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St Maryof the

Canonised in Rome 17 October 2010

Cross MacKillop

KAIROS CATHOLIC JOURNAL • WWW.KAIROS.COM.AU2

hartbeat BY ARCHBISHOP DENIS HART

Lessons from Saint Mary of the CrossIt Is wIth great joy that Catholics in australia receive Mary MacKillop as our first saint. she is one of our own; not a saint of distant times or distant lands, but one whose life and work has touched us directly, one who was born here, one who died and is buried here. she will find a natural home in our prayers. her canonisation is the declaration that she belongs fully to god and she belongs fully to us.

the saints hold a special place in our lives of faith in two major ways. First, they are our intercessors in heaven. as we make our prayers in jesus’ name here on earth, they pray for us in heaven. they are at his side, in his presence, and it is their closeness to him and their holiness which make their prayers so effective. st james tells us “the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective” (jas 5:16).

second, their lives also serve as examples for us as we answer the call to holiness. as an australian, the life of st Mary of the Cross provides us with an example with which we can strongly identify. the lesson of her life is a ‘home lesson’ for us. australian Catholics can learn about living as Catholics in our own land.

so, what lessons can we learn from st Mary? there are several.

the first is that holiness is accessible to all, no matter how difficult our lives or how ordinary our place is in the world. Mary was born into a poor family. she lived at a time when career choices for women were far more limited than they are today. yet from an early age she chose to serve the Church and the poor by providing free Catholic education in cities and remote rural areas.

today she is being celebrated as a hero, not only by the Church, but by the whole nation of australia. god calls his saints out of our ordinary lives to do something extraordinary for him!

a second lesson we can learn is that we cannot attain holiness on our own. the ‘communion of saints’ means that we share in the merits of Christ and of

his saints. st Mary needed the help of others to attain her vision. she received valuable assistance from Fr tenison woods, the parish priest of Penola, where Mary established her first school. he assisted her in founding the sisters of saint joseph of the sacred heart. the sisters are co-workers with Mother Mary. Mary provided vision and leadership for the new teaching order. that vision would never have been realised without the many other women who have answered the call to become teaching sisters. we also need others’ help. It is not just that others help us to answer the call to holiness. we can help others to become the saints that god wants them to be.

we know the story of Mary’s excommunication by the Bishop of adelaide. Mary knew that a great injustice had been done to her. she could have reacted bitterly or scornfully. yet, knowing her innocence, she submitted to the terms of the excommunication, until the bishop repented and lifted the

excommunication five months later on his deathbed. st Mary knew that god’s servants are human and liable to err, but this did not shake her confidence in god or in the Church. yet st Mary teaches us to have strong faith in both god and the Church despite the personal failures of human beings.

there are many other lessons we can draw from st Mary’s life. I would like to finish with the lesson of constancy. “Be faithful until death,” says our Lord, “and I will give you the crown of life” (rev 2:10). jesus calls us to live in love and fidelity as god’s holy people. this is a pattern that may be seen in the lives of all the saints. once they set their hand to the plough, they do not look back (cf Lk 9:62). Mary MacKillop never wavered from her calling. Despite poor health and advancing years, she continued to travel all over australia and New Zealand, visiting and supporting her sisters, and undertook a second period as superior general of the sisters in 1899. she faced many hardships and opposition, yet

A portrait of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and visitors praying at her tomb in Sydney.

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POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 146, East Melbourne 8002Phone: (03) 9926 5758 Fax: (03) 9926 5749EDITORIAL: kairos@cam.org.auSUBSCRIPTIONS: jill.allen@cam.org.auADVERTISING: jill.allen@cam.org.auPhone: (03) 9926 5758 Fax: (03) 9926 5749WEBSITE: www.kairos.com.auARCHDIOCESAN WEBSITE: www.cam.org.auRegistered by Australia Post. Category APublication No. VAR 9010487 Print Post Approved No. 0038166/0456Volume 21 No. 19. 17 – 30 October 2010Published by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Contents • Features

FRONT COVER: Modified photograph of Mary MacKillop 1890, © Trustees, Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

www.kairos.com.au

ARCHBISHOP’S ENGAGEMENTS

Sunday 10 October – Saturday 23 October: Rome for Canonisation of Blessed Mary of the Cross MacKillop.Sunday 24 October, 11am: Celebrate Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral with Admission to Candidacy. Wednesday 27 October: Parish Visitation, Yarraville.Friday 29 October, 10.30am: Celebrate Mass at St Mary MacKillop Primary School, Keilor Downs.Saturday 30 October, 6pm: Celebrate Vigil Mass and Confirmation, Yarraville Parish.Sunday 31 October, 11am: Celebrate Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

4 Melbourne set to celebrate Australia’s first saint5 Student pilgrim – Adele Hirst, Siena College, Camberwell5 October, the month for saints!6 MacKillop the Musical10 Launch of new English translation resource11 World Mission Sunday13 Minister visits Kinglake13 Community assistance gets funding boost14 Social inclusion for people experiencing mental illness14 Geelong’s Frank Costa recognised15 CulturED Cafe presents ... Sister Act17 Youth profile – The Flame of fellowship

REGULAR FEATURES2 Hartbeat3 Archbishop’s Engagements12 Spirit is moving28 World News28 What the Pope said29 Feast Day30 Vatican II

31 Perspective33 Film Review33 Book Review34 Gospel Reflections35 What’s On35 Parish Mass times35 Regular Mass times in city churches

18 School goes ‘MAD’18 Mercy Day18 Northcote teacher awarded Spirit of Anzac prize18 Obituary – Fr Vincent Curran19 Catholic school funding breakdown21 Women’s health – what gets results? Billings does!23 Bishop Porteous on ecclesial movements24 Spinning stem-cell fairytales26 Theology of the Body Part V – in the beginning was the wedding gift32 Book launch: the life of William Wardell

KAIROS: In his Gospel, St Luke stresses the notion of Kairos, a Greek word which emphasises that we live in the moment of God’s time, ‘the favoured time,’ ‘the time of salvation.’

7 EuthanasiaArchbishop Denis Hart calls on the Catholic community, and all people of goodwill, to continue to love and care for the elderly and dying, rather than abandoning them to euthanasia or assisted suicide.

15 Salute to parish secretariesElaine Shelton and Vicki Abbatangelo share the parish secretary position at St Francis Xavier’s in Frankston, combining their skills, experience and love for what they do.

16 Hearts with room for moreBayswater parishioner Hermina Diender reflects on forty years of fostering children with her husband Albert.

8 Palliative careTwo clients of Calvary Health Care Bethlehem in Caulfield share their journeys with illness and their thoughts on palliative care.

20 Listen with the ear of your heartAllan Ansell takes time out at Tarrawarra and rediscovers the value of silence in engaging with God.

her commitment remained as constant as her faith in god. surely constancy is one of the greatest gifts for which we must pray, if we are to follow our own call to holiness.

I am writing this column shortly before setting out for rome for the canonisation on sunday 17 october. as I stand with the holy Father and with so many other pilgrims my thoughts will be with you in Melbourne. I wish you every blessing as you celebrate the day with the Mass at saint Patrick’s Cathedral, the procession from st Mary’s birthplace and the festival at the royal exhibition Building. I will be with you in spirit as you join in prayer with Bishop Costelloe preparing for the canonisation ceremony. and I commend you all to Christ and to st Mary of the Cross on this wonderful occasion. the greatest honour that we can do our new saint is to learn the lessons she has taught by her life, so that we can share with her the blessedness of heaven. n

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The Archbishop’s CHARITABLE FUNDSupporting our community

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These include:

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marymackillop

oN suNDay 17 oCtoBer, Melburnians will join the sisters of st joseph and the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne in celebrating the historic canonisation of australia’s first saint, Blessed Mary MacKillop, in the city where Mary was born.

Celebrations will begin at 11am with a celebratory Mass at st Patrick’s Cathedral, at which Bishop Peter elliott will preside.

a colourful, vibrant street procession, from MacKillop’s birthplace in Brunswick street, Fitzroy, to the royal exhibition Building in Carlton, will follow. the sisters of st joseph will lead the procession and more than 1500 people are expected to take part, including local parishes, school groups and other community groups.

once the procession arrives at the royal exhibition Building and Carlton gardens, there will be an official welcome, including a ‘welcome to country’, followed by a festival in the gardens.

the gardens will come alive with

Peruvian and Irish dancers, a sudanese choir, Brazilian musicians, bands, a primary school musical, dance groups and student choirs. Mary MacKillop’s life, legacy and the continued work of the sisters of st joseph today will be described on a series of storyboards. stalls displaying the work of social service organisations will also be featured.

the day will conclude with a prayer service at 6pm, led by Bishop tim Costelloe sDB and the sisters of st joseph, and featuring musicians and choirs from Melbourne and regional Victoria. at 7pm, the canonisation ceremony will begin in rome and will be telecast live inside the

venue. Large screens will also relay the ceremony into Carlton gardens.

all Victorians are welcome and encouraged to witness this significant part of history as we celebrate the extraordinary life of australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop. n

Melbourne set to celebrate Australia’s first saint

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October, the month for saints!

Adele HirstSiena College, CamberwellI aM 16 years oLD. I FeeL so privileged to have been selected to be part of this monumental event in australia’s history. I am also looking forward to meeting lots of new people, as well as travelling to a foreign country with a group of young people from Melbourne.

In my spare time I love playing tennis and netball and listening to music. on

holidays I love to travel and explore new places. I love having fun with my friends and family.

while Mary lived a long time ago, her stories are still exceedingly relevant in today’s society. I have been inspired by Mary’s will and determination for herself and all women. she always endeavoured to do what she thought

was right. even in her hardest times Mary kept faith in god.

although I am not entirely sure what I want to do I am interested in the areas of international development and the environment. I would love to have a career where I am able to help disadvantaged people or to help with environmental matters. n

Student PILGRIM

oN the eVe oF the graND final replay, Mike Brady – whose 1970s’ football anthem Up there Cazaly sparked a generation of ‘high-flyers’ in suburban backyards – has launched his latest single, which has a saintly theme.

easily crossing from one religion to another, he has written and performed the song, In Mary’s Hands, inspired by the forthcoming canonisation of Mary MacKillop on 17 october.

the CD was financed by the Catholic education office Melbourne (CeoM).

Mike Brady was joined at the launch at st Patrick’s Cathedral by Melbourne archbishop Denis hart, the director of Catholic education, stephen elder, the Victorian Province Leader of the sisters of st joseph, sister josephine Dubiel, and some of

the Catholic secondary school students who will be travelling to rome for the canonisation Mass at st Peter’s Basilica.

Mr elder praised the song, calling it a great tribute to a wonderful australian. “Mike Brady’s song is a telling tribute to Mary MacKillop, whose elevation to sainthood will be a momentous event

for all australians. Congratulations to Mike, the choir and the musicians who performed on the CD,” said Mr elder.

the CD will be for sale on 17 october, when several events are planned to coincide with the canonisation in rome. n

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Pictured with Mike Brady from left are:Rochelle Francis (Mercy College), Xavier Librando (Caroline Chisholm College), Ben Adlam (Padua College), Victoria Eley (Loyola College).

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Sixty seven Catholic school students are travelling to Rome for Mary MacKillop’s canonisation on 17 October. Here, Adele Hirst reflects on the pilgrimage.

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MacKillop the musical

Joanna Cole with the Director of Catholic Education, Stephen Elder (left) and Archbishop Denis Hart.

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Australian opera singer to star as MacKillopwIth More thaN 20 years’ experience in lead roles such as Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto here and abroad, australian opera singer joanna Cole is excited about her role in the musical MacKillop.

“I feel incredibly privileged to be cast as Mary MacKillop,” she said. “Mary was a very special woman who faced some extraordinary opposition throughout her life. so the chance to tell her story and bring her charisma to the stage is one I feel very honoured to have been given.”

Ms Cole is no stranger to playing strong iconic women, having previously taken on the demanding role of Lindy Chamberlain in

opera australia’s 2002 production of Lindy.

Director anthony McCarthy is pleased to have someone of Ms Cole’s calibre as part of the MacKillop cast.

“having such a seasoned performer as joanna is a wonderful addition to the production,” he said. “I’m now certain we will be able to do this work the justice it deserves.” n

Joanna Cole as Mary MacKillop with the show‘s composer, Xavier Brouwer.

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marymackillop

BY DAVID AHERN

a weeK aFter Mary MacKillop’s canonisation in rome a musical about her life will play in Melbourne.

MacKillop the musical, with opera singer joanna Cole in the title role, will be staged at the Besen Centre in Burwood from october 21 to 24. the musical is being commissioned and financially supported by the Catholic education office Melbourne (CeoM), along with Catholic super.

Born in Brunswick in 1842, Mary MacKillop devoted her life to assisting the poor and under privileged. the order she established, the sisters of st joseph, continues her great work in many countries today.

Mary MacKillop’s canonisation Mass will be witnessed by thousands of australians, including 60 Catholic school students from the archdiocese of Melbourne, who are travelling to Italy for the momentous event.

the production has been written and scored by Melbourne composer, Xavier Brouwer. Director anthony McCarthy and producer Kieran walton of artes Christi have assembled a mixture of professional and amateur performers to stage the work. Ms Cole will be accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra and an 80-voice choir.

the musical’s Melbourne launch was held at the Mary MacKillop heritage Centre in east Melbourne. Ms Cole, who was educated at a josephite school, says she’s proud and honoured to be playing Mary. “she was a wonderful role model who inspired many people when she was alive. so much so that when she was ex-communicated, the jewish and Protestant communities came to help her get to rome (to argue her case).”

the Director of Catholic education, stephen elder, said the CeoM was proud to be the commissioner and major supporter of the musical. “Mary MacKillop’s

life deserves to be celebrated in as many forms as possible, including a stage musical. such was her impact on others during her lifetime and the generations that followed, she is an inspiration to us all,” said Mr elder.

