CAVHO ICLIFEDiocese of Lismore

Tweed Coast to Camden Haven June 2011 Vol.9 No.2www.lismorediocese.org

Australia’sNext Saint?See story p16-17

Catholic Life, June, 2011 3

n the Lent 2010 issue of Catholic Life www.lismorediocese.org/journals/CL_Mar10_Part1.pdf I wrote introducing

the new translation of the texts of the Mass which, with great care and expertise, the Church has prepared for the whole English-speaking world. In the twelve months since, much preparation to begin the use of the renewed texts has been taking place around the Diocese and in the parishes. The members of the Diocesan Pastoral Council in their respective parishes have given significant support to the understanding and practical elements of the implementation of the new texts.

Two StepsThe next step takes place in a few

weeks. At the weekend Masses of the Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) the new translation of the texts of the responses and people’s parts of the Mass will be introduced. At the request of the priests made at the end of their recent Retreat I have also authorised the introduction at the same time of the new translation of the Eucharistic Prayers.

The final step will be taken when the beautiful new altar missals arrive. On the First Sunday of Advent all of the remaining Mass texts used by the priest, such as the Collect prayers and the Prefaces, will be introduced.

Between Pentecost and Advent there will be available in every church pew cards clearly setting out all your texts for participation in the Mass. The changes in the people’s responses are not very extensive and experience from New Zealand, where the texts have been in use since last Advent, is

that regular Mass-goers soon adjust and the new responses rapidly become established. By the end of the year new Mass books for your use will also become available.

More than just a change of wordsThe main reason for adopting the

new texts is not merely to bring about a change of words. Fifty years ago in the Constitution which commenced the reform of the Sacred Liturgy, the Second Vatican Council established that no innovations must be made to the liturgy unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them and that no person, not even a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.

For one reason only does the Church make any change to the liturgy and

that is to help us all to enter into the great mysteries of our redemption by Christ more deeply, to lift up our hearts in worship to the One True God more easily and profoundly and to become so strengthened in faith and love that we can more effectively engage in our Christian mission and vocation in the world.

It’s no secret that after the great effort of the reform of the liturgy between 1965-1970 there were problems with its implementation. Writing to the bishops of the world in 2007 Pope Benedict said that “in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorising or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear. I am speaking from experience... I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church.”

Continuity with the great traditionA heavy emphasis was placed

making the liturgy ‘meaningful’ and ‘relevant.

But meaningful and relevant to who or what? To our worship centred upon God, lifting up our hearts to Him through Christ’s sacrifice upon the altar? Or simply meaningful within that assembly of people and priest now facing each other, using an English translation devised to be plain and ordinary in everyday language? During those years also the Church’s own great tradition of sacred music and religious hymnody was for the most part abandoned and the Mass became interspersed with the singing of many songs of recent appearance with banal words and pedestrian music unrelated to the liturgical action. In an increasingly secularised and irreligious world, this was meant to draw people to relevant and meaningful spirituality. Instead, our congregations became sparser and younger people almost disappeared.

During the past forty years the well-meaning response of liturgy experts to the demands of modernity has been to create a sort of liturgical form which is utilitarian and ordinary and variable to suit ourselves, focussed on community, full of words and explanations and even seeking to be pleasantly entertaining. The translation we have been using has this same prosaic, or ‘bleached’ character, to use Archbishop Coleridge’s description. It sought to filter out poetic metaphor, rhythmic repetition and strange as it may seem, even language rich in scriptural origin and reference.

TheBishop

Writes

Bishop Jarrett holds the 2002 edition of the Roman Missal, it contains the original Latin text of the new translation

Continued over page

Bishop Jarrett preaching at the 2011 Chrism Mass

4 Catholic Life, June, 2011

C O N T E N T SF e a t u r e s

S c h o o l N e w s

6 Director of Catholic Schools article7 Vocations Huasahuasi Twenty Years On8 Pope Benedict and the Astronauts9 Alert for Gods Now12 Father Frank Lopez S.M. R.I.P.12 Closure of St Dominic’s 14-15 Chrism Mass16-17 Sr Irene McCormack18 World Youth Day Pilgrims 19 Religious Art26 Catholic Mission Annual Report27 Marist Japanese Tsunami Appeal Presentation Sisters 21st Anniversary Clergy Appointments

20 Catholic Education Office John Paul College, Coffs Harbour St. James Primary School, Banora Point21 St Augustine’s Primary School, Coffs Harbour McAuley Catholic College, Grafton St Mary’s Primary School, Grafton22 St Patrick’s Primary, School Macksville Holy Family School, Skennars Head23 St Joseph’s Primary School, Laurieton Catholic School’s Week St Patrick’s Primary School, Macksville24 St Joseph’s Primary School, Tweed Heads Mt St Patrick College, Murwillumbah25 St Brigid’s Primary School, Kyogle Diocese of Lismore – Principals St Peter’s Primary School, Port Macquarie

3&4 The Bishop Writes 5 Editorial10-11 Liturgy13 Our Country Churches26 World View27 Churches of the World28 As it Was

Our Cover: The Resurrected Irene by Perth artist, Rose RileyThe cut-glass icon is a symbolic narrative of the life of Sr. Irene McCormack, Sister of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Sr. Irene was murdered on 21/5/91 with four significant villagers in the town square of HuasaHousi, a little village in the Andes Mountains of Peru by members of the paramilitary group, The Shining Path.

The central figure in the icon is the resurrected, dancing, free Sr. Irene. The red dress represents her religious habit, the blood of martyrs and the colour of her favourite football team, South Freemantle. The gold emblem attached to the dress is the emblem worn by the Sisters of St Joseph of the

Sacred Heart and touched Irene’s grave in Peru. The wheat in the lower left of the icon represents the parents and siblings of Irene. The missing leaf signifies Irene and is placed above her head. The golden rays signify the bursting into new life of the resurrected Irene. The blue pathway on the left is the life and journey of Irene before she went to Peru in 1987 and the tree of life on the right of the icon is Irene’s theological and spiritual journey. The green glass represents the birthplace of Irene in 1938 in the wheat belt of Western Australia. The chalice shape above the rocks is the fountain in the middle of the plaza (two brown rocks) where Irene and the men were murdered. The figures in the icon are the women and children of Peru.

