THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2004
THE PARISH. THE NATION. THE WORLD. soon to be on the Web
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Perth, Western Australia ● $1
New column: This new millennium is looking shaky Page 10
Weblife: Email's impersonal (and false) politeness Page 14
Front lines: How Perth Catholics help women in crisis Page 11
New Bible College First country Church celebrates
■ By Jamie O’Brien
The Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community are opening a Bible College in Osborne Park, Perth next year. The Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community have conducted summer schools around Australia since 1983, in addition to having established a Sydney-based Institute for Evangelization in 1987. The Institute originally started by offering part-time courses and later went on to offer a one-year full-time course. Disciples of Jesus Leader for Western Australia Reg Firth said the need for a Perth facility to provide local youth and adults a systematic formation in their faith and training on how to share it has become obvious. “Through the summer camps, and the work we do in high schools we’ve realised that young people need to have some form of insight into their personal faith,” Mr Firth said. The ‘Acts 2 College of Mission & Evangelisation’ is open to people who have just left High School, or who are looking for a break from their University or TAFE studies, or from their employment. “The book of Acts from the Bible starts with Pentecost and the end of that chapter tells about the first Christian communities,” Mr Firth said. “This was the model for our Christian Community when we started out in Perth,” Continued on page 4
Perth Missionaries of Charity Mother Superior Sr Eliezer receives the cheque from Dr Amanda Lamont on behalf of the Catholic Doctors Association of WA. With Dr Lamont are Brian Peachey, Chairman of the archdiocesan Pregnancy Assistance organisation, executive CDA member Dr Leonard Chan and LJ Goody Bioethics Centre administrative officer Photo: Jamie O'Brien Natalie Tarkka.
Doctors donate to Missionaries Sisters from the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, have benefited from a donation of $500 from the WA Catholic Doctors Association. The presentation was made to Mother Superior Sr Eliezer MC by the President of the Catholic Doctors Association, Dr Amanda Lamont last Saturday, November 6. Dr Lamont said this is
the first donation the Association has made, and she hopes it will be possible again in the future. Sr Eliezer said the money will go to supporting the work by the Sisters and volunteers with local indigenous and migrant families. A cheque for $500 was also presented to Brian Peachey, for the Pregnancy Assistance Centre, of which he is currently chairman. - Jamie O’Brien
The 150th anniversary of the first Catholic Church built in country WA will be celebrated at Dardanup on December 5. Bishop Gerard Holohan will celebrate a thanksgiving Mass at 10am. A plaque will be unveiled, memorabilia will be displayed and a light lunch will be served. The foundation stone of the original Church of the Immaculate Conception was laid by Dom Rosendo Salvado, of New Norcia fame, in March 1854, but the Church was not completed and opened until April 1857. The laying of the foundation stone at Dardanup preceded by a few months a similar ceremony conducted at Albany by Bishop Serra, but it was much longer before Albany actually completed a church. Thomas Little gave Bishop Serra 50 acres of land for the church at Dardanup and he and his neighbours set about erecting it. However, in a letter to Archbishop J.B.Polding of Sydney, dated July 11, 1856, Little lamented, “For the finishing I fear our dear Lady will look but coldly on us for our tardiness in this point. The floor indeed is sawn and being seasoned, but we have not a shilling to pay for laying it, or for door and windows, or plastering the walls, which are Continued on page 2
CatholicCare to combat seafarers' loneliness The charitable arm of the Bunbury Diocese will this year provide funding for Missions to Seafarers in the South West ports of Albany and Bunbury. Announcing the launch of his 2004 Christmas Appeal for CatholicCare, Bishop Gerard Holohan said the proceeds of this year’s appeal will go towards the
diocesan Missions to Seafarers. “These Missions are doing inspirational work in the ports of Albany and Bunbury for people of the sea. They need us as Sisters and Brothers in Christ. They need us to be there for them, to listen to their problems, to counsel their needs” he said. CatholicCare was established in 2003 to provide for current
F E AT U R E S
and planned Church assistance for social needs throughout the Bunbury Diocese. The funds raised through CatholicCare remain within the Diocese. “The Bishop’s Christmas appeal for CatholicCare is the only appeal made each year for the needs of people within our own Diocese. This makes the annual CatholicCare appeal special” Bishop Holohan
INDEX
Decoding the Code Most Catholics discover Canon Law when they seek an annulment Pages 7-9
- Pages 12 & 13 World News - Page 14 Reviews - Page 15 Classifieds - Page 6 Editorial & Letters Page 10 I Say, I Say
said. Bishop Holohan’s Christmas appeal letter, distributed throughout the diocese in the last fortnight, tells two tragic stories of seafarers taking their own lives. “Today, seafarers are isolated from their families, their friends and their parish communities. Many whose ships come into the ports in our Diocese are Catholics. Continued on page 2
Bishop Gerard Holohan
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
The REAL agenda What’s really behind Pope John Paul II’s calling of the Year of the Eucharist Page 3
INSIDE: He really is here - Page 16 ● A voice from El Salvador - Page 5 ● Ideas for parishes celebrating the Year of the Eucharist - Page 3