JANUARY 27, 2013, Vol 63, No 02

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SINGAPORE 50 CENTS / WEST MALAYSIA RM$1.20 MCI (P) 023/01/2013 PPS 201/04/2013 (022940) VOL 63 NO. 2SUNDAY JANUARY 27, 2013

HOMEServing Cambodians, Myanmar migrantsLocal Catholics go on mission trips� Pages 4-5

Poverty, marginalisation in S’poreYoung adults learn about pressing social issues� Page 7

ASIAGovt backs down from land acquisitionKuantan Church wins victory� Page 8

Light ‘dawning’ in Myanmar?Yangon archbishop cautiously optimistic� Page 9

WORLDProtests against same- sex marriageThousands take to streets in Paris� Page 10

FOCUSNew faces at major seminaryTwo young men share why they decided to join� Page 13

INSIDE

VATICAN CITY – In their task of leading people to the light of Christ, bishops must have the courage to face opposition and �� Pope Benedict XVI said.

Meeting the approval of the wider public “is not the criterion to which we submit. Our criterion is the Lord himself,” the pope said on Jan 6 as he celebrated the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord with a Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.

“The fear of God frees us from the fear of men. It liberates,” he said.

During the three-hour cere-mony, the pope also ordained four new archbishops, including his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, 56, who became prefect of the papal household, a job that involves organising the pope’s daily round of audiences and meetings.

In his homily at the Mass, the �� Three Kings, the wise men who set out from the East in search of Jesus; the pope drew comparisons between them and the mission to which the new bishops are called.

Like the Magi, he said, the bish-op, too, must not be content with his position, but want to be “seized by God” and “gripped by God’s concern for men and women”.

Prayer, in fact, helps “detach us from our false sense of securi-ty, from our being enclosed within material and visible realities” and gives “us a restlessness for God and thus an openness and concern for one another”.

Like the wise men, who prob-ably were scorned or ridiculed for following a star in search of the promised king, a bishop must know that seeking the truth is more important than “the taunts of the world, so apparently clever”.

“The humility of faith, of shar-ing the faith of the Church of eve-

�� lead people to Christ: pope Public approval ‘is not the criterion to which we submit’, he says

Four new archbishops lie prostrate during their ordination by Pope Ben-edict XVI in St Peter’s Basilica on Jan 6.

Like the Magi, the bishop, too, must not be content with his position,

but want to be ‘seized by God’ and ‘gripped

by God’s concern for men and women’.

– Pope Benedict XVI

ry age, will constantly be in con-�� of those who cling to what seems certain,” he said.

But a bishop, who must guide today’s men and women to the way of faith, hope and love, must have “the courage to contradict the pre-vailing mindset” of agnosticism, which is “extremely intolerant re-garding anything that would ques-tion it and the criteria it employs”.

However, “this courage or forcefulness does not consist in striking out or in acting aggres-sively, but rather in allowing one-self to be struck and to be stead-fast before the principles of the prevalent way of thinking”.

“We are not provocative; on the contrary we invite all to enter into the joy of that truth which shows us the way,” the pope said. � CNS

The Episcopal Ordination Mass for Coadjutor Archbishop-elect William Goh has been set for Feb 22, the organising committee has announced.

Another announcement will be made once the venue for the event and details of

�� These details were still unavailable

at press time.

2 Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews22 HOME

ARCHBISHOP’S DIARYJan 23 6.30pm St Patrick’s School: Mass – 80th AnniversaryJan 25 7.30pm Church of St Joseph (Bukit Timah): Mass –

Ordination to the Diaconate of four seminariansJan 26 6.00pm St Anne’s Church:

Mass – Commissioning of PrincipalsFeb 1 6.00pm Church of St Teresa: Mass – Consecrated Life

Rediscover ways in which the faith can be effectively transmit-ted to a new generation who live in an increasingly secularised world, Archbishop Nicholas Chia told catechetical coordinators and catechists recently.

“We cannot give what we do not have ourselves,” he told the 150 participants at a Jan 6 event to launch the new catechetical year.

“If we want to witness to the �� -ticipants who came from 24 par-ishes.

He encouraged those who may feel discouraged in their work to persevere by “keeping [their] eyes �� !��hope” and by regularly celebrat-ing the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.

In his address to participants, catechetical director Fr Erbin Fernandez observed how Church ministries often plan events that may give people a “high”.

However, these may lack fol-low-up, which is a longer term � � �� "�� where real conversion to Christ usually happens, he said.

In order to be effective evan-gelists, catechists should have � �� #�� -munity, he said in his talk titled The Great Challenge of the New

From ministries to communities

To be effective evangelists, catechists should have an experience of Christian community,

says catechetical director Fr Erbin Fernandez.

