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Youth millions urged: talte Gospel to world ROME (CNS) -- Entrusting the Catholic Chwrh's youthful core to take the Gospel along the paths of the world in the 21st century, a self-described . 'rejuvenated" Pope John Paul ll told a human sea of World Youth Day participants last Sunday to face challenges to the faith with courage. More than 2 mithon people gathered at Tor Vergata, a university campus on Rome's periphery, for the 15-20 August event's climax - a Saturday 19 August evening vigil and a Sunday 20 August morning Mass. In earlier speeches to massive crowds of youth, Pope John Paul urged young people to not be afraid, let Christ reign in their lives and to serve Him with love to find true freedom. Jesus, as St Peter confessed, was the one who had "the words of eternal life" and satisfied the deepest aspirations of the human heart. When they returned home, they could find Him in the Eucharist in their parishes. ready to love youth in a unique and personal Al;y in their practical daily lives. The Pope prayed that their sharing in the • Eucharist would lead to a flourishing of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. He urged any youth listening who had heard Christ's inner call to these vocations "to give yourselves completely to Him in order to love Him 'with an undivided heart', do not be held back by doubts or fears. Say Pope John Paul 11 moves with a musical rhythm as he preskles over a World Youth Day ceremony at the Tor Vergata campus of the University of CNS Ple,,tars 'yes' with courage and without reserve. Rome on Saturday, 19 August trusthig Hhn who is faithful to His promis- streets of the Eternal City. In between. the es." heat-baked throngs cooled off in Rome's The two weekend events on an 800-acre fountains or under the spray of Vatican fire tract of university hillside marked the cul- hoses. mination of Holy Year 2000s biggest and World Youth Day organisers and city offilongest encounter. cials called Sunday's crowd - equivalent to Young people from 160 nations made two-thirds of the Italian capital's populagrimages through the Holy Door of St tion - Rome's largest in living memory, and titude of cheering youths and responded Peter's Basilica, confessed their sins in he the celebration was thought to be the secBy John 'Mavis tIJ to chants of "Long live the POper by joking ond-biggest papal event in history. dust of an ancient Roman racetrack, attendAt the 1995 World Youth Day gathering in ed religious talks by dozens of bishops, ancl ROME (CNS) - What is it about young about his age. marched in a Way of the Cross •.l!aITl "He's already lived 80 years, but young the Manila in the Philippines the closing Mass people that lights up Pope John Paul If? drew four million faithful. but actual World people always want him young - what's to Everybody notices it, from top Vatican Youth Day participants were estimated to be done?" he said. Then he sat back with represent only one-quarter of the congre- officials to reporters who have followed a broad smile and momentarily surrenthe pontiffs steady decline in energy over gation. with locals providing the bulk of the dered his speech to the ovations that roared the years. crowd. up like waves from the crowd. Even the 80-year-old Pope feels the Pope John Paul first convened young peoAt the Saturday vigil, he joyfully tapped ple in 1984 in a prototype of World Youth ference when young people are around. out the beat of African songs, wiped away Day and officially instituted the biannual "I'm leaving here rejuvenated," he global gathering in 1986. quipped at one point during World Youth tears after testimonies from young people who have suffered, and laughed at the pure In Rome, arm-waving, chanting youths Day festivities. exuberance of dancers from all over the from 157 countries stretched on Sunday at At age 80, the Pope these days shuffles the Tor Vergata as far as the eye could see, slowly and slurs his speech, his face often globe. their vivacity little by a 9 kilome- transformed into an expressionless mask He let his emotions show, a rare thing. • • ti; hv hike to the site in temperatures above by neurological Then he told his massive audience that he disease. 37 degrees Celcius. An effective ad-libber 20 years ago, his understands them, and so does Cluist. As Pope John Paul took a 45-minute spin "It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to through the throng in the Popemobile, speeches today are read in a feeble monot- do something great with your lives, the will one or even skipped altogether and thousands lined the vehicle's path to cheer to follcrw an ideal, the refusal to allow yourtributed as texts. the 80-year-old pontiff. selves to be ground down by mediocrity," Yet when two million young people Those more energetic mn alongside, leaphe said in a voice that rang out to a sea of ing into the air to glimpse the man many showed up in Rome, it seemed like the young listeners on the edge of Rome. Pope of old had returned. had travelled across continents to see. Many people assume it's the big crowds The grin was back on his face. The verve Following a packed program of testimonies that brought tears to the Pope's eyes was back in his voice. And the gleam was that fire up Pope John Paul, a former actor who's always felt at home on the world and multi-ethnic music and dance that got back in his eye. stage. Or the cheers and applause that him tapping along on the arm of his chair, Not surprisingly, several signs in the he told the crowd to persevere in their faith- crowd proclaimed the Pope "a young per- young people generously give him. Or I; the fact that the church and the Pope ply fulness to Christ - a message he empha- son, one of us." can attract nearly two million people in a sised in his homilies at the vigil and Mass. At opening ceremonies on Tuesday, 15 of strength. World Youth Day pilgrims pray inside St Peter's Continued on Page 19; more stories August. the Solemnity of the Assumption Photo CNS Nancy Wiechec Basilica on 18 August 11 1 pictures - Pages 2. 9-13. of Mary into Heaven, he sat before a mulContinued on Page 19
Pope John Paul II at 80: 'a young person, one of us'
World Youth Day 2000
Rome heat fails to dispel joy of youth By John Norton
D
efighting Pope John Paul II and catching harried security and medical staff off guard, a record number of young people crammed St Peter's Square and surrounding streets for the opening of World Youth Day. More than 400,000 youth "without a doubt" the biggest crowd at the Vatican in recent memory, a press official said braved scorching heat and the crush of the crowds on 15 August to catch a glimpse of the Pope. Others left in droves long before the Pope arrived, discouraged by their inability to get anywhere near the square. Another 300,000 young people, according to police, packed the square in front of St John Lateran's Basilica for a brief meeting with the Pope before the St Peter's event. Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, said the pontiff afterward "expressed his complete joy at the festive atmosphere and the enthusiasm" with which he was met. Although the Pope didn't arrive in St Peter's Square until 6.30 pm, some young people started staking out claims in the sun-baked square early that morning. By 4pm, the Vatican's surrounding streets were already choked with flag-waving and chanting youth. Looking slightly overwhelmed by it all, a dozen youths from the Cook Islands in the South Pacific sat off to one side in the shade of a tree. "We come from a place (with a population of) 18,000," said the
Thousands of pilgrims fill St Peter's Square as World Youth Day celebrations open 15 August
group's leader. "Seeing this is like.
Photo CNS,Reuters
"We're squashed and we're hot but we'll deal with it," she said. Unable to find the right word, "I mean, it's about sharing your she simply shrugged with a smile faith with total strangers. It's a and gestured at the crowd pour- powerful experience." ing by. Around the corner at a first-aid No shade was to be found inside station in the colonnade, sweatthe square, where more than soaked medics ran stretcher after 100,000 youth - early arrivals - stretcher into the crowd to rescue broiled in the sun for the better young people overcome by the part of the afternoon. heat. In a prime viewing spot As demand for first-aid services squeezed along a crowd barrier soared, Vatican construction near the papal stage, Marlene, a labourers were recruited to help 22-year-old Canadian, said her out and Vatican firemen sent arcs group arrived at 2 pm to wait for of cold water over the crowd. the Pope. More than 2,000 people were
treated in first-aid tents around the square, most for minor complaints, said ANSA, an Italian news agency. Dropping normal procedure, security officials let young people jump the crowd barriers in the square to fill up water bottles at nearby restrooms and fountains. But some participants said that leaving their posts brought risks of its own. "We left to get water and we couldn't get back," said Justin Smith, 16, sitting in the shade of a Vatican building playing a card game of hearts with three friends
were still trying to figure out how they were chosen to be among the lucky few. Sporting a Pink Floyd T-shirt and the same grungy running shoes he wore to the pontiffs luncheon, Radziminsky said he was struck with the Pope's ease and naturalness with them, despite a generational and cultural gap. "That's why the singing was cool, because everyone was being themselves," he said. Sitting next to him in a grassy park near the Vatican overrun with young people, Roger Gudino, 26, of Toronto, said the experience confirmed that being holy doesn't entail acting a part. "You see the Pope and the guy is so, like, normal. The faith is not something like flagellation." "Or, like, I'm not going to be myself and therefore I'm holier," he said. The Pope reportedly told one Italian youth that he liked his black-and-orange dyed hair. Pope John Paul's success at throwing fun parties may have something to do with his spiritual stature, the youths admitted, but they said it was his humanity that impressed them the most. "There was that sense of awe and great respect for this incredible guy," said Radziminisky. "You know, it's Jesus, Peter and the Pope. We were pretty damn close, you know? "But at the same time, he's so approachable." At one point during the twohour meal, they said, the Pope listened intently as a youth sitting to his right described her recent wartime experiences in her home country of Guinea Bissau. "He was talking to her for a
But every once in a while, she'd glance over and be brought back to reality "You'd look up at him and he'd look at you,Imean, really look at you." "You'd be making eye contact with him, and it was like, oh my gosh!" she said. Gudino gave the Pope a professional hockey jersey from the Toronto Maple Leafs, with "Pope John Paul II" written across the back "I held it up to him and I said, you know, for Canadian youth hockey is a really important game. "So he starts chuckling, eh? And
from St Louis, Missouri. "As soon as it thins out, we're getting out of here," he added. Other late-arrivers took one look at the crowds and turned right back around. Fear of losing members of his group in the sea of people prompted Jules Arceneaux, from Lafayette, Louisiana, to steer his charges back to their lodgings. "We got our one bad (World Youth Day) experience out of the way; it can only get better," he told them. George Balog, 18, and his friends decided not to foray into the crowd after being warned off by an American woman leading a group out. "She was like, hysterical," he said. "She told us there were people fainting and stuff." Balog, a Serb Orthodox Christian from Yonkers, New York, and others from his Salesian pilgrimage group followed the ceremony from the outer edge of the crowd on a bridge half a mile from the Vatican. Sitting on a concrete river wall nearby, a group of Irish youth showed no signs of disappointment in being so far from the main event. They joked boisterously among themselves and exchanged hearty greetings with passersby. "There's too many people up there," explained Grace McEneaney, 18, pointing over the column of people leading to the square. "We're fine here," she said, adding with a smile: "We're soaking up the atmosphere." - CNS
For lucky few, dinner with Pope John Paul the main event By John Norton
I
t was a feat few octogenarians would have tried to pull off: throw a lunch party for more than a dozen post-Gen-Xers, most of whom don't come from the same place and who, beyond pop culture, don't even speak the same language. But Pope John Paul II did, and from the ecstatic accounts of three Canadians who were present, the party was a total blast. The youths were among a small group of World Youth Day participants who dined with the pontiff on 16 August. "I don't even remember eating," said Chris Radziminsky, 24, of Vancouver, British Columbia. He does remember a lot of singing, laughing, and especially how time seemed to stop when the Pope hugged him. "You know, you just go right up to him, and he puts his hands on your face, and it lasts, like, he was just holding you for a moment." "You back up and you're kind of reeling," he said, almost falling over backward at the thought. "It was incredible. Like, you just don't know what that felt like." Radziminsky and his co-nationals were among 15 other young people who were invited by organisers to stay at the pope's summer residence outside Rome during World Youth Day from 1520 August The group also included three youths each from Guinea Bissau, Sri Lanka, Tahiti and Italy. The three Canadians described themselves as strong believers but hardly "holy rollers" and said they
The Record, August 24 2000 Page 2
Young pilgrims cool off in a fountain In Rome's Piazza Venezia on 16 August
while, and he'd tap her shoulder and touch her cheek Maybe comforting her,I guess. It was a really special moment, I mean, for everybody," Gudino said. The Canadians recruited a guitar-playing Sri Lankan woman to accompany them in an all-out rendition of Immaculate Mary. ' The Pope performed no solos, but followed along by beating his hand on the table to the rhythm, they said. Alana Cormier, 22, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, said she was having so much fun she almost forgot she was sitting at the Pope's table.
Photo CNS Torn Tracy Honda Catholtc
he goes, 'Sixty years ago I played hockey.' And at that moment I just lost it," Gudino said. Gudino and Cormier also asked the pope to bless some religious articles they had brought from home. And they walked away from the Pope four rosaries richer. "He probably gave us the rosaries as an example of, the more you pray, the more human you'll get," joked Gudino. Cormier jumped in: "But you know what I took from that? He wants us to go and give them." "Him giving to us, and then we go, and it radiates out." - CNS
Report welcomed, questioned By Peter Rosengren Two national Catholic agencies welcomed a report into welfare reform in Australia but questioned how its recommendations would be delivered. The Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission said it was concerned that the reconunendalions of the McClure Report, delivered to Family and Community Services Minister, Senator Jocelyn Newman, in July, would provide the Government with an opportunity to simply get tough on welfare recipients. Centacare Australia, the national network of Catholic welfare agencies, asked whether the Government would be prepared to allocate the necessary funds to introduce more personalised delivery of services to the unemployed, one of the report's recommendations. The report, entitled Participation Support for a more Equitable Society, has been under preparation since October last year when Senator Newman commissioned the review of welfare delivery in Australia. It proposes "a long-term vision of a Participation Support System with.... five mutually reinforcing features." Under the five-pronged approach a raft of recommenda-
tions were made for the short, medium and long terms in Commonwealth welfare policy The five areas covered by the recommendations are: a more individualised welfare service delivery; a simplified and more responsive income-support structure; the provision of incentives and financial assistance to improve unemployment; the development of mutual obligations between governments, communities and individuals; and the development of what the report terms a "social partnership" in addressing the nation's welfare challenges. The acting national director of the ACSWC, however, said that while there was broad consensus in Australia that the welfare system had not kept pace with growing needs, the high rates of unemployment and reliance on government benefits - cited as the reason for the report - "are not entirely the result of the performance of the social security system." He said the disadvantage experienced by many groups and regions despite a decade of strong economic growth "is more an Indictment of our broader economic systems." While welcoming the report's stronger emphasis on the responsibilities of Government and business, he said "we are yet to see
Toby O'Connor
concrete proposals on how these groups will be required to share the benefits of over a decade of economic reform." Without these, "the requirements of mutual obligation will remain an exercise in social control without the corresponding benefits to individuals and families," he said. Also welcoming the report, Centacare's Toby O'Connor said it appeared to shift away from reliance on punitive measures towards a sharing of responsibility by government, business, charities and local communities to provide opportunities to the unemployed. But he questioned whether the Government would
New Book release by Marist Father Paul Glynn
"Healing Fire from Frozen Earth" All proceeds to help the Church in East Timor
'
n his latest book Fr Paul Glynn - the author of the best seller 'A Song for Nagasaki' intimately explores God's healint2
power and grace which has been shown to His people
throughout the ages. Fr Paul shares stories about the people he met while visiting famous healing shrines in France, Poland, England, Ireland and Mexico. He not only talks with those who have been healed but he meets with relatives, doctors and Church authorities. nut "Healing Fire from Frozen Earth" also tackles more than healing, It deals with fundamental faith issues and seeks to bring a fresh kind of hope to those who are searching for answers about God. Bishop David Cremin of Sydney writes: "This is a book that can keep you awake into the 'wee small hours'. Through his previous writings Paul Glynn has taught me so much about reconciliation and about the Book of Psalms. Now he has reopened my heart to the God who heals the broken, the wounded and the most wretched of the earth. People who claim to be agnostics or even atheists will certainly be challenged in their unbelief. Men and women of faith will have their faith strengthened. I can envision those in a state of depression being lifted up and given new direction. e especially thank those who buy Fr Paul's book which costs $10 and who give an additional charity donation* to help the vital work of the Catholic Church in East Timor. A complimentary pair of Vatican Rosary beads blessed by Pope John Paul If will be given to all who request them. Please tick the box below if you would like to receive the Papal Rosary beads.
Order Form: "Healing Fire from Frozen Earth" by Fr Paul Glynn Send to: Aid to the Church in Need, PO Box 6245, Blacktown DC, NSW 2148
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lessness, underemployment and reliance on income-support remain unacceptably high," it said. It said that over recent decades a variety of economic and demographic factors have combined to create the new and disturbing phenomena of jobless families and job-poor communities. There is a growing divide between job-rich and job-poor households, it said, and many of the new part-time jobs have been taken in households where someone is already employed. Australia has one of the highest levels of joblessness among famSenator Jocelyn Newman ilies with children in OECD counbe prepared to reduce the finan- tries, it said, noting that in June cial penalties which apply to 1999 about 860,000 children lived those moving from income-sup- in a jobless household. It said four particular shortcomport to work given the Government's decision not to lower their ings of the current social support system are: an overly complex effective marginal tax rate. He said economic growth as the and rigid categorical array of penonly solution to the nation's social sions and allowances for people problems - which he described of workforce age; inadequate as the Government's approach - incentives for some forms of had not led to greater prosperity workforce participation, includfor all or increased the equitable ing inadequate rewards for some sharing of jobs. forms of work; that there is not The report called for fundamen- enough recognition of participatal reform of Australia's welfare tion; and that service delivery system, saying the current system arrangements from social ser- designed in an earlier era - could vices are fragmented and not adebe failing many of those it was quately focussed on participation designed to help. After eight years goals for those of workforce age. of strong economic growth "jobEditorial - Page 7
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Red Cross seeks Catholic blood Catholic parishioners in Perth asking for donors to step forward are being chased by the Red Cross and pointing out that in a speech - for blood. to the faithful in December last The organisation is targetting year, Pope John Paul II had recognew donors from the Catholic nised the need in one case for archdiocese of Perth to share life's people to donate blood because best gift with, and for, those who of the large influx of pilgrims to desperately need it. Europe for the Jubilee. Archbishop Barry Hickey joined One donation of blood becomes up for the cause when he gave at least three gifts with nearly blood on Friday 10 August at the every donation being separated Cross's Centre in Wellington into three products. Street, Perth. Red blood cells are used for the But one Archbishop isn't treatment of bleeding after trauenough. More are needed to give ma or surgery. the red stuff which can save lives. Platelets are used to control And those with rarer blood types haemorrhaging, and plasma is - 0 Negative, for example - are used in the treatment of especially sought by the Red haemophilia and to produce Cross. tetanus vaccines - among other The organisation has recently things. written to Perth Catholic parishes Meanwhile, 6200 donations are
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On Monday, 21 August, we were invited to celebrate the golden jubilee of St John of God Sister Romanus at the parish church of the Immaculate Conception at Dardanup. With two bishops, twelve priests from all over the South West, nuns from everywhere, and hundreds of lay folk, including relations from Ireland, England and the St John of God Congregation, the little country church was filled to overflowing. It was a wonderful tribute to one whose life has been spent in the service of others. At the beginning of Mass Bishop Peter Quinn began with the words, "She has learnt to know and love Our Lord, very much," and it set the tone for the service. Fr Evan Penberthy preached the sermon, telling how the St John of God nuns came to WA in 1895, travelled by buggy to the goldfields of Coolgardie and nursed those stricken with typhoid. Tkvo of their number died of the terrible disease while still in their twenties. Then to Bunbury in 1927, where, in the same spirit, they reached many people by their teaching and nursing. Sr Romanus arrived in 1951 and, with this tradition behind her, began her nursing training at the hospital in Subiaco. She stayed on nursing at St John's hospital in Subiaco, and later served for a time at Rivervale, Warrnambool and New South Wales. In 1975 she came to Bunbury for a month - and stayed 27 years, and she touched the lives of everyone she came in contact with; and they were multitudinous. She endeared herself to all, especially the sick and suffering, the downtrodden and dying. Sister spent 21 years at the hospital, living the spirit of the Order, but was always herself, "a sincere and genuine lady, no pretence, a very joyous person, full of enthusiasm," said the preacher, and very effective. She is, he said, "a secure and genuine lady." Her security and joy were brought into the lives of many people. Fr Evan quoted Vatican II, about being "fully human, and alive" that marked the life of Sr Romanus. Her secret? She is 'a woman of prayer.' She would as easily and naturally pray with a sick person, as with a casual visitor; occasions when most of us would want to talk about the
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The Record -
your Catholic Information from near and far. The Record, August 24 2000 Page 4
Archbishop Hickey gives blood.
