THE MON T HLY MAGAZINE FOR T HE CA T HOLI C S OF T HE DUNE D IN DIO C ESE HE ABLE T DecemberT 2008 T Issue No 139 The Word of God comes to us again Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, world was in global financial turmoil. As we begin Advent and the Church’s The Bishop’s Here was the secular world worried new year, I would like to share some that money, as its ultimate meaning of my impressions and highlights of and power, was in free fall and here the recent Synod in Rome that I was Advent were we looking at the Word of God as privileged to attend. The gathering on ultimate meaning and power for real the theme of “The Word of God in the Message life. Life and Mission of the Church” began There were many moving accounts with Mass with Pope Benedict on ● The plea for help from poorer from Bishops whose pastors and October 5 at the Church of St Paul. This missionary dioceses for finance and people had suffered persecution or was particularly significant as 2008-09 resources. were just emerging from oppression is the year of St Paul. ● The insistence on good preparation and travail of their Faith. One of the I was fortunate to be living nearby of the lector or reader in the Liturgy most heart-rending accounts came the assembly hall in Vatican City, a walk and good delivery of the Word of God. from Bishop Anton Justs from Latvia, of five minutes each day. The day’s ● A constant refrain for good homilies, who talked about people in the Soviet pattern was that of Office and Mass with good preparation and preached Communist occupation being arrested followed by breakfast and the first with conviction and passion. for having a Bible. He spoke about a session of the Assembly began at 9am ● The suffering of many dioceses and parish priest who was ordered to stand and went through until 12.30pm. We countries in areas where the Church on the Bible. He refused and instead resumed at 4pm and worked through is in the midst of warfare and conflict, knelt down, picked it up and kissed it. until 7pm. That pattern continued over e.g. Sudan, Mozambique, Chad, India, For this, the priest was sentenced to 10 three weeks. Myanmar, Iran, Lebanon, Vietnam and years in the mines of Siberia. At the end It was an enlightening and spiritually other areas that have just emerged of his imprisonment, he returned home enriching experience in joining with from oppression. to his parish. At his first Mass back in his the Holy Father and 244 Bishops and ● The need to help families become church when he read the Scripture, he Cardinals in sharing the riches of the more centred on the Bible. held it up and proclaimed “The Word Word of God and listening to the ● Support for catechists around the of God” and the people burst into exhortations and testimonies of others, world and assist them in their ministry. tears. Later, Bishop Peter Ingham from especially those who were suffering I made my presentation, “The Gospel Australia and myself talked to Bishop for the Gospel and its proclamation. – a letter of love to all the world” on Justs and told him how moved we were Everyone you met had a story and October 8. It created a bit of a stir but by his account. He thanked us and said this included the religious and lay was well received and appreciated. that that priest was his spiritual mentor synod members who all brought their Among other points, I made a plea that and was responsible for his vocation to own contributions to help weave this at every Mass a homily should always the priesthood. tapestry of faith. be given. It should not be an optional One comes away from such a Some of the main themes and extra. I made another intervention momentous gathering thinking insistences coming through from some days later, supporting the “How can we all do greater justice to speakers were: Filipino Bishops’ project, “That they the Word of God in our lives?” It all ● Provision of good translations of may be one”, in conjunction with the includes better proclamation of the Bibles all over the world. There are Bible Society. Its aim is to put a Bible in Word, encouraging lectio divina in our over 7000 languages in the world; so the hands of every Filipino Catholic. parishes and Bible study. far Bible translations have only gone I found it ironic that here was the over the 400 mark. Synod of the Church meeting while the Continued on page 4 ➤ The Tablet December 2008 Sharing the Gospel message of love By GILLIAN VINE “NONE of us is per- fect. If we waited to be perfect, the mes- sage of the Gospel would never have been