Alive July Aug 2012

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180 q July/August 2012

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Forward now to the Year of Faith

Inside
Helping the victims of a college education Page 4
Eucharistic Congress gives major boost to Church renewal
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Plus...
q Cholera epidemic
Cohen remark hits nail on the head Page 7
q 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.
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Why is public switching off RTE news? Page 8
changed doctors life5 Page q Catholic schools in self-destruct mode 7 Page q Big brother wants control of your kids
Alive! July/August 2012
Oz children may get right to know donor sperm fathers

THE Australian state of Victoria is to consider introducing a law to give all children conceived with donor sperm the right to nd out about their natural fathers.
A major report from the Law Reform Committee in Melbourne has recommended the move. At present children conceived after 1997 have unconditional access to identifying information, but those conceived before 1988 have no rights at all in this regard. It is likely that thousands of children were born through sperm donation during this earlier period, and that there were Narelle Grech, 29, whose around 500 donors, said the ght for information about report. her biological father took But a culture of secrecy preon new urgency last May vailed and most children conwhen she was diagnosed ceived unnaturally in those years with terminal bowel cancer. were never told of their origins. It is probable that only a fraction of these people are actually aware that they are donor-conceived, said the report, a remark that is likely to cause widespread questioning, distress and insecurity.
Bishop challenges Catholics to be what they claim to be

AN AMERICAN bishop has urged all those involved in Catholic social groups, such as schools or charitable agencies, to uphold and strengthen their religious identity.
He also criticised the secularist outook that shapes much of the thinking in modern social services, remarking: There is no such thing as humanism without God. It never endures, and it ends by debasing the humanity it claims to serve. Speaking to a national meeting of Catholic social workers, Archbishop Charles Chaput stated: If our social work isnt deeply, confidently and explicitly Catholic in its identity, then we should stop using the word Catholic. Its that simple. The Archbishop also stressed the need for hope. Real hope, he said, has nothing to do with empty political slogans. It has nothing to do with todays addictions to progress or optimism or positive thinking. The only enduring basis for human hope, he pointed out, is faith in Jesus Christ. Now based in Philadelphia, Dr. Chaput made several points about Catholic identity. First, just as a person who does good becomes good, so an institution becomes what it does, he said. So, for example, the more that Catholic universities or hospitals mute their religious identity, the more that Catholic social ministries weaken their religious character, the less Catholic they are, and the less useful to the Gospel. Second, communities as well as individuals have rights. But the individuals right to resent the Church or reject her beliefs does not trump the rights of the Catholic community to believe and live according to its faith. civil authority to interfere in the life of believing communities. Well also see less and less unchallenged space for religious institutions to carry out their work in the public square. Because of this, no one in Catholic social work can afford to be lukewarm about his or her faith or nave about the environment we now face at least, if we want Catholic social work to remain Catholic.
state of Catholic organisations, striving for Christian ideals will involve serious cultural change within many Catholic agencies. It will also require people who first, believe in real human development, as understood in the light of Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith; and second, who have the courage to speak the truth and act on it condently.
Finally recognised
After years of lobbying by donor-conceived people, now in their twenties or older, their rights are nally being recognised. The chairman of the committee explained: Donors who donated their gametes before 1988 did so on the basis of anonymity, [but] the Committee considers that donor-conceived people have a right to know the identity of the person who contributed half of their biological makeup. One problem is that record-keeping was chaotic during the earlier period, so that for thousands of people, tracing their real fathers may be impossible. One commentator explained the records linking children to donors either do not exist or are mouldering away in hospital basements. Some donors were told to use pseudonyms; sometimes the sperm of a spouse was mixed with the sperm of a donor. Some doctors may have provided donations themselves. Some records may have been falsied. The procedure completely ignored the responsibility of a father to care for his child. One specialist told the committee that, in the 1980s, it was his job to go marketing for donors. I used to talk to groups of medical students saying: Look, come and be a sperm donor. We need people to donate, we have got all these infertile men; the women are waiting, he said.
Becomes good
In other words, said the Archbishop, Catholic services have the duty to faithfully embody Catholic beliefs on marriage, the family, social justice, abortion and other important issues. So, if the state uses legal or nancial bullying to prevent Catholic agencies from being faithful to their beliefs, then, as a matter of integrity, they should end their services. Archbishop Chaput saw a new kind of America, more hostile to religious faith, emerging in the future. In the years ahead, he said, were going to see more and more attempts by
Christianity doesnt begin by telling people what they must do, but by telling what God has done for them. Gift comes before duty.
For Catholic teachers, social workers, etc, being faithful to the Churchs moral teaching is not something optional, it is basic to their identity. Church teaching, he pointed out, is not just a list of dos and donts. Rather, it is part of a broad view of the human person, which includes his dignity and his eternal destiny. In other words, Christianity doesnt begin by telling people what they must do, but by telling what God has done for them. Gift comes before duty. Service to others should never attempt to impose or pressure others into faith, the Archbishop stressed. At the same time, it must be motivated to share Gods love with others, in addition to offering material aid. Christian charity is always both a material and a religious act. However, the archbishop warned, given the present
Not optional
Against good medical practice?

THE Royal College of Physicians has failed to give proper advice on sexual health and infections due to a fear of being seen as judgmental or moralistic, David Quinn has suggested. He found it remarkable that a repor t from the Dublin-based College couldnt bring itself to say that sticking to one longterm sexual partner dramatically reduces your chances of contracting an STI. The journalist pointed out that that a doctor who tells a patient to stop smoking or cut back on alcohol is never seen as judgmental. But this dogmatic refusal to warn people about the danger to their health from multiple sexual partners, he believed, was against good medical practice.
WSJ says renewal is coming to Church in US

LAST year there was one priest for every 2,000 Catholics in the US. This compared with one priest for every 780 parishioners in 1965.
Despite this, the future is encouraging, said a Wall Street Journal article, pointing out that in the past 30 years the number of American Catholics has rocketed from 50 million to nearly 78 million, an increase of 56%. Recalling Pope Benedicts remarks that renewal in the Church comes only through the joy of faith and the radicalism of obedience, the article afrmed that renewal is coming. After the scandal about sexual abuse by clergy in the US, progressive Catholics were predicting the end of the celibate male priesthood in books like Full Pews and Empty Altars and The Death of Priesthood. Today, however, the number of priestly ordinations is steadily increasing, said the article. Last year 467 priests were ordained, up from 442 a decade ago. And the Vaticans statistics ofce notes that worldwide, there were 5,000 more priests in 2009 than in 1999. Culture Wars. They noted that Catholics make up only 16% of the population of Lincoln, Neb., but the diocese had 10 men ordained last year. The bishop there, Fabian Bruskewitz made national news some time ago when he stated that members of dissident Catholic groups including Call to Action and Catholics for Choice had automatically excommunicated themselves. According to the WSJ article, an aging generation of progressives continues to lobby Church leaders to change Catholic teachings on reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and womens ordination. But it is being replaced by younger men and women who are attracted to the Church because of the very timelessness of its teachings. The young people are attracted to the philosophy, the art, the literature and the theology that make Catholicism countercultural. They are also drawn to the beauty of the liturgy and the Churchs commitment to the dignity of the individual. They want to be contributors to that commitment, said the article, alongside faithful and courageous bishops who ask them to make sacrices.
Boston
Boston is a case in point. Cardinal Sen OMalley recently told the National Catholic Register that when he was appointed there in 2003 he was advised to close the seminary. Now 70 men in Boston are studying to be priests, and the seminary has had to turn away candidates for lack of space. Other cities are also booming. Washington DC, for example,
Priests during ordination
ordained 18 new priests last year, and Chicago 26. Our preliminary research reveals that the dioceses with the largest numbers of new priests are led by courageous bishops with faithful and inspirational vocations ofces, wrote the authors. The two, Prof. Anne Hendershott and Christopher White of World Youth Alliance, will shortly publish a new book, Beyond the Catholic
Exhausted project
Again, the longtime leader of the Chicago archdiocese, Cardinal Francis George, on one occasion caused surprise by declaring liberal Catholicism an exhausted project parasitical on a substance that no longer exists. He also called on bishops to stand as a reality check for the apostolic faith.
Forward now to the Year of Faith

IRISH Catholics have been called to have both condence and joy as they live their faith and to bear witness with enthusiasm to their Christian hope to all those around them.
They have also been encouraged to use the universal Year of Faith, which Pope Benedict will launch in October, to promote a vigorous renewal of the Church in Ireland. Rejoice and be full of condence, because the risen Lord is our home and our Cardinal Marc safety, Ouellet told pilgrims at the closing Mass of the 50th Eucharistic International Congress. The papal Legate also urged pilgrims to call others to faith by bearing witness to what the faith means in their own lives. Faith is the most precious gift we have received with baptism, said Cardinal Ouellet. Lets not keep it private and fearful! Let it grow as a splendid tree through sharing everywhere! Speaking to pilgrims from more than 120 countries, he prayed that the coming Year of Faith will strengthen peoples decision to recommit themselves to the Lord. The week-long Congress, with more than 220 speakers, far surpassed expectations, and turned into a festival of faith for both young and old alike. The Eucharistic procession on the Wednesday evening lasted an hour longer than planned, having attracted so many people that the route had to be extended. A taxi-driver leaving a group of young volunteers home
JUST A T HOUG HT
They stumbled or crawled
at the s Speaking Congress Eucharistic Cardinal Sen Brady stressed the importance of faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist. He recalled the experience of a British soldier involved in the liberation of a concentration camp at the end of World War II. Walking through the camp the soldier noticed a young Polish priest clinging to a makeshift altar with one hand, while celebrating Mass. At his feet lay the body of another priest, who had died during the night. No one had had the energy to move the body. The soldier, an Anglican, reported: the young priest did his best to distribute the consecrated elements. Some recipients were able to stumble over the rough, scrubby ground of the camp. Others crawled forward to receive communion and then crawled back to share it with others unable to move. Some almost certainly passed on to another, probably better, world before sunset. The soldier commented: Whatever ones race or religion, one can only be uplifted and impressed by that truly remarkable proof of the ultimate triumph of good over evil. s At the above symposium a arose about question Christians serving nonChristians who are in need: is it enough to provide them with material assistance or should they also be offered an opportunity to know about Christ and salvation? An African nun recalled attending a conference in a Muslim country where persecution of Christians regularly ares up. This issue arose in one group at the conference, and the view was widely shared that simply helping the poor, without mention of Christ, was enough. Then a priest spoke. The gist of his words were: Each one of you was brought up as a Christian, you always knew Christ. You do not know what it is like not to know him. I, however, was brought up a Muslim. I know what a loss it is not to know him. You have no right to keep the Good News, and the joy it brings, from other people.
Limits to our help?
Childrens spirituality
Irish Dominican nuns and friars at the Eucharistic Congress.
after a long day listened as they chatted enthusiastically about their experience of the days events. Arriving at their destination, he asked the priest who was with them to wait back, and then asked if he could go to confession. A special Youth Space catered for young adults aged 17 to 25, while workshops on a broad range of topics were packed to the rafters every day. The English Dominican friar, Fr Timothy Radcliffe, began his talk an hour early, as the hall was already full, then repeated it immediately afterwards to cater for a re-lled hall.
Week off
Among the 2,000 volunteers were loads of young people, some of whom had taken a week off work or from their holidays to help out. From Derry to Kerry and from Trinidad to Taiwan the pilgrims came. A striking sight was a large group from Zimbabwe, dressed in bright green garments which were printed with the Congress logo. Some Irish people who made their own way to the faith celebration were going home to nd out why their parish had not done more to promote it locally. In his video message, a frail Pope Benedict recalled that Ireland has been shaped by the Mass at the deepest level for centuries. A prolonged standing ovation at the end of his address was clearly intended to afrm the peoples love for the Holy Father and the Irish Churchs bond with Rome. In his closing remarks, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin called on pilgrims to take
from the Congress a renewed passion for the Eucharist, for the Mass. He also hoped that one of the fruits of the week-long event would be enthusiasm for a dynamic New Evangelisation in Ireland and further aeld. We must go away with a renewed love the Church, he said. We must go away from here wanting to tell others about Jesus Christ who, in giving himself in sacrice, revealed to us that God is love. Going for ward from the Congress, the Archbishop focused once again on the Year of Faith, proposing Pope Benedicts vision as a programme for the future. We want this Year, said Benedict, to arouse in every believer the desire to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with condence and hope.
s At a theology symposium before the Congress a young Dublin woman reported on her research into childrens spirituality. This involved sitting children aged 11 or 12 before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar for a short time, and then recording their remarks about the experience. A member of the audience, however, pointed out that for many children, the consecrated host is simply holy bread. To the surprise of visitors from abroad, the researcher agreed that that was how the children in her study viewed the Eucharist. The question then arose, how the children could have a personal friendship with holy bread, Or would it have made any difference if the children had been sitting before a ower? But this was outside the young womans area of research.
Pope John XXIII
s Another story with relevance today concerned Pope John XXIII. As the Second Vatican Council got under way he was faced each day with countless difculties. Getting to the end of one day, and still weighed down by anxieties, he simply prayed, Its your Church, Lord. And Im going to bed.
AUSTRALIA has given its highest civic honour to the countrys most famous philosopher, a man who argues that healthy pigs have a greater right to life than disabled children. Peter Singer (right) received the award for what was called his eminent service to philosophy and bioethics as a leader of public debate and communicator of ideas in the areas of global poverty, animal welfare and the human condition. Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University since 1999, Singer is one of the few public thinkers to draw his moral conclusions, without compromise, from his religious unbelief. Rejecting the notion that human life is sacred, and arguing for animal liberation, he has had enormous inuence on several generations of secularists. Described as the most notorious messenger of death by the bishop of his hometown of Melbourne, he is infamous for his open promotion of bestiality, and experimentation on the mentally disabled. The award has been described as a commentary on the present government. It is usually given to people who make an outstanding contribution to medicine, science, the military and the arts.
Honour for advocate of infanticide
Women show new interest in religious vocation