Archbishop Nicholas Chia poses for a photo with catechists who have completed the Basic Catechist Course Level 1, at an event to launch the catechetical year.

Evangelisation: From Ministries to Communities.

This is so that they can induct the young people they catechise into such a community, where

they can be supported and grow in �� $

During the event, about 30 catechists who have complet-ed the Basic Catechist Course

%��&��Archbishop Chia.

Mementoes were also given to parishes participating in the Parish Team Trainings as well as to members of the Second-ary Catechetical Core Team who

have been working on the new secondary-level catechetical cur-riculum.

Ms Jane Lau, coordinator of parish catechesis, earlier outlined ��'*&+#��/��plan which includes initiatives for a new curriculum for special needs children as well as forma-tion programmes for families.

These initiatives are part of an ongoing renewal of catechesis in the archdiocese that started in 2010.

9�� -pressed enthusiasm about the plans.

Mr Jeremy Aloysius from the Church of St Ignatius said he was keen to involve parents more in the lives of their children in cat-echesis.

Ms Wendy Loe, a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd catechist from Christ the King parish, said she was looking forward to living more as part of a community than functioning as a ministry.

The Jan 6 event was held at the Catholic Archdiocesan Edu-cation Centre. The theme for the catechetical year is Catechists as Agents of the New Evangelisa-tion. �

3Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews HOME

By Martin See

A team of nuns and lay people are now busy making stoles, vest-ments and mitres for Coadjutor Archbishop-elect William Goh’s episcopal ordination on Feb 22.

“We will be making 200 stoles [for priests and bishops], 20 vest-ments [for bishops] and four mi-tres [for the consecrating bishops and the coadjutor archbishop], all in matching design for this impor-tant occasion,” said Sr Teresa Lee, a Franciscan Missionaries of Mary nun, who is in charge of the project.

A stole is a long, narrow strip of cloth which a priest or bishop wears around his neck when cele-brating Mass. The mitre is the cere-monial headgear worn by bishops.

“When we were asked to make these vestments, we were excited and happy at the privi-lege to serve the Church and our bishop-elect, just like how we felt when we made vestments for Pope John Paul II when he came to visit Singapore” in 1986, said the nun.

The team making the ceremo-nial garb comprise four full-time lay staff working for the Francis-can Missionaries of Mary (FMM) and three FMM nuns.

They are staff of the FMM’s Atelier workroom at Holland Road, which produce priests’ vestments throughout Singapore.

Msgr Goh’s vestments will be of pure silk with printed gold mo-tifs and crosses, said Sr Lee. The other stoles, vestments and mitres are made to match Msgr Goh’s vestments and mitre.

“I drew inspiration for the de-sign of the vestments by the grace of God and with the help of Fr Ignatius Yeo,” chairman of the Archdiocesan Liturgy Commission, said Sr Lee.

“We decided to use silk as an inculturation of our Asian roots and the fabric is also a source of refer-ence for my inspiration,” she added.

Nuns, lay people work on ordination vestmentsFMM team making stoles, vestments and mitres for Msgr William Goh’s episcopal ordination

Members of the team seen here with the fabric to be used for the vestments (from left): Sr Mary Chua (in charge of adminstration), Ms Mary Chia, Ms Annie Keat, Sr Maria Doan Thi Thieu Huong, Ms Tan Lay Hua, Ms Dorothy Tan and Sr Teresa Lee.

Above: Sr Anastasie Hao, oldest member of the team.

Right: A team member making mitres for the consecrating bishops.

‘When we were asked to make these vestments, we were excited and

happy at the privilege.’– Sr Teresa Lim, FMM

The oldest member of the team, 87-year-old Sr Anastasie Hao from Inner Mongolia, told Catholic-News, “My passion is for embroi-dery handwork and I enjoy making intricate designs for the vestments.”

She has been working in the Atelier since it started in 1954.

The team, which works a full ��=�� -plete their task “by mid-Febru-ary”, said Sr Lee. �

[email protected]

4 Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews HOME

By Martin See

Veteran singer-songwriter Hillary Francis performed My Peace Concerto, a song from his new al-bum, after Masses at the Church of the Risen Christ on Jan 5 and 6.

The Blessed Sacrament Church parishioner was promoting his al-bum titled Peace, and says he in-tends to donate part of the proceeds to Caritas Singapore, the social service arm of the Catholic Church here; Community Chest and The United Nations Children’s Fund.

“My purpose of producing this album is to promote peace in the world,” said the musician about his new CD, which features songs on peace. It has 18 tracks com-prising ballads and songs with �� $

“It took about one year to produce but I had conceived the idea and wrote some of the songs about 10 years ago,” he added.