“her total commitment to provide an education to the poor and marginalised provides an inspiring example of what can be achieved by one person to make the world a better place.”

around 1900 years five and six students from Catholic primary schools

will attend dedicated performances of the production. Catholic schools in Melbourne will also have the rights to stage and perform the work in coming years.

“I believe the musical will be of special interest to Catholic school students who will have the opportunity to see the production when it first opens,” said Mr elder. n

Tickets for the musical are available from www.mackilloptickets.org or 0424 648 034.

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life

Statement on euthanasia

there Is a reNeweD Push IN Victoria and many other parts of australia for euthanasia and assisted suicide to be legalised. Misplaced compassion leads some to call for euthanasia. while it is never easy facing the end of the life of a loved one, we cannot support the legalisation of euthanasia however it is described.

euthanasia and assisted suicide are the opposite of care and represent the abandonment of older and dying persons. Instead, we encourage all people of goodwill to respond to this new challenge with truth and compassion. I join the anglican Church of australia in affirming that our task is to protect, nurture and sustain life to the best of our ability.

advocates of euthanasia and assisted suicide are mounting a new campaign for far-reaching change to Victoria’s laws on euthanasia and assisted suicide. If the state government were to ask the Law reform Commission to review the Medical treatment act, there is a serious danger that the commission would follow previous practice in relation to laws such as abortion and, after a brief period of public consultation, recommend radical change to the legislation without consultation on the proposed changes. with these laws there was little time or opportunity for public consultation, debate or reflection and the laws were introduced to

the Parliament by the government on the basis that it would not allow amendments.

since the Northern territory’s brief experiment with euthanasia in 1996, euthanasia advocates have introduced numerous bills into state parliaments around australia, all of which have been rejected. why? Because when parliamentarians take the time to debate the issue fully and to consider all the consequences properly they realise that to decriminalise euthanasia and assisted suicide would threaten the lives of other vulnerable people.

the proposals if enacted would allow some people to be treated differently under the law such that their lives could be taken at their request. the impact of a law of that kind on those people who fit the description is to make them vulnerable, particularly if they feel that they are a burden to others.

the experience of the Netherlands confirms just how far such a mentality can spread, with pressure to increase the scope of the law so that it includes not just those with terminal illnesses and unrelievable suffering, but also people who suffer from depression, those who cannot make their own decisions, and even children.

as Pope Benedict XVI reminded us recently, “the Church has always had great respect for the elderly” and the dying, and this has been expressed practically in Catholic health and aged care, especially in hospice services.

as medical advances increasingly lead to a longer life for many people, we should view older people as a blessing for society rather than a problem. each generation has much to teach the generation that follows it. we should therefore see care of the elderly as repayment of a debt of gratitude, as a part of a culture of love and care.

the Catholic community already does much to care through our

network of hospices, hospitals and other services. I call on the Catholic community and people of goodwill to continue to care for the frail elderly, the sick and the dying, at every stage of life. I ask you to continue to journey with those who are sick and in pain, to visit them, and ensure they have appropriate care and support and pain management and, most of all, someone to remain close to them.

I thank those health-care professionals and palliative-care specialists, nurses, doctors and specialists, psychologists, pain-management teams, pastoral carers, religious, volunteers and others who work every day to reduce psychological pain and social and spiritual suffering in positive and life-affirming ways.

It is an uplifting and inspiring experience to observe the love and care of those who work with and support the ill and the dying in their final days of life. I encourage the community to do more to support those often unseen heroes who stand in solidarity and love those who are suffering.

I ask the Parliament to put its energy and creative talents into positive supports, rather than taking the negative path towards euthanasia or assisted suicide. I call on our parliaments to increase their support for aged-care and palliative-care programs.

I ask the community to continue to love and care for those who are sick and suffering rather than abandoning them to euthanasia or supporting them to suicide. our ability to care says much about the strength of our society.

If there is a vote on euthanasia in the next term of the state Parliament, as predicted, each member will most likely be given a conscience vote. as you consider which candidate to vote for, ask them what their position is on euthanasia and assisted suicide. n

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In response to a renewed push in Victoria and also federally to legalise euthanasia, Archbishop Denis Hart released a Statement on Euthanasia. The statement is reproduced below in full.

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Journeys in terminal illnessBY CATHERINE SHEEHAN

Calvary Health Care Bethlehem is a service of Little Company of Mary Health Care and is in Caulfield. It provides specialist palliative care and specialist care in progressive neurology. Care is provided to patients in the hospital, in the home and other ambulatory settings in the community. The care that Bethlehem provides focuses on maximising the quality of people’s lives as they move through the stages of life limiting illnesses. This care includes medical, nursing, pastoral counselling and a range of allied health services.

Kairos spoke to Pam and Susan who are both clients of Calvary Health Care Bethlehem. Their personal journeys with illness and their thoughts on palliative care are worth reading.

PAM

PaM DID Not eXPeCt to Be told she had a terminal illness when she went to her doctor complaining of a sore rib. after much investigation she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. she was told to hope for the best but expect the worst, and that she had possibly five months to live.

Pam says: “It was scary, scary, scary. there aren’t a lot of treatments for mesothelioma and they don’t expect you to live anyway.” she underwent chemotherapy for 18 months. she has outlived the prognosis but still faces uncertainty. “It’s kind of like, oK, I’m still alive and it’s five months, what happens now?”

when the standard chemotherapy stopped working Pam took part in a trial, which was extremely time-consuming. Continuing to work as a nurse helped her to deal with what was happening. “I think it was really important. work is a part of who you are. everything else was chaotic, so this was the stable part.”

Pam seems to have an indomitable spirit. she speaks with determination and often a cheeky sense of humour.

she agrees that having a life-threatening illness changes your perception of life. “It allows you to be a bit more outrageous.” she giggles as she recounts incidents she has had with people after being diagnosed. “I went into a dress shop recently and this woman in the shop said to me, ‘Do you have a store card?’ I said, ‘No.’ ‘Do you want one?’ ‘No.’ ‘they’re very good.’ ‘yes.’ ‘why don’t you want it?’ I said, ‘Because I’m dying.’ ‘oh’, she said.” Pam laughs as she remembers how the woman’s face dropped. “I do some terrible things, I am naughty. I think you have to get your laughs out of what you can. I think that’s what it’s all about.”

when she is having a bad day Pam says it can be lonely. “you have those times where you think you’ve hit the end. you think, are the doctors really thinking, I wish she’d hurry up and say ‘no more’, do they still think it’s worthwhile?”

although not in palliative care herself, Pam considers its availability to be of great importance. “I have a friend who works in oncology and I remember having a discussion with her about euthanasia and suicide. she said very, very few people with cancer suicide.

“I asked why and she said, ‘If we treat them appropriately they always think tomorrow might be better.’ that’s how I feel. when you have a bad day you think, is it going to get worse or is

it going to get better?”Pam says it is the relationships that

you have with other people that are most important in life. she has lovingly prepared a beautiful book for each of her three grandchildren so they will never forget how much she loved them.

at the moment Pam prefers to remain at home, where she can retain a greater sense of control over her life. “Palliative care is not just about dying. on one level I know that, but on the other level it’s still about terminal care. I thought when I was feeling rotten, I could go into palliative care for respite for a while; but I mightn’t come out. so I didn’t want to go. It’s a great option to have there. It’s fabulous to have it there and it’s fabulous to be able to ring somebody and talk it through. sometimes having a service is more important than using it.”

SUSAN

susaN has suFFereD FroM immuno-deficiency since birth, which means that your immune system never matures but stays in a juvenile state. Due to several infections attacking her lungs she also contracted a disease called bronchiolitis obliterans.

she says: “It’s quite rare and it’s a death sentence without a transplant. the alveoli of the lungs are compressed so you can’t get air in and the tissue becomes fibrous.”

about 20 months ago susan went on a waiting list for a lung transplant. Finding a viable donor was difficult as she needed juvenile lungs because of her small stature. “that limited the

Pam looking at one of the albums of photos and memories that she is leaving for each of her grandchildren, including her grandchild yet to be born.

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pool,” she said, “and also because I receive a donor immune system. I’ve got lots of antibodies which makes it hard to match with a compatible donor. so I waited a while and was running out of time. they gave me until May and reviewed me in late april and they decided to do a ‘cut-down’, which means they take big lungs and reduce the size; they do it for children. about a week and a half after that appointment I got the phone call to say, we’ve got a donor for you and to be there in 40 minutes. so I got into the alfred and they prepped me within 20 minutes and then it was straight into theatre. the operation was about 10 hours.”

susan has been with Calvary health Care Bethlehem for about two years, from the time she was placed on the transplant list. Not knowing whether she would receive an organ transplant, she went looking for a palliative care provider. “I found them myself because I knew I was dying and I wanted to take it upon myself to make sure I had everything in place.”

of the care she received at Bethlehem susan says: “It was basically tailored to me as a person. when I was first assessed, the nurse who came was very good at picking up my personality and she actually saw that I had a couple of guitars around and so forth. she said, ‘I think you should do music therapy’, and she said, ‘I think you should have pastoral care’ because she saw a few crosses around. so she picked up just from interviewing me what I would benefit from and she was absolutely right.

“I thought palliative care was all about dying, which is quite daunting. But I found very quickly that Bethlehem is not just all about that. they’re actually about helping you to live while you are sick. they give you a positive outlook. that helps tremendously when you’re trying to get your head around what’s happening and what’s going to happen.”

susan was most impressed by how the staff provided for her individual needs and concerns, caring for the whole person not just the physical illness. “For me, it was that there was somebody there for me, she said. “It was my journey. the nurses wanted to make sure that I was oK, mentally and physically. It encompassed the whole person, which I found very important. I had music therapy, which involves a lot of relaxation, which was wonderful.”

susan spent a few months inside Bethlehem hospital before receiving her transplant. although she found it daunting at first she also found it gave her great peace of mind.

“they treated people with such dignity, and the families there with their loved ones, right at the end, were treated so wonderfully, which gave me a sense of peace knowing that if that was me, I’ve come to the right place. I know that I would be looked after, the nurses are all wonderful. they would go make you a cup of tea or get you breakfast, if you wanted it, very caring. I was very impressed.”

her priorities and relationships with people have inevitably been altered by her illness. “you gain a lot of empathy. It’s clichéd, but you do realise what life is really about. It’s not about having the most money in the bank or striving to be at the top of that ladder. It’s really simple things: it’s being here to be able to love your family, watch your children grow up. It’s easy to get involved in day-to-day things and forget what’s important.”

susan smiles as she relates how her two sons, aged 18 and 22, had

offered to give her one lung each as a Christmas present. she feels strongly that there needs to be more public awareness about the importance of organ donation, especially here in australia where we have a low rate of donation.

It is still very touch-and-go for susan with the possibility that her body will reject her new lungs. she is dependent therefore on anti-rejection medication.

she believes it is the little things that help her to carry on: “It could be just a smile from somebody, or a phone call from somebody, just something little, that changes your outlook. It doesn’t take much to give somebody a little bit of faith.”

susan’s faith in god has also helped her through the hard times: “I’ve always been very spiritual. I pray to god, thanking god for giving me what I have, no matter how small it is. just being alive every day is a blessing.” n

For information: www.bethlehem.org.au and www.pallcarevic.asn.au

For Australian Organ Donor Register: call 1800 777 203.

Vigil for

Nascent Human life

Immediately before the First Sunday of Advent, the Holy Father is celebrating an evening vigil hour of prayer for human life and he has invited dioceses and communities to hold a similar vigil.

In Melbourne, the Holy Hour of Prayer for Human Life will take place on Saturday, 13 November 2010 at 5pm

in St Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by Mass at 6pm celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart. Parishioners, life groups and friends are

most welcome to join this important moment of prayer.

Saturday 13 NovemberHoly Hour at 5pm • Mass at 6pm

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missionsundaymissionsunday

Launch of new English translation resource

liturgy

On 30 September, Archbishop Denis Hart gave the following address at the launch of the DVD Become One Body, One Spirit in Christ at the Academy of Mary Immaculate, Fitzroy. The DVD is a professional and private resource designed to explain more fully the changes to the English version of the Roman Missal as well as imbue Catholics in the English-speaking world with an understanding of the parts of the liturgy – with a particular focus on the Eucharist.  It was developed by Fraynework Multimedia for the International Commission on English in the Liturgy.

the traNsLatIoN oF the FIrst edition of the roman Missal in the early 1970s was done in haste. People were keen to obtain the translation into the local languages.

when the third edition of the Missal was published on 20 april 2000, the holy see felt that it was necessary that this edition be accompanied by accurate english translations and followed the publication of the Missal with an Instruction, Liturgiam Authenticam.

In 2002 the International Commission on english in the Liturgy began the translation, sensitive to all of the nuances available in the text. with the advice and work of the Vox Clara Committee, the Congregation for Divine worship has now approved the english translation, which will come into use in 2011.

the new translation is more accurate. It opens out the patristic and scriptural references and underlines the important connection between worship and faith. we will find over time that the Missal is a rich source of faith and spirituality and that our prayer life will be deepened because of it.

english is now a highly significant language, from which translations will be made into other languages that have no knowledge of Latin.

THE MISSAL FOR AUSTRALIAthe australian bishops have decided

that:1. when sung, the new version of the

Lord have mercy, Gloria, Creed, Holy, Eucharistic Acclamations and Lamb of God are introduced into australia from the beginning of january 2011.

2. From Pentecost sunday, 14 june 2011, the Lord have mercy, Gloria, Creed, Holy, Eucharistic Acclamations and Lamb of God, whether spoken or sung, together with the Priest’s Invitations and People’s responses, the Confiteor, and the Invitation before Communion, will be introduced immediately or gradually.a card will be provided for people in the pews. all these parts of the ordinary will be obligatory throughout australia from 1 November 2011.