Golden Jubilee, and there's no stopping Sr Romanus By George Russo
Speakers Eddie Russell fmi, Frank Tassone fmi, Kaye Rollings fmi
•
blood, the Red Cross can supply a shuttle bus with a capacity for seven people to and from the Blood Service. Refreshments and other delicious goodies are available after your donation as well. The Red Cross has supplied flyers for distribution and posters to parishes and has asked for priests to promote the need for blood donors at services. Donors must be between 16 and 70 years of age, be in general good health and have an hour to spare. The Blood Service can be contacted on 13 14 95 to make an appointment to donate at Perth, Whitford, Fremantle, Rockingham, Carousel and throughout regional WA.
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Effective Teaching from Scriptures
Apollos the fruitful Teacher Conducted by the Catholic School of Evangelisation Mercy Convent Retreat House 113 TYler St, Tuart Hill Monday 18 to Saturday 23 September 9am to 5pm each day. Costs: Course $100 Meals and accommodation per day $35 Lack of finance should not prevent your participation. NB: Please bring your Bible. Contact: Bessy 9387 7551 (leave message) Irene 9443 3686.
Spirifan Fr Paschal Kearney was among the mony on hand to help Sr Romanus celebrate her Golden Jubilee at Dardanup on 21 August Photo George Russo
events of the day. This "common touch" that she had with people, high or low, was brought out by those present at the Mass. The mayor of Bunbury, Dr Minea, was there - 'I wouldn't miss it' -, and councillors among the distinguished guests, who mingled with the locals. Next to me in the church were two visitors from Collie, a husband and wife, both disabled pensioners and new Catholics of only two weeks, who sat eagerly awaiting the Mass, the lady in a new dress for the occasion. These were the 'little ones' who came to pay tribute to the Sister who had touched their lives - this true servant who, as Bishop Quinn said had not only come "to love Our Lord very much," but was able to impart that love to others. During the Mass Mr Vander Loop sang, 'A Lamp for our Feet' and the Offertory hymn 'Panis Angelicus' while the children from the school provided some beautiful singing at the end. A tribute to the Irish, and the shrine of Knock, near the family home in county Mayo, a special song was sung entitled 'Golden Rose'. Afterwards a luncheon was served in the local hall prepared by members of the community. As one visitor remarked "even the weather was wonderful," and the "music, atmosphere, and attendance of the whole occasion very grand and fitting for a most lovable and sincere person." Who could put it better than this: "She and I have been mates for over 25 years andI just love her for being her." Not a bad tribute, eh! Sister said: "I was blessed bountifully in choosing the St John of God sisters as my family. I've enjoyed 50 years of my journey with them and if Ihad my life over again,Ican honestly sayIwould make the same choice." Formerly known in the region for her work among the sick and dying, her healing prayers, kind words, charitable works and sense of humour, she now runs the 'Hosea House of Prayer' at Dardanup.
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Meeting plans to re-establish the YCW in Perth By Glynnis Grainger The Perth Young Christian Workers' movement is being rejuvenated and hopes to attract new members. Perth YCW adult mentor Guido Vogels chaired a meeting on 9 August at the Cathedral Parish Centre which was attended by Perth's Auxiliary Bishop Robert Healy, 13 priests and one religious and YCW workers Greg Daly and Kelli Jamieson. The meeting was held to introduce Mr Daly, the Perth full-time worker for the movement and Fr Tom Gleeson, National YCW Chaplain, who was visiting Perth. The theme of the meeting was reconciliation and rejuvenation of Perth YCW in the Jubilee Year. Mr Daly, 24, a graduate of the Australian National University in Economics and Arts, spoke about his experience of YCW - from being challenged to talk about University issues with other students back in Canberra. to reviewing his faith in God and allowing Jesus to love him, here in Perth. Bishop Healy spoke briefly
Getting YCW up and running in Perth again - Greg Daly, left, listens as Fr Tom Gleeson contributes to the meeting, with Kelli Jamieson listening on.
about his first experience of YCW, when he was thrust into the role of YCW group chaplain. He spoke about the role of the YCW and the development of many prominent leaders of the Church through their involvement in the organisation. Bishop Healy also gave his blessings at the end of the meeting. Mr Vogels told The Record he
joined the YCW at the age of 18 as he "didn't want to devote his life to steel," as his champion cyclist brother, Henk, kept his bicycle (the steel) in his bedroom. Guido Vogels, an Attadale psychotherapist, said his wife Rosina is a great support - the couple have no children. Being involved with the YCW was one way of fulfilling a "father-
hood" role for him, he said. "I feel very honoured to have been asked (to be YCW adult mentor)," he said. "It is about the resurrection of the YCW, and a late Easter story. "The National YCW brought Greg to Perth, and he may have left if we had not met." Mr Vogels organised the 9 August meeting and said, "the Holy Spirit was welcoming Greg; to me, it was a major Jubilee event." It was the first YCW chaplains' meeting held for many, many years, he said. "What the priests were saying was that they were reminiscing about the good times and the relationships with young people how the YCW had enriched their priesthood," Mr Vogels said. "What organisation is training young workers in the Church today? "I feel it was really sad there was no visible sign of an active lay apostolate: 98 per cent of Catholics are in the lay apostolate." Mr Vogels said, "Archbishop Barry Hickey said YCW needs to
be just not another social action group. "Jesus is the centre of the movement and we will search out the unemployed, underthe employed and the young workers. "I talked to ex-YCW parents who said there was nowhere (for their children) to go except Antioch." Mr Vogels would like to see a YCW in Medina/Rockingham as there are groups in Mandurah, Bunbw-y, Willetton and the City He was deputy director of Centrecare when Archbishop Hickey (then Fr Hickey) was its director. He was also director of Centrecare in Queensland and for eightand-a-half years he was in Sydney where he ran his practice. "We have to train young people and they have to do it themselves," Mr Vogels said. "The YCW and Young Christian Students and the Christian Life Movement celebrate the laity. "Where are the young people in their 30s and 40s? "The lay people need to take a leadership role to revitalise the Church and be a leaven in society."
Child migrant inquiry to begin School to mark centenary
Child migration in Australia during the 20th Century will be examined by the Senate Community Affairs References Committee, thanks to the work of WA Senator Andrew Murray. The Australian Democrats' Senator said the Senate decision to approve his Notice of Motion which called for an inquiry into child migration, would be applauded by thousands of Australians. The Motion was agreed to in the Senate on 20 June. Senator Murray said the committee's Terms of Reference were comprehensive and would enable it to investigate and report on numerous controversial issues. Opposition Leader.
Kim Beazley. supported Senator Murray on the issue. Senator Murray is a former child migrant to Southern Rhodesia. Itis crucial that all Australians be given an opportunity to know what has transpired in our history - the good and the bad." He said thousands of child migrants had sought Government support for an investigation into this chapter of Australian history. Hard issues should be looked at by this committee, such as whether any unsafe, improper or unlawful treatment of children occurred in institutions. The committee would also examine the measures required
to assist former child migrants to reunite with their families and obtain independent advice and counselling services. Senator Murray said the committee would examine and report on the need for a formal acknowledgment and apology by Australian Commonwealth and State governments. It would also look into measures of reparation including, but not limited to, compensation and rehabilitation; and statutory or administrative limitations or barriers adversely affecting those former child migrants who wished to pursue claims against individual perpetrators of abuse. - Glynnis Grainger
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To commemorate its 100th birthday, St Joseph's School, Southern Cross. will be holding a weekend of celebration next month. A reunion of past and present staff, students, families, friends and the Sisters of St Joseph will be hosted by the school. An Open Day at the school will begin celebrations on Saturday. 9 September, from 2pm. A reflection on St Joseph's school life will be presented by the children at 4pm in Our Lady of Montserrat
Church. Afternoon tea will be available and a time capsule will be buried in the school grounds. On the Saturday night at 730pm a family fun event will feature the Mucky Duck Bush Band and cost S5 per person or S20 per family. Tickets are available from the school or at the door, a sausage sizzle will he served from 6.30pm. For further information, telephone St Joseph's on (08) 9049 1046 or E-mail: admin6tstjoessx. wa.edu.au - Glynnis Grainger
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The Record, August 24 2000 Page 5
First female lay principal Young take action for appointed to Santa Maria Santa Maria College, Attadale, lion at Santa Maria," she said. After where once all the teachers were completing a Bachelor of Applied Sisters of Mercy, has recently had its Science and a Graduate Diploma in second lay Principal appointed. Secondary Education at the WA Anne Pitos is the new Principal and Institute of Technology, now known had her Commitment and Commis- as Curtin University, Mrs Pitos began sioning Ceremony earlier this teaching at Mercedes College in month with the whole school com- 1975. munity and many other invited She taught there from 1975 to 198z guests in attendance. and was a Head of Department. The former Principal, Frank Owen, From 1982-1986 she was seconded was farewelled with a school Mass to the Faculty of Education at WAIT in celebration of his long association (Curtin University) to lecture in Curwith the College. riculum and Instruction and CurMr Owen was the Deputy Princi- riculum and Development. pal from 1981 and then Principal She moved to Prendiville Catholic from 1989, the first non-religious College from 1990-1993 and was Principal, with all previous Princi- appointed Head of Year 12. pals in the school's 62-year history From 1994 until June 2000, Mrs being Sisters of Mercy. Pitos was Deputy Principal at Iona The WA Congregational Leader of Presentation College. the Sisters of Mercy, Sister Maura She is delighted with the prospect Kelleher, presented Mrs Pitos with a of the challenges that lie ahead. candle as a symbol of the light of "The education we provide for our Christ. young women must empower them Mrs Pitos began her association to be discerning, independent and with the Sisters of Mercy at the York critical thinkers, ready for the changConvent as a Year One student. ing technological world," she said. She completed her secondary "It's crucial that we enable them to schooling as a boarder at Mercedes take up their place in society as leadCollege. "I am sensitive to the needs ers of tomorrow - making a differof girls living away from home (and) ence in the lives of people." have a strong commitment to the She has a great interest in the perprovision of residential care, forming and visual arts and swims enabling young women from remote regularly and walks along the beach, areas, and those lacking access to a maintaining that a healthy lifestyle Catholic education, an opportunity is paramount to all. to have a first class Catholic educa- Glynnis Grainger
Reconciliation's cause
Many young people when faced with the idea of Reconciliation find themselves overwhelmed and unable to respond. But a group of energetic young people recently discovered that their rich cultural diversity was the key to breaking down many of society's cultural barriers and myths and working towards Reconciliation. This diversity was represented by Aboriginal students from both the northern and southern regions of West Australia, as well as students with backgrounds from Ireland, Asia, Scotland, England, Holland, China and New Zealand. The deep personal sharing of many Aboriginal elders, musicians and dancers enhanced participant's cultural and historical knowledge and understanding of the indigenous peoples of Australia. The weekend closed with students feeling much more empowered and supported in their commitment to Reconciliation due to their newly discovered knowledge, understanding and close friendships. The weekend, co-ordinated by the Young Christian Students' Movement, supported by the One World Centre, Australians for Reconciliation, Catholic Education Office and members of the Northern Suburbs Reconciliation group was held at the Boarding House at Sacred Heart College. Margaret Maassen, Young Christian Students Movement
Clergy off to UN peace summit
Santa Maria principals in sequence, from newest at left, Anne Pitos, Frank Owen, Sr Sheila Sawle, Sr Perpetua and Sr Consilii.
Euthanasia legal. Free marijuana and heroin. Prostitutes allowed in shopping centres. Does that send shivers up your spine? It could happen over the next 4 years. Remember what happened in 1998? We didn't think it could happen, but abortion was made legal and the reason it happened was because there were not enough good Christian people in the parliament, and it will happen again unless we do something now. When the abortion debate was going on, Christians from all denominations were up in arms saying that the politicians who voted for the pro-abortion bill would pay for it at the next election. That election could be 4 months away and the Christian Democratic Party has not forgotten. We need Christians to rekindle the fire and help us get dedicated people in parliament. We need people to come forward as candidates, fundraisers. letter box droppers, people to hand out how to vote cards at the polling booths, financial help, in other words, Christians willing to stand up and be counted. If you want to be part of the revolution call us now.
Two Australian religious Sisters and a priest are among the delegates who will attend a world peace summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York later this month. Loreto Sister Libby Rogerson, Sister of Charity Maryann Confoy and Missionary of the Sacred Heart Father Paul Collins will attend the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders from 28 August to 1 September. Other Australian delegates include ATSIC Commissioners Calif' Djerruka and Steve Gor-
don; Genua Flom Dr David
"Ilicey and Steven Lawrence. "It's the first time that an assembly of religious leaders from all over the world will gather at the UN to work together for peace." Sr Libby Rogerson said. "At the summit, an international advisory council of religious and spiritual leaders will be formed to work with the UN in peace-making and peacekeeping efforts. "It is the hope of the SecretaryGeneral of the UN, Kofi Arman, that this council will add a unique spiritual dimension to
Students excel in Angelico art award
Gerard 9493 4112, Terry 9459 5473, Derk 9291 7992
We are also on the Internet. www.chrIstlandemocraticorg.auit i.
NOR ER TINE CANONS lb
ORDER OF CANONS REGULAR OF PRNONTRt finding unity with the brethren on the way to God ... If you would like to know mom about life as a Norbertine priest or brother. please contact: Fr Peter J Stiglich, 0.Praem. St Joseph's Priory PO Box 354 Cannington WA 8987 Telephone: (08) 9458 2729
Email: norbertelinet.net.au
The Record, August 24 2000 Page 6
community l iturgy ministly
the UN's difficult task of mediating conflicts between nations and among peoples from different religious and ethnic groups. "Religious differences continue to be a cause of conflict in many parts of the world despite pleas for tolerance and cooperation from many religious leaders." Sr Rogerson said that delegates had been asked to express their shared commitment to peace in a Declaration of World Peace. She is co-ordinator for social justice for the Parramatta Diocese.
Bishop Robert Healy congratulates Erin Robertson, whose winning "Power of Faith" can be seen at rear.
Erin Robertson, a Year 12 student at Sacred Heart College, Sorrento, won the Archbishop's Prize at the annual Angelico Exhibition on Tuesday night. Her work is called "Power of Faith." The exhibition of art and sculpture by Catholic secondary school students was opened on Tuesday night at the Bank West Tower in Perth by Auxiliary Bishop Robert Healy. A group work by Year 11 and 12 students from Santa Maria College was highly commended. Chad Creighton, a Year 12 student at Chisholm Catholic College, won first prize in the Twodimensional section with "Christ of the Sacred Heart - Beagle Bay." Mercedes College Year 12 student Joni Hogan won first prize in the Threedimensional section with "Birth, Life, Death, Decay." Two Year 12 students at Prendiville Catholic College, were second-placed Jerrem Lynch with "16th Year Exposure" and third-placed Louise Brady with "Minds Eye". - Glynnis Grainger
Chesterton meeting an Australian first For the first time in Australia, a national Chesterton Conference and Symposium will be held in New Norcia from 20-22 October. Chesterton 2000 will celebrate the joy, humour and wisdom of G.K. Chesterton's writings and show how to return to his essays, poetry, theological writings, political theories and detective fiction. Among the speakers attending will be Fr Ian Boyd, from New Jersey, USA; Dr Peter Hunt, from Tasmania; Karl S. Schmude, from New England University, and Dr Jerzy Zubrzycld, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University Fr Boyd is
President of the International Chesterton Institute, and founding editor of the quarterly journal, The Chesterton Review; Dr Hunt is a retired academic and prominent writer on Chesterton; Mr Schmude is a librarian and authority on Chesterton, and Dr Zubrzycki lectures and writes on social and moral issues and is a patron of the Australian Family Association. A brochure with the full conference program and booking form for full weekend attendance or part-time, may be obtained by writing to A.G. Evans, 122 Marmion Street, East Fremantle, 6158, or by telephone/fax (08) 9339 1403.