His album is a collaborative effort that he wrote and sang alongside home-grown artists such as rapper Sheikh Haikel and veterans

like Ann Hussein and Jatt Ali.All the musicians and singers

who contributed to the CD did so for free, he said.

The Father Damien’s Youth Choir from Blessed Sacrament Church and the Singapeace Choir from Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea also backed him up on some songs.

Francis says he hopes to perform at various churches in Singapore to raise funds for charity, and has pro-duced 2,000 copies of the album.

In 1997, Francis released a CD, A Tribute To Mother Teresa, in the wake of her death.

Peace ($20) is available at Mustafa Centre. �

[email protected]

Musician releasesalbum for charity

Blessed Sacrament parishioner Hillary Francis sings a song from his Peace album at the Church of the Risen Christ.

Members of Nanyang Technolog-ical University’s (NTU) Catholic Students’ Apostolate (CSA) went on a mission trip to western Cam-bodia recently where they taught English, music, art and craft.

The 22 NTU students collabo-rated with the Marist Brothers in reaching out to students at various schools around Pailin.

According to Mr Aloysius Monteiro, chairman of the project, called Project CORE (Cambodian OutReach Expedition), the Dec 9-20 mission trip was the second such trip CSA has undertaken. >�� '*&&$

The Cambodian students they served ranged in age from seven to 20 years, he said.

In addition to teaching ses-sions, the visitors also took 50 students, aged seven to 12, to a swimming pool in a resort to en-joy themselves.

The Cambodians apparently appreciated the outreach efforts of their Singapore friends.

Said one Cambodian to a CSA member who taught her English:

“I hope you come back to Cambo-dia next year so I can talk to you in better English.”

A member of the Singapore team shared that the Cambodians

“have touched our lives and hope-fully, through our lesson and in-teractions, we have touched theirs too”.

The visitors were assisted by

sponsors who donated items such as shorts, shoes, stationery, food and mosquito nets.

CSA is expected to visit Pailin again in December. �

Members of NTU’s Catholic Students’ Apostolate distributing shoes to Cambodian students in Pailin, (left) and conducting a class for Cambodians.

NTU students in Cambodia

Visual from CD cover.


By Darren Boon

A group of Singapore Catholics visited disadvantaged Myanmar migrants in Phuket, Thailand, conducting classes for the chil-dren and organising a sports day for them.

According to the 12-mem-ber group, they wanted to spread Christmas joy while empowering the children with the knowledge that there are people who love and care for them.

The group, which included Good Shepherd Sr Agnes-Clare Koh, comprised members of the Church of St Bernadette Chinese Youth Group and the Church of St Francis of Assisi young adults’ group who organised the out-reach, as well as friends from the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Risen Christ parishes.

During the Dec 16-19 trip, the volunteers visited the Learning Centre run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, which caters to the educa-tion of Myanmar migrant children from age three to 14.

These children are unable to enrol in a local school as they lack legal documents to stay in Thailand �� >�� $

The Good Shepherd nuns have been working with marginalised Myanmar migrants who are seek-ing employment in Phuket.

During their mission outreach,

the Singapore group visited the homes of these migrants, located �� -ing villages where they earn their living.

The group also held classes for the children, and taught them to sing, draw and create origami art work.

In addition, the Singaporeans organised a sports day and put on a Nativity skit for the migrants at a Christmas party organised by the centre’s staff.

“The children were overjoyed and touched by our presence,” said Ms Serene Tan, a member of the Singapore group.

One girl offered her ice cream to the volunteers and another girl mimicked the actions of charac-ters from the Nativity skit, said Ms Tan. The children also hugged and kissed the volunteers farewell on the last day of the trip.

The trip was a “humbling ex-perience”, said Ms Tan, adding that she saw how “God used me and my team members as His in-struments to produce much fruit – fruits of love, kindness, compas-sion and patience”.

Another volunteer, Ms Lillian Law, said the trip helped her to realise “that every moment in my life … is truly a gift that I should be more thankful for.” �

[email protected]

Serving Myanmar migrants in Phuket

A volunteer conducting a drawing lesson for Myanmar kindergarten children.

By Phoebe Pong

For some 30 lay volunteers from Novena Church, the last Christ-mas season was an experience of charity and humility as they spent time serving the poor in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

From Dec 27-Jan 4, the vol-unteers, led by Redemptorist Brs Celestine Toh and Albert Khoo, distributed rice packages to 1,000 families and fed 4,000 children in six villages.

The mission team also visited a hospital, an orphanage and a prison

Besides entertaining the vil-lage children with Christmas car-ols, the volunteers also distributed food and gifts to each child. Some kids also received a haircut and a �� $

At Preak Toal, one of the vil-lages the team visited, lay volun-teer Luo Yanqi recognised some of the children she had befriended the year before.