Editor and Publisher of “Catholic Life”:

Father Peter M KaramEmail: media@lismorediocese.org

Fax: 02 6622 1771

Visit our Diocese website:www.lismorediocese.org

Our website contains a daily news bulletin, spiritual reflections and daily

Mass readings.Catholic Life – A member of the

Australasian Catholic Press Association

Parish events:Email your planned Parish events, celebrations, anniversaries, etc., for inclusion on our website and in the next edition of “Catholic Life”. Email to: media@lismorediocese.org Advertising Enquiries:JFH marketing & media consultants 02 6663 5205john@howardmediaonline.com.auPrinted by:Lismore City Printery 02 6621 5371Art Direction & Graphic Design:Johanna Evans purplepixel@bordernet.com.au

R e g u l a r F e a t u r e s

This has been a great departure from the great tradition of all the Catholic centuries, which through the liturgy has cultivated that mysterious supernatural environment of His presence which God through His Church provides for us to seek Him and find Him here on earth.

Worship in ‘the beauty of holiness’So the new translation of the Mass is an important step in recalling us to the true

purpose of the liturgy — not to impart information, not to entertain, not to focus on our own activity — but to be the point in time which transcends and transforms, which opens before us that other world. A richness and beauty of language will return which will strike the mind and heart and draw us to engage with the things which strengthen faith and lift us Godwards.

Singing an integral part of Sunday worshipAnother important element in this time ahead is the attention which we should

be giving to the music of our worship.The new texts require new settings of music for the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and

Agnus Dei, as well as for the three new acclamations after the Consecration, which will supersede the “Christ has died” and all the others we presently use. Seven new settings in a range of styles, authorised by the Bishops of Australia through the National Liturgical Council, are ready to use. We are working to make three of them well known in every parish so that we will quickly have some common music to sing across the diocese. The first is the simple chant setting given in the Missal itself; the second is a new version of Brother Colin Smith’s Mass Shalom, a setting well known and loved. The third is a new composition, the Mass of St Francis, by Paul Taylor. Later, as more settings and hymns of assured quality are authorised and published, parishes will be able to expand their choices.

All our parish musicians are now at work learning and helping congregations to know the new settings and the new music for the responses. Web access to the new Mass chants and responses can be gained through www.icelweb.org/musicfolder/openmusic.php

My support and prayers are with all of our diocesan communities as you embark upon welcoming the new translations and in particular our schools as our children are formed in the words and music of Catholic worship that will be theirs for a lifetime ahead.

Yours devotedly in Christ,✠ Geoffrey Jarrett, Bishop of Lismore

The Bishop

Writes

Catholic Life, June, 2011 5

t now awaits whatever the future holds for it. This little church has a powerful story of faith. It stands as a reminder to those who will wonder and want to

be told its story.

In “Our Country Churches” page in this issue of “Catholic Life”, our feature columnist David Billington pens the history of St. Dominic’s at Harwood. Like all historical events, what happened over the hundred years of serving the faithful in this part of the Diocese will live on in their minds, to become part of their family history. Its closure is not about a loss of faith. Rather about a loss of environment.

Every church built is a symbol of the holiness of that community, a sign that everyone there, to some extent, is connected to God.

As our country churches continue to close and people move to be attached to larger communities, they carry with them the human touch, the feel and sound of God once worshipped in that place.

The church they established was there to remind them that, in being together in faith, they could mutually influence their lives and help bring peace to their thoughts and feelings.

Through flood and drought, in hardship and sorrow, in celebration and excitement, they celebrated every sign of human life. God was there in authentic friendship, listening and conversation, in the faces, hearts and minds of those who gathered and worshipped together. As they close, every small community of faith is sorely missed in a society where good news is unfashionable and searching souls have lost their moorings.

In the quietness of small community, there was always a guarantee of the presence of God in neighbourliness and mutual respect.

Our country churches are slowly passing into the folklore of our Diocese. Things are no longer the same as they once were. They will never be the same again. It just gets a bit harder as Thomas Wolfe once observed: “You can’t go home again”. Our churches are now, well

and truly, in the rough of life. The environment has changed. High fences, security cameras, brushing the cigarette butts off the pathways, graffiti, picking up the empty beer bottles and cans that have been discarded in the church grounds. It’s raw life come to visit or is it just a sign of a porous society that lets anything and any attitudes through? The days haven’t been that long gone when we made the sign of the cross and whispered a prayer at the sight of an impending howler of a storm or during unending turbulence on a flight. The situation didn’t seem to change by what we did, but at least we hoped the angel would subdue the demon.

Despite the disquiet and fragility of life today, I believe what went before will stand by us today. I don’t believe that our society is settling into a state of comfortable unbelief.

We are people of the resurrection, pledged to bring life out of negativity. Pioneering faith is not in vain. In our deepest fears and hopes, the legacy of the past should inspire our hopes.

To the faith-filled people of our country church communities, especially those at Harwood, I offer you the words of Psalm 44:

“We have heard with our ears, O God, our ancestors have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:”

(Psalm 44 vs.1) (New RSV.)Father Peter M. KaramEditor

Editorial

Closed But Living On

On the 22nd March 2011 under an autumn sky, the country church of St. Dominic at Harwood was closed and the sacred vessels, crucifix, missals of liturgy and candles were taken away.

