THE RECORD
“Be indefatigable in your purpose and with undaunted spirit resist iniquity and try to conquer evil with good, having before your eyes the reward of those who combat for Christ.” -Bishop Matthew Gibney 1874
the Parish. the Nation. the World.
www.therecord.com.au
Archbishop launches resource for homeless
Western Australia’s award-winning Catholic newspaper since 1874 - Wednesday February 11 2009
Meet the Abbot
■ By Anthony Barich
Perth, Western Australia $2
It’s
50 years for
ARCHBISHOP Barry Hickey often doesn’t sleep well at night. His house in Victoria Square in Perth’s central business district, across the road from St Mary’s Cathedral, is just next to the central operational hub of the Catholic Church locally. But around 9pm, it changes. Many of the homeless – mostly Aboriginal – who have hung around sheltering in various spots around the city during the day, gather at the Archbishop’s front patio for somewhere to sleep.
Doubleview
Continuing the tradition: Abbot John Herbert OSB walks towards the monastery’s Church at New Norcia. Abbot Herbert, who was elected to fill the shoes of Abbot Placid Spearritt OSB, is the seventh Abbot of the historic Western PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH Australian monastery.
New Norcia has elected a new Abbot to replace their beloved Placid Spearritt, who died in the UK in October last year. ■ By Anthony Barich
Trying: Archbishop Hickey wants help for the growing numbers of PHOTO: A BARICH homeless.
They call him “Father Hickey”. They love him. But he knows he can’t do much except be their friend and give them a private property to sleep on. “I’m not a social welfare agency, but they’ve got nowhere else to go,” he says. Over the many years that the Archbishop has resided there, it has become a home for many - likely hundreds - of displaced people. Some – like one young woman last week arrive with their blankets in tow and announce ‘I’m staying here tonight’. Some sleep on his front porch, some he takes around to the secure back area, but they need to clear out in the morning as Catholic Church employees come and park their cars there. If it were an open space, the police would most likely move them on. But as it is private property, it is a haven from officialdom and the elements. And the Archbishop often finds himself interceding on their behalf. Continued - Page 4
NEW Norcia’s new Abbot, Father John Herbert OSB, is not your model monk. He freely volunteers the information himself. “I’m not your standard monk
who arrived at the front gate and followed the path that a good, obedient monk would,” said Fr Herbert, who was elected by twothirds majority vote as the New Norcia Benedictine monastery’s new Abbott on January 22 and was installed by Abbot Bruno Martin, president of the Subiaco Congregation to which his monastery belongs. Fr Herbert always knew he was drawn to the “monk thing” since a young age, but as his parents encouraged all their kids to try a career first, he “fell into” being
a chef for 10 years and ended up running his own restaurant in St Kilda for two years. He was first drawn to the Carmelites, but as their work in Australia mainly consists of work in parishes and schools, he looked to the Benedictines, who ran Australia’s only monastic town, New Norcia. Even then, he got caught up in the monastic life’s structure and whether they were praying often enough, so much so that he left to “look for a better monasContinued - Page 6
We’re ready: Anglican bishop ■ By Anthony Barich
MEMBERS of the Traditional Anglican Communion hope to be able to pledge belief in “one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” without being immersed into Catholic parishes if unification talks with the Holy See succeed, the TAC’s Perth bishop says. Bishop Ha rr y Entwistle, who oversees a small Western Australian TAC diocese based on parishes in Maylands, Lesmurdie, Albany and Brentwood, told The Record that his group professes belief
WHY I BECAME CATHOLIC ARONA SAYER tells DEBBIE WARRIER about her life’s journey into the Church Vista 4
Hope: Traditional Anglican Bishop of Perth, Harry Entwistle, second from right, with members of the Servants of the Sacred Cross, an ecumencial women’s community, and Archbishop Barry Hickey at Good Shepherd Parish, Lockridge, in 2007. PHOTO: P ROSENGREN
in the Catholic Church as the Anglican Church orginally constituted itself in England, but
not a separate church. When the Anglican Church in America first started ordaining women
priests in the 1970s illegally and subsequent Lambeth conferences confirmed the practice, the Canterbury-based Anglican Communion distanced itself from its Catholic roots, he said. After The Record’s exclusive report on January 28 saying that it was understood the Vatican’s CDF would recommend the status of Personal Prelature for the TAC if talks aimed at unification succeeded, Vatican sources said no decision had yet been made, but it was one of the options it was considering.
THE ITALIAN WAY
It will be a mighty milestone for parishioners of Holy Rosary Parish Church in Doubleview over the weekend of February 21-22 as they gather in the beautiful Church built by pioneering clergy, Religious and lay families.
Continued - Page 6
Fr ANTHONY PAGANONI begins a new series of articles on a fascinating success in youth ministry in Italy Vista 4
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