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No. 145 April 2009

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Catholic Monthly Newspaper website: www.alive.ie
Welcoming Pope Benedict to Angola.

EU faces worst crisis in its history

SEE PAGE 8

TEACH KIDS WHATS RIGHT AND WRONG

Dr John Murray also strongly criticised the moral agnosticism which he saw as undermining the religious education given in many Irish schools today. We can know what is morally good and what is morally evil. And because we can know it, we can teach it, and pupils can learn it, he said. But too often morality is presented in classrooms as merely a matter of opinion, of choice or of sincerity. to this According approach, said Murray, when it comes to what is good or evil, right or wrong, we can only have personal

YOUNG people need to be taught that happiness and the path to it can be truly known, and are not merely a matter of opinion, a key figure in Catholic education has said.

Todays moral education comes under fire

or group opinions or feelings. And this is especially the case with regard to the controversial life issues (abortion, euthanasia, IVF) and sexuality issues (sex outside marriage, homosexuality, contraception, divorce). He pointed out, however, that if all positions on morality are equally valid or true, there simply is no point in moral education.

G Dr John Murray was speaking on the place of education in sustaining a Culture of Life. When religious faith and reason are integrated, he told his listeners, morality can be taught with confidence and fairness. His comments are likely to
To Page 2

Expert says: Research supports Pope in AIDS controversy See Page 2

Dr Murray lectures in moral theology in Dublins Mater Dei Institute which trains religion teachers for post-primary schools. He

Confidence

Cork hospital lecture to promote euthanasia

PAGE 5

Bishops: Obama moving U.S. towards despotism

PAGE 6

Sinn Fin threat to Catholic education

PAGE 10

G The content of the newspaper Alive! and the views expressed in it are those of the editor and contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Irish Dominican Province.

alive! April 2009

Eucharistic Adoration Teach kids what right and wrong

The History of
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I From page 1 be seen by many religion teachers as a challenge to their own moral agnosticism in the classroom, with endless discussion often replacing clear teaching. For these teachers, it is only to be expected that people will disagree on morality, often widely and passionately. Indeed, they may hold that we should not only expect and accept moral diversity, we should celebrate it. But this position is so unreasonable, according to Murray, that no teacher holds or applies it consistently. For example, he said, if a pupil thinks it is fun to disrupt the class, or it is ok

to insult the teacher, or it is his right to fight other pupils, no teacher ever considers this to be a wonderful expression of moral diversity which we should

the preserve of the Church alone, said Dr Murray, but she is certainly its champion in the modern or so-called post-modern world.

Morality is all about the way to be fully happy, fulfilled as human beings.
accept and even celebrate! Against this agnosticism, which goes far beyond the classroom, the Catholic Church holds that morality is a matter of truth that can be known and taught. Objective morality is not Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI and, before him, John Paul II, have been outstanding defenders of reason and of objective religious and moral principles. The fact of disagreement on some moral issues, said

the lecturer, does not entail that these issues are simply matters of opinion or feeling, and not matters of truth and knowledge. Indeed, he continued: widespread disagreement on morality, even if is sincere and expressed with sophistication, does not prove that the topic is necessarily unclear or a gray area or a matter of guesswork. Fundamentally, Gods will is for our human happiness, our human flourishing and fulfillment, he said. Morality is all about the way to be fully happy, fulfilled as human beings.

Expert: Research supports Pope in AIDS controversy

Changing behaviour is the only effective solution and distributing condoms aggravates the problem, said the Pope, provoking in the Western media a barrage of criticism. But the pope is correct or, to put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the Popes comments, said Edward Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project based at Harvard University. The Projects research shows a consistent association between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIVinfection rates. The Pope is not alone, Dr Green told National Review Online (NRO). More and more AIDS experts are coming to accept the above. The two countries with the worst HIV epidemics, Swaziland and Botswana, have both launched campaigns to discourage multiple and concurrent partners, and to encourage fidelity. The NRO described the media assault on the Pope as March madness. But others see it as an attempt by Western agencies to silence papal criticism of their agenda, more interested, it seems, in pushing the sexual revolution however many people pay with their lives. Martin Ssempa, a key player in Ugandas successful programme to reduce AIDS, last year highlighted the hatred

A TOP US expert on AIDS prevention has backed Pope Benedict XVI in the controversy over the best way to halt the spread of the disease.

for the Catholic Church by agencies like UNAIDS. They are demonising the Church unfairly, said the Protestant minister. In fact, countries where the Catholic Church is strong have lower HIV than places where it is not. And a piece in the Washington Post observed that AIDS has become a multibillion-dollar industry where cheap and effective prevention methods, such as urging Africans to stick to one partner receive no support. Helen Epstein, author of The Invisible Cure, a book about

No support

Fidelity

the AIDS crisis in Africa, quotes one condom promoter that agencies find it difficult to accept the evidence. They have a sense that promoting fidelity must be totally wrong if it [is] a message favoured by the Christian Right. The promoter continued: Everything we learn about the epidemic goes in slowly and is resisted along the way. On the flight to Africa Pope Benedict said: It is my belief that the most effective presence on the front in the battle against HIV/AIDS is precisely the Catholic Church and her institutions. He added that the AIDS problem cannot be overcome with advertising slogans. If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, it aggravates the problem. The solution, he said, required a twofold commitment, firstly, to a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another; and secondly, true friendship, above all with the suffering.

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Pell says: resist new secular intolerance

CHRISTIANS must stand up against a growing secular intolerance which seeks to crush religious freedom and exclude Christians from the public domain, Oxford University students have been told.
In a forthright address to the universitys Newman Society, Cardinal George Pell insisted that this intolerance needs to be confronted regularly and publicly. Believers need to call the bluff of what is, even in most parts of Europe, a small minority with disproportionate influence in the media, he said. This is one of the crucial tasks for Christians in the twenty-first century. Secularist intolerance seeks to drive Christianity not only from the public square, but even from the provision of education, healthcare and welfare services to the wider communisaid Sydneys ty, Archbishop. He saw the attack on the Churchs freedom to serve others as part of an agenda to undermine the religious witness these services give. The goal is to neutralise this witness to the reality of Christian revelation. According to the Cardinal, modern liberalism has strong totalitarian tendencies and seeks ever more to limit believers rights of conscience, even in the way they run their own institutions and associations. human person in the present age depends on which understanding of love and sexuality prevails in the culture, he said. As a result, conflicts over the meaning and purpose of sexuality quickly lead to public arguments over issues as disparate as religious freedom and biotechnology. From the beginning of the sexual revolution, despite slogans like live and let live, it was clear that few limits on human sexual autonomy would be tolerated. The outcome, however, is a boom in pornography, prostitution and sexual slavery. Meanwhile, the possibilities of happiness are greatly restricted by the lovelessness, fear and despair that the asser tion of the autonomous self against others usually leaves in its wake. Critical of the narrowness of the secularist worldview, the Cardinal called on Christians to show that there are better ways to live and to build a good society, ways which respect freedom, empower individuals, and transform communities.
G Cardinal Pells lecture, Varieties Of Intolerance, is online.

Does truth matter if all views are equal?

Dr John Murray of Mater Dei Institute had a discuswith Educate sion Together supporters about moral education in their school system. This system, it has been suggested, is better at respecting pupils views and rights than, say, Catholic education. So Dr Murray asked how Educate Together would approach, for instance, the issue of abortion. He wrote: The answer was that the teacher would ask pupils for their views and all views would be respected equally. Thus, pupils views and their human right to hold and express their views would be respected. I continued: But what criteria would be taught to the pupils, to enable them to make an accurate and correct judgment on the issue of abortion? I was told that the pupils would be taught to engage in honest and articulate discussion and to respect all views on the topic. So I asked further: Would pupils be taught any criteria specifically about abortion itself, about human life and its sacredness, about our human right to life? But it seemed that the pupils were not to be taught anything prescriptive [binding] about such matters.

JUST A THOUGHT

G Cardinal George Pell

cises modern culture, namely the meaning of human autonomy and especially sexual freedom. At root, this is a religious question, Did God create us or did we create God? The limited scope that secularism is prepared to concede to religious beliefs is based on the assumption that we created God, said the Cardinal.

Dr Murray noted that, unfortunately, this approach to moral formation, which disregards truth, can be found in some denominational schools too. There simply is no point in moral education if all positions on morality are equally valid or true, he said. Nor would any teacher hold such a view if the issue was disruptive behaviour in class. I The most important part of a priests week is Sunday Mass. This is his main opportunity to feed his people with Gods word and the body of Christ. But is that how priests see it? David Mills, an American convert to the Catholic faith, says that he often feels the priest giving a homily means well, but saw no need to prepare it.

He noted the false starts the repetitions, the truisms, the lack of any reference to the readings, the conclusion that just trails off. Many Catholic leaders seem to think that preaching well is a gift and that, alas, some priests just dont have it, he wrote in an internet piece. He continued: Preaching well is a gift, but preaching adequately is a skill, and a skill that can be learned. He then offered priests 15 suggestions, which can be found by googling for Fifteen Tips for Better Preaching.

Preaching can be learned

Oppose
But once religious people insist that faith is more than a private therapeutic pursuit that can be picked up, changed or discarded at will, the secularists oppose it. The definition of the

I Most Irish Catholics still know nothing of the growing hatred for religious freedom in the EU, the UN, the US, Australia, and not least in Ireland. Recently Archbishop George Pell said: Believers should not be treated by government and the courts as a tolerated and divisive minority whose rights must always yield to the minority secular agenda; especially when religious people are overwhelmingly in the majority. But this is how we will be treated more and more unless we set aside fear and laziness and start fighting for what is right.

Religious freedom?

