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A refugee boy... Australia... and the death penalty
My friend... Van On December 2, 2005, Nguyen Tuong Van was executed in Singapore by hanging despite a national campaign here in Australia and pleas for clemency from two popes and a prime minister - among thousands of others. In an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Van’s lawyer speaks to The Record about his friendship with Van, the case, and the injustice of the death penalty.
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www.therecord.com.au
OUT OF STEP: Jesuit says Pell not nuanced enough on embryos Page 6
The Parish. The Nation. The World.
Thursday June ,
Western Australia’s Award-winning Catholic newspaper
Perth, Western Australia ● $1
MASTER CRAFTSMAN: Student excels in woodwork Page 12
UNWORKABLE: John Heard on why ‘gay’ marriage can’t succeed Page 7
NFP is for life Vatican criticises couples in marriages ‘willingly made sterile’ ■ By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Couples who use natural family planning to have only one or two children allow “brief parentheses” in a marriage “willingly made sterile,” said a new document from the Pontifical Council for the Family. The document, “Family and Human Procreation,” was released in Italian on June 6 and issued to mark the 25th anniversary of the council’s establishment. “Never before has the natural institution of matrimony and family been victim of such violent attacks,” said the document, signed by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, council president. The cardinal said “radical currents” are not simply promoting acceptance of new models of the family, but actually are proposing them as positive alternatives to the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman open to having children. “Couples formed by homosexuals claim the same rights reserved to a husband and wife; they even claim the right to adoption,” he said. “Women who live in a lesbian union claim analogous rights, calling for laws that give them access” to artificial insemination and fertilisation. While various factors are contributing to the problem, the Continued on Page 2 See also Perth trains 8 in NFP page 5
Honouring Mary: A couple rides on a horse beside the sanctuary of Our Lady of Rocio in the village of Almonte in southern Spain on June 4. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims converge at the shrine each year for a local feast devoted to Mary. Photo: CNS
The Spirit abounds in Perth parishes on Pentecost Sunday Confirmations have just been held across Perth Parish churches were packed across the archdiocese as confirmations took place last weekend on Pentecost Sunday, June 4. All parish priests were authorised in February by Archbishop Hickey
NEW, DIFFERENT AND HERE One of Pope Benedict’s first expressed desires was to meet with representatives of the Church’s movements - at Pentecost. That meeting has taken place in Rome.
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to conduct confirmations as close as possible to Pentecost. It was a busy time for clergy; Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton presided at three separate services involving 175 young people at Ocean Reef on Saturday and Sunday. Elsewhere, parish priests were kept similarly busy with larger than normal congregations as candidates for
confirmation – the majority from Catholic school classes-received the Sacrament. In recent years approximately 4000 candidates have received the Sacrament of Confirmation in the archdoicese each year. Reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation is one of the milestones in the Christian life; it con-
INDEX Letters Family is the Future The World Book Review Classifieds
firms the already-baptised individual as a Christian adult and, most importantly, confers the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Christian belief the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who is described in the Creed recited at Mass as “the Lord, the giver of life,” also confers the gifts given by the third person Continued on Page 2
PRAYING BY THE HOURS - Page 6 - Page 7 - Pages 8-9 - Page 10
Why are more and more men and women, mostly laity, rediscovering the ancient attraction of learning and praying the Liturgy of the Hours?
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