soon to be on the Web
BISHOP RESPONDS: Bishop Holohan replies to the West Austalian Page 7
The Parish. The Nation. The World.
Thursday March ,
Western Australia’s Award-winning Catholic newspaper
Perth, Western Australia ● $1
A CHAMPION: Bill O’Grady was an outstanding athlete and layman Page 2
PRIEST RECALLED: Fr Linnane was a man for Perth’s people Page 7
Catholic TV in Perth
Australian Bishops launch national television presence First screenings went to air Visit brought this week Cathedral mission hits Perth streets The Catholic Church unveiled a new television presence from March 1, with the launch of Australian Catholic Church Television on Fr Richard a new Foxtel Leonard SJ Digital and Austar Digital community channel. Aurora TV is a new community channel available on the basic package of Foxtel and Austar. It will go out on Channel 183 and provides for faith-based groups, not-forprofit social service companies and non-Government organisations to have a voice on Australian TV. Dr Richard Leonard SJ, Jesuit priest and director of Catholic Church Television Australia (CCTVA) said the Catholic Church was approached to be involved. “For many years now the Church has had little direct presence on Australian television and so the Bishops Committee for the Media seized the opportunity to have access to an increasingly important television outlet where we can put to air programmes from which we think the Catholic and wider community will benefit,” Dr Leonard said. Foxtel will broadcast the Aurora Community channel free of charge, but CCTVA must pay for the acquisition and production of programmes, and the number of hours they are on air. “Unlike running an entire channel, the costs and the associated risks in this venture are smaller for the Church,” Dr Leonard said. “The amount of time we are on the air will only be limited by the money we can raise for sponsorship, programming and buying onair time.” Aurora has made only two demands on participating organisations: their programmes cannot vilify anyone, and they must be of the highest production values. Other groups taking part in Aurora include the Salvation Army, Anglican Media, Mission Australia,
family together after 60 years We want your story about Pope John Paul II It has often been said that Pope John Paul II carries miracles of grace with him wherever he goes. The Record would like to gather up your personal stories about meetings, encounters or experiences related to this remarkable Pope. The following is a true story that happened here in Western Australia, but since the nun concerned is no longer alive and members of her family may or may not be, no names are being used. Many years ago, when religious tensions were much greater in our society than they are now, a young woman aged about 20 deeply upset her family by deciding to become a Catholic.When, a couple of years later, she decided to become a nun, the family severed all ties with her. She spent the rest of her life, about another 60 years, living the life of a teaching nun, helping and inspiring many young people and adults as nuns so often do, but she did it without contact with her own family. This nun was seriously ill in hospital when Pope John Paul II came to Perth in November 1986. One of her brothers watched the television coverage of the Pope’s Those who answered Monsignor Thomas McDonald’s call to go out onto the streets of Perth do so in the heart of the city, above, and, earlier, as they leave St Mary’s cathedral. Photos: courtesy St Mary’s Cathedral
■ By Fr Milton Arias of St Mary’s Cathedral
The City of Perth has been given the opportunity to experience a new culture of life that the Church offers to all. In the middle of our secular society the voice of the Church
continues to be a trumpet blast, which calls people to wake from death. On the first Sunday of Lent a group of people from the Neocatechumenal Way were sent by the Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, Monsignor Thomas McDonald, to visit all the houses of the East
Perth and the City area. The reason for the visits was to inaugurate the Parish urban mission. It has been a wonderful experience for all, because they went leaving their children, Continued on page 2
Continued on page 2
A wish for John Paul II The Vatican opened an e-mail address this week for those wishing to send a message of closeness to John Paul II, rehospitalised since last week at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome. The address, announced on the Vatican’s Web page, is john_paul_ ii@vatican.va - CNS
Continued on page 3
INDEX
EXTRAORDINARY MAN Monsignor Luigi Giussani set out to engage youth and students and re-focus them on the one who matters: Jesus. He didn’t know he was starting something big.
Page 10
Editorial/Letters I say, I say The World Passages Dear Padre
HOME ALONE - Page 6 - Vista 4 - Pages 8-9 - Page 10
Less time with Mum and Dad has contributed to more problems for more children in recent decades, says the author of a new study on day care and other parent substitutes.
- Page 12
Vista 1-3