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DANGER AHEAD: Bishop Saunders warns on anti-terror laws Page 3
Death row prayer push
Perth, Western Australia ● $1
WOMEN IN CRISIS: to be focus of Bunbury annual appeal Page 5
LUTHERANCATHOLIC TALK: Focus on Christ, urges Benedict Page 8
Mother beatified
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Western Australia’s Award-winning Catholic newspaper
This week the Vatican beatified an ‘ordinary’ Italian housewife and mother. The honouring of this wonderful woman contrasts with Italy – and much of Europe’s - immediate future. By the year 2050 – 35 years from now – 42 per cent of Italians will be over the age of 60. On current trends, which have been increasing over decades, approximately 60 per cent of the Italian population by that time will have no brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts or uncles. It is hard to find a clearer contrast in views of who we are.
■ By Paul Gray
25-year-old Australian facing the death penalty for drug smuggling in Singapore is the subject of a growing prayer campaign around Australia which has drawn strong support from leading members of the Catholic hierarchy. Tuong Van Nguyen has been convicted of attempting to smuggle 396 grams of heroin through Singapore’s Changi airport. The crime carries a mandatory death sentence in Singapore. The penalty is carried out by hanging, usually on a Friday. Mr Nguyen may be executed this month. Cardinal George Pell, supported by Sydney Anglican bishop Peter Jensen, has led calls from Christian churches to have Mr Nguyen’s death penalty reduced to a lesser sentence such as life imprisonment. And last weekend in Melbourne, permission was granted for a multi-faith prayer service, held in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral, to pray for the same intention. Public prayers have also been offered in some churches in Western Australia for the sparing of Mr Nguyen’s life. Cardinal Pell has also undertaken to raise the issue of saving Mr Nguyen’s life directly with Pope Benedict XVI. “I think the punishment to the crime is disproportionate,” Cardinal Pell told The Australian newspaper while he was in Rome late last month. “This case has been explained to me and I think there are special circumstances in this case.” Mr Nguyen is the son of a Vietnamese refugee. He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. It is believed that Mr Nguyen undertook the drug smuggling operation which has landed him on death row as a way to pay back $25,000 owed by his twin brother to an illegal drug syndicate. Last weekend’s multi-faith service in Melbourne’s Catholic Cathedral was jointly led by a Catholic priest, Rev. Peter Hansen, and a Buddhist monk, the Venerable Thich Phuoc Tan.
The Parish. The Nation. The World.
Thursday November ,
The majority world: child labour
We don’t have problems: A young boy in the Philippines recycles batteries, opening them by hand in this April 2005 photo. Many children throughout the world are not able to go to school and are forced to work dangerous jobs. The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals seek to improve the status of children Photo: CNS by achieving universal primary education.
VICENZA, Italy (CNS) - An Italian woman who raised 11 children was beatified and held up as a model of sainthood for all mothers. Eurosia Fabris, known simply as “Mamma Rosa” throughout her adult life, was beatified on November 6 in the northern Italian city of Vicenza, not far from the farming town where she was born. Pope Benedict XVI has stopped presiding over beatification Masses, but a decree was read in his name by Cardinal Jose Maria Saraiva Martins, head of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Beatification is the last major step before sainthood. Fabris was born in 1866, and as a young woman was known for her deep sense of faith. She taught religious education and sewing to children in her parish. At 18, she began caring for two babies whose mother had died. After marrying, she had nine children of her own; three of them became priests. After a life dedicated to homemaking and charity work, she died in 1932. “Mamma Rosa should be seen as a model of holiness for everyone,” said Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Vicenza, who celebrated the Mass. “As a wife and mother, she lived the evangelical simplicity of self-sacrifice for love. She accepted daily family life with all its troubles and sufferings, joys Continued on Page 5
Premier fades when he should lead Record Comment
T
he annual school leavers tragedy is looming ominously for thousands of students and their families and for a number of communities in WA and it is making news headlines already, although it has not started yet. The real tragedy lies in the attitude of allegedly responsible adults, but the consequences will be suffered by the young now and later in their lives. Take, for example the State Government’s grant of $3,458 to the
WA AIDS Council so it can hand out free condoms to students at various party locations. The council’s justification for the program is “teenagers will always have sex.” When Opposition Leader Matt Birney rejected this approach, Premier Geoff Gallop described him as “irresponsible, backward, and narrow-minded”. “The health and safety of our teenagers is priceless,” the Premier said. “The AIDS Council of WA does an excellent job and we support
their initiative.” An excellent job! Perhaps the Premier wasn’t listening when the AIDS Council told him that our teenagers have the sixth highest pregnancy rate and the third highest abortion rate in the world, and that a quarter of them – one in four – already has a sexually transmitted disease. That is the outcome after 25 years of public education pushing the “condom view” of intimate human relationships. Today’s teenagers have been brainwashed by the half-mad entertainment industry (films, television,
INDEX
A ROCKING CHRISTMAS A Murdoch University student, and friends, have put together a rock musical which takes the Christmas story as its starting point. It will open to the public later this month.
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Letters I say, I say The World Reviews Classifieds
parasitical magazines and an internet dominated by pornography) about casual, meaningless sexuality throughout their lives, and it is an impressive testimony to their good sense that so many have not succumbed. Unfortunately, our educators gave up decades ago and stubbornly refuse to learn from their mistakes. Let us examine the statement “teenagers will always have sex”. The truth is that most of them Continued on page 4 Studies find thinking on teens and sex is back to front - VISTA 1
PERTH GIRL WINS UK VOTE - Page 6 - VISTA 4 - Pages 8-9 - Page 10
Perth nurse Nicole Syed has been voted UK Catholic Woman of the Year for her pioneering work in promoting a new vision of human sexuality and medical care in fertility.
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VISTA 2&3