoral and practical consequences for Catholics, specifically for believers in particular professional fields, he said.
Justice editor a controversial thinker By John Norton VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Father Robert Sirico does not agree with all that the popes of the last hundred years have written about social justice, particularly when they have advocated government interference and regulation as a way to protect the poor. Yet, he said, "we were very conscious putting this (book) together not to impose our approach, but to simply lift out the Church's social teaching in an as objective manner as possible." The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace recently commissioned Fr Sirico - and his
Michigan-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty - to sift out the most important passages from the social teachings of popes from Leo XIII to John Paul II. The 225-page book was released at the Vatican on 27 April. At the justice and peace council, "there were many, many eyes that went through this document, so I am quite confident that no one will accuse the document of being one-sided, absolutely not. The Vatican never would have published such a thing," Father Sirico told CNS on 26 April. Fr Sirico gained notoriety in the early 1990s in many Church dr-
cies with an op-ed piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal, headlined "God's Gift, A Commercial Christmas." The much-lamented holiday consumerism, he argued, was, in fact, a valuable reflection of the Christmas spirit. Though he has since distanced himself from that idea, the priest's views on social and economic issues have stirred controversy. Fr Sirico is a vociferous critic of welfare as damaging to the dignity of the poor, and even warns about the dangers of private charity's "Samaritan dilemma," in which the good-intentioned offer of "too much support" actually hurts the needy.
Pncro CNS/Ma,-,
Maryknoll Father Martin Keegan holds up a large crucifix as he prays outside the Supreme Court building on 25 April in Washington. He was among 100 people demonstrating against abortion as the court heard arguments in a case challenging a Nebraska law prohibiting partial-birth abortion.
Court protesters clash By Nancy Hartnagel WASHINGTON (CNS) - Pro-life demonstrators, including several Catholics, carried on their own oral argument with supporters of legalised abortion outside the US Supreme Court in Washington on 25 April as justices inside heard oral arguments over a Nebraska law prohibiting partial-birth abortion. In a driving spring rain, about 100 pro-life Christians prayed and sang while some 50 National Organisation for Women representatives circled the sidewalk, chanting such slogans as "Hey, hey, ho, ho, right to life has got to go" and "Our bodies, our lives,
our right to decide." Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, told CNS he was asked to offer prayers for those on the other side of the issue. "Iprayed a very simple message, that when we say the dignity of every human life, 'every' includes those on the other side," he said. Reverend Pat Mahoney, a Presbyterian minister who heads the Christian Defence Coalition in Washington, was among more than 20 pro-life demonstrators arrested for refusing to remove a sign depicting stages in the partial-birth abortion procedure, which police said violated a federal regulation that limits the size of such displays.
Lay ministers outstrip priests in US survey By Jerry Fitteau WASHINGTON (CNS) - Lay ministers now outnumber priests on the staffs of most US Catholic parishes, said the report of a survey released in that country on 4 May. The National Catholic Parish Survey found that the laity, deacons and religious holding ministerial positions on parish staffs outnumber priests in parishes by nearly 2-to-1 - by more than 2-to-1 if one excludes the priests who are resident in a parish but not part of the staff. The parishes in the survey ranged from 23 . members to 20,650, but the average parish had a little more than 2,800 members and a yearly budget of about US $580,000. More than 90 per cent of the pastors responding to the survey said they were satisfied with their overall parish ministry. Those with large parishes, large staffs and diverse parish programs and outreach tended to express the highest levels of satisfaction. Researchers Jim Castelli, president of Castelli Enterprises, and Fr Eugene Hemrick, research director for the Washington Theological Union, conducted the mail survey of pastors in late 1999 and early 2000. From questionnaires sent to a national random sampling of Catholic parishes they obtained 704 usable responses. Many of the questions were
designed to provide data that could be compared with findings from a 1982 survey of 1,100 parishes conducted as part of in the massive Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life. The new survey found that since 1982: • Average parish size has grown by 23 per cent. from 2,300 members to 2,831. • Average parish ministry staffing has grown 9 per cent, from 4.7 per parish to 5.1 - but lay ministry has grown dramatically while the average number of priests, deacons and religious on parish staffs has gone down. • The number of parishes with at least one lay minister on staff has more than doubled, from 30 per cent to 68 per cent. • The average number of parishioners per priest has risen 72 per cent, from 920 to 1,572; if priests resident in a parish but not assigned there are excluded. the current ratio is 1,887 parishioners per priest. • The average number of priests in a parish has dropped from 2.5 to 1.8, or, if priest-residents are not counted, to 1.5. The researchers predicted that with declining numbers of priests and religious, the number and importance of lay ministers in parish staffing and parish life will only grow in coming years. The number of permanent deacons has been growing significantly, but the parish ministry of most deacons is voluntary.