FIGURES released by the Catholic Church in Britain show that last year 17 women entered religious life in the UK, nearly three times the number who entered in 2009. Sr Cathy Jones, based in the National Ofce for Vocation, also reported a signicant increase in those thinking of entering religious life. Asked if this might mark the beginning of a revival for women religious in Britain, Fr Richard Nesbitt of Westminster would only say, something is denitely happening. Katrina Alton, a former Baptist who converted in 2001, plans to enter the convent in September. She believed that attitudes to vocations were changing. There is now more focus on igniting the spirit in every Catholic to discern their role in the Church, she said.
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Helping victims of a college education

They end up with their B.A.s, Ph.D.s or M.Sc.s, and not knowing God, or with no vibrant relationship with him. Yet, having thus
ONE tragic side effect of modern education is that it leaves many young people more obtuse than they were when they rst entered college or university.
become no-brainers and nohopers, they think they are so cool. But what could be more idiotic than to look at this
wonderful world in which we live, and think that it is simply the result of a billion billion freaky accidents? Even primitive tribes had more gumption than that. Richard Professor Dawkins, if he found himself on a desert island,
might wake up one morning to nd his name written in the sand and think, Gosh, the crabs around here are very evolved.
SPECIAL FEATURE by Gerard Murphy
Monthly Musings
DURING the Eucharistic Congress I was involved, with a large team of young volunteers in Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Merrion Rd. The church was open day and night for Eucharistic Adoration, with special emphasis on families, children and young teens. That week nearly 2,000 young people took part in the primary schools programme, the teens events, and the family events. Many remarked on how they enjoyed their time spent with Jesus. Parishioners were moved by the sight of children, even young children, being led with song, prayer and silence to spend time with Jesus. Some children were already old hands at adoration, as their parents have wisely made it part of the family spiritual life, but for too many it was a new experience. Anyone wanting to prolong the fruit of the Congress might ensure that Eucharistic Adoration becomes a central part in teaching children to love
with guest columnist, Rosemary Swords
Kids enjoyed their time with Jesus

Nuns looked like Audrey Hepburn
AS a bevy of young, cheerful nuns passed him, habited from head to toe, an elderly gentleman remarked Its a long time since I saw a nun that looked like Audrey Hepburn. The Congress was an interesting study in Church life. The inux of people from 120 countries showed that the Church is not everywhere in decline. The Pope spoke well when he said that the teaching of Vatican Council II, vital for the task of bringing Christ to people today, has been subject to misunderstandings and irregularities. The presence of so many young volunteers and participants, from home and abroad, being generous with their time and talents, was striking. It should encourage us to return to the sources of renewal, especially Mass, and to spend time in worship of Jesus present in the Eucharist.
Most of us, however, would conclude that the writing was done by a human being who knew our name. And nothing would convince us otherwise. In other words, if something bears the marks of intelligence, then we look for an intelligent cause. And if we can say that about writing in the sand, a painting or a computer, we can certainly say it about the complexity, wonder and beauty of nature. Only a mind crippled and prejudiced by modern education could fail to see the extraordinary intelligence and love behind creation. And a bit more reasoning would lead us to God, the supreme being with this intelligence, love and creative power. Having got this far we might soon begin to realise that the reasonable and appropriate response to our creator is to give thanks. In fact, we might come to the conclusion that only someone really dense, or a tragic victim of modern education, would refuse to offer such thanksgiving to God on a frequent basis. An authentic education, of course, does not have a damaging impact on students. It opens their minds, rather, to the great reality beyond what can be seen, weighed and measured. So, where are Irish educational institutions going wrong? How have they become intellectual knick knack shops, ogging dud goods? A glance at history throws some light on the subject. Part of the problem is that many college disciplines were founded or inuenced
Give thanks
SYMPHISIOTOMY is a medical intervention used during labour to widen the pelvis, saving both mothers and babies lives. To read some media reports, it was dreamt up by Catholic doctors, hospitals and bishops to torture women. Clearly, for some people any historical situation in Ireland with an undesirable outcome means only one thing it must be the fault of Catholics. For some women symphisiotomy was a successful, life-saving operation; for others it began a lifetime of pain and difculty. These women deserve the best care we can give, and redress of any wrongs done to them. The Institute of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists has listed the benets of symphisiotomy at a time when caesarian section was a developing practice with many risks. C-section carries risks even today; it took time for it to win out over the
Media: It must be fault of Catholics

older procedure, as the ability to treat blood loss and infection improved. In parts of the world where infection control remains a problem, and in rare types of complication, symphisiotomy is still a valid option. Medical practice changes with new techniques. But often choosing a new procedure remains a medical judgement, gradually tipping towards new practices as evidence mounts. Again, one person can dominate a hospital department, helping or hindering medical progress there. It is no small thing to work where one mistake can lead to a patients death.
Jesus. They learn to know him in the quiet of their heart. They relax as they tell him of their troubles, ask for help and share their joys. The Children of Hope team, who endeared themselves to the children as they led adoration, have many resources on their website, www. childrenofhope.org.
Students from St Piuss School, Magherafelt, County Derry at the Eucharistic Congress
The medical profession needs to be open about past mistakes. But if we deal with everything in terms of blame accompanied by media frenzy, we will hinder that openness. From my reading, there is no evidence whatever that the Church mandated this procedure, nor any link between it the Churchs teaching
No evidence
on marriage or procreation. This allegation seems to have been manufactured out of the simple fact that in Ireland the hospitals were Catholic, and nuns who were also qualied nurses were in attendance. Such journalism is not good enough. In the late sixties, my mother died of an infection contracted from what was meant to be a routine blood transfusion. Aged 39, she left behind a distraught husband and six children. It was a medical mishap which today would be malpractice, but was not as preventable then. The lives of all my family were changed utterly by this tragedy. But failing to see it in its proper context would compound the tragedy for me. It would ignore the good intentions of those who attended her and were only trying to help. Certainly let us call the negligent to account, but let us also keep a sense of perspective.
by people like Comte, Freud, Wendel Holmes, and a host of others, who simply opted not to recognise God and naively thought his exclusion made no difference. But, in fact, their unbelief changed everything, leaving them with a deformed understanding of the human person and his or her purpose and destiny. Disciplines such as sociology or psychology, biology or law, then embody and become channels of their founders defective version of human dignity. Such crippled views make their way into textbooks and into the outpourings of dim-witted college lecturers who cannot tell the difference between genuine knowledge and academic nonsense. At the end of the chain come the unfortunate students, especially those who lack a strong Catholic faith or who havent the ability to spot when theyre being conned. And lecturers can go on for decades, never challenged by their bosses or their intimidated students about the poisonous nonsense they are belching out on society. Surely it is time for a proper investigation into what is happening in Irish colleges and universities, and a full debate about the meaning of education.
Writing in the sand
All called to be soldiers in battle against evil

POPE Benedict has reminded Catholics of a traditional title for the Church on earth, one that has fallen out of use today, but captures to need for all to be part of the on-going combat with evil. The words ecclesia militans (Church on the march) is somewhat out of fashion, according to the Pope, but the truth it bears is as important today as it ever was. We see how evil wishes to dominate the world and that, while loving wrong-doers, we must enter into battle with evil, said Benedict. We see how evil seeks domination in so many ways: bloody, with the different forms of violence; but also masked with goodness, and precisely this way destroying the moral foundations of society. The Pope recalled the insight of St Augustine that the whole of history is a struggle between two loves: love of self to contempt of God; love of God to contempt of self, in martyrdom.
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AS THE Church prepares to celebrate a Year of Faith, beginning in October, an Irish bishop has expressed the hope that Catholics who no longer practise their religion will return to Sunday Mass.
My hope is that they will nd their place again at the table of the Eucharist, which is their right as baptised members of the body of Christ, he wrote in a pastoral letter to his diocese. Bishop John McAreavey was particularly concerned for a generation of young parents and families for whom the celebration of Mass is simply not a regular part of their lives. In his letter on the Eucharist, he regretted that for many families, First Holy Communion is an isolated event, not an entry to a regular practice of receiving the Bread of Life. The bishop believed that the fall off in Mass attendance indicated a crisis of faith, a crisis of prayer and a crisis in communion with one another. It seems to me that this drift away from the Eucharist represents a malaise at the heart of the Irish Church, said the Bishop of Dromore. His aim is to put the crisis of faith at the centre of our pastoral thinking and efforts in the years ahead. The bishop also announced that the diocese is to appoint a director of Adult Faith Formation in September, who will work with priests and people in parishes to promote growth in faith and prayer.
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New statue of St Columba
SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO DONATED TO ALIVE! DURING JUNE

If 8,000 people contribute just 20 each we can continue for another year.
A new statute of St Columba (died 8 June 597) has been unveiled in a primary school named after the saint in Newbuildings, Derry. Sculpted in white marble, it shows Columba imparting a blessing with his right hand while holding a scroll in his left. School chaplain Fr Roland Colhoun explained that as a child the saint was given the pet name Colmcille, Dove of the Church, because he spent so much time in prayer.
What he saw during cholera epidemic changed US doctors life

Then aged 19, Horner went on to become one of Americas most famous early doctors. He became professor of anatomy at Pennsylvania University, discovered an eye muscle that is named after him and wrote the rst US pathology textbook. But in 1832, aged 39 and married with a young family, his life was changed forever by what he witnessed during a cholera epidemic in Philadelphia. Years later another doctor from the city, Dr Samuel D.
AS THE US remembers its 1812 war against the British Empire, attention has turned to some of those involved, including trainee doctor named William Edmonds Horner who tended wounded soldiers on the border with Canada.
Gross, recounted how deeply impressed Horner was by the fearless efforts of Catholic priests and nuns to serve the victims.
When other ministers fled in dismay from the dread pestilence, wrote Gross, there was the Catholic (priest) bending down to catch the last whispered word of penitence from the dying. And when nurses were not to be procured, these noble women (the nuns)
Dying
Rust is wrecking roads in UK