Catholic Life, June, 20116

ecently parish priests, parish school principals, coordinators of Religious Education and Ministry were invited to meet to reflect on The New Evangelisation

and Catholic School Leadership. Bishop Jarrett took us back to the Second Vatican Council with its message of renewal in proclaiming a new Pentecost. He explained that the content of the message is not new: it was and always will be that Salvation is a gift through Jesus Christ, received in Baptism. What is new is the ardour and methods of expression that must be adapted to the people of the day.

What then, is the vision for Catholic education in terms of the New Evangelisation? All who are called to work in and for Catholic schools are in a position of privilege – we help young people to realise their spiritual reality with Christ as their reference point.

Participants responded to the invitation to record the many ways their parish school communities are promoting the New Evangelisation. Just as importantly, participants also put forward responses to the question, “What else could we do in our parish school community to take the

New Evangelisation forward?” Responses to both questions are currently being collated so that we can use them as the basis for further planning and action across the Diocese.

Together we all strive to ensure that parish schools enable all students to know Christ and to understand the message of Salvation. We acknowledge the challenges and the allure of today’s secular world and yet we know we have a message of joy and hope to share. In the formal Religious Education classes, through daily prayer, through the witness of staff, through the Christian message that permeates teaching programs and school organisation practices, through the commitment to service that is lived out on a daily basis and importantly, through the worship within the local parish community, Catholic schools are heeding the call to invite all to respond to Christ’s invitation to new life.

by Dr Anne Wenham Director of Catholic Schools

Parish Schools in the Diocese of Lismore

Centres of the New Evangelisation

Visit the Lismore Diocese website: www.lismorediocese.org

Website for Diocese

epresentatives from six Australian congregations, plus representatives from Papua New Guinea gathered in St Joseph’s Baulkham Hills 25th-29th April. Two Sisters

from New Zealand, from the Union of Presentation Sisters, were also present.

Members at Congress stressed the importance of fostering closer relations with the International Presentation Association (IPA). It is through IPA that Society has Non-

Government status at the United Nations. God’s mission is expressed in a variety of ministries with particular emphasis on justice and advocacy for systemic change.

During this Congress the Sisters saw themselves as drawn ever more deeply into a contemplative way of being which sustains and energises them for mission.

Degradation of the earth and humanity’s integral relationship with all of creation, urge the Sisters to live simply and sustainably.

Sr Bernadette Keating completed her term of office as Society Leader and Sr Maureen Watson was elected to lead Society for the next five years.

The new Society website www.presentationsociety.org.au was also launched.

Alert For God’s Now

The Congress of Presentation Sisters Australia and Papua New Guinea “Alert for God’s Now” and a growing consciousness of the interconnection with the entire earth community were important themes of the Presentation Society Congress.

Back Row L-R: Srs Roberta Garrett, Maureen Flatley, Joan Reynolds, Mary Cannane, Patricia O’Brien, Anne Jordan, Leonie Wallace, Margaret Walsh, Julianne Murphy. Front Row L-R: Srs Janice

Duggan, Anne Shay, Jill Kennedy, Mary McFadden, Susan Richardson

Catholic Life, June, 2011 7

ames has already contributed to the life of various parishes during his parish placements. Reflecting of these experiences, he remarked that, “You are welcomed

into the lives and homes of so many different people and are truly a fellow pilgrim with them in their life journey. It is inspirational to witness and experience the love and commitment of priests, deacons and so many marvellous lay people so graciously engaged with the mission of witnessing to Christ”. For World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, he had the opportunity to travel with the Port Macquarie group. This is only one of the memorable moments he has had in his priestly formation thus far.

People who have been influential in his life include Blessed John Paul II, Blessed Mother Teresa and our own St Mary of the Cross. However, his mother and grandparents too have been inspiring figures – examples of, “love and generosity… the importance and joy of cultivating a spirit of poverty, simplicity and humility”.

James enjoys bike riding, reading and watching cricket and tennis. Some of his favourite Scripture quotations include one from St John’s Gospel, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” and another from Second Corinthians, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”.

Prayer is a crucial part of ordained ministry and James spoke about how he prays. He said that, “Spending time with Jesus is the key. Waking up, offering the day and all I do to him. Being conscious of his presence throughout the day, especially his presence in whatever arises and in the people I meet”. James gives some wise words to young men who may be thinking about the priestly vocation: “Do not be afraid! If you believe that Christ is calling you, then place your trust in him and step forward. The formation process is a wonderful time in a person’s life to grow in faith, prayer and as a person. There are little crosses along the way, but these make you stronger. So come and see, because it really is the adventure of a lifetime”.

We give thanks to God that faithfilled young men are offering themselves for priesthood. We look forward to another generous servant of God’s people. Please pray for James as he continues his preparation and formation towards ordination.

ight Sisters of St Joseph currently working in Peru were able to be present, together with members of the families of those slain, the Bishop and the Parish

Priest.The Sisters joined the crowd in the ‘March for Peace’

through the streets of this tiny township of Huasahuasi. The march terminated at the village square where the executions had taken place.

Mass was held in the local church which abuts the square. At the end of the Mass members of the families of two of the men slain with Sr Irene, gave testimonies. The Bishop of the Diocese of Tarma, Bishop Richard Alarcón Urrutia announced to great applause from the people, that the Diocese was this year commencing the official process to investigate.

Sister Katrina Van Ruth a Sister from Lima who went with other sisters to Tarma for the anniversary, in telling the story of the day said that “After the Mass we commenced the walk up the steep hill to the Huasahuasi Cemetery where prayers were said at Irene’s grave. The love the people have for Irene and the pride they feel to be associated with her was tangible.” Sister Katrina spoke especially of the students from the school named after Irene as well as the students from the Fe y Alegria School in Tarma where Patricia Day rsj is ministering.

After the ceremony at the graveside about one hundred people gathered in the church hall where they were treated to a scrumptious meal provided by the local people. For all who gathered it was a very moving experience and for those who travelled from Lima, well worth the long trip!

