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The Parish. The Nation. The World.
Thursday June ,
Western Australia’s Award-winning Catholic newspaper
Perth, Western Australia ● $1
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GROWING JUSTICE: Talking about justice helps children grow VISTA 4
Parish Priests’ key role references will be ‘important’ for school enrolments ■ By Jamie O’Brien
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reference from a Parish Priest for parents who want to enrol their children in a Catholic school has become an important part of the enrolment process for Catholic education in Western Australia. Not all Catholic schools had used references from parish priests as important factors to be considered in choosing who is accepted for enrolment. It was confirmed this week that the policy is now applied across all Catholic schools in WA and has been since the beginning of the year. However final decisions on who is enrolled will still be in the hands of school principals. Catholic education director Ron Dullard told The Record that the policy is about providing an opportunity to further develop relationships between parents, the parish and the school. The revised policy will mean parents who are involved with their parish will be given priority ahead of other Catholics outside the parish and non-Catholic students. The policy will apply to all 158 Catholic primary and secondary schools in Western Australia. Mr Dullard told The Record there is a high demand for entry into Catholic Schools, but this has not been a major factor in the adjustment of the policy. However, the revised policy will not guarantee that parents keep up their appearances once the child is accepted in the school. “This will depend on the relationship that develops between the parents and the parish,” Mr Dullard said. “The greater involvement a family has with their parish the greater chance they have of being accepted into their Catholic school. “The school is only part of the spiritual and religious development of the child.” Mr Dullard said many Catholic secondary schools already recommend a reference, which normally Continued on Page 6
Offering women help with healing: Project Rachel Australian director Julie Kelly, left, psychotherapist Leonie Palmer, Dominican priest Fr Anthony Van Dyke, and Perth’s archdiocesan Respect Life officer Clare Pike. The four-person team assisted women suffering from the traumatic after-effects of abortion at the first Project Rachel retreat to be held in Western Australia. Photo: Paul Bui FULL STORY - PAGE 3
Prelate condemns Mugabe Fresh call for unity in WA An African archbishop has condemned the demolition of thousands of homes and businesses in Zimbabwe as “inhuman.” Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, in a rare public attack on the government of President Robert Mugabe, spoke out at against the government’s Operation Drive Out Trash. He criticised the evictions in a June 12 radio interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. Under the policy, bulldozers have cleared away buildings and market stalls the government considers illegal because they were
THE NEGLECTED VATICAN BEAT John Allen reveals why so much reporting of the Vatican could be improved.
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erected without the permission of the planning authorities. The government said it also wants to combat shantytown crime levels that have soared amid the country’s economic crisis. The United Nations believes that 200,000 people have been left homeless as a result of the government’s demolition program. About 30,000 people have been arrested for living in illegal buildings. “The way the exercise was carried out was inhuman,” Archbishop Ndlovu said. “Bearing in mind this is the winter season Continued on Page 6
Archbishop Barry Hickey has made a fresh call for the Christian churches in WA to be one in fidelity to the Gospel. He was delivering the ecumenical address of welcome last weekend at the Episcopal Seating and Inauguration of the Ministry of the Rt Rev Roger Adrian Herft, the seventh Anglican Archbishop of Perth. “We must avoid the scandal of disunity about matters that are central to the message of Christ,” he told the congregation that included many other Christian churches and Faith communities. His message echoed his call for the churches to
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work towards unity on moral matters in his New Year message this year and his subsequent address, by request, to the heads of other Christian churches last April. The full text of Archbishop Hickey’s address of welcome to Archbishop Herft is on Page 2. Formerly the Bishop of Waikato NZ (1986-93) and of Newcastle (1993-2005), Archbishop Herft succeeds Peter Carnley who retired on May 26. Since it was established on January 11, 1856 by Queen Victoria, Perth diocese has had three bishops, with the third of them (Bishop Riley) becoming the first of seven archbishops.
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The archdiocesan seminary at Guildford received plenty of interest when it opened its doors to men thinking about the possibility that God might be calling them.
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