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Mission families caII From Peter Rosengren in Melbourne Catholic families should think about whether they are called to become missionary families to the poor, either in Australia or abroad, a high-profile American Catholic Church leader told the national Catholic family gathering in Melbourne last weekend. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver in Colorado said it might sound =realistic for married couples to start living as missionaries, but some were called to that life. "I'd wager my (air) ticket home that God is calling at least half a dozen of you to be active missionary families, either here in Australia among the poor, or in some other country," he said last Saturday, 29 April. "What's so outlandish about that? Protestants have been doing it for years," he said, adding that in his own Denver archdiocese there were at least three missionary families from abroad living and working for the church in Denver. The archbishop gave a keynote address to the "Dare to Dream" national gathering of Catholic families at Dallas Brooks Hall In Melbourne. His address to the gathering, a major national event for the Jubilee year organised by the Australian Catholic Bishops' Committee for the Family and for Life, was on 'The Family: A Community of Life and Love." The gathering attended by about 700 families from around Australia, including WA, also heard from the Governor-General, Sir William Deane, Federal Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, both Catholics, and many other Australian speakers. Archbishop Leonard Faulkner of Adelaide who chairs the Australian Bishops'
no'or Rosengren
Archbishop Chaput urges families at the Melbourne gathering to consider missionary work.
Committee for the Family and for Life, told The Record the bishops' expectations for the gathering had been more than fulfilled. 'To see these wonderful families from all over Australia was, for me, a sign of hope for the family, and consequently for the Church and society,' he said. The Archbishop also said he was confident there would be a renewal of familybased evangelisation at the local level in the Church. 'No gathering like this will ever answer all the questions but it will have created a momentum to really be that evangelisation of families by families,' he said. Archbishop Faulkner also received a spe-
cial report from Michael and Patricia Brady of Adelaide. The couple presented Archbishop Faulkner with a copy of /n Their Own Words, the results of an invitation issued by the bishops in 1999 to Australian Catholic families to communicate their own stories of family life, its joys, challenges, rewards and struggles. Archbishop Chaput, a Franciscan Capuchin, came to national prominence in the US just over 12 months ago as he comforted the grieving families of students killed in the Colombine high school massacre. He gave parents at the Melbourne gath-
ering suggestions on how to build Catholic families to help create the civilisation of love envisaged by Pope John Paul II. Supporting missionary families had to be a community effort, Archbishop Chaput said. "Every missionary family needs three things: prayers, friendship and material support. So if six of the families here today were to go on mission, surely 60 more could tithe to support them," he said. And even if a family was not called to go somewhere else, "living the Gospel ardently where you are is missionary. Living the teachings of the Church joyfully and loyally in the specific circumstances of your life is missionary," he said. Archbishop Chaput urged parents to learn the habit of gratitude and teach it to their children. "Gratitude unlocks joy, which is maybe why we've had so little joy even within the Church for the last 30 years," he said. "We've done a great job over the last three decades arguing about what's supposed to be wrong with the Church and her teaching. But we've done a pretty poor job of being grateful for the Church as God's gift to us: A mother who guides us, corrects us and comforts us out of love, for the sake of our own salvation," he said. The night before, Governor General, Sir William Deane, opened the gathering and cautioned fellow Catholics against being too aggressive in their efforts to protect the family unit, as they see it, from external threats. He urged Catholics, the Church and the State to concentrate instead on promoting the "unique positiveness" of the family. Continued on Page 4; Editorial - Page 7; Catholic marriage and the language of the body - Page 9; NZ Bishops submission on same sex relationships and families - Page 15
Family gathering 'very enriching' for West Australians The Morans also attended the How to Drug-proof Your Child It was as simple as this: Western workshop at the conference, one Australians contacted by The of more than 40 on a variety of Record who travelled to the family-related issues at the two national Dare to Dream gathering days of the gathering. Mrs Moran, a recently-graduatof Catholic families in Melbourne ed social worker, said she was all said it had been a great event. Neville and Marian Moran, from now interested in getting involved the Lesmurdie parish, attended in the drug-proof-your-children program and helping it spread in the gathering with their 15 yearPerth. old daughter Elisha. One spin-off from the gathering 'It was fantastic,' said Mrs was that participants from BrisMoran, who described the gath- bane had expressed interest in ering as 'very enriching: the Retrouvaille experience and Her husband said the event had there was reason to hope it might been a 'wonderful recognition of now spread to Queensland, she families; they're so often taken for said. granted.' John Barich, the president of the Both have been involved for the WA Branch of the Australian Famlast 20 years in Marriage ily Association, said the whole Encounter; they presented a event had been an excellent preworkshop at the gathering on the sentation. Retrouvaille experience - a selfSome of the testimonies given help program designed to help by participants had been heartheal and renew troubled mar- rending and witnessed eloquentriages. ly to the power of the Catholic From Peter Rosengren
Lesmurdie's Neville and Marian Moran and daughter Elias at the gathering.
faith to heal people's lives and help them to be truly happy. 'The central thing is the way the gathering addressed the problem of sexuality in the modem world and its solution - which is the teaching of the Pope,' he said.
'It showed that the Church is not saying 'don't have sex, but experience it according to God's plan for you and you will be truly happy',' he told The Record. Mr Barich said that while calls for tolerance of family-type living
Judith Pimeton of Doubleview, left, and Karen Hayes of Shenton Park: hope grows from a radical Christian life.
arrangements other than marriage were well-meant, caution must also be practised. Continued on Page 4