The Record, May 4 2000 Page 13
More WA News
'Employers must pay workers entitlements' Employers have a moral obligation to pay employees their due, including the payment of entitlements when a company becomes insolvent This was stated in a Pastoral Letter for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, last Monday, 1 May, issued jointly by the Australian Catholic Commission for Employment Relations and the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council. "When companies become insolvent, workers can lose jobs, and even their entitlements," Bishop Kevin Manning, Bishop of Parramatta, and chairman of the ACSJC, said in the Pastoral Letter. "The closure of Oakdale Colliery in May, 1999, Braybrook Manufacturing in September, 1999, and National Textiles in January, all focused attention on this Issue: workers were denied the wages owing to them for work already done; unused long service leave and annual
leave; superannuation; pay in lieu of notice; redundancy pay, and other entitlements. "The hardship of unemployment was compounded by the loss of these entitlements and by the bitter injustice of the situation." Workers have an inalienable dignity and rights (and] should never be treated as just part of the production process, Bishop Manning said. Justice demands that their wages and entitlements must always be paid in full. Both the ACCER and the ACSJC: • Support amendments to the Corporations Law that will effectively deter company directors from not meeting their obligations to employees; • Support the payment of compensation by company directors who do not engage in due diligence with respect to meeting their obligations to employees;
• Support the prosecution of company directors who enter into uncommercial transactions that may affect the solvency of the organisation or that may affect the payment to creditors; • Support the inclusion of provisions that would protect employees from an organisation that modifies its company structure in order to avoid employee entitlements; • Suggest that proper disclosure to employees about company structures should be provided by directors; • Suggest that employee entitlements should be recovered from related companies, where a company structure has been modified; and • Seek reconsideration of the current priority allocated to employees as unsecured creditors. - Glynnis Grainger
Kalgoorlie Catholic stall fires hopes for 2001 The success of the Catholic Stall at the annual Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community Fair on 7 and 8 April enthused the organisers to plan for a bigger and better stall next year. Helpers and organisers, pictured from left, are Barbara Millar, Jenny Painter, Bev O'Brian and Mery Stokes. The stall was organised by the Legion of Mary, St Vincent de Paul and other groups. More than 1000 show bags were given away. Pope John Paul's picture was hanging up, identifying the stall as Catholic. Kalgoorlie priest, Fr Michael Separovich, blessed the stall. The organisers wish to thank all those people who contributed, either by giving money, prayers, cards or rosary beads. - Gtynnis Grainger
Stations mime draws crowds
Whitford youth moved many to tears with their presentation of the Stations of the Cross.
Young people at Our Lady of the Mission, Whitford no longer stay home on Good Friday morning. Instead, they jostle parents out of bed early in the morning to take them to the church - for yet one more practice. Now in its second year, the Good Friday Stations of the Cross Youth Mime is established as a successful annual event. Joined this year by a large congregation the youth moved many in the crowd to tears as they prayerfully retraced the steps of Jesus during His last hours on earth. Through prayer and reflection, issues such as prejudice, violence and substance abuse were also highlighted as some of the ways in which we reject and crucify Christ in our society each day.