YEARS of salting the roads during freezing weather in the UK has caused major damage to many of them, the Highways Agency has revealed. The salt is rusting the steel cables in the reinforced concrete, causing the metal to expand up to 5 times its normal size and bursting the surrounding concrete. In one case a half-mile long yover in London, which carries the M3, M4 and Heathrow trafc, has had to be shut. Last year it cost 2.7millon to repair Birminghams famous Spaghetti Junction, the interchange which many motorists are too afraid to use. When the roads were being built, said an expert, waterproong was not done as carefully as it might have been. Now we are paying the penalty. The Highways Agency inspects 18,500 road structures once ever y two years, with more detailed inspections every six years.
Spaghetti Junction, near Birmingham
stepped forward to offer their services without fee or reward. They tended the sick and soothed the dying agony; they looked to heaven for their reward. Here then were people really practising what they preached, really willing, nay anxious, to brave death in doing duty. According to Gross, Horners curiosity was excited to know more of the faith which produced such works. He studied their tenets (beliefs). His inquiries were not those of the excited enthusiast, ready to believe all things, but the calm investigations of the wise and learned man, who sought for a rock on which to plant himself to withstand the
William Edmonds Horner
Horner himself kept a record of the slow, careful process of his conversion. I have risen early in the morning, he wrote, and in undisturbed solitude, giving my whole heart and understanding to my Maker, prayed fervently that I might be enlightened on this momentous subject. He asked that I might be freed from the errors of an excited imagination, from the allurements of personal friendship, from the prejudices of education, and that I might, under the influences of divine grace. He wanted to be be permitted to settle this question upon its own true merits. He noted, it has been the last subject of reflection before falling to sleep and the object of my thoughts in the interruption to my natural repose. After seven years of prayer and study, the Anglican doctor finally asked to be received into the Catholic Church in 1839.
storms of life and to rest his hopes of salvation in the world to come. The record of his private thoughts shows how earnestly prolonged were his researches and how abiding the convictions which were the results.
Record
Bishop invites Catholics back to Sunday Mass
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he cohabitation effect has struck once again, this time in the life of UK singer, model and pop celebrity Myleene Klass. On her 34th birthday, just six months after she had married, Myleene was told by her Irish husband, Graham Quinn, that he was leaving her. The couple had been cohabiting for eight years or so before marriage, and have two young daughters, Ava aged 4 and Hero aged just over one year. Ive never been so hurt, Myleene is reported to have said. I cant bear to tell my kids that Daddy is never coming home. She added: I never thought this day would come. I married for life, but now its over. So sad. But what is the cohabitation effect? This is the name that psychologists and researchers now give to the downside of living in sin. More and more, the research from different parts of the world shows that couples who live together before marriage are a lot more likely than other couples to break up after marriage. And often the break-up comes quite soon after they marry, as in Myleenes case.
The
Myleene hit by the cohabitation effect
with Anne Nolan
FORUM
fashion designer Maia Norman from walking out on leading UK artist Damien Hirst, the father of her three children. Until their split a few weeks ago, Norman and Hirst were partners for 19 years, and their children are aged 16, 12 and seven. However, California-born Norman decided to walk when she found a new love, leaving Hirst with his immense wealth but devastated. But that surely was part of the deal the couple decided never to marry because they didnt believe in marriage. In other words, either one of them was free to take off if he or she decided to do so.
Myleene Klass
Having children, of course, would greatly increase the pain and suffering, but it wouldnt change the original deal cohabitation is designed to keep the escape hatch open. Norman once explained: We both come from divorced families, which doesnt exactly boost your faith in the institution. In other words, boths she and Hirst, now in their late forties, are still damaged by the divorce of their own parents. Children see their parents split up, so they are afraid to marry. Instead, they cohabit, always ready to quit, and bringing up children who are even more insecure than themselves. Its a crazy situation. So, maybe the Catholic Church knew what she was talking about when all along she said no sex before marriage and when you marry you dont let selshness wreck it.
A must
Professor Meg Jay says: far from safeguarding against divorce and unhappiness, moving in with someone can increase your chances of making a mistakeor of spending too much time on a mistake. But thats not a message that many young people want to hear. Todays fashion tells them that living together is a must and that theyll be different. Its nonsense of course. But the result is, they bring much suffering on themselves and on their children. And the harm they do undermines marriage and can leave their children insecure for the rest of their lives. That, however, did not stop
But the parents knew that evil is never compassion and rejected such a nal solution to their problem. Instead they turned to God for strength. My husband and I, we started praying and we knew that God knew since the beginning of time that he had us for this, said Heather. The family expected they would have to say goodbye to their baby very shortly after his birth and had a professional photographer on hand to capture on lm his short life. But when he arrived on 15 February last, baby Grayson James survived for almost eight hours, loved by his parents and his big brother and sister. Then he died with true dignity. In an interview with Fox News, Heather explained that she uploaded the photos of her son on to her Facebook page to share them with family and friends. In most of the
acebook was in the news recently because it made big money for a lot of people who were already very rich. But another Facebook story got less attention. It was about a baby born with a rare birth defect. Heather and Patrick Walker from Memphis, Tennessee, were delighted to learn they were having a baby, their third child. Then they got the sad news, their unborn baby boy, just 16 weeks old, had anencephaly part of his brain and skull were missing and he would die very shortly after he was born. The doctors kindly offered to abort the baby. They were willing to execute him with an injection of poison, as happens in some US states with mass murderers. In this way the mother especially would be spared the distress of carrying her seriously sick baby for the remaining months of pregnancy.
Kids learn 2 Big lessons C
So what, if your child cant tell his colours?
Heather and Patrick Walker with their baby Grayson James
Turned to God
pictures, but not all, baby Grayson is wearing a hat. Not long after, Facebook deleted them because of the content, said Heather. She added: They allow people to post almost-nude pictures of themselves, profanity, and so many other things but Im not allowed to share a picture of Gods beautiful creation. Eventually the dispute with the social media network was resolved and the familys photos can now be viewed on Facebook. Heather and Patrick have shown the world that even a little, very sick baby is innitely precious and must always be welcomed with love. But their children, in particular, have learnt two very important lessons, lessons that they will understand more and more as they grow older. They know now that even if they are not perfect, that even if they do not live up to expectations, their parents will still treasure them. And they know that when you have Jesus in your life, when you have a real friendship with him, then you see and do things a lot differently to those who do not know God. And if enough people have Jesus in their lives, then they can change the whole world.
omparison is the tool of the devil. So we are told by St Paul in his letters, and how I wish I could stick to his advice. As parents we can put ourselves under unnecessary and often disturbing pressure by thinking that we or our children are inadequate because we dont measure up to others. I remember as a rst-time mother reading every book I saw regarding the different stages in a childs development, and the normal time at which it occurs. Many an anxious time passed while I watched with an eagle eye one or other offspring to see if they were smiling, sitting, crawling, walking, using the potty, reading, etc. at the right time. Thoughts and feelings such as these had been inevitably set in motion because a friends baby (the same age or even younger than mine) was doing the required task and mine was not!
Youve got kids!

repeating it after me, or running after my toddler with a potty in my hand all day every day. If you can relate to any of this, let me give you a few words of advice: Stop it! Looking back at it, I am convinced that my fears were more to do with my pride than anything else. For the most part I just wanted my child to be the 1st and the smartest and the best. I was all caught up in performance = achievement. In other words your work is your worth. Also I now have the experience of life and a number of children. I now understand that all things come in time, and that children are not robots. Some children are very keen to be independent. Others are laid back and take their time. In all my years I have never met a six-year-old who was not potty trained, didnt know his letters or colours. They all even out in the end. Just enjoy your pre-schoolers and leave the homework for later.
What was wrong?

What was wrong with my child? All her cousins or the neighbours children were potty trained and she was still in nappies. And the worry, will I ever be able to send her to school? Or, why does my child not know his letters, colours, shapes? The kid next door has been reading for months or, his sister was reading at his age. Maybe he has a learning difculty? I would usually then decide that action needed to be taken, and I would proceed to drive myself, my child, and the entire household to frustration. I was constantly pulling out letter or colour charts, and insisting on the child
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Beautiful video
If you think they dont make young saints like they used to, you should check out Lacey Buchanan on Youtube. Lacey was 21 when she married and now has a little baby boy, Christian. Christian needs a lot more care than most babies, and thats all Im telling you. But the 7-minute video is really beautiful. Google lacey buchanan on Youtube.
Editors Jottings
A closer look at stories in the round...
Church has the only sane view of sex

THE drive to legalise same sex marriage is rightly seen as a major threat to the very nature of marriage. But, although this campaign receives much attention at present, it is only a small part of a far bigger movement devaluing natural marriage. In the bigger picture, fornication and cohabitation are immensely more important. Yet they receive virtually no attention, even from the Church. Perhaps, indeed, we should return to the description of cohabitation as living in a state of sin or, more briey, living in sin. This would remind us that cohabitation is not simply a lifestyle choice, but is flat contrary to Gods plan for sex, that it is a serious sin, and alienates the couple from God. Put simply, sex is not made for love, it was made for marriage. In other words, sexual intimacy is created for one purpose only, to express and deepen the love between a husband and wife in an unbreakable union that is open to new life. This is the vision that the Catholic Church proclaims. It This teaching on marriage, sexuality and family is not something the Church drew up, and could alter if she chose. Rather, it is God-given, something she recognises and must respect. When the Church rejects contraception, IVF, cohabitation, homosexual behaviour and adultery it is because is based on the nature of love and of human sexuality. These create the fundamental society, the family, which is the foundation for the wider society.
God-given
Young people, faith and the Church

FR Peter McVerry recently stated on TV that the vast majority of young people in Ireland today have walked away from the Church. This, however, is debatable. Many of the young people have never really been in the Church, so how could they have walked away from it? They were brought up in nonpractising homes, were not properly catechised and have rarely if ever attended Sunday Mass. They have never been introduced to the joy of a personal relationship with Jesus, nor experienced true hope and meaning for their lives. Fr McVerry thought that they no longer find God in the Church and thats a terrible indictment of the institutional Church. But if they do not take part in the life of the Church how will they nd God there? The institutional Church (presumably Fr McVerry means bishops and priests like himself) may be partly to blame. But parents are also part of the Church. Have they no responsibility for their childrens tragic lack of faith and
SACHA Baron Cohen (right) has rufed a few feathers with his new movie, The Dictator. But one scene in it hits the nail on the head. The dictator, played by Cohen, is informed by his wife that she is pregnant. To which he casually replies: Are you having a boy or an abortion? The question may sound shocking, but it is now being asked by millions of men in a great many countries around the world. We are in the midst of what Nicholas Eberstadt, in The New Atlantis, has called a global war against baby girls. Eberstadt, professor of political economy at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote: Over the past three decades the world has come to witness an ominous and entirely new form of gender discrimination: sex-selective foeticide. He added: All around the world, the victims of this new practice are almost universally female. The problem is so severe that already it is altering the overall sex ratio at birth of the entire planet, resulting in millions upon millions of new missing baby girls each year. In just 30 years some parts of China have already reached the point where only 2 girls are born for every three boys. And the problem is growing. Barak Obama recently reject-
Church alone stands by women
But among those alarmed by the targetting of preborn females are many right to choose feminists. For them, abortion was supposed to benet women. They never expected we would return to ancient Roman ways, in a war against baby girls. But the feminists, including many journalists, male politicians and judges, lack the moral resources, the ethical principles, to even condemn the massive evil. Being pro-choice, they think they must respect the choice of women who choose to destroy their unborn female babies. So, once again, the Catholic Church stands alone against the world in her radical defence of womens God-given equality and dignity.
ed a move to ban the horrendous practice in the US.
Alarmed
How could an intelligent man have made such a crazy decision? Or perhaps the decision didnt seem so crazy in todays secularist culture. Great efforts are being made today to exclude any recognition of the role that Christianity has played in Western civilisation. In Ireland this takes the form of trying to deny the great benets the Catholic Church has brought to Irish society down through the
LAST month we saw here how Matt Williams of the Irish Times wrote about his recently deceased uncle, a priest who had dedicated his life to serving the poor. For Williams, his uncle was one of lifes real heroes, but it was only after the priests death that the rugby commentator had begun to reect on the immensity of his commitment. The extraordinary thing, however, was that Williams thought he could ignore the driving force in his uncles life and still understand his heroic generosity. He was a Catholic priest, but I am not writing about religion, he wrote. It was like someone trying to explain the workings of a Ferrari while ignoring what was under the bonnet.
Ignoring our Christian roots

