The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
18 January 2004
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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
A year of celebration
The year in review
Pilgrims pack St
Peter’s Square for the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Photo from Reuters
The Church in Australia enjoyed an historic and event-filled year in 2003, particularly in the Sydney archdiocese.
Highlights included the celebration of the bicentenary of the first Mass in Sydney, the elevation of the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr George Pell, to cardinal, the appointment of two new auxiliary bishops and a new military ordinary, the opening of Parramatta’s new cathedral, the Pope’s jubilee and the announcement that Sydney would make an official bid to host World Youth Day in 2007.
Archbishop Pell and his brother bishops of Australia opened the joint Sydney and Parramatta bicentenary celebrations with a commemorative Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday, May 11.
Dr Pell said: “The Catholic community is no longer a small, poor, almost persecuted minority, but an active, energetic participant in the mainstream of Australian life; chastened by recent scandals, facing many challenges internally and externally, but basically confident, at ease and above all at home here in Australia.”
An Irish convict priest, Fr James Dixon, had celebrated the first officially sanctioned Mass in Sydney on May 15, 1803, and the second in Parramatta on May 22.
Sydney Bishop David Cremin represented the archdiocese at bicentenary commemorations in Crossabeg, in County Wexford, Ireland, where Fr Dixon is buried.
Archbishop Pell was among 31 new cardinals announced by Pope John Paul II on September 28.
“ I’m a loyal son of the Second Vatican Council and I stand with the Pope,” Dr Pell said after the announcement, adding that he would continue to “preach Christ and try to explain that Christian teachings are true, beautiful and useful for this life and the next” and would use his position to champion the cause of Australian battlers.
The year began on a tragic note, with Canberra hit by bushfires which peaked on Saturday, January 18.
Several lives and more than 500 homes were lost; the suburbs of Holder and Warramanga the hardest hit.
Bishop Pat Power, Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, told The Catholic Weekly: “People are taking the view: ‘We have got our lives, that is what matters. We can always rebuild’.”
On January 31, eight people died and more than 40 were injured when a four-carriage train carrying commuters was derailed four kilometres south of Waterfall station.
The Bishop of Wollongong, Bishop Peter Ingham, said the tragedy “reminds us all of what a fragile hold we have on life as we go about our daily occupations”.
In March, the Archbishop of Perth, Archbishop Barry Hickey, withdrew a popular ‘weeping’ statue of the Virgin Mary from public veneration in his archdiocese after a commission of inquiry found that it was not safe to conclude that the weeping was of divine origin.
With the prospect of a war in Iraq looming, the Pope appealed for special prayers for peace in the Middle East on Ash Wednesday. The Supreme Islamic Council of NSW urged Muslims to pray and fast on that day in solidarity with Catholics.
Two leaders of Sydney’s Islamic community joined Catholics in prayer at the Ash Wednesday Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral.
The war began two weeks later, on March 19, while debate still raged about whether the US-led coalition’s action against Iraq was justified and whether Australia’s defence forces should be involved.
Archbishop Francis Carroll, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said that he regretted the Federal Government’s decision to commit to the war.
But he assured Australia’s defence personnel in Iraq and their families of “prayers and wholehearted support” on be- half of the Church in Australia.
Caritas Australia contributed $200,000 to aid for more than 260,000 Iraqi civilians displaced because of the war and continued to offer support throughout the year.
In July, Caritas also sent representatives to the Solomon Islands as an Australian-led regional peace-keeping force moved into the island nation to restore peace and order and bring an end to a climate of gun violence.
The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council reported in April that as many as one child in five is living in poverty. In submissions to the Senate Inquiry into Poverty and Financial Hardship, the St Vincent de Paul Society and Catholic Welfare Australia called for a national strategic plan to alleviate poverty.
American Cardinal James Francis Stafford,
head of the Pontifical Council
for the Laity, met
young Catholic
members of various
ministries and
spoke at Carnivale
Christi, the arts festival conducted
by Sydney University Catholic students,
during
a private
visit to Sydney
in May.
Church leaders spoke against the
decision by the NSW Government
to lower the
age of consent
for
homosexual relationships
from 18 to
16.
Archbishop Pell said that Parliament “should not enshrine the ideological claim that homosexual and heterosexual activity are morally equivalent”.