Notion
With examples from across the globe he showed how the powerful notion of antidiscrimination is being used to exclude people of faith. It has also been used to redefine marriage and to make a range of relationships acceptable as the foundation for various new forms of the family. Combined with new technologies it has left some children with up to five parents, relegating the idea of a child being brought up by his natural mother and father to nothing more than a majority adult preference. The Cardinal saw a particular threat to religion in the European Union if Brussels wins its battle for secular conformity, but he did not develop the point. He then turned to the great question which exer-

Killing the unborn has become a lot easier in NI

SINN FIN and the SDLP have backed new Department of Health guidelines on the killing of unborn children in Northern Ireland.
But the DUP and prolife have sharply groups attacked them, demanding that they be scrapped. These guidelines will effectively legalise abortion through the back door, allowing abor tion on demand, right up to bir th, said Bernadette Smyth (pictured), director of Precious Life. Sunday Times journalist Liam Clarke agreed. Dont believe the political spin abortion has just become a lot easier in Nor thern Ireland, he wrote. Depending on how medical professionals implement new guidelines, it may even of flaws, flawed ideas and misinterpretations of the law, based on a flawed knowledge of medicine.

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be easier to get a National Health Service abortion right up to full term than it is in England. Clarke added that the ban on abor tion in Nor thern Ireland is [now] little more than a paper tiger. It may look fierce, but it has no teeth. The guidelines, said Precious Life, make no reference to the right to life of unborn children. They are full
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NYs lapsed Catholics invited to return to Mass

LAPSED Catholics across Washington archdiocese are being invited back to Sunday Mass in a campaign with the theme, Longing for Something? Maybe Its God. God is the answer to the longings in our human heart. That message is valid for ever yone, said Archbishop Donald Wuerl. Deep down in their hearts people know that without God, we dont have the answers to the great questions of life. He explained, a Catholic goes to Mass, not just because the music is good or because its a great homily, or ever yone is friendly, but to receive the Eucharist, because in the Eucharist Jesus is present. In a pastoral letter to his people the Archbishop explained, This Lent we will make a special effort to say to our family, our friends and our neighbours who no longer attend Mass, We miss you. You used to be with us at Mass on Sunday. We invite you back to your home, your spiritual home. Lay people are being encouraged to personally give an invitation card to a family member or friend who has drifted from the faith to return to the Church. About 50,000 printed cards with a short message from Archbishop Wuerl have been made available in the dioceses 140 parishes. The campaign includes a special website, Maybe-its-God.org, and a message on YouTube. Ads have been placed on 125 city buses and 220 subway trains, on radio and on a billboard.

UK children to get female fathers

NEW regulations in the UK lay down that a single woman conceiving a child through donor sperm can name on the babys birth cert anyone she likes, including a female partner or friend, as the father of the child. The named person must give consent, and will thereby take on the moral and legal responsibilities of being a parent. The new rules state: The women receiving treatment with donor sperm (or embryos created with donor sperm) can consent to any man or woman being the father or second parent. Only close blood relatives are excluded. Some 2,000 women per year in Britain have children through IVF and using sperm from anonymous donors. According to Baroness Ruth Deech, a critic of the Labour governments latest move to destroy marriage, it is absurd that anyone can be named as the father or the second parent. This is putting the rights of parents way above those of the child. She added that the practice would lead to the falsification of the birth certificate. Dr Trevor Stammers, a lecturer in healthcare ethics, stressed the mounting evidence that children do best when reared in a family formed by their married father and mother. As a result of the new rules, he said, the child will probably be the loser, but by the time we find that out, in 15 or 16 years time, a huge amount of damage will have been done. The rules will probably see the word father eventually removed from official forms, to be replaced by second parent. Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith argued the sidelining of fathers would lead to a further breakdown of British society. Teenage pregnancy is on the increase, abortion is on the increase, family breakdown is at record levels and we have a growing number of dysfunctional children that are the product of broken homes, he said. The lesson seems to be loud and clear, that fathers are required.

Monthly Musings
THE US Treasury has indicated that it will soon print more dollars to kick start the economy. But what will that mean? Up to about 1970 all the major world currencies were related to the dollar, and the dollar depended for its value on US gold reserves. The Vietnam war drained the US economy but, rather than reduce spending or increase domestic taxes, the US treasury decided to print more dollars. The dollar looked as good as ever, but in reality there was still only the same amount of gold to back up all the promises represented by all the dollars in circulation. Much of Americas trade was with Europe and soon European banks had huge amounts of dollars which were now worth less than they used to be. The US was the largest consumer market, and if it collapsed the world economy would collapse with it. The European banks could solve their problem only by lending their sur-

with Fr Kevin Doran

Will US trigger a new debt crisis?

Why are car parks closed?

WE had a few balmy days recently and I thought that a walk on the beach at Brittas Bay would be an ideal way to spend some of my day off. I was thinking, as I walked along, how fortunate we are to have such natural resources at little or no cost. There is something relaxing about the rhythm of the waves breaking over the sand and, even when other people are around, the sound of the sea creates a cocoon of silence. The county council has laid two fine car parks, one at the North Beach and one at the South Beach. But why are they are locked for seven months of the year? The council probably wants to exclude camper vans and caravans which would change the character of the place. But there are ways of doing that without leaving people to park on double yellow lines at the entrance while the car park lies empty.

Out went the money to one client, who paid it on to another who soon had it back in the bank again. The result was a spiral of lending and borrowing.

plus dollars at low interest rates, to earn at least some interest. Meanwhile, the commercial value of copper, coffee and cotton had collapsed, and many third world countries badly needed capital to fund development. They saw the low interest rates as a great opportunity.

G Workers sort coffee beans in Rwanda

Spiral

In Ireland the banks were throwing money at farmersfor new equipment and buildings, many of which would be repossessed when interest rates rose. The crisis came when the Shah of Iran was toppled in 1979, and Ayatollah Khomeini established an Islamic state. Oil prices and interest rates shot up. Many third world countries, which had borrowed money, couldnt service the loans from normal revenue. The debt crisis had

arrived. Many nations, including Ireland, borrowed more money to pay the interest on the loans, hoping that interest rates would soon go down. It took almost 15 years for that to happen. By then debt had brought immense hardship to the third world. This is reflected in a small way in my own parish economy. During the Summer, US visitors put dollars instead of euro in the collection. Ive seen their value drop in the past few years. Theyre only a tiny part of the parish income, so I can wait for the exchange rate to improve.

Catholic Youth Conference 20 09

Fr Kevin Doran can be contacted by e-mail at kevin.doran@dublindiocese.ie

But if I were in a business based on trade with the US, Id be bankrupt. In the Jubilee Year 2000, it was acknowledged that the ordinary people of the third world, now stuck with the debt problem, were not responsible either for the lending or the borrowing. Promises were made to cancel or forgive the debt. Now, less than ten years later, the US Treasury is, once again, planning to print more dollars. Passing the buck is, after all, another expression for dumping ones responsibilities onto the shoulders of others. This is the downside of our desire to consume, and weve done our fair share of that in Ireland in the past ten years.

Bankrupt

The Harvest is ready for the Reaping John Paul II

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Wahhabites changing Islam
A CATHOLIC priest in Cameroon has warned that the shape of Islam in the country, recently visited by Pope Benedict, is changing for the worse, influenced by the Wahhabites. These are more fundamentalist movements that arrived in Nigeria from Sudan and are now coming here from Nigeria, said Fr Zielenda, a Polish missionary and professor of Islamic religion at the countrys Catholic university. Relations between Christians and Muslims continue to be good, he said. However, both Christians and Muslims are very worried about the influence of Wahhabites, which is increasingly visible.

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Cork hospital lecture to promote euthanasia

CORK University Hospital and the HSE have begun what appears to be a drive to have the killing of patients made legal. The hospitals management has invited staff to a lecture organised by its ethics forum titled, Why Euthanasia Should Be Legalised, to be held at 5pm on Holy Thursday. The lecture will be given by UK Professor Len Doyal, who argues for what he calls the non-voluntary euthanasia, or murder, of severely incompetent patients. Concern about the lecture was first raised by Munster MEP Kathy Sinnott. The HSE is under pressure to save money, but is paying to bring over an the nation stood up to protect old people who were threatened with losing their medical cards. This is far more important. A spokesperson for the HSE denied that the hospital is promoting patient-killing, saying the lecture is a means to stimulate debate on difficult ethical issues. She did not say what these issues were. Mrs Sinnott noted that promoting euthanasia is part of the agenda of ALDE, the Liberal group of the European Parliament. Fianna Fil, according to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, will affiliate with this group after the European elections in June. The University Hospital lecture along with the decision of the citys University to permit experiments using embryonic stem cells appears to be turning Cork into the Culture of Deaths Irish capital. G See also page 7.

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G Kathy Sinnott

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New association for Catholic teachers

I A group of teachers have set up a new association for Catholic primary school teachers, and hope to establish branches in different parts of the country. The aim is to provide support for teachers in their mission, and to share useful faith resources, said coordinator Caroline Lynn. Even in some Catholic schools teachers committed to the faith can feel isolated. The next meeting will be held in Dublin on Saturday afternoon, 25 April. For info contact Caroline, 087-9137965.

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Obama moving US towards despotism say bishops

In a stark warning released on video on the internet, Americas bishops say that the US is in danger of moving towards despotism under Obama. The bishops were responding to the news that the Obama administration intends to abolish rules which guarantee that health workers cannot be forced to do what they believe is evil. As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we are deeply concerned that such an action would be the first step in moving our country from democracy to despotism, says spokesman Cardinal Francis George. Respect for personal conscience and freedom of religion ensures our basic freedom from government oppression, says the Chicago Cardinal. No government should come between an indi-

Test tube babies at greater risk

COUPLES seeking to have a baby in Britain by means of IVF are to be warned in future that their children are up to 30% more likely to have cer tain genetic defects. These may include life-threatening defects or lead to long-term disabilities, according to a report in the Daily Mail. It is also clear that as time goes on, the number and wide variety of defects is becoming clearer. IVF has been criticised in the past because of the trauma it holds for women, while Napro, an approach which assists fertility in a natural way, is more respectful of human sexuality. The UKs Human Fer tilisation & Embryology Authority has ordered that would-be parents must be told of the con-

A MAJOR confrontation between US Catholics and Barack Obama is looming over freedom of conscience and religion.