centuries. Not the least of these benets were the joy of salvation and the hope of eternal life. And the immense power of love released by this joy and hope. To ignore or deny all this, as Matt Williams did, is absurd, and leads to an irrational view of human life. It is also highly destructive. As the modern world detaches itself more and more from its Christian roots, as it becomes more secularist, it becomes ever more irrational and even barbaric. We see this, for example, in the defective understanding of the human person that now deforms much education and counselling; in the assaults of science, medicine and the law on human dignity. Can anything save us from secularist barbarism? We need nothing less than a religious renewal, a condent commitment to Christ, his Church and her message, in our own lives, our families, our institutions and our society.
IRISH Times editor Kevin OSullivan is a past pupil of Glenstal Abbey, one of Irelands most prestigious schools, with fees to match. Under OSullivan the Times is a little volcano spewing out despair, vigorously promoting a culture of death. Which raises a much bigger issue: should a Catholic school, or any other type of school, be held to account for its formative impact on its pupils? Of course many factors help to form a person, particularly family life, friends, professional education and so on. Still, a school must have some impact, given the amount of time a child spends there. We can at least ask what it is offering or seeking to achieve. One Catholic school says it promotes an environment which emphasises values such as integrity, kindness and respect and it seeks to maintain an inclusive climate of learning where each child can fulll his own unique potential. The same kind of stuff can be found in the mission statements of other Catholic schools. Three points about this: 1. It owes more to secularist pop psychology than to faith. The concern for full potential is a now outdated ideology, encouraging self-absorption. Besides, every person has a quasi-innite potential that can never be fully realised or fullled. 2. There is no mention of giving the student a sound grasp of Catholic faith, of fostering love for Christ, Christian joy, the hope of heaven, and so on. The core of Catholic education is missing. 3. Instead of a full Catholic understanding of human dignity the students are to be given a watery moralism. In other words, it would seem from its mission statement that this school has been secularised, but its ofcials still dont grasp that. Finally, many students will go on to university or college to be exposed to so much junk that passes for education. A Catholic education should aim to help them detect and see through such intellectually and morally crippling rubbish. But all this will happen only if our socalled Catholic schools really commit to being Catholic.
Catholic schools in self-destruct mode
they deny the true nature of marriage. The disintegration of sexuality in todays world means that the Church must speak out against these practices. The danger is that her teaching on sex will be seen as merely negative. It is essential, then, that the positive vision of marriage, love and sex is condently put forward, and explained, at every opportunity. It is precisely because the Church thinks so highly of sex that she opposes every attempt to degrade it.
Three points
Crazy decision
hope? Todays culture makes it very difcult even for Catholic parents who do try, to hand on the faith to their children. But it is an evident fact that many parents do not try. This is an immensely complex issue. But a wrong diagnosis of the problem only leads to remedies that are false and extremely harmful.
FILM Review
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Warner Bros. - Directed by Stephen Daldry
RTE coverage captured spirit of Congress
Media
Watch
s RTE did a superb job in covering both the opening and the closing ceremonies of the Eucharistic Congress. Its easy to think that this was simply a matter of pointing a camera at the event and letting the rest just happen. In fact an immense amount of professional dedication, planning and preparation by many people must have gone on for months in the background.
Coping with loss
The effort to capture and transmit the joyful atmosphere and yet do justice to all interests allowed viewers to be part of the wonderful occasion. On the evening of the closing, RTE TV had an hourlong Would You Believe?, discussing the impact of the Congress and where the Catholic Church goes from here. A number of brief lm clips captured once again some of the atmosphere of the week and Mick Peelo did a good job leading a studio discussion on the issues. The invited audience were informed, respectful of each other and represented a wide variety of views. And Peelo gave each person a fair chance, within the time lim-
Joe and Emily Packard from Canada, with their baby, took part in the Eucharistic Congress.
its, to have his or her say. Next day the whole Nationwide programme was
devoted to the Congress. It didnt avoid the difficult issues, yet it gave a sense once again of a great international festival of faith. Those who saw presenters Mary Kennedy and Anne Cassin at the RDS got a glimpse of their dedication and hard work on a very long day. Such coverage of the Congress was entertaining, informative and inspiring, all in one. And it surely generated great public goodwill towards RTE. The news departments slanted reporting, however, was a different matter (see below). It must have been frustrating for all the others to see the goodwill they had created being undermined by it.
eople grieve in many different ways, depending on the circumstances of their loss. But coming to terms wth death is one of lifes fundamental complexities. Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), aged 11, is imaginative and intelligent but has an almost obsessive personality. The biggest inuence in his life is his father, Thomas (Tom Hanks). The devoted father is the boy's inspiration and has encouraged every aspect of his sons imagination. However Thomas becomes a victim of the 9/11 attacks and his death has a profound impact on Oskar. That days events have also left the boy with many insecurities. Oskar is struggling to come to terms with why his father is gone. His relationship with his mother is not the same, and his over-active mind has no-one to turn to. Amongst Thomass belongings he comes across a key in an envelope marked Black. Oskar convinces himself that his father has left him a message and that the key is the clue to it. He decides to track down every person in New York with the surname Black to see if the key ts into a door, a box or anything belonging to them. For the many strangers he visits, it is a hopeless task that will take years to complete.
Why is public switching off RTE news?

s Maynooth College recently held a 4-day theology symposium in connection with the Eucharistic Congress. Attending the press conference was an RTE team led by Joe Little The principal speaker at the media event was Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga who heads Caritas Internationalis. Caritas is a global Catholic relief and development agency with branches in more countries than the UN has. The Honduran cardinal is one of the best informed people in the world when it comes to issues like global poverty, hunger and injustice. He was the Vaticans link with the IMF and the World Bank on the issue of Third World debt. A man of vast experience, he is passionately concerned about the billion people in the world who suffer each day from hunger at a time when there is far more than enough food to feed the planet. The press conference was a great opportunity for RTE to quiz him about hunger in East Africa, or the rebuilding of Haiti, or any one of fty major global issues. Instead, Joe Little wanted to know what he thought about the silencing of a handful of Irish priests. On a brief visit to Ireland, the cardinal hadnt a clue what Little was talking about. Then Joe wanted the Spanish-speaker to comment on the new English translation of the Missal.
Mute
Grieving, confused and alone, Oskar befriends an elderly man (Max Von Sydow) renting a room at his grandmothers apartment. The mans life experiences led to him choosing to be a mute. Can a boy who wont stop talking and a man who wont talk at all solve a puzzle that may not even exist? This is a lm about a child trying to make sense out of war and the sudden death of loved ones. The protagonist is an unconventional one and at times you may nd him as irritating as other characters in the movie do. But you also gain an insight into how children cope, or dont cope with a world that is so much bigger and more confusing than they can comprehend. Justin & Margaret Greene
Bad with gures
s Organisers of the Eucharistic Congress say that some 65,000 people took part in the closing Mass in Croke Park. They arrived at this gure by scanning the tickets of those entering the stadium. Patsy McGarry, writing in the Irish Times, put the gure much lower, at about 50,000, according to gardai,. The Garda Press Ofce, however, said that McGarrys gure did not come from them. So the journalist may have got it from a couple of gardai giving an opinion off the top of their heads. But quoting gardai rather than fruit sellers or taxi drivers made it sound more authoritative. Its a small matter, but it illustrates the need to take what the media, especially the Irish Times, say, with a pinch of salt.
s The Irish Times has been accused of publishing a news report which misrepresented the facts and was nothing less than a pretext to make a not-so-veiled attack on the Catholic Church and its teaching. Journalist Michael Kirk stated that a paper which could bring itself to stand over such a gratuitous and tendentious news report is no longer a reliable source of news. Kirk, in his blog, Garvan Hill, sharply criticised the Irish Times following a front page story by Carl OBrien on the past use of the medical procedure, symphysiotomy. The report, he wrote, shattered all my condence and trust in your papers sin-
Anti-Catholic agenda in Irish Times?
Listening to the questions, it was embarrassing to think that this was the best that the news department of our national broadcaster could do. It certainly looked like a lazy, incompetent effort, with no proper research or thought going into the questions. Rather, Mr Little turned yet again to the RTE news departments sad, tired,
Embarrassing
predictable line on Church affairs. As a result, he missed what could have been a really interesting story. Again, the 4-hour opening ceremony of the Eucharistic Congress was a colourful event, with many moving and joyful moments, with song and drama and lots of interesting stories to be told! Much the same was true
RTEs Joe Little (left) and Patsy McGarry of the Irish Times exchange views at the closing ceremonies of the Eucharistic Congress.
cerity and commitment to even-handedness. It seemed to him that the entire thrust of the story came from something inherently dishonest. For Kirk, the story simply adds to my growing suspicion which he tried to resist out of respect for his profession and colleagues that the Irish Times really does have an anti-Catholic agenda. Indeed, since Kevin OSullivan took over as editor at the paper there appears to be a more intense aggressiveness against the Church. If this is so, has it been instigated by the Irish Times Trust?
of the closing ceremony. Yet, on both days, the main focus of the RTE news reports was the abuse scandal in the Church. Such espisodes reveal just how tiny-minded and insular the RTE news department is when it comes to dealing with the Catholic Church. Such agenda-driven reporting may help to explain why a bored public is switching off RTE news and current affairs, as reported by Philip Ryan in the Sunday Independent (10/6/12). According to Ryan, the numbers watching the Nine OClock News fell by 121,000 in the past year alone, as viewers switch off in their droves. In the same period RTEs Prime Time lost 100,000 viewers, or nearly a quarter of its audience. The journalist linked the collapse in numbers here with a loss of trust in the station following the Prime Time Investigates programme which defamed Fr Kevin Reynolds. The drop in viewers is a pattern repeated across RTEs news division, as trust in the broadcaster hits an alltime low, wrote Ryan. The huge fall in viewing numbers is also affecting the sale of advertising slots in and between current affairs shows. Having to drop the price of adverts, RTE has to increase the amount of advertising to make up its shortfall in income. Or it devotes more time to advertising its own programmes to ll in the empty space.
COMMENT Couple helps families to take

