Sydney
21 July 2002

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Changing face of Pope’s soldiers

Vinnies SOS for cash to fight gambling ills

Priest’s anniversary wish – that more young men take up cloth

Simon’s still in need of a home

Excitement as pilgrims are blessed

Politics and prayers

International court is ‘crucial’ for East Timor

The icon of Our Lady of Kazan

Amnesty condemns attacks by Palestinian suicide bombers

Church unity theme for cardinal at Ryde mayor’s prayer breakfast

Aust gifts set charity record

Danger if teens are ‘running on empty’

Editorial: Romance in marriage

Letters: Jesus is the centre, not the clergy

Conversation: ‘Unreal’ love? Not if your love is real - Anne and Peter McGowan, family delegates

Reflections: Hunger – righting an imbalance

Becoming Catholic ‘a turning point’

Opinion: A return to the genuine ‘good old days’?

Schools fight to keep up with demand

Chaldean leader blesses new church

Helping hand for Sydney pilgrims

‘Big kids’ in new role as Seniors

Inspirations: Students rally to Winter Appeal

Letters: Jesus is the centre, not the clergy

Congratulations to The Catholic Weekly for having the courage to publish the letters from Paul Gilchrist and Janet Morrissey about sexual abuses in the Church (CW 7/6).

I’m saddened that some priests have committed such abuses.

But I’m really angered by the refusal to face up to the fact that so many bishops exacerbated the problem by refusing to take action.

I’m also angered by clergy who compare clerical abuses with child abuse in the general community.

It’s an admission of failure if the Church sees itself as just reflecting the general community and not as being about seeking holiness.

Let me also recommend two survival strategies.

I have to remind myself that Jesus is the centre of our religion, not the clergy or official spokespersons.

And that it’s necessary to pray for perseverance, so as not to be thrown by this insidious attack on the people of God.

Tom Goldsmith

While I appreciate you giving my letters a run, I was embarrassed that you left out what I consider the most important point I was making in the story about Nazi experiments (Different destinies, Letters, CW 7/7).

I wrote about two babies born in Austria on the one night.

You edited out that one couple was sad because of the health of their baby girl and that the other couple, who parented Adolf Hitler, were happy because he was born healthy.

I had a phone call from someone, who having read the edited version thought there was only one couple and that Hitler was a twin.

The editing didn’t clarify anything - it did the opposite.

Frank Bellet
Petrie, Qld

I was quite amazed on reading Different destinies (Letters, CW 7/7) about the story an elderly doctor in England told of his grandfather’s experience as a doctor in Braunau, Austria, in the 1890s.

One April night two babies were born – a boy and a girl.

The little girl the doctor took a keen interest in.

The doctor did not need to catch up with what happened to the bouncing baby boy; he was always in the news.

A decorated hero in World War I, he later went into politics.

His name? Adolf Hitler.

Julia Bernadette Enright
Yennora, NSW

I read with interest the article Rosary peace plan spreads in schools (CW, 23/6).

I thought how wonderful and what a great idea this is. St Patrick’s Wallsend: Congratulations!

How lovely the photo of the children holding their Rosary beads.

I am sure Our Blessed Lord and the Holy Spirit and Mary will hear your prayers.

Good on you! May God bless you all. My prayer is that other schools will join you.

Even though I live in Queensland, I am from NSW and just love reading articles in The Catholic Weekly.

Mrs Lola Bruton
Gayndah, Qld

I suppose it was inevitable – the spin-offs from the Harry Potter books have started to arrive and The Catholic Weekly has lost no time in jumping in to promote them (Which Witch? Books for Children, CW 26/5).

It’s all such innocuous fun, isn’t it? Wizards and witches going about their business, doing as witches and wizards always do – or do they?

The reality of the occult is SIN with capital letters, not the lovable larrikinism we are presented with in Which Witch? and books of its ilk.

To misrepresent witchcraft and wizardry in this way is to exhibit irresponsibility and foolhardiness of the highest order, not to mention a complete lack of reverence for God.

The devil knows when he is on to a good thing – he must be rubbing his hands with glee at this latest opus.

Bogdan Zawadski
Ingleburn, NSW

Karl Rahner writes in his dictionaries of Dogmatic Theology: “Atheism can be created by someone preaching the gospel, yet who does not believe in it.”

He affirms this is common.

Mahatma Gandhi on first reading the gospels judged them favourably. He was considering whether to become a Christian. Before he did, however, he observed the lifestyle of Christians in South Africa where he was living.

He changed his mind because their actions betrayed the teaching of the gospels. Christians thus bear responsibility for creating adverse conditions by mouthing what they do not believe or practise.

The Catholic schools in Australia (due to necessity?) changed from teaching religious education by nuns, (who practised what they taught) to lay teaching, including teaching by non-Catholics and non-practising Catholics, who will obviously not exhibit the same exemplary behaviour.

Is it any wonder then that there are few vocations to the religious life emanating from our Catholic schools now?

How can these schools, under present conditions, breed our future bishops, priests, nuns and brothers?

Isn’t it time that they revamped their syllabuses to include vocational guidance as well as studies leading to apprenticeships and university entrance?

What is our next move? Reviving the old Catholic schools’ practices or turning them into completely secular schools?

What do you think we should do?

Arthur Archer
Lemon Tree Passage, NSW