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Catholic health must stop ignoring abortion trauma: AGA
Western Australia’s award-winning Catholic newspaper since 1874 - Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Perth, Western Australia $2
A fearless faith A group of youth not afraid to go against the tide when it comes to religious belief will offer their peers in Catholic schools something different over the next 12 months.
Grief counsellors say Church health bodies are effectively living in a state of denial BY ROBERT HIINI Parish Reporter CATHOLIC health bodies are not taking abortion trauma seriously and their inaction is contributing to the denial of the after effects of abortion in society and the wider medical profession, says Abortion Grief Australia (AGA) in a new discussion paper. Abortion Trauma: A serious Mental Health Issue (The Catholic Church’s Response - A Need to Reflect), was sent to every diocese in Australia last November but has only been made public recently. In the document, the AGA calls for abortion trauma to be treated as a medical issue independent of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the ethics of abortion, stating that Catholic health institutions are well placed to provide leadership in the area. Abortion, the paper claims, is regarded as “an essential tool to combat social ills,” and because abortion trauma is not being identified, the AGA says, its manifestations are being used to promote the need for abortion. “By ignoring growing international research linking abortion to substance abuse, suicide, depression, relationship problems, psychiatric illness, domestic violence, and premature death,” the paper states, “health authorities have allowed current attitudes towards abortion to remain unchallenged. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for professionals to treat abortion trauma seriously.” Many health professionals who identify abortion trauma experience “a lack of peer support and professional isolation,” AGA says, with one doctor cited as describing it as “professional suicide” to speak of abortion trauma. The AGA paper calls on Catholic health, welfare and educational institutions to: ● Educate their professionals in the identification, healing and prevention of abortion trauma. ● Facilitate the establishment of multi-disciplinary professional peer support structures. ● Establish early intervention pro Please turn to page 3
Sydneysider Jessica Simon, 18, arrived at Perth Airport last week with four Disciples of Jesus confreres to evangelise youth in Catholic schools - the main rule being it needs to be fun, while fixed firmly in the Catholic faith. PHOTO: DISCIPLES OF JESUS
BY ANTHONY BARICH National Reporter
F
ive Youth Mission Team members from the Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community arrived in Perth last week to minister to over 40 Catholic schools in the 25th year of the Team’s national tours. Perth’s Monica Cruise, 18, joins Jessica Simon, 18 and James Asimus, 17 (from Sydney), James Hay, 19 (Canberra) and Tom Miller, 18 (Melbourne) for a year of missionary work living relationshipfree lives of simplicity and obedience. Similar teams will tour Catholic and public schools in Wollongong, Sydney and Melbourne. As they tour Catholic schools from
Perth to Bunbury to Kalgoorlie, the Perth-based team will be led by senior Disciples of Jesus member Martin Firth. The teams will run reflection days for entire year groups of between 70-110 students in the high schools, plus four weekend retreats and will assist with 24-7, the Disciples of Jesus’ youth ministry for teens, every Friday night at their Osborne Park base. The reflection days involve a series of talks, games, activities and dramas where the team members hear the students’ beliefs before informing them of their own beliefs. While YMT members’ ages traditionally range between 17 (high school graduates) and 25, the age of youth volunteering for the mission is dropping. The five touring Perth are the youngest
group touring Australia this year. This helps the ministry, team member James Hay said, as they can relate to the high school students better. He told The Record that their lives of chastity, simplicity and obedience – modelled on the vows taken by consecrated Religious – also help YMT members deal with the challenges of ministering to Catholic schools which contain many students deeply affected by secularism. “There are elements of resistance in schools, as the culture we live in doesn’t exactly lean towards Catholicism,” Mr Hay said. “Having a manager and working in a team ensures you’re protected. Just like the ordained people’s focus is on God, we are able to root ourselves more deeply in God, so we are used for God’s work Please turn to Page 3
Outrage
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Perth bioethicist Fr Joe Parkinson tells Curtin university lecture euthanasia spells disaster for society. Page 6
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