3. the altar Missal with the Priest’s Prayers, Prefaces, eucharistic Prayers and the Propers will be introduced as soon as it is available. this is expected to be late in 2011. a date upon which the altar Missal is to be obligatory will be set by the bishops in due course.

4. the altar Missal in three versions – large, medium and small – is to be published by the Catholic truth society of London and distributed in australia by saint Paul Publications.People’s books will be available subsequently.

MUSICAL SETTINGSIn addition to the musical settings

which are contained in the Missal, the plainsong settings of Lord have mercy, Gloria, Creed, Holy, Eucharistic Acclamations and Lamb of God, the bishops have recommended six settings suitable for various congregations.1. Paul taylor, Mass of Saint Francis,

[editor’s Note: publisher not known at present]

2. richard Connolly, Mass of Our Lady Help of Christians, (Cantica Nova).

3. Christopher willcock, Missa Magis, (oregon Catholic Press).

4. Bernard Kirkpatrick, Mass of Christ the Redeemer, (oregon Catholic Press).

5. Colin smith, Mass Shalom, revised by Paul Mason, (willow Connection).

6. Paul Mason, Mass of Glory and Praise, (willow Connection).these come from among fifty settings

which were submitted for review by the Music Committee of the National Liturgical Council.

I believe that this is a time when we can deepen our appreciation of liturgical worship and participate in it more fully in the manner that the Church has intended.

CHANGES FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE TEXT OF THE MASS1. ‘And with your Spirit’ replaces

‘And also with you’.2. a more correctly translated version

of the ‘I confess’ and of the Second Penitential Rite.

3. the Gloria is a more accurate translation.4. the Creed is a more accurate translation.5. the last response before the Preface is

changed to, ‘It is right and just’.6. In the Holy, ‘God of Hosts’ replaces

‘God of power and might’.7. the three eucharistic acclamations,

‘We proclaim your death, O Lord …’, ‘When we eat this bread and drink this cup …’, and ‘Save us, Saviour of the world’ are accurate translations of the Latin. ‘Christ has died’ is not included.

8. Before Communion, the response is ‘Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed’.

9. there are four variable Dismissals, to which the people reply, ‘Thanks be to God’.as you can see, the changes for the

people are minimal, but they will reflect a clear theological understanding and a language which gathers god’s people in prayer. I am confident that, as a result of years of careful work in translation, the Mass will become a deeply prayerful experience. n

For more information, visit: www.becomeonebodyonespiritinchrist.org

17 – 30 OctOber 201011

missionsundaymissionsunday

World Mission Sunday“The month of October, with the celebration of World Mission Sunday 24 October, offers ... the entire people of God an opportunity to renew the commitment to proclaim the Gospel and to give pastoral activities greater missionary perspective.”

Pope Benedict XVI

you May haVe reaD thIs statement many times, but the biggest cost incurred by orphanages is food. Many orphanages with land nearby attempt self-sufficiency by planting vegetables, fruit and nut trees and, if they are fortunate, they will keep minimal livestock. this is all providing that they live in an environment conducive to growing. then there is, of course, the cost of buying the land itself.

the Missionary Dominican sisters of the rosary run two orphanages in east timor, supported by Catholic Mission. one is in the suburb of Bidau in Dili and the other is seven hours out of Dili in the mountain town of soibada.

at the Bidau home there are 52 orphans, ranging in age from four to 22, while at soibada there are 74 children. the children have come from varied backgrounds and circumstances. some lost their parents during the Indonesian occupation, others lost parents during the independence referendum in 1999 and, sadly, newer residents have lost parents or carers during the most recent unrest in east timor only a few years ago, in 2006.

joao (or john) is the eldest young man still in the sisters’ care. he has completed his secondary studies and is now in his second year of civil engineering at the state university. roger has been with the sisters for more than nine years and is now seriously investigating religious life with the Dominican Fathers.

juliette, 17, and jenny, 16, have been with the sisters since they were babies. they have both completed high school and are doing their first year as aspirants with the sisters.

Dominic is the youngest of the children under the sisters’ care. he

is not quite five years old, but is certainly at home with his many older brothers and sisters. Dominic is preparing for his first year at school.

all the children are given every opportunity possible, as they are the future of the parish, the community and the country.

the orphanage has to provide for all the basic needs of the children including clothing, food, school materials and school fees, and health costs when necessary. running costs for the home in Bidau alone are nearly $30,000 a year. the biggest cost, not surprisingly, is food.

to alleviate this problem and to become more self-sufficient, the Dominican sisters have begun the process of buying two-and-a-half hectares of land outside the capital Dili. they have raised half the funds themselves, and are looking to

Catholic Mission to help with the other half, a further $30,000.

By putting the deposit down on the land, they have been given permission to harvest bananas from the property, a treat the children enjoy. they have also fenced off about half the land with chain-link or cyclone fencing. a well has been successfully sunk and is now running. there is a need to install a pump and build a shed for farming tools.

Long term, the sisters aspire to establish a maternity support centre on the property for at-risk mothers in the area, and to provide their children with education, life skills and catechism classes. For this to become a reality the sisters will be looking to build simple cottage accommodation and a multi-purpose hall with kitchen and toilet facilities. once that infrastructure is set up, the centre could also be hired out to non-government organisations that are running training and capacity building courses.

a critical shortage of skills in east timor means there will be an increasing demand for local training centres for many years to come.

Catholic Mission’s support of communities like these in east timor means that the people can feel confident, knowing that they have opportunities previously unavailable to them. our support gives the people a sense of solidarity with us. n

October is World Mission Month.

Call 1800 257 296 to donate, or donate online at www.catholicmission.org.au

Left: Two orphans from the orphanage in East Timor. Below left: Sr Marylou with one of the orphans.

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Spirit IS MOVING

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Henri Nouwen

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BY BROTHER MARK O’CONNOR

oNe oF the great reLIgIous books of the past 25 years is henri Nouwen’s classic study of pastoral care, The Wounded Healer. one passage in particular has always stuck in my memory: “a life-saving relationship can develop in an hour. one eye movement or one handshake can replace years of friendship when a person is in agony. Love not only lasts forever, it needs only a second to come about.”

Personal experience tells me that Fr Nouwen is right. so often a very simple act of kindness from someone has had deep and lasting effects in my life.

as Dorothy Day used to say, we bring about god’s kingdom “by little and little”. we human beings so very often underestimate the tremendous power we do have to bring others to life.

this is the meaning of our being witnesses to the gospel in our daily lives. we can bring others to life because the spirit of the risen jesus lives in us; that same jesus who day and night was surrounded by people who were blind, deaf, paralysed, mute and afraid. they were people who, in their own eyes, could hardly do anything at all; paralysed like flies in the web of intriguing spiders, cocooned by political and religious ropes.

jesus always followed a very simple pastoral ‘strategy’ with wounded ones. Fr joe Donders spells it out: the blind saw, the deaf heard, the paralysed walked, the mute spoke; those who were afraid got courage; and those who had been hardly anything at all in their own eyes were liberated and became prime movers in the history of salvation that the risen jesus started among us.

they said: “there are no fish, what are we to do?”

he said: “there are fish. you, throw out your net. I will make you a fisher of men.”

they said: “there is no bread. what are we going to give them to eat?”

he said: “you divide what you have. there is plenty for all.”

they said: “we cannot pray.”he said: “start praying like this:

our Father…” and they who had thought that they could not pray, did pray.

he empowered them in very simple little ways.

that is what he asked his disciples to do when he sent them out, saying: “Baptise them in the power they have, the power of their origin, created by the Father; the power of their kinship, blood-related to jesus Christ, the son: the power of the holy spirit in them.”

this is especially true of our contact with young people. what good we can do by constantly affirming our young people.

Cardinal Basil hume osB, reflecting on his years as a teacher, made this same point:

schoolmastering, like much we do for god, is ‘iceberg’ work.

“Very little, perhaps appears on the surface, but deep down, under the surface, something is going on which is very, very important in a boy’s life. the very contact with men who are committed to god and known to be committed to him and are seen to be, is of more value than all we say or do.

“Boys are very perspicacious, they are very much more shrewd than we think, and they know whether the man who is looking after them or with whom they have dealings is genuine or not.

“Little things can have a tremendous effect on boys. years later a man of, say 25, will meet you and say: ‘I always remember the first thing you said to me. I arrived very nervous and worried about coming to school, and you said …’

“you probably didn’t say it, or you have forgotten, or it was something very trivial. But that is what one discovers in schoolmastering: it is the 101 things one says or does which have an importance and effect out of all proportion. that is why schoolmastering is worthwhile: for everything helps toward building up a life. It is what we are that matters. It is the small things that count.”

Very few of us will be called to make dramatic gestures in our lives but all of us can take heart that the kingdom is coming in the small acts of so many good people all over the world.

the temptation to despair is gradually overcome if one meditates on this ‘ocean’ of goodness within which we live. yes, there is a ‘Mystery of evil’ but the greater mystery is the ‘Mystery of goodness’.

New Zealand Catholic poet james K. Baxter summed up this ‘little’ way in his ‘credo’ of the works of mercy:

Feed the hungry.Give drink to the thirsty.Give clothes to those who lack them.Give hospitality to strangers.Look after the sick.Bail people out of jail, visit them in jail,and look after them when they come out of jail.Go to neighbours’ funerals.Tell other ignorant people what you in your ignorance think you know.Help the doubtful to clarify their minds and make their own decisions.Console the sad.Reprove sinners, but gently, brother, gently.Forgive what seems to be harm done to yourself.Put up with difficult people.Pray for whatever has life, including the spirits of the dead. n

Br Mark O’Connor is Director of the Archbishop’s Office for Evangelisation.

The economy of the kingdom

17 – 30 OctOber 201013

localnews

Back row, from left: Janeden Rivers, Bill Gale, Fr Joe Caddy, Peter Beales, David Howie.Front row, from left: Helen Goodman, Sr Margaret Ryan, Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, Janet Cribbes, Matt Fella and Mike Baimbridge.

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besoN thursDay 28 sePteMBer,

Victorian Minister for Community Development Lily D’ambrosio visited the Centacare bushfire community recovery office in Kinglake, where she viewed the ‘spirit of the spine’ exhibition, which is open to the community on sundays.

Ms D’ambrosio joined Centacare staff, Murrindindi shire Mayor Peter Beales, Community representative Committee president Bill gale and other regional agencies for presentations from community representatives who are managing the onground assistance Program and the semi-skilled labour workforce.

the project employs people on a casual basis as a means of assisting the community to support one another.

janet Cribbes, project coordinator of the Centacare Bushfire Community recovery service which is funded by

the archbishop’s Charitable Fund Bushfire appeal, said the Minister’s visit increased awareness of the difficulties communities were still facing and would continue to face for the next few years.

“It was a terrific opportunity for organisations to showcase their work and demonstrate the partnerships formed between grassroots organisations in the region,” she said. “It gave the Minister and other visitors

BY LES JONES

oN 25 sePteMBer, FrIeNDs and relatives of Fr Donald Lourensz gathered for Mass and fellowship at st Peter apostle Church, hoppers Crossing to celebrate his 90th birthday. Fr Donald concelebrated Mass with his son, Fr Duncan Lourensz from Deal, Kent, uK, and Fr thang Vu of st Peter’s.

Fr Donald was born in sri Lanka. his mother was a member of the Dutch reformed Church and his father an anglican. after a drowning accident claimed the lives of his parents, Donald and his two brothers were raised by relatives. he attended Ceylon university, graduating in medicine in 1946. he became a Catholic at the age of 21.

Donald married in 1946 and had two children, a daughter, Donaldine and a son, Duncan. his wife died in 1952. In 1953, Donald and the children migrated to england, where he became an ear, nose and throat specialist at st andrew’s hospital in London.

In 1981, Donald retired, taking up a part-time appointment in Bermuda. he then experienced the desire to serve god as a priest. Donald attended the Pontifical Beda College in rome and was ordained in Bermuda on 28 june 1987. after serving two years in Bermuda, Fr Donald came to australia, serving at sacred heart

parish, wodonga. upon retirement, he moved to hoppers Crossing, where he has relatives.

Fr Donald has been a wonderful asset to st Peter’s parish, filling in on weekends and saying Mass in the church each Monday. he has a deep love of the liturgy in both the ordinary and

extraordinary form. Parishioners welcomed Father’s relatives and friends, especially his son, Fr Duncan from england, and his daughter, Donaldine and grand-daughter, Ziska from Bali. we all wish Fr Donald well and look forward to his silver jubilee in 2012. nFull story www.cam.org.au/parish-news

a sense of what organisations are doing independently and together. Much of their work is not seen by the public but it has made a significant difference to many people.”

“the project has delivered assistance that has made a real difference to the lives of people,” she said. “things such as building a veranda on a caravan surrounded by mud. this project has made it possible for people to receive practical help when they need it.” n

Minister visits Kinglake

An amazing lifeBack row, from left: Fr Donald’s nephew Chris Bagot and son Fr Duncan Lourensz.

Front row, from left: Fr Donald’s great-nephew Zac Christian, sister-in-law Rita Bagot, Fr Donald, daughter Donaldine Lourensz and nephew Roger Bagot.

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Social inclusion for people experiencing mental illness

Geelong’s Frank Costa recognised

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BY DENIS FITzGERALD

oN 9 sePteMBer aBout 40 people gathered at the Kildara Centre, Malvern, for a Catholic social services Victoria (CssV) symposium on ‘seeking social Inclusion: equipping organisations to respond to People experiencing Mental Illness’.

the forum was timely, in light of the increasing community awareness of the extent to which mental illness alienates many from their families and communities, leading to great social and economic disadvantage and, at the extreme, contributes to a high rate of suicide in our society.