A sian Catholic News
Bishops oppose Rising Sun flag TOKYO (CNS) - The Japanese bishops' council for justice and peace has asked people not to support policies or legislation that could rekindle the country's past militarism. Addressed to "all people who love peace and life," the appeal urged Japanese leaders to oppose measures to amend Article Nine of Japan's Constitution. The article renounces Japan's sovereign right to wage war and prohibits the maintenance of a Japanese military, reported UCA News, an Asian Church news agency based in Thailand. The appeal, signed by Bishop
Paul Yoshinao Otsuka of Kyoto, parliament passed a law making head of the justice and peace them Japan's national flag and council, also reiterates opposition anthem, a move the Catholic from the Church in japan to the council lobbied against. Imposition of the "rising sun" flag, There is no clause that obliges and "Kimi ga Yo" anthem on the the public to show respect to the people as national symbols. symbols. The flag, with its familiar crimIn its recent statement, the jusson disc on a white background, tice and peace council deplored and anthem are historically the passing of the law, saying that linked with Japanese military "Japan has once again embarked Imperialism in the first half of the on the road to war." 20th century and were not recogIt warned that militarist views nised by law after World War H are becoming popular again, citended. ing the comeback of historical They were still often used at offi- revisionists who portray the cial functions and in schools,how- emperor as the supreme person ever, and last year the Japanese in the Japanese empire and who
promote the use of new school textbooks in which historical facts about the war are distorted. Admitting the Church's past errors, the appeal confessed that . 'under the imperialist-nationalist state, the Catholic Church did not fulfill its prophetic role." "Not only did the Church help the State wage war, it also permitted the post-war economic invasion and the sending overseas of the 'self-defence forces' on the pretext of 'service to the international community." With a jubilee year being a year for liberation, the council expressed its commitment "to the
liberation of those bound by structural injustice and oppressive burdens and to solidarity with all who love peace and life." In particular it said it would strive to uphold the rights of "residents, short-term and long-term, of Japan who have foreign nationality; women; children; homeless people." The statement observed that "as a result of structural economic inequality and war, there are refugees and migrant workers in Japan also, and they are treated unequally and unjustly due to the discriminatory policies of the Japanese government."
Aussie Marist founds school to help Cambodia's disabled kids PHNOM PENH (UCAN) - Mon Mom is a 13-year-old girl, one of
Photo ('NS Hoofers
The number of Cambodians killed or maimed by land mines has fallen from more than 500 victims a month in the early 1990s to about 100-200 victims a month in recent years.
seven children from a poor family in Komptmg Rotesh village, 150 kilometres north of Phnom Penh. One day when Mon Mom was eight years old, she went out to pick vegetables for her mother. As she walked in the field, she stepped on a land mine. When she regained consciousness, she found that she had lost a leg. She had been going to school for a year, but had to stop because there was no way for her to make the trek to the nearest school. Now Mon Mom is back in school, third in her class of 16 second graders after six months In Phnom Penh's Lavalla School. She told UCA News that she wants to be a medical doctor
The Record, May 4 2000 Page 14
some day because she could help many people and earn money to support her poor family. Lavalla School was opened in 1998 by Australian Marist Brother Terry Henrich for poor disabled children who would otherwise not receive any education. It follows the curriculum of government schools but covers two year's work in a single year. The students are usually older than pupils in government schools and are able to study longer. Sixty-one boys and girls study in the school's six grades. While their disabilities include land mine amputations, birth defects, cerebral palsy and disabilities due to disease and accidents, the
majority have been crippled by polio. All the teachers are also handicapped. A school building designed for use by the disabled is under construction on the outskirts of Phnom Penh and will be ready later this year, but in the meantime the school uses a large residence in the city. Students from Phnom Penh commute to the school, while those from the provinces live in the school's four dormitory rooms. Soun Neang, deputy director of the school, told UCA News that when the project was started, the staff went out to search for handicapped children. Now, she said, the families of disabled children and various
organisations send them to Lavalla. Mon Mom was referred by the Jesuit Relief Service. Soun Neang added that before the school accepts pupils, school staff visit the children's homes to make sure they are really poor. The other qualifications are that a child must be disabled, over 10 years old and unable to receive an education in any other school. One of the teachers, Nop Som Arth, 20, herself disabled, told UCA News that when she began to teach third grade at Lavalla she found it hard because all the children had different handicaps and, therefore, different needs. But after a year she felt more at ease, in part because her own disability enabled her to understand the feelings of her students.