Tel: 01-4048187 Fax: 01-4596784 E-mail: alivepaper@gmail.com
St. Marys Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24.
The Catholic Church in Ireland has taken a radical stand against the view that she must move with the times, that she must adapt to the modern world. She has decided, rather, that she will be true to her own identity. By following the path of communion with Christ and with one another, as the Eucharistic Congress put it, the Church has rmly set herself against todays liberalism. She has rejected the individualism and the distorted notion of freedom that are tearing todays society apart. This is nothing less than revolutionary, and will inevitably lead to deep clashes between the Church and the powers that be. For the modern world, the individual is primary. Individuals may come together to advance their own interests, but they carry an underlying resentment against society and its limits on their freedom and their rights. For the Catholic Church, on the other hand, society comes rst. We are born into a society, the family, and we rst come to know ourselves as members of the family, and then of the wider community. From these two views come radically different notions of love, justice, happiness, freedom, independence. They lead, in turn, to radically different views about human dignity, education, law, politics, economics, the role of the media, and so on. We are seriously mistaken, for example, if we think that the major issues in Irish education are about control of schools. Something far deeper is at stake. Having reafrmed her identity as communion in the body of Christ, the Church must now vigorously and condently proclaim her own vision on each issue, to her own members rst, and then to the wider society.
Clash looming
Catholic identity seriously
EVANGELISING Catholic families is critical in our culture today, says Jennifer Willits, from Atlanta, USA, co-author with her husband, Greg, of a new book on the theme.
The Catholics Next Door: Adventures in Imper fect Living is for parents and grandparents, and for anyone trying to live the Catholic faith, and struggling through the pitfalls of human weakness. Greg and I know full well that we are no better than any other couple; we just understand the journey and the pitfalls very well, said Jennifer. The aim was to tackle the major issues in Catholic family living providing a refresher on the sacraments, reviewing the idea of vocations and wrestling with the bigger teachings like the truth of the Eucharist and the teaching on contraception.
ABOVE: Greg and Jennifer Willits. RIGHT: Their book The Catholics Next Door: Adventures in Imperfect Living.
Family
Radio show
The parents of ve young children, the couple are deeply involved in the new evangelisation, focusing especially on renewing the family, and they host a 3-hour national radio show ve days a week. Shortly before the recent World Meeting of Families, held in Milan, they spoke to Zenit newsagency about their work. One of the ways we can do our part in successfully evan-
MPs reject religious liberty
Alive!
gelising is to rst look hard at what we say we believe and compare it against how we live, said Jennifer. And she stressed the need for Catholics to know the story of salvation. Once you know it and can appreciate the magnitude of its saving truth, sharing it with others naturally becomes easier. For her, evangelisation needs to happen from various angles: from the homilies at Mass to the way we respond to our own trials and to the way that we love and minister to our family in the Body of Christ. Holiness, she believes, must be a big issue for Catholic families, something she has learnt from stumbling around in our faith with our kids in tow. But it is not achieved in a day. Rather, it is a daily pursuit worth striving for. Its showing our children that the primary relationship to pursue is the one between us
and Jesus Christ. It means not giving up on making morally correct and virtuous choices to the best of our ability for ourselves and for our families on a daily basis. Its embracing sacricial love and modelling that for our kids sake. And its trying to be consistent in the way we live out the teachings of our Catholic identity by fighting off demons like moral relativism and sexual immorality.
Rosary
The couple rst began their apostolate by founding The Rosar y Army to promote devotion to the great Marian prayer, and have given away millions of free rosaries. Among their other activities is their website, newevangelizers.com which provides free tools and resources to assist people in the the New
Evangelisation. Our goal is to help all people to know their faith more completely, live their faith more fully and share their faith more effectively, said Greg. We hope to help people foster personal relationships with Christ and, by extension, to foster greater relationships with families. The couple admit that making Sunday the kind of day God intends it to be is often a difcult area for their family. We have to be very careful not to let Sundays become last minute grocery-shopping days, frantic moments of last-minute homework and mowing lawns, said Greg. But focusing the day around Mass is absolutely critical. In the Eucharist, we have an opportunity to abide in Jesus as he abides in us. They nd it a big help to review the Mass readings with their children in advance. Then, having a day of mini-celebrations with occasional stops by the doughnut shop helps to emphasise the importance of the day. I dont think were the only ones who need to be reminded of the need to truly slow down, said Greg. Our world in general has a difcult time with the idea of rest.
s In a major assault on religious freedom a large majority of MPs in Denmark have voted to compel all religious groups in the state to offer one-sex weddings. MPs in the extremely secularist country voted 85-26 for the move. An individual clergyman may refuse to take part in such an absurd ceremony, but then the local bishop must provide a replacement. Opponents argued that marriage is as old as humanity itself, and something so fundamental cannot be changed.
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10
1. Handing on faith I consider that the most important thing I have to share with my children is my Catholic faith. Yet the UN convention takes from parents this natural right to pass on their beliefs, and subjects it to State authority. The convention guarantees to the child freedom of thought, conscience and religion (art. 14). It has a nod to the the rights and duties of the parents to provide direction to the child. But it specifies that this
e continue to examine here the State takeover of children through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and by the proposed childrens rights referendum.
Big Brother wants control of your kids

State agenda for family exposed
By Kathy Sinnott
2. Childcare The Barcelona Agreement commits EU States to ensuring that 30% of children under three and 90% of 3year-olds are in some form of childcare. In a European Parliament
right be exercised in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child. Which of course is determined by the State. Now, recall that Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is already questioning the value of Catholic formation of children in education!
3. Man & Dad are best At this point we need to recall why Mam and Dad, not the State, are best equipped to protect children and make the decisions for them that they are not ready to make for themselves. A powerful relationship or bond first develops between mother and child and expands to include the father. It ensures that children have protectors sensitive and responsive to their needs and committed to their welfare, even over and above their own.
debate on the Agreement the Socialists backed this policy. The argued that it freed up more woman for employment, and that childcare was a better way to raise children to be good European citizens.
Handing On The Faith

Jaclyn Ascough
No love without self-sacrice
ecently I saw a bit of an afternoon chat show. It was about women who lost themselves in marriage and motherhood. I didnt particularly like the tone of the show. it had the makings of a huge pity party: Woe is me. I no longer get to run barefoot through the daisies. My life is over. The presenter stressed that when women marr y and become mothers, they tend to lose their former self. One guest was engaged but was getting cold feet about her upcoming marriage. In my view, her feet were so cold she had ice cube toes. She complained that she was losing herself in the relationship, and they hadnt even walked down the aisle yet.
Nights out
She no longer got to do all of the things she did before she met Mr. Right: girls nights out had become rare; favourite hobbies were being squeezed out. When we marry we do not morph from two different people into one person, with our former self completely disappearing. However, anyone in a successful marriage knows there is some dying to yourself. There are sacrices to be made. While this can be difcult, its part of what
makes marriage work. Also, there is the challenge of finding the balance of merging two single lives into one married one. Difcult? Yes. Impossible? No. What does not kill us, makes us stronger! The Catechism says: The love of husband and wife for each other requires, of its nature, the unity and indissolubility of their community of persons,which embraces their entire life. And it adds: They are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving{ (No. 1644). Just when were getting the hang of marriage, along come children, and were back to square one. But isnt that what life is about? Its always changing, and we have to adapt and change with it. Parenthood is a blessing. Sacred Scripture and the Churchs traditional practice see in large families a sign of Gods blessing and the parents generosity says the Catechism (no. 2373) . Being a mother or father is a huge blessing, but it requires much sacrice. We can struggle against the sacrice or we can surrender to it in loving service.
Harm caused by bad religion T

he latest book by a young American journalist, Ross Douthat, is causing people to sit up and take notice. Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics looks at the decline of orthodox Christianity in the US and examines why it happened. Douthats central thesis says: Americas problem isnt too much religion or too little. Its bad religion: the slow-motion collapse of traditional Christianity and the rise of a variety of destructive pseudoChristianities in its place. He cites the Oprah Winfrey God/goddess within approach that would have us all seek out our own inner divinity and bow down before our ego in narcissistic self-worship. Preoccupation with the self is central to another pervasive variety of pseudoChristianity: accomodationism. As the name suggests, this is the tendency to accommodate orthodox Christian teaching to the standards of the world. It means in practice the watering down of the faith so as not to offend modern sensibilities. The end result is a toothless, insipid pseudoChristianity, a religion of ease which seeks to preserve the self (ones image, reputation and comfort) at the expense of the truth. Basically, its Christianity without the cross.
A complex biological, emotional, spiritual process goes into developing such a bond. For example, from the beginning of her rst pregnancy a womans brain develops areas that are important to mothering. This neurological development continues for decades after the birth, equipping her to meet the changing needs of her child. Research suggests there
4. Parents rights If child protection and welfare is really the States aim, and I hope it is, then the best strategy for the State is to respect parents rights. Instead of interfering, the State should encourage and support parents in their child rearing, and work to clear
may also be neurological changes in fathers who are actively involved with the care of mother and baby. A solid attachment rst to Mam then to Dad and other family members creates the essential base from which a child has the security to grow emotionally and socially. The State, with the best will in the world, is not equipped to bond with the child and is therefore not able to decide the best interest of the child.
away obstacles to healthy, happy parenting. Tragically, some parents do fail their children. In this case the Irish Constitution rightly says that the State must step in to ensure that these children get the help and protection they need (Article 42.5). Building on the foundation of the parent-child bond, we share our story, faith, history, traditions, with our children. From this a child comes to understand who he or she is. Which takes us to George Orwell who wrote: The past is forbidden because when we can cut man from his own past then we can cut him from his family, his children from other men. (Then) there is no loyalty except loyalty to the Party, no love except love of Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty Four).
Fr Owen Gorman Writes ...
Douthat is thought-provoking and makes a compelling case. But does his thesis apply to the Irish Catholic Church? When we look at the decline here in peoples adherence to Church teaching on faith and morals, is bad religion to blame? Does the Irish Church need deep renewal because orthodox Christianity has been undermined and replaced by destructive pseudo-Christianitiy? The dominant explanation as to why the faith has declined in Ireland links it to (a) rapid secularisation and liberalisation of Irish society since the 1960s and (b) the abuse scandals. Undoubtedly these factors had a major role in undermining faith and practice among baptised Catholics.
Compelling
However, it is stretching it to simply pin our analysis on these factors alone. Has bad religion not also played a part in the decline of faith here? Catholics of an older generation will remember from their youth one sign of bad religion: a sin-centred, religion of fear. Younger Catholics will think of another: the widespread absence of solid teaching on faith and morals from the pulpit and in their schools. The former put many of the baptised off God and the Church. The latter failed to turn many of the baptised on to God and the
Church. If renewal is to come to the Irish Church we need to become a teaching Church once again. Clear, courageous preaching and teaching, wedded to Christian compassion, is the wellspring of all renewal. Faith comes from what is heard and the baptised deserve nothing less than to hear the fullness of faith proclaimed and taught. But when teachers avoid teaching the faith, and preachers avoid preaching it, and liturgists repudiate it and the baptised cease to live it, then inevitably bad religion becomes the norm and the heresies of the day are embraced as the acceptable face of religion. The Irish Church has not been immune to this. Now the way forward is nothing short of a return to orthodoxy.
Teenagers know theres something to take seriously

THE head of the Anglican communion in the UK has warned against downgrading religious education in secondary schools, saying that this is about the worst possible moment to take such a step. There is plenty to suggest that younger people, while still statistically deeply unlikely to be churchgoers, dont have the hostility to faith that one might expect, said Dr Rowan Williams. Rather, they at least share some sense that there is something here to take seriously, when they have a chance to learn about it, he said. He added: Even if people are not religious themselves, it is very important to get a good grounding in religious education because so much of our culture and society is based on religion.
11
THE THINGS THEY SAY...

When we were in school the rst question in the catechism was, Who made the world?, and the answer was, God made the world. And it seems to me its as simple as that really, because if thats true, it changes everything. And if its true we have to really rethink the way we organise our affairs, and the way we think about our world, and the way we think about everything.
q As simple as that
q Moores attack
John Waters, writer, at the Eucharistic Congress
In my short span of a mere 50 years, the world as I knew it has largely been swept away, especially in terms of family life. And now it is up to me to try and make a difference. How about you? It will take courage, and an increasing conviction to live the Catholic faith, openly. No more of this undercover Catholic stuff, no more of the desire to t in and be liked. It is long past midnight for our culture, for our families, for our children.
q Undercover Catholic
As the writer of one of Christy Moores most popular songs, The Voyage, Im surprised and disappointed by the venom of his attack on the Eucharistic Congress. The word hate always sends a shiver down my spine, no matter what context it is used in The majority of the Irish population still profess to be Catholic and, as Catholics, we have as much right to celebrate the faith we believe in, as pop, rock and folk crowds have a right to congregate to celebrate music and popular culture. If love is a boat, Christy, hate is a ball and chain. Johnny Duhan, songwriter. It is difcult for us all to get our minds around the notion that hell is apopping; that Europe is in the early stages of what will probably prove its gravest and most frightening tumult of our lifetimes. Our political leaders have not mentioned this, not told us Europe is up the creek without a paddle, because half of them are in denial about what is going on, and not one has a sensible idea what to do about it. Max Hastings, Daily Mail
But once they got into the Space they said, actually, my life outside the Church is a set of rules, its what I have to wear, how I work, how much money I have, what car I have to drive. The Church is where they found real, authentic freedom, and that gave me great hope. Wendy Grace (pictured), Catholic Comment, on Would You Believe?
There is little desire on the part of the media to see anyone in the HSE held accountable for these catastrophic failures. David Quinn, Irish Independent
q Wheres the outrage?
q EU up the creek
Msgr. Charles Pope, on his blog
In Ireland today people are talking about this epidemic of depression. What I experienced in the Youth Space at the Congress was a group of young people coming to the Church where theyre at in their lives. Whatever suffering theyve had, they brought it there. And they saw, heres a positive option for my life, heres a different path. That might be to be counter cultural, but actually thats a positive thing. On the outside, before people engage with the Church they might think, Yes, it is a set of rules.
q Authentic freedom
Between 2000 and 2010, 196 children died who were known to state care services To put it as baldly as possible, there are probably dozens of children who would be alive today if the State had properly protected them. There has been a notable lack of outrage about this. RTE headlined the report on the day of its release but it quickly dropped out of the news schedule. Contrast this with its coverage of the Cloyne Report, which was wallto-wall. Will our politicians try to outdo one another in their expressions of outrage? Will our Taoiseach deliver a speech condemning the dysfunction of the HSE? There has also been very little detectable public outrage
I have two great fears. Firstly, that the childrens rights referendum will be framed in a way that will weaken the rights of the majority of caring parents, without doing anything much about the minority of parents who fail miserably. Secondly, that the referendum will be treated like some kind of panacea, without real commitment to the kind of resources and supports needed in families, communities, education, social care and the justice system. Breda OBrien, Irish Times
q Children in care
If the upcoming Children's Referendum is passed, even more children will be taken into the care of the State. On the basis of what we know about our highly dysfunctional childcare system, these children would be moving from situations which are highly traumatic to those that are possibly fatal. Alison OConnor, Irish Independent
q Possibly fatal
12
Our duty and our salvation
ne of the most striking changes in the new translation of the Mass is the beginning of the preface. In the past we had: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God with the reply, It is right to give him thanks and praise. Today the reply is: It is right and just. In the past the priest then continued: Father all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks Now the priest says: It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and ever ywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God Some of the changes here are ver y significant and should, in time, help us to deepen our relationship with God and our understanding of the faith. First, we notice how the new translation brings back the notion of justice, and stresses it: it is right and just. At issue here is giving God what is his due. In recent years we have put so much emphasis on love of God that we have forgotten the importance of justice, of giving God what is due to him in justice. But being just to God, recognising him as God, is the foundation of all human justice. If we get this wrong, then we simply cannot have true
KNOW YOUR
FAITH
justice in our society. None of this came across in the old translation. We do well is just too weak to communicate all that is at stake in giving God thanks. We do well, for example, to wash our teeth each night or to eat plenty of fruit. But giving thanks to God is far more crucial than that.
R u on for Clon dis sumer? T Speakers Corner