Reform, but not at cost to severely disabled T
here was a pleasantly surprising degree of unanimity last week among political parties and lobby groups in accepting in general the Federal Government's report on welfare reform as a basis for discussion. The Australian public should savour these rare moments of bipartisan sweetness. Of course, if history is any guide, such bipartisanship is likely to disappear once the current Government decides which of the recommendations of the McClure Reference Group on Welfare Reform it will accept. The McClure report - "Participation support for a more equitable society" - seeks to extend the principle of mutual obligation on the part of both government and welfare recipients beyond the dole to benefits paid to the disabled, single parents and other carers, Aborigines, migrants and older-age workers. The report hopes to increase the economic and social participation of those welfare recipients who have been what it calls "socially excluded". There can be little doubt that anything that a government does to increase the economic and social participation of its citizens is a good thing - it is, after all, the goal of social solidarity that Catholic Church teaching praises. Even the most committed supporters of the modern Australian social security system established by Federal Labor govern-
The Record
Elsewhere, the Catechism (1888) teaches that "Ills necessary, then, to appeal to the spiritual and moral capacities of the human person and to the permanent need for his inner conversion, so as to obtain social changes that will really serve him. It also reminds governments that "the acknowledged priority of the conversion of heart in no way eliminates, but on the contrary, imposes the obligation of bringing the appropriate remedies to institutions and living conditions when they are an inducement to sin, so that they conform to the norms of justice and advance the good rather than hinder it." In the light of this, it is to be hoped that governments and lobbyists of all persuasions reviewing the McClure report will ensure that those who are severely disabled will not be made to feel inferior for not being able to contribute materially to society. Single parents also should not be forced into the workforce at the expense of the proper development of their children, as neither should mothers in families where the husband works to support wife and children. The disabled and mothers at home have something far more important than material goods to offer society - prayer and family work for the spiritual salvation of society.
ments in the 1940s admit that the payment ity: by the care taken for the education of of welfare without any attempt to encour- his family, by conscientious work, and so age recipients to improve their position forth, man participates in the good of othleads to passive dependency on govern- ers and of society." "As far as possible citizens should take ment for their quality of life. Many unemployed, sick and disabled an active part in public life. The manner people already try with varying degrees of of this participation may vary from one success to become financially indepen- country or culture to another. "One must pay tribute to those nations dent. But the effects of Original Sin, even after whose systems permit the largest possible Redemption, means that not every welfare number of the citizens to take part in pubrecipient does all that she or he can to lic life in a climate of genuine freedom. "As with any ethical obligation, the parimprove their financial or social circumticipation of all in realising the common stance. In these cases, governments have a role good calls for a continually renewed conin breaking down the barriers that pre- version of the social partners. "Fraud and other subterfuges, by which vent people from contributing to society, even to penalising those who unreason- some people evade the constraints of the ably seek to live off the state without con- law and the prescriptions of societal obligation, must be firmly condemned because tributing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church they are incompatible with the require(1913-1917) teaches that "'Participation' is ments of justice. "Much care should be taken to promote the voluntary and generous engagement institutions that improve the conditions of of a person in social interchange." "It is necessary that all participate, each human life. "It is incumbent on those who exercise according to his position and role, in proauthority to strengthen the values that moting the common good. "This obligation is inherent in the digni- Inspire the confidence of the members of the group and encourage them to put ty of the human person: • The opinions expressed in this editorThis social participation is achieved "first themselves at the service of others. ial, and any other Record editorial, are not "Participation begins with education and necessarily those of the Roman Catholic of all by taking charge of the areas for which one assumes personal responsibil- culture." Archbishop of Perth.
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Reconciliation 'not in courts'
The injustices of the past are still being Origins Debate. Most Catholics really don't see evolution felt in the present. The rest of us are still reaping the bene- as such a big deal: "what difference does fits of many of these injustices. Throwing It make whether we evolved from apes or money at health, housing and education not?" is the question most frequently asked. Well, it makes a huge difference, as anywill not heal the many breaches of trust one who cares to read Mr Keane's book he recent judgment in the stolen and the deeply felt hurts that remain. We support strongly the calls from the will surely realise. generation cases Peter Gunner and The simple answer is that evolution Lorna Cubit° has reinforced the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait view held by many that the road to recon- Islander Catholic Council and the Aus- appears not to have happened. There currently exists a mounting body ciliation for those involved in this sorry tralian Catholic Social Justice Council for part of our nation's history is not going to the Federal Government to find other more of evidence strongly suggesting that macroappropriate ways to acknowledge the suf- evolution is impossible. be through the courts. Where is the gaining of genetic informaThe judgment, although adverse in this fering of the Stolen Generations and to instance, did not deny the existence of a make adequate resources available to do tion? This means that anyone who has fried to synthesise Catholicism with evolution stolen generation or deny the horrific everything possible for their healing. The Government's responses to date have could be, in all likelihood, just plain wrong. effects that this policy has had on so many And that's a very 'big deal' because a sigonly served to make the suffering worse. who were directly or indirectly involved. nificant number of Catholic theologians Once again the remarks of people like Br Shane Wood Senator Herron, who is supposedly Diocesan Office of Justice, Ecology & Peace fall into this category. Many have accepted, rather uncritically, charged with the care of Aboriginal peo- Broome the long ages proposed by science basing ple. do not go towards helping to heal the their belief on radiometric dating methods, wounds and scars that have been left by but these methods are clearly based on too the policies of past Governments. eter Bertola's letter (The Record. 3 many dubious assumptions that certainly It is time that people like Senator Herron August) was certainly humorous and cannot be seen as a valid source of dogput their energy into restoring the relawitty matic truth. tionships that ought to exist between However, it is perhaps sad that this was No allowance is given for the possibility Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians through a generosity of spirit and the only contribution in the letters' section of a literal interpretation, and yet the an understanding that comes out of an in response to the article (10 July) on Gerry Church has not defined the meaning of the appreciation of the truth that is being spo- Keane and his book Creation Rediscov- six days of creation. ken. ered - Evolution and the Importance of the It is still legitimate in Catholicism to
T
Seeking the truth
1- 3
believe that God created in six 24hr days, but some catechisms clearly exclude approval of the literal-as-given sense. To say that the evolutionary world-view is wrong is politically incorrect. But hasn't Catholicism always been a sign of contradiction, often hidden from the wise and the learned? The truth will out - eventually, even if it means that a lot of text-books will have to be re-written and professional reputations upset. A genuine seeker after truth has nothing to fear from the infallible Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church has nothing to fear from the truth. Paul Kelly South Perth
Parenting hard enough
A
woman choosing to remain single knows that commitment to another person for life isn't her strong point. Entrusting a newborn baby's life-long welfare to her kind of commitment would be inadvisable. Child-rearing is fairly difficult even for two people fully committed to marriage and family. Arnold Jago Mildura, Victoria
New Zealand bishops speak again on marriage and homosexuals WELLINGTON, New Zealand including their proprietorial (CNS) -- The bishops of New rights, we see the need for some Zealand said they support legis- legally enforceable method of lation to protect the legal rights of upholding those rights," the bishpeople in homosexual relation- ops' statement said. ships, but not legislation that The obligation of upholding the makes such relationships the uniqueness of marriage, the state"basis" of those rights. ment said, "makes it necessary to The president of the New avoid a culture in which people Zealand bishops' conference, more easily slip into thinking of Bishop Peter Cullinane of Palmer- same-sex and de facto relationston North, issued the statement, ships as being equivalent to marwhich was to be published today, riage." 27 August, in the newspaper the Because of this, the bishops said New Zealand Catholic they opposed legislation that The bishops explained the need would confer on those relationfor some clarification following ships "even the appearance of their response to a Justice Depart- equal status and validity as marment discussion paper earlier this riage" and disapproved use of the year. Such discussion papers words "of the nature of marriage" commonly precede moves in New in referring to relationships covZealand to change legislation. ered by the legislation. The bishops' clarification stateIn their previous response to the ment emphasised that people's Justice Department discussion rights as individuals form the paper, the bishops "stood against basis for their legal rights. any attempt to regard same-sex "Insofar as their living together relationships as a kind of maraffects their individual rights, riage," the statement said.
While the bishops supported the idea of a registration process for same-sex couples to have access to certain legal rights and benefits that were available to married couples, they said this referred to "proprietorial and civic rights only." "Unfortunately, however, the comparison with married partners did lead to some misunderstanding," said the August statement. Earlier this year, the bishops said in a letter to the NZ Attorney General that the distinction between marriage and any other relationships "must not be blurred," and they opposed legislation "that could confer on de facto and same-sex relationships even the appearance of equal status and validity as marriage." In a submission to the Justice and Electoral Parliamentary Committee earlier this year, the bishops said property rights of 'people living in what constitutes
Bishop Peter Cuffinane
a 'domestic relationship' other than marriage ... should be protected" in legislation that remains "separate from the Matrimonial Property Act for the protection of the rights of husband and wife." In the same submission, the bishops added that no government has the right to "change the
accepted meaning of marriage." In their August statement, the bishops said their overall concern was "to uphold the essential difference between marriage and every other kind of relationship and to uphold equity in law for all citizens." "Sometimes we have to talk about the rights and responsibilities of those who are doing wrong. To uphold the virtues of justice and equity is not to condone such people's sexual relationships," said the statement. The bishops cited their 1986 pastoral letter, Dignity, Love, Life, which said homosexuals "have the same basic human rights as any other persons, including the right to respect, friendship and justice." "Proper regard for their rights must be reflected in personal attitudes and in society's social, economic and legal dispositions."
The Record, August 2.4 2000 Page 7
Christ: message of eternal life Let's remember: Peter Dwan continues with his meditations on the readings for Sunday Mass. This week the twenty first Sunday Year B
A Layman's
Meditation
T
oday's liturgy poses the question: our willingness or otherwise to serve "Shall we serve the Lord?" This is the Lord is put to the test - namely Chrisa very important question, as our tian marriage. answer to it will determine our eternal St Paul expresses his conviction that destiny. wives should submit to their husbands In the first reading (Joshua 24:1-2, 15- in all things. 18), we hear Joshua gathering all the Many modern women wouldn't agree. tribes of Israel at Shechem and saying However, it should be noted that St to them: "If you will not serve the Lord Paul also said: "Husbands should love choose today whom you wish to serve, their wives just as Christ loves the whether the gods that your ancestors Church." served beyond the River, or the gods of If a husband's commands spring from the Amorites in whose land you are a Christ-like love, it is in a wife's best now living." interest to obey them. "As for me and my house, we will The Glenstal Bible Missal (p948) comserve the Lord." ments: "The union of Christ and His The people answered: "We too will Church: it is here that every meeting of serve the Lord, he is our God." finds what is asked of it, and believers We need to realise that making such declarations and carrying them out are its own deep truth." "Thus in Christian marriage husband two different things. The Jews, while they said they would and wife must forget themselves in serve the One True God, on various order to think of each other and this occasions turned to the worship of idols. love introduces them into the heart of Human beings have to worship a god, the mystery of God". Of course, husbands must understand and if they don't serve the One True God, they will find themselves wor- that there can be no love without sacrifice. shipping such false gods as money. The Gospel (John 6:60-69) is the final It is all too easy to be selfish; using People and loving things, instead of section of Chapter 6 of St John's Gospel, which records that after Our Lord had using things and loving people. In the second reading (Ephesians 5:21- promised to give His flesh to eat and 32) we have a field highlighted in which His blood to drink, many of His disci-
To Jesus through Mary
ples left Him and stopped going with Him. It is significant that, far from calling them back, and saying that they had misunderstood Him, Our Lord challenged the Apostles, saying: "What about you, do you want to go away too?" St Peter, as spokesman for the Apostles, answered: "Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God." The Glenstal Bible Missal (p948) comments: "Here, as at Shechem, we are at a turning point: will the disciples turn away and join the ranks of unbelievers, or will they give themselves finally and without reserve to follow Christ?" The Eucharist is the practical test of the faith of every Catholic. While a number of factors have undoubtedly contributed to the steady decline in the percentage of Australian Catholics attending Sunday Mass, the major factor has been a weakening of faith in the Real Presence. Where there is a strong faith in the Real Presence, Catholics will make real efforts to attend Sunday Mass, seeing it as an integral part of their service of God. Those people will probably attend weekday Masses as well. On the other hand, where faith in the Real Presence is weak, Sunday Mass is missed for trivial reasons. We may be sure that if we aren't willing to make the effort to attend Sunday Mass, then our service of the Lord during the week will leave a lot to be desired.
a column of Marian devotion
By Art Babych
A
wheelchair-bound American is one of more than 1.5 million pilgrims who each year visits North America's oldest shrine, located near Quebec City. J R Lacourcier of Waterbury, Connecticut, who has been making visits to Quebec's miraculous Shrine of St Anne de Beaupre for two decades, says he travels here for a "vacation." Now 69, Lacourcier has been coming to the shrine on the north bank of the St Lawrence Seaway each summer for the past 20 years. "The attraction is the church itself." not a possible cure, said Lacourcier, who calls his annual visits to the shrine his vacation. He said he goes to Mass in the basilica twice a day. But judging from the stack of crutches, canes and walking sticks on either side of the main doorway to the tall, twinspired basilica, many pilgrims have been healed through the intercession of St Statue of St Anne and Mary in St Anne's Church Anne, the mother of Mary and the patron at Belmont, Perth. saint of Christian mothers. Louis Guimond, suffering from "rheumaThe first such recorded cure dates back tism of the loins" placed three stones in to March 13, 1658, according to the the foundations of the new building and Redemptorists, guardians of the shrine found himself "suddenly and completesince 1878. ly cured of his ailment." The cure occurred after the blessing of The wooden church built on the site the new chapel when local resident soon became known as the "church of
miracles," said Redemptorist Father Gerard Desrocher, a member of the pastoral team at the shrine. "We often receive letters from people who say they have been cured or have received favours through the intercession of good St Anne," he said in an interview. Unlike the shrine in Lourdes, France, however, there is no office at St Anne de Beaupre that verifies whether claims of healings are authentic, he said. "We prefer to accept the testimonies of people without distinguishing between what can be proven scientifically and what people report," the priest said. Still, thousands of pilgrims from around the world arrive at the shrine each summer to make the novena leading up to the feast day of St Anne, celebrated on 26 July. "It's like a large family, and it's like good St Anne, the grandmother, welcoming all her children and grandchildren." said Fr Desrocher. "They celebrate the same faith, the same love for Jesus and the same devotion to St Anne." He expected that attendance figures at the shrine would be higher than usual this year because of the jubilee year. Fr Desrocher estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people turned out for events surrounding the feast day, including about 4,000 people who crammed the basilica for the Mass led by Canada's papal nuncio, Archbishop Paolo Romeo.
, Lay monastic community plans to meet in Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey has given permission for the religious lay monastic community known as the Comunita' del figli di Dio to prepare to establish itself in Perth. The Comunita' is based in Victoria and New South Wales. The name means "The Community of the Sons and Daughters of God" and the community is using the Italian name to distance itself from certain sects with similar names. Archbishop Barry Hickey's permission
48 Hour Perpetual Rosary
Bouquet: Correction Rosary Roster sheets for 5-7 September, printed in The Record last week can be sent c/- 2 Suso St, Woodlands, 6018, or faxed to Margaret (94461933) The Record, August 24 2000 Page 8
for the Comunita' to proceed in a preliminary mode does not constitute approval, but the Comunita' can proceed with a meeting where the its way of life will be explained and any questions answered. The Comunita' is hoping to establish a base in the Archdiocese of Perth and possibly two other dioceses in Western Australia. Founded in 1946 in Italy, the Comunita' planned to visit WA next year, according to a feature written on 27 April in The Record. The charism of the Comunita' is to encourage people into a deeper sense of prayer, drawing on the monastic tradition of the Church. The call is to live out in the world the mystery of filial adoption in the perfection of charity, but all called to the Comunita' have a special duty to do this. The Comunita' motto sums up this call, "that you may be sons and daughters of your Father." To achieve this call, mem-
bers of the Comunita' are asked that they live in the greatest obedience to the action of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Prayerfully, they are then able to live the spirit of faith, act in humble trust and be drawn to live the fullness of Love. These ideals were given by their founder, Fr don Divo Barsotti, as the basic way to live, thus enabling all to live the mystery of the Church. It was Fr Barsotti, who lives in the Mother House of Saint Sergius, in Florence, who asked the Comunita' to come to Western Australia. The meeting will be held at the Sisters of Mercy home, 60 John Street, Northbridge, at 1.30pm on Sunday, 3 September. The agenda consists of Opening Prayers, an explanation of the way of life of the Comunita' dei figli di Dio and a Closing Prayer. Further information can be gained from Adrian Pervan on: (03) 9853 0124. - Glynnis Grainger
home burglars can ask to enter God's Kingdom
With Fr Anscar McPhee
M
y mother, Katie McPhee, was out shopping when the burglar came. A sister, Marie, had recently been married, and one of the rooms was full of wedding presents. Katie came around to the back door, and noticed that the laundry window had been removed It was nailed up, and never opened. The blind was blowing in the wind. She unlocked the door, and went in, thinking maybe one of the family had come home, and finding the house locked, had curiously entered by the laundry! Nevertheless, she was nervous as she walked through our large old house, calling out if anyone was there. The burglar held his peace. If it had been today, who knows what violence would have been unleashed? But now, all was silent. Katie, a little on edge, returned to the kitchen and put away her shopping. It was when everyone came home and began looking about for their things, that the mystery of the laundry window was resolved. All manner of possessions had gone missing. The Holy Name Society money, sitting on the piano, had been scooped up and pocketed. A tin of foreign money had yielded up its American dollars. A lot of clothes, suits and dresses were gone, but not our brother Jack's suit. jack always fancied it the best in the house, but it had failed to appeal to the sartorial tastes of our brigand. We all laughed at Jack's surprise that his suit should have been left behind. Katie. we reasoned, must have entered the house while the thief was at his nefarious task otherwise his haul would have included our sister Marie's wedding presents in the front room. There was a glittering glory box, lots of stainless steel cutlery, up-market crockery and useful kitchen gear. Nothing of these, however, was missing. The police came and they said Katie was really lucky not to have stumbled on the miscreant at work. He said the thief must have ducked up the passageway when he heard her coming in the door. Or again, perhaps he was hiding in the house, and secreted his spoils out the front door while mother was in the kitchen. As a child,Inever heard a word of bitterness about the unfairness of this robbery. There were no hate-filled comments about such a sneaking and miserable act against our little world. Yet, I'm sure everyone felt violated, and a certain feeling of insecurity came over us. It's all an old story today, and robbery with violence is becoming more common as the need for money makes our thieves bolder and more callous. The property and money of others has become attractive as never before, to, amongst others, the needy addict. Feelings for people, respect for their persons and compassion, are often forgotten. Yet, the love of Jesus lives in people, in each one. Jesus lives in the one robbed, in the one violated, and he lends life and love to the selfish thief, and is ready to forgive that thief even as he did while dying on the Cross. Thieves are human. People robbed are human. There is something about this humanness that God has made. We need to look to the Kingdom of Jesus, as my mother Katie did, and ask Jesus to remember us all when he comes into.his Kingdom. Often we just have to let go of the treasures taken from us and it is important to maintain the dignity of our humanity as the dignity required of the Kingdom of God. The thief also is encouraged to say: "Lord. remember me when you come into your Kingdom." _ - Reprinted with permission from the 10 edition of the Kimberley Community Profile. monthly news magazine of the Broome Diocese.