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MAY 5
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Ecumenical Taize Celebration for Pilgrimage to the Heart, Challenge Stadium - Archbishop Hickey Ministries Mass, St Charles' Seminary - Bishop Healy Pro-Life Prayers, St Mary's Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey Mass and Induction of Parish Priest, Rev Fr Terry Pushparaj, St Jude's, Lynwood - Archbishop Hickey Mass for St Leone Association, Kalamunda Archbishop Hickey Blessing and re-dedication of Priests' burial sites at East Perth Cemetery - Bishop Healy Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference Archbishop Hickey, Bishop Healy
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THANKS BLESSED Mother of the Son of God assist me in my necessity. 0 Star of the Sea help me and show me herein you are my mother. 0 Holy Mary, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and Earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. There are none that can withstand your power. Oh show me here you are my mother. Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us to have recourse to Thee (3). Holy mary I place this cause in your hands (3). Thank you for mercy to me and mine. P CATHOLIC STALL — Kalgoorlie. Boulder Community Fair. Bev and Jenny wish to thank every one who contributed towards the success of the stall by their prayers. help and donations.
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Archcaocesan Panorama HOLY SPIRIT SEMINAR 10 weeks, commencing Thurs 25/5, 11am at Stella Mans Seafarers Club Chapel, 12 Queen Victoria St. Fremantle. Info: Mandy 9418 2224 or Eva 9418 1439. EUCHARISTIC REPARATION There will be a Holy Hour on Sunday 14 May at 3pm in the Star of the Sea Church in Cottesloe for the parishioners and the World Apostolate of Fatima. Mgr P. McCrann will officiate. ST JOSEPH SCHOOL VICTORIA SQUARE GET-TOGETHER Were you a boarder/day pupil at St Joseph's School between 1942 and 1952? A get-together is being organised for June 2000 and we would like to hear from anyone who was there. Please contact: Alma Bolton (Ridley) 9448 1007; Norma McGill (de Garis) 9 447 8117; Shelley Allen (Alcock) email: shell@upnaway.com or Phyl (Westerhout) email: McArtney pmcartney@compuserve.com. CHRISTIAN MEDITATION COMMUNITY Day of Meditation. Sat 20 May. 10am to 4pm, Holy Rosary Church. parish hall, Nedlands. Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR will speak on Gospel Reflections in the light of 'Cloud of Unknowing'. BYO lunch. Tea/coffee provided. Inq: 9444 5810: ah 9242 2830. CHARISMATIC CONFERENCE Holy Spirit of Freedom Community presents 'God's Call to Holiness', a charismatic conference for the Jubilee Year. at the Gloucester Motel, Pemberton. 19-21 May, 2000. For private billetting or information contact the HSOFC: Mary Anne or Mark on 9776 1734 or Josephine 9776 1241. MENTAL HEALTH The mental health group for carers and those living with mental health concerns meets on Mon, 8 May. at 7.30pm in the parish centre of Our Lady of Lourdes parish, 28 Marda Way, Nollamara. STAND UP FOR LIFE To mark the 2nd anniversary of the
legalisation of abortion in Western A ustralia the Coalition for the Defence of Human Life is sponsoring three public events. Life Chain Thurs 25 May, 7-9am along the Causeway. C ollect signs at either end from 6.30am. Rally for Life Thurs 25 May. 12 noon at Parliament House. (Ecumenical) Memorial Service for victims of Abortion Sun 28 May at South Perth Church of Christ, Murray St & McNab Crt, Como. Speakers: Archbishop Hickey. Rev Nugent. Inq: 9321 2822. SUNG LATIN MASS A pparition of St Michael the A rchangel. Mon 8 May at 7pm. St John's Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Ave, Perth. All welcome. Inquiries: Fr R owe phone/fax 9387 8189. VOLUNTEER NEEDED A person to do voluntary work in the R esource Centre for Personal Development Drop-in Centre and Recycle Shop in Fremantle. in return for training in the Diploma in Counselling. Ring 9418 1439. 0409 405 585. EAST PERTH CEMETRIES — BRONTE ST On Sun 7 May at 3.30pm Irish Priests buried in unmarked graves between 1853 and 1898 are honoured. Bishop R obert Healy will dedicate and bless a Celtic cross. Fr Deeter and choir members will attend. Please join us. DIVINE MERCY An afternoon with Jesus and Mary at St Mary's Cathedral. Victoria Square, at 1.30pm. Sermon: Fr John Piumatti (Mother of God), followed by Mercy Prayers. Benediction. Inq: John 9457 7771. Adam 9448 0002. OUR LADY OF FATIMA Solemn High Mass.. Sermon, Candle Procession and Benediction at St Patrick's Basilica Fremantle on Sat 13 May, 6.30pm, offered by Mr and Mrs de Souza and family. All are welcome. PERSONAL ADVOCACY SERVICE Annual Street Appeal Fri 12 May, 7am6pm. Collectors, helpers are urgently required. Ring Jill. Judy on 9275 5388.