Cardinal Francis George

Our Blessed Lord Himself said to Sr Mary of the Trinity: I love souls; I wish them to be saved. In order to achieve my end I am constrained to be severe, but believe Me I do it out of Mercy! During times of abundance souls forget Me and are lost, in times of distress they turn to Me and save themselves; that is indeed the way it happens! Pray, pray for humanity in order that I may mitigate these sorrows and save souls: If I permit so much sorrow in the world, it is for this purpose, to save souls for eternity. We believe that we are now beginning the times referred to and that in the near future life will be unimaginably different. This may bring many souls back to God. As Jesus said to St Faustina Tell souls of this great Mercy of Mine because the awful day, the day of My Justice is near. We must tell people about this Mercy before the Day of Justice. The Feast of Divine Mercy is celebrated on the First Sunday after Easter. These are the promises of Our Lord for that day: those who make a good Confession and receive Him worthily in Holy Communion, with complete

2009 - A TIME T O DESPAIR OR A TIME T O HOPE?

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vidual person and God. Noting that this was common ground for all Americans, he continues: We need legal protection for freedom of conscience and of religionincluding freedom for religious health care institutions to be true to themselves. Why shouldnt our government and our legal system permit conscientious objection to a morally bad action, the killing of babies in their mother's womb? he asked. People understand what really happens in an abor-

He urged Catholics to tell the Department of Health that you stand for the protection of conscience, especially now for those who provide the health care services so necessary for a good society. Earlier, speaking in Oxford, Cardinal Pell of Sydney warned of a major escalation in the culture wars if Obama goes ahead and signs into law a proposed Freedom of Choice Act. This would sweep away all state restrictions on abortion. It would also remove any protections in legislation for doctors, nurses, and hospitals with moral objections to abortion. I am still hoping, said the Cardinal that the President will not trigger such a massive confrontation with prolife Christians.

tiona living member of the human family is killed, ... and no one should be forced by the government to act as though he or she were blind to this reality.

Stand

cerns linked with IVF and that not all the risks are fully understood. A major US study, reviewing nearly 20,000 births was published in the Human Reproduction journal two months ago.

I The UK tax and benefits system, under Labour, leaves parents who live apart thousands of pounds better off than married couples, according to a new study, Individualists Who CoOperate. The report from Civitas, a respected think tank, has shown that married couples in Britain are up to 20% worse off. Yet all the evidence indicates that living with their married parents, in general, is best for children. Family and marriage campaigners claim that Labours taxes and handouts are encouraging the death of the natural family.

UK taxes marriage

Heart defects
It revealed that IVF babies suffer from a range of conditions: they are twice as likely to have heart defects and four and a half times as susceptible to digestive tract disorders due to the bowel or oesophagus not forming properly. The babies also had 3.7 times the risk of bowel disorders and were four times more likely to have a cleft lip. IVF babies also had a small but increased risk of rare genetic disorders including Angelman Syndrome, which leads to delays in development, and Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome, which can lead to a hole in the abdomen and learning difficulties. IVF methods account for more than 10,000 births in Britain each year.

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Bl Mother Teresa of Calcutta said the greatest threat to world peace is abortion. The coming chastisement will be in proportion to the number of abortions. The Womens Counselling Network has been helping to save babies from abortion by helping their mothers on a one to one basis, saving thousands of lives.

day help. She now has a lovely child but that is not all! She has had a complete conversion, attending Holy Mass daily, doing Adoration regularly and is a wonderful witness to her peers.

trust in His Mercy, and who perform a deed of mercy, will receive complete forgiveness of all their sins and all punishment due! This Feast shows the Infinite Mercy of God, Who loves us so much. Tell others about this great gift. His Mercy is always available to us even if our sins be as black as night. Our Lord wishes us, if possible, to recite the Chaplet of Mercy for nine days beginning on Good Friday. For times of Divine Mercy

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K Spiritually adopting a counsellor K Spiritually adopting a mother and baby K Donating a financial gift of ________ K Volunteering in a centre

One hours meditation on The Passion is worth more than a year of penance

Dympna (not real name) found she was pregnant. Abortion seemed the only solution. She saw a Womens Counselling Network ad offering help with unwanted pregnancy and assumed they would help her to arrange an abortion. As she made her way to their office, she began to harden herself. At WCN she met Mary who discovered that Dympna had always been pro-life until now! Mary pointed out that she was going against everything she believed in and told her about the painful aftermath of abortion. After seeing the pictures of a developing baby she realised she could never abort her child. Dympna left the office feeling lighter and comforted by the fact that WCN offered twenty-four a

Dympna went back to WCN as a volunteer. She realised that if they had not been there when she was seeking an abortion that her precious baby would have died a cruel death and she herself would be suffering from the guilt. On one of her visits she was shocked to see pro-abortionists picketing WCN. But the work belongs to Our Blessed Lady. SHE is in charge. As long as SHE wishes the work to continue it will. There are many abortion agencies advertising to attract the abortionseeking mother against that Womens Counselling Network is the most effective life-affirming agency in Ireland. Therefore for WCN to stay open or not is literally a matter of life or death. As an act of mercy can you help?

for meditation on the Passion at any time or All For Jesus, one of Fr Fabers best ever books; or The Children of Fatima (for 10 to 110 year olds) by Mary Fabyan Windeatt (one of the best ever writers of saints lives).
Send your name, address, phone no. to: Womens Counselling Network, 23, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, 11. Tel. 018780066 or 087-7777081 Email: wcnireland@yahoo.ie Yes, I wish to help the Womens Counselling Network to save mothers and babies from abortion by:

REPLY COUPON:

alive! April 2009

Editors Jottings
A closer look at stories in the r ound...

IN DEALING with marriage and children the UKs Labour government is driven by a reckless left-wing ideology. In the interests of gender equality, for example, a single woman who conceives a child through donor sperm can now name anyone, male or female, as the babys second parent. In Labours crackpot world a father is no longer necessary or even a benefit to the child. Fatherhood is devalued with the stroke of a pen. In its latest move against the young, Labour is advising parents to avoid teaching their children moral principles regarding sexual behaviour. A leaflet produced by the Childrens Department wants parents to encourage children as young as 13 to use contraception. They are also told: Discussing your values with your teenagers will help them to form their own. Remember though, that trying to convince them of whats right and wrong may discourage them from being open. The young teenagers are to be helped to form their own values. No question here of parents teaching the values they want their children to have. Above all, the children are not to be taught that sex outside marriage is morally wrong. Would the Minister advise against teaching children that bullying, cheating, aggression, theft, joy-riding, smoking pot or making racist remarks are wrong? Would she encourage children to form their own values without moral guidance in these area too? Hardly. So what is different when it comes to sexual behaviour? Is it that the gurus think that young people are incapable of self-control? And if children are taught that morality is irrelevant here, will they, like the bankers, not consider it irrelevant in other areas of life too? But we in Ireland cant afford to scoff at this state take-over of morality; forces here are pushing the same agenda, and were swallowing it.

UKs left-wing assault on role of parents

I DO not know whether or not the rate of marriage disruption is higher in RTE than in the rest of the country. But the station certainly seems at times to be a graveyard for marriages. No doubt the circumstances in each high-profile case are very different, but perhaps there are particular risks for marriage in this line of work. The demands of the job, selfish ambition, inflated egos, the loss of religious faith, an environment that projects little respect for marriage may all play a part. Of course all the blame (and

Is RTE a graveyard for marriages?

usually there is blamewe have to get rid of the silly notion of no fault) may not lie with the public figure. Selfish spouses who are not in the public eye can be just as much, or even more, to blame for the marriage disruption. self to make a go of it. This must be, and always remain, his top priority. And the same goes for a wife. 2. Catholic marriage is a sacramenta channel of Gods love to the couple and their children and a sign of the unbreakable union of Christ and his Church. Couples must approach their marriage, then, with a reverent awe. 3. Married love is not primarily an emotion. It is the routine, and sometimes tough, decisions to put the other persons happiness and well-being first.

So maybe its time that we, as a society, recalled some basic facts about marriage, and made them more central in our community. 1. Marriage is for life. A married man owes it to his wife and children and to him-

Facts

4. A couple who need help to sort out their problems should seek it. Its stupid not to seek it. But they should be careful about who they turn to. Some helpers only add to the harm. 5. Divorce is not an option. Divorce is simply a legal fiction, it does not end a marriage. And re-marrying after divorce is, in fact, adultery. We know all this already. Maybe its time we took it seriously. G See also Retrouvaille ad, page 3.

Cork hospital lecture should be cancelled

SOME things are so clearly evil we refuse to even debate them, to consider any argument in favourrape, the gassing of Jews, child sexual exploitation, and so on. Until a few years ago the killing of unborn children was among these unthinkables. By and large Irish people were Catholic, they saw life as sacred, and they knew being pro-choice could not turn evil into good. As we lost sight of God in our society, we also lost sight of the sacredness of human life. So, killing the unborn first became thinkable or debatable, then acceptable to many people. Now we move a stage further. Killing the sick, the elderly, those with dementia has become debatable, at least in Cork University Hospital.

Form their own

The hospitals ethics forum has organised a lecture to promote the idea of patient-killing. Titled, Why Euthanasia Should Be Legalised, it will be given by UK Professor Len Doyal. Professor Doyal is considered an extremist, even by many supporters of patient-killing: he favours involuntary euthanasia, what we normally call murder, for people unable to choose to be killed. But the professor is simply being logical: if politicians, voters or medics

Lecture

may set aside the right to life, then there is no logical reason why they may not set aside the lesser right to choose. As in gangland warfare, the powerful now decide what is or is not permissible. Here we see the new ethics for what it really is: ruthless domination. This lecture should be cancelled and the committee which organised it fired. We also need to raise serious questions about the wider issue of ethics committees and the people who are appointed to them. In the long run, we can uphold moral goodness and human dignity only if we have faith in God and cling to his law embodied in the natural law. Without this, reason is swept aside and replaced with slick manipulation of peoples emotions.

