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Perth family the first Neocatechumenal mission family heads off to Cyprus ■ By Jamie O’Brien
Actor turned to faith in crisis
St Gerard’s Mirrabooka parishioners Duncan and Carmel McFarlane and their three children have this week gone to Cyprus as the first mission family of Australia from the Neocatechumenal Way to assist in evangelisation overseas. Mr and Mrs McFarlane, who will live in Nicosia on the Greek side of Cyprus, together with another mission family from Malta, said they have felt the call to become a mission family for the last few years. “Having seen other mission families of the Neocatechumenal Way who have gone before us to evangelise in other countries, including here in Perth, has been an inspiration,” Mr McFarlane said. In June this year, Mr and Mrs McFarlane went to an international conference in Porto San Gorgio, Italy, together with 200 other families from around the world, at the request of their catechists, Toto and Rita Piccolo. It was there that they learnt that the Parish Priest of Holy Cross Parish in Nicosia had made a request for English-speaking families to assist with evangelisation. Mr McFarlane, an electrical engineer, said he was happy about his mission in Cyprus. The primary aim of a mission family is to live as a Christian family in areas that need Christian witness. The city of Nicosia is predominately Greek Orthodox, while the
No looking back: The McFarlanes of Mirrabooka are taking up a lifetime appointment to assist evangelisation as a mission family in Holy Cross Parish, Nicosia, Cyprus. Mission families are a growing trend in the Church. When Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver visited Australia in 2000 to speak at a national family gathering called by Australia’s Catholic bishops, he called for families to reflect on whether they were being called to become missionary families in parts of the world where the Church has need of them. Photo: Jamie O’Brien
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Hollywood star Mickey Rourke insists his strong commitment to Roman Catholicism has saved him from slipping back into his formerly chaotic lifestyle. He Mickey Rourke made these comments to British gossip magazine Female First. The actor ensures he talks to his priest as often as possible, and the release of being able to offload his problems prevents him from having a mental “explosion”. He says, “I’ve talked to my priest a lot. I used to have to call him or the shrink when there was an explosion, because I was really good at not talking to anybody until there was an explosion. “My priest is this cool Italian from New York. We go down to his basement and he opens the wine. . “We smoke a cigarette and I have my confession. He sends me upstairs to do my Hail Mary’s. I mean, I’m no Holy Joe, but I have a strong belief.”. Mickey Rourke has revealed that he came close to committing suicide during his eight year addiction battle in a comment to Now Magazine, a British Gossip paper. Continued on Page 7
China invites Missionaries of Charity to establish their presence Mother Teresa’s sisters hoping for a home in China, awaiting permission from Beijing. Blessed Mother Teresa’s religious sisters have written a letter to the Beijing government for permission to open a home in China, says the superior of the Missionaries of Charity.
The Missionaries of Charity would be the first international Catholic congregation, since the times of Mao Zedong, to officially establish a location in the People’s Republic. Significantly, it was the government of China which asked the Sisters to go to China. “They asked us to go; for our part, we are glad to go,” Sister Nirmala Joshi, the superior, told AsiaNews.
A MAN NAMED TROUBLE German World War II Bishop Clemens von Galen was beatified in Rome last weekend. His heroic courage in denouncing Nazi barbarism is an example for our times.
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The superior who succeeded Mother Teresa at the helm of the Sisters of Charity said that they were contacted last April by a government official who suggested that they open a home in China. Beijing was still smarting at the time from the poor figure it cut for being absent from Pope John Paul II’s funeral, according to AsiaNews. Sister Nirmala thinks that, in making this suggestion, China
wished to “take a step towards opening diplomatic relations with the Vatican.” When Benedict XVI heard of the news, he encouraged the religious to accept the invitation and to visit China. In mid-July, Sister Nirmala went to China to look into the possibility of opening a home. On July 16, accompanied by two women religious and a priest, Sister Nirmala
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visited Qingdao, at the invitation of the government and local Bishop Joseph Li Mingshu. The Sisters made plans to open a home for the elderly. On the bishop’s advice, Sister Nirmala wrote a letter to the Chinese government and has been waiting for a reply ever since. She told AsiaNews: “Pray for us, that we may be able to go to China and serve those who are most aban Zenit doned.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF DAD James Stenson’s small but packed book on fathers outlines the powerful ways fathers can mould their children for their own passage through life. Available from The Record.
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