NZ Bishops support same-sex couples law change By NZ Catholic staff WELLINGTON - A system of registration which would give same-sex couples rights in law without the right to many is supported by New Zealand's Catholic bishops in a submission to the Ministry of Justice. The 10 members of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference made their submission last month in response to a ministry discussion paper. The bishops say marriage is defined by sexual differentiation. Therefore any law change should not effectively redefine the relationship of heterosexual couples, by making marriage no longer specified by sexual differentiation. Instead, a system of registration could give same-sex couples access to certain legal rights and benefits available to married couples. The conditions of registration should relate to proprietorial and civic rights only. "Registration should not, for example, Involve an exchange of vows. The bishops say registered relationships should be included in law wherever mar-
riage confers rights or obligations in the law on access should be changed. At present only the biological parent has respect to income support, tax credit entitlement, legal aid, or the division of prop- the right to apply for it. The submission says the former partner should be able to erty if the relationship breaks down. Non-registered relationships should be apply if he or she is either the child's parincluded in legislation "wherever similar ent or guardian. The bishops believe registered partners rights and obligations are given to oppoin a same-sex relationship should have the site-sex de facto relationships". Same-sex couples should not have the same rights as married couples when a right to adopt children. And even when one partner dies. Legislation relating to de facto oppositeperson in such a relationship is a biological parent, the bishops are against the cou- sex couples should include de facto samesex couples. ple having joint legal parent status. But the term "in the nature of marriage" Similarly, they oppose such couples having the right to use reproductive technolo- should not be part of such law. The existence of a relationship should be gy or to be joint parents of a child. "A child is a gift, not a right, and should decided by examining factors such as not be conceived by such means in order mutual care, support, financial interdependence, duration and shared property. to meet an adult need or desire." Cardinal Thomas Williams of New However where same-sex couples are caring for a child they should have the right Zealand said the proposed law change to parental leave in the same way as mar- reflects confusion about the definition of marriage. But Justice Minister Margaret ried and opposite-sex de facto couples. The bishops consider existing custody Wilson said the bill concerned would not law is satisfactory: either the biological par- affect the sanctity of marriage. The Matrimonial Property Amendment ent or guardian in a same-sex relationship may apply for custody. However, they think Bill, if passed, would allow couples living
in the nature of marriage, as determined by the courts, to split their money and assets after three years (existing law does not cover the separation of assets of couples outside marriage). But Cardinal Williams questioned the proposed law, considering people were confused as to the definition of matrimony. He said matrimony does not include relationships outside marriage. "The proposed legislation does not properly come under the Matrimonial Property Bill. Matrimony is a title that properly belongs to a union of one man and one woman who have formally committed themselves to one another for life. "A de facto relationship and a same-sex relationship are not forms of matrimony." Auxiliary Bishop John Dew described the bill as a devaluation of the sanctity of marriage, saying it was one step towards recognising all relationships as equal, thus playing down the value of marriage. The bill will go to a conscience vote in Parliament in May. - NZ Catholic is the two-weekly Catholic newspaper of New Zealand The Record, May 4 2000 Page 15
St Mary's Primary School Kalgoorlie
Mining human l ielldlegs given to the school by St John of God Sisters now accommodate a new computer laboratory, an education support area and, most importantly, the school chapel.