RECENTLY a well-known Irish politician who is publicly living in an adulterous relationship received Holy Communion when attending a requiem Mass. This gives rise to a very delicate pastoral situation, but one that needs to be addressed. The first concern here must be to protect and deepen the reverence of all for the Blessed Eucharist. And ensuring that nothing is done that would diminish such reverence. If no action is taken, it can give the impression that receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin is no big deal, leading to the impression that receiving Holy Communion itself is no big deal. On the other hand, the purpose of any corrective action should be to lead the person to a greater love for the Eucharist. So the wrong action can disrupt Mass and cause more harm than good. The first step is proper catechesis, so that all Catholics from an early age may know what is required in order to receive the Eucharist worthily. Secondly, it may be necessary for the priest to explain these requirements in private and in more detail to a particular individual. In most cases that will be enough to put things right. In the US, on the other hand, the situation is very different, with politicians who publicly support abortion presenting themselves defiantly for Holy Communion. Often this is a case of problems having been ignored until they became a major scandal. Hopefully that wont happen here.

Its a delicate pastoral problem

First step

C.U. Hospital Tel: 021 546 400 Cork HSE: Tel: 021 496 5511

THE RTE radio show, Today With Pat Kenny, had a discussion about giving legal standing to homosexual relationships. The guests were 4-0 in favour. This was not simply RTE pushing the gay agenda; it was also the deliberate exclusion of the Christian voice. A bio-ethics council funded by the Government supported overwhelmingly experiments that involve the killing of

Future of Church and society with young loyal Catholics

human beings at the beginning of life. Again the majority Christian voice was excluded, this time from the make-up of the council. More and more this is becoming the pattern, not just in Ireland, but globally. A more insidious version of this pattern is where Catholic colleges, journals, agencies, etc. promote rejection of Church teaching. Or where they play down their Catholic identity, until at last they abandon it, lacking confidence in the Gospel and in the Risen Christ. Due to lack of proper formation many faithful Catholics are unwilling or unable to give a reason for the hope that is in them, so they remain silent when they should speak out. Others are content to say their prayers or attend their prayer group, but have little sense of responsibility for the mission of the Church. Remarkably, however, a new generation of young people who are committed to their Faith has begun to emerge. Their lives are centred on the risen Christ, present especially in the Eucharist, and who is for them a source of great joy. They are loyal to the Church, and they

want the real thing, orthodox teaching, not quack preachers peddling a bogus gospel. They are informed and fearless in upholding the right to life, and have a sense of mission, especially to other young people. It is from them that a true renewal of the Church and of society is most likely to come.

8
I With their huge salaries, some of RTEs presenters, like Pat Kenny, Miriam OCallaghan and Gerry Ryan, may forget that they are our employees. Their job is not to soften us up to accept a left-wing anti-life and anti-marriage agenda. Media reviewer Brendan ORegan recently drew attention to remarkable bias on RTE radios Today With Pat Kenny on the issue of the state giving legal standing to homosexual couplings. He referred to a love-in on Kennys show when no fewer than four guests were in favour of the proposed legislation, with no dissenting voice at all. And presenter Pat Kenny didnt even make much of a stab at being devils advocate (Irish Catholic 5/3/09). The four guests included two lawyers, who favoured the proposed change in the law, and a spokesman for the self-described Irish Council of Civil Liberties who wanted the changes to go further. Finally Kenny brought on a man who was reared by two lesbians, providing an emotional input that trumped any counter argument. ORegan outlined further bias in the way the issue was dealt with on the show, and asked, How does RTE get away with this? The answer is easy. Its because they are allowed to. RTE Tel: 01-2083434 I On Friday, 23 January US President Obama told Republican politicians, You cant just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done. The attack showed how irritated the President is by the conservative radio chat show host and his daily criticisms of Obama policies. But the White House has admitted the attack completely backfired. Research by Talkers Magazine has shown that Limbaughs weekly audience has shot up from 14.2 million to about 25 million. Even before Obamas remark Limbaugh said that his network sold 80% as much advertising in January as it did in all of 2008. He has accused White House officials of targetting him and of going after private citizens in a manner that recalls Richard Nixons enemies list.

alive! April 2009

RTE shows bias against marriage

Attack by Obama backfires

I It is too early yet to speak of the end of the European Union, but certainly its glory days are well past. Major cracks, indeed rifts, are opening up in all directions across Europe. What we now see are political leaders scrambling to protect their own national interests and their own careers, yet claiming they are against protectionism. And we are still just a few months into a recession that may last for years. At the most recent emergency meeting of EU leaders the Czech Republics prime minister warned of the greatest crisis in the history of European integration, wrote Bruno Waterfield in the Daily Telegraph (2/3/09). Hungarys leader spoke of fears that the economic meltdown would lead to the abandonment of poor by rich, of East by West, and could lead to a new Iron Curtain. Ian Traynor and David Gow in the Guardian (2/3/09) told how the 27 EU government heads, though faced with the worst crisis of their political careers still remained deeply divided about the way forward. All for one? Indeed, one major problem has been Nicholas Sarkozy and his plan to spend E7.5 billion rescuing
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Media fail to inform us as EU faces worst crisis in its history

the French car industry and keeping jobs in France. Protests that this would wreck the industry in smaller EU countries that could not afford such a rescue met with little sympathy from Sarkozy. When the ship is sinking, its every man for himself. Sarkozy, however, furiously denied he was protectionist. Britain, he said, had taken over 70% of its banks yet nobody was accusing my friend Gordon of protectionism. But eastern leaders were not fooled. According to Waterfield nine of them, led by Poland, held

Its feared that big EU countries are shredding the European rulebook to protect their own interests.

an unprecedented breakaway summit before the meeting of all 27 EU member states. It opened a further major rift in the Union. Suspicions are rampant among newer EU members in central Europe that Germany, France, Britain and Italy are preoccupied with national salvage schemes that are shredding the European rulebook, said the Guardian. There is also fast-growing concern that the Euro may not survive the national spirit now rampant in European countries. The risk is that the deepening crisis could undermine some of Europes main achievements, the establishment of the single market, the birth of the single currency and the integration of the two halves of Europe, wrote Traynor and Gow. How Ireland, already a basket case, will manage in all this turmoil, is anybodys guess. (How much, incidentally are we paying into the EU each year, and where is it coming from?) The EU crisis is growing deeper by the hour. Yet RTE and the national newspapers, with their now outdated attitude to the EU, are doing little to help us understand the immense issues that are at stake.

If someone asked you: Give me three good reasons why contraceptions wrong could you do it? We are all being assaulted by the contraceptive message. Every day we hear arguments promoting contraception and rubbishing the Church. After five years of research and writing, my new book on marriage and contraception is being launched in March 2009. Published by HLI (Ireland), it is titled Whos at the Centre of Your Marriagethe Pill or Jesus Christ?.

Dear Alive! Reader,

Its one thing to know that contraceptions wrong. But its another to explain just why!
Equipping you This book will equip YOU with so many answers. So many good people have heard (and instinctively know) that contraception is wrong, but they struggle to explain WHY. This book equips you with the clear reasons why anyone should not use contraception. The core message of the book is that if a couple wish to maximise their marital harmony they absolutely must avoid contraception. In this 40th anniversary year of Humanae Vitae, the moment has come to publicly and directly stand up and proclaim the truth about the beauty of marriage and the destructive effect of contraception on marriage and society. We wish to get this book into the hands of as many married couples as we can. Treanor of Down and Connor Diocese. They tell of the destruction of contraception in their marriages, how their marriage almost fell apart and how they got out of their situation. The book will not be for sale. It will be by voluntary donation only or free to those who honestly cant afford it. Thats because we wish to get it into as many married couples hands as possible.

Just tick the box on the coupon below and we will send it out to you. Perhaps you will arrange for myself and others to come and speak in your local area or parish. Please be assured of our prayers. Yours sincerely, Patrick McCrystal Chairman Human Life International (Ireland)

I am honoured that the book bears the imprimatur of Bishop Noel

As a pharmacist, I was unemployed for three years because I would not dispense abortifacient contraceptives.

I really need your help. I cannot do it on my own. Please read on!

If the book helps save only one marriage, it will be worth it all.

Now, this my second book on contraception, explores the medical, social, statistical, historical, global and moral dimensions of contraception and its destructive role in marriage. It shows how rejecting contraception is the best thing a couple can do to restoring marital harmony and unity. Real life stories tell it all! Theres a set of married couples who frankly and honestly shared their stories with me in the book.

Remember! Contraception has been mercilessly pumped into our Irish culture by many agencies as you know. Someone, somewhere has to stand up and say enough! The truth is that Ireland needs to repent of its embracing of contraception. We in HLI (Ireland) have just committed to printing 8,000 copies of this book to begin. I am not making any money personally from the book. We are trusting Gods providence to provide for this venture. We are looking to disseminate this book to priests, parishes and the general public. Will you help?

Order your Complimentary Book Today!

I will of course be delighted to send you your own personal copy of the book. Indeed order a few copies for your friends and family members.

More information on www.dangersofcontraception.com

alive! April 2009

COMMENT
St. Marys Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24.
Tel: 01-4048187 Fax: 01-4596784 E-mail: alivepaper@gmail.com

Perhaps the biggest issue in the Western world today is the clash between the Catholic faith and Liberalism. This will play a profound part in shaping our whole future. Liberalism poses as a tolerant ideology, but it will tolerate nothing which threatens itself and that, above all, is the Catholic faith. While the Catholic Church stresses unity and community, and care for the most vulnerable, liberalism puts the focus on individual preference. It holds that people should be free to follow their own preferences in all things, even if that choice is the killing of the unborn, or self-destruction. This ideology, now deeply ingrained in the West, has led, for example, to the virtual collapse of social order in Britain, with the disintegration of family life. It has also played a major role in the present economic recession as bankers, politicians and others followed the make up your own version of morality. The ideology is deeply embedded in EU institutions and in various international agencies. It fuels the drive to remove the Christian, indeed, the religious voice from the public arena and to turn religion into a private preference. Liberals, particularly aggressive secularists as they have been called, probably grasp the depth of the culture clash far better than most Christians do. They rightly see the Catholic faith as the real enemy of their ideology. It is pointless, then, for Christians to whinge that we are ignored or excluded from decision-making, to adopt the victim role. We need a tougher outlook. We need to have something worth saying, Good News, and we need to make our voices heard in a forthright and persuasive way.