wo elds, 20 marquees, 100 volunteers and 1,000 young people. Its the Youth 2000 Summer Festival. Over four days, 9-12 August, the Faith Festival will take place in Clonmacnois, the ancient centre of prayer and learning. Its a unique experience. Young people attending for the rst time are struck by the smiles, by the friendliness of the volunteers, the joy of the priests, the enthusiasm of the band and the welcome from the organisers. They get a sense of belonging to something greater. Jesus truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity, is central to everything. As Pope Benedict XVI loves to tell young people: The happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist. And again, Benedict says: Be content with nothing less than Christ. Why do so many turn up each year for the festival? Because there they personally encounter this same Jesus
By James Mahon
Mass
Indeed, as the new translation makes clear, a lot more is involved. Giving God thanks is our duty and our salvation. At stake is our eternal salvation. Each Mass now reminds us that nothing in the whole world is as important as our salvation. This is also likely to change our response to the complaint: I get nothing out of Mass. The frequent reply, you will only get out of it what you put into it may be true enough but it is still at the level of my satisfaction. Rather, we go to Mass, our supreme form of giving thanks, because it is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation. If we can get that clear, then Mass will certainly be the centre of our lives.
of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist. And meeting him changes lives.
Call for World Day to counter anti-Christian persecution

A VATICAN ofcial has called for an International World Day to highlight violence and persecution against Christians in many countries. Religious freedom, is repeatedly proclaimed by the international community, and in the constitutions of most states, yet it continues to be widely violated today, he said. Archbishop Dominic Mamberti was addressing a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Perhaps more than 200 million Christians are in difculty because of legal and cultural structures that lead to their discrimination, he said. An International Day against anti-Christian persecution and discrimination would be an important sign that governments are willing to deal with this serious issue, he argued. Pope Benedict, in his World Day of Peace message last year, said that Christians are the religious group which suffer most from persecution on account of their faith.
Events include: inspiring talks, prayer, Mass, healing service, a Christian rock concert, dynamic workshops, games, quiet time for prayer, time for chillaxing and making friends. Why does the Lord not get the opportunity he seeks to reach out to young people with his love? Perhaps its because some people believe they have to act as a buffer between modern youth and Christ, that they must make the message more digestible. But young people are the most idealistic group in society, and can judge what is
Events
authentic and true and what isnt. They are satisfied with nothing less than Christ. Made in the divine image and likeness, they are wired for God! At our festival, they discover Christs steadfast love for them, and their lives are naturally changed forever. They come to know a life full of possibilities. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full, says the Lord. Once they come to know that they are loved by God and that he has a special, unique plan for their lives, they start truly living, living to the full. So, check out the weekend online at youth2000.ie and register to attend. Youll need to bring a sleeping bag, warm clothes, wellies! A network of free buses from around the country will help with transport, and the weekend is donation only, so if youre broke its ideal for you too! Invite everyone you know aged 16-35 to this great event; keep our work in your prayers and maybe support us nancially (Youth 2000, Aras Treasa, Clarendon St, Dublin 2). If you're on for Clon, we look forward to seeing you there! James Mahon is National Leader of Youth 2000
Monthly Meditation
he natural temptation for the Church, as for ourselves, is to adapt our way of being and working to what seems reasonable and necessary in our own time. Everyone, whether they like it or not, is being formed by the values and voices of the cultures within which they live and that come to live within them. A question for any new evangelisation is whether it too might be postmodern in its style: fast and supercial, content with the kind of visibility that makes for striking images and clever slogans, a kind of theme park Catholicism of tee-shirts and mugs. This certainly ensures a certain kind of visibility and witness, one that seeks to be counter-cultural and undeniable. But what about the deeper things, that take time to mature, in silence and through experience? What about the less glamorous aspects of life, things that are less photogenic, the routine of prayer, study, and pastoral care? One task for would-be evangelisers is the purication of motive: why do I want to share the gift I value with this person? Is it really for the sake of the other that I am acting or is it to re-assure myself? It brings us back to the question of whether the gift I offer is really a gift or has also other meanings. The new evangelisation calls us back to Christ, invites us to taste again the joy that comes from faith in him, to have the condence to offer others this possibility because we have come to know that he is the way, the truth and the life for all human beings. Fr Vivian Boland O.P.
Wh a t re a ll y h a p pe n e d a t C a n a ?
Purication
n the account of the Wedding at Cana the bride and bridegroom are not even named. Its a clue that the focus is not on them, but on Jesus and Mary. Christ is presented as the divine Bridegroom. Our Lady is the perfect image of Gods Bride, the Church. At Cana, Jesus and Mary are more than Son and Mother. Jesus is the real Bridegroom God seeking out his people in love. Mar y, fulfilling Israels hopes, is Gods Bride, the
Fr Joseph Briody
per fect image of the Church. Mother of all disciples, she is the companion of the Redeemer, the New Eve. In the community of the Church Jesus transforms the water of human nature into the wine of divine grace (Hugo Rahner). Weddings in the Holy Land were celebrated for a whole week. The entire town took part. Much wine was consumed. At a Jewish wedding, wine served not only to entertain the guests, but was also necessary for the ritual itself. When they run out of wine, Mar y tells Jesus, who performs a miracle and gives a sign. St John Chr ysostom says: the waters blushed
to see their Lord! The water of the Old Testament was changed into the wine of the New. Abundance of wine (in this case 480-720 litres or 800 bottles) indicated the fullment of Gods saving work (Is 25:6). It was one of the signs accompanying the coming of the Messiah (Amos 9:13-14).
Six stone jars

We note the six large stone jars for the ablutions of the Jews. Seven was the perfect number. The six water jars represent the incompletion of the Old Testament religion, awaiting fullment and perfection in Christ. The water of the Old Law is transformed into the new wine of the Gospel. Cana also points forward to the Last Supper, the Holy Eucharist and the heavenly banquet of the Lamb (see also Lk 22:18). The Eucharist is the
Sacrament of the Bridegroom and the Bride. In it Christ gives himself totally to and for his bride, enabling Christians to live for God and to worship him with the gift of self. The hour of Christ (Jn 2:4), the time of the Messiah, is ushered in at Cana with the image of the Lords marriage to his people. It is the marriage of the Lamb. Our Lady plays a vital role in this. At her request Jesus hastens the signs that proclaim his kingdom, his hour and his identity. She is the Woman who brings forth the full Body of Christ i.e. Christ and those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus (Apoc 12:17). At her request Jesus gives the rst of his signs and reveals his glory. He lets his disciples into the secret of God.
13
sure enough the next morning they did. On this retreat in Clonfert once more I made a good confession. Again a terrifying experience but the peace that came with those words I absolve you from your sins was worth anything! We then had the opportunity to be prayed over and the moment this mans hands were laid on my head I was set on re with peace and joy. I was left absolutely blown away by how real and wonderful God is. All doubts were wiped away by the hand of God. You might expect me to say that Jesus and I lived happily ever after but thats not how things worked out. I was 15 and I had a great desire to follow Jesus but it wasnt so easy. I was petried of what my friends and those around me would think, and I was lonely. I didnt feel as though I had anyone to talk with about my faith. So after these amazing experiences I was thrown back into reality and had a great battle on my hands. I had many fears to overcome, the fear of being mocked and laughed at, of not being understood, of losing my friends, of losing my dream of getting married and becoming a professional footballer. Thanks be to God, slowly and oftentimes painfully, I did manage to overcome these fears. Not by my own efforts as such because every ounce of strength within me wasnt enough to overcome my fear and my sins. I needed help so I began to talk and to seek guidance. I made frequent confessions and went to Mass as often as I could. Most importantly, I began to spend quality time with God. I began carving out time in my day to get to know Jesus by reading the gospels and by talking to him about everything. The more time I spent with God the easier things became. I became more courageous in sharing my faith with others and I got the grace from God to beat sin. Today God is everything to me. I took a risk in following Jesus. I risked losing everything I ever thought was worth living for but Ive learnt that if I have God I have everything - all the money, pleasure and success the world offers is nothing compared to God. Sure didnt God create the world? If I have God I have everything.
WHAT
MEANS TO
GOD ME!
They distorted history
m second youngest in a family of two boys and two girls. I grew up in Galway but I now live in Dundalk where I play soccer professionally with Dundalk FC. I grew up like most Irish kids, making my first Holy Communion, Confession and Conrmation. I didnt question the teachings of the Church until I got to maybe 6th Class. Then I began to doubt whether God was real or not and by the time I entered secondary school I had little to no faith. If God was real he was up the sky somewhere with nothing to do with my life. That all changed however when I was brought to Knock by our Religion teacher on a one day retreat. In Knock two young women shared their stories of how God came into their lives. I listened and I was moved by their experience. After lunch we had the opportunity to go to confession. I ticked every box on the examination of conscience! But it was wonderful to make a good honest confession. Terrifying beforehand but I was so free afterwards. After confession we all knelt in a semi-circle and the priest brought the Eucharist around to each of us for a special blessing. I didnt really know what was going on but when he came to me I experienced this awesome presence in front of me. I cant describe it, but I knew that Jesus Christ was right there in the Holy Eucharist. I could feel his presence. It was amazing. Greatly moved by this experience, I wanted to change my ways. I was getting into bad habits and I knew now these were wrong. Over the next year I didnt succeed in becoming very saintly! I was supposed to be suspended from school when we were to go on another retreat. I desperately wanted to go because I had a great desire to meet God again. I wanted God in my life and if he was on the last retreat surely hed be on this one too! I prayed that night theyd let me go and
Gerard Hanley, 21, is a professional footballer.
he modern world likes to present itself as an Age of Reason which emerged from and succeeded in overthrowing an Age of Faith. It calls itself enlightened, meaning that what went before was darkness, the dark ages of religious faith. According to this story Western humanity was, for many centuries, kept under the dominion of Christianity, and particularly under the control of the Catholic Church. During this time culture was stagnant, science was primitive and had no great achievements to show for itself, and uncouth religious zealots showed no interest in learning or enquiry. Witches were hunted down and condemned to the fires by tyrannical inquisitors, original thinking was stymied by dogma and superstition, and Church and State worked together to subjugate the masses. In this telling, the last remains of classical learning had been wiped out by Christian fanatics, the great pagan literary works had been burnt, and the achievements of Greek science were forgotten. All was darkness until Islamic scholars restored ancient learning to the West, to be rediscovered when the shackles of faith were broken. Meantime, the wars of religion would rst take place, reddening Europe with rivers of blood and tearing Christendom apart. Then came renaissance, liberating scholars from this darkness, opening the
A Window on History
Elizabeth I
way to the full owering of the Enlightenment and producing the reign of reason and progress. The results were a remarkable development of the sciences, political liberty and a revolutionary new sense of human dignity, centred on freedom. With the rise of the secular state religion was reduced it its proper place, merely as a department of the state or, in time, completely cut off from the state and conned to the sacristy or the home.
New maturity
This opened the way to a new maturity in society, and to an era of universal tolerance and to compassion for minorities. In this story Galileo holds a place of honour, a martyr for science in the great struggle of reason to escape from the clutches of gullible faith and oppressive religion. The story has been so
well told, and so frequently repeated, and so little challenged, that it is now the accepted account of Western history, and even Christians generally accept it as an accurate report. As the American author, David Bentley Hart, writes, it is a simple and enchanting tale, easily followed and utterly captivating in its explanatory tidiness. However, says Hart, its sole defect is that it happens to be false in every identiable detail (Atheist Delusions, 2009, page 34). Hart goes through each of these claims, one by one, and shows how the evidence for it has been misrepresented, distorted or simply manufactured. He makes the point that in recent decades professional historians have exposed the distortions in one area after another, but that the history popularisers still have to catch up with them. The attempt to write Christianity out of history, or to present it as a harmful presence, goes back a long way. During the reign of Elizabeth I in England, for example, ofcial propagandists began the retelling of English history to present the countr y as having always been Protestant. Before that Henr y VIII destroyed the famous shrine of St Thomas a Beckett in Canterbury, to wipe out the memory of an archbishop who stood up to a ruthless king. But history cannot be left to those who would distort the story just to suit their own aims.
They radiate new joy into the world