Photo and Story: Used with permission of the trustees of the Sisters of St Joseph.

See pages 16-17 for Australia’s Next Saint?

by Fr Nicolas MauriceVocations Director

Vocations News

Looking forward to a New Deacon

Huasahuasi 20 Years On

Within a short time, the Diocese of Lismore will, please God, receive a new Deacon. We look forward to the Ordination of James Foster on July 8th 2011, in Port Macquarie.

“After the Mass we commenced the walk up the steep hill to the Huasahuasi Cemetery where prayers were said

at Sr. Irene’s grave.” Pictured are students from the Sister Irene McCormack School around her grave during prayers

Many people from Huasahuasi and the local diocese gathered to remember this day and to walk

and pray for peace.

If – after prayer – you feel God has chosen you for a vocation then please contact:Most Rev’d Bishop Geoffrey JarrettBishop’s Office, P.O. Box 1, Lismore NSW 2480Fr Nicolas Maurice, Bishop’s Office, P.O. Box 1, Lismore NSW 2480 Phone: (02) 6626 0200

Catholic Life, June, 20118

Pope Benedict and the Astronauts

Communications Day message speaks of evangelisation opportunities of new mediaOn Sunday June 5, the Catholic Church celebrated the 45th World Communications Day, a day which recognises the immense gift of the media and communication at service of the Word.

Pope Benedict XVI’s letter this year spoke once again on digital media and its opportunities, entitled “Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age”.

The Holy Father’s message recognised that while there are challenges for the Church and the media, positive engagement with social media is an activity which can bear much fruit.

“….This means of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship”, said the Holy Father.

“If used wisely, they can contribute to the satisfaction of the desire for meaning, truth and unity which remain the most profound aspirations of each human being”, read the message.

Chair of the Australian Catholic Media Council Bishop Peter Ingham said that this year’s message was

encouraging, and affirms the efforts of those working, particularly in Church-related media, to share the message of the Gospel.

“I would really encourage those engaged in Church media to reflect this year on the new possibilities and gifts of the vast range of social communications available to us, and to imagine creative ways we might use them at service of the Gospel”, he said.

“The digital age is all around us and the new technologies allow us to meet each other beyond the confines of space and of our own culture – a great opportunity but, as we know, full of possible risks. The Pope is inviting all of us, especially young people, to make good use of our presence in the digital world.”

“By recognising the challenges and understanding new media, we can more effectively proclaim the message of Christ in the world”, said Bishop Ingham.

The full text of the Holy Father’s message of World Communications Day 2011 is still available at the following link.

HYPERLINK “http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20110124_45th-world-communications-day_en.html”http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20110124_45th-world-communications-day_en.html

Pope Benedict XVI talks with astronauts, at the Vatican, Saturday, May 21, 2011. The 12 astronauts circling the Earth received a call from Pope Benedict XVI, the first-ever papal call to space. The Pope addressed the shuttle and station crews from the Vatican. Two Italians are on board: Endeavour astronaut Roberto Vittori and International Space Station resident Paolo Nespoli. The Pope said he admired the astronauts’ courage, discipline and commitment. (AP PHoTo/L’oSSERVAToRE RoMANo)

Catholic Life, June, 201110

Some of my childhood memories involve the introduction of English at Mass shortly after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). I was only a small boy but because my family attended Mass in the rather intimate atmosphere of little St Joseph’s Church McKees Hill, near Casino, I could see and hear everything that was going on. I even learned to understand Father Relihan’s accent to some extent.

I recall people then talking about the “changes” to the Mass and the gradual addition of more and more English into the Missal. Before the New Order of Mass was introduced in 1970 I remember Mass beginning with “I will go to the altar of God” and responding “God who has gladdened me since childhood days,” which struck me as a strange thing to say since I was still in my childhood days. I suppose I learned then that just because something is said at Mass in English doesn’t mean I actually understand what it means.

Now, a new English translation of Mass is being introduced in Australia and all across the English-speaking Catholic world. Once again Catholics are asking what this new translation means for us and why it is being introduced.

After the Second Vatican Council the 1st edition of the new Roman Missal was published, in Latin, in 1970. It was then translated into English. That translation, which has remained in use until now was produced following an Instruction issued in 1969 by the Holy See emphasising a translation methodology known as “dynamic equivalence.” The result was fairly simple direct language: English prayers which sound somewhat like they were first written in our own time and culture, although they weren’t.

In 2002 the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal was published in Latin It has now been translated in to English and is that new translation is being introduced this year.

The new translation has been produced following a further Instruction called Liturgiam Authenticam issued in 2001, which requires translations more attentive to the content and style of the Latin texts, attempting to convey those as richly as possible with due respect to the character of each vernacular language.

The reason for this is NOT that God understands Latin better the English!

As the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s unfolded the Church has experienced using diverse vernacular languages in the Roman Rite liturgy for the first time. Some issues emerged over time, among them an awareness that, while our present translations have given parishioners access to the prayers of the Missal in their own language, those prayers in the original Latin contain many rich scriptural images and theological insights that have not always been well conveyed. The Church wants us to participate fully, consciously and actively in the liturgy: the better we can receive the fullest content of the prayers of the Roman Missal, the better we can truly participate in the Church’s sacramental prayer.

Sometimes the present English translation, in the interest of brevity or simplicity, has re-arranged prayers or even omitted sections of them and in doing this some of the layers of meaning carried by the original Latin structure are lost or obscured.

Another concern is the unity of the Roman Rite which so many Catholics use across many cultures. The more completely each vernacular translation can offer the content of the Roman Missal to each language-group who use it, the more completely each is united with the others in expressing the same faith and worship of the Church. Under “dynamic equivalence”, there can be a tendency for each language group’s translations to drift gradually away from each other in

meaning. The theological reflection and the liturgical prayer of the Church has been conducted in and shaped by Latin for generations and the Latin texts still provide the touching-point for unity of meaning and expression.