World Youth Day 2000
Getting down and holy with the Pope at the Catholic youth Woodstock' By John Norton
T
hough commentators called it a "Catholic Woodstock," an all-night gathering of more than 2 million youth with Pope john Paul II was more like a cross between the Canterbury Tales, a swap meet and a Gospel revival. Braving sweltering heat and logistical confusion, young people from some 160 counties transformed a gently rolling 800acre field on Rome's outskirts into a minicity of sleeping bags and makeshift tents. To reach the site, youths had hiked an average of 11 kilometres, some setting out at 2am, for a World Youth Day vigil on 19 August with the Pope and a Mass with him early the next morning. In the haze of dust kicked up by nonstop foot traffic, a hot breeze mingled the smells of sunburnt skin, sweat and tens of thousands of chemical toilets. Massaging her feet after a six-hour hike - the last two spent getting from the field's entrance gate - Laura Miedzianowski, 19, of Lutherville, Maryland, took in the scene around her with a glow of hopeful expectation. "It's just like Woodstock," she said, "except that there are priests and a cross." Other Woodstock parallels were similarly coloured with a religious hue. The green, yellow and blue lie-dyed Tshirts worn by a group of 60 youths from the Diocese of Harrisburg. Pennsylvania, carried the message, "Open wide your doors to Christ." Accompanying a set of Rastafarian beads around the neck of 21-year-old john Arias from Lawrence, Massachusetts, were two wooden rosaries with brightly coloured Rich Murphy, 16, of Chicago listens on headphones to an English translation of Pope John Paul ll's homily during the closing Mass for World Youth beads, two crosses and four or five silver Day on 20 August necklaces of various lengths. where the Pope was and, when a white of his charges were injured, including one sands of km-makers. One banner held up One of the rosaries was for his grand- vehicle's cab was sighted, began an excit- with a sprained ankle, and needed to get a during the vigil explained: "The Pope is our mother, he said; he was "getting it holy" by ed chant of "Giovanni Paolo," - John Paul, head start on the crowds. drug." wearing it near the Pope. In Italian. And though hundreds of couples sought "The potential for real difficulties was When the Pope arrived toward sunset, The cheers soon turned to uproarious enormous, when you put that much out less-trafficked areas to cuddle, kiss and the young people swarmed crowd barriers laughter because the approaching vehicle humanity in one place," he said. talk, there were no indications that any along the route of his Popemobile, looking was instead a small garbage truck. "But it seems like everybody knew why engaged in greater physical intimacy, like from an aerial shot like iron filings drawn at Woodstock In the Pope's presence, the youths seemed they were here." to a magnet. Following a World Youth Day tradition, to forget their frustrations with the event's Other youth groups opted to omit the vigil Their enthusiasm generated good organisational inadequacies. and overnighter, coming instead the fol- the young people traded necklaces, hats, naturedness, even if the Pope's vehicle national flags and other trinkets, usually Some groups arrived at their assigned lowing morning for Mass. never made it their way. food distribution stations to find that no "The priest who is leading our group said after mock-fierce haggling. In one crowded spot, youths craned to see food was left and were forced to trek 1.6km It would be too dangerous" to spend the "I lost my sombrero," said Enrique from or more to other stations. night, said Matthew Gioicsin, 16, of Mexico, beaming from ear to ear, as he sat exchanging addresses with a beautiful About 3.000 youths in wheel- Rockville Centre, New York chairs were kept waiting The youth and his group arrived at 4 am young Polish woman. The huge black and silver hat was seven hours in a bus parking to find a vantage point for the Mass and lot near the field because cov- received the unexpected bonus of being perched on her head. In the melee, young people from different ered sections reserved to along the crowd barrier when the Pope them had been mistakenly arrived. "He was five feet away" said Gioic- countries also exchanged their experifilled up by other pilgrims and sin solemnly "It was awesome, in the true ences. Young Westerners seemed particularly were not cleared until after sense of the word." the Pope left the vigil. The Pope's departure from the vigil was Interested in knowing more about life in And though organisers had marked by a ground-shaking fireworks dis- Africa, asking about the AIDS crisis and differences in education and the workplace. Installed 12,000 water foun- play. The World Youth Day experience "is kind tains and 30 air-conditioned The whoops of appreciation let out by the first-aid tents, ambulance youths also marked the beginning of a of like the pilgrimage in the Canterbury crews worked non-stop to res- night of dancing, singing and making new Tales," said Michel Gravel, 23, from Lawrence, Massachusetts. cue young people overcome friends. "Everyone has come here with their own with the more-than-38-degree In dozens of open areas away from the heat and 85 per cent humidi- papal stage, thousands of young people tale." He said he was particularly moved by the ty danced and clapped in concentric circles More than 2,000 people around guitar-playing and drum-beating Africans' testimonials because "it makes you realise how much you really have." were treated, most for minor peers. Father Fabius Bainakanaama of Uganda complaints. Young people wandered from group to Organisers had planned to group, bridging language divides with said the experience was also an eye-opener for the 100 youths participating from his let the youths leave in shifts smiles and hand signals. after the event, but were A young guitar-wielding Italian who country, by breaking them out of their usual unable to prevent a mass exo- called himself "Simon" sent a group of Irish way of thinking. "Even these portable toilets; for us it's difdus as soon as the Pope left. into hoots and cheers when he launched Public transportation was into a rousing version of "Wild Rover," and ficult to imagine. Many of our people still use latrines and live in mud houses," he hopelessly overloaded, with was repeatedly called for encores. youths backed up in hourYoung Spaniards charged around the said. As they were leaving the field to head long waits for buses and sub- field under their national flag, alternately way trains. shouting out patriotic and religious slo- back to their home countries, many youth said they expected to keep in touch with The rapid exit, however, did gans. Other youths raided mountains of bottled those they had befriended in the last two allow officials to open up exits days. to a nearby highway 12 hours water to launch full-scale water fights. Gilbert Kamnadji, 24, from Chad, said Their ability to muster up inhuman enerearlier than planned. Many groups left even gy, even after a gruelling day, did not appar- that he, like others, had exchanged addressbefore the Pope's Mass was ently owe to alcohol or drugs, another point es with dozens of people from around the of departure from Woodstock similarities. world. 'This joy and welcoming will conPhoto CNS'Peuters finished. Flanked by live young people representing the Rye continents, An onlooker who circled the crowds for tinue on," he said confidently Greg Horn, leading a Seattle, -This is just the beginning." Pope John Paul II arrives at the sprawling Tor Vergata campus Washington, group out during hours saw only one bottle of wine and one of the University of Rome to begin a prayer vigil on 19 August. the Gospel reading, said two bottle of beer among the hundreds of thou- Catholic News Service The Record, August 24 2000 Page 9
World Youth Day 2000
World Youth Day 2000
Youth descend on St Peter's in a Holy Year Thousands flock to Confession like nothing ever seen before in Rome By Benedicta Cipolla
By John Thavis
N
o holy year had ever wit-
Young pilgrims climb each other to see the Pope in St Peter's Square during the opening of the Youth Day on Tuesday, 15 August. Photo REUTERS/Paolo Cocco
nessed this: At the end of a line that stretched for nearly 1.5km, about 8,000 people per hour were being churned past the Holy Door at St Peter's Basilica. It was all part of a seemingly impossible effort to bring more than 1 million World Youth Day participants through the jubilee's symbolic portal of spiritual renewal, during a time slot of only three days. Most of the 16-18 August events kept the youths dispersed across Rome. But inevitably they made their way to St Peter's, where the crowd reached critical mass in front of the 3.6-metre-wide bronze door. As they crossed the threshold, some blessed themselves. Some took photos or videotapes. Some genuflected. Some merely gaped. One young couple kissed. An American girl let out a long, loud, "Ahhhhhhh." But no lingering was allowed. Uniformed guards urged people along with cries of "Avant!!" ("Forward!"). If anyone stopped to kneel, they were hustled to their feet. There was not even time for enforcing the famous St Peter's dress code. Bare shoulders, midriffs and short skirts were all tolerated. One Polish girl wore a pair of micro-shorts, and her boyfriend sported an acid-rock sleeveless Tshirt. No matter. Today, there was just one rule: Keep moving. "We can't be stopping people about their dress. Look at that crowd," one guard remarked, gesturing to the line that stretched. 15 abreast, across St Peter's Square and down seven blocks to the Tiber River. The Holy Door throng prompted
Inside, two Vatican guards were engaged in animated debate over the two-door policy "There's only one Holy Door here," said one. "But the meaning is the same. And besides, what else can we do?" said the other. Most people passing through the second holy door didn't know the difference. "As long as we're in here, it doesn't matter to me," said 18-year-old Stephen Cooper of Hillsdale, New Yo..k.
lie confessed that he wasn't used
to crowds as dense as this one, but
figured it was one way to get to know young people from other countries. The first youth day arrivals had shorter lines at the Holy Door, but faced some serious dress-code World Youth Day pilgrims pack the sidewalk along the Vittorio Emmanuele bridge scrutiny. On 14 August, for example, guards in Rome on 16 August. More than 1 million pilgrims took over the city for the CNS/Nancy Wiachec ere turning away young people Catholic youth event. ho ventured toward St Peter's with "Total chaos," said one Italian stand in this place where St Peter sleeveless shirts or other garb that policeman with a shake of the head. walked is amazing," said Jennifer left too much showing. But the young pilgrims were all Bow, a 29-year-old pilgrim. Most young people found a way to smiles. "You look around this church and cover up, using their official World They sang, prayed, chanted loudly see the gifts and talents through the Youth Day scarves in creative ways. and waved giant flags. Most of all, ages. The whole experience reinTwo Byelorussian girls in sheer they kept going toward that Holy forces for me that Christ is still alive. minidresses, distraught at being Door. I feel transfigured, andIwant to take sent away from the Holy Door, were "The Holy Door is important. It this back and somehow pass it advised by a jubilee volunteer on means I'm a sinner and have to be along," she said. how they might sneak inside the cleansed of what I've done. It's a Only a few people gave up the basilica through a side door. sign for me to keep on going and Holy Door wait in the heat of the By mid-week. though, these for- live my faith," said 16-year-old sun, hoping to come back after malities had fallen by the wayside Christopher Laser from Baltimore, nightfall. as the world's biggest church who was stuck in the slowest part of The Vatican, in fact, extended norstrained to handle the flow of the line. mal opening hours from 6.30 am to Photo CN VVichec youths. Once across the square and 11.30 pm for World Youth Day week. Youth pilgrims approach the Holy Door at St Peter's Basilica on 18 August. Vatican On 17 August, about a quarter- through the door, the steady current Those at home could pay a virtuguards kept the crowd moving, not allowing anyone to linger. mile from the Holy Door, in a heat- of young people marched up along al visit by going online at top Vatican officials to take the unnamed cardinal had decided it baked street surrounded by Vatican the nave of the church and to an www.jubil2000.org to a special unprecedented step of designating would carry the same indulgence offices, the wall-to-wall crowd was area above the tomb of St Peter. Web-cam providing video of the in good spirits despite the long wait. a second "holy door" through which privilege. It was hot, it was jammed and it Holy Door passage. the flow of young pilgrims could be They poured water from plastic was rushed, but no one seemed to "But its not the Holy Door," one It was probably the fastest way to diverted, thus doubling the flow rate Italian protested as she was forced bottles on each other's heads to mind. the door, but definitely not the same to 260 per minute. keep cool and were occasionally through this second door. "I'm from northern Canada, and as being there. When asked, ushers said an "It is today" replied the usher. doused by a Vatican fire hose. this is my first trip anywhere. lust to - Catholic News Service
F
World Youth Day, the ancient Roman racetrack or known as Circus Maximus was transformed into an open-air venue for multi-lingual Masses and confessions expected to draw 700,000 young people from 16-18 August. In 13 tents along one side of
the area, priests conversant in 30 languages set up shop in more than 300 makeshift confessionals with space for penitents to kneel or sit_ Most confessors worked nonstop throughout their two-hour shifts on 16 August, the first day the confessionals were open. "This is the first break I've had," Auxiliary Bishop John Wester of San Francisco told CNS from his confessional just after noon as some groups gathered their meal tickets and retrieved their lunches. . For the first hour, it was one after the other," he said. One US pilgrim from the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming, called the sight of thousands of
youth attending Mass and waiting to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation "incredible." "It tells me there's a lot of people with faith out there," said Maggie Miller, 16. En route to the confessionals, Dominic Mendy, 25, from Gambia, said he appreciated being in Rome and especially the setting of the Circus Maximus. "We know Christianity begins here - we come here to find our roots and then go to spread them at home," he said. He said that before becoming what Pope John Paul II calls "the future of Vatican (Council) II, young people must prepare themselves." "We must suffer," he said as a noonday August sun threatened to send masses of youths to first-aid stations. "You can't just wake up and be a leader," said Mendy. From 16-18 August, groups were assigned to morning catechesis sessions for two days, with afternoons free for youthencounter events. One day was devoted to a pilgrimage to St Peter's Basilica and the Circus Maximus. - CNS
Pilgrims receive the sacrament of reconciliation in makeshift confessionals set up outdoors at Rome's Circus Maximus on 16 August.
Inquirers make catechesis anything but boring Concert showcases growing interest in , ., Christian rock vvItn a Catholic spin I L
from Blind River, Ontario, said Tanzanian Cardinal Polycarp Pengo of Dar-es-Salaam fielded a tough quesf the word "catechesis" conjures up tion about abortion in the case of rape Images of long, boring talks on esoAnother singer at the concert, 15-year-old one example of an area that evangelical during his 16 August catechesis. teric subjects, think again. By Benedicta Cipolla Christian music does not cover. Rachael Lampa, who also was to perform At World Youth Day 2000, morning "He answered that question in a realcatechesis sessions held from 16-18 ly sensitive way, but he also clearly ong gone are the days when Christian "Ninety per cent of all Protestants I've ever on 19 August at Tor Vergata ahead of a vigil August combined song, dance, testisaid no, abortion is never the answer," music meant tambourine-playing met say, 'You worship Mary,' when they don't with Pope John Paul II, said it was "cool to monials and, yes, Church teaching said Dow. understand it at all," said DeRosia. nuns and "Kumbayah." bring non-Catholics here" to World Youth with contemporary flair. "He talked about the feelings of the "So how can a person who thinks that I'm Day. World Youth Day concert At a seven-hour At the Basilica of St Paul Outside the women in that situation, but he made on 17 August showcasing 20 US Christian into idolatry minister to me effectively and People in the Christian music industry Walls on 17 August, the talk by US Carit clear why human life should always artists, if you closed your eyes and listened not offend me?" he asked, his silver- "kind of separate themselves from Catholics, dinal Francis George of Chicago on the be respected," she said. to the electric guitars and hard-edged vocals wrapped braids swinging from his other- and I think showing them these kinds of meaning of freedom represented a US Cardinal William Keeler of Balti- it could have been the alternative music fes- wise bald head. things and showing them our hearts for God small fraction, time-wise, of the fourmore told Catholic News Service his tival Lollapallooza. Explaining that songs focusing on Mary will break that separation," she said in hour gathering. catechesis sparked questions from Seated cross-legged on the basilica's Once the domain of evangelical Protes- were in the works for the band's future "oeu- between sprays of the throat lubricant young people that "reflect a deep constone floor or stretched out with backtants, Christian rock and pop has expanded vre," DeRosia pulled out a rosary from his "Entertainer's Secret" cern for their spiritual lives." pocket. packs for pillows, more than 3,000 The efforts of the concert's marketingQuestions about modern-day mar- and enveloped more musical genres, and young people from the United States, "How's this for a Baptist?" he laughed. now are Catholic youths starting to take savvy sponsor, the Nashville, Tennesseetyrs, he said, "opened people's eyes." Canada, Uganda, India and other EngThree World Youth Day participants from based Christian entertainment company Young people from Pakistan and notice. lish-speaking countries began their Susan Brunka from Barrington, Illinois in the US, asks Chicago Cardinal Francis George a the Diocese of St Petersburg, Florida, agreed Word Entertainment, seemed to pay off in Sudan spoke of Christians who had "The reason why is because it doesn't stink question about women and the priesthood during a World Youth Day catechetical session morning with music. Scarecrow & Tinmen were "awesome." the form of an estimated 25,000 screaming Catholic singer-songwriters Tony on 17 August at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. Photo CNS/Nancy Wiechec died in their countries, testimonies that anymore. It used to be horrible," Brad "They really show God in the way they youths. broadened the perspective of of the member Western DeRosia, multi-denominaa Melendez and Steve Angrisano quick- down, though, the crowd fell silent and queries for prelates, and the questions tional Christian band Scarecrow & Timnen, play their music," said Mike Bosse, 15, who ly got the young people up on their feet listened to Cardinal George's catech- asked at World Youth Day 2000 listeners, said the cardinal. Continuing their promotional work even crowd-surfed during the band's set. " I think besides this spiritual deep- shouted over the roar of the concert. with a tune most of the Americans esis, the centrepiece of the morning addressed delicate issues. as the concert was under way, organisers His friend, 16-year-old Zach Doyle, branening, there's an international awareseemed to know, "Awesome God." event. DeRosia became a Catholic in 1998 after dishing a fake tattoo, hoop earrings, baggy launched hundreds of laminated coupons Susan Brunka of the Parish of St Anne ness that's occurring here," About 15 youth jumped up alongside Cardinal After delineating the meaning of free- in Barrington, Illinois, asked Cardinal previously being a Baptist, with time also shorts and a crucifix, said Scarecrow & Tin- for free T-shirts into the crowd using a slingthe singers to perform the song's dom, emphasising freedom to act, give George why there were no women Keeler said. spent as a member of the Lutheran church, men was the only Christian band he lis- shot-type apparatus. Twenty-three-year-old William Kenyi accompanying hand-jive, echoes of and receive, the cardinal urged the priests if "Christ set us free." the Messianic Jewish Revival and some non- tened to. "Hey, what's the deal?" asked one unidentheir clapping bouncing off the basili- young people seated before him to The cardinal replied that while the Alemi from Uganda said at St Paul's on denominational faiths. tified youth as he picked up one of the cards 17 Rain appeared to get I rish-influenced Celli ca's columns. August: "A lot of people want to "publicly believe." Church's decision not to allow women DeRosia said a Catholic audience has spe- the crowd going, too, as thousands of youths and studied it more closely. Bonaventure Kimuli, 20, of Uganda, "Do not be afraid," he told them. priests might make it seem that "free- know what life is like in Africa." stood and clapped with everyone else, "Have courage. Christ gave up his life dom of opportunity is limited because As it turned out, the free T-shirt came only After exchanging addresses with sev- cific needs. danced in a frenzy to the sounds of the saying the experience "makes you feel for us, to set us free." with the purchase of Word Entertainment's eral people, he said, "hopefully my of gender," breaking with established "The Protestant churches don't have a band's electric fiddle. like you are a real Catholic" Question-and-answer sessions fol- apostolic tradition would be akin to mailbox will be full whenI get home." thumb-pulse" to young Catholic music fans, Some youths rode the shoulders of friends album "ONE." When it came time for quieting things lowing catecheses often pose difficult "betraying the Lord." Jennifer Bow, 29, - Catholic News Service he said. citing Catholic Marian devotion as to get a better view of the stage. - Catholic News Service The Record, August 24 2000 Page 10 By Benedicta Cipolla
PNgrims jump during the concert on 17 August
',two craswancv wethe,
The Record. August 24 2000 Page 11
World Youth Day 2000
Barriers vanish in 1111YD unity By John Norton
p
'NS '
Young people pack an 324 hectare field on the outskirts of Rome where the closing vigil and Mass for World Youth Day took place on 19 and 20 August.
