with the Vicar of Christ APRIL
General: That in the many rapid changes tak-
ing place in today's world the importance of the family may be recognised in its fundamental vocation as cradle of life and school of faith and right values. Iliissionary: That, sustained by the heroic testimony of the martyrs of our time, the ecclesial communities may announce Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of humankind, with renewed courage.
STEM CELL DEBATE: When Christianity risks becoming lethal - Pages 8&9
TEL: 9449 9000 432 SCARBOROUGH BEACH RD OSBORNE PARK. ut Him
WA's only Catholic weekly newspaper Perth: April 18 2002 Price: $1
Catholic and Proud: former Miss America - Page 16
Officials listen in on Perth priest's meeting By Neil Smith Authorities at Christmas Island detention centre insisted on eavesdropping on private and confidential talks between an asylum seeker detainee and a priest. The Perth-based chaplain for refugees, Father Adrian Pittarello, said authorities at the detention centre had shifted from being cooperative to making things difficult. Fr Pittarello visited Christmas Island from March 22 to 31 to celebrate services at Easter. He said that of the 85 detainees on the island 75 were Catholic, from Sri Lanka. The detainees had previously been detained at Cocos and transferred to Christmas Island. More than 60 of them had attended the Masses and services for Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. However, there had been some resistance from the authorities who told him they thought he was planning to celebrate Mass only once. One detainee had requested a private meeting with him, but the authorities had permitted it only if they had a representative present. "It was in a tent. "The man listening was walking up and down, but he was only two to three metres away all the time," Fr Pittarello said. "He must have heard everything." He said he had protested about the privacy issue with the authorities but that they had insisted.
Father Pitarello
"I got angry," Fr Pittarello said, "but there was little else I could do about it." Fr Pittarello refused to divulge the reasons the detainee had requested the meeting, or to say if it covered any grievances about treatment in the detention centre or the actions of the detention guards. Fr Pittarello said he had been permitted to hear Confessions in a locked room - without a representative of the authorities present - but had no idea how private the mom was. There was a camera and he had no way on knowing if there were listening devices. "At first they had resisted so many attending Mass. 'There was one suggestion they
be allowed to attend only in relays of 20 or 30. "If that had come about, the detainees would be mixing with local Christmas Islanders, and the authorities said they did not want that." Fr Pittarello said he was unclear whether the officer who appeared to be putting up barriers to the Masses and to the private meeting with a detainee was employed by the private company contracted to operate the detention centre, or by the government. "I think he was from Canberra," Fr Pittarello said. "The local man was very helpful until this other man arrived." The executive director of the Catholic Social Justice Council, Sandy Cornish, said authorities insisting on sitting in on interviews between detainees and priests was becoming more common. She said Fr Pittarello was very experienced in migrant and refugee matters. "There are a number of concerns about asylum seekers and the treatment of them. "The ABC's Four Corners program about the Australian Navy's treatment of asylum seekers has reinforced those concerns, particularly about the politicisation of the defence forces and who wd, responsible for decisions made in September-October last year," she said. Australia's Bishops speak out on refugees, Part!! - Page 11
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The late, the great, Fr Brown - Page 10
Korean children reach out to our Aussie Archbishop
Archbishop Barry Hickey, recently in Korea to attend the ordination of Deacon Demetri Rob to the priesthood, made lots of extra friends when he visited. Father Rob is a member of a Korean-founded congregation which specialises in caring for the profoundly disabled and those rejected by society. Father Rob has studied in Perth at St Charles' Seminary and was also stationed at St Anne's Parish in Belmont Although Fr Roh remains part of the Archdiocese of Perth, he is a member of the Clerical Congregation of Kkottongnae Brothers of Jesus and will carry out his priestly work in Korea. -Archbishop Hickey's ordination ceremony comments: Pages 485