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Catholic groups organise for work-free Sundays in EU
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18 Willetton couples to renew vows at special Mass
Reconciliation of professional and family life a goal for new coalition of unions/Church groups opposed to Sunday work BY JONATHON LUXMORE OXFORD, England (CNS) - Catholic church groups have joined trade unions in the European Sunday Alliance which will campaign to protect Sundays and ensure fairer conditions for family life. “Some people say there can never be a return to work-free Sundays - but the many working together in this alliance don’t share this view,” said Anna Echterhoff, legal adviser for institutional and social affairs at the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, one of the organisations supporting the alliance. “That so many stakeholders from different backgrounds are involved is something new and unique.” The alliance was launched on 20 June in Brussels by 65 Church organisations, unions and civil associations. Among them are Europe’s Catholic Youth
A new coalition of Catholic and trade union groups hopes to win a day of rest for families across the EU.
Network, the Central Committee of German Catholics, representatives of the German Bishops and the European Jesuits, Poland’s Solidarity union, France’s Force Ouvriere and the Danish food workers union. It also includes family organisations from a dozen countries. In a 4 July interview with CNS, Echterhoff said Sundays were protected under EU law as a rest day for children and adolescents. She said she hoped work-free Sundays would be reinstated under an EU directive now being prepared. “The European Sunday Alliance is only at the beginning - we count on other groups and organisations joining the campaign as well,” she said. “It’s clear there’s growing support for the kind of steps the alliance is recommending.” In a founding declaration, the alliance said decent working hours were of “paramount importance” to citizens of the European Union, which should uphold “the social contract of a modern European society” by encouraging “reconciliation of professional and family life.” “Only a well-protected, common, work-free day enables citizens to enjoy full participation in cultural, sports, social and religious life, to seek culPlease turn to Page 8
BY BRIDGET SPINKS
E
IGHTEEN couples in the parish of Sts John and Paul in Willetton will renew their vows in a Special Wedding Anniversary Mass to be held on 21 August this year. Every year since 2007, couples celebrating their Silver (25th), Pearl (30th), Coral (35th), Ruby (40th), Sapphire (45th) or Golden (50th) Wedding anniversary during the year are invited to be part of the parish’s special ‘Wedding Anniversary Mass’. But any couple celebrating a wedding anniversary of more than 50 years is also invited, as each year after 50 is considered ‘significant’, one of the organisers, Su Goh, said. Since 2008, at least one couple celebrating their first wedding anniversary has participated in the occasion. Two newly married couples will join in this year. Su said she places great value
on the Catholic Sacrament of Marriage. “It’s very much a part of being Catholic or Christian because marriage is a sacrament in our faith; it is sanctified by God,” she said. Plus it was what God intended; that man should have a companion and that would be his wife, she said Su said she was inspired to organise the event at Sts John and Paul Parish in Willetton when she attended a special Wedding Anniversary Mass at St Thomas More parish in Bateman with her husband in 2004. Su and David Goh, who were married in 1991 in Singapore and now have two grown up sons, celebrated
their Pearl Anniversary that year. This experience inspired her to approach her parish priest in 2007 and ask if he would be prepared to celebrate a special Mass at Willetton too. Su, who also works as a project officer at the Committee for Family and for Life, is organising the event with fellow parishioners Christine Fernandez and Bowani Anne Lee. Su, Christine and Anne have all been part of a parishrun marriage preparation ministry for the last eight years which Willetton parish has been offering for the last 20 years. Willetton offers its own marriage preparation programme using a resource
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL MARRIAGE MASS Archbishop Barry Hickey will celebrate Mass in honour of National Marriage Day at St Mary’s Cathedral on 9 August at 6.30pm with light supper to follow. Everyone welcome. To RSVP, contact wa@family.org.au or call 9277 1644. The Mass is supported by the Knights of the Southern Cross.
Longest ... and shortest: Noreen and Don Dickinson, left, are the longestmarried of the couples who will renew their vows at Willetton Parish on 21 August. The couple married on 30 November 1957 and are celebrating 54 years of marriage this year. Meanwhile, Deanne and Stephen Maughan, above, will be the most recent of those renewing their vows; they married on 18 December last year. PHOTOS: COURTESY WILLETTON PARISH
from the United States called “Today and all the days of your life”. Married couples, called “sponsor couples,” take engaged couples one-on-one through the programme’s eight sessions which cover a range of topics “essential to building a strong and harmonious Christian marriage,” Su said. “So that’s how committed we are to the importance of marriage,” Su told The Record. “This Wedding Anniversary celebration is an extension of that belief that marriage is important to our faith,” she said.
Athens Prelate concerned at looming debt crisis effects OXFORD, England (CNS) - Greece’s Catholic Church faces disaster because the current economic crisis is forcing it to end vital social and charitable projects, said Archbishop Nikolaos Foskolos of Athens. “This crisis could be the worst in our history,” Archbishop Foskolos told CNS on 6 July. “There’s corruption
everywhere, especially among our politicians. We get no help from the state or other Western Churches, and our faithful can’t give any more. Our parishes and dioceses are in deep trouble, and in a few months we won’t be able to support our staffers and employees.” The Archbishop voiced the concerns as European Union finance ministers released
emergency funding to rescue the faltering Greek economy. Amid violent street protests, the Greek legislature approved tough austerity measures and tax increases on 29 June, paving the way for the EU action. The Archbishop said the higher taxes would have more impact on the Catholic Church than on the country’s predominantly state-
supported Orthodox Church. But the Orthodox Church still faced “serious problems” after being told its clergy’s state-paid salaries would be cut by half, he said. “We’re only a small minority, with few properties and resources, and we’ve been burdened in recent years by many Catholics coming here from Please turn to Page 8