preached,” Fr Elio Capra SDB says. Fr Capra, is a mem- ber of the system- atic theology depart- ment at the Mel- bourne College of Divinity. There he lec- tures in liturgy and sacramental theol- Fr Elio Capra … preaching the Trin- ogy, is a resource ity of love. person in liturgical and sacramental theology for dioceses in Australia and has undertaken studies on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). Speaking at Holy Cross Centre last month, to people involved with RCIA – supporting those seeking baptism and full communion in the Church – he asked: “What is the message we pass on to others?” It should be one of “the Trinity of love”, he said. “What did God send Jesus to do? To tell us God loves us. In the Catholic Church, we use the Cross only as a symbol of pain but if you look in the Gospel of John, the Cross is a sign of total, complete and unconditional love,” Fr Capra said. “We are all broken messengers” but that should not prevent us from sharing the Gospel message. Fr Capra described the four elements within RCIA, beginning with instructional catechesis, the things Catholics believe. “What we celebrate is what we believe. Everything we believe comes from Scripture, is based on Scripture,” he said. Instructional catechesis was “not just learning things for the sake of learning, though. It is to help us to grow.” The second element was lectionary-based catechesis, designed to help people celebrate the Scriptures. Then came liturgical catechesis and finally mystagogical catechesis, to explain and interpret the Church’s rites and their significance. “To get to know the Church they [RCIA candidates] have to know the Gospel, live by the Gospel … and learn the Catholic Church’s beauty and also some of the flaws in the Church’s history,” Fr Capra said. The deadline for the February issue Please phone us on 0800-500-730 is Wednesday, January 28. All con- for your Free Consultation tributions should be sent to the The Lab – helping you eat, sleep, play and smile editor, Gillian Vine, 26 Franklin St, Dunedin: Radio Otago House, 248 Cumberland Street. Phone 03 477 1422 Invercargill: Cnr Herbert & Windsor Streets. Phone 03 217 1121 Dalmore, Dunedin 9010; phone 021-705-708; Email [email protected] fax 03-474-5758; email [email protected]. 2 December 2008 The Tablet Little school going great By GILLIAN VINE “WE’RE a little school with a big heart and it’s pumping strongly,” St Joseph’s Cathedral School principal Michelle Bednarek-Burrow said at the opening and blessing of the school’s two new classrooms. The Dunedin school has been on its present site 18 years. On opening day then, some 50 children walked from the old buildings in Rattray St to Elm Row, where 27 houses and a dairy had Historic moment … Oliver McKewen (5) holds the ribbon for Logan Griffin (11) to been demolished to enable the school cut at the opening of St Joseph’s Cathedral School’s new classroom block. to be built. Bishop Colin Campbell was the parish priest and it was fitting that he was there to bless and formally open Kavanagh Dux to study medicine the new classrooms – built to accom- modate a roll which had more than tri- KAVANAGH COLLEGE Dux for 2008 paper, as well as first with excellence in pled since 1990, Ms Bednarek-Burrow is Meaghan Kelly. Her achievements history and first equal with excellence told nearly 200 parents, friends and include first with excellence in chem- in biology, excellence in chemistry, children gathered for the occasion. istry, English and statistics and model- merit in English and physics and gen- “These new classrooms are to en- ling; first equal with excellence in biol- eral diligence. John plans do an initial hance learning but they are not an end ogy, excellence in German (studied by degree in sciences at the University of in themselves,” Bishop Campbell said, correspondence) and general diligence. Otago. adding that the school was to supple- Meaghan plans to take health sciences Like John, Jordan achieved excellence ment what should happen in homes, at the University of Otago in 2009 with in stage one theology. He also was first creating a faithful Catholic community. a view to studying medicine in the with excellence in art history, first equal future. with excellence in classics, excellence in Named Proxime Accesserunt were history and German and merit in Eng- John Holmes and Jordan Redding. lish, as well as general diligence. Jordan John achieved excellence in the Uni- plans to study theology and music at Counselling versity of Otago’s stage one theology the University of Otago.