Number —MMXII 4th Quarter Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Lieutenancy of Queensland Happy and Holy Christmas This Issue ….. Compliments of the Season ...…………..…..….... 1 Latin Patriarch’s Newsletter.……………………….. 2 The Holy Sepulchre may close by Water Bill... 3 Australia’s New Nuncio ………………………………. 4 Meeting of the Grand Magisterium ……….…... 5 A Brief History ………………………………………….... 6 Bethlehem University, Jerusalem ……………….. 9 The Order’s Newsletters ..…………….…..………... 9 Pilgrimage to Rome Sept 2013 ………………...... 10 Appreciation ..…………………………………………….. 11 Section News ……………………..……………………… 11 Remembrance ……………………………………..…….. 11 May the Bethlehem birth rekindle our verve. May our resolutions this Year Some Internet Links…………………..……….…..….. 12 serve those we hold dear. Australian Lieutenants ..…………….……….………. 12 Lieutenancy of Aust. Qld Council Members . 12 Government of the Order ……………………..…… 13 Meetings and Events First Quarter 2013 - Year of Faith First Sundays of every month for Mass at St Pat’s Church, Fortitude Valley and Nourishment afterwards (Except January). Jerusalem Day: Seminar, AGM and Dinner - 9th March 2013 at the Water- ford campus of Gregory Terrace (Dinner venue TBA). Formation Day for members in Townsville in March (dates TBA), Meetings and Events other Quarters next Year End of June in Townsville retreat followed by Mass and dinner (date TBA). Consulta of Lieutenants in Rome September 10 to 12, 2013 followed by a Pilgrimage to Rome September 13 to 15 (see Page 10) Editor: Nick de Weger KCHS Mob 0413 239 717 Vigil Investiture of New Members (date TBA pending the Grand Master’s visit) phone 07 3715 6625 Followed by Investiture of New Members and Dinner Email: [email protected] 1 The Latin Patriarch's Newsletter (Please Zoom in if you cannot read this print) 2 The Latin Patriarch's Newsletter Church of the Holy Sepulchre may close over water bill Published: November 04, 2012 The Church of the Holy Sepul- chre in Jerusalem has warned that it may shut its doors to pilgrims in protest at a dispute with an Israeli water company, reports the BBC. The church, where many Chris- tians believe Jesus was crucified, has had its bank account frozen at the request of Hagihon over an unpaid $2.3m bill. The dispute has left hundreds of priests, monks and teachers un- paid. The church has traditionally not been charged for water, but Hagihon says it is owed money for the past 15 years. According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, there was a tacit agree- ment between the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem - which, along with the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Franciscan Custos, is jointly responsible for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre's administration - and a former mayor of the city that the church would be exempt from water bills. John Ralph retires from the Grand Magisterium But in 2004, Hagihon sent a demand to the church for 3.7m shek- after its meeting. The Grand Master made John els, or $950,000. It was backdated to when the company took over an honorary member of the Grand Magisterium the water supply in the late 1990s. and award him the Golden Palm of Jerusalem to FULL STORY Church of the Holy Sepulchre may close over water him. bill (BBC) See John’s Report on Pages 5 & 11 in this issue. Referred to Newsletter by Vince Crowley KHS 3 Latest News Australia’s New Papal Nuncio Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the only English- born nuncio in the active service of the Holy See, is the new papal nuncio to Australia www.cathnews.com/uploads/doc/2012/12/New%20nuncio%20for% 20Australia.pdf GERARD O'CONNELL ROME Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher as the new apostolic nuncio to Australia. Since being ordained as a priest in 1977, he has served in Tanzania, Uruguay, the Philippines, the Vatican, Strasbourg and Burundi, be- fore his current role in Guatemala. The Vatican broke the news on December 11, after the Australian Government had given its agreement. Archbishop Gallagher succeeds the Italian Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarrotto whom the Pope last August sent as nuncio to Israel, and simultaneous as nuncio to Cyprus and Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine. A man of considerable diplomatic experience, the 58-year old Archbishop Gallagher is the only English-born nuncio in the active diplo- matic service of the Holy See. At the time of his appointment to Australia he was nuncio in Guatemala, where he had served since Febru- ary 2009. Born in Liverpool in 1954, he studied at the English College, Rome, and gained his degrees in Philosophy and Theology at the Jesuit-run Gregorian University. He is the only English-born nuncio to have trained at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy where the Holy See’s diplomats are trained, and to have risen through the ranks of its diplomatic