Culture clash

France ignores EU rules to protect its car workers

FRANCE has set the cat among the EU pigeons by announcing that the Renault car company is shifting some production back home from Slovenia.
The countrys industry minister Luc Chatel described the move as a repatriation that was a result of the states help for the motor industry. The move is seen as further evidence that the bigger EU countries are simply disregarding EU rules and moving to protect their own interests while cynically denouncing protectionism. Meanwhile, in Germany Angela Merkel is coming under increasing pressure to provide E3.3 billion to bail out Opel car manufacturers. return for the cash, has agreed to make no forced redundancies in France this year and to close no factories. A bewildered spokesman for the European Commission described the move as an apparent contradiction to what President Sarkozy had promised the Commission a mere two weeks earlier. The French car industry provides jobs for about one in ten French workers and Sarkozy is coming under increased pressure to be seen to be doing something.

Embedded

UK prime minister Gordon Brown had already warned that some EU members were playing dirty, and damaging the European Union. A few weeks ago France got EU permission to give a E5 billion rescue loan to its auto industry on condition that there would be no

move to bring jobs home. But the government has found a way round this condition, and Renault, in

alive!

...Your life can make a differenceAs a Redemptoristine Nun

If you are interested, come and see!
Contact: Sr Gabrielle, Monastery of St Alphonsus, St Alphonsus Road, Dublin 9. Tel: 01 8305723 Fax: 01 8309129 E-mail:gabrielle.fox@redemptorists.ie

Pope John Pauls life changed the world...

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alive! April 2009

Holy Communion is only the start Cardinal in call to action over Sinn

irst Holy Communion has become a one day wonder for many Catholic families. Preparing our children to receive their first Holy Communion, are we focused on the sacrament or more anxious about the outfit, hair, presents? Preparation should be a 3legged stool to give stability. Leg No. 1: The Parents Often the shakiest leg, this needs to be the firm anchor if the child is to continue to grow in his faith. We parents are the primary educators of our children. Parents need to be properly catechised themselves, so they can pass on the Faith to their children. There should be support from the school and the church for the parents. Ideally a programme should be run for the parents to educate them about the significance of the day. If parents understood the sacrament, follow through would be easier and more successful. Leg No. 2: The School At present most schools take on the bulk of preparation for First Holy

Handing On The Faith

Jaclyn Ascough
the least involved leg. Brendan OReilly, the National Director for Religious Education, had some brilliant suggestions in a recent article. He proposed that First Communion should be at one of the Sunday Masses instead of a Saturday. This would involve the whole parish, fostering a spirit of unity. And families of the first communicants would be encouraged to return to this Mass in the future. Some families, schools and parishes are engaged in a programme called Do This In Memory. This helps to establish better involvement and a sturdier structure. If we only do what weve always done, well only get what we always got, empty churches. Lets learn from communities that are having success. Lets grow as a body of believers. As John Paul II urged us: if we are who God called us to be, we will set the world on fire.

Communion. This is neither fair nor right. The outcome is a one-legged stool that doesnt stand. The child is prepared to receive the sacrament by his teacher. Ever y detail is planned so that the ceremony goes smoothly. However, the school doesnt go home with the child, it isnt there on a Sunday to make sure he or she goes to Mass. Where is the follow through? Leg No. 3: The Parish The parish being more than just the priest, often this is

health&beauty
Each year about 10,000 Irish people have a stroke and some2,500 people die. Early treatment can mean the difference between life and death or mild and severe disability for the rest of ones life. During a stroke, some brain cells die immediately because they are deprived of oxygen and nutrients from the blood (ischemic stroke) or because sudden bleeding damages them (haemorrhagic stroke). However, other cells can linger for several hours in a weakened state. Prompt treatment may save these cells and reduce damage and disability. People can also have transient ischemic attacks, or TIAs, in which blood flow to the brain is blocked temporarily. These "mini-strokes," in which symptoms may last for only a few minutes, are a serious warning sign that an actual stroke may be on the way. Anyone can have a stroke, including children and babies, though it is more common after age 65. Experts urge people who have had a stroke to get to hospital immediatelya stroke is a medical emergency. You can help by recognising the symptoms and calling 999. Symptoms vary from person to person, but usually begin suddenly. As different parts of your brain control different parts of your body, symptoms will depend
# This Month: How to spot a stroke? Act FAST!

upon the part of your brain that has been affected and the extent of the damage. Symptoms include: dizziness, problems with balance and coordination, problems with memory or planning, difficulty swallowing, severe headaches, numbness/weakness resulting in complete paralysis of one side of the body, and loss of consciousness. If you live with somebody in a high-risk group, such as someone who is elderly or has diabetes or high blood pressure, being aware of symptoms is even more important. In the UK the NHS has launch its Act FAST awareness campaign: F.A.S.T. - Face Arm Speech Time. This test was developed by leading stroke physicians. Facial weaknesscan the person smile? Has his or her mouth or eye drooped? Arm weaknesscan he raise both arms? Speech problemscan he speak clearly and understand what you say? Time to call 999. If the person fails any of these tests call 999 immediately so he can be taken to hospital for diagnosis and treatment. This will increase his chances of survival and recovery.
G For more information check these websites: Irish Heart Foundation: www.irishheart.ie NHS Act FAST campaign: www.nhs.uk/actfast

he network of Catholic schools in Northern Ireland consists of some 550 nursery, primary and post-primary maintained and voluntary grammar schools. But a new Bill currently being considered by the N.I. Assembly seriously threatens the right of parents in the North to a Catholic education for their children. The bill, from Education Minister Caitrona Ruane of Sinn Fin (below), aims to overhaul the entire educational system. For the bishops, however, a number of its proposals go much too far. Speaking recently about the proposed bill, Cardinal Sen Brady referred to the significant threat it poses to the very future of Catholic education in Northern Ireland. A key point of contention for the Church is the provision the bill makes for a new body, the Education & Skills Authority (ESA). This would oversee the employment of staff for all schools in the North. This radical shift in policy would sideline the traditional involvement of the Church through the board of governors/trustees in the hiring of teachers for its schools. It would centralise control of schools and staffing in a body that, it is feared, will fail to safeguard the distinctive ethos of schools in the Catholic sector. It is foreseeable that if this bill became law in its current form, then the Church would be unable to act against teachers who undermine the

Fin threat to Catholic education

Fr Owen Gorman Writes ...

Speaking recently in Dungannon, he reminded his audience that the right to a Catholic education was one of the most hard won rights of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland. And addressing the N.I. Assemblys Education Committee, he drew the members attention to the fact that the European Convention on Human Rights upholds the right of parents to have their children educated in a manner consistent with their religious and philosophical convictions. He also wanted to make it clear to committee members and the whole community that Catholic trustees would give wholehearted support to any legal moves to protect the rights of parents from other religious, cultural, linguistic or ethnic backgrounds. Given the present serious threat, the Cardinal urged the Catholic community to approach their political representatives. They might ask the politicians why they would allow the right of those who wish to have their children educated in Catholic schools to be undermined in such a fundamental and unacceptable way by this bill.

Catholic ethos of a school. Cardinal Brady has been anxious to draw these issues to the attention of parents and of the whole Catholic community.

Hard won

Girls suffer multiple reactions to vaccine

MORE than 1,300 schoolgirls in the UK have suffered one or more bad reactions after receiving a injection controversial which is aimed at making casual sex less dangerous.
Doctors have repor ted that girls aged just 12 and 13 have suffered paralysis, convulsions and sight problems after being given the vaccine, said a report in the Dail Mail. Due to the economic downturn, or perhaps a fear of being sued, the Irish Government has abandoned plans to make the vaccine available to young Irish girls. In the latest analysis of doctors reports a total of 2,891 different adverse effects were noted. Most were minor complaints such as rashes, pain or allergic reactions. But four girls had convulsions, one had a seizure, one had an epileptic fit and almost 20 suffered blurred vision. There were several cases of paralysis. One had Bells palsy, which paralyses the face; one had hemiparesis, which paralyses or severely weakens half the body; two experienced hypoaesthesia, in which the sufferer loses much of her sense of touch, and one had Guillain-Barr syndrome, which paralyses the legs. When they introduced this new vaccine, we had major concerns about its safety, said Jackie Fletcher of the UK vaccine support group Jabs. The current statistics on adverse reactions, including cases of epilepsy and convulsions, bears out that we were right to be concerned. In the US the deaths of a number of young girls have been linked with the vaccine. Dubbed the promiscuity jab, it is promoted as an anti-cancer drug. In fact its target is some strains of the HPV virus, the sexually-transmitted disease which can cause cervical cancer.

Nein, Fraulein
Officials in Brussels have issued a booklet banning EU staff from using Miss or Mrs (or Frau, Mademoiselle, Senorita, etc) when referring to women. The move appears to be part of an EU drive to reduce the status of marriage.

Crystal Chandeliers from Waterford

Telephone: 051-856933

8, 12, 24 light.

alive! April 2009

VUI ZP FORUM
with Anne Nolan

The

11

Why does society fear the crippled child?

Christopher Nolan, who died on 20th February, was just 15 when he published his first book, Dam-Burst of Dreams, a collection of poems and short stories. Born with severe cerebral palsy, Christy began to write when he was 11. With a unicorn attached to his head and his mother cupping his chin, he punched out his ideas, letter by letter. In 1987, aged 22, he published Under the Eye of the Clock, a remarkable novel which told his own life story. It won the Whitbread Book of the Year award. Many people today think that the life of a disabled child is not worth living; that the handicapped should be sought out in the womb and killed.