utting human faces to the themes of solidarity, recondliation and peace, a group of young people from war-torn countries took centre stage at World Youth Day 2000's main events. The youth, nearly 300 from 25 countries, were among the beneficiaries of a US $3.5 million solidarity fund raised with voluntary donations from other World Youth Day participants to help poorer pilgrims make the trip to Rome for the 15-20 August celebration. Father Giuseppe Pellegrini, an official at the Italian bishops' youth office, said 300 of the beneficiaries were specially chosen to take high-profile roles in the youth jubilee's main events, including sitting with the Pope during the opening and closing ceremonies, as a way of bringing main themes down to earth. "Within the (solidarity) project, we wanted to leave a sign, to make it less of a generic solidarity," he said on 17 August. The youth, from countries in Africa, Asia, South America and southern Europe, were selected by their bishops, most on the basis of their exceptional commitment to the Church and youth leadership. Before and after World Youth Day, the young people were spending a month visiting Italian dioceses for cultural and religious
exchanges. "It's not only we that help them," said Father Pellegrini, "but they help us: with the freshness and vivacity of their Church experience and also their sacrifices, because they've lived through difficult situations." "They are a sign to us sort-ofelderly (European) churches to be a bit more awake in life and Christian witness," he said. Two weeks into his Italian sojourn, Francis Nsanga, a 16year-old student from Uganda, said he was overwhelmed by the warmth of the welcome he had received. "These people really love and care for each other," he said. "And you can see the (Italian) government really loves its people. It's not like that back home." Civil war in Uganda, he said, made daily life so precarious that many youth there had no motivation - or opportunity - to go to school. Rebels frequently targetted schools in their hunt for forced recruits, he said. Another Ugandan youth, George William Mwanje, said he thought peace in his country would have to be driven by young people, because the country's future was their responsibility. "Young people are getting fed up" after years of war, said the 26year-old electrical engineer. "They're starting to realise we need reconciliation and to move forward." Some youth said they saw the power of reconciliation at work in
their encounters with other World Youth Day participants, some of whom were nationals of countries with which their governments were at war. An Iraqi youth, Riyadh Lewis Hermez, said he had met with many US participants "and we were always laughing together." "You know, we are supposed to be enemies, carrying weapons against each other, but we didn't do that," showing that meeting people dispels traditional feelings of enmity he said. Hermez, a 31-year-old electronics engineer at a Libyan oil refinery, called the decade-long UN embargo on Iraq a "crime against humanity" and said he had been encouraged that many Americans he had met seemed to agree with him. He said the power of the World Youth Day experience came in its ability to strip away national boundaries, financial disparities or ethnic differences. "Different nationalities from different parts of this world are meeting in the same place, eating the same kind of food, sleeping on the floor," he said. "That is the absolute meaning of equality that Jesus himself preached." said Hermez. Experiencing the event first hand, he said, made him realise for the first time in his life "that Christianity is still strong and Jesus is still working his influence in our life." - Catholic News Service
Volunteers keep visitors on track Three meals a day? It's By Tom Tracy
F
ederica Nepenti stood outside the exit doors at St Peter's Basilica as thousands upon thousands of sweaty teens attending World Youth Day poured out onto the square. The 19-year-old native of Bologna, Italy, wearing the blue vest recognisable as the garb of a jubilee-year volunteer, answered questions and kept the crowds moving forward so others could exit St Peter's. On the second day designated for World Youth Day participants to make a pilgrimage through the church's Holy Door, crowds threatened to overwhelm the patience even of the army of blueCarmela Fiorillo, 23, of Naples, Italy, clad volunteers. "All the volunteers know that prays after receiving Communion durwherever they are working, that ing Mass with Pope John Paul II on Photo CNS Nancy Wtechec we are here for a service, and they 20 August give that service with a smile," volunteers, with the assistance of said Nepenti, who moves easily other coordinators, managed to among four languages. orchestrate with elan the estimat"Even if I am tired, I try to keep ed crowd of 700,000 participants a smile on my face, because if I that turned out for the World can help only one personI would Youth Day opening in St Peter's be useful," said Nepenti. Square. Staying in dormitories and vilTeresa Hately, a chaperone and lages throughout the region for parent from St Mary's Parish in the 15-20 August celebrations, Tampa, Florida, praised two volWorld Youth Day volunteers were unteers who helped the Florida everywhere in Rome: catechetical group get situated upon arriving. sites, street corners, meal distrib"They have been incredible: The ution points, the Vatican - most local kids put their heart into it anywhere the World Youth Day and are trying so hard, with the participants were found in large language barriers and all," Hatenumbers. . ly said. Some, like Nepenti, were volunWhen the Florida woman needteering short-term, for a week or ed to get to a World Youth Day so, while others were giving a checkpoint to collect registration month or more. materials, one of the volunteers Nepenti said that the crowds offered to help. taxed Rome's limited transporta"She brought me three or four tion system and made crowd miles on the back of a Moped, so management a challenge. they are using their own transBut she said the participants portation," she said. were well-behaved. "They are Sin Nan Geung, 31, a native of kind and listen to us.... so we can Hong Kong, travelled to Rome to do our work," Nepenti said. The spend three weeks as a volunteer The Record, August 24 2000 Page 12
along with 14 others from China. She stayed in a nearby dance academy while moving each day from assignment to assignment. Speaking to the youth primarily in English, Nan Geung said the jubilee volunteer program has been a great opportunity to serve other people of faith. Nan Geung said she will remember the sight of World Youth Day pilgrims marching through Rome, singing and waving their flags. "It is impressive and has touched me," she said. Full-time jubilee volunteer coordinator Pierre Luigi Anzeloti, a former sales representative in Rome, said he has had a "perfect experience" as a co-ordinator. While most of the volunteers have been Italian, many others were from Poland, Spain, Mexico, Chile and the US, said Anzeloti. He planned to work the busy closing weekend at a campus of Rome University "This job has entirely changed my perception of other cultures, to help me see the positive and good things about them," he said. "What has been a big surprise is that anyone who did something went home with something positive. Even if it was only a week as a volunteer or as a very young person, they went home with something." Standing outside of St Peter's Square, World Youth Day participant Chris Corral of Asheville, North Carolina, said he thinks the volunteers have done a good job. "They have been a little strict. .. . but I guess they have to be," said the 22-year-old. Nepenti pointed out that World Youth Day could not have functioned without the volunteers. "I don't think Rome could have (managed) this co-ordination. There are too many people to pay. They are happy we are here," said Nepenti. - CNS
easier said than done By John Norton
I
f there's one thing Italians pride themselves on, it's their ability to feed guests with gusto and abundance. And World Youth Day 2000 may just go down as their greatest success yet. Sodexho, a multinational catering firm based in Paris, entrusted with filling the bellies of more than a million hungry young people over five days in mid-August, called it the largestever centralised food preparation operation. Its contract was awarded by the Vatican's jubilee committee. The catering firm has unique experience sating the appetites of pilgrims. The company also catered the
1997 World Youth Day in Paris and coordinated food distribution during last year's Muslim hall pilgrimage to Mecca. In Rome, Sodexho was called on to dish out three meals a day to 3 million people, including organisers, volunteers and pilgrims. The company set up almost 300 "mobile" restaurants around Rome, staffed by 1,600 Sodexho employees and 5.000 jubilee volunteers, and specially designed one-metre diameter frying pans to expedite cooking. Some 150 trucks were needed to haul in food supplies, including 2.6 million gallons of bottled water, to keep the young pilgrims hydrated in Rome's furnace-like heat. and 136 tons of Ice cream. - CNS
World Youth Day pilgrims had to walk up to nine kilometres to an open field at Tor Vergata University on the outskirts of Rome for a vigil and Mass with Pope John Paul II on 19 and 20 August. ,••
World Youth Day 2000
Jesus has the words of eternal life • • • • Tuesday, 15 Augus4 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven
D
ear friends from the five continents, I am happy to inaugurate with you this evening the Jubilee of Young People. Pilgrims in the footsteps of the Apostles, imitate their faith!" "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!" '. . . . I wish to bear witness to this faith here before all of you, young friends, at the tomb of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord wished me to succeed as Bishop of Rome. "Beginning with myself. today I wish to tell you that I believe firmly in Jesus Christ our Lord. "Yes, I believe, and I make my own the words of the Apostle Paul: The life I now live in the fleshI live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.' "I remember how as a child, in my or% ii family, I learned to pray and trust in God. "I remember the life of the parish that I attended, called after St Stanislaus Kostka. In Debniki in Krakow. "It was run by the Salesian Fathers, from whomIreceived my basic training in Christian living. Icannot forget the experience of the war and the years of work in a factory. "My priestly vocation came to its full maturity during the Second World War, during the occupation of Poland. "The tragedy of the war gave a particular colouring to the gradual maturing of my vocation in life. I n these circumstances, I perceived a light shining ever more brightly within me: the Lord wanted me to be a priest! "I remember with feeling that moment in my life when, on the morning of 1 November, 1946, I was ordained a priest. "My Credo continues in my present service to the Church. "On October 16 1978, after my election to the See of Peter, when I was asked 'do you accept?'Ianswered 'with obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord. and trusting in the Mother of Christ and of the Church, no matter what the difficulties. I accept.' "From that time on, I have tried to carry out my mission, drawing light and strength every day from the faith that binds me to Christ. 'But my faith, like that of Peter and like the faith of each one of you, is not just my doing, my attachment to the truth of Christ and the Church. "It is essentially and primarily the work of the Holy Spirit, a gift of His grace. "The Lord gives His Spirit to me as He gives Him to you, to help us say. 'I believe,' and then to use us to bear witness to Him in every corner of the world.' The Pope concluded by asking the young people that they convert these days into an experience of prayer, 'as though they were a great week of spiritual exercises; look for times of silence, prayer and recollection." "Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten your minds, ask Him for the gift of a living faith which will forever give meaning to your lives, joining them to Christ, the Word made flesh.' .. . . In his greetings to young Italians, the Holy Father said: 'Over the coming days, in this city which houses the tombs and the memories of those who bore witness to the Saviour of the world, may each young person encounter Jesus, He who knows the secret of true happiness and has promised It to His friends.* 'Dear young pilgrims of the third millennium, live this World Youth Day with intensity. . "Through contact with so many of your peers who, like you, want to follow Christ, treasure the words you will hear from the bishops, accepting the voice of the Lord in order to strengthen your faith and bear witness to it without fear, in the knowledge that you are the heirs of a great past. 'In inaugurating your Jubilee, dear young men and women, I want to repeat the words with which I_started my ministry as Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the Universal Church, I would like these words to guide you in your days in Rome: 'Do not be afraid! Open the doors, open widevthe doors to Christ!' .... Let Christ reign in your
Along with the power of Pope John Paul ITs personal witness, much of his influence comes from his inspirational proclamation of the GospeL For those young people unable to go to Rome, here are some of the more telling quotes from speeches the Pope made to the more than two million Catholic youth pilgrims in Rome last week culled from the dispatches of the Vatican Information Service.
Pope John Paul embraces a boy in St Peter's Square during opening ceremonies of World Youth Day on Tuesday, 15 August. Photo CNS. Reuters
young lives, serve Him with love. To serve Christ is to be fiver Before closing his address the Pope, who was interrupted on various occasions by cheers and applause, joked about his age; to the young people's cries of 'long live the Pope!' he responded: 'He has been living for 80 years and the young people want him ever youthful.'
Thursday, 17 August 'Dear young people,' said the Pope in his homily, 'do not doubt God's love for you! For you, He reserves a place in His heart and a mission in the world The task appears immense because it assumes the dimensions of society and of the world, but do not forget that, when He calls, the Lord also gives the strength and the grace necessary to respond to the call. 'Do not be afraid,' he continued, 'to shoulder your responsibilities. The Church needs you, she needs your commitment and your generosity "The Pope needs you, at the start of this new millennium, he asks you to carry the Gospel along the paths of the world.' Making reference to the Gospel passage where the Lord asks Simon Peter if he loves Him, John Paul II said: 'Today Christ asks the same _question to each of you: do you love me?" "He does not ask you to address the masses, to know how to run an organisation or administer a patrimony. "He asks you to love Him. All the rest will follow as a result. "fndeed, to follow Jesus' footsteps does not tranNiate immediately into things to be done or said but, above all, into the fact of loving Him, of being with Him and of welcoming Him entirely into your lives.' The Pope concluded by encouraging the young people to love Christ and the Church: 'Love Christ as He loves you." "Love the Church as Christ loves her and
do not forget that true love places no conditions, it does not calculate or recriminate, it simply loves.'
Sunday, 20 Augus4 at Tor Vergata In his homily, the Holy Father mentioned the Apostle Peter's question to the Lord, 'to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life' and commented: 'Christ's question cuts across the centuries and comes down to us; it challenges us personally and calls for a decision. "What is our answer? Dear young people, if we are here today, it is because we identify with the Apostle Peter's reply.' 'Around you, you hear all kinds of words. But only Christ speaks words that stand the test of time and remain for all eternity 'The time of life that you are living calls for decisive choices on your part: decisions about the direction of your studies, about work, about your role in society and in the Church. 'It is important to realise that among the many questions surfacing in your minds, the decisive ones are not about 'what' "The basic question is 'who,' who' amIto go to, 'who' am Ito follow, 'to whom' should I entrust my life?' The Holy Father highlighted that "only Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and of Mary, the eternal Word of the Father born two thousand years ago at Bethlehem in Judaea, is capable of satisfying the deepest aspirations of the human heart. 'In Peter's question: 'To whom shall we go?' the answer regarding the path to follow is already given. It is the path that leads to Christ. 'And it is possible to meet the divine Master personally: He is in fact truly present on the altar in the reality of His Body and Blood. 'In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, we can enter into contact with the person of Jesus in a
way that is mysterious but real, drinking at the inexhaustible fountain that is His life as the Risen Lord.' 'The Eucharist, he continued, 'is the sacrament of the presence of Christ, who gives Himself to us because He loves us. "He loves each one of us in a unique and personal way in our practical daily lives: in our families, among our friends, at study and work, in rest and relaxation. "He loves us when He fills our days with freshness, and also when, in times of suffering, He allows trials to weigh upon us: even in the most severe trials, He lets us hear His voice. 'Yes, dear friends, Christ loves us and He loves us forever! "He loves us even when we disappoint Him, when we fail to meet His expectations for us . . . . How can we not be grateful to this God who has redeemed us, going so far as to accept the foolishness of the Cross? To God who has come to be at our side and has stayed with us to the end?' The Pope emphasised that 'to celebrate the Eucharist, 'to eat His flesh and drink His blood,' means to accept the wisdom of the Cross and the path of service . . . . Our society desperately needs this sign, and young people need it even more so, tempted as they often are by the illusion of an easy and comfortable life, by drugs and pleasure-seeking, only to find themselves in a spiral of despair, meaninglessness and violence. 'It is urgent to change direction and to turn to Christ. "This is the way of justice, solidarity and commitment to building a society and a future worthy of the human person.' 'Dear friends, when you go back home, set the Eucharist at the centre of your personal life and community life: love the Eucharist, adore the Eucharist and celebrate it, especially on Sundays, the Lord's Day. "Live the Eucharist by testifying to God's love for every person .. .. May every community always have a priest to celebrate the Eucharist! "I ask the Lord therefore to raise up from among you many holy vocations to the priesthood. "Today as always the Church needs those who celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice with a pure heart. "The world must not be deprived of the gentle and liberating presence of Christ living in the Eucharist! 'You yourselves must be fervent witnesses to Christ's presence on the altar. "Let the Eucharist mould your life and the life of the families you will form. "Let it guide all life's choices .... In a special way, may sharing in the Eucharist lead to a new flourishing of vocations to the religious life. "In this way the Church will have fresh and generous energies for the mat task of the new evangelisation.' The Pope affirmed that if some of the young people present heard the Lord's inner call they should give themselves "completely to Him in order to love Him 'with an undivided heart,' do not be held back by doubts or fears." "Say 'yes' with courage and without reserve, trusting Him who is faithful to His promises.' At the end of his homily, John Paul II expressed his gratitude to God 'for the gift of youth, which continues to be present in the Church and in the world because of you." "Thank God for the World Youth Days! Thanks be to God for all the young people who have been involved in them in the past sixteen years! "Many of them are now adults who continue to live their faith in their homes and work-places. "Iam sure, dear friends, that you too will be as good as those who preceded you. "You will carry the proclamation of Christ into the new millennium. "When you return home, do not grow lax. 'Reinforce and deepen your bond with the Christian communities to which you belong.' Page 13 The Record, . . • August 24 2000
News and Features
Tasmanian parishes to be cut By Glynnis Grainger
With Mary Busher, Perth Catholic Church
Archives volunteer
Excerpts from the WA Catholic Record 25 August, 1900.
Hibernian toast Proposing a toast at the 12th anniversary celebrations of the Hibernian Society at Albany. Councillor Gee said: "Out of 3,000 inhabitants 400 were members of the different lodges and represented a capital of 1000 pounds. This was very satisfactory indeed. The first object of all benefit societies was to instill in their members the principles of thrift and to teach them that in the days of their prosperity it was their duty to provide for the day of adversity, sickness and death."
Prisoners down The Inspector of prisons reported the total prison population was 2,150. a drop of 304 on the previous year. He noted that of the 100 convicts serving sentences, only four were white men born in the Colony.
Women lawyers? Mr R.S. Haynes MLC, speaking at a meeting of the Liquor Traffic in Perth, argued in favour of allowing women to become lawyers. He said: "the law is a very easy subject as is evidenced by the number of fools who are called to the Bar."
Mines school OK The Goldfields Trades and Labour Council met with the Minister for Mines to urge that a School of Mines be founded at Kalgoorlie. The Minister agreed but added the appropriation of funds remained a consideration.
