Canberra summit
PERTH, WA: 27 June — July 3, 1985
Number 2435
LOCATION- 26 John St, Perth, (off Fitzgerald St) POS 1- ADDRESS: PO Box 50, Perth Aberdeen Si, WA 6000
PRICE 40 cents
TELEPHONE: (09) 328 1388
Priests' Beirut hijack drama! from NC News Special Service
CHICAGO: Two Illinois priests, a permanent deacon and several other Catholic pilgrims from Illinois continue to be held hostage in the Middle East hi-jack drama involving a TWA jetliner commandeered by Shi-ite Moslem extremists. A third Illinois priest, who had been
leading the group on a Holy Land pilgrimage, and about two dozen parishioners were among those released by the hi-jackers In the initial days of the crisis. Nine years ago in September 1976 a Catholic bishop was also held hostage and helped talk hi-jackers of his flight Into letting their hostages go. "We ended in Paris, freed after 32 hours," Bishop O'Rourke said this week. "I hope your fellows fare as well as we did," he said.
CANBERRA: The taxation White Paper for this week's summit shows single income families are carrying a heavier tax burden than double income families, says the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission. 'The document shows (page 61) they are carrying a tax burden of as much as $2 billion more than if they were taxed on the basis of income splthing," says the Commission. This is anomalous and at variance with vertical equity — whereby the financially better off should have a greater share of the tax burden. "Work done in the home for the young, the old and the disabled should be recognised as of irreplaceable value to the whole community.
C100 "Homemaking is an essential activity which ha.s no inexpensive substitute. "It reduces the need for additional community services such as child minding, nursing, and domiciliary care. "It is best an overhead of considerable net value to public finance and society. "There appears to be no recognition of this fact in the White Paper's treatment of families." ~Va..
Brother Robert Callen (right) chairman of the religious vocations council urged Majellans to give positive support to vocations at their annual general meeting last Sunday. He is pictured with central committee members Doreen Gibson, Marie Newbold, Kathy Kora and Maureen Palfrey.
Majellans warned about big drops in vocations The blunt reality facing families of the future as religious vocations dropped was put to the annual meeting of Majellan groups last Sunday by Brother Robert Callen, chair-
man of the Religious Vocations Council. Citing 1985 in which two have entered training for the priesthood, two into women's orders and one into brothers as the situation facing the 45
orders in Perth archdiocese (54 in WA) Brother Callen asked the Majellan members what sort of a future Church would their children know.
brother or sister, a hospital that had no religious nursing sister and a parish only because it had a priest for Sunday Mass, he asked.
Would it be a school that had no religious
Cont page 2
S Federal Treasurer Paul Keating The Commission is not happy with proposals for family compensation. "The White Paper cannot reassure families, especially larger ones, that the 12.5 per cent consumption tax would only raise their costs by 6.5 per cent. "Dependant Spouse Rebate and Family Allowances ought to be indexed according to the cost of living adfustments. "This has not been the practice in the past and there is little recognition in the White Paper to indicate that such compensation will be forthcoming in the future. "Indexation is necessary to assure families that compensation will continue based on the cost of living adjustments," the Commission said.
Archbishops change over See page 3