It was timely too, in light of the upcoming Victorian election on 27 November. strengthening preventative and early intervention measures, committing sufficient resources to enable effective treatment, and providing additional resources for community-based support are all needed to build the social inclusion that was the focus of the forum.

Chaired by Victorian Council of social service (VCoss) president and CssV council member Marilyn webster, the day included a range of

presentations and workshops, and extensive networking.

Professor ruth webber, Director of the Quality of Life and social justice research Centre at australian Catholic university, gave the keynote address in which she drew on her own research, and more widely, to reflect on what made successful interfaces between services, and the importance of accurate diagnosis.

Neil Cole was a Victorian government minister before his mental illness diagnosis, and currently contributes as an associate professor at the Mental health research Institute, university of Melbourne, as a consumer advocate, and as a creative writer. his presentations on the day were wide ranging, but with a focus on the role of the dramatic and creative arts in helping people with mental illness.

Michael Perusco, Chief executive of sacred heart Mission, spoke movingly about the early findings from their ‘journey to social Inclusion’ program, which provided intensive case management and wide-ranging support to a small group of people who were moving out of homelessness. Mental health is part of that situation. a book outlining the life journeys of the 40 participants is to be published during the up-coming anti-Poverty week.

Participation in the workshops on the day was stimulating and informative, with workshop options focusing on three key themes: understanding the needs of clients; building best practice models; and training and development of staff. n

Denis Fitzgerald is Executive Director of Catholic Social Services Victoria.

oN tuesDay 28 sePteMBer, outgoing geelong Football Club president Frank Costa oaM was awarded australian Catholic university’s highest honour, Doctor of the university, in recognition of his life’s service to his Church and the wider community. under his leadership, aFL football club geelong has become an aFL powerhouse.

also, over the past 20 years, Frank has taken leading roles in developing services for local youth, to improve health and welfare services, and to support young people at risk of leaving school early. n

Full story www.cam.org.au/news

Frank Costa OAM and his wife Shirley.

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Workshop participants at the CSSV Symposium.

17 – 30 OctOber 201015

BY TIFFANy ORBIEN

oVer DINNer aND Dessert at holy hour CultureD Cafe, on 23 september at the Cardinal Knox Centre, east Melbourne, young people heard from the engaging sr Cecilia joseph and sr Mary rachel from the Dominican sisters of st Cecilia.

hailing from Nashville, tennessee, the Dominican sisters first came out to australia in 2007 at the invitation of Bishop anthony Fisher for world youth Day sydney. along with a few other sisters, they were then asked by Cardinal Pell to stay on to work in religious education and to participate in the renewal of religious life in australia.

the sisters themselves were just students when they received “the call”. sister Cecilia joseph was at university when she heard about the sisterhood

and puts it down to ‘the power of word of mouth’. “I had two friends already in the congregation, and I received many recommendations from priests and websites before I joined.” she said.

sr Mary rachel shared that what stops young women from choosing religious life today was the ‘uncertainty’. “we seem to want

100% certainty in everything we do. this vocation, like any vocation, requires great trust in god. It’s that whole idea of trusting that he indeed speaks to our hearts. you need to have faith.” n

Holy Hour CulturED Cafe is hosted by the Archdiocesan Office for Youth. For more information, visit www.aoy.org.au or call 9412 3300. Full story www.cam.org.au/melbourne-news

or wherever it is required. In addition to the usual secretarial requirements, we help with liturgies, decorating the church and hiring out the hall. with the help of a real estate agent, we manage four rental properties: we organise and supervise tradespeople such as painters, plumbers, carpenters and roofers for maintenance jobs.

the best thing about our job is being in a position to assist so many people with such varied needs. we have experienced that ‘it is better to give than to receive’ and this almost vocational commitment rewards us with much peace and joy. we would not trade our current positions for any previously held, well-paid jobs in the corporate world.

Salute to parish secretaries

st FraNCIs XaVIer’s Boasts two secretaries (literally meaning ‘keepers of secrets’), elaine shelton and Vicki abbatangelo. we enjoy working together and sharing this position. Pooling our experiences makes the administration of the parish for Fr Denis stanley eV efficient and reliable. his confidence in his secretaries frees him up to channel his time and attention into his many priestly responsibilities.

elaine began work at st Francis Xavier’s in april 2005 and Vicki joined the team in December 2009 after the resignation of teresa Kren, who had also been in the shared position since april 2005 and left for family reasons.

Most parish secretaries will agree when we say that it does not matter what the position description says – we just render service whenever

Elaine Shelton Vicki Abbatangelo

Elaine Shelton and Vicki AbbatangeloSt Francis Xavier’s, Frankston

we both have outside interests. elaine is a member of the Baytones, a singing group that visits aged-care hostels and nursing homes to entertain the residents. It is an absolute delight to see little old feet tapping away, a tear or two trickling down a face lost in memories of bygone times. Vicki enjoys helping the local Little athletics association in seaford, where she organises all the paperwork and end-of-season trophies and awards.

thank you Kairos for allowing us to share a bit of ourselves with the diocese and we take this opportunity to wish all our fellow secretaries much peace, joy and happy service in what are, without doubt, very privileged positions. n

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Sr Cecilia Joseph (left) and Sr Mary Rachel (right) with Annaliese Wursthorn (AOY)

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CulturED Cafe presents ... Sister Act

KAIROS CATHOLIC JOURNAL • WWW.KAIROS.COM.AU16

localnews

Hearts with room for moreBY KAREN ROBINSON

herMINa aND aLBert DIeNDer opened their hearts and home as foster parents to many children over the past 40 years. the couple had three children – and room in their hearts for more.

the children that hermina and albert took into their care not only experienced home-cooked meals and warm hospitality but also being part of a family and being loved and cherished. they loved and looked after each child that came into their home as their own. In some cases, they even named children when no name had been given. hermina kept a diary about each child who came into their care. she documented their first steps and words and took many photos that she could later give to adoptive parents.

hermina recalls collecting a little boy called Charlie in March 1971. Charlie’s father left Charlie’s mother when he found out she was pregnant. For more than eight months Charlie got to know hermina and albert and their three children as his family. hermina remembers how she would rub his tummy to soothe and relax him.

Later that year, hermina got a phone call from Charlie’s mother, who wanted to see her son. hermina invited her over for a cup of tea, and told her to keep the visit to herself. Parents were not permitted to visit their children without consultation with the social welfare authority.

Charlie’s mother arrived at their home, pregnant with her second child. she looked a lot like Charlie. she confided in hermina that her circumstances had changed and she wanted her baby boy back in her life. Not long after, social welfare requested that Charlie be returned to the baby home. hermina believes they found out about her meeting with Charlie’s mum.

hermina had to wait six weeks before they could visit him at the home. when they did, they found him in a cot by himself. he had lost weight and was sad and withdrawn. Charlie’s mother had to wait over six months before she could finally take her son home.

six months later, hermina and albert went to visit Charlie at home with his mum. they were pleasantly surprised to find that Charlie’s parents had married. they did not expect Charlie to remember them and his mother warned them that he was very shy and did not connect well with strangers. as soon as Charlie saw hermina he gave her a huge smile. hermina picked Charlie up and gently rubbed his tummy and he looked up at her and said, “Mummy”. hermina recalls feeling so happy. when she placed him back on the floor, Charlie then exclaimed “Dad play?” looking directly at albert. hermina and albert stayed in touch with the family for a long time.

over the years, 13 children who lived with hermina and albert were adopted and placed into families.

until they fell in love with a little boy called georgie, hermina and albert did not realise loving someone could hurt so much. when two-year-old georgie arrived, “he didn’t know what love was. he wouldn’t let me touch or cuddle him”, says hermina.

hermina and albert decided they wanted to adopt georgie. Not long after making their decision, georgie’s mother contacted them. once again, against the rules, hermina made arrangements for mother and child to meet up, this time at a park. georgie’s mother arrived late and chatted with them briefly. hermina suspects that she had watched them play with him from a distance. soon after, hermina and albert were told georgie’s mother wanted another family to adopt him. hermina and albert were devastated.

when they said goodbye to georgie, he cried, leaving both of them heartbroken. he was a very different little boy to the one they had first picked up. hermina says that after he was gone the atmosphere in their home was “like someone had died”. hermina and albert found it very difficult to continue fostering children after this.

a local maternal health nurse suggested that hermina do family day care from home. hermina jumped at the chance as she missed having children around. For 10 years, even when looking after a very ill albert, hermina continued to look after children in their home.

when albert’s health deteriorated further, he had to be moved to a nursing home. For five years hermina visited the nursing home daily. It was only two years ago that hermina decided to slow down a little. today, she enjoys her nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. she still thinks children are god’s greatest gift. nThis story first appeared in Stella, the Our Lady of Lourdes, Bayswater Annual Parish Magazine. Albert Diender passed away in 2008.

Karen Robinson is a parishioner at Our Lady of Lourdes, Bayswater.

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Hermina and Alber Diender

17 – 30 OctOber 201017

Youth PROfILe

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My NaMe Is tara CIaNtar. I am 19 years old and grew up in the Parish of Blessed Mary MacKillop in Keilor Downs. I am now in my second year of study to be a primary school teacher.

although I am studying full time, I also have a part-time job teaching children to swim, and I am a voluntary youth leader at Mary MacKillop Parish for a youth group called Flame.

Flame is a fruit of world youth Day 2008. we meet fortnightly on sunday nights to praise god through music, to pray together, to discuss faith issues, or simply for fellowship. we are also doing fundraising to send some young people to wyD in Madrid next year; so we hold barbecues and other fundraiser events.

I believe god calls each of us to a particular mission and since wyD08, he has been working within the hearts of many in the parish. I guess god planted the seed and used us to help make it grow. so Flame was a joint vision rooted in the calling of Christ. as a young person, I felt, and still feel, that it is so important not to travel our faith journeys alone. god places people in our lives to learn from, talk to, and grow with.

In Flame, we continue to learn

from one another and discover god’s personal love for each one of us. one thing I learned early on is that god touches people in different ways when we are open to him, for he alone knows our hearts. Flame therefore has a dynamic structure. some weeks, we have guest speakers come and talk or give testimonies, other weeks we have scriptural reflection and discussion. we always have prayer, a game and praise and worship. sometimes we may pray the rosary or go to the Blessed sacrament. or we may decide to go out for dinner or just hang out.

the most rewarding aspect of Flame is definitely witnessing god’s love completely transform lives. I love seeing others share their faith, and watching god work in and through them in beautiful ways.

I hope to finish my course in two years so I can bring the truth and love of Christ to the children I teach. But, as for other plans, my mind goes to Matthew 6:25, where jesus tells us to take one day at a time and not worry about the future. right now, I leave my goals in god’s hands. But I pray that that involves some kind of mission work so I can continue witnessing to the love and blessings only god can provide to a world that is in desperate need of his light. n

The Flame of fellowship

KAIROS CATHOLIC JOURNAL • WWW.KAIROS.COM.AU18

education

obituary

the aCaDeMy oF Mary IMMaCuLate CeLeBrateD MerCy Day on Friday 10 september. Mass at st Patrick’s Cathedral was followed by lunch and entertainment by a police band in the school hall.

Mercy Day honours the work of the sisters of Mercy who provide education and care worldwide.

after lunch the school houses each performed an act. sherlock’s Hercules and Mcauley’s Cinderella. goold’s and Frayne’s memorable presentations followed. then the year 12s dazzled with their enthusiastic renditions of Katy Perry’s California Girls and justin Bieber’s Baby. n

Katie Ryman is a Year 10 student at the Academy of Mary Immaculate who recently completed work experience at Catholic Communications Melbourne, an agency of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Full story www.cam.org.au/parish-news

Northcote teacher awarded

School goes ‘MAD’

Fr Vincent Curran

Pictured with the MAD day funds target poster are student leaders, from left: Ruben Gonsalvez, Amel Khoweiss, Natasha Cachart and Terry Ward.

Mercy DayBY KATIE RyMAN

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From left: Bianca Jafari, Tuyen Tran, Christina Reginato, Stefanie Urso, Heidi Roleff, Truc Nguyen.

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saNta MarIa CoLLege NorthCote teacher simon gitson was recently awarded a place on the spirit of anzac study tour.

to be eligible for the prize, simon submitted a project about australian military history. simon’s submission asked the question: why are the youth of australia now hearing the call of gallipoli?

the prize included workshops at the shrine of remembrance and a 15-day tour in september-october to sites relating to australian war history. these included gallipoli, the western Front (the somme and ypres), Drancy (Paris) and the Imperial war Museum (London).

the spirit of anzac prize is funded by the Victorian government and managed by the shrine of remembrance. nFull story www.cam.org.au/parish-news

BY AMEL KHOWEISS

oN thursDay 19 august, college leaders at st john’s regional College Dandenong ran a ‘MaD’ (Making a difference) day.

one of the activities on the day was an 8-kilometre walkathon, in which the whole school participated. our aim was to raise ‘twenty grand in twenty-ten’ for the Lasallian Foundation.

the atmosphere on the day was phenomenal, everyone was buzzing with excitement. the amount raised on the day was $16,500, a major effort which strongly conveys the enthusiastic spirit that overtook the entire school! n

Amel Khoweiss is a Year 12 student at St John’s Regional College, Dandenong.

Full story www.cam.org.au/parish-news

oN suNDay 3 oCtoBer 2010, Fr VINCeNt josePh CurraN PasseD away at st Catherine’s aged Care Facility, Balwyn.

Fr Curran was assistant Priest at Maidstone, Caulfield south, hampton, Fawkner and armadale. he was appointed Parish Priest of Ivanhoe west after which he returned to armadale as Parish Priest. upon retirement, he was appointed Pastor emeritus in 1993. the Pontifical Funeral Mass was celebrated at our Lady of Lourdes Church, 631 high st, east Prahran (armadale Parish) on Friday 8 october. the burial took place afterwards at the roman Catholic Mortuary Chapel, Melbourne general Cemetery. nFull story www.cam.org.au/parish-news

Fr Vincent Curran gives his first blessing to his brother, Fr Thomas Curran, pastor of Northcote, who acted as his chaplain for the ordination ceremony in 1966.