These are “big-picture” issues for the Church and each of us in our own parish and community might be inclined to think that it isn’t worth all the disruption to our well-established routine. But in the liturgy, words matter very much. There is a profound interconnection between how we pray and what we believe. The theologians refer to this as lex orandi, lex credendi – the law of prayer is the law of belief. At Mass we certainly need to pray what we believe and believe what we pray. The two need to be “in sync” as much as our language can manage it!

Some of the English of the new translation sounds more formal because that’s how the Latin prayers are written. The prayers of the Roman Missal were composed in a style which approaches God formally, carefully and respectfully. It is a different “register” of speech to that which Australians use in normal conversation and it is probably different to the way most of us pray privately to God. But liturgical prayer is not normal conversation and it’s not

Liturgy

continued over page

Fr Don Richardson was born in Casino. He is a priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney, where he is the Director of the Liturgy Office and Parish Priest of Woollahra. In 2009/10 he undertook postgraduate study at the Liturgical Institute at the University of St Mary of the Lake, near Chicago, USA.

Fr. Don Richardson

Catholic Life, June, 2011 11

private: it is the prayer of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, to the Father. At Mass we are part of something much more than “us, here, now.”

Having said all that, just what will be noticeably different in the new translation? I want to give just a couple of examples.

“Consubstantial” in the Creed

Earlier, I mentioned discovering that just because something at Mass is said in English doesn’t mean I actually understand what it means. The Creed might fit into that category for most of us! In the new translation, “consubstantial with the Father” replaces

the expression “of one Being with the Father”. Expressing the relationship between God the Father and God the Son and the truth of the Son’s divinity required the early Church Councils such as Nicaea (325) and Calcedon (451) to give new shades of meaning to existing Greek and Latin words. The expression “of one Being with the Father” in the current translation was not always thought to convey quite adequately the meaning of the Latin consubstantialis (nor indeed the original Greek homoousios). The metaphysical concepts of “essence”, “being” and “substance”, of which consubstantialis speaks, are easily misunderstood because their theological meaning is not exactly the same as their conversational meaning. “Consubstantial” is an uncommon but precise word, used in the Creed to name a unique relationship and important point of doctrine.

The “Collects”Perhaps the most noticeable

difference between the old and new English translations is in the prayers spoken alone by the priest himself, such as the opening prayers, technically called “collects”. When the Missal was revised after Vatican II, collects from the previous Roman Missal and from other even older Latin liturgical books were gathered and arranged for use at the “new” Mass, although some new prayers were also written. The collects have a special structure and tone in the Latin and the new translation captures more of the original layers of meaning as well as the tone: but the sentences are longer and we are all going to have to listen with fresh ears.

As with the whole of the new English translation of the Missal I think the effort will be well worthwhile, for us all together as a Church “family” and as individuals! This is really an opportunity for all of us, no matter what our age or state in life, to deepen our liturgical spirituality, encountering Christ in the words of the Mass.

© Jorisvo | Dreamstime.com; Last Supper; stained glass window in church in Iquique, Chile

Catholic Life, June, 201112

e was buried from Holy Name of Mary Church, Hunters Hill on 10th March. The Marist

Provincial, Fr Paul Cooney S.M. was the Principal celebrant at his Requiem Mass joined by many of Fr Lopez’s Marist confreres. It was good to see so many Woodlawn ex-students, whom Fr Lopez had taught, present for the occasion.

Fr Lopez came to Woodlawn as a student in 1947 from Malaya. His father was a doctor in the British Army and was a prisoner of war in the Changi camp, Singapore with Fr Lionel Marsden S.M. who was a chaplain with the A.I.F. and an ex Woodlawn student. When Fr Lopez expressed his desire to become a priest and because there were no seminaries operating in Malaya at the time, Fr Marsden arranged for him to come to Woodlawn. He sat for his leaving certificate in 1948. Not only was he

the Dux of the College but he also gained two first class honours and four A’s in his leaving certificate.

In 1949 Fr Lopez began his seminary studies at St Peter Chanel Seminary, Toongabbie. He was professed as a Marist in February 1951 and ordained to the priesthood at St Patrick’s, Church Hill, Sydney on 17th December 1955.

In 1957 Fr Lopez was appointed to the teaching staff at St John’s College Woodlawn.

“During his early years on the staff Fr Lopez showed his talents and capacity for hard work in teaching Mathematics, Latin and other subjects and in addition to his university work became involved in various school activities such as officer of cadets, dormitory master and football coach… in 1962 he was appointed Prefect of Studies” (Eagle 1967).

In 1967 Fr Lopez was transferred to St Paul’s College, Bellambi where he became Rector. In 1970 he took up an appointment as assistant priest at St Patrick’s, Church Hill, Sydney, where he remained until 1983 when he joined the Pastoral Care team at Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick. He remained there until his retirement in 2010.

Fr Lopez had a brilliant mind and was a perennial student. His degrees included:

B.A, B.Ed – University of Queensland; Dip. Ed Administration – University of New England; M. Ed – University of New England; Ph D – University of Sydney; M. Sc. – University of Nymegen (Holland)

His published works include “Pastoral care in an Emerging World”, “Companion Guide to Pastoral Care” and “Sociology and the Nurse”.

Fr Lopez once wrote: “Happiness is when one’s spiritual needs are met by an untroubled inner life. Happiness comes when our work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.”

by Fr Paul Pidcock

t was a sad day for many faithful parishioners after more than 100 years of celebrating Mass, Baptisms

and Marriages and the mourning of loved ones in this lovely church.