FAMILY MATTERS

Bart Simpson wants to think for you

SOMEBODY recently said that Catholic schools should teach their pupils how to think for themselves. I have no problem with the how to think bit, all in favour of it, in fact, but what does for themselves mean? Maybe it means we dont want other people doing our thinking for us. But does that really make sense? Would it not leave us pretty goofy? There are far too many things to think about in the world, and we know so little about most of them, that we cannot make an informed judgment. So we have to decide who we will trustparents, pop stars, teachers, politicians, media, solicitors, ads, even traffic lights when they turn green. When it comes to religious and moral matters, we trust the teaching of the Church. Trusting other people is perfectly reasonable. In fact life would be impossible without it. But we have to be careful who we trust. Do we want Bart Simpson, for example, doing our thinking for us? A video on MySpace.com shows the people who make TV shows like The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and Prison Break boasting that they use the shows to shape our thinking. They get Bart, or some other popular character, saying the things they want us to think, in this case on global warming. But remember, the real purpose of thinking is not so that we will have views but that we may reach the truth.

The young Christy was appalled by such a barbaric attitude. In Under the Eye he wrote: Conscious of the breathtaking sacrifice involved in what his family did for him, yet he detected where destiny beckoned. The future for babies like him never looked more

Appalled

promising, but now society frowned upon giving spastic babies a right to life. Now they threatened to abort babies like him, to detect in advance their handicapped state, to burrow through the womb and label them for death, to baffle their mothers with fear for their coming. And yet, the spastic baby would ever be the soul which would never kill, maim, creed falsehood or hate brotherhood. Why then does society fear the crippled childand why does it hail the able-bodied child and crow over what may in time become a potential executioner? Thank God for people with such wisdom, humanity and love of life.

Heaven will be thine

THINKING about death and heaven is often seen as something for older people to do. But awareness of our approaching death, and we do not know how soon it may arrive, should shape all our lives. Certainly for a Christian this should be a hope-filled, practical facing of life and not seen as a morbid idea to be avoided. Isnt that what Easter means? The booklet for Christopher Nolans requiem Mass had a short poem he wrote as a young teenager: A grave that always waits, A verge round at front and A lasting sad cross, Put away sadness, Pray all the while, Past is sorrow, Heaven will be thine. I find the first and last lines here particularly striking.

MANY young people today are afraid of making a lifelong commitment, as we see, for example, in the number of cohabiting couples. It was an issue Pope Benedict took up during his trip to Africa, speaking at a youth rally in Angola. The idea of risking a lifelong commitment, whether in marriage or in a life of special consecration, can be daunting, he admitted. Then he examined this fear. You may think: The world is in constant flux and life is full of possibilities. Can I make a life-long commitment now, without knowing what unforeseen events lie in store for me? By making a definitive decision, would I not be risking my freedom and tying my own hands?. But when young people avoid definitive decisions, said the Pope, they risk never reaching full maturity. Take courage!, he said. Dare to make definitive decisions, because in reality these are the only decisions which do not destroy your freedom. Rather, they guide it in the right direction, enabling you to move forward and attain something worthwhile in life. Life is worthwhile, he said, only if you take courage and are ready for adventure, if you trust in the Lord who will never abandon you. Perhaps thats the secret, having real trust in our Lord, risen from the dead and always with each one of us.

Pope: commitment is way to freedom

e are all familiar with the saying: The family that prays together, stays together. Those of us trying to teach our children about Gods love and encourage them to be his true followers, know how important it is that they have a personal relationship with him. This can only be fostered through them developing personal prayer. Where they learn to do this is in family prayer. I admit I am tremendously weak in this area. At the end of the day I am tired and selfishly just want to sit down and relax after dinner. However we need to remind ourselves that our primary duty is to pass on this faith and love of God to our children. It is actually more important than feeding or clothing them. I am frequently asked at what stage in a childs life should we begin family prayer. My answer is, from the day you bring your baby home from the hospital. Of course the ideal is that family prayer grows out of an already established couple prayer, which existed before the children join the family. Family prayer needs to be interactive or it can become boring and children of all ages can lose attention. When children are songs with younger, actions, dancing, reading from childrens Bibles with nice colourful pictures in them, lighting candles, doing little dramas, etc., can all hold a childs interest and make prayer time enjoyable. This is also the setting where they can be taught formal prayers, such as Our Father, Hail Mary, Angel of God, etc. Dont assume that your children are learning these prayers in school; that is

Lets get real about family prayer

with Caitriona L y n c h

not always the case. The seasons of the Churchs year can also be discussed and learnt about at family prayer time with the use of the Catechism. (Of course it will have to be explained in an age-appropriate way to the children). If this pattern has been laid down from the earliest ages it is easier then to continue having prayer time when your children become teenagers.

Interactive

SPEAKING on a US TV chat show, Barack Obama recently said his bowling skills are like Special Olympics or something. His remark raised a laugh among the audience, but Maria Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, didnt think it was funny. Laughing at such a comment hurts millions of people throughout the world, she said. Being a Democrat, Mrs Shriver criticised the audience for laughing rather than Obama who made the disparaging crack. But such a remark by the US president shows incredible insensitivity, and belittles the dignity and the struggles faced by many disabled people and their families. One American mother, whose daughter won two bronze medals at the last Special Olympics, told how she was crushed by Obamas joke. My heart just sank, she said. To have the president make a comment like that when were working so hard to change hearts and minds is just devastating.

Obamas joke was not funny

At one stage when we had older teenagers and younger children at the same time, having started prayer with a song and some intercessions, we then split the children into 2 groups. Brendan would do some catechism question and answer session with the older children and I took the younger ones away and read Bible stories and chatted about those issues while I tucked them into bed. In conclusion the most important thing to say about family prayer is, Just do it. This needs to happen with an agreement made by mum and dad that it will happen every evening. We need to encourage each other and help each other as it can be all too easy to let it go. There are lots of useful sources, both on the internet and in local scripture stores, etc., to help you formulate and keep lively your prayer time. But all these things are only an aid and will help only if you are doing it. God himself will be encouraging you and pouring grace on you to help you do this very important task. One great blessing of daily family prayer is a bonding of your family together and a growing of relationships, which will last for the lifetime of your family.

Groups

Caitriona Lynch gives evening talks to parents and can be contacted at caitriona.m.lynch@gmail.com

Divine Mercy Krakow

6-13 June 09 and 26 Sept to 3 Oct 09. Ex Dublin or Belfast. E599. Contact Friends of St Thrse, Belfast 048 90245547/ Mobile 0044 75 14908666.

4-11 May 09 & 15-22 Oct 09. Ex Dublin E499. Contact Friends of St. Thrse, Belfast 048 90245547/ Mobile 0044 75 14908666.

Medjugorje

12

FILM Review Jesus is not a has been When innocence is dangerous F

This Month: THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

alive! April 2009

Miramax Directed by Mark Herman

BRUNO (Isa Butterfield) is a German boy growing up in Berlin during World War II. Sheltered from the war, life for him is bliss. His father (David Thewlis), a Nazi commander, is promoted to campsuper visor in the countryside and Bruno moves there with his parents and sister. He loves exploring and the grounds of his new house dont keep him in for long, despite orders not to go wandering. Nearby he discovers what he believes is a farm where people dressed in pyjamas are working. He ventures towards it and meets a young boy on the other side of a barbed-wire fence. Bruno barely registers that Schmuel (Jack Scanlon) is always hungry and is frightened of soldiers. In time the two boys become friends. At home, Brunos father hires a tutor to educate his children in Nazi ideals. Bruno is subjected to the theory of a master race and the notion that Jewish people arent human. Aware that Schmuel is a Jew, and even as his sister is conditioned, he is terrified at how his father and men treat Jewish servants. Soon the idea of not just wanting his father to be proud of him but wanting to be proud of his father enters his head. Some parents, thinking they are protecting their children against the monstrosities of the world, will tell them anything. But what if the parents are part of the monstrosity and what if protecting becomes lying? Then innocence can be as dangerous as it is virtuous. The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is aimed at younger viewers in order to open their minds to historical context. It avoids the violence that one associates with the holocaust. However, the movie delivers a devastating ending. It is a brilliant illustration of the abhorrence of crime against innocence.

or St Paul and the early Church Jesus is not someone who has been, he is someone who is. His teaching is to be discussed, but above all, his presence is to be enjoyed. Pauls faith was built on the experience of the Risen Saviour. He wanted to introduce everyone to the presence and power of Christ. This apostle of the risen Jesus realised how it is through the Cross that God has achieved salvation for mankind. It reveals Gods immense desire to save us. The Cross is both awesome and repulsive. Yet for Paul it is also simple and personal: The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). Behind it is the glory of the resurrection. Christ crucified is now risen Lord. Jesus was crucified in

Fr Joseph Briody
weakness but lives by the power of God (2 Cor 13:4). Paul mentions the resurrection in each of his letters except 2 Thessalonians and Philemon, and even there the Risen Christ is in the background. 1 Corinthians 15 gives his fullest teaching on the resurrection, including a list of the appearances of Jesus. Then Paul adds: Last of all he appeared to me. It

was the risen Jesus who appeared to him and transformed his life. We usually move from a problem to seeking a solution. Some scholars say it was the opposite with Paul, he moved from the solution to the plight. He begins with his experience of the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. This is Gods Yes to us in Jesus. That takes him to our desperate situation without God.

first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor 15:14-20). The Jews had thought of the Messiah in terms of glory, conquest and power. In Jesus they met a Messiah who died shamefully on the cross. But the resurrection was the great astounding reality, showing that Jesus was indeed Gods Messiah. It was this that Paul used in his efforts to convince the Jews (see Acts 13:14-43).