Dear Nettles,
hen the sun is beaming down on the earth, a street light adds nothing to the brightness. But if a room is in complete darkness, even the light from a candle can make a huge difference. No big deal there, I can hear you thinking, but it is very relevant for our work. Remember, Prince of Darkness is one title for our boss. Do you remember ever hearing this: You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under a tub, but on a lamp stand; and it gives light to all in the house. Or this: Let your light so shine
before all, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. As usual, of course, you paid little attention to it. But make no mistake, these remarks were a declaration of war on us and our kingdom of darkness. Christ, as it were, was summoning his army, leading them into battle. And to this day the battle continues to rage. But in recent times it has entered a new phase. Let me explain. For many centuries Europe and, later, America, were at least vaguely Christian. And many areas were strongly Christian. The followers of Christ were at least trying to know and understand
Dumbag writes..!
Letters from a Master to a Trainee Tempter
his teaching, and put it into effect in their lives. And when they failed, they asked for forgiveness and tried again. As a result, the whole society began to change. There was a new sense of human dignity, and a richer understanding of the dignity of women in particular. Respect for human life and for marriage
increased. Care for the sick and the poor began to ourish. A new respect for education led to an explosion of schools and universities. Science, law, medicine, politics were transformed. Massive changes in attitudes and in society were under way. The light of Christ was transforming his followers, despite the determined resistance by many of them, and they in turn were lighting up the world. But in recent centuries the Kingdom of Darkness has been ghting back with new vigour. It was a smart move, as we turned light into darkness, to call it enlightenment. And it was a smarter move to
attack the very source of light itself, faith in Him above. Who would ever have believed we could dupe so many into calling themselves atheists and agnostics? But to get back to where I started, in this new Darkness, even a little ame, even a candle can throw a lot of light. So the message, You are the light of the world carries a new challenge for each Christian. If, but only if, they are utterly and courageously faithful to Christ and his Church can they begin to radiate a new light, a new hope and joy, once again into the world. Our job is to intimidate and compromise them, until we extinguish that light. Yours darkly,
Dumbag
14
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Saviour. Change me, strengthen me in body, soul, and spirit. Cover me with your precious blood, and ll me with your Holy Spirit. I love you Lord Jesus. I praise you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I shall follow you every day of my life. Amen. MSCS.
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From 480 pps. Call: Pat or Phil (01) 6281436 or 087-2238911
DEAR Sacred Heart of Jesus in the past I have asked for many favours. This time I ask you for a special favour (request). Dear Heart of Jesus place this request in your broken heart where your Father sees it. Then in his merciful eyes it will become your request, not mine. Amen. Pub promised and request will be granted. Marie F. Pray for Martin (my dad) a special intention. Martin F, MF. EMG. TH. MOST beautiful flower of Mt.Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of heaven, Bl. Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O star of the sea, help me and show me herein you are my mother. O Holy Mary, mother of God, queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to succour me in this necessity (make request). There are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein you are my mother. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee. Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days. Publish it and your request will be granted. TH. LORD Jesus, I come before you as I am. I am sorry for my sins, please forgive me. In your name, I forgive all others for what they have done against me. I renounce Satan and all his works. I give you my entire self, now and forever. I invite you into my life, Jesus. I accept you as my Lord, God and
ALOE vera. Forever living products. Distributor: Phil Colgan 016281436; 086 2437653. VOLUNTEER in Africa. Volunteers wanted. Street children projects. 2 weeks+. Just cover your costs. No experience required. No age restrictions. Training provided. Denis@ humanitarianvolunteers. 086 8520271. ADOPTION & foster tracing. Do you want to trace your birth mother or father? Family tree tracing. Help is only a phone call away. Tel: 086 0634056. 24 hrs. 7 days. EWTN Mass 3 times daily on your TV. 160. See advert on this page. Tel: 085 1332120. ADULTS, learn piano in 4 weeks with piano/master. 086 3125704. www.pianomaster.ie
Tel: 087 2536343. MEDJUGORJE. Apart to rent 5 mins from church. All mod cons/air con. Taxi can be arranged to and from airport. Tel: 087 2870508. KNOCK Lodge B&B Knock. Rooms en-suite, TV, tea & coffee, parking. Family rooms avail. Apart also avail. Tel: 087 2031649.
q MISCELLANEOUS
q NOVENAS
GARABANDAL only 395. All incl. 4 day packages. Fly (midday) ex Dublin to Spain with Sp. Dir. & guides to full board hotel accom. in Garabandal. Departs 8 Sept & 6 Oct. Early booking with 195 deposit is essential to secure places at 395pps price. Tel: group leader Benny Woods 086 8976569. LOURDES. 10-17 Aug, 7 nights, fully incl. 789. Contact Carmel 01 8555041/087 2533718. MEDJUGORJE. Sept 1 & 8, 669. Oct 6, 629 fully incl. Contact Carmel 01 8555041/087 2533718. HOLYLAND. Footsteps of St. Paul, 14 days, Cruise, 20 Oct, 2,240, fully incl. Sp. Dir. Contact Carmel 01 8555041/087 2533718. MEDJUGORJE dentist, Dr. Davor Planinic. White fillings, porcelain crowns, dental implants. High quality work & excellent rates. In accord with European standards. 00387 36650187; 00387-63447840. www.dr-planinic.com. MEDJUGORJE Pilgrimages 2012. 26 Sept to 3 Oct. Flying from Dublin to Dubrovnik. 490. For full details Tel: Rol 048 82241888. UK 028 82241888. MEDJUGORJE Irish Centre. Win a weeks accomm. for 4. To enter monthly draw text the word PILGRIM your name and county to 53030 in Ireland or 60777 in UK. For info on this years offers telephone Rol 048 82241888; UK
DUBLIN lady, 79, seeks older male companion. Box 8801. SINGLE gent late 30s, NSSD, genuine, living alone, educated, wltm intelligent lady for friendship from West or Mid-West. Box 8802. GRACE. Please contact Leinster man again from May edition. Tel: 086 3356849. CARING Roscommon lady wltm widower 60-65 only for friendship leading to relationship. Must be free at weekends to socialise. Box 8803.
q PERSONAL
q PILGRIMAGES
HOLYFACE. Reparation books, medals, & various scapulars. Tel: Michael Gormley 01 4920960. MEN wanted for Catholic work in Dublin area. Tel: Dnal 085 1127625. RELICS of St. Therese of Lisieux will visit the Church in Dromin Kilmallock, Co. Limerick on Sun 8 July 2012 from 2-5pm. Also relics of her parents Blessed Louis and Zlie Martin. Please bring a rose. All are welcome. MARYVALE Certificate in Catechesis will begin in Dublin this October. Meeting 4 times per year over two years, this collaborative learning course provides a solid foundation in the key areas of the Catholic faith. For further info. please contact Carol Harnett at Maryvale on 0044 121 360 8118 or Email: mcc@ maryvale.ac.uk. Ideal for the Year of Faith. CREDO, a weekend of study and prayer for Catholics aged 18-35. Fri-Sun, 21-23 Sept. Ennismore Retreat Centre, Montenotte, Cork. Cost: 35 non-res; 65 res. Info from Monica 085 1225603 or Fr Alan O.P. 018897610. GOD the Father: Mass in honour of God our Father, Sunday 5 August, 2.30pm, Divine Masters Church, Stillorgan Rd, Dublin. Celebrant Fr. Thaddeus Doyle.
028 82241888. MEDJUGORJE pilgrimage. 19 Sept, ex Knock. Sp. Dir. Fr. Michael Gallagher, Fr. Christie McHugh. Contact Nora 07198 51275, Annette 07497 36059. MEDJUGORJE, 26 Sept to 3 Oct, ex-Dublin, 499. Staying opposite church. Details from Brenda Smyth, Belfast 048 (N.I. 028) 90833730. HOLYLAND pilgrimage 25 Oct. Walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth. Sp. Dir. All welcome. Tel: Jo Morris 087 6163648. PADRE Pio trip to Italy. Sept 1017. Daytime ights ex-Cork with Aer Lingus. 995. All the sights of Rome, Sorrento and Amal Coast. Mass at the Tomb of Padre Pio. Four star accomm, all dinners, tours, coaching, taxes included. Tel: Mary 087 1247669. MEDJUGORJE, with Joe Dalton. 12-19 Sept. Ex Dublin. Accom. beside church. Details Phyllis 042 9336705; 087 2024863.
q RELIGIOUS
FURNITURE repairs & carpentry work. Tel: Eamon 01 4967663. OLD photos, torn, cracked, stained, etc. Repaired and enlarged as new. B/W or colour. Tel: 01 6265243, 087 2915672. ALL unwanted home waste removed. Cookers, fridges, beds, suites, wardrobes, carpets, etc, removed and disposed of in proper manner. No job too small or big. Contact Tommy 087 6406015. REFACE your kitchen. We change kitchen cabinet doors, and worktops. Free estimates. Tel: 01 8624647. TYPEWRITERS repairs, sales, ribbons, most makes, Tel: 01 8309333. CHURCH restorations nationwide. Statues repair and repainting. Monuments, furnishing, towerclocks. Please visit: www.arsecclesia.com and www. studiomichele.com. Small and churchsize statues in our studio. Tel: Nicholas 091 556735; 087 2203898 Email: contact@ ars-ecclesia.com GARDENER. Mature, avail. Own tools. Southside experienced. Tel: Jerry 01 4933348. HANDYMAN Services, Dublin, avail for tiling, carpentry & painting. 30 years experience building & extensions. Also Ikea furniture collected/assembled 085 7373351.
JC. HEARTFELT thanks to the Most Sacred Heart, Our Lady, Sts Joseph & Anthony for petition granted. Pub promised. MC. THANKS to Sts. Anthony, Jude, Joseph, Threse, Ann, Clare, Mary, Dolours, Francis, Rita & all the angels who interceded for me. TH.
q USEFUL SERVICES
Rome & Assisi

Flights from Dublin & Cork
14 September 7 nights
859 inclusive
Contact Joe Walsh Tours (01) 2410816
Free To Air TV
BBC1, 2, 3 & 4, ITV 1, 2, 3 & 4 Ch 4, e4, More 4, CH5 and
THANKS Sacred Heart for favours. P. SINCERE thanks to Bl. Pope John Paul II for favours received.
q THANKSGIVING
EWTN
6 movie, 5 Kids, & 100 more channels One-off payment 160 For installation, receiver & dish
Special Rosary Procession