The first St Dominic’s Church was built in 1908 on donated land in River Street. Its construction was of weatherboard and iron roof. A massive community effort in 1914 saw the church rebuilt after it was destroyed by a cyclone. Then in 1966, the current St Dominic’s was constructed, the same year the Harwood bridge was opened. This was very helpful to the Priests as they no longer had to wait for a ferry to get to Harwood for Mass.

Between 1928 and 1957 in a building adjacent to the church, a school, run by the Sisters of Mercy, was the educational school of choice for many of the people attending the closing Mass.

Faithful parishioner of more than 60 year, Rex Wiseman, reflected on the part St Dominic’s Church played in his life. He went to school and on Fridays helped set up the church for mass each Sunday. His children were raised on Harwood and they learned to walk there. There was plenty of room to move about. He remembered that Sister Coleman had taught his father at Harwood, Rex was schooled at Harwood with Sister Coleman and Sister Coleman was one of the teachers who taught Rex’s children in Grafton.

The maintenance costs and shortage of priests were the main contributing factors for the closure.

Father Peter Padsungay, who is the current Parish Priest, was sad to see such a beautiful church close. “It is really very sad, especially for those who have been faithful and coming here”.

As progress has continued many people have had to move away in order to seek employment and not many people are moving into the area to keep the church going.

Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett addressed the congregation of approximately 80 faithful, who were there for the last Mass in the church.

At the end of the Mass the emotion could be seen on the faces of the community, as the sacred vessels, altar cross, candles, liturgical book and altar cloths were carried ceremoniously from St Dominic’s for the last time.

Father Frank Lopez S.M. R.I.P.

Closure of St Dominic’s Catholic Church

Father Frank Lopez died at the Royal North Shore Hospital on the 6th March 2011 after a long illness.

St Dominic’s Church, Harwood, closing Mass took place on 22 March 2011.

Father Peter Padsungay with parishioners at the closing Mass

Catholic Life, June, 2011 13

For most modern travellers Chatsworth Island is just a sea of green cane they pass through on their way north. Few would be aware of the two villages of Harwood and Chatsworth hidden among the cane-fields, yet these were once thriving communities of cane cutters and sugar refinery workers. For over one hundred years the Church took care of the people of these villages until time and change led to the departure of the people who had made their homes there.

In 1882 Chatsworth Island and Palmers Island were formed into a parish under Fr William Reade, the founder of Bellingen parish. During his tenure as the only Parish Priest of Palmers Island churches were built at Chatsworth and Palmers Island and a hall was built at Harwood. In 1898, the Sisters of Mercy commenced a school in the hall, driving over from Maclean each day. The hall was also used as a Mass centre.

In 1905 the 23 year life of Palmers Island parish came to a close and Chatsworth and Harwood returned to Maclean parish. Fr Walsh, Maclean parish priest, had a small wooden church built at Harwood in 1908. Dedicated to St Dominic, it was blown down in a cyclone in 1914 but was immediately

rebuilt as a church/school. In 1927 a convent (still standing) was built to house a permanent community of Sisters of Mercy and in due course a school building was added.

With the advances in transport and automation during the post 1945 period the villages declined in population and eventually the Chatsworth church closed, to be followed by the convent and school at Harwood. Harwood, however remained a mass centre and in 1966 a brand new church was blessed and opened by Bishop Farrelly.

But time moves ever forward and however sad these occasions are for those whose lives have been served and touched by any particular church, we must acknowledge that the needs which gave rise to that church may no longer apply and so it was with Harwood. In March this year Bishop Jarrett presided over the final mass at St Dominic’s and the church is now closed.

This quarter’s article is fittingly a memorial to the 103 years during which St Dominic’s has provided the nourishment of the Eucharist presence to the people of Chatsworth Island.

by David Billingtonwww.cathchurch.net/historic.html

St Dominic’s, Harwood

Our CountryChurches

Tonight, once again, the diocese comes to Kempsey, to the parishes of the Southern Deanery. Each year as we assemble, at the Cathedral or in Coffs Harbour, or here among the parishes of the Southern Deanery, for the celebration of this Mass of the Chrism, we must experience a deep sense of the loving generosity of our heavenly Father towards us. Towards each of us individually as Catholic Christians, towards our families, towards the family of our diocese. This liturgy abounds in

our reasons for gratitude: it speaks of the very plan of salvation, reaching its climax in the coming among us of the Christ, the Anointed of the Father, the bearer of the Good News, the bringer of our freedom and the one who binds up hearts that are broken. It speaks of the Church, Christ’s Body, in which we are made a line of kings and priests to serve our God; It directs our focus to the gift of the Sacraments, the means of grace and our pledge of glory; and the Eucharist at the heart of all our gratitude.

Yes, so much given to us, so much to be grateful for, for all the goodness, the beauty, the truth, the love which surrounds us in and through Christ our Lord, which soaks through to the depths of our souls with that Chrism of baptism, of confirmation, of ordination, the mystical anointings which infuse our souls with grace, which enable us to be partakers, through Him and with Him, of the divine nature.

Tonight and on Holy Thursday night of this week, our thoughts are focussed by the liturgy so precisely on Christ our great High Priest and on his Priesthood shared with us. We are

made vividly aware of the particular and personal continuity of Christ’s priestly working the ministry of his priests on earth, the men in our midst whom we respect and look to literally as ‘other Christs.’ Among the many gratitudes in our hearts tonight is a gratitude to God for these men, called and consecrated to be ‘the priests of the Lord,’ uniquely ‘ministers of our God’; these particular men, the priests of our parishes, homegrown or born in distant lands, who, anointed and sent like their

Master, pledge themselves year by year in renewed fidelity to the service of God and His people.

Also with us this evening are all but two of our ten students for the priesthood of the diocese. We rejoice that they are numbered among the increasing ranks of young men preparing for ordination across our country. This year, thanks be to God, we will witness the joy of the ordination of three new priests, James, who will shortly step forward with Frederick for Candidacy for Sacred Orders and

our transitional deacons, Roland and Shelwin.

