The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
18 January 2004
Home
Archive
Subscribe
Links
Contact
Pharmacists
saying ‘no’ to sale of pill
Organ donor plea
Irish festival
aids kids
29 die for Church
‘Powerful’ program
centres on Lenten themes
Marists on move
In
the pink (or baby blue?)
Wilde
times at Genesian
Lunch at the Talbot
Lord of the Rings
Historian who defied
adversity
Fr John ‘helped
thousands of souls’
Year to remember
Letters
Life without a
mask
The fear of disapproval
A
year of celebration
The Catholic Weekly
Goose bumps from
nuns’ Ave Maria
A
feast of faith
A hero at Glenrowan
Defence the key to Terra Sancta’s strategy
Nicola’s search for the perfect wave . . . at Bronte
College put George in volleyball’s courta
Letters
Angels are female
In his always interesting, and occasionally entertaining column, Fr John Dietzen
(Question time CW 28/12) posed the question: “Are angels male?”
His answer – an ambivalent affirmative – put my memory cells into overdrive.
As a small boy I had a “thing” about angels. I dreamed about them, drew them, attempted to fly like them, and got playmates at parties to dress as them.
Contrary to the position reached by Fr Dietzen, in my book angels were all female, and for the simple reason that – in my childhood way of looking at things – they wore dresses.
I studied the clothing carefully, and spent hours pondering how “dresses” could be removed, laundered and replaced without damaging the wings. I concluded that there had to be some sort of threading device, visible only from behind, or maybe angels’ wings could be somehow “unhinged” and replaced.
(I was also an expert on fairies, believing that the difference between the two was that fairies’ wings were smaller.
I considered they, too, were female. Male fairies were elves.)
My belief about gender was bolstered by the fact that the only angel
whose name I knew was Gabriel. And my mother had a friend called
Gabriel, who
was definitely female.
While I was very small my grandmother died. I recall my mother
telling me that she was now my guardian angel, thus confirming
me in my belief.
Alan Gill
Drummoyne, NSW
Missionaries
The Divine Word Missionaries are thrilled to see their founder, recently canonised,
featured in The Catholic Weekly.
We believe that the canonisation of the two Divine Word Missionaries last October is a timely reminder to the society as well as to the Church at large of the missionary role each Catholic accepts in Baptism.
As St Arnold Janssen was our founder, the canonisation had great significance to each of our confreres and the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters.
Last year we had large celebrations in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney to mark the canonisations.
The congregations were of many ethnic backgrounds, reflecting our missionary work and the nature of Australian society.
Thank you for having St Arnold in The Catholic Weekly at this time that is so close to his feastday.
Theo Becker, SVD
Mission secretary
Epping, NSW
Holy Spirit active
The article on students converting
to Catholicism at Marist College, North Shore, during the past year (‘Forgiveness’ draws
Dave to Catholicism, CW 14/12) was a source of great encouragement to me as
young people saw the worth of the faith and were prepared to embrace it.
With 70 students taking on the Catholic faith over the past three years it is evident the Holy Spirit is active at North Shore Marist, along with Mr Tony Clarke, the college’s director of faith formation, the Brothers and other mentors.
The staff and fellow students have obviously been wonderful exemplars of those who enjoy being members of the Catholic Church to the extent of inspiring others to accept Catholicism as a great way of life.
While some people spruik the supposed negatives of belonging to the Church, the Good News coming out of North Shore Marist College is absolutely refreshing.
Mons Brian Rayner
Vicar General
Sydney, NSW
Great gift
Generations of Australian Catholics will be indebted to the scholarship,
wit, honesty and clear-headedness of Professor Patrick James O’Farrell,
Emeritus Scientia Professor of History, who has died at the age of 70.
Patrick O’Farrell was the natural enemy of muddle-headed, populist nonsense and his Tipperary genes rose in uproar against its practitioners, and yet he was a such a gentleman, always ready to give his cool but friendly guidance for those seeking the true message from our past.
He had the great gift to bring our ancestors in faith back to life, to tell their stories in context without the impediment of false prophetic visions or irrelevant claptrap.
I am sure that he and the late Dr Eris O’Brien will continue their reflections on the history of Australian Catholicism far into eternity.
Cliff Baxter
Newtown, NSW
A must for all
The death on December 25, 2003, of Professor Patrick O’Farrell closes
the life of a great historian of the Catholic Church and Irish in Australia.
His books and background are a must for all Catholics interested in our heritage and history.
Geoffrey M Prendergast
North Ryde, NSW
Word of warning
In reply to Hugh McKay’s comment on teenagers and their use of mobile
phones and computers (Take heart from teenagers, CW 23/11), I would like to
sound a word of warning to parents of teenagers and younger children.
At first the computer is a mystery to junior, then a novelty, and next an obsession with untold possibilities. Then, the mobile phone is a consuming passion and before parents wake up to what is being done with it, they may already be responsible for a debt they had not bargained for.
However, those are not the worst that these very useful modern aids can bring into your lives. In the hands of the unwary or unscrupulous they present a very real danger, so do not take for granted that your children are engaged in innocent games.
Mrs Nora Battaglini
Picton, NSW