Foundation
The resurrection is the answer to our plight and its the foundation of the Churchs faith: If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. You are still in your sins. Moreover, if our hope in Christ were for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of people. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the

Pre-marriage Courses
NAOMI-BILLINGS IRELAND 11 Marlborough Court, Dublin 1.
Topics include: Relationships Finance & Budgeting Billings Ovulation Method Family Planning Parenting The Sacrament of Christian Marriage

Dublin Latin Mass Chaplaincy

St Kevins, Harrington St, Dublin 8
Palm Sunday, 5th April Blessing of Palms and Procession 10.15 a.m. High Mass 10.30 a.m. Vespers and Benediction 3.30 p.m. Spy Wednesday, 8th April Tenebrae 7.00 p.m. Holy Thursday, 9th April Mass of the Lords Supper 8.30 p.m. Good Friday, 10th April Liturgy of the Passion 5.00 p.m. Stations of the Cross 6.30 p.m. Holy Saturday, 11th April Easter Vigil 9.00 p.m. Easter Sunday, 12th April High Mass 10.30 a.m. All ceremonies according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Liturgy Music By the Lassus Scholars and Our Ladys Guild of Choristers www.latinmass.dublindiocese.ie

Holy Week 2009

Monthly Meditation
e are born to die. Not that death is the purpose of our being born, but in each life the work of dying is already underway. The work of dying well is, in largest part, the work of living well. Most of us are at ease in discussing what makes for a good life, but we become tongue-tied and nervous when the discussion turns to a good death. As children of a culture radically devoted to youth and health, many find it incomprehensible, indeed offensive, that the word good should in any way be associated with death. Death, it is thought, is an unmitigated evil, the very antithesis of all that is good. It is to be warded off by exercise, by healthy habits, by medical advances. What cannot be halted can be delayed, and what cannot forever be delayed can be denied. But all our progress and all our protest notwithstanding, the mortality rate holds steady at 100%. Death is the most everyday thing. It is not simply that thousands of people die every day, although that too is true. Death is the warp and woof of existence, the way things are. It is the horizon against which we get up in the morning and go to bed at night. And the next morning we awake to find the horizon has drawn closer. From the twelfth-century Enchiridion Leonis comes the nighttime prayer of children of all ages: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take. Every going to sleep is a little death, a rehearsal for the real thing. Fr. Richard J Neuhaus

Tel: 01-8786156
email: naomipremarriage@naomi.ie

Good death

INVITATION
We are a group of ordinary Catholics. We are planning a 3 day fast by way of reparation for the abuse of trust by a small minority of our priests and the suffering they perpetrated against Gods most innocent little ones, that the Holy Spirit may pour His Love and His Grace into the hearts of all concerned.
You can email us if you like: Fastforreparation@gmail.com

To let them know we care!

Its from Spy Wednesday 8th April to Good Friday 10th April.

Retreat at Our Ladys Shrine, Knock

Saturday, April 18, 2009

www.ACRA.ie
AGM on Tuesday 14th April
Teachers Club, Parnell Sq., Dublin at 7.45pm
New Transport Plan: your comments avoids METRO waste on www.dublinbus.org (click on T21)

Contact Tom 086-3127364

Pope John Paul IIs Eucharistic Amazement Led by Father Christopher Byrnes Mass: Apparition Chapel 9 a.m. Ends with Holy Hour at 5 p.m. Info phone 087-676 9174

alive! April 2009

13
worlds understanding of life, love, and happiness on its head! Jesus loved me so much that he laid down his life for me. He promised not to leave me an orphan, but to remain with me until the end of time, entrusting to the Church his body and blood so that I might never hunger again! And he poured forth his Holy Spirit, to draw me ever closer to his truth and love. I began to see that lifes true meaning is discovered through responding to the love that God has for each of us. Love isnt about putting my life and happiness above that of others; its about realising that when I put love of God and others before myself I find true joy, peace and love. God means most to me when, willingly or unwillingly, I have to carry the cross. I can always be assured that Christ is right there underneath it with me. For me to love Christ is to be filled with joy and hope. However, at University in Maynooth I became focused on learning and understanding more about God. I discovered that this wasnt possible without time spent with God; otherwise the relationship becomes cold and unfruitful. For my life to become an unceasing prayer the branch needs to be attached to the vine. I began to pray the Divine Office and attend Holy Mass and Adoration daily and go to confession frequently. As Pope John Paul II said, Christ is Gods response to the deepest hunger of the human heart. I discovered that in order to sustain my love for God and to be drawn up into his love, I needed to make the Eucharist the focal point of my life, to celebrate it worthily, attentively and devoutly. Now the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and Adoration are the highpoints in my day because it is at these moments that I can dwell with God, my love, my life and my all! Risn OCallaghan, 21, is studying a Masters in Liturgy.

WHAT
MEANS TO

GOD ME!

The king who ended the Babylon exile

s a young child I was aware of God the Fathers presence with me, even before I could walk. I can clearly remember talking to God even at that age. I have been truly blessed with two wonderful parents, three younger brothers and three sisters. My parents example has always been for me one of the strongest witnesses to Gods love. They never failed to put the needs and desires of each other, and us, far ahead of their own. Growing up I constantly witnessed my parents sacrifice their own happiness for mine. Their example, like that of Christ, has always been one of sacrificial love. Aged 13, for the first time I questioned Gods existence and began contemplating the true meaning of life. I began to pray the Holy Rosary, which has become for me a treasure, enabling me to reverently study and imitate Jesus Christ. It allows my Blessed Mother to pour her abundant graces on my soul, so that I may grow ever deeper in knowledge, love and service of her son, Jesus. As a teenager I joined the Legion of Mary and made pilgrimages to Lourdes and Medjugorje. This strengthened my love of God and his Church. Love for me is about sacrifice, and realising that this does not equate to misery and unhappiness! When Christ asks me to lose my life in order to gain it, he is not suggesting that I sign up for a lifetime of misery. Rather, he is suggesting that I turn the

yrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BC. In keeping with his policy of respecting the different religions of the empire he offered the Jews freedom to leave exile in Babylon and return to Judah in 538 BC. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, to fulfil the word of the Lord that spoken through was Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia to issue a proclamation, says the Book of Ezra (1:1-4). The Lord, the God of heaven, wrote Cyrus, has ordered me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah to build the Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel. Isaiah (chs. 40-55) strongly suppor ted Cyrus and urged the exiles to return to Judah. In a line unique in the bible the prophet described the Persian king, a pagan, as the Lords anointed: Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom he has taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him: Though you do not know me, I arm you (Is 45:1) This title the anointed of the Lord was used only for kings of Israel and leaders of Gods People. It was the title of the Messiah.

A Window on History
by Fr Joseph Briody

Cyrus, King of Persia Yet here it is conferred on a foreigner, an emperor to whom the Jewish people were subject. Cyrus seemed different from other leaders and the relations of Jews and Persians were different too. The Persians didnt conquer the Jews. They liberated them.

This clay cylinder was discovered in Babylon in 1879 and is now in the British Museum. It was inscribed after the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC. It describes how Cyrus had improved the lives of the people of Babylon and it supports the biblical accounts of Ezra, Isaiah and 2 Chronicles. Cyrus not only returned the sacred vessels and treasures of the Temple, taken by Nebuchadnezzar. He ordered that the Temple be rebuilt at the expense of the royal treasury. The restored Jerusalem Temple prepared for the coming of Christ whose body would be the real temple (Jn 2:21-22) and whose sacrifice would fulfil and perfect all Old Testament sacrifice (cf Letter to the Hebrews). God enlisted the help of a pagan king, a good man, to accomplish his plan.

Wind power out

Generous
Cyrus seems to have been a generous and open-minded leader who respected the different cultures and religions of his people. His respect for the religions of his people is also mentioned by a Persian record, the Cyrus Cylinder.

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mencing at 9.40am & 7.30pm. Mass & anointing of the sick and elderly on Wed 13 at 3pm. FAMILY Healing Mass. Kilnacrott Abbey Fri 24 April 8pm. Cel Fr. Kevin Smith HAROLDS Cross Pioneers, next meeting 16 Apr at 7.45pm in pastoral centre. YOUNG adult retreat (18-38yrs) 24-26 Apr. Dowdstown House, Navan 55 (full board). Celebrate Easters joy with other young people. Kieran 087 9711162, Sr. Una 090 6481666. Email: youthretreats@gmail.com DIVINE Mercy Devotions on Mercy Sunday, 19 April 2009 at 2.40pm in St Francis Medical Centre, Ballinderry, Mullingar.

THANKSGIVING
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14
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alive! April 2009

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PILGRIMAGES

STEPS OF ST PAUL CRUISE

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5th -14th November 2009 Direct from Dublin Price from 1750
Contact

Marian Pilgrimages
for a detailed programme

Tel: (01) 8788159 www.marian.ie

MEDJUGORJE. Contact Carmel Kelly 01 8555041/087 2533718 for departure. Details May 16th & 23rd, Aug 9 & 28, Sept 4, Oct 2 & 9. 30 discount on all prices for early bookings. 80 deposit secures place. LOURDES. June 10th, 7 nights 695. Contact Carmel 01 8555041/087 2533718 MEDJUGORJE May 23rd & Aug 23rd Shannon. Res beside church. Contact Ann Mockler 063 90564 MEDJUGORJE Eleanor Healy group. Easter Sat, 7 days.

Contact 01 8217356/087 2351294. 695 FATIMA 2009. Depart 21 May. 7 nts. Hotel Tres Pastorinhos. Guided tours 774 (sharing) + insur 25, if required. Sp. Direct Bp Brendan Comiskey. Contact: Bro. Michael Neenan O.P. Tel: 01 4048100 St. Mar ys Prior y, Tallaght Village, D. 24. Cheques payable to Lauri Duffy Travel. MEDJUGORJE May 23 Sp. Director; June 20 Anniversary: Fr. Martin Chambers; Sept 26: Fr. Nigel Woollen. Contact Breege McCauley: 01 8402191/086 0600088 MEDJUGORJE May 23 accompanied by Joe Dalton. Sp. Director Bishop Lungu, June 27, Fr. Innocent Uwah. Sept 12, Joe Dalton and Fr. Oliver Brennan. Details Phyllis Mulligan 042 9336705 MEDJUGORJE 13 June from Knock, 639, sharing. Contact Catherine Keaveney 09496 59606/086 3425313 FATIMA pilgrimage 7-14 May. Hotel Cinquintenario. Franciscan Sp. Director. Tel: Maura 086 8069891/044 9371170 MEDJUGORJE 18-25 Apr. Accom near church. Tel: 01 8333715 POLAND Divine Mercy pilgrimage. 25 Sept, 1 week. Details Joan Bourke Tel: 061 600951 SAN Giovanni & Cascia. 7-14 Sept. 945. Details Joan Bourke tel: 061 600951 MEDJUGORJE May 30th from Belfast. Sept 26 from Dublin. Details Tel: Bernie OHare 028 41774108, ROI 048. PADRE Pio pilgrimage June 5-14. Sp. Director. Full religious programme. ex Dublin. Tel: 071 9851129/086 0691616 for details. CORK. Medjugorje pilgrimage, Aug 30th. Housing near church. 2 Sp. Directors. Contact Adrian ODonovan 021 4812751/086 1775364 PILGRIMAGE to Medjugorje 12