Bishop Ingham announced the excommunication in June of Fr Malcolm Broussard, a leading member of the so-called Order of St Charbel, based in Nowra, NSW.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president
of the Pontifical Council
for the Promotion
of
Christian Unity,
visited Sydney,
Melbourne and
Adelaide
during July
to deliver the annual Hel-
der Camara Lecture and attend
some ecumenical events.
The Pope announced the appointment in July of two new auxiliary bishops for Sydney, Bishop Anthony Fisher, a bioethicist, and Bishop Julian Porteous, rector of the Good Shepherd Seminary, Homebush. Archbishop Pell presided at their ordination in St Mary’s Cathedral on September 3.
The Pope also appointed a new bishop, Bishop Max Davis, to head the Military Ordinariate following the retirement of Bishop Geoffrey Mayne, who fulfilled his dying wish to install his successor.
Bishop Mayne died on September 14.
Bishop Henry Joseph Kennedy, who had retired as Bishop of Armidale in 1991, also died in September. He was 88.
In August, the Vatican called on Catholic MPs around the world to oppose moves to grant legal recognition to same-sex unions.
The call coincided with the Tasmanian Parliament voting in favour of legislation allowing formal recognition of same sex relationships, and extending a range of benefits “currently available to a spouse to what is now known as a partner”.
Dr Warwick Neville, research fellow of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said the Tasmanian legislation is “the death of traditional marriage by a thousand cuts”.
The bishops chose racism and exclusion as topics for their Social Justice Sunday statement in September.
They said that in this country where cultural diversity is celebrated, “there have been times when the shame of racism and the unfair treatment of cultural minorities have emerged with force in the community”.
“ Sadly, the events of September 11, 2001, and the consequent military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, the tragic bombing in Bali and further terrorist attacks have caused distress and anxiety, not only among the general Australian population, but also among Arab and Muslim communities in Australia.”
October was a joyful month for the Church, with Pope John Paul II celebrating the silver jubilee of his election as Pope, beatifying Mother Teresa of Calcutta and inducting 30 cardinals.
Archbishop Pell was the principal celebrant at a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral on October 16 to celebrate the silver jubilee, before travelling to Rome to receive his red biretta and be inducted into the College of Cardinals.
In November we reported the reaction of Church leaders and members of the community to the decision to allow the ‘morning after’ pill to be sold at pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription.
The auxiliary bishop of Sydney, Bishop Anthony Fisher, said the decision was a ‘cop out’ of genuine sex education and ignored possible dangers.
Parramatta’s new cathedral was dedicated in November, a fresh example of modern architecture cleverly incorporating the old St Patrick’s which was burnt down in 1996.
The Bishop of Parramatta, Bishop Kevin Manning, was joined in a joyful Mass to dedicate the new St Patrick’s by other bishops and priests, including Cardinal Edward Cassidy, as the Pope’s envoy, and the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Pell.
Australia’s bishops approved the start of work on a Sydney bid to host World Youth Day in 2007.
Lyndon Cox, director of Sydney’s Catholic Youth Services, said that if the bid is successful, the event “has the potential to be the biggest event this country has ever seen, drawing more people than even the Olympics”.
Selina Hasham, Australian national World Youth Day pilgrimage co-ordinator, said it would allow faith renewal of a magnitude never before seen in Australia.
The capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein last month led to speculation here and abroad that he would face the death penalty.
Good Samaritan Sr Patty Fawkner, director of Uniya, the Jesuit Social Justice Centre in Sydney, reminded us that, tyrant or not, Hussein is “first and foremost a human being, and as such is worthy of our respect”.
The former Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Edward Clancy, turned 80 on December 13, making him no longer eligible to vote for the next pope.
He
was guest
of honour
at a
birthday
dinner
hosted by
the Friends
of St
Mary’s
Cathedral and attended by representatives of parishes, Church organisations
and religious institutions.
Throughout
the year
the Church
stood against
efforts
to
legislate
for
human embryonic
stem cell
research.
The Catholic community championed the cause of about 1800 East Timorese asylum seekers, many of them children who have spent most of their short lives here, who were facing deportation.
And the archdiocese moved its administrative centre in the city from Polding House in Pitt St to the new Polding Centre at 133 Liverpool St.