service to the rank of nuncio. A diplomat with wide and diverse experience in the service of the Holy See, he comes to Australia after serving in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Australia is a religiously diverse country of over 22 million people. Christianity is the predominant religion and Roman Catholicism is the largest Christian denomination in the country, with some 26% of the people declaring themselves Catholic. There are also several non- Christian religions in this land, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and the Sikh faith. Archbishop Gallagher arrives in Australia at a particularly delicate moment when the Catholic Church is once again in the public spotlight for the way it dealt with the sexual abuse of minors by priests in past decades. Parliamentary inquiries are already under way in the states of Victoria and New South Wales and, on November 12, Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced that a national Royal Commission would investigate how the various institutions in the country, both private and public, responded to allegations of child abuse. It seems clear that queries about how the Catholic Church and its various institutions responded to the abuse of minors by priests was a major factor in the Federal Government’s decision to hold this nationwide inquiry, a decision that polls show has widespread pop- ular support. Archbishop Gallagher began his diplomatic service in Tanzania and from there moved to Uruguay, the Philippines and later to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, after serving in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, in the Second Section which handles the Holy See’s relations with states. Pope John Paul II sent him as nuncio to Burundi in April 2004 as successor to the Irish-born Archbishop Michael Courtney who was assas- sinated at the end of 2003. His posting there was a dangerous one as he sought to encourage the fragile peace process after a civil war that cost 300,000 lives. In the last year of his service in Burundi rebel shells aimed at the Presidential Palace hit the nunciature by mis- take, causing damage to the building but fortunately no lives were lost. Gallagher was out of the country at that time but returned im- mediately disregarding the potential danger. Then in 2009, Pope Benedict sent him to Guatemala, a nation that was still recovering from one of Central America’s most bloody and longest civil wars (1960-1996) that caused the deaths of over 200,000 people – most of them indigenous people, as well as the disap- pearances of a great many (40-50,000) who are still unaccounted for. But there, thanks to the persistence of Church – and especially the efforts of the assassinated Bishop Juan Gerardi (1998), and human rights groups, and with the help of the courts, the United Nations and the International Community in the Peace Process, truth began to emerge, justice began to be implemented and peace was consolidated. Archbishop Gallagher sought to support the unfolding of this important chapter in a land where there is still much poverty and insecurity. He also sought to help the local church and population when natural disasters struck during his time as nuncio there. It is with this considerable experience and background that Archbishop Gallagher now goes to Australia as papal nuncio. 4 MEETING OF GRAND MAGISTERIUM 23rd/24th October 2012 The Grand Master opened the meeting with a prayer followed It contained information about each of the schools in the Patriar- by comments. He said that he had been full time in Rome since chate, sources of funding, the total cost and revenue for each May when his successor had succeeded him in Baltimore. He school. If you would like to see the book I could circulate it had travelled to a number of Lieutenancies, principally for In- around those Lieutenants who would like to see it, for their own vestitures in Poland, Germany and the USA. He has been busy, information. Please let me know if you wish to see it. Father encouraging members to participate in activities related to the Humam also submitted a break even budget for 2012/2013. Year of Faith and to be thinking about Evangelization, as he A budget for 2013 was not able to be presented because many moves around. He commented on some activities of Lieutenan- Lieutenancies had yet to submit their forecasts. cies being undertaken such as sponsoring seminarians for pil- grimages to the Holy Land (from Melbourne), and US Lieuten- Christa von Siemens, Chair of the Holy Land Commission, report- ancies sponsoring internships from the University of Bethle- ed on the two visits of the Commission to the Holy Land. She hem. said that, as a woman, she had a habit of falling in love with the projects. She said the Rameh school is virtually finished and she He spoke of the Consulta next year and that he would be mak- visited the Vicariate which is also almost finished.