Sept. Contact Marita Concannon 098 64017 MEDJUGORJE June 13 & Aug 22 from Knock, 7 nights. Contact Dominic Lynch 071 9186005/087 2483212 PILGRIMAGE to Poland, Divine Mercy Shrine Aug 12-19 Sp. Dir Fr. Benny Fitzpatrick. Tel: Anna Brady 049 4336291/087 2549960. HOLY land pilgrimage 16-25 Oct. Sp. Dir Fr. Dan Sheridan. Direct from Dublin. Tel: Anna Brady 049 4336291/087 2549960 MEDJUGORJE 2 May. Sp. Dir Fr. Lar Lynch O. Carm ex Dublin. Price 669. Contact Liam Cotter 087 6381157

Classifieds continued on page 13

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alive! April 2009

15

K KI ID DS S C CO OR RN NE ER R
HEY KIDS, Easter is here - eggs, egg hunts and loads of chocolate. Every Easter Sunday morning, my little niece in Scotland goes to the hill near her house with her family to roll her Easter eggs down it. This recalls the stone rolling away from the tomb where Jesus was laid on Good Friday. So, they celebrate in a very real way that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning. Easter Sunday is the most important feast we celebrate. Because Jesus died and rose again, we know that the gates of heaven are open forever. So make sure you celebrate Easter Sunday!!! Chow.

Prize Crossword...No.127

81

COLOURING PICTURE - WIN 10

25

Simplex Clues: 25 for the first correct entry out of the bag. Entries before 18th April. One entry per family. Winner and answers next month.

Janet
B

Get from A to B!
ACROSS 1. Greek letter (5) 4. Aromatic flavour (5) 9. Pit belonging to me? (4) 10. French cake (6) 11. Witch (3) 13. Strange (5) 14. White heron (5) 16. Circle (4) 17. Secure (4) 19. Divot (4) 21. Russian ruler (4) 23. Currency (5) 26. Watering hole (5) 28. Gloomy (3) 30. Pierced (6) 31. Ashen (4) 32. Droplets (5) 33. Postpone (5) DOWN 2. Relating to the moon (5) 3. Continent (4) 5. Chatter (5) 6. Obvious (5) 7. Traffic light (5) 8. Cite (5) 11. Group (4) 12. Beginning (7) 15. Antelope (3) 18. Womans maiden name (3) 19. Stepped (4) 20. Wrong (5) 22. Advantage (5) 24. Innocent (5) 25. Surrender (5) 27. Climb (5) 29. Fervent (4)

Name................................................ .........................................................

March X-word Winner

Nicholas Duggan, William Street, Wexford.
Solution to March Crossword
Across: 7. Errand 8. Hollow 10. Seminar 11. Knead 12. Awry 13. Acrid 17. Swift 18. Talc 22. Cramp 23. Embargo 24. Litter 25. Deacon. Down: 1. Messiah 2. Primary 3. Inane 4. Cockpit 5. Fleet 6. Swede 9. Crucified 14. Swapped 15. Caprice 16. Account 19. Scald 20. Waltz 21. Abbey.

A
RIDDLES: Q. Which servant of God was the worst lawbreaker in the Bible? A. Moses: he broke all 10 commandments at once. Q. What is the best way to get to Heaven? A. Turn right and go straight.

Address............................................. ......................................................... ......................................................... ....................................Age................

Name............................................................................ Address......................................................................... ...................................................................................... ...................................................................................... Telephone.....................................................................

Last Months Colouring Pictur e Winner was:

Amy Norris, Shanbally, Lisronagh, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Age 8

Solution to Alive!, St Marys Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24.

St Edith Stein
Part 14

Arrested by Nazis

aving escaped from Nazi Germany, Edith settled into life in Holland and was soon very much at home in the convent there. She was asked to begin study again and to write a book on St. John of the Cross. But events across the border in Germany were rapidly turning that country into a hell on earth for her people. While some of her brothers, sisters and their families managed to escape to America, not all did. Her elder brother and sister were refused permission to leave. To her great joy, however, her sister Rosa, now a Catholic too, managed to escape and come into Carmel at Echt with her, taking on the duties of community portress at the convent. The war she had foreseen and dreaded broke out in 1939 and

then in 1940 the Germans invaded Holland. She was now back to where she had been in the aftermath of Kristallnachtat the mercy of her peoples Nazi persecutors. Negotiations began immediately to get a place in a Swiss convent for Rosa and herself. The Swiss Carmelites, not realising how serious the situation was, offered her a place but could not accommodate Rosa. Edith would not leave without her sister Meanwhile, tensions began to develop between the Dutch Churches and the Nazi occupiers over the way in which the Jews were now being persecutedexactly as they were being treated in Germany: dispossessed, enslaved and deported to the East (for extermination, as emerged later). The German authorities relented

and agreed to leave Christian Jews alone if the Churches refrained from attacking the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazis. The Catholic Church refused to do so and the bishop of Utrecht issued a pastoral letter on Sunday, July 26, 1942, condemning the policies.

Retaliation
Retaliation was swift. On the following Sunday, August 2, without warning, all Jewish Catholics were arrested and deportation began. At 5pm two S.S. officers arrived at the convent. When the prioress heard they were there she assumed that it was to meet Edith to further negotiations about her move to Switzerlandon which progress had now been made. She sent Edith to meet them. She discovered her mistake when Edith arrived back with orders to pack

her bags in five minutes and leave the convent with the officers. Rosa had already been arrested at the entrance and was waiting by the patrol car when Edith came out. Attempts to negotiate with the S.S. were futile and the sisters were driven off in captivity. They were taken to police headquarters and from there to a detention camp at Amersfoort which they reached in the middle of the night. They were now brutally manhandled and shoved into their sleeping quarters. They spent the following day the camp. That night 1,200 of them, Catholics and non-Christians, were herded on to a train and sent to the final depor tation site at Westerbork. The final act of the drama of Ediths life was about to begin.

16

alive! April 2009

FILM director Mar tin Scorsese (right) has begun work on a movie about the early Japanese martyrs. Based on the novel, Chinmoku (Silence), by a Japanese Catholic author, it will be made in New Zealand and released next year. Shusaku Endos story centres on a Portuguese missionar y in Japan about 1600, a time when Japanese lords were trying to destroy Christianity by torturing priests into apostasy, or denial of their faith. Endo (1923-1997) was baptised at age 12. His novels try to show Christianity reconciled with Asian cul-

Scorsese film about Its their joy that melts my head Japanese martyrs Dear Nettles, Dumbag W writes..!
hat cracks me up about Christians is that they simply never accept defeat. Even when we have inflicted our worst on them, they are still full of confident joy. We send in the critics, tearing strips off the Church, and they say, the evil is due to our sins, we will repent, and our move does more harm than good. Or more good than harm, as they say. We send in the false teachers, some of them posing as big scholars, and the Church tells them, Guys (and girls) youre wounding the Body of Christ, but youre utterly destroying your own lives. Wise up! We send in the God-deniers, like Dickie Dawkins and his pals, and the Church doesnt even blink. Rather, it tells them, Youre too narrow-minded, folks. Theres far more beyond the material world. Expand your horizons. Finally, we send in the persecutors, some of them as evil as we can form them, but so often they only awaken a deeper spirit. Or is it Spirit? Take Justin the martyr, in the early Church. Arrested for being a Christian, he was being quizzed by the Roman official Rusticus, and he knew he neednt expect mercy from him. Giving an account of what sustained him, Justin mentioned heav-

Letters from a Master to a Trainee Tempter

ture, as well as his vision of human weakness, sin and grace. Japan is less than 1% Christian, with only about 450,000 Catholics.

I BISHOP IN HOME APPEAL: An Irish bishop has called on mortgage lenders not to repossess family homes at risk because of the recession. I am suggesting, said Bishop Christopher Jones, that the terms and conditions of a mortgage agreement could be renegotiated to enable a family to repay at a level appropriate to their current circumstances. I DONT CLICK: A survey of 3,000 people in the UK found that the biggest mistake a person can make during a first date meal is to click his or her fingers at the waiter. This comes ahead of burping, licking the plate clean, getting drunk and not leaving a tip.

en. Immediately Rusticus shot in: So you imagine that you are going to heaven and will receive some reward. Not so, says Justin. Its not a case of imagining. I know, I am certain. The neck of him.

Different tack

usticus then tried a different tack. No more talk, says he, you must offer sacrifice to the Roman gods. To which Justin replied, No one in his right mind is going to turn away from the worship of the true God to worship false gods.

Tell that to Dickie D. & Co! But Rusticus wasnt beaten yet. Unless you do as youre told, youll be tortured without mercy, he warned. This, however, was no big deal for Justin. We have prayed that we may suffer for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in this way be saved, says he. This will give us confidence and assure our salvation when we come to the judgement seat of our Lord and Saviour. And then, the final defiance: Our Saviour presides over a universal court more formidable than yours. How the heaven are we supposed to cope with wretches like that? I know now what Jesus meant about them building their house on rock. But its their joy that really melts my head. Certainly they worry and are anxious about the future, but then they rise above that. Like Justin, their hearts are ultimately on Heaven, on everlasting happiness. With that hope and confidence they are able to roll with every punch. It all goes back to Easter Sunday morning. (We made a disastrous mistake that first Good Friday.) When Jesus walked out of the tomb, the game was up for us. And the Christians know that. Yours without heart,

Dumbag

Published by Alive Group, St. Marys Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Tel: 01-4048187 Fax: 01-4596784 E-mail: alivepaper@gmail.com Editor: Fr Brian McKevitt OP Design/Sub-editing by Tom English Printed by Datascope, Enniscorthy