hat makes St Mary's both friendships and in work. It of each student and their family is Primary School at Kal- also celebrates its faith in many given priority at St Mary's. goorlie in the Gold- other ways - in Masses and parThere is always someone to talk fields special in the lives of the aliturgies that occur as both to and always someone who will children, parents, staff, the parish whole school and class celebra- listen. and the community? tions at least once a week. Pastoral care of each other also Why do they and others love Ills important that each child at has another focus - most of the coming to St Mary's? St Mary's feels success in all areas staff have no family living in KalTheir faith commitment to the of life at school. goorlie so working together and Gospel message given to us all by That is why it offers opportuni- looking out for one another is Jesus, and sense of community is ties to learn and excel in many essential. alive in the way they greet, meet, different areas in a very full curSt Mary's is not only a very talk and listen to each other. riculum. enjoyable place for children to It goes beyond the physical Additional areas of focus learn - it also a very rewarding buildings - some of which are 100 include sport, music, choir, infor- environment in which to work. years old - to the essential ele- mation technology, extension and Some fantastic facilities have ments of a school that can only be special education. been added in recent years. realised by actually being in it. Students are given the opportuThese include new and refurIlls the commitment, the enthu- nity to participate in many sport- bished classrooms, an informasiasm, the joy and the gift of ing events, musical festivals, tion technology/computer room, humour that they can all share Tournament of the Minds, quiz a new administration area, a with each other. It is the privilege competitions and community library with mezzanine floor and of encouraging and supporting events. an undercover area, where the others as they grow and challenge Senior students are given the school meets regularly for assemthemselves each day. opportunity to lead the school blies and liturgies. St Mary's welcomes the new day through involvement in Student The school community it also and accept its many challenges in Council. And the pastoral needs very fortunate in having a chapel where liturgies and Masses are often celebrated. The chapel also provides a quiet space for individuals and groups at the beginning, or the middle, of another busy day. St Mary's school is also an essential part of the parish. Priests visit regularly to celebrate with the children and staff or simply 'drop in for a chat' with children and staff. Family Masses are an important part of the parish program. The school organises at least one Sunday Mass each term - this is in addition to the Masses that are already an integral part of the sacramental programs. The sense of pride and love for the school is also reflected in the The undercover area is wen used for all types of activities and events. commitment made by the par-
St Mary's successful swimming team - in the middle of the and Interior!
Year Six's at work
ents, who are seen daily around the school working in many different capacities. Ills the friendly environment and the rewarding sense of achievement that motivates them to continue to be involved. St Mary's Primary School is very fortunate to have extremely supportive and productive parent representative bodies in theSchool Board and P&F Association. Parents are also involved in many different areas within the school, including working with
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At a Glance Principal: Paul Hille Address: Dugan Street, Kalgoorlie Postal Address: PO Box 40, Kalgoorlie WA 6430 Telephone: 9021 1099
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children in the classrooms, working in the volunteers-in-special education program, coming to 'Busy Bees', school social events, sporting events, working in the canteen, and the list goes on. St Mary's Primary School Kalgoorlie,in the Jubilee year of 2000, has already survived 100 years. The message and the ethos of Catholic education, so visible in the people who originally created the school, is still alive today. The faces and some of the buildings may have changed but the essential message and mission remains the same. Ills written in St Mary's motto "Love One Another".
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from Archbishop Hickey eche Record is our own Catholic weekly newspaper. It tells us what's happening in the Church locally and internationally. The television and the daily newspaper don't give much space to the Church and when they do, it's often bad news. Find out what is really going on. There is always something in The Record to Interest and inspire every member of the family. Buy it every week