Feast of Our Lady Mount Carmel
Sunday 15 July 2012
6th to 12th October

Spiritual Director
Cine lms, photos and slides transferred to DVD with music & titles added. Also Camcorder and video tapes edited and transferred to DVD.
Email: alleventsvideo@eircom.net
DVD Transfers
Tel: 01 2807838, 087-9132265.
Saorview
RTE 1&2, TV3, 3e, TG4 RTE News & RTE Junior One-off payment 120 For installation, receiver & aerial
Get both offers for 260
Tel: 085-1332120
Assemble 4.45pm St. Saviours, Church, Dominick St, Dublin 1. Proceeding to St. Teresas Church, Clarendon St for Holy Mass at 6pm.
15
KIDS CORNER KIDS CORNER

Hiya, Kids, This month we have the feast of the wonderful St Maria Goretti (6th July) who was just 11 when she died. Marias mammy never went to school and couldnt read or write. But she was able to give her four children a deep love for Jesus and Our Lady. Maria loved playing, and was so happy, and she loved helping her parents. But an older boy who lived near them began to like her too much. He wanted her to do bold things, but she refused again and again, because she loved Jesus so much. So, one day the boy picked up a knife and gave Maria fourteen deep cuts. She was rushed to hospital where she died shortly afterwards. A few weeks before this she had made her First Holy Communion, and she was buried in her white dress. Maria shows us that even young kids can be saints. Hope you enjoy the holidays. Sln go fill.
q Can you unscramble these counties?
Prize Crossword...No.161
116
COLOURING PICTURE - WIN 10
25
Simplex Clues: 25 for the rst correct entry out of the bag. Entries before 31st July. One entry per family. Winner and answers next month.
Aisling
1. YOMA 2. OSCMRMNOO 3. GIOSL 4. YNEORT 5. BILUDN 6. RMAHGA 7. XODREWF 8. TAIRMN
q Can you get from the top to bottom, changing one letter at a time?
_____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________
SOFT
HEEL
Name................................................ ......................................................... Address............................................. .........................................................
Robert OLeary, Parklands Drive, Commons Road, Cork.
June X-word Winner:

D I NGS GR N E A E E S MADE I P I A N U I N EME S R I K EY SAMS A D P C KER DRU I R E T E NSE NON D S D I E AT TACK
ACROSS 1. Conne the fowl in one chop! (7) 5. English racecourse (5) 8. Ada with his lute can atter (7) 9. Motionless (5) 10. Chubby (3) 11. Sip seed mixed up for contempt (7) 13. Is there something wrong with a woman? (5) 14. Abandon this unfertile region (6) 17. Sea mammals (6) 20. Or in this climber there is a hard white substance (5) 21. An expression of regret (7) 25. She is found in a convent (3) 26. Greek letter found at the mouth of a river (5) 27. You could describe this famous ship as an epic (7) 28. Terminated (5) 29. Train me in this Eastern building (7)
DOWN 1. Accumulate and hide away (5) 2. These are indicative of persons, places and things (5) 3. African animal like a short necked giraffe (5) 4. You like this better (6) 5. Memorial inscription on tomb from the pie in the path! (7) 6. Slip ace to be unusual (7) 7. Is, is Tom in the process of cell division? (7) 12. Bun or cake (3) 14. Diminish (7) 15. Marred (7) 16. Red yarn for the fox (7) 18. A boring tool for everyone, we hear (3) 19. Dwarf variety of domestic fowl (6) 22. Frequently (5) 23. Proprietor (5) 24. Cathy makes a boat (5)
Last Months Colouring Picture Winner was: Christina Thomas, Ashington Grove, Navan Rd, Dublin 7. Age 9.
Lives of the Saints
Mayo; Roscommon; Sligo; Tyrone; Dublin; Armagh; Wexford; Antrim. Soft, Sort, Sore, Bore, Bare Heel, Heal, Heat, Beat, Boat
Answers:
Solution to Alive!, St Marys Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24.
Telephone.....................................................................
St. Benedict
q Part 2: First monasteries
he world and the life he was abandoning in the busy and distracting city of Rome had lost all attraction for the young Benedict of Nursia. Leaving home, he sought a place where he might nd a peace which would enable him to discover what purpose God had for him in this world. He settled in a small village near a church in the Simbrucini mountains. Living about forty miles from Rome he was close to the town of Subiaco which would forever after be associated with his name. After a short period there among the townspeople, tradition tells us that he worked a miracle and immediately became the focus of attention the very thing he had ed from in Rome. One night he left the town in
secret and moved further into the mountains, taking up his abode in a cave. On his journey he met Romanus, a monk who lived in a monastery further up the slopes of the mountain. When Benedict told Romanus his story and why he had left Rome the monk advised him to become a hermit. This he did and lived peacefully for three years in his cave, receiving spiritual guidance and food from Romanus. He had little contact with the world around him. But if his contact with people in the locality was limited, he was not passing unnoticed. His reputation as a man of God grew and when the abbot of a nearby monaster y died the monks came to Benedict to ask him to take his place.
He had grave misgivings, knowing the dubious reputation of the said monks, but they were so insistent that he eventually agreed. It was a disaster. When Benedict tried to introduce order into their lives they rebelled against him and even tried to poison him. He abandoned the experiment and happily returned to his cave.
Miracles
By now, however, miracles began to be associated with him and people came from all over the region to receive guidance and advice. Some wanted to dedicate their lives to God as he had done and for these he established what eventually came to be called the Benedictine Rule. Initially this Rule was something he envisioned as being lived by any ordinary person who wished to love and serve God in the world.
Later, however, it came to be more associated with those who chose to live together in a monastic setting. For these he set up in the valleys around Subiaco a series of twelve communities of men, each with a superior to whom they pledged their obedience. They followed the guidelines for their interior life and the way of work which Benedict had drawn up for them. These were the rst Benedictine monasteries. Eventually Benedict established a thir teenth monaster y, taking charge of this himself while still guiding all the others as their father or abbot. However, saintly people can attract not only the good but also the jealousy and envy of others. Benedict and his followers were no exception.
BARE
BOAT
......................................................... ....................................Age................
P UD L O URG G S ET S A T UR O CRA K S I NC N O GAT
UB R RA I I S I ON G M S E T U ED
Name............................................................................
Address......................................................................... ...................................................................................... ......................................................................................
Waters questions RTE censorship Exciting Seminars by Johnnette of womans story Benkovic this Summer!
ADVERTISEMENT
16
JOURNALIST John Waters has questioned what he called the latest reported act of censorship by RTE which removed a oneminute religious broadcast from its website in response to criticism by an expert. In the clip a woman described how she had been on daily medication for depression for nearly ten years, but came off it overnight after turning to God. God was true, Jesus was true to his word, she said. I was completely healed from depression. But RTE removed her contribution after Dr Harry Barry, considered a leading expert on depression, complained it wrongly grave the impression that there was a quick x for the condition. Barry complained that the problem with these kind of stories [is] that you dont know all the facts. Waters, however, commented that the woman was as entitled to convey her experience to her fellow citizens as is any member of the psychiatric profession. But, it seems, human beings are now forbidden from intervening in their own lives without the attendance of an approved specialist. The journalist continued: It seems that none of us is entitled to reect on our own condition, our own sadness, our own being, without paying large sums of money to some members of Dr Barrys profession.
Waters then turned to the possible link between anti-depressants and suicide, highlighted by a former assistant State pathologist. Dr Declan Gilsenan said that in his 30-year experience carrying out post mortems, he had seen too many suicides after people had started taking these drugs, he wrote. As a result of his experience, Gilsenan called on doctors to be more careful when prescribing anti-depressants, and insisted that people need to be monitored more carefully. Writing in a Catholic newspaper, Waters also pointed out that research has consistently shown that people with religious beliefs are signicantly happier and healthier than nonbelievers. He asked: Would RTE censor a psychiatrist even for making objectively questionable statements? He thought it unlikely, and that the broadcaster would regard such a contribution, however disputed, as a legitimate viewpoint. Why then, he asked, does it censor a woman who seeks to tell what she has observed in her own life?
People may not raise questions about their own origin, destiny and the meaning of their lives but, like washing machines, must submit for service to an approved agent.
Link
FOLLOWING on from last years sell-out seminars in Knock, Johnnette Benkovic of EWTNs Women of Grace will lead, with Fr Philip Scott FJH, an exciting range of seminars in Catholicism, leadership, authentic femininity, healing the Father wound and unmasking the New Age deception for men, women and clergy in Ireland, July 24th to Aug. 8th, as outlined in ad below.
q Two-day Catholic Leadership Institute 31st July 1st Aug: Confronting the Cultures attack on the Church. Inspired by Pope John Paul IIs words : We are now facing the nal confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-gospelit is a trial which the whole Churchmust take up. A unique event for anyone in Catholic leadership or who wants to make a difference. Exploring the clash of world views, spiritual warfare and illuminating the beauty of the Catholic faith and, this two day event is very relevant after the inspiration of the 50th Eucharistic Congress. q Struggling in your relationship with God, with family relationships, discord with your father, mother or children? Even with the very best of parents, every one of us carries some degree of Father Wound from childhood. This hugely needed ministry is being addressed by Fr Philip Scott and Johnnette on weekend of 4-5th Aug. 2012 and leads participants to a more meaningful encounter with God the Father and healing of personal relationships. For the rst time printed in Ireland, booklets unmasking Reiki, Yoga, Enneagram, occult and other New Age practices available at our
straight-talking one day seminar on the New Age Deception Fri. 3rd August.
q Men and priests each have a day with Fr Philip Scott to be renewed in their identity and manhood living in the glorious freedom as sons of God in Christ on 7th and 8th August. Why not register for more than one event? Bring a friend! Register online at www.humanlife.ie or call conference hotline number 087 1554947. All Knock events are in Barnacarroll Community and Sports centre, 3 miles from Knock. Every day includes Mass. A 10% reduction off registration on bookings before newly extended deadline of 10th July 2012.
q The weekend retreat for women: Healing the Feminine For a time such as this (Esther 4:14) 27-29th July. A rich in-depth retreat developing last years theme Mending the wounds of the heart. Learn about the sacred symbolism of woman, the war against woman, restoration, healing and growing towards the ideal. Sure to be a powerful and blessed experience.
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: Tom English Printed by Datascope, Enniscorthy

Alive July Aug 2012

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180 q July/August 2012

Forward now to the Year of Faith

Eucharistic Congress gives major boost to Church renewal

Why is public switching off RTE news? Page 8

Alive! July/August 2012

Oz children may get right to know donor sperm fathers

Bishop challenges Catholics to be what they claim to be

Against good medical practice?

WSJ says renewal is coming to Church in US

Priests during ordination

Alive! July/August 2012

Forward now to the Year of Faith

Limits to our help?

Irish Dominican nuns and friars at the Eucharistic Congress.

Pope John XXIII

Honour for advocate of infanticide

Women show new interest in religious vocation

Padua, Assisi & San Giovanni

Alive! July/August 2012

Helping victims of a college education

SPECIAL FEATURE by Gerard Murphy

with guest columnist, Rosemary Swords

Kids enjoyed their time with Jesus

Media: It must be fault of Catholics

Writing in the sand

All called to be soldiers in battle against evil

Alive! July/August 2012

Your money goes further

Alive! needs your support

Tel: 01-404 8187

I wish to support Alive!. Enclosed is my donation for

Address Please send your donation to:

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

New statue of St Columba

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO DONATED TO ALIVE! DURING JUNE

What he saw during cholera epidemic changed US doctors life

Rust is wrecking roads in UK

Spaghetti Junction, near Birmingham

William Edmonds Horner

Bishop invites Catholics back to Sunday Mass

Alive! July/August 2012

Myleene hit by the cohabitation effect

with Anne Nolan

Kids learn 2 Big lessons C

So what, if your child cant tell his colours?

Heather and Patrick Walker with their baby Grayson James

Youve got kids!

What was wrong?

Medjugorje Family Offers

Alive! July/August 2012

Church has the only sane view of sex

Young people, faith and the Church

Church alone stands by women

ed a move to ban the horrendous practice in the US.

Ignoring our Christian roots

Catholic schools in self-destruct mode

Alive! July/August 2012

RTE coverage captured spirit of Congress

Coping with loss

Why is public switching off RTE news?

Bad with gures

Anti-Catholic agenda in Irish Times?

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