Sydney
6 April 2003

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Peace ... harmony

Rugby league scores a try in a GPS college

Passing the baton

Peaceful action for peace

Catholic Weekly takes a holiday over Easter

Tissue project wins archbishop’s grant

A voice for the disabled

Faith centre moves

Younger set is 50

Fr Chris is guest

Ecumenical Stations of the Cross in wetlands

US move welcomed on partial birth abortion

Project Compassion 2003 - Leyte farmers can face better future

Editorial - Victims of war

Letters - Ash Wednesday

Conversation - Fr Patrick Byrne, Rome-based head of Children’s Mission: Big project or small, ‘it must be for kids’

Voice of Youth - Renaissance of thinking about the Middle Ages

Celebrate Love? Live it to the ‘max’

Heading off conflict before it hits crisis point

Crucifixion story wouldn’t go away

New home for new breed of priest

Christian Brothers spread social justice net

Luke’s Story wins award

300 at social justice forum

Music lets Andrew ‘share my faith’ ...

Letters - Ash Wednesday

At the conclusion of Mass, which was the last Mass of the day, a request for some ashes was met by a refusal from the celebrant of the Mass, who said they were only given in the Liturgy of the Word and not outside of Mass.

I find this a little harsh in treatment as the ashes are only a means to an end and not an end in themselves. Am I a little out of line in this way of thinking?

RF Jukes
Yerrinbool, NSW

HUMAN RIGHTS

It is hard to excuse human rights abuses and, as in Greg O’Regan’s letter (The real Church, Letters CW 16/3), religious persecutions.

China’s 1260 million people must be a gigantic job to manage.

We have a mere 20 million and can’t make room for a handful of East Timorese refugees.

Our Lord said his Kingdom was not of this world.

Perhaps in China we have been pushing the material establishment of the Church, which aligns itself more to democracy than other forms of government.

Patrick Flanigan
Doonside, NSW

FAST ANSWER

How seriously do we want peace?

Our Lady at Medjugorje has been quoted as saying: “The best fast is on bread and water. Through fasting and prayer, one can stop wars, one can suspend the laws of nature. Charity cannot replace fasting. Those who are not able to fast can sometimes replace it with prayer, charity and a confession; but everyone, except the sick must fast.”

How many Catholics who have heard this message have taken it to heart?

Medjugorje has not been approved yet but this is not an excuse to ignore numerous accounts in Scripture of how fasting helped to achieve positive results.

If we take Our Lady’s advice and eat bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays, provided we eat breads made of natural flours (wholemeal, rye, soy, etc), rather than refined white flour, we will find we will actually feel better than if we eat the normal fare of refined foods common to the diet of many Australians.

Our Lady’s fast might well be worth a try this Lent, after all the words “but everyone, exept the sick, must fast” are strong words to ponder.

Col Robens
Young, NSW

LEGITIMACY

Fr John Dietzen (Different retreat? Insights CW 2/3) raises the question of the legitimacy of the use of the enneagram in Catholic retreats.

He suggests that it “clearly matches the method of spiritual discernment taught by St Ignatius in the Spiritual Exercises” and that “the nine compulsions in fact correspond to the traditional seven deadly sins plus deceit and fear”.

However, having studied the program, I find one important content is completely missing - any recognition of basic Christian revelation concerning original sin; as St Paul reminds us we are not fighting against mere flesh and blood, but against principalities and the power of darkness - Satan (Eph 6.12).

In the enneagram, ‘salvation’ is confused with ‘redemption’, the two terms being used interchangeably.

The Catholic Church teaches that redemption comes from Christ alone and that salvation comes through our accepting the redemption won for us through Christ. It does not come from within but from God.

Fr Dietzen stated that one author wrote of the enneagram “knowing your type (in the nine compulsions) gives you less excuse for being the way you are”. This seems to disregard the supernatural influence.

E J Baulman
Northbridge, NSW

The Vatican’s warnings about the ‘ambiguity’ of the enneagram in relation to Catholic doctrine (Different retreat? Insights CW 2/3) is fully expounded upon by Fr Mitch Pacwa in his excellent book Catholics and the New Age (Servant Publications, 1992).

He describes the enneagram as presenting Catholics with many serious scientific, social and religious problems because it involves recourse to new age “enlightenment” techniques such as yoga, and inculcates elements of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islamic mysticism.

He writes: “There are serious theological problems with the notion of salvation in the enneagram system. In general, these ideas are inconsistent with Christianity. Thus, they should not be taught in retreats or parish workshops” (p122).

Fr Pacwa points out that it is the battle with sin and striving to overcome the effects of original sin which will ultimately lead us to salvation in Jesus Christ, and not preoccupation with a supposed personality type/compulsion.

Frances McEniery
Wagga Wagga, NSW

Julio Chavez asked a very pertinent question (Jackpot question, Letters CW 23/2). How can Catholic clubs justify poker machines on their premises when we know from reliable statistics that the money which is eaten up by poker machines comes mostly from the pockets of the average worker, the unemployed or even the pensioner?

We are doing the Catholic Church no favours by allowing these clubs to call themselves Catholic.

If they cannot function without poker machines close them down. It is a pleasure to walk into clubs that have no poker machines; we can go back to the pleasures of social interaction with each other.

These insidious machines, which are, in fact, a tool of the devil, have, since their inception, bled dry the poor of the world with their promise of easy money and immediate wealth at the push of a button.

The Catholic Church has an obligation as shepherds of the people, to decry the proliferation of machines that wreck people’s lives, especially the family unit which is sacred and needs our protection.

Sean Hampsey
St John’s Park, NSW