In the words of the Australian priest-poet, John O’Brien, these men are our ‘young soldiers... the last recruits to bring their vows of loyal service to the ranks of Christ the King.’ Soon these three will be ‘by words of power enrolled in that long line of priests so new and yet so old... in flowing albs on altar steps which stretch for ever on... unbroken back to that far time when God’s Begotten Son ordained the Twelve and bade them go and do as He had done.”

You may know those words are from the poem, “My Curate, Father Con” about

the old priest’s altar boy at morning Mass, come from a struggling country family – the lad he lives to see not only ordained a priest and then sent to his bush parish as his assistant, but later on to see consecrated a bishop. The old priest is watching him pass, newly invested with mitre and crosier and recalls him those years before, ‘when parish priests are very wise and curates very young’: “I saw in him the priest I was or rather wished to be, and wondered when and where and why we parted company. The many called, the few elect, the last who had been first, and but the grace of God between the best man and the worst. He

knew it all and understood and he so pure and young; the splendid Latin of the Mass was living on his tongue, when every morn in vestments clad he bowed his handsome head, and prayed on Calvary’s height for them for whom his Master bled. I’d seen him tender with the weak and patient with the rude; I’d seen the sick, the poor, the old, shed tears of gratitude; “You’ll teach him things,” the Bishop said, but soon I came to see I wasn’t teaching him at all, but he was teaching me.”

Perhaps today these verses seem couched in the sentiments of the now distant romance of the Irish Australian Catholic story. But when you look closely the romance of the priesthood is indeed tempered evenly with its tough reality, like the romance and the reality smelted as one in a marriage that has stood the test of time.

Well, the albs still ascend the altar steps and the men enrobed in them still do there each day the same thing as they have always done, for the living and the dead. They still descend the steps again into the world of the mission, together with their people to renew this little parish patch of the kingdom with the grace, the mercy, the teachings and the lived works of Jesus Christ.

Reading the old records, the documents and letters preserved in our diocesan archives not only tell a

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story similar to the vignettes of Father Hartigan’s poems – he, once parish priest of Narrandera – but brings home to us the courage, the tough manliness of those men, in the struggle of their day. The romance of the Gospel, of the mission to bring every Australian into the Church of Peter and Patrick under the banner of Mary Help of Christians, this is what fired their courage and determination, no matter the obstacles, no matter the opposition, no matter the cost.

It is this priestly living of the virtue of fortitude that needs to inspire us and strengthen us in the combat of our own day. In his book Men of Brave Heart, the recently installed Archbishop of Los Angeles, José Gomez, writes, “Fortitude fights fear and we in the clergy have much to fear... we live in a culture that, while it does not persecute believers, sharply restricts expressions of the Christian faith and pressures believers to abandon core principles in order to ‘get along.’” Archbishop Gomez quotes the

view of the philosopher Charles Taylor, that our societies of the West are now reconstructed upon powerful prejudices that see Christianity and above all the Catholic Church, in which our culture grew to its highest expressions, as a barrier to human freedom and development. Thus the intense pressures to exclude all talk of God, faith and religious and moral values from our public life. ‘Among us ‘practical atheism’ has almost become

our de facto state religion. More and more, in order to live in our society, to participate in its economic and political life, people are required to conduct themselves as if God does not exist.’

In this hostile climate, Archbishop Gomez continues, relentlessly out to evangelise us believers to the pseudo-gospel of secular materialism, the priest himself, not only his people, faces dangers. He may be tempted to question the wisdom or continued

relevance of certain Church teachings. He may be tempted to make concessions and compromises in his ascetical life, to quietly loosen or even abandon certain standards of personal discipline, habits of life and spiritual and religious practices intended to foster his virtue and strengthen the effectiveness of his ministry.

Thus it can become easy to compromise, to act from a fear of incurring criticism or displeasure, of appearing out of step. Instead of calling people to conversion, in pulpit or confessional, the priest may take a softer and what appears a safer line, fearing people might turn aside and leave if he calls them to embrace the harder path. Yet it may be precisely an encounter with our timidity and compromise that will turn away the person. Don’t they come, after all, to hear from our lips the word of truth and to get from our counsel some strength for the struggle to live as a Christian? It is always our fortitude and faithfulness that builds a courageous and witnessing laity and a courageous laity that in turn confirms us in our priestly fortitude and perseverance.

With his beatification but a short time away, on the Sunday after Easter, we priests could well recall the constant encouragement and well-directed challenges which Pope John Paul II so frequently directed towards us. His annual Holy Thursday messages to priests alone deserve to be read and reread and meditated upon. In the work of the new evangelisation he knew that so much would depend on the courage and the fortitude of priests.

As we ready ourselves to renew the promises of our ordination out

of love for God and His Church, let Pope John Paul address to us again these words (20 November 1982): “With all the powers of persuasion at my command, I say to each one: Priest, be what you are without restrictions, without illusions, without compromise, in the face of God and your conscience... have always the courage of the truth of your priesthood.”

✠ Geoffrey Jarrett, Bishop of Lismore

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On Monday 18th April 2011, two seminarians of the Diocese of Lismore, Frederick Basco and James Foster, were formally accepted as candidates for Holy Orders- Diaconate and Priesthood. The Rite of Admission to Candidacy, which entailed a short yet profoundly meaningful ceremony, took place during the Annual Chrism Mass which was held at All Saints Parish, Kempsey.

Admission to Candidacy is an important step in one’s journey to the Priesthood which usually takes about seven years of formation and study. It is the moment when the Bishop, upon the recommendation of seminary staff and others who know the candidate, formally invites the man to state his intention to complete his formation so that in due time he will be ready to be called by Christ, through the Church, to Holy Orders.

