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Our Indonesian Catholics: viorant, alive and flourishinc in Perth.
New Missal: Perth clergy ciscuss pro's, cons, practicalities at special meetinc. PAGE 7 Sending them out: 3ishop Sproxton commissions Catechists for schools.
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"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." -Brsnop MATTHEW GIBNEY 1874
THE PARISH. THE NATION. THE WORLD. Perth, Western Australia $2
Western Australia's award-winning Catholic newspaper since 1874 - Wednesday August 26, 2009
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Meet these special men. They're our last three...
Comment
My Dad's pain helps me in Rossiter tube debate Melbourne bioethicist Fr Kevin McGovern is uncertain how he would handle being in Christian Rossiter's place, but a comparable predicament experienced by his own father helps focus his thoughts. THE case of Christian Rossiter reveals the difference between secular ethics which allows people to refuse tube feeding, and Catholic ethics which holds as a general rule that we have a duty to preserve our life and that we therefore should not refuse tube feeding. A fter being hit by a car in 2004 and suffering two falls in 2008, Mr Rossiter has quadriplegia, the same condition that actor Christopher Reeve lived with from his horse-riding accident in 1995 until his death nine years later in 2004. Wanting to die, Mr Rossiter told his carers to stop giving him food down his feeding tube. On 14 August, Chief Justice Wayne Martin of Western Australia's Supreme Court confirmed his right to refuse tube feeding. This legal decision is based ultimately on the secular ethics which developed in an era called the Continued: The tube in my father's throat - Page 10 The hazards of editorials - Page 8 Doc and bioethidst receives award - Page 10 Reflections of a Paralytic- Page 11
Father Walter Black MSC, left, Bishop Myles McKeon and Monsignor Michael Keating, above, are shown superimposed on a photograph of the opening session of the historic milestone in the life of the modern Church, the Second Vatican Council. All were present as young clergy at the Council and are believed to be the last three clergy in the archdiocese who either saw or participated in its deliberations. Throughout this special Year for Priests called IMAGE: JUSTINE STEVENS, PERTH PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI, VATICAN II PHOTO CNS by Pope Benedict XVI The Record will regularly focus on the priests of Perth and WA.
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Now, and then...
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Did you miss it? Last week we began the weekly Record Crossword. You'll find it each week together with the Record NN ordsearch. Page 15
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t's been nearly 44 years, but listening to the banter of WA's three remaining priests who were present at the Second Vatican Council you'd swear it was yesterday. The conversation of retiredbishop Myles McKeon, Fr Walter Black MSC and Mgr Michael Keating ebbs and flows from memories of larger-than-life cardinals to Mgr Keating thanking Bishop McKeon for visiting his parents when back in Perth
A young Deacon Michael Keating, at far left, stands on the front steps of St Peter's Basilica in Rome beside the-then Bishop of Bunbury, Launcelot Goody and the-then Auxiliary Bishop of Perth, Myles McKeon. Bishop McKeon succeeded Bishop Goody as Bishop of Bunbury from 1969-1982, while Bishop Goody went on to serve as Archbishop of Perth from 19681983. Monsignor Keating, who recalls with fondness the great period of the Council, will be the New Dean of St Mary's Cathedral when it is completed. PHOTO' COURTESY MONSIGNOR MICHAEL KEATING
throughout the council's 19621965 duration. Mgr Keating reminded Bishop McKeon of his service, transporting the bishop around on his Lambretta motor-scooter. Bishop McKeon was only two months a bishop at the beginning of the first of the council's four sessions called by Pope John XXIII to renew the Church, promote Christian unity and to
re-engage with modern life. He accompanied then-Archbishop of Perth, Redmond Prendiville and future Archbishop, Launcelot Goody, attending the first, second and fourth sessions. Mgr Keating, a student in Rome from 1959 to 1966, was present for the entirety of the council as an usher to the bishops, while retired priest and moral theologian Fr Walter
Black MSC, attended the first session as personal secretary to the then-Archbishop of Darwin and fellow Sacred Heart cleric, John Patrick O'Loughlin MSC. Mgr Keating remembered particularly the towering theologians of that period such as Karl Rahner, Yves Congar and John Courtenay Murray and the privilege of attending their lectures.