A companion course to The World of the Apostles by Dr Jennifer Skerritt -In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should he, enrolled." Have you ever wondered who Augustus Caesar was, or why he wanted a census? just what were the three wise men following and how much exactly is a talent? Whatever your religious beliefs. this entertaining course will help explain the knowledge you already have. It will also provide a background to a fascinating period of history and the
society which shaped western civilisation. Thesdays 730pm-9pm Aug 29, Sep 5, 12. 19, 26. Cost $95, Centrelink Cardholders $49. UVVA Extension, University of WA, Nedlands, Perth 6907 Tel. 9380 1859/9380 2433. Fax 93801066
Catholic parishes in Tasmania will be cut in number by almost a third to deal with smaller congregations and fewer priests. Hobart's Archbishop Adrian Doyle plans to cut the number of parishes from 39 to 24 through amalgamations. The Archdiocese of Hobart, which covers the whole of Tasmania, might also dispose of some of its assets, train lay people to perform funerals and send mobile teams to conduct Masses in rural areas. Archbishop Doyle announced the policies as part of a new program of revitalisation after a 16month consultation process. Archbishop Doyle made the announcements at a series of public meetings attended by well over 1000 people: Hobart, on 15 August; Burnie, 16 August, and Launceston, 17 August. Archbishop Doyle said the decisions would redefine existing structures and mean the implementation of major, new initiative&
The new-look Archdiocese of Hobart will be underpinned by evangelisation (reaching out) and collaboration (within). Under the changes rural people and youth will be given special help, while liturgy, social justice, and adult faith education are among a wide variety of Church involvements to receive special attention. During the consultation process Archbishop Doyle listened to and conversed with Catholics around Tasmania through a grass-roots process named Call to Change. Some parishes will be amalgamated while others will form new collaborative pastoral units while maintaining their status as parish. Amalgamated parishes will include Cathedral, Lenah Valley and New Town, Bellerive and Lindisfarne, Moonah and Goodwood-Lutana, Franklin and Cygnet, Westbury and Deloraine. Among initiatives are the establishment of a Diocesan Pastoral Council, a Diocesan Sacramental Council, a State-wide youth ministry team, a mobile diocesan rural ministry team and a central office for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. A parish-based
Archbishop Adrian Doyle social justice network will be established as will a parish-based faith education network. Every parish will be linked to at least one other parish in new pastoral units which will encourage parishes to work collaboratively as often as possible. This will create a more integrated approach to ministry and outreach and provide greater
financial flexibility. The placement of clergy within the new structures will happen later in the year. The decisions will be implemented from the start of next year. Points made by Archbishop Doyle included: • that collaboration was the way forward at all levels and in all areas of the Church's life; • that the ordained priest is a -unifier of the community, preacher of the word and sacramental leader"; • a central priority for every parish was the ongoing enhancement of parish worship; • that youth should be referred to as a "real investment"; • that parishes should have the goal of building community to ensure that "outreach is a clear feature of parish life"; • that through the structural changes to the parishes "we will be able to respond to the issue of fewer priests in the most effective way possible and foster the vocation of all the baptised in the building up of the Church."
Vatican releases Olympic aerogramme By John Norton
A
s athletes around the world worked their bodies in preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games, the Vatican called attention to the spiritual ideals of the event's originators. At the birth of the modern Olympics in the late 19th century, a French Catholic priest authored the event's motto: the Latin phrase, "Citius. Altius, Fortius" ("Swifter, Higher, Stronger"). Marking the centenary of Dominican Father Henri Didon's death, the Vatican's stamp and coin office has issued a special aerogramme imprinted with his image and the phrase he contributed to the Olympics. A well-known educator and a friend of Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics, Father Didon envisioned the games as a means of achieving
spiritual greatness through physical contest. "You who wish to surpass yourself, fashion your body and spirit to discover the best of yourself," he is reputed to have said. "Strive always to go one step further than you were aiming for: Swifter, Higher, Stronger." Piergiorgio Cupidi, marketing director of the Vatican's stamp office, said the theme for this year's Vatican aerogramme seemed an especially appropriate choice in light of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Australia, from 15 September to 1 October. 'The Vatican is always interested in highlighting the spiritual significance of human activities," he said. Father Didon. 1840-1900, was a noted educator, preacher and writer, whose advocacy of modern progress and outspokenness on social issues sometimes put
The Vatican has issued an aerogramme - a type of preprinted letter mailer - commemorating the death of French Dominican Father Henri Didon, who wrote the Olympic motto -Citius, Altius, Forlius" (-Swifter, Higher, Stronger"). Photo CNS
him in hot water with his superiors. After he delivered a series of Lenten lectures in 1880 judged to be in contradiction with Pope Pius
IX's Syllabus of Errors, which condemned some aspects of modern progress. Father Didon was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Corsica for seven years. Upon his return to France, he devoted himself primarily to putting his educational theories into practice in Dominican schools in and near Paris. In 1895, he coined the motto for the modern Olympic Games, which were first held in Athens, Greece, a year later. The Vatican's aerogramme can be ordered by contacting the Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office, Governatorato, 00120 Vatican City State; or by e-mail: ufn@scv.va; or by telephone: 3906-698-83708; or by fax: 39-06698-83799.
The aerogramme costs 1,500 Italian lire, or about US$0.75.
Bridget's amazing life of love and retreat
S
aint Bridget of Sweden was a friend and contemporary of Catherine of Siena, and another example of the power and influence of women in the Medieval Church. Bridget was born in Finsta Castle near Uppsala in Sweden, the daughter of the governor of Uppland. At fourteen, she was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was later to become the governor of Nerica. During their long and happy marriage, they had eight children. One, a daughter, Catherine, would also become a saint. As a young woman Bridget was considered pious and responsible. She was appointed governess by King Magnus to the adolescent and frivolous queen of Sweden. Despite her best efforts, this was not a great success and Bridget and her husband eventually left the court for a pilgrimage. Her husband died in 1344, and Bridget was free to pursue her religious interests. She had seen visions from her early childhood
The Record, August 24 2000 Page 14
and her entire life had been Inspired by an apparition of Christ crucified, which she had experienced at the age of six. As a widow, she withdrew from Perth historian Dr Jennifer Skerritt sheds public life to a spot near the some light on Catholic history to mark 2000 monastery of Alvastra on Lake years of Christianity. This week: Vetter. Saint Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303 -1373) There she wrote her Revelations on the passions of our Saviour, from the visions which Clement VI, Urban V and Grego- destroyed by the Protestant ry XI, all of whom she encour- Reformation. came to her. All the nuns and monks were They were translated into Latin aged to return to Rome from Avignon. Her visions included expelled and their convents and by the Cistercian prior, Peter important Olafsson, and became one of the ing the political events affect- property confiscated. It was reChurch, as well as pure- established in 1911 in Rome, by more important mystical works ly spiritual matters. Mother Elisabeth Hasselblad. of the Middle Ages. She obtained official approval It is now dedicated to the In these revelations, Bridget for her order of nuns, the Order reunion of all Christians and was commanded to found a new of the Most Holy Saviour, more especially the return of Scandireligious order. commonly known as the Brid- navia to the Catholic Church. She immediately established a gettines, in 1370. They were cloisWhen Bridget died, at the age congregation of nuns at Vadstena tered nuns who lived a life of of 70, she was buried in Rome in In Sweden, with her daughter strict discipline. the church of the Poor Clares of Catherine as superior. The Order spread widely Viminal, but later her body as Then she went to Rome. From through Scandinavia, Germany moved to Sweden and reburied 1350 she and Catherine lived in and Britain. In the convent at Vadstena. Rome, making pilgrimages A monastery was attached to She was canonised by Pope around Italy and to the Holy each convent for monks who Boniface IX in 1391, at the insisLand. lived by the same rule and under tence of her daughter Catherine. Bridget acted as an adviser to the authority of the abbess. She is the patron saint of SweKings and Popes, including The Order was almost entirely den.
,t‘tife t‘n e4riSt 2000
News Features
Migrants: our parish neighbours T
here are two main themes in the message of Pope John Paul II for World Migration Day, which in Australia we observe as Migrant and Refugee Sunday on the last Sunday of August. The first is an acknowledgment of the widespread phenomenon of migration as we approach the new millennium. Migration is not something that happens elsewhere: between one third and up to one half of the membership of 45 Catholic parishes in Perth were born overseas. That is about half of Perth's city parishes. The Pope addresses his concern particularly to what he calls "Migration out of desperation." His message refers to those people who "have no alternative than to leave their country and to venture into the unknown." "Everyday thousands of people take even critical risks in their attempts to escape from a life with no future." Unfortunately news and scenes of people taking such risks have become much too familiar. In Australia we are aware of the
Migrant and Refugee Sunday is celebrated in the Catholic Church around Australia this Sunday, 27 August. Perth's Episcopal Vicar for Migration, Scalabrinian Father Adrian Pittarello, reminds us here of the challenge to build harmony and unity with Australia's migrant and refugee community, especially those who are our neighbours in the local parish. many new "boat people" who arrive at our shores. We know that in most cases they have to pay large sums of money to unscrupulous people who lure them with false, unrealistic promises of safe passage, clandestine landing, and easy camouflage among the larger population. In reality they are transported in very unsafe barges, unhealthy conditions, often dumped on isolated shores, easily caught and placed in detention centres to be repatriated. We know also that, at times, they perish at sea, before reaching their "promised land." The stories we hear are so many that they do not touch our heart anymore. Indeed, they often have the opposite effect. We become annoyed that so many people try to enter other countries abusively, jumping queues and "taking away" jobs
from the local people. It is in these migrants of "desperation," the Pope tells us, we must see the Christ. who "has nowhere to lay his head" (Mt 8:20), and who asks Zaccheaus "I must stay at your house today" (Lk 19:5) We can only applaud the fact that the Australian Government had introduced the Temporary Protection Visa to many people who seek refugee status in our country, instead of having them wasting their lives for months or years in detention centres. The Catholic Church, through its various institutions (parishes, Religious orders, religious organisations) has excelled in looking after newly arrived refugees through the Community Refugee Support Scheme CRSS. We are called to continue to provide assistance to this new category of people who are allowed to remain in Australia on a temporary visa until their refugee sta-
his is certified. The second theme
of the Pope's message is very much linked to the Jubilee Year. This Jubilee Year 2000 sees an unprecedented number of Christians going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Rome and other shrines around the world. During their journey, pilgrims come in contact with people of other languages and experience a variety of cultures. The Pope sees in migrants moving from one nation to another a way by which God makes all peoples aware of the diversity and richness of cultures in the world. Migrants "coming out of themselves", states the Pope, "become an outreach to others and to other social contexts into which they can be integrated when the necessary conditions are created for peaceful coexistence". The diversity that migration brings becomes a means whereby God leads people to walk towards that
unity of people of all nations, languages and cultures that is the highest aspiration of Christ our redeemer. In Australia, wherever we are, we live side by side with people who are different from us. In Perth city parishes, the percentage of Catholics born overseas ranges from a top of 48.1 per cent at St Brigid's, West Perth, to 21.1 per cent in Cottesloe. Forty-five city parishes register percentages between 33.8 and 48 per cent.
Migration Sunday reminds us of the task to which we all are called - to treasure the diversity that there is among us as a necessary means to grow in unity. Although we are all called as individuals to have an open heart towards those who are different from us and to make friends with them, to task of building unity and harmony is a community task. Each parish, and each group within the parish, is to be positively active in building harmony and unity. As the Pope says, "'Catholic' must not be an idle title".
Eastern Churches: the other lung of the Church I n the Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic Church the first thing we notice is an Icon screen - the Iconostasis - "connecting" the sanctuary with the nave of the church. There are many icons here. As we gaze at them, we may become aware that they bring a special presence. We may even feel that they seem to "invite" us beyond them, to the "Holy'". the "Other", and help us to be more present to what is happening in church. Each icon symbolises a "presence" of God. The first thing we may hear as we enter Into the Byzantine liturgy, is music; not organ music but voices. The entire congregation or choir singing accupello, responding to the priest's sung invocations. By now we may have noticed a lovely scent of incense that comes from the frequent incensing during key points of the Liturgy. The rising of the incense reminds us of our prayers rising up to God. The incensing of the icons reminds us that they are holy; the incensing of us the people reminds us we too are holy and called to be holy. If we came in at the beginning of the Liturgy, we would have heard the celebrant. (as he raises up the Gospel Book and makes the sign of the cross with it) intone: "Blessed be the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever." The congregation sings, "Amen". This phrase, "Blessed be the Kingdom...." sets the tone and theme for this Ukrainian Catholic liturgy (as well as for liturgies of other Eastern Churches). With this phrase the celebrant invites us to journey with him into God's Kingdom. Symbolically he faces the altar, the congregation behind him - the shepherd leading his flock. "Hospodeh pomeluy" - Lord have mercy. As we listen, we become aware of repetition - the priest singing various petitions (litanies or ektenias) and the congregation responding with "Hospodeh pomeluy Lord have mercy". This repeated phrase, almost mantra-like, helps the congregation prepare for the Kingdom to which they were invited. How? This "Hospodeh pomeluy" invites us to "just be", to relax, to allow us to receive God's great, loving, caring, wondrous, healing mercy - to allow God to literally "wash" us in God's loving goodness. We are human. We need time to relax, to let go of worries; to empty ourselves of self and to open our hearts to all that God wants to give us. These "Hospodeh pomeluy" litanies occur a few times during Liturgy, giving us opportunity to become more receptive.
Most Holy Trinity repeatedly throughout
The four panels of the iconostasis at the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St John the Baptist, Maylands, stand between the attar and the congregation. •Dboto Peter Rosengren
In his 1995 Apostolic Letter, Orientale Lumen, Pope John Paul II said that a "conversion . . is required of the Latin Church, that she may respect and fully appreciate the dignity of the Eastern Christians, and accept gratefully the spiritual treasures of which Eastern Catholic Churches are the bearers to the benefit of the entire Catholic communion." fOrientale Lumen, nil The Pope called upon the Latin Church "to show concretely, far more than in the past, how much she esteems and admires the Christian East and how essential she considers its contribution to the full realisation of the Church's universality". 10E. n211 Archbishop Hickey has invited the autonomous ritual Churches of the Eastern tradition in Perth to present their liturgies at St Mary's Cathedral at two special Masses at 5pm on Sunday. 10th September and Sunday. 15th October. Archbishop Hickey hopes that as many people as possible will attend these Masses to both deepen our solidarity with the Melkite/Arabic and Ukrainian communities in Perth and to also broaden our understanding of the universal nature of the Church. In the following article. Sr Cecilia Fystor SSMI of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Perth explains some of the significant parts to be found in the Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic Liturgy and the different rituals and rubrics. And in between the litanies, like sign- crated, the priest goes to the proskomedia posts along a journey are reminders on the (preparation table), takes the Holy Gifts of Kingdom to which we journey. the Hymn Bread and Wine to be consecrated, and of Praise to the Only-Begotten Son; the Tris- with the altar servers processes from there agion Hymn in praise of the Most Holy through the Royal Doors to the main altar. Thrifty; the alleluias; the Epistle and Gospel Each time the celebrants incenses the readings; the homily; the Cherubic Hymn; altar, he moves around the altar. the Creed; and others. These circular processions and moveThe Processions ments represent the totality and completeWe notice certain movements at key ness of God - no beginning, no end. points in the celebrations of the Liturgy. They also symbolise the celestial dance Early in the Liturgy, the priest holds up the in preparation for the celestial banquet. Gospel Book and preceded by the altar And together these movements are bringservers processes around the altar, comes ing us forward in our journey to the Kingthrough the Royal Doors of the Iconostasis dom. and then comes hack to the altar. As we attend this liturgy our theologicalLater in the Liturgy, another procession - spiritual 'ear' may pick up other reflecthis time with the Holy Gifts to be conse- tions. We hear praise and glory given to the
the Liturgy and we see people making the Sign of the Cross each time. In the hymn "Only Begotten Son" we glorify the Holy Spirit and throughout the liturgy we honour Mary, our Theotokos. This liturgy is Trinitarian, Incarnational. Pneumatic and Mariological. Where heaven "touches" earth The journey towards the Kingdom continues - the great solemn moment where heaven "touches" earth - the Consecration: and after one "Hospodeh pomeluy" litany, we are Invited to the Kingdom to partake of the heavenly banquet in Communion. We have come to the high point of the journey - and as is always the way with our God - He comes in the humblest way to us. The priest using a golden spoon takes the bread and wine from the chalice and drops it into the communicant's mouth saying: "the servant of God, (name), partakes of the precious. most holy and most pure body and blood of our Lord and God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of his/her sins and life everlasting. Amen." We need to open our mouth wide tilt back our head and not touch the spoon. We are literally fed the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ - symbolic of Jesus feeding His flock. "May our mouths be filled with Your praise, 0 Lord. . . . "we sing in praise and thanksgiving for the Heavenly Banquet. And then the priest invites us to "Go forth in Peace". We have tasted of the Kingdom, now we go forth to share the treasures of Christ's peace. love, compassion, to continue to help bring about His Kingdom. A few years ago Pope John Paul II reminded us that the Catholic Church needs to be aware that it breathes with two lungs - East and West. In the early days, as Christianity spread, the ways (rites) of worship evolved according to the customs and traditions of the various people. The Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic rite is just one of 17 Eastern Churches in the Universal Catholic Church*. Like the three rites in the Western "lung" each Eastern rite has its treasures of significant, unique traditions, customs and spirituality. These treasures though specific to each rite are also treasures we all can share. They can enrich our lives, broaden our vision and expand our spiritual horizons. And in this sharing we as Church may be able to breathe better with two lungs. •In 1997, the Australian Catholic Bishops publisheda book Eastern Catholics in Australia, to further the calls made by His Holiness in Orientale Lumen. The Record. August 24 2000 Page 15
Asian Catholic News
Korean reunions a 'blessing from God'
SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) -South Korean Church leaders called recent reunions of North and South Korean families a "blessing from God" that they hope will help spur national reunification. Archbishop Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul told the archdiocese-run Pyonghwa Shinmun (Peace Weekly) on 17 August that the historic exchange was a moving event that goes beyond description, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. In the 15-18 August program. 100 North Koreans went to Seoul and 100 South Koreans to Pyongyang to be reunited with separated family members for the first time In half a century. Archbishop Cheong said. "God granted us such a great blessing" because the family reunions began on 15 August, the feast of the Assumption. The date also marks the anniversary of the 1945 liberation from almost 40 years of Japanese colonial rule. The exchange program drew positive impressions from South Korean bishops who expressed hope that it would provide a catalyst for the reunification of North and South Korea. Archbishop Cheong, however, expressed regret over the limited number of families reunited among the millions of families separated by the division of the country after World War II. He expressed hope that people of North and South Korea would map out their future together beginning with the reunions. Bishop Michael Pak jeong-il of Masan, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, said he hoped the reunions would continue and that all separated families would be allowed to visit their hometowns. "I myself am looking forward to meeting my brother and other relatives in the North as soon as possible," Bishop Pak told UCA News on 18 August. Benedictine Abbot
'Ma rs' well' doesn't run dry HONG KONG (UCAN) - A "martyrs' well" that won't run dry in drought-stricken northern China is inspiring Catholics and nonCatholics alike ahead of the canonisation of 120 blessed Chinese Martyrs on 1 October. Bishop Liu Jinghe of Tangshan, Hebei province, told UCA News on 16 August that non-Catholics have come to know about the local Catholic martyrs, and some have even gotten baptised, because of what they describe as "a miracle." He recounted that Vincentian Bishop Ernst Geurts, head of Yongping vicariate - now Tangshan diocese - 1900-1940, spent 15 years investigating the death of martyrs killed in the 1900 Boxer
Uprising before erecting a tablet in Xiaotao Village in 1915 in memory of more than 20 martyrs from the vicariate. During the five-year Cultural Revolution ending in 1976, the tablet was pulled down and used to build a well in the village in Qian'an county. For the past few years, northern China, including the Tangshan area, has been experiencing serious droughts, causing rivers and wells to dry up. But water in the well in Xiaotao never stops flowing, Bishop Liu said. In Yanggezhuang, a village six kilometres away, underground water also flows unceasingly, despite wells in neighbouring villages being dry, he continued.
