Been there!.l •
The trouble with Mel ere there any predictors of Mel Gibson's spectacular fall rom grace? He has been plagued by alcoholism and his Ims show an obsession with violence. Vista 1
An Australian geologist says the planet has warmed and cooled plenty of times before. And humans aren't necessarily to blame. Vista 2-3
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.
Western Australia's award-winning Catholic newspaper since 1874 - Wednesday May 20 2009
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Christ comes in impending priesthood
Science-faith
Perth, Western Australia $2
rift a bomb
Deacon Andrew Lotton
Deacon encountered the Way, liked what he heard • By Peter Rosengren
ONE of Perth's soon-to-be newest priests is a former novice in an Anglican order who once worked in the British and South African High Commissions in Canberra and who found the Catholic Church through the Neocatechumenal Way and being at World Youth Day. He will be ordained on June 5 at Infant Jesus Parish in Morley along with Jeronimo Castillo, Bonaventure Echeta and Jean-Noel Marie from St Charles Seminary. Deacon Andrew is the fourth man from his former Canberra Neocatechumenal parish community to be ordained to the priesthood of the Catholic Church. Now, he says, his life's journey has led him to discover that Jesus Christ died for him and loves him exactly as he is; he sees the priesthood as a way of announcing exactly this good news to the men and women of this generation. But Deacon Andrew Lotton began his journey to the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church when he experienced a profound personal conversion during a week-long retreat with a group of Catholic charismatics in Canberra, forerunners of the Disciples of Jesus community. Two friends invited the nominal Anglican along to the retreat, on which, he says, he discovered a personal relationship with Jesus. The conversion triggered his involvement in his own Anglican parish while remaining on the fringes of the Catholic charismatic movement. Continued on Page 4
Romans sit by the side of Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture "Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi" at Piazza Navona in Rome on May 1. The sculpture plays a part in novelist Dan Brown's book Angels & Demons, which was adapted to a film starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard. The movie premiered in Rome on May 4 at a theatre a mile away from Vatican City. PHOTO. CNS/CHRIS HELGREN, REUTERS
Catholic scientists debunk Hollywood's latest depiction of science and faith clash. • By Maria Wiering
ST PAUL, Minnesota (CNS) - A bomb. A secret sect of antiCatholic scientists. A Church straddling ancient traditions and the modern world. Although the plot of Angels & Demons is a hunt for centuriesold clues that could lead to a hidden explosive set to blow apart Vatican City, a recurring theme in the movie revolves around the relationship between faith and science. According to the movie, scheduled to open in theatres
THE LINK THAT CAN'T BE DENIED Drug Free Australia has launched a damning research paper at Parliament House linking cannabis use with mental health issues, including schizophrenia, just as the West Australian government is drawing up plans to crack down on the damaging drug. Page 6
on May 15, the two have been at odds since the springtime of science and today they continue to see themselves in antagonistic and sometimes irreconcilable terms. But this perception is far from reality, according to Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory in Arizona and Castel Gandolfo, the papal villa outside Rome. "Quite simply, the Church has always supported science," Brother Consolmagno told The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis," he noted. "Modern science was born in European Catholic universities and some of history's best scientists were clergymen." That's why the books of Dan Brown - the author of Angels &
Demons and The Da Vinci Code are in the bookstore's fiction section, where they belong, he said. Fr Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Centre in Philadelphia, said misunderstandings about the compatibility of faith and science arise because of the different "languages" they use. In actuality, science and religion have distinct yet compatible domains, he added. Brother Consolmagno said the myth of the "war" between science and religion grew out of the Enlightenment at the end of the 19th century. In order to attract students to the emerging German secular universities, Enlightenment supporters portrayed the Church as antiscience and against progress, he said.
Contents Letters -Page 8 World - Pages 10-11 Perspectives Pages 12-13 Classifieds - Page 15 Month of Mary books - Page 16
"It really doesn't go back to Galileo; it goes back to the politics of what was happening in Europe and America 100 years ago," he said. The case of 17th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei has been a controversial issue in the debate between science and faith, but he continued his scientific work until the end of his life and died in good standing with the Catholic Church. He was also praised in 1992 by a special Vatican commission established by Pope John Paul II. The Galileo controversy has taught the Church to be careful when speaking on matters of science, Fr Pacholczyk said. For example,on the topic ofevolution, the Church continues to engage in an ongoing discussion about the proper understanding Continued on page 10
ONE-EYED ANALYSIS
Mainstream response to the latest NRL sex scandal involving players largely misses the point of hypocrisy in contemporary sexual ethics, writes The Record's Mark Reidy. Page 7