Letters: Breadwinners?

Sydney
1 Dec 2002

St Cecilia’s children go ‘bush’ for the day

Radical bid for men-only teaching job offers

Crackerjack way to see charity in action

Destruction of human life for profit - research fear

Fr John says ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’

Real meaning of Christmas

Perth statue: Archbishop orders inquiry

... deported, then disappeared or dead

Avoid war at all costs: Caritas

Christmas Bowl gets helping hand from a Leunig angel

Govt bows to Church pressure

A walk against war

Persecution: UN should be forced to act

Casting a NET to reach young adults, older kids

Tom Singer, lost in a ‘coward’s war’

Asylum seeker kids allowed to attend Catholic school

Editorial: When aid is misused

Letters: Breadwinners?

Conversation: Terry Underwood, Ambassador, Year of the Outback

Reflections: US bishops pose questions on Iraq

Kids go ‘bush’ at St Cecilia’s to help drought victims

It’s ‘family first’ for SOS (son of Sergio)

Dad had to face racism on field

Retreat helps with the healing

Love of books pays off for coastal school

‘Greedy people’ let the needy go without

Third degree burns

Letters: Breadwinners?

With due respect to the Catholic Bishops Conference and the Leaders of Religious Institutes, I have a problem with an overall grant of long-term residency in Australia for all 1800 East Timorese who sought refuge here eight years ago.

Accepted that some, perhaps even the majority, should be accepted on humanitarian grounds, surely we should not put them all into the same basket.

Their country is relatively safe now, is it not? I wonder what Bishop Belo or President Gusmao think about this?

Of the 1800 people, would there not be perhaps 500 breadwinners of family units, or bright independent young people, among them?

Of those 500 would there be not a proportion, even 20, who are prepared to be pioneers in their new country?

To say unemployment is high there means little. When a nation is beginning from virtually nothing, self employment is the way to go for those brave enough - and these are a brave people.

Has Australia made them soft?

Surely there is a builder, or a baker or a farmer among them to whom we can grant livestock or rice seed, and who has enough love for his country to go back and try.

The Timorese have suffered so much. Healing can be found in constructive energy.

Better still if there is a larger motive of national pride.

Marie Therese Levey
Bondi, NSW

SPECIAL VISA

I would like to thank Archbishop Carroll, in his position as president of the Bishops’ Conference and (in the absence of an active cardinal) current leader of the Catholic community in Australia, for speaking out on behalf of the East Timorese people, who have no voice.

It is a pity that we have to spend so much energy trying to convince the Government of the common sense regarding the establishment of a special visa for the East Timorese people who have assimilated, and no doubt paid taxes, in this country.

The East Timorese in Australia have won the hearts of many people, not only Catholics, because they have been here so long; they have not been a burden on the government, because they have been able to work; their children have integrated into the local schools and universities; they have not been involved in violent activities; and they have been able to support relatives struggling to exist in a country without an established, functioning infrastructure.

Aileen Crowe FMM
Justice and Peace Promoter
Archdiocese of Sydney

NOT ST BERNARD!

An illustration of a prayer card memento (CW 10/11) names St Bernard (1090-1153) as author of the Memorare prayer.

The Memorare actually did not turn up in the Church until the 15th century when it was part of a longer text: “Ad sanctitati tuae pedes, dulcissima Maria.”

A similar idea and similar phrases were known to occur in an earlier Byzantine text.

The Memorare was detached from “Ad sanctitate” at the end of the 16th century when the young St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is recorded as reciting it in an attack of scruples.

Neither is the prayer the work of Fr Claude Bernard who lived during the reign of Louis XIII (1601-1643).

The Memorare therefore dates from some centuries after the time of St Bernard and should not be attributed to him.

(Source: Les Plus Beaux Textes sur la Vierge Marie, Pie Regamey OP)

Kevin Smith
Balgowlah, NSW

MERCIFUL PATRON

I believe that Mary has been and still is the merciful patron of Catholics throughout the centuries (Trust in Mary, Letters CW 27/10). I believe in a lot Barry Blake (Mariology, Letters CW 13/10) seems to imply. However, I do not believe Mary is divine (Blessed Virgin, Letters CW 29/9).

Like many Catholics I truly believe that Mary is our heavenly mother, who will listen to our prayers and pray for us to her blessed son. I agree wholeheartedly with Adele Zelamina (Trust in Mary, CW 27/10). I ask all Australians to have devoted trust in the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

I have called upon Mary many times in my life. I lost my mother when I was eight-years old and have been through many hard times. I have always called on Mary to intercede for me to her blessed son.

I look back on my life now and know she has always been there for me. I am a very constant and firm believer in the Holy Rosary.

Mrs Lola Bruton
Gayndah, NSW

ABC BIAS?

Does the ABC’s TV news service have an anti-Catholic bias?

Pope John Paul addressed the Italian Parliament, in the presence of the Italian President and Prime Minister, on Friday, November 15.

But in none of its telecasts that night did the ABC give any coverage to this historic event.

In contrast, the SBS early evening news telecast gave a comprehensive coverage.

Putting aside any religious element, the ABC news compilers seem to have shown a lamentable lack of historic knowledge and questionable news sense.

It was the first time a pope had addressed Italy’s parliament, yet another ‘first’ in a litany of ‘firsts’ unequalled by any of Pope John Paul II’s predecessors.

This is the man who has been seen and listened to by more people than any other person, has been at the centre of world affairs for the past 24 years and has been credited with exercising enormous influence on world affairs - especially for his principal part in the fall of communism, in Europe.

But so far as the ABC’s TV news service is concerned it did not rate even a 30-second segment.

Dr Joe Morley
Lane Cove, NSW