"Catholics say this is a miracle of the martyrs. Even non-Catholics agree," he said. According to Bishop Liu, there are some 400 Catholics in each of the two villages, some of whom asked for Baptism because of the alleged miracle. "It is helpful for evangelisation," the 81-year-old bishop said. He noted that the local Church wanted to remove the tablet from the well and erect it again, but this was not approved by the county government. The 120 Chinese Martyrs, who were beatified between 1900 and 1946, comprise 62 laypersons, 23 priests, 15 nuns, eight seminarians, six bishops, four catechists and two catechumens.
Bishop offers help in peace roll
Kim Ok-bae, right, of North Korea, cries in mid-August as she embraces her mother, Hong Kil-soon, who lives in South Korea. Photo' CNS/Reuters
Placidus RI Dong-ho, apostolic administrator of Hamhung Diocese and Tokwon Territorial Abbacy, both in the North, said, "I was deeply moved as one of the separated people." He said that when he watched the emotional reunion scenes of separated families on '1V, he shed tears and missed his relatives in North Korea. "Let's pray that the reunion of other separated families will continue and peaceful reunification will be realised," Abbot RI told UCA News on 18 August. The exchange of 200 separated families was part of the agreement made at the summit in Pyongyang last June, during which the heads of North and South Korea agreed to work to promote reconciliation in the Korean peninsula. • Seoul's retired Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan and Archbishop Jin-suk "can soon visit" Communist North Korea, a South Korean government official said upon returning from Pyongyang. Culture and Tourism Minister Park lie-won told media on 14 August in Seoul that North Korean government officials expressed a positive response to the two South Korean Catholic prelates.
NEW DELHI (UCAN) - A In the past 10 years after Islamic Pakistan's mediatory role in the Catholic bishop has offered to separatists in Kashmir stepped up dispute as it considers Muslimhelp the Indian government their demand for independence majority Kashmir an integral part mediate with Islamic separatists from India. of the country and accuses Pakin Jammu and Kashmir as politiSince January this year, 1,615 istan of supporting the separatists. cal observers stress renewed dia- people died in separatist-related Kashmir has been a disputed logue for peace in the northern violence. territory since 1947 when its state. More than 150, including sever- Hindu ruler Hari Singh opted to "We are ready to mediate if the al Hindu pilgrims, died in early join India. India and Pakistan have government wants to use us," said August while the separatists and so far fought four times over KashCapuchin Bishop Peter Celestine the Indian government negotiat- mir, which they share partly. Elampassery of Jammu-Srinagar, ed peace. Bishop Elampassery expressed whose diocese covers the entire On 28 July, the federal govern- optimism over the peace process Kashmir region. including the ment led by the pro-Hindu and urged the government to purPakistan-occupied Kashmir area. Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian sue "result oriented talks" to find The Bishop said the local people's party) held talks with lasting peace. Church is in a position to help the Hizbul Mujahiddin (party of reli"It should not only be a political government as his missioners gious warriors), a leading sepa- exercise," he said. work in "far-flung areas" of the ratist group, after its leaders it should alleviate the suffering state. declared a cease-fire. of people in the state," the Bishop "Peace is all that we need," the However, the militants with- added. Fr Donald D'Souza, deputy Bishop, who is now visiting over- drew the truce on 8 August after secretary general of the Catholic seas, told UCA News by e-mail on India refused to include neigh- Bishops' Conference of India. said 12 August. bouring Pakistan in the negotia- the Church wants all "to take part Some 25,000 people have died tions. India refuses to accept In the dialogue."
Catholic vigilante, troop fighting leaves 20 dead MALAYBALAY, Philippines (UCAN) - A southern Philippine bishop has called for an investigation of possible links among Christian vigilantes, security forces and local politicians following a clash involving a religious cult. The 11 August clash between members of the Catholic God's Spirit (CGS) vigilante group and an army, police and paramilitary team left 20 people dead, 16 of them residents of the CGS compound and one a civilian from outside. Oblate Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato said the incident demonstrated the "evil" of using Christian vigilantes for military purposes. Cotabato archdiocese neighbours Malaybalay
diocese, where the incident took place. "The military should be true to its word (and) arrest and disarm them (vigilantes)." said Archbishop Quevedo, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. Local official Diosdado Ofngol told UCA News that the shooting in Pangantocan town, Bukidnon province, 850 kilometres southeast of Manila, began after members of the lay-led CGS resisted the joint team that went to their compound in Kimanait village. The team went to serve an arrest warrant on CGS member Roberto Madrina Jr, charged with attempted murder in a neighbouring town in 1989. Ills not clear why the arrest attempt came 11 years after the alleged crime.
Clergy back peasants COWMBO (UCAN) - Priests and nuns were among some 10,000 people who demonstrated in support of farmers holding a protest fast in Sri Lanka. Clergy and Religious joined peasants and supporters on 17 August at a demonstration in Hinguraldcoda, 180 kIlometrts north-east of Colombo. The peasants group started the fast on 13 August, saying they would fast to death unless the government acted on 29 demands. One demand was for the government to set up purchasing centres to buy rice from farmers at 15 rupees (about 20 US cents) a kilogram.
• Evicted Vietnamese still hold on to faith despite l•twig atop war graves PHNOM PENH (UCAN) - Ethnic Vietnamese Catholics living on a grave site of the war dead in Cambodia are holding on to their faith after eviction from the premises of a Buddhist temple they had been occupying since the 1980s. Thirty-five families of ethnic Vietnamese Catholics have been camping about two kilometres northwest of the Phnom Penh international airport on a graveyard of Vietnamese soldiers killed and buried there during the war against the Khmer Rouge. Since 1981,95 ethnic Vietnamese families settled in Phnom Penh on the premises of Wat Chakangre Lue along the Basac river. Most buildings in the temple premises were destroyed or abandoned during the Khmer Rouge's rule. The communist Khmer Rouge controlled the country from 1975 until 1979, when Vietnamese troops invaded and pushed The Record, August 24 2000 Page 16
the Khmer Rouge to the countryside. The ethnic Vietnamese families had been living in the temple grounds before Cambodian monks returned after the ouster of the Khmer Rouge. In the last few months, the monks have accused the ethnic Vietnamese living in the premises of "bad behaviour" that they say affects their religious practice and violates the sanctity of the temple. They also asked the government to take back the land which they say belongs to the temple. The accusations forced the 95 families, mostly Catholics, to move out. The 35 families moved to the burial grounds while 60 others went elsewhere. In interviews with UCA News, some members of the families said that they temporarily encamped in huts on the burial grounds and denied the monks' blanket
accusation and explained the difficulties they are facing. Dong Thang, 60, a Catholic with four children who was born in Battambang province, expressed disagreement over accusations that all of those staying in the old temple site were guilty of "bad behaviour." "I respect both (Catholic and Buddhist) religions. I came back to Cambodia with my family in 1984 becauseIwas born here and I used to live here." He returned to Vietnam in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge came to power, he said. "When I was at the temple premises, I worked as a construction labourer with my two sons to support the family. We are poor. We worked for a day's living only. But now we lose our job as we are very far from our workplace." he said. "We do not have electricity, clean water
or good shelter. We use the water from a pond, which is not clean, to wash, cook and drink. We are facing a lot of difficulties and diseases. We want to move to a better place," Thang said. He added that when it rains, the smell from the graves envelops the area. The families live on humanitarian aid of rice and canned goods from non-governmental organisations. Ills, however, not enough for their daily needs. However, the Catholic families still manage to live their faith life as Christians. They gather to attend Mass every Sunday in a small temporary chapel. Every Sunday, a priest from Phnom Penh holds Mass for them. The makeshift church is also used everyday as a classroom for children who cannot attend government schools.
International News
Prayers said for Kursk sailors WASHINGTON (CNS) - The head of the Georgia; New London, Connecticut; BanUS Archdiocese for the Military Services gor, Washington; and Pearl Harbour, has requested prayers for the crew of the Hawaii. sunken Russian submarine, the Kursk, and The Bishop said archdiocesan officials for their families. phoned the Catholic chaplains at those Archbishop Edwin O'Brien asked bases to arrange the Masses. Catholic military personnel and families "It's a routine thing, but it's a good thing," around the world to offer their weekend he said. Mass on 19-20 August for the 118 Russian "These are our fellow human beings, and sailors presumed lost aboard the Kursk if we can't remember them in their sufferand for their loved ones in Russia. Since ing, we've lost an awful lot." then, Russia has confirmed that the crew Archdiocesan officials want "the Catholic perished. people in the country to know that we're According to Auxiliary Bishop John Glynn praying and that we think everybody of the Military Archdiocese, the Archbish- should be praying for these poor families," op's message to Catholic chaplains was he said. "It's a terrible disaster." appended to an e-mail from the office of A sophisticated nuclear submarine the Chief of Chaplains at the Pentagon to launched in 1994, the Kursk sank on 12 US military chaplains worldwide. August during Russian naval exercises in The e-mail also sought prayers for vic- the Barents Sea near the Arctic Circle. tims of the Kursk disaster. At the time, US submarines monitoring Bishop Glynn told Catholic News Service the Russian exercises detected two exploon 18 August there would be special Mass- sions, the second larger than the first. es celebrated on 20 August for Kursk vicThis was confirmed by a Norwegian seistims at US submarine bases at Kings Bay, mic monitoring centre.
After the explosions, the Kursk fell 106 metres to the ocean floor. Russian officials have been unable to explain what happened to the Kursk, but have speculated that the sub was damaged by a collision, internal torpedo explosion or contact with a World War II-era mine. Following several days of bad weather and failed rescue attempts, a Russian rescue craft reached the Kursk on 18 August. But officials said it was unable to attach to an escape hatch because the hatch was so badly damaged, according to an Associated Press report. British and Norwegian rescue teams, whom the Russians asked for help late in the week, were not expected to reach the site until 19 August Russian officials earlier said any survivors likely would run out of oxygen by 18 August, but several high-ranking Russian naval officers disputed this, saying there should be oxygen into the following week.
A member of the military staff lights a candle for the sailors aboard the Kursk submarine during an Orthodox service at the Severomorsk naval base in northern Russia on 18 August.
John Paul II Church leaders denounce UK cloning call meets with Serb clergy
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) - Pope John Paul II told a Serbian Orthodox delegation that the war-scarred Serbian people were in his prayers, and he urged them to be faithful to their religious traditions. The Pope met 'in 18 August at his summer villa outside Rome with Serbian Orthodox Bishop Lavrentije Trifunovic of Sabac-Valjevo and Orthodox priests from that diocese. "My thoughts turn in this moment to the entire Serbian nation, which in these years has been so harshly tested," the Pope said. "May your beloved people remain faithful to its Christian traditions, thanks also to your pastoral service." he said. The Pope said he prayed that Serbia "will succeed soon at overcoming the problems which afflict it so that it can look with serenity to a future of peace and development, in a context of collaboration and reciprocal respect with neighbouring countries." Serbia's political and economic landscape was still suffering after a decade of war in the Balkans. Last year, NATO flattened scores of military and strategic targets across the country in a 78-day bombing campaign.
LONDON (CNS) - A Scottish cardinal and a Vatican official denounced a recommendation by Britain's chief medical officer that scientists be allowed to conduct wider medical research by cloning human embryos. Liam Donaldson, Britain's chief medical officer, expressed support for an expansion of current human embryo research for "therapeutic cloning," by which embryos are cloned to obtain stem cells to form new tissues, then the embryos are killed. Stem cells are embryonic cells that have the potential to develop into any of the body's cells. Cardinal Thomas Winning of Glasgow, chairman of the Bioethics Committee of the Catholic Bishops of Great Britain and Ireland, said in a 16 August statement: "Obtaining stem cells from a human embryo is morally wrong because it involves the destruction of a human life.
"Furthermore, cloning embryos to obtain an endless supply of stem cells is to adopt the production-line approach to human lives," he said. Parliament approved embryo research in 1990 into areas such as treating infertility. But in the report Stem Cell Research: Medical Pmgress with Responsibility, released on 16 August, Donaldson said research using human embryos "to increase understanding about human disease and disorders and their cell-based treatments should be permitted" because of the "great potential to relieve suf- CNS fering and treat disease." Cardinal Thomas Winning Cloning for therapeutic purposes involves use of genetic materi- ter Tony Blair would leave it to al to create a human embryo, members of Parliament to decide removal of cells from the embryo in a vote whether scientists would at an early stage of development be permitted to clone human to form new tissues, and then embryos for wider research. killing the embryo. The DepartCardinal Winning said human ment of Health said Prime Minis- stem-cell research "may offer
promising new developments in health care. But science cannot operate in a moral vacuum." He noted that use of adult stem cells does not raise the same ethical problems as using embryo stem cells and "is being dismissed too quickly in favour of a process which very many people - not just Catholics - would find morally repugnant." The cardinal called for "a ban on all research that results in destruction of human embryos, that is, human life." In Rome, Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the Vatican's leading expert on bio-genetic research, told reporters that the British recommendation marked "a step backward in the history of ethics." "This is not a matter of helping embryos live, but of using them as deposits for cells in order to 'repair' other individuals," said Bishop Sgreccia. vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
US research shows foetal harvesting unnecessary By Nancy Frazier O'Brien WASHINGTON (CNS) - An official of the US Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities hailed newly published research on adult stem cells as further proof that experimentation involving discarded embryos and aborted foetuses is unnecessary. Richard Doerflinger, associate director for policy development in the pro-life office, said the information published on 15 August in the Journal of Neuroscience Research is "the latest in a long
line of studies that show that adult stem cells are far more promising than once thought." "This confirms that embryonic stem-cell research is unnecessary besides being unethical." he added. The study described efforts to convert rat and human adult bone marrow stem cells into neuron cells that could be used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and spinal cord injuries. Dr Ira Black, chairman of the department of neuroscience and
cell biology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey, told the New York Times that the cells changed "over the course literally of minutes ... from rather pedestrian, flat, undistinguished stem cells into absolutely typical neuron-looking cells." The report in the neuroscience journal said adult bone marrow cells "may constitute an abundant and accessible cellular reservoir for the treatment of a variety of
neurologic diseases.- In addition, the researchers said, transplantation involving one's own stem cells "overcomes the ethical and immunologic concerns associated with the use of foetal tissue." • US courts have struck down state laws banning partial-birth abortions in Virginia and New jersey but upheld a South Carolina law regulating abortion providers. The rulings on partial-birth laws came in the wake of a US Supreme Court decision on 28 June that a similar law in Nebraska was unconstitutional.
Lefebvrists gather in St Peter's Square to celebrate their own Jubilee By John Mavis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - It wasn't on the Vatican's official jubilee calendar, but the Rome pilgrimage of several thousand ultratraditionalist Catholics - followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre - will go down as one of the Holy Year's most unusual events. Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988, and Pope John Paul II warned his followers they could also face excommunication if they remained in the schismatic movement and refused to accept the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Yet on 8 August, die-hard Lefebvrites from dozens of countries processed into St Peter's Square to pass through the Holy Door and attend a prayer service. In full view of Vatican offices and apartments, the gathering was an impressive sight. Marching behind more than 200
priests were about 5,000 lay members who to visit. Instead, members gathered on 9 chanted a litany of saints in Latin. August on a hill next to the Colosseum for Archbishop Lefebvre's followers, mem- an outdoor Mass in the pre-Vatican II Tribers of the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X, dentine rite. did not come to the Vatican to make a For more than an hour before the Mass, jubilee apology however. priests heard confessions. Members just did not want to be excludSwiss Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the ed from one of the Church's most ancient society, said in a sermon that Church tratraditions, the holy year. dition was being "crucified" by more than "We consider ourselves at home here, pil- 35 years of Vatican-mandated changes. grims during a jubilee year. We're not cra"We ask the Holy Father to give us back zies. (Vatican officials) saw us praying, and the Mass," he told his congregation. that was fine." said Father Emmanuel Earlier in the day, Bishop Fellay spoke in Duchalard, a French follower of the late an interview about his movement and the excommunicated archbishop. decision to come to Rome. While the Vatican refused comment on "We don't think of ourselves as outsiders the rebel movement's three-day pilgrim- in Rome. Our presence is a kind of proof age, sources confirmed that the Vatican that we are Catholics and that we want to jubilee committee had been informed in be Catholics," he said. advance and raised no objections - as long Bishop Fellay, 42, was one of four bishops as the group refrained from celebrating ordained against papal orders by ArchMass in the major basilicas they planned bishop Lefebvre in 1988, an act which
prompted the Vatican's excommunication decree. But Bishop Fellay said he doesn't consider himself "a schismatic or excommunicated" and claimed that even some Vatican officials have questioned the validity of the excomimmication. The bishop said there was little prospect for resolving the dispute, however, since the Vatican's starting position is that the society must accept the revised Roman rite for Mass. While society members clearly enjoyed their Holy Year pilgrimage, Bishop Fellay and others said they disapproved of Pope John Paul's jubilee efforts to reach out to other Christian churches and acknowledge sins by church members over the last 2,000 years. 'This begging for forgiveness has cast a great shadow on the church," Bishop Fellay said. The ecumenical gestures have only relativised the faith, he added. The Record, August 24 2000 Page 17
%Ill1778 Hort/
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The Record, established in 1874, is distributed to Catholic churches. presbyteries, religious houses and subscribers throughout the Archdiocese of Perth and the Dioceses of Geraldton. Bunbury and Broome. Advertising rates Display: $6.60 col cm (GSI' included) Classifieds: $3.30 a line (GST included) Deadlines: Editorial: Tuesday, first mail. Advertising: Booking: Monday midday. Copy: Tuesday midday. Member: Aust Catholic Press A.ssociation: Aust Religious Press Association. The Record follows the Holy Spirit's teaching at the Second Vatican Council on the role of the Catholic print media. The Record will not return copy or photographs submitted for publication unless specifically requested in writing upon submission. The editor reserves the right to accept or reject any material submitted and to edit such material for clarity and brevity without recourse to the author.
When financial disaster strikes her family, what future does she face? With your help, we could make the difference St Vincent de Paul For Credit Card Donations Please Call 13 18 12 The Record, August 24 2000 Page 18
IN MEMORIAM NEGRI Marge. 25-8-88. Please pray for the soul of my dearest sister Marge whose anniversary occurs about this time. Sweet Heart of Jesus Fount of Love and Mercy. Always remembered Gwen, Joe and Seph.