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Catholic school funding breakdownwIth the FeDeraL eLeCtIoN decided, attention now turns to the state election scheduled for November.

the Director of Catholic education in the archdiocese of Melbourne, stephen elder, said all governments needed to heed the call for fair funding for the Catholic sector. “If government funding for Catholic schools does not keep pace with government school costs, Catholic schools will be forced to raise fees, close schools or cut some programs.

“the bottom line is that Catholic schools cannot afford to have their funding frozen or taken away. we are asking for justice and fairness, that’s all.”

there are 488 Catholic schools in Victoria, educating 191,000 students, according to Mr elder. that equates to almost two in five students in Victoria being educated at a Catholic school.

all schools deserve to be adequately funded, including Catholic schools. the following charts and graphs illustrate the situation in terms of what Catholic schools receive compared with government schools. n

This article first appeared in Catholic Education Today.

0

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4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

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$11,880

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$7,427

GAP = 37%63%

Independent 14.2%

Catholic 22.2%

Government 63.6%

190,807 students488 schools

Fees from parents:$2,948

Total per student: $10,366

Government72%

Parents28%

GRAPH 3 (left)Total spending per student, Victorian Catholic schools, 2008Source: National report on schooling in Australia, 2008.

GRAPH 1 (above)Government funding gap, 2008 ($per student)Source: Analysis of Productivity Commission data, Independent consultant report. Note: Recurrent resources per student in school paid for by all governments.

GRAPH 2 (above)Enrolment share, VictoriaSource: 2009 DEECD share, 2010 CECV census

KAIROS CATHOLIC JOURNAL • WWW.KAIROS.COM.AU20

localnews

Listen with the ear of your heartBY ALLAN ANSELL

I reCeNtLy haD the opportunity to visit Bury st edmunds in suffolk. In the centre of town lay the ruins of the st edmunds abbey, once a large and prosperous Benedictine monastery. there was something about these ruins which resonated with me. there was something about the stones and the rhythm of life that they had witnessed. there was something about the openness of the ruins, no longer able to contain the sound of chants, prayer and song. there was something about all this physical substance, stone on stone, chalky mortar, large fragments of flags, smooth and moss covered; that which housed the Benedictine contemplative tradition in grandeur was now in ruins but the tradition itself had continued on in its simple and disciplined way. the church, once majestic, had crumbled but the prayer, ever humble, had continued.

an opportunity to spend a weekend at a Cistercian abbey near Melbourne arose and again set me reflecting on things Benedictine. st edmunds abbey, suffolk, segued into tarrawarra abbey, yarra glen.

tarrawarra abbey is a Cistercian community. the Cistercians are the ‘breakaway’ Benedictines who, in 1098, rejected what they felt were liberal elements creeping into Benedictine observances and practices, and established their own monastery in the French town of Citeaux, which lent its name to the order.

I wanted to immerse myself as much as possible in a contemplative rhythm that had continued uninterrupted for 1500 years; revived and reformed perhaps, but continuous nevertheless. on my arrival, Brother john duly appeared with full old-Dutch-style beard flowing. ensconced in my cell, actually a quite comfortable bedroom, prayer timetable in hand, I began to engage with the environment and process I had committed to for the weekend.

the Cistercian day is divided into seven offices:1. the office of Vigils, which begins the

monastic day at 4am.2. the office of Lauds at 6am, when

the community celebrates the eucharist.

3. the office of terce at 8am.4. the office of sext at 11.15am

concludes the morning.5. the office of None is observed at

1.40pm.6. the office of Vespers is sung at 6pm.7. the office of Compline, at 8pm,

brings the day to a close.Vespers at 6pm. I sat in the west

transept of the church, not quite brave enough to join the Brothers in the prayer stalls. In this first encounter with the monastic prayer cycle I was something of a passive but nevertheless entranced observer. I had, though, entered the monastic contemplative pattern of prayer. I returned for Compline and returned also to the west transept. I missed Vigils by 15 minutes, made Lauds and by terce I had overcome my bashfulness and joined the Brothers in the stalls allocated for visitors. and so the weekend unfolded

with me scurrying back and forward to the abbey church at the appointed times, my thinning pate reminiscent of tonsuring and lending itself to the image of some sort of delinquent medieval geriatric novice.

I remember reading somewhere that st Benedict once said: “Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.” the truth of this sentiment gradually surfaced for me over my weekend at tarrawarra. Listen. Listen to the beauty of the chant and song. Listen to the prayer that is work which takes place between offices. Listen to the silence observed. Listen for god’s voice.

I tried to spend as much time in silence – complete silence – as I could. this is not such a challenge for a partially deaf fellow in a monastery. even so I came away feeling that I had a greater awareness of what silence might be rather than being able to claim any real experience of it.

attending with the ear of the heart was the greater challenge. the laptop in the boot of my car, like some technological siren, whispered temptingly to me for most of the weekend but failed to secure its release. the same with the bag of school work I had, the newspapers I had

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The abbey church at Tarrawarra Abbey.

17 – 30 OctOber 201021

thrown on the back seat, the little CD player that lives in the glove box and so on and so on.

the ear of the heart requires silence and discipline. Perhaps only a lifetime spent as a contemplative Brother can equip one’s heart to hear real silence.

Material distractions aside, there was for me the greater obstacle of an overly active, if not overly bright, mind. sometimes, as I have come to realise, we have to be pro-active in our quest to listen with the heart and actually remove ourselves from distractions, whatever they may be, to best position ourselves to cultivate a heart listening. I have been just a little naive in thinking that this could be accomplished in the normal hurly-burly of daily life. this particular retreat experience taught me the value and advantage of entering into a community where silence is the norm, not some illusionary desire lost amid the business of daily life where noise is the norm.

the greatest challenge for me was in a sense the most easily managed aspect of the weekend: getting to the church on time. It takes real discipline and commitment to fit your daily activity into your prayer life rather than what for me is the more usual, fitting my prayer life into my daily activity.

at tarrawarra, if you hear the church bell you are too late. It marks commencement, not preparation. one more page finished in the book, the cup of tea drunk while still hot, the misjudged time for a walk – there seemed no end of obstacles between the abbey church and me.

of course the only real obstacle was my mindset. I talk to god when it is convenient for me. the Cistercians challenged me to review this way of thinking. It is god that is important, not me or what I might be doing. they are a Bolshie lot, the Cistercians, as this is quite a counter-cultural notion in the present age.

I would unreservedly recommend a weekend at the abbey. there is the insight it offers into contemplative prayer; but on a simpler, perhaps more profound level, it compels us to stop, to disengage with what we might consider important, even essential, and engage with god. this enforced arresting of the headlong rush through daily life to simply be still is, I feel, of immeasurable value. n

Allan Ansell is Head of Religion, Sacred Heart College, Geelong.

BY DOCTOR MARy MARTIN

I oFteN say that I DID Not truly learn gynecology until I was instructed in the Billings ovulation Method.

as a 1995 graduate of a respectable residency program in obstetrics and gynecology in the united states, I was given the usual armamentarium of tools to diagnose and treat fertility and gynecologic disorders. In fact, compared with many, my in-training exposures and teachers were exceptional. But looking back, I see how really handicapped physicians are by the conventional approach to ovulatory disorders. we rely on contraceptive products to treat the majority of gynecologic disorders in a shotgun approach: “try this and see if it helps”.

armed with my good training, I approached my first gynecology patients in the standard fashion. I prescribed progestins in a knee-jerk response to bleeding intervals longer than 28 days, prescribed oral contraceptive pills (oCPs) to ‘regulate’ cycles and to treat the multitude of other disorders for which they are recommended. I soon realised, however, that the same women for whom I was prescribing often had ovulatory activity on ultrasonography, as well as many side effects. I stopped prescribing on 1 March 1999.

having made my decision for personal reasons, I sought a viable alternative. about this time I met sue ek, the executive director of the Billings ovulation Method association-usa and was invited to attend a teacher-training session the following summer.

australian senior teachers Marian Corkill and gillian Barker presented scientific data which predated the pill, and surprisingly, was current and contemporary with modern gynecology. I was also surprised to learn that scientists erik odeblad,

MD, PhD, and james Brown, Msci, PhD – two of the scientists who introduced oCPs to the world – had had concerns about high-dose steroid use for the 35-plus years of the female reproductive life which stimulated them to do research in natural fertility detection.

the Billings ovulation Method turned the menstrual cycle upside down! No longer was I questioning when the last period was in my clinical history-taking, but calculating the likelihood of ovulation. the Billings ovulation Method made it clear to me that ovulation disorders cause menstrual disorders. If you want to diagnose and treat gynecologic problems, you first have to diagnose and treat ovulatory problems. the Billings chart, which represents the actual ovarian production of estrogen and progesterone throughout the cycle, is a roadmap.

I also learned how effective the Billings ovulation Method is for preventing or postponing pregnancy. Various published studies document 99%-plus effectiveness. there have been only three unplanned pregnancies among my Billings ovulation Method patients within the past decade, and all admitted to breaking the second early-day rule.

while the Billings ovulation Method has an 80% worldwide success rate for achieving pregnancy, the tools learned from Billings research, with my own clinical observations and surgical techniques, have far surpassed that. Now that I have this information, I would not return to the unenlightened methods of my early training. n

Mary Martin, MD, FACOG, practises at the Billings Centre for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine, St Anthony Hospital, Oklahoma City.

Dr Mary Martin

Women’s health – what gets results? Billings does!

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Bishop Porteous on ecclesial movements

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BY DAVID SCHüTz

Bishop Julian Porteous is Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney and Episcopal Vicar for Renewal and Evangelisation. He was recently in Melbourne and spoke to David Schütz about his latest book, A New Wine and Fresh Skins: Ecclesial Movements in the Church.

Your new book is about ecclesial movements. What is an ‘ecclesial movement’?

an ecclesial movement involves not just lay people, not just religious, nor is it a purely clerical movement but all three; and single life as well – the four basic states of life being realised within a single movement. there is very evidently a grace that carries them, something new that animates people to a new discovery of how they can live their faith.Were the movements something you were interested in while in parish ministry or is this something which has come with your new perspective as a bishop?

My own personal journey has been closely associated with ecclesial movements as they have developed in australia. as a bishop, I have come to think more broadly about them, to look more generally at the reality of the Church today.In your book you explain that the Holy spirit is the ‘soul’ of the Church. Can you expand on that?

I would attribute that to Pope Paul VI, who had a particularly fine appreciation of the role of the holy spirit in the Church. the real history of the Church is a spiritual journey, not a political one. It has a political life and social life, institutions and agencies and activities – but the animating principle behind all this is its spiritual life. we often do not give enough consciousness to the fact that the Church in the end is a work of god, of the holy spirit.Could you share a personal story that strikes you as demonstrating what life is like for someone in the movements?

I think the movements are going to give rise to a whole lot of new saints. a young woman called Chiara Luce was involved with her parents in the Focolare movement, and she was stricken down with cancer. she died at the age of 18, but her testimony and her whole spirit was an extraordinary one of living in profound union with Christ. her whole desire was to bring the love of god into every relationship, which is one of the components of the Focolare spirituality. Now she is about to be beatified, even before Chiara Lubich, who founded Focolare.How can involvement in movements affect married couples’ faith?

the ecclesial movement can bring to married couples and families a way of actually living the Catholic life with intense authenticity. they provide not only formation of the parents but also the children. I visited a family in sydney a couple of months back. the children, before they went off to bed, went with their parents to that part of the lounge room where they had a shrine, a statue of our Lady and candles, and the whole family gathered in front for prayer.

What happens with a community when the founder dies?

the whole question of leadership is a critical issue. Movements need to have a transition from focus on the leader to leaders who may have been elected by some groups in the community and preferably should have terms of office so they are not the leader for their entire lifetime.In some parts of the world, movements are a major focus of Church life. What is the situation in the Church in Australia?

Many movements are present in australia. Most of them are relatively small. But that means there is a diversity and that the movements are making a contribution, not so much as movements as such but as the members of the movements contributing to the Church. they have positions of leadership or diocesan positions, and are involved in other activities. a lot of ordinary Catholics would not be aware of their presence or their contribution but we should not underestimate the fact that the movements are making a significant contribution. there would be thousands of Catholics in australia whose life in the Church and whose contribution to its life and mission have been animated by participation in the movements.What is the greatest gift you believe the new movements have brought to the Church?

at the present moment the Catholic Church in a country like australia is struggling to come to grips with changes in society, mainly influenced by the rise of secularism. there has been significant loss of faith. I think movements are key because they are touching individual Catholics and bringing about a great revitalisation of their faith and drawing them back into the heart of the Church. n

David Schütz is Executive Officer of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission, Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Bishop Porteous

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Spinning stem-cell fairytales

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BY FATHER TADEUSz PACHOLCzyK

DIsCussIoNs aBout the morality of stem-cell research often focus on the differences between adult stem cells and stem cells derived from embryos. the adult variety, such as those derived from bone marrow or umbilical cords, are already providing an impressive array of treatments and cures for sick people, while the embryonic kind are not. adult stem cells can be obtained without crossing any moral boundaries, whereas embryonic stem cells cannot, because they are obtained by destroying young human beings who are still in their embryonic stages of growth.