In the context of the Chrism Mass, it was a wonderful opportunity for the candidate to make this commitment before the priests, deacons and faithful of the diocese. This was a reminder of the importance of praying for each other in one’s own life journey. It was also symbolic of the reality that through our Baptism we are all called to participate and collaborate together in the mission of Christ and the Church.

At the heart of candidacy is the call to service. It is the call to give total service to the people of God, given joyfully, given freely and focussed truly on the other’s good, as one shares the lives, joys, hopes and struggles of the people he serves. Candidacy reinforces the need for the candidate to stay close to Christ in prayer, that he may become a more effective witness of Christ and more open to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, being admitted to candidacy was a great gift, joy and privilege.

by James Foster

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Sister Irene McCormack, RSJ:

Australia’s next Saint?

by Dan McAloon

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils and flog you in their synagogues and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:16-20

On the 20th anniversary of her death, Catholic Mission pays tribute to Sister Irene McCormack RSJ, a Sister of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart on mission to the Pueblo people of Peru who was martyred on Tuesday 21 May, 1991.

The tragic events of 20 years ago occurred during a turbulent period of violent insurrection in Peru when the Marxist guerrillas Sendero Luminoso (‘Shining Path’) were prosecuting an anti-government war based on terrorist acts and executions of anyone deemed to be supporting the government.

Mary MacKillop’s Sisters of St Joseph had been in Peru since 1981, living among the poor in the capital of Lima. But it was to an Andean village 270 kilometres away by torturous mountain roads and 3,200 metres above sea level

that Sister Irene and her companion Sr Dorothy Stevenson were called in 1989 to supervise the distribution of emergency goods by Caritas Peru.

This was Huasahuasi, a village of 5,000 Pueblos people who eked out a living growing potato and maize on the slopes. Sister Irene called life among the people of Peru “a gift” and even in the presence of a disease like cholera reflected that “it brings home the fragility of life and that every day is a gift to be lived.” She ran a simple village schoolroom and library for the local children and supervised a community kitchen.

Her mission in Peru was the continuation of her dedication to bring literacy and God’s love to the poor and marginalised. Irene had been raised in a farming family in the town of Trayning in Western Australia. She was taught by the Josephite Sisters at the local school. Her family were supportive of her choice to enter religious life which she did at

age 17. She professed her first vows at age 20.Known for her diminutive size – compensated for

by a large, lively spirit and gregarious personality, Irene was a much loved teacher and school principal in Western Australia. She was also an accomplished golfer and tennis player who enjoyed dancing and was a passionate supporter of Aussie Rules football, following the fortunes of the Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles.

To go on mission to Peru was to trust God and to go into the unknown. Her friend Bernadette Lush recalled that she wrote about “problems learning the language, acclimatising to the altitude and the weather and then coming to terms with the utter poverty and degradation of the people”. She left for Peru in 1987, making only one unscheduled return trip to Australia because of ill health. Yet it was the thin air of the Andes and the people of Huasahuasi that called her back.

The newly professed

Sr. Irene

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Due to the activities of the ‘Shining Path’ authorities had warned the resident priests and the sisters to leave Huasahuasi. They returned to Lima in December 1990 but Sisters Irene and Dorothy made the eight hour road trip back to Huasahuasi in January because they felt strongly that the Church should not abandon the people in their need. Without a resident priest the sisters continued to serve the people, leading liturgical services, teaching and providing nutritional meals.

On the evening of 21 May, 1991, a band of Shining Path guerrillas entered the village. Four men were taken from their homes and brought to the central plaza. They were the professor of the Community Agriculture College, Ruban Palacios Blancas, 54; the former Deputy Mayor, Alfredo Morales Torres, 56; a member of the town vigilante committee, Predro Pando Llanos and the delegate for the committee which purchased the television dish for Huasahuasi, Agustin Bento Morales, 50.

The guerrillas also went to the convent where Sr Irene was alone, as Sr Dorothy was receiving medical treatment in Lima. They threatened to blow in the convent door if she didn’t come out, so Sr Irene stepped out into the night and was escorted to the plaza. She was one small player in the kangaroo court that the Shining Path would conduct over the next hour.

The captives were seated on benches and harangued for their alleged crimes, even as local people interceded for their lives, saying these

were good people, not wrongdoers. But the Shining Path retorted that there would be no “dialogue”, only “sentencing”.

Sr Irene’s alleged crimes were feeding the poor and educating the local children. Dispensing Caritas provisions, they charged was pushing “Yankee food”; bringing in books was spreading “Yankee ideas”. During this horrible ordeal, a group of young people gathered around Sr Irene and managed to move her back into the crowd, but the guerrillas returned her to the bench.

Eventually the five prisoners were ordered to lie face down on the terrazzo-tiled surface of the plaza. Sr Irene was the first to be executed, shot through the back of the head by a girl soldier, some metres from the door of the church.

That night the villagers kept a candlelit vigil by the bodies. A group of women laid Sr Irene out in the sacristy. On 23 May 1991 a funeral Mass was held and Sr Irene McCormack was buried in the Huasahuasi cemetery, in a niche donated by a parishioner.

In the 20 years since her death, Sr Irene McCormack’s name has come to be associated with many life-affirming works. In Perth a college is named after her. In the Josephite convent in South Perth her life is commemorated in a large icon fashioned in stained glass. In Peru where the Josephites’ mission continues with Australian, New Zealand and Peruvian Sisters her anniversary each year is

celebrated with a human rights week. In 2002 the author Anne Henderson wrote her biography, the absorbing narrative of a modern martyr with earthly foibles. But it is on the internet that Sr Irene can be found alive in her writings and in the memories of her friends and in those she inspires today and where she is counted among the Martyrs of Peru. Incredibly a Google search for her name will yield more than 700,000 references… and even more tomorrow.

Catholic Mission inquiries contact Netta Kovach or Dan McAloon at 02 9919 7800

Sr. Irene with Peruvian children

Sr. Irene at a New Norcia soccer match