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Visit Confirmation Candidates, Mercedes College Archbishop Hickey
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Confirmation, Mercedes College - Archbishop Hickey Confirmation, Lockridge - Monsignor O'Shea Official Opening 85th RSL National Congress, Government House - Mr John Hennessy
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Confirmation. South Perth - Fr Greg Carroll Visit Confirmation Candidates, East Victoria Park Archbishop Hickey Padre Pio Memorial Mass, Como - Archbishop Hickey
SEPTEMBER 1
Opening of Mandorla Art Exhibition, Fremantle A rchbishop Hickey
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Meet with Confirmation Candidates. Bayswater - Bishop Healy Opening of Meditation Forum, Servite College Auditorium A rchbishop Hickey
FURNITURE REMOVAL
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Confirmation, East Victoria Park - Archbishop Hickey
ALL areas. Mike Murphy 1800 016 310 (free call).
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Clergy Retreat - Bishop Healy
5/6
Central Commission, Canberra - Archbishop Hickey
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Confirmation, Cloverdale - Fr G Carroll
Hotline for Classifieds 9227 7778
Confirmation, Innaloo - Bishop Healy Confirmation, Applecross - Monsignor J O'Shea
Celebration of Mgr McDonald's Silver Jubilee of Priesthood A rchbishop Hickey, Bishop Healy
Archdiocesan Panorama MANDORLA ARTS AWARD 2000 This nationwide religious arts award is being held from 2-17 Sept at the Moore's Building, 46 Henry St, Fremantle and is opened daily from 10am to 5pm. Archbishop Hickey will officially open the exhibition on Fri 1 Sept at 6pm. Information: Joy Legge 9381 2433. WITNESS FOR LIFE PROCESSION The next First Saturday Mass, Procession and Rosary Vigil will be held on 2 Sept. commencing with Mass at 8.30am at St Anne's Church. Hehir St. Belmont. We proceed prayerfully to the Rivervale Abortion Centre and conclude with Rosary, led by Fr Paul Carey SSC. Please join us to pray peacefully for the conversion of hearts. Inquiries: Franchette 9279 3934. PRO-LIFE PROCESSION - MIDLAND The First Friday Mass, procession and Rosary vigil will be held on 1 Sept. commencing at 9.30am with Mass celebrated at St Brigid's Church, Midland. The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate will lead us. All are invited to witness for the sanctity of life and pray for the conversion of hearts. Inquiries: Shelda 9294 2340. DIVINE MERCY An afternoon with Jesus and Mary at St Mary's Cathedral, Victoria Square, on Sun 3 Sept at 1.30pm. Program: Holy Rosary and Reconciliation. Sermon with Fr Douglas Harris (St Gregory the Great), followed by Divine Mercy Prayers and Benediction. Afternoon concludes at the Mercy Convent. with a video The Silent Witness (The Shroud). Refreshments provided, please bring a plate. Inq: John 9457 7771 or Adam 9448 0002. VOLUNTEER DRIVERS NEEDED HIV/AIDS Pastoral Care is urgently in need of volunteers who can provide transport for clients to the Centre. as well as medical and other appointments. Further information: Centre 9470 4931. CHRISTIAN LIFE GROUPS All welcome to a Day of Reflection on Sat 7 October with the theme: Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly with Your God. Facilitator: Mr Brian Moylan. Sisters of Mercy, 117 Tyler St, Tuart Hill. Begins at 9.30am and finishes with Mass and dinner at 5.45pm. CELEBRATION AT INFANT JESUS PARISH The parish is celebrating the 8th anniversary of the dedication of Our Church. The theme for the week is prayer. We begin at 7.30pm. Mon 28 Aug: 'Prayer in Daily life". Tues 29 Aug: Celebration Mass. Wed 30 Aug: Prayer and the Scripture. Thurs: 31 Aug: Prayer in the Carmelite Tradition. Fri 1 Sept, 7pm: Holy Hour. Everybody welcome. TALK AT JOHN XXIII COLLEGE Live Long, Live Healthy, Live Young. Presenter: Carlo Mandofia (retired medical practitioner). Multi-purpose Room, John XXIII College, Mt Claremont (Cost: donation). 10am to 5pm. Sat 2 Sept. Inquiries: Murray Graham 9383 0444. CENACLE GROUPS The Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation. Bulls-
brook is to be the venue for Mass/Cenacle on Tues 29 August (5th Tuesday) commencing with Mass at 11am. BYO Picnic lunch. Please join us. ALPHA COURSE IN PEMBERTON Following a successful first Alpha course, the Parish will run a second course beginning Mon 28 Aug at the Gloucester Hotel, at 7pm. This 15session introduction to the Christian Faith runs for 10 weeks and is open to all. Information: Connie Tartaglia. phone 9776 1092. fax 9776 1374. NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF GOOD HEALTH VAILANKANNI Wed 30 Aug - Fri 8 Sept at Holy Trinity Church, 8 Burnett St, Embleton. Preacher: Fr Paul Carey SSC. Daily Mass at 8.30am, followed by Exposition, 7pm Rosary. Homily and Benediction. Inquiries: Santina Bova 9272 4180 or George Jacob 9272 1379. ALLIANCE OF THE TWO HEARTS - ALL NIGHT VIGILS Jubilee Year double Novena of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be held at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Girrawheen (cnr Patrick Crt/Girrawheen Ave). Commences on Fri 1 Sept for nine consecutive First Fridays of each month at 9pm with Holy Mass, followed by Exposition. with hourly prayers and reflection throughout the night. Vigil concludes on First Saturday morning with Benediction at 6.30am followed by Holy Mass. Please join us. All are welcome. Refreshments provided. OUR LADY MARIA SANTISSIMA DEL TINDARI St Patrick's Basilica, Adelaide St, Fremantle. The Triduum will be celebrated by Fr Christopher R oss OSM from Thur 7 Sept to Sat 9 Sept at 7.45pm. Concelebrated Mass on Sun 10 Sept at 9.45am. Principal Celebrant: Archbishop Hickey. Procession starts from St Patrick's Basilica at 2pm. Info: 9335 1185 or 9337 3338. ALAN AMES IN REDCLIFFE Alan will be speaking of his conversion experiences at St Maria Goretti Church. 64 Morrison Rd, Redcliffe. after 7pm Mass on Fri 1 Sept. Talk and Healing Prayers follow. All welcome. Inq. Loretta 9444 4409 or George 9275 6608. RESOURCE CENTRE FOR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Study of the gospel of St John relating to relationship principles (with God and others) at Stella Mans Seafarers' Club. 12 Queen Victoria St, Fremantle at the Resource Centre prayer meeting, every Thur at 11am. All welcome. donation only. Inquiries: Eva 9418 1439, mob 0409 405 585. MISSION 2000: DO YOU KNOW JESUS? The Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community is holding a 3 day Parish Mission at St Anthony's Church, Greenmount. 6. 7 & 8 Sept, 7.30pm. Info: Marcus Robinson 9374 0901. Roy Smith 9454 7514. ALL NIGHT PRAYER VIGIL St Francis of Assisi Church,Cnr Lillian Rd & Hawtin Rd, Maida Vale. Fri 8 Sept, 8pm - 6am Sat morning. Info: Chris Brennan on 9341 3707.
World Youth Day 2000
Young people welcome Pope John Paul II's helicopter as it lands for the World Youth Day prayer Young pilgrims hold crosses during a Way of the Cross in central Rome on Thursday, 18 August, vigil on the outskirts of Rome on Saturday, 19 August. Photo: CNS/Nancy was part of World Youth Day celebrations. J,VS/Fieuters
Youtn millions urged to take Gospel to world Continued from Page 1 monials about their people's suffering, and Although in today's world Christians may he embraced several individuals who simnot be asked to shed their blood, said the ply wanted to speak something important Pope, Christian witness demanded a "new Into his ear. Irrepressible, pulsating cheers of "Giomartyrdom," and believers are "called to go against the tide . . . . in the circumstances vanni Paolo" — John Paul in Italian - and "John Paul am we love you" interrupted of everyday life." Challenges can present themselves in the the Pope several times during the vigil. "I'm leaving here rejuvenated," he told the guise of temptation to premarital sex or screaming masses in off-the-cuff remarks, frustration at "wanting to live a life of solidarity in a world where the only things that sending greetings especially to youngsters seem to matter are the logic of profit and located far from the papal stage. "Even if they couldn't see," he joked, "they one's personal or group interest," he said. could certainly hear this uproar. Contemporary society needed the sign of "Rome heard this uproar tonight, and self-sacrifice, said the Pope, "and young Rome will never forget it," he proclaimed, people need it even more so, tempted as just before the boom of fireworks drowned they often are by the illusion of an easy and out the noise of human cheers. comfortable life, by drugs and pleasureDuring the Sunday Mass, attended by seeking, only to find themselves in a spiral more than 600 cardinals and bishops in of despair, meaninglessness and violence." special World Youth Day vestments, the Urging them to bring peace into the world youths' boisterousness appeared to rub off through their faith in Christ, he acknowl- on the thousands of priests seated in the edged the difficulties inherent in such a front section. task. As an African chorus performed during "In the year 2000," he asked, "is it hard to the Offertory, the priests, wearing sunbelieve? glasses and official World Youth Day hats "Yes, it is hard. There is no need to hide to protect them from the sun, stood and It," he said with an exceptionally forceful, waved scarves to the beat. clear delivery. Along the arduous trek to Tor Vergata, lit"It is hard, but with the help of grace it tle could shield pilgrims from the sun's can be done." piercing rays, and many youths were lobAt a vigil the night before, an unusually ster red by the time they arrived. animated pope sat back and enj9yed sevHundreds of fountains and fire hoses eral hours of music, dancg, prayers and sprayed water on the crowd, turning patchfireworks. es of ground into swampland. He listened as young people from warIn an attempt to beat the heat, scores of ravaged countries delivered moving testi- young women took off their shirts, wrap-
ping official World Youth Day scarves splattered leg on an air mattress. "It really around themselves to preserve a modicum means something to him to do this for us." of modesty. Outstripping all predictions, more than Throughout the week of activities, more 700,000 people turned out for the opening than 1,000 participants were treated for events, including 400,000 people at St sunstroke and heat exhaustion. Peter's — the largest assemblage ever at the 'These aren't exactly primo conditions," Vatican. said Chris Morgan, a chaperone for a US Pedestrian gridlock gripped the area group from the Aviano Air Base in north- around the Vatican, and the crowd had to ern Italy. Upon discovering that food had run out, be hosed down by firemen in the swelterand exasperated by the sea of makeshift ing heat. But a festive atmosphere prevailed among tents and muddy ground, half of the group participants clad in batik prints from Oceapicked up their backpacks and headed nia, feather headdresses from South Africa back to their hotel. "It's not supposed to be a convenience," and European soccer jerseys. Even before most young people arrived said 18-year-old Justin Weis, who decided in Rome, 300 representatives to the Interto stick it out. Another chaperone from Aviano, Glen national Youth Forum were at work Aug. Gallegos, expressed his disappointment at 12-15, fashioning a message that said holithose who packed up and left. ness in today's world means going "against "I mean, Jesus carried a cross, and (they) the current," being willing to forgive and carried a bag," he said, shaking his head at carrying "hope to the ones who have no what his group would miss. hope." A group from the Archdiocese of St PaulOn Thursday, 18 August, some 300 youths Minneapolis. Minnesota, played cards as from strife-torn nations led 500.000 others they awaited the Pope's arrival. In a torchlit Way of the Cross through the "I'd rather be there," said 16-year-old Ali- streets of ancient Rome to the Colosseum, cia Pease, pointing at the stage far from her spot, which did not even afford a clear shot where prayers were offered for victims of violence - including those killed in World of a maxi-screen, "but this is fine." Sporting the title of "six-mile champ" writ- War II, criminals put to death by capital ten on her bicep in green marker, she said punishment and pastors slain in service to she was exhausted after walking three the church, like the late Salvadoran Archhours in the heat but excited about wit- bishop Oscar Romero. Pope John Paul also announced that the nessing the high point of World Youth Day. 'The Pope is really connected to young next World Youth Day would take place in people," she said, stretching out a mud- Toronto, Canada, in 2002.
Pope, 80: 'a young person, one of us'
An aerial view shows some of the young people waiting on the ground for Pope John PaulII at the Tor Vergata campus of the University of Rome on Saturday, 19 August. Photo C'S Reuters
Continued from Page 1 own hopes for a world that is less woman. Naturally, there were limmore joyful and econom- its, too. For one thing, the Pope violent, But at World Youth Day 2000, spoke primarily in Italian, leaving the Pope's glow seemed less the ically fairer. "In saying 'yes' to Christ, you say many young people out of the result of adulation or stage presence or triumphalism and more 'yes' to all your noblest ideals," he loop. That's why he also tried to comthe reflection of a simple but well- told them. "You are the young heart of the municate in gestures, even playful founded hope: that he could reach these young people with his mes- Church. Go into the whole world ones. and bring peace." sage. He closed his vigil by leading The Pope never promises young To an audience of individuals people an easy path in following the choir with loopy, exaggerated sweeps of his hand, all the while who were still setting goals, mak- the Gospel. l ing choices and shaping their attiOn the contrary, he challenges aughing at himself. tudes, he spoke movingly about them - but they seem to appreciWith age, of course, the Pope's faith and doubt. rejuvenating encounters with ate that honesty. "Dear young people, in such a "He is telling us these truths, and young people have changed. world is it hard to believe? . . . . even if everyone does not accept Twenty years ago he was more Yes! Ills hard. There is no need to It, we know we must have rules in animated, and his banter much hide it. It is hard, but with the help our lives. And everyone knows the sharper. of grace it can be done," he said Pope is the loveliest man in the Today, his gestures are made to wild applause. world," said 17-year-old Ola with trembling hands and his conWhy did the Pope pronounce Zabielska from Poland. centration sometimes broken by his words so clearly, so much Is the Pope still connecting with an unrepressed yawn. more emphatically than usual? his audience? To judge by the way At the World Youth Day vigil, he Because he knew many of them they responded, yes. was helped by a young African were really listening, with open The applause and cheers were man and woman, who took him hearts and minds. not random, but erupted when by the hand and led him like a For the pontiff who has seen the Pope had important things to grandfather to the stage. Christian ideals ignored by many say. But after three hours of songs, elders of the world, young people "It's almost like a direct link to and fireworks, he was prayers represent the place where all that God, that goodness, and you feel can change. connected to that. You can see he grabbing the microphone and The youth gathering was a thrives on young people and exulting like a kid: "Rome heard teaching moment, and he tried to wants to bring them back," said this uproar tonight, and Rome will connect the Gospel with their Clair Sweeney, a 19-year-old Scots never forget it!" The Record, August 24 2000 Page '19
T
Irish nuns, immigrants, dedicated staff and parents - what a mix! I
n 1935, when much of the world was still under the shadow of the Great Depression, the Sisters of Mercy established a small rural school in Harvey. The school was called St Anne's, after the mother of Mary and wife of Joachim. The modest start to the school is reflected in the struggle by the sisters to bring Catholic education to the South West. The sisters took up residence in the convent, which was transported from Bunbury and was formerly used as a boarding house for boya. At the beginning of 1935, the first enrolment of 42 students commenced lessons on the convent's enclosed verandah. The importance of the relationship between parish and school was recognised for it was in the same year that the Parish of the Immaculate Conception was also established. Thus the co-existence of Parish and School began a partnership. This relationship continues today as both serve the needs of the community. The co-operation is reflected in the celebration of sacraments Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation where the school and parish come together to pass onto the children an understanding and love of these gifts from God. St Anne's is fortunate to have the use of the services of dedicated parishioners who assist with the preparation of music on special occasions and prepares students
to serve on the altar - 52 students from Years Three to Seven are involved. The relationship is further enhanced with the School Board having a parish representation and the Parish Council benefiting from a school representative. The same co-existence that commenced in 1935 has seen the relocation of the school, convent, church and presbytery to the same site. Although the Sisters of Mercy are not directly involved in teaching at St Anne's, their legacy still remains an integral part of the school's ethos. The sisters were renowned for their great dedication as educators, their ability to get through difficult times during adversity and, like all good Irish orders, their love of music (they had a music specialist in their very first convent in 1935). St Anne's maintains that tradition with a school choir that recently performed in the Performing Arts Festival, received high praise and achieved outstanding ratings. St Anne's violin group performed recently at the Bunbury Eisteddfod and its choir achieved a second place at the same venue. St Anne's hopes that the school maintains some of the vision that the Sisters had when they first established it in 1935. St Anne's rich cultural background is reflected in the strong multicultural theme that runs through the history of the school and parish. The first influence was the Irish
nuns who formed a significant part of the Sister of Mercy Order and the high number of Irish Catholics in Harvey in 1935. However, by 1938 the number of Italian immigrants grew, providing challenges for the sisters and difficulties for the students, especially with language. Mr Joe Raccuia reflects on his early experience on landing in Australia and attending St Anne's. "None of us had any knowledge of the English Language, at the start, which was quite a handicap. So much so, that even though I reached sixth grade in Italy, on my first day at the convent, I was put in grade one. However, within a few weeks, as my English improved, I graduated to fifth grade". We may well reflect on how the wheel has turned as we watch the grandchildren of these early migrants struggling to come to terms with the Italian language; Italian lessons are given twice a week. The Church, meanwhile, is aptly named "Our Lady of Immigrants." Perhaps a Pre-Primary student summed up the Italian influence when asked in his mid year report "what do I know about God?" His reply was: "God is nice, God loves me - I think he is Italian". Meanwhile, the school would not have survived the difficult years without the commitment, generosity and hard work of the parent's body. St Anne's still benefits from the efforts of parents raising funds. attending busy bees and, more importantly, working with their children in their education Journey. As the first educators of their
St Anne's Primary School, Harvey
No, it's not a walk in the country. Here the Year One class visits the Perth Zoo for a day out with the lions, tigers and orangoutangs!
children, parents have a pivotal role in developing not just understanding but, more importantly, attributes, aspirations and their Catholic faith. St Anne's appreciates that if parents are to be partners in the education of their children, then they need to be empowered to be an effective part of the decision-making process. The Parents and Friends is a vibrant force for feedback and an important opportunity for parents to contribute to the life of tho school. The school has benefited from a forward-thinking School Board
who have worked tirelessly to develop the school grounds. A part of the vision of the School Board has seen the development of technology within the school to equip the students with the necessary understanding and skills to participate fully in the technical world in which they live. The staff has also maintained the high standard of dedication that the Sisters first brought here some 65 years ago. This dedication is today reflected in the commitment to the needs of every student, the gifted and the not so gifted, the development of the student physically, spiritually and the drawing out of the essential goodness of the children in the school's care.
At a Glance Principal: Mr Phillip Rossiter Address: PO Box 493, Harvey WA 6220 Phone: (08) 9729 1287 Fax (08) 9729 1145 Enrolment 213 Boys&Girls K7
Year Five students investigate swamp water for a science class.
West Week winners - students dress the part for Pioneer Day.
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