In spite of great progress in identifying ever more powerful adult stem-cell sources, scientists still clamour for embryos. even in the face of impressive new technologies for making ‘embryonic-like’ stem cells without using embryos, the chorus of voices pushing for the sacrifice of embryos seems only to grow louder. Indeed, one of the most common questions I encounter when I give talks about stem cells is why scientists and politicians are so intent on pursuing the destruction of human embryos when so many other non-embryonic sources of stem cells are available that are already helping countless patients with serious diseases. what is behind this incessant drumbeat to go after the human embryo?

one can sense a certain ‘logic of killing’ that hovers in the wings of these discussions. If tiny human embryos

were to be safeguarded and protected by law, this would constitute a threat, if not a frontal assault, to legalised abortion on demand, which routinely allows us to end the lives of older, almost-born humans more than 3000 times every day just in the united states by surgical means, and many more each day through chemical means. this desire to sanction current immoral practices is certainly one reason we see continuing pressure to allow the destruction of human embryos for research.

Pope Benedict XVI in a recent address spoke of resisting “those forms of research that provide for the planned suppression of human beings who already exist, even if they have not yet been born”. “research, in such cases, irrespective of efficacious therapeutic results, is not truly at the service of humanity.”

In our society, however, the hype surrounding the harvesting of human embryos as a way to cure nearly every disease has taken on the form of a popular mythology. a Washington Post article summarised it this way a few years ago: “‘to start with, people need a fairytale,’ said ronald D.g. Mckay,

a stem-cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and stroke. ‘Maybe that’s unfair, but they need a story line that’s relatively simple to understand.’ human embryonic stem cells have the capacity to morph into virtually any kind of tissue, leading many scientists to believe they could serve as a ‘universal patch’ for injured organs.”

this idea, though still speculative, is straightforward and easy to sell, especially to desperate patients and patient-advocacy groups. some scientists are happy to perpetuate the myth, too, believing that this kind of ‘master cell’ from the earliest stages of human life could help unlock some of the most primordial and tantalising biological powers mankind has ever seen — almost god-like powers, leading to the ‘tree of Life’ itself. as some researchers ambitiously seek to wrench control of those life-powers into their own hands, it should perhaps come as no surprise when they yield to the seductive siren call of our day: “one life can sometimes be taken for the benefit of another”, and “good ends can sometimes justify evil means”.

In a way, then, embryonic stem cells have become a great modern secular fairytale, even a kind of surrogate for our yearning for immortality. People are being told that alzheimer’s can be helped; Parkinson’s can be overcome; diabetes can be defeated; and Ms can be conquered. who knows? Perhaps we could extend our longevity, defeat aging, and live as if we were always young. Perhaps we could even defeat death itself through these powerful cells! Vanquishing death and achieving immortality through science — the reality-bending power of these myths and fairytales should not be underestimated.

In the final analysis, the “planned suppression of human beings” cannot be allowed to continue to creep into the practice of modern science and medicine. our yearnings for various goods and blessings, like healing and new medical therapies, must always be tempered by our duty to pursue responsible and completely ethical science. only by insisting on the use of upright means to achieve good ends can we steer clear of the Nazi-like drive to subjugate and destroy others in our quest for desirable outcomes. only then can science be a force for authentic healing and truly stand at the service of humanity. n

Fr Tad Pacholczyk is a neuroscientist and Director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.

This article is reprinted from Fr Pacholczyk’s Making Sense out of Bioethics column for September 2010. www.ncbcenter.org

Fr Tad Pacholczyk

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Anna Krohn

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BY ANNA KROHN

The previous four articles in this Kairos series have explored briefly some of the key ideas in Pope John Paul II’s first 22 talks of his profound Theology of the Body (TOB) teachings.

Pope John Paul II takes as his guide what Jesus himself suggests is the authority of ‘the beginning’ (Matt 19:3-8), when God’s original creative intention and plan for human life and love was revealed in the inspired narrative of the first chapters of Genesis. In the Pope’s first cycle of talks, the word ‘original’ is a theological key. He attempts to trace the family likeness between the ‘original’ human couple with its original desires, original self-awareness and original happiness, to our hunger for love, communion and fulfilment as men and women today.

IN a DeePLy theoLogICaL reflection which occupies several weeks of his wednesday audiences, Pope john Paul II reminds us that the human person and his or her life in, with and through a body is a sign and “a witness to creation as a fundamental gift”.

st john’s gospel opens: “In the beginning was the word (greek = logos)”. Pope john Paul II proposes that in the beginning was ‘the gift’. In fact, we might summarise all his theology of body, mind and heart in one dramatic gesture: the giving and receiving of the gift.

each person, Pope john Paul II says, like our ‘original’ parents, not only ‘speaks’ through the mystery, fragility and beauty of his or her body, but also “bears within himself (and herself) the inner dimension of the gift” (TOB 19:3). at first, adam and eve were able to see themselves and each other in this light. even the blurring and distorting effects of sin, alienation, disability and failure cannot eradicate the true ‘image of god’ which is formed so

dynamically in the divine artwork of our experience of bodily life.

we can say that our bodies are like fragile and luminous wedding gifts from god the Father. they bear an inner meaning which we are invited to offer as a gift on our way to the final wedding banquet with god, the Blessed trinity of Persons. our bodies and therefore our sexuality are shaped to be wedding gifts; they are sealed with ‘spousal’ meaning. sexuality can only be aptly experienced, given and received in a ‘spousal’ way: freely, reciprocally, generously, faithfully and totally.

Professor jose granados captures the Pope’s thinking beautifully: “we are children (of the one god) who are made to be spouses.”

Pope john Paul II emphasises that in the ‘beginning’ man and his wife “were naked but not ashamed” (gen 2:25). their original ‘seeing’ of each other in all the fragility of their naked bodies was rich, mature and unselfish. they saw each other with wonder, gratitude and reverence. adam appreciated that eve was a person “made for her own

sake by the Creator” (TOB 15:3). he was able, in a moral sense, to see his beloved’s feminine body with something of “the Creator’s vision” (TOB 13:1). there was, the Pope reflects, no struggle between the physical and the spiritual, between the erotic and the moral, or between intimacy and outward attraction.

st augustine once wrote that humanity longed to “be seen” with this intimate and pure desire. Indeed, this type of ‘original’ vision can be glimpsed again in the transforming grace and virtue of a true spousal love.

But being affected by ingratitude and sin, we are forever tempted to view the naked body as a thing – something that induces lust, envy, greed or brutality. the power of exploitative billboards, the consumerisation of pornography and the horrific shame of the naked bodies of auschwitz do violence to the ‘original’ dignity of the body.

Pope john Paul II suggests that the tragic loss of the beautiful clarity and purity of ‘original’ nakedness is not simply that humanity is lustful, violent and stupid but because we break the First Commandment. we fail to accept ourselves as gifts from god; we refuse “to accept the fullness of love” (TOB 11:2)

with a sort of divine irony, the genesis text states that when adam and eve sinned “their eyes were opened”. But in reality they became blind to the true value of god’s gift of creation, of their bodies and of each other. n

Anna Krohn is a sessional tutor in the Nursing Department at Australian Catholic University and an academic skills adviser at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family.

Theology of the Body Part V – in the beginning was the wedding gift

17 – 30 OctOber 201027

Ask Anna!QUestIons ABoUt tHeoLoGY oF tHe BoDY?

send your questions to kairos@cam.org.auorKairos, Po Box 146 east Melbourne 8002

Stone by stone the people of Timor Leste are rebuilding their community.

Please give generously in your parish.

Visit catholicmission.org.au or call 1800 257 296 to donate now.

ARE CHRISTIANS HUNG UP ABOUT NUDITY?NuDIsts are PeoPLe who try to overcome the customary shyness that we experience at being naked in public by contriving to encourage communal nudity. they imagine that their lifestyle is a natural and liberating way of valuing the human body. Pope john Paul II, by contrast, argues that it is ‘natural’ and good for us to be reserved about exposing what we call the ‘private’ aspects of our bodies to others. It is not a virtue to be ‘shameless’. It is not being ‘free’ to freely expose ourselves.

since we have lost our ‘original innocence’ we are prone to objectify the naked body so that we can use it or sell it. Far from valuing the intimate meaning of the body we are blind to the body’s true meaning and beauty.

Pope john Paul II writes that not all appearances of the naked body are lust inducing or blind to personal meaning. some great works of art are studies of the naked man or woman which are both beautiful and evocative of the importance of modesty. Modesty – or the true respect of the body’s meaning – can be a question of attitude, posture and intention. the doctor examining a patient or a physiotherapist giving massage to a football player is also rightly aware of the need to be both candid and respectful of a person’s nakedness.

Pope Benedict XVI writes in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (§31) that love is the opposite of blindness. true love protects the immeasurable dignity, enchanting beauty and vulnerability of the human body – especially in relation to its sexual identity.

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John Stewart has been an Anglican priest for 36 years working in city and country ministries. He was the Director of the Melbourne Diocesan Retreat House at Cheltenham and for the past decade has been Parish Priest at Holy Trinity East Melbourne as well as Director of the Living Well Centre for Christian Spirituality.

A silent retreat enables us all to deepen our experience of meditation and of our awareness of God within us. Suitable for new and experienced meditators. Numbers are limited.

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“Tend only to the birth in you” (Meister Eckhart)

November Retreat

Friday 12th –Sunday 14th

November 2010

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Millgrove(Near Warburton)

You are warmly invited to attend this Retreat

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whatthepopesaidworldnewsCatholic witness among the Buddhiststhe aNCIeNt CIty oF aNuraDhaPura IN northern sri Lanka is regarded as the centre of the theravada Buddhist school. Its followers believe they follow the original teaching of the Buddha.

today anuradhapura is also the seat of a Catholic diocese. about 10,000 Catholics, just 1% of the population, live in the region, which covers 7200 square kilometres.

Bishop Norbert andradi has been in charge of the diocese since 2004. he is supported by 250 catechists, 59 religious sisters and 27 priests. there are 18 seminarians training for the priesthood. they too will be greatly needed by the diocese, since it is far from easy to provide regular pastoral care for all the widely scattered Catholic faithful.

Bishop andradi is concerned for their welfare, particularly the children. since many Christian children receive no religious instruction in the state schools and hence, frequently, no Christian education at all, he is strongly promoting catechesis among the children and young people. “when one partner in a marriage is Buddhist, or where neither parent actually practises any particular faith, the children will not have any Christian upbringing at home. that is why we offer religious instruction on sundays,” Bishop andradi said.

“we are always being accused of seeking only to convert Buddhists,” he says. “But this accusation applies, if at all, rather to some of the Protestant groups. we are much more concerned about the quality of our Christian witness.” n Acn

China’s one-child policy will cause ‘demographic disaster’the ChINese goVerNMeNt has saID Its oNe-child policy will remain in place.

In response, joseph Meany, Director of international coordination at human Life International, said the Chinese government’s population control policy was “stubbornly persisting in leading their country into a demographic disaster”.

“It is simply incomprehensible that China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission can seriously mean to extend this destructive policy for an unspecified number of decades into the future,” said Meaney.

“China’s population is currently projected to start shrinking in absolute numbers by 2026, but the coerced low fertility of Chinese women means that the People’s republic of China is one of the fastest-ageing societies in the world.”

Noting that there are often four grandparents for each child as a result of the policy, Meaney asked how the Chinese government planned to pay the pensions of hundreds of millions of elderly.

“one shudders to think what draconian measures will be implemented by the Chinese government once it becomes fully apparent that they cannot financially support the millions of disabled and elderly persons who are no longer seen as contributing to society. Coercive euthanasia cannot be far behind.” n cnA

Pope to pray for Catholic universitiesPoPe BeNeDICt XVI wILL Pray throughout october for Catholic universities, particularly that they might become places where people find a faith-reason unity.

the Pope’s general prayer intention is: “that Catholic universities may increasingly become places where, in light of the gospel, people may experience the unity of faith and reason.”

the holy Father also chooses an apostolic intention for each month. In october he will pray: “that world Mission Day may help Christians realise that the task of proclaiming Christ is a necessary service to which the Church is called for the benefit of humanity.”

world Mission Day is on the third sunday of october. n ZENIT

Pope says attention to liturgy is path to relationship with GodDesCrIBINg the eXeMPLary LIFe oF a 13th-century german nun, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the importance of liturgy in building a close relationship with god.

st Matilda of hackeborn was one of several strong and influential women who lived at the convent of helfta, in the saxony region of germany. st Matilda, a mystic whose lovely voice led her to become the leader of the convent’s choir, progressed in spiritual understanding through the formal prayers of the Church, the Pope said.

“Dear friends, the personal and liturgical prayers, especially the Liturgy of the hours and holy Mass, are the roots of the spiritual experience of st Matilda of hackeborn,” he said. “By letting herself be guided by the sacred scriptures and nourished by the bread of holy Communion, she followed a path of intimate union with the Lord.”

st Matilda was born in 1241 or 1242 to a noble family. the eldest daughter already served as abbess at the helfta convent. Fascinated by her elder sister and the atmosphere of the convent, the young Matilda decided early on that she wanted to follow a life of contemplation and service to god.

she soon became known as an intensely spiritual and intellectual figure who was able to understand and console her spiritual sisters when they were troubled. her devotion to mystical contemplation also led to her gift of ‘divine illumination’.

she was appointed leader not only of the choir, but also of the convent’s novices and its school. st Matilda’s ability to “live the liturgy in all of its components, even the most simple, and incorporate them into the daily monastic life was remarkable” and her knowledge of scripture profound, the Pope said.

st Matilda became the spiritual guide of st gertrude the great, another important figure of germanic monasticism.

st Matilda died at age 58 after eight years of a painful illness, an experience that allowed her to “live in suffering for the salvation of others”, the Pope said. n cns

17 – 30 OctOber 201029

feastday ALL SAINTS – 1 NOVeMBeR

BY SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUx, ABBOT AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

This excerpt from a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux (Sermo 2: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 5 [1968], 364-368) is used in the Roman Office of Readings for the Feast (Solemnity) of All Saints on 1 November.

why shouLD our PraIse aND glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? what do they care about earthly honours when their heavenly Father honours them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the son? what does our commendation mean to them? the saints have no need of honour from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.

Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. we long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of Patriarchs, the ranks of the Prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins. In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints. But our dispositions change. the Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it. the saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent. the souls of the just await us, and we ignore them.

Come, brothers, let us at length spur ourselves on. we must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us. we should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness. while we desire

to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory. Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory.

when we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory. until then we see him, not as he is, but as he became for our sake. he is our head, crowned, not with glory, but with the thorns of our sins. as members of that head, crowned with thorns, we should be ashamed to live in luxury; his purple robes are a mockery rather than an

honour. when Christ comes again, his death shall no longer be proclaimed, and we shall know that we also have died, and that our life is hidden with him. the glorious head of the Church will appear and his glorified members will shine in splendor with him, when he forms this lowly body anew into such glory as belongs to himself, its head.

therefore, we should aim at attaining this glory with a wholehearted and prudent desire. that we may rightly hope and strive for such blessedness, we must above all seek the prayers of the saints. thus, what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession. n

www.crossroadsinitiative.com

What is beyond us might be granted us

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The Southern Sudanese Community Association are asking for our prayers for the people of Sudan.

In January 2011, Sudanese will vote in a referendum to determine whether Sudan will remain a united country or be divided into an independent Southern (Christian-Catholic) state and a Moslem state in the North. The expectation is that the people of Sudan will vote to form an independent country.

The Sudanese government is beginning to question the need for this referendum and Sudanese people fear military action may be taken against the South Sudanese to prevent it. Please pray for a safe and free election with a just outcome.

Prayers for Sudanese

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C E N T R A L C A T H O L I C B O O K S H O PFAITHFULLY EXPRESSING THE CATHOLIC TRADITION

The first half of the twentieth centiry saw the emergence of three renewal movements in Catholic thought - the biblical, the patristic, and the liturgical. Scott Hahn shows how these movements converge and flourish in Benedict’s theology. It is a theology of great pwoer and beauty, and Hahn’s introduction to it is vivid and enthralling. Covenant and Communion reveals the hidden key that unlocks the mind of Benedict XVI.

Covenant and Communion: the Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI

Scott Hahn

PB $29.95

BY DEACON ANTHONy GOOLEy

oNe area oF CoNFusIoN about Catholics and the Bible concerns private interpretation. Many reformers (16th century) taught that any individual Christian guided by the holy spirit could understand the truths of the Bible. Churches that developed along these lines from the reformation often call this private interpretation. sometimes they may say two or three Christians assembled is sufficient. this is in contrast to the

Catholic and orthodox teaching that authentic interpretation of scripture is a work of the whole Church and authoritative interpretation requires the judgement of the bishops because of their apostolic ministry in the Church.

Concern about private and diverse interpretation, and further divisions in the Christian community which sometimes followed, may have contributed to the caution the Catholic Church showed in the past toward reading the Bible. Prior to the invention of the printing press (about 50 years before the reformation), Bibles were copied by hand and therefore very expensive. there were numerous unofficial translations available in the developing vernacular

languages but few would have seen them. and of course most people were illiterate until very recent times.

Dei Verbum encouraged all Catholics to read, study and pray the Bible and increased the amount of scripture used in the liturgy and celebration of sacraments (DV 22, 24). the Council hoped that such contact with the Bible would foster spiritual renewal (DV 26). we saw also that the Council encouraged biblical scholars to use their skills at the service of the Church to open up the meaning of scripture so that the Church could receive the truth god wished to communicate for our salvation (DV 11, 12).

reading the Bible as an individual or with a group of Christians or as a biblical scholar does not confer the gift of definitively interpreting scripture. Catholics are encouraged to draw insights which nourish their spiritual life from Bible study and to meditate on scripture (Lectio Divina) but this is not the same as declaring that a particular insight gained from this is the true or correct interpretation of the text. a scholar may help uncover aspects of the truth of a biblical text but his or her research is not then the only and definitive way of interpreting god’s meaning.

“scripture must be read and interpreted in the sacred spirit in which it was written” and “attention must be given to the content and unity of the whole of scripture if the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out” (DV 12). a person may, for example, quote the Book of Leviticus as evidence that Christians believe adulterers should be stoned to death but may miss the text of jesus dealing with this very situation in the gospel and challenging those without sin to cast the first stone.

the scriptures were revealed not to individuals but to a People, first to the jews, and later to the Church. therefore “interpreting scripture is subject finally to the judgement of the Church, which carries out the divine commission and ministry of guarding and interpreting the word of god” (DV 12). the scriptures are received as the word of god by the whole community of the Church, within which the bishops, the successors of the apostles, have the charism and authority of interpretation. n

Interpreting the Bible

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17 – 30 OctOber 201031

perspective BY FATHER GERARD DOWLING OAM Dean Emeritus OAM Spiritual Director of Centacare Catholic Family Services, Melbourne.

as the ForMaL aCt oF declaring Mary MacKillop a saint comes ever closer, the media coverage in this country will reach saturation point. I say that, not only in regard to the religious world, but very much the secular media as well.

a fellow australian being canonised by the Pope is unprecedented, and it is an event that will be a source of national pride for us ‘down under’. Countless people who know virtually nothing about this person and about her work will be basking in her reflected glory, in a similar fashion as they did when the america’s Cup came to our shores for the first time.

For those of us to whom spiritual matters are genuinely important, this event is profoundly significant. But, just as singers and artists are usually ignored in australia until they have achieved recognition overseas, so the concept of an australian being heroically holy is seen as being beyond us. Maybe it is because many of those who occupy this great south Land are still living with the memory that our country began as a dumping ground for felons from Britain.

In a related fashion, it seems that many who live out their lives under the glow of the southern Cross and who bear the name of Christian feel uncomfortable with the suggestion that they might be thought of as being holy. In other words, labelling a person as being ‘holy’ and, even more so, the possibility of an individual’s achieving exemplary holiness, is a concept that is usually summarily dismissed or even laughed about. From that commonly held point of view, the average individual in this country would rarely aspire in any practical way to being regarded as saintly.

and yet, in the gospel we actually have jesus urging his followers: “Be made perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).

In the light of that challenge on jesus’ part, it can reasonably be concluded that the Lord believes that anyone who hears the message of the gospel ought to aim at true saintliness and, what is more, that divine help is available to achieve that objective, if we are prepared to accept it.

therefore, although Mary MacKillop’s canonisation is a one-off, it can have relevance for any of us who are ready to learn from her down-to-earth example of striving for perfection. In other words, you and I can be like her, if we are prepared to take the risk of following her example. In the formative days of the Church, the early Christian were referred to as ‘the saints’. and that is how I view my fellow faithful today.

I have had a long association with Mary MacKillop, and a very fruitful one at that. My first knowledge of the existence of Mary MacKillop came, interestingly enough, from the Irish sisters of Charity who taught us. they were not put out by the fact that she did not belong to their order. they gladly taught us about her and her mission to the underprivileged of australia. we came to see her as a saint for all classes and all colours.

we knew her then as Mother Mary of the Cross, and we became aware of the massive biography of her by jesuit priest Fr george o’Neil. My own father’s involvement in the annual appeal day at the foundling home in Broadmeadows and my own involvement with its work as a priest/counsellor with Centacare Catholic Family services have kept me in regular contact with the uplifting work of the ‘Brown josephites’ over many years.

having a first cousin a josephite, one with whom I have journeyed in faith over my priestly life, has served to foster in me much of the mind and spirit of this extraordinary, inspired

woman who is about to be proclaimed a saint. and by a refreshing act of Divine Providence, for several years now I have been the weekly celebrant of the eucharist in the Mary of the Cross Centre, which adjoins the site in Fitzroy formerly occupied by the cottage, long since destroyed, in which Mary MacKillop was born on 15 january 1842. Naturally, she has been very much on my mind during those regular visits.

“gratitude,” Mary MacKillop affirmed, “is the memory of the heart”. so I have happily recalled these memories of mine for you now. In addition, it would be truly remiss of me if I did not put on record my profound appreciation for my wellbeing achieved under her patronage, when I was in a life-threatening struggle with cancer four years ago.

at that time my fellow parishioners from st Cecilia’s in south Camberwell, along with countless friends and supporters, thoughtfully participated in a Novena of Masses in honour of this marvellous person of faith, who is so soon to be proclaimed st Mary MacKillop. I like to believe that I have been cancer free for four years, since lying helplessly in the intensive-care unit in st Vincent’s Private hospital, which is fascinatingly situated in the suburb in which she was born, because she listened to the entreaties of those who wanted me to continue my ministry as a priest, and that she graciously interceded accordingly on their behalf for my wellbeing. n

As broadcast during the Family Counsellor Program over Radio Sport 927 on Sunday 10 October 2010.

Mary MacKillop, a saint for all Australians

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From left: Archbishop Denis Hart, Tony Evans (author) and Patricia Cowling, Principal of Genazzano.

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oN weDNesDay 29 sePteMBer, archbishop Denis hart launched William Wardell: Building with Conviction by anthony evans at genazzano FCj College.

archbishop hart commended the biography, describing it as “a magnificent contribution to better knowledge of the architect of the finest buildings in this colony”.

Born into lowly circumstances in London’s east end in 1823, william wilkinson wardell became one of australia’s greatest architects. his body of work includes two cathedrals,

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st Mary’s in sydney and st Patrick’s in Melbourne, as well as genazzano College, commissioned in 1889 for the sisters Faithful Companions of jesus,

The life of William Wardell

and completed in 1891.During his early years in australia,

wardell suffered sectarian animosity from members of his profession. Forced to leave Victoria in 1878, he was welcomed in sydney, where he was honoured as a leader of his profession. 

archbishop hart said wardell undertook works of great magnitude and “left behind him buildings of unparalleled beauty, which lift up the eye and inspire the heart”.

archbishop hart said he was particularly taken by the magnitude of the works which wardell undertook in england and wales, as well as australia.

Mr wardell was a convert to Catholicism and believed in the superiority of gothic architecture for church building.

“his work on our Cathedral and his harmonious design of many things inside it is an obvious expression of his deep Catholic faith and love, his incomparable skill and the resulting ability to lift up mind and heart to god,” archbishop hart said. n

William Wardell: Building with Conviction. By A.G. Evans, Connor Court, 314pp, PB $39.95, HB $49.95

17 – 30 OctOber 201033

BY PETER W. SHEEHAN

Eat Pray LoveStarring Julia Roberts, James Franco, Billy Crudup, Viola Davis, and Javier Bardem. Directed by Ryan Murphy. 140 mins. Rated M (Infrequent coarse language).

thIs MoVIe Is BaseD oN elizabeth gilbert’s memoir, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia, which was published in 2006. gilbert’s book remained on the New york times Best seller list for a very long time. Bringing this popular book to the screen requires a degree of sensitivity that has to reflect the nature of the response that us audiences gave, show respect for the integrity of another medium which keeps the spirit of the book’s appeal alive, and demonstrate quality acting and direction. the film, which is co-produced by Brad Pitt, is only partially successful in fulfilling these aims. the movie tries to capture the

tragedy of elizabeth’s heartbreak, but also stimulate viewers with the joy of a conflicted person’s private search for happiness.

julia roberts plays the part of elizabeth gilbert, who experiences a painful divorce. after the breakdown of her marriage, she embarks on a year-long journey to discover her true self, and risks almost everything to experience profound change in her life. her journey is epic in nature as she travels the globe in search of the inner peace and harmony that she is looking for, but which she has never found. she experiences the sensual pleasure of eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India, and finds love in Indonesia. Few actresses would attempt to tackle this role, but julia roberts brings to it her usual radiance and spontaneity. she is on camera virtually all the time, smiling, crying, and looking photogenic. however, ultimately, she delivers a performance that does not say a great deal about the personal growth of elizabeth gilbert. as a result, the movie leaves one with the feeling of shallowness and superficiality. whatever is there in gilbert’s book does not translate effectively to the screen.

the film is a wonderful travelogue. three countries are captured extremely scenically in the travels but, because elizabeth’s personality never really changes, the film suffers from a lack of depth. apart from some heavy philosophical introspections, and some good acting moments by roberts, james Franco, and javier Bardem, the movie fails to leave you seriously moved. elizabeth’s search to find herself comes across as self-indulgent rather than dramatic, or inherently interesting, and she seeks personal discovery of a spirituality that is almost entirely egocentric. Maybe the problem is that gilbert’s story needs to be read rather than heard or seen.

this movie also is overlong, though it is never hard to experience julia roberts’ particular radiance in action. the locations are wonderful, and they all capture the ambience and spirit of the countries that are shown. however, the film is full of clichés, and, overall, it does not greatly nourish the soul. n

Peter W. Sheehan is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.

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Film ReVIew

Book ReVIew

BY FATHER TOM BOLAND

A Lonely Road: Fr Ted McGrath, MSC. A Great AustralianBy John Hosie, ATF, Adelaide, 2010, PB, 460+ivpp

thIs Is aN eXtraorDINary book about an extraordinary man. It tells of the long life of a man of faith, of valour, of endurance. It begins in 1881 in the bush of north-east Victoria and moves through many places in australia, europe, asia and america. It is the story of a religious, a religious foundation and a victim of service.

Fr ted Mcgrath’s life, as told here, is in many ways a picture of what it is to be an australian. Born and bred to the land, he was a battler from the start. early an orphan, raised in the homes of relations, educated with great difficulty,

a railway worker, in all circumstances he was a convinced Christian.

From this difficult background he entered the Missionaries of the sacred heart and fought to stay with them all his life. his intense desire to do something for jesus and Mary and for the poor like himself brought him to the remarkable tiny, crippled woman, eileen o’Connor. together they established a group of Brown Nurses, who became the sisters of our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor. In a time when social welfare was unknown for the sick poor, they devoted themselves to their care in their own homes.

this generous, charitable venture put Fr Mcgrath and eileen on a collision course with the authorities in the Missionaries of the sacred heart and the archdiocese of sydney. he was expelled from his order.

although rome decided in favour of Fr Mcgrath, his society treated him with incredible inhumanity. the author deals with the harsh decisions that moved him through many countries, but not his native australia, with a clarity that exposes the wrong that can be done by good people. through it all, Fr Mcgrath determined to

remain a member of the society that for decades tried to get rid of him.

