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Solemn sadness and sweet joy of a Kalamunda Easter
Budget is ‘beating the poor’ E - Vinnies
Parishioners in the hills above Perth made this year’s Easter a memorable one, writes Jo Doyle
BY ANTHONY BARICH THE St Vincent de Paul Society has criticised the Federal Government of “taking to people with the stick” by punishing sole parents and imposing a “harsher compliance regime” to score political points in the 10 May Federal Budget. “A harsher welfare compliance regime and the extension of compulsory income management are measures that assume that if you are disadvantaged, your problem is idleness,” said Dr John Falzon, chief executive of the Society’s National Council of Australia.
St Vincent de Paul national chief executive, Dr John Falzon.
“Idleness is not the problem. The problem is entrenched inequality.” He said the Budget has left Newstart recipients on a benefit below the poverty line. “In fact, unemployment benefits in Australia have had no real adjustment since 1994, so the gap between unemployment benefits and the minimum wage is growing and the gap between unemployment benefits and the pension is growing significantly,” he said. There are a significant number of sole parents who will be $56 a week worse off due to changes in the Budget, he said, which is “quite a significant figure when you’re on a low income”. There will also be some 21 year old benefit recipients who will be $43 a week worse off, he said. On top of these financial disadvantages, there will be a more demanding compliPlease turn to Page 15
aster 2011 was celebrated at Kalamunda’s Holy Family Church with all the solemn sadness and sweet joy of this wonderful and most-important season. An Easter display was set up in the church foyer by the leader of our Children’s Liturgy team, Anna van Eck. Set out on a table, there were symbols, objects and brief explanations that told the Easter story from a wooden plate and goblet for the Last Supper to a hammer and long nails for the crucifixion, a lamb, a small crown of thorns and model of a tomb with a rock rolled in front of it. Children could pick up and examine the items and hopefully get closer to the Easter story of the very real Jesus and His loving sacrifice. In the morning on Good Friday, we celebrated Stations of the Cross outdoors with the birds and the trees. We sang as we processed around the church grounds and paused at each station for a reading and prayers. Carol Christie, Stephen Phillips and Annemarie Lindsey led us in the readings. During our Good Friday afternoon celebration we had a liturgical enactment of our Lady’s sorrow at the foot of the cross. Opera singer Fiona Cooper Smyth sang Pie Jesu as ballet dancer Annie Quinn approached the altar, with Matthew, Tiffany and Emily taking the roles of the beloved disciple, Mary Magdalene and a child. Arranged by parishioner Jane Pike, it was touching and moving in its sincerity and beauty. From Good Friday, a group of parishioners met daily in the church to pray a novena of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. This led up to Divine Mercy Sunday on 1 May and the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Parishioner Pamela Kenyon, who has a special devotion to the Divine Mercy, brought in a painting of the Divine Mercy of Jesus, to form a prayer focus.
Young parishioners of Holy Family Church, Kalamunda, perform a liturgical enactment of Mary’s sorrow at the foot of the Cross as her son is dying, above, during the parish’s Easter commemorations on Good Friday. Earlier in the day, below, parishioners gathered for the traditional Stations of the Cross commemoration.
Before the joyous Easter morning celebration, the rock on our display table had been rolled away from the small tomb, bandages lay unravelled and we all happily celebrated that Jesus Christ had risen. During Mass, Fr Paul Raj baptised baby Ruby Cable amidst a flock of little children at the baptismal font clambering to welcome the newest member of our church family.
No big difficulties: Perth clergy affirm new translations of the Mass prayers Local priests see no major problems for this coming October BY ANTHONY BARICH The Council of Priests of the Archdiocese of Perth has given the new translations of the Missal its full endorsement. In an exclusive statement to The Record after discussing the issue at their 14 April meeting at the Cathedral Presbytery, Perth’s Council of Priests chairman Fr Brian McKenna said the changes “will be as readily accepted as the original (1973) translation was”.
“The Council of Priests of the Archdiocese of Perth accepts that there may be minor difficulties in implementing the New Translation of the Roman Missal,” the 16 April statement said. The new Missal will be available in Perth at the beginning of Advent. Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton told The Record that workshops for the catecheses on the Mass and “Train the Trainer” sessions have been well received by parishes across the Archdiocese. The Bishops of the province of WA have decided that the people’s parts of the Mass will be introduced on the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (29-30 October), to enable parishes to be prepared for and
deliver the Catechesis on the Mass. In some other parts of Australia, this introduction will occur earlier. Bishop Sproxton said that the prelates of WA anticipate that the New Roman Missal will be available at the beginning of Advent, when the priests will be permitted to begin using the Presidential Prayers, the Prefaces, the Eucharistic Prayers and the rest of the Missal. Pew cards with people’s responses and the texts of the Confiteor, the Gloria, the Creed and the Mystery of Faith acclamations are now available to parishes for free from the Archdiocesan Centre for Liturgy for parishioners to learn in advance. “The changes in the people’s responses are not many or difficult.
“The biggest challenge will be for the celebrants because of the wording and the flow of language will be different from what we have been used to,” the statement from Perth’s Archdiocesan Council of Priests said. “With time and practice in getting used to these differences, it is anticipated that the New Translation will be as readily accepted as the original English translation was”. The statement from the Council of Priests of the Archdiocese of Perth, an official Archdiocesan organisation, is in stark contrast to one issued on 23 February by the National Council of Priests Australia, a purely private organisation unrelated to the Perth body.
The NCPA said that the new translations provoked calls for a boycott. The NCPA said the new translation could exclude women and suggested a concession be given to people who “find this new translation unacceptable” just as one was given to Catholics who prefer the Tridentine Mass in Latin. It said individual priests would not conform to the new translations and make their own changes as they saw fit. “As in the past, individual priests will adapt styles to suit individual circumstances whilst being faithful to the key elements of the Eucharistic tradition in the Church,” it said.