'Phone home' - a mother's plea

Sydney
22 December 2002

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'Phone home' - a mother's plea

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Editorial: Time of prayer, hope

Letters: Euthanasia

Conversation: Stephen Said - pastoral support services co-ordinator - Helping children cope with crisis

Practical tips for the festive season

Roses greet a saint in a year of turmoil

Where Christmas is celebrated every day of the year

'Phone home' - a mother's plea

Christmas is a particularly tough time for parents with grown-up children in what are described as religious cults.

One such mother, who wishes to be known as 'Malena', has a message for these silent offspring: Please phone home this Christmas. It would mean so much.

Her daughter has belonged to one of these new religious movements for 10 years. Their only contact has been occasional phone calls. Malena is in Sydney; her daughter Melbourne.

Malena told of a woman she met recently in the US, whose daughter got in touch with her family one Christmas after visiting a church.

The young woman found herself sitting by the crib, reflecting on childhood Christmases with her family. She phoned home. And, later, she took the bus home - for good.

Malena's hope is that this Christmas another young person might be similarly touched by the Christmas spirit and call or come home.

She does not expect a call this Christmas, but she has sent her girl a 'daughter' Christmas card which compares daughters to angels.