In the course of those decades, Fr Mcgrath served devotedly in many difficulties. In world war I he was a courageous army chaplain; with the British army, not the aIF. he was awarded the Military Cross for bravery and was also recommended for the Victoria Cross.

through all these vicissitudes, Fr Mcgrath grew into a profound spirituality. one of the virtues of the book is that it shows how a thorough australian can be thoroughly Christian, even saintly. john hosie has pursued his researches through all the phases and all the places of Fr Mcgrath’s life. he has made his subject a living person we can know and greatly admire.

the book’s cover is striking. Brown for the Brown Nurses, it shows Fr Mcgrath as an old man on whose tranquil face the tragedies of his life are etched. In the background is the young Fr Mcgrath, vigorous in uniform. above is a statue of st joseph with the Child jesus. It tells the whole story. n

Copies available from: (02) 9665 6331olnp@ourladysnurses.org.au

KAIROS CATHOLIC JOURNAL • WWW.KAIROS.COM.AU34

gospelreflections29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – year CCanonisation of Blessed Mary MacKillopEx 17:8-13; Tim 3:14-4:2; Lk 18:1-8

BY FATHER JUDE PIROTTA, MSSP, ST JAMES THE APOSTLE PARISH, HOPPERS CROSSING NORTH

IN toDay’s gosPeL LuKe teLLs us that thIs parable is about the need to pray constantly and never lose heart. according to the tradition of Israel a judge was expected to be impartial except to three groups of people – the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. Because these people lived in the absence of familial love and support, they were vulnerable in a society where influence and money talked. a judge was expected to be partial to them and champion their cause to ensure their rights. the religious law stated: “If you ill treat them in any way and they make appeal to me for help, I shall certainly hear their appeal” (ex 20:22).

when we meet the judge and the widow in the parable we meet them at a crisis point, where both of them are maimed. we have no case history for the widow but we do for the judge. he is a man who is influenced neither by religious principle nor by public opinion. Both justice and compassion are absent from his dealings with the widow. she has no influential friends to put pressure on the judge and she has no money to bribe him; all she has is the justice of her cause and her own persistence.

the justice of her cause, however, is clearly not enough. she has nerve and she exercises it relentlessly on the judge. he refuses her “for a long time” but she refuses for even longer to take him seriously! It becomes a war of nerves and eventually it is his nerves that give out: he grants her justice for the sake of his own health. the widow does the judge an enormous favour: she exhausts him into justice. her persistence pays off in the end.

In the parable, jesus is not comparing god to the unjust judge and suggesting that he answers prayers only to avoid being bothered further. rather, jesus contrasts god with the judge arguing that if an unjust man can come to justice eventually, how much more will god answer his chosen ones “when he delays to help them”. god has his own time and his delay in judgement can give people more time to repent.

jesus encourages us to be persistent in our prayer and never lose heart. In an age where we have become accustomed to instant results, we are impatient with what appears to be endless delays. But the values we cherish are not instantly available: values like peace and justice take time to establish. the danger is that we give up too quickly, that we rest our case too easily. we have to be persistent; we have to invest our time in our beliefs.

Prayer is an openness to the presence of god in our lives and a willingness to accept his demands of us, whatever they may be.

today, we australians rejoice as we celebrate one of our own being acknowledged as a saint. Mary MacKillop had a definite openness to this presence of god in her life and her life was truly one of prayer. May we continue our search for justice and, in the spirit of st Mary of the Cross, “never see a need without trying to do something about it”. n

MUSIC NOTES • Psalm: CWB 435 or GA 27-28 • Hymns: Praise to you, O Christ Our Saviour (AOV 28, G 210, GA 407, RS 652, TIS 258) God of Day and God of Darkness (AOV 56, G 319, GA 541, RS 826) Lord of All Hopefulness (CWB 738, NLP 142, RS 713, TIS 613) Seek Ye First (AOV 48, GA 456, RS 728, TIS 745) Those Who Love and Those Who Labour (RS 805) O Lord, Hear My Prayer (AOV 17, G 240, GA 431, RS 718, TIS 741) Tell Out My Soul (GA 550, NLP 239, TIS 161)

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – year CMission SundayEccles 35:12-14,16-19; Tim 4: 6-8,16-18; Lk 18:9-14

BY FATHER JUDE PIROTTA MSSP, ST JAMES APOSTLE PARISH, HOPPERS CROSSING NORTH

IN the gosPeL jesus aDDresses PeoPLe who pride themselves on their virtue while despising everyone else. they honour themselves by humiliating others. his listeners are in for a shock when he tells them the parable of the two men who go to the temple to pray. one was a good man, the other a real crook. one led a decent religious life; the other was mixed up in corruption.

the Pharisee addresses his prayer “to himself”. there is no doubt who is in the lead role, and his prayer sounds like the annual report of current assets. he blesses god that he is not like so many others, although he seems unsure about who exactly he is. he compares himself with the tax collector, whom he treats as a doormat to walk over. he fasts twice a week and gives 10% of his earnings to the poor. that is certainly good. If every Christian did that, the complexion of the world would change! But for all his giving, the Pharisee never gives himself. his real self is secret.

the tax collector stands far off in the shadows. he has no annual accounts to boast of, his percentage is stolen from his own people, including the poor. he tells the simple truth about himself: “god, be merciful to me, a sinner.” he knows the truth about who he really is, and he throws himself entirely on god’s mercy. he has nothing to offer god but his own wrongdoing and brokenness. they are his. he does not go outside himself, but recognises his truth and hopes that god’s mercy can take care of it. his real self is no secret.

again, as is common in Luke’s gospel, it is the poor or the outcast who are on the right track and who will be exalted. the Pharisee, who should know better, will be the one who experiences god’s dramatic reversal and will ultimately be humbled.

In the gospel jesus is described as a friend of tax collectors and sinners. jesus does not put their sinfulness on hold but enlarges their world by calling them away from sinfulness into the freedom of god’s mercy. For jesus, sinners were not just sinners, they were beloved sinners. they deserved more than violence, which keeps them oppressed in their wrongdoing, the violence that rubbishes them and writes them off.

If we come to pray and realise that our religion has a heavy investment in despising other people, then we will just go home as we came. ‘god, be merciful to us, sinners’ is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. anything else is for the mercy of god.

this gospel challenges each of us to think about what constitutes right worship, indicating that god is more impressed by humility and a recognition of our own need for healing. n

MUSIC NOTES • Psalm: CWB 438 or GA 36 • Hymns: In Faith and Hope and Love (CWB 722, GA 442, NLP 112, TIS 628) Seek, O Seek the Lord (CWB 802, GA 211, NLP 219, TIS 464) Abide with Me (AOV2 128, NLP 4, TIS 586) We Have No Other Boast (GA 491) Blest are They (AOV 55, G 284, GA 477, RS 774) The Servant Song (AOV2 169, G 285, GA 487, RS 788)

17 – 30 OctOber 201035

www.kairos.com.au

PARISH MASS TIMES

www.cam.org.au/mass-times

17 October7 November14 November

contact: 9657 0222 or email: corpuschristicollege@cam.org.au

REGULAR MASS TIMES IN CITy CHURCHES

St Patrick’s Cathedral • 1 Cathedral Place, East Melbourne

Sunday: 8am, 9.30am, 11am, 6:30pmMonday: 7am, 1pm Tue-Fri: 7am, 8am, 1pmSaturday: 8am, 6pm Vigil

St Francis’ Church • 326 Lonsdale St, Melbourne

Sunday: 6pm (Saturday evening), 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am, 11am, 12.30pm, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 6pm; Monday – Thursday: 7:30am, 8am, 11am, 12:05pm, 1:05 pm, 5:30pmFriday: 7:30am, 8am, 11am, 12pm, 1:05pm, 5:30pmSaturday: 8am, 11am, 12:05pmPublic Holidays: 8am, 11am, 12:05pm, 5:30pm

St Augustine’s Church • 631 Bourke St, Melbourne

Sunday: 10:30am & 8pmMon-Thurs: 1:05pmFriday: 1:05pm, 9pm (1st Friday)Saturday: 6pm International Youth Mass (3rd Saturday)

St Mary Star of the Sea Church • 33 Howard St, Melbourne West

Sunday: 10:30am; 12pm LithuanianMonday – Friday: 12:30pmSaturday: 6:30pm Sunday Vigil

All Saints • 174 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

Sunday: 10amtue-Sat: 9am

Seminary Community MassSacred Heart, Carlton has reopened as the Seminary Church of the Sacred Heart. All are welcome to join the seminary community on select Sundays for 11am Mass & 6pm Holy Hour with evening prayer.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE: Kairos is proudly printed in Australia on mill accredited ISO14001 Environmental Management System (EMS), Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF), Acid Free stock using soy-based inks (EcoMark certified).

PACKAGING: Packaging is 100% degradable plastic.

what’sonCLERGy APPOINTMENTS

Absence of ArchbishopThe Archbishop will be absent from 10-23 October 2010 to attend the Canonisation of Blessed Mary Mackillop. During that time any matters relating to the administration of the Archdiocese are to be referred to Bishop Tomlinson.

Providing dignified and understanding funeral care for

Melbourne families for generations.

Secure pre-paid funeral plan

Lonergans are Catholic Funeral specialists

all areas: 9489 8711187 Queens Pde, Clifton Hill 3068

family funerals • Incorporating W.G. Raven (est. 1849)

CLASSIFIEDSSOUTHERN STARS SOCIAL CLUB • A club for single Catholics with a group for 25 to 35 year olds (Young Stars Club) and a group for 35 to 50 year olds. Our activities include our popular Party Nights, Coffee Nights, Dancing Nights, Tennis Days and Walks. If you want to have an active social life and make new friends then ring Peter on 9885 2167 A/H or email to sssc.online@gmail.com. Also see http://sites.google.com/site/sstarssc/

HEARTS IN ACTION • Welcoming group for people in their late 20s, 30s and 40s seeking to build a network of Catholic friends. Two social events per month as well as a Gospel reflection evening. For more information or to join the mailing list please phone Christina on 0420 377 478 or see http://groups.google.com/group/hearts-in-action.

LOOkINg fOR AN INCLUSIvE COmmUNITy? • Cross-Purposes is an ecumenical support group for families with children with a disability. The Cross-Purposes community meets monthly on Fridays for parent support, consisting of reflection, prayer and conversation, and 6 times per year for Family Gatherings on Sunday afternoon. For more information call Cross-Purposes on (03) 8809 3014 or email cross-purposes@ucco.org.au.

CATHOLIC SOLO PARENTS INC. is a Catholic organisation which offers support, friendship, social and spiritual activities to singles, widowed, separated and divorced who uphold Christian values. Meetings are held at various venues. Please refer to our website: www.catholicsolos.com.au (under construction) or contact Margaret 9876 7986 (AH) for further information.

BRIGIDINE CONVENT MARIAN COLLEGE ARARAT REUNIONSunday 14 November, 2pm, Celtic Club, MelbournePhone: Sam Pinzone 9310 7413, George Canty 9571 6443 (Melbourne), or Leon Gleeson (03) 5221 7299 (Victorian country).

ST JOSEPH’S COLLEGE MELBOURNE COMMEMORATIVE EVENTS• 26 November – Farewell North Melbourne

Dinner, Melrose Reception Centre.• 8 December – Mass of Thanksgiving at

St Mary’s Church, West Melbourne. Supper at North Melbourne Campus.

Call the college on 9269 6999. www.sjcmelb.catholic.edu.au

ST CHRISTOPHER’S PRIMARy SCHOOL SyNDAL 50TH ANNIVERSARy FETE27 November, 10am-4pm, 5 Doon Avenue, Syndal.Call 9803 0011 (school hours). www.stchristopherssyndal.vic.edu.au/news.htm, principal@scsyndal.catholic.edu.au

CATHOLIC SOLO PARENTSCatholic Solo Parents is organising a Christmas lunch to be held on Sunday 5 December 2010. For further information please contact Margaret 9876 7986.

CENACLE OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER A Cenacle is held on the first Saturday of each month at Our Lady Help of Christians, Nicholson St, Brunswick. Time: 1:30-4:30pm. Eucharist at 2pm. Prayer and talk by Spiritual Director Fr Francis Molleno. Details: Donna 9850 2549.

CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA’S FIRST SAINT – MARy MACKILLOPSunday 17 October, in Fitzroy and at Royal Exhibition Building. Procession, festival and live telecast of canonisation from Rome. www.cam.org.au/mackillop

MACKILLOP THE MUSICAL 23-24 October, a new Australian musical comes to Melbourne. Ticket inquiries: tickets@arteschristi.org.au 0424 648 034 / www.mackillop.info

CHRISTUS REx PILGRIMAGE29-31 October 2010. From St Patrick’s Cathedral, Ballarat, to Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, in honour of Christ the King. Masses, rosaries, hymns, devotions, confession, spiritual conferences in the Victorian countryside. Loved by young and old. All welcome. Call 0409 515 330. www.crex.org

CATHOLIC SPEED DATING IN GEELONG Saturday 30 October at 7pm, St Bernard’s, 74 Fryers Road, Belmont. For 18-55 year-olds. The cost is $40 and includes wine, non-alcoholic drinks, fruit and cheese platters, and other nibbles. Proceeds to Pro-Life Victoria. RSVP essential. Go to www.meetup.com/melbourne-single-catholics or email marklachal@live.com

Aid to the Church in Need …. a Catholic charity dependent on the Holy See, providing pastoral relief to needy and oppressed Churches