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With a rapidly ageing population, priests are needed more than ever
When life comes to a close By Juanita Shepherd AS SOCIETY faces a myriad of issues associated with increasing numbers of ageing, the all important priestly services of accompanying the sick and dying are taking on a greater importance. The ageing of the population has coincided with a shortage of priests, casting a shadow on visitations, comfort and administering the last rites. “The baby boomers of 1945
are well into their 60s now and the ageing of our population is going to become more critical. Then, of course, we are going to have to double our efforts to visit them,” Father Anthony Maher OMI told The Record. Fr Anthony, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, has worked in parish ministry around the country for 30 years. He is now the parish priest of St Patrick’s Basilica in Fremantle. “When people get old they often
get very lonely,” he said. “Most of their friends and family have died, so to have the priest visit is very important to them, it reassures them of their faith. “Sometimes you’re the first priest in their home and it’s amazing how much people appreciate it.” He said many priests find it hard to visit the elderly because “it takes them out of their comfort zone” but they know the work is vital. “My friend Fr Jeff Aldous, parish
priest at Baldivis, says ‘visitation in general is the Eighth Sacrament’,” he said. For Fr Jeronimo Flamenco Castillo, Catholic chaplain at Royal Perth Hospital, visiting the elderly can be difficult or sad but it is also a privilege. “An 86-year-old lady died by herself recently as she had no family here in Australia,” he said. When he was sitting by her bedside “the lady touched me and I felt like crying. We are responsible not
just for the young and energetic, but for everyone including the elderly salvation is for everyone.” Another experience of the 37-year-old El Salvadorian struck a similar chord. “An elderly woman asked me, ‘Father, what did I do wrong?’ She came to Australia for her children, then they put her in a nursing home. I felt very sad,” Fr Castillo said. “But it inspired a homily – ‘how Continued on page 4
Be very afraid... Students at Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School spooked parents and friends when they performed at the school’s annual music night on Thursday 3 November. Performances under the direction of music teacher Diana Newman ranged from choral pieces to individual and collective instrumental pieces, impressing all. PHOTO: P ROSENGREN
Chill of Coptic winter on a spring night in Perth By Sarah Motherwell TORCHES burned behind the St Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church in East Victoria Park during the evening of Friday 4 November. The 27 flames symbolised the lives of those killed at a protest in Cairo on 9 October against the increasing persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt. The candlelight vigil was interrupted as a car drove past the
church and a man leaned out the window to shout something in Arabic. Parishioners shook their heads and muttered “Muslim”. It seems not even in Australia Coptic Christians can escape the ripples of the religious tensions in Egypt. Violence towards the country’s Christian minority has escalated over the past 10 months since the deposing of former strongman Hosni Mubarak. Australian-born Steven Sawiros,
17, told The Record at the Victoria Park vigil that his extended family had fled Alexandria, Egypt’s second-largest city, to the United States on a tourist visa. They were now applying for refugee status. He said if the US government rejected their application they would have no option but to return to face possible persecution in Egypt. In Alexandria many Coptic girls had been kidnapped and made
to convert to Islam, he said. The church near his aunt’s house had been bombed and his cousin now carried a taser for protection when out in public. Even in their homes, Coptic Christians were targeted. Christian homes and businesses are looted and burned. The leader of the St Mary and Archangel Michael parish, Fr Abram Abdelmalek, said these were dark times. “It has been called the
Arab Spring that is supposed to bring the hope of a brighter future for Egypt. I’m sorry to say this Arab Spring has become a Coptic winter,” he said. “The difficulty is grounded in an Islamic vision for society which affords a clearly defined place for non-Muslims and specifically including Christians. Not all Muslims are seeking to implement this vision but many are and there is Continued on page 4