Ms Luo, 30, who was taking part in this mission outreach for the second time, said the children gave her a warm welcome upon recognising her.

“This year, I am reminded in the faces of the children … that we are not just helping a faceless crowd, but truly making a differ-ence to individuals – the future of our world,” she said.

Jesuit Fr Stepanus Winarto, parish priest of St John’s Church in Siem Reap, said he was grate-ful for the generous support of the Singapore donors, who made the Christmas season a life-giving ex-perience for the local people.

“A lot of poor families and children not only received rations and gifts, they also got to experi-ence the joy of Christmas even though most of them are non-Catholics,” he said.

“I believe that God always sends His good people to strength-en our little Church.”

Of the donations, which came from the family and friends of the Singapore mission team, some US$5,000 (S$6,123) were con-tributed to expanding the Cow Project, one of the many initia-tives of St John’s Church.

The money will allow the church to purchase 10 cows over

the next two years, enabling more families to take ownership in rais-ing the animals for agriculture or produce.

For lay volunteer Colin Sim,

Transforming livesin Siem ReapA team from Novena Church gave rice packages to 1,000 families and fed 4,000 children in six Cambodian villages

‘I am reminded in the faces of the children … that we are not just

helping a faceless crowd, but truly making a difference to individuals.’

– Ms Luo Yanqi

Redemptorist Br Albert Khoo feeding a young boy.

Distribution of rice to Cambodian families.

37, this trip changed his perspec-tive on life.

“Throughout the trip, it was disturbing to discover how a fel-low human being could survive in such dire conditions. Yet, it was amazing to see how contented one could be,” he said, adding that it �� "�� -rience”. �

6 Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews6 HOME

By Darren Boon

A Taiwanese song-writer who composes Catholic faith-inspired songs played to an audience of about 300 people at Blessed Sac-rament Church’s Damien Hall on Dec 30.

Lu Dan Yan, who goes by the pen name “Crimson Bird”, per-formed 10 of her compositions that evening with her Crimson Bird Band, and shared the inspira-tion behind her works.

One of her songs, for example, Flying against the Wind, was in-spired by a visit to cancer stricken patients at a hospital, she said.

She told the audience she ded-�� by the disease and hoped they would be able to overcome their sufferings with the love of God.

The evening’s performance opened with a performance by

the St Cecilia Choir from the Commission for Apostolate of Mandarin-speaking in Singapore (CAMS). It ended with the choir performing a Hokkien number, God’s Full Blessings, with the Crimson Bird Band.

Agnes Kay from the St Ce-cilia Choir said she felt the con-cert went well despite both groups having little time to rehearse.

She said she especially liked one of Lu’s songs titled Persever-ance, as she could identify with the song’s theme of not giving up �� $

Lu started composing Gos-pel songs since 1991. A check on the Internet revealed that she has about 40 compositions to her name.

She had served as a pianist at a parish in Taipei since Primary Five. In 1994, she started a Cath-olic music group in her native Kaohsiung which attracted a num-ber of young people in the diocese.

The concert was organised by CAMS. �

[email protected]

Taiwanese artiste performs at parish

Catholic songwriter Lu Dan Yan (with hat) performing with her Crimson Bird Band on Dec 30 at Blessed Sacrament Church.

By Don Gurugay

Just like his classmates, Matthew Tan from St Joseph’s Institution was preparing for his O Levels in 2010.

However, his plans were abruptly halted in April that year after an accident in a judo competi-tion caused a blood clot in his brain.

The prognosis from the doc-tors was bleak – he would lose his �� -cult and sight in his left eye would be affected.

But amazingly, almost one year later in March 2011, he stud-ied for Sec Three-level exams, battled his handicap and went on to sit for his O Levels in 2012, obtaining an aggregate score of 11 points in the process.

“It was the power of prayer,” said the parishioner of the Church of St Mary of the Angels, as he re-counted how he battled his handi-cap.

“Since I couldn’t talk at the time, in my mind I just prayed to God. It was a miracle for me. I also couldn’t sit properly and �� $

“Later when I was in a wheel-chair I heard a voice telling me, ‘You will be a walking testimony of what true perseverance is.’”

>��>� �� walking and just about manages to take the bus. The sight in his left eye is also impaired.

He credits his family, teachers and priests in his parish for the re-covery he has made. “God blessed me with many angels,” he said.

Tan, who shared that he visited the school chapel regularly, said, “I think I inspired other students because they could see that in spite of my handicap I was deter-mined to go to the chapel.”

He said he didn’t expect such good, results. “Siting for the exam was a miracle in itself,” he said.

Tan says he wants to study so-cial work at Nanyang Polytechnic.

“One day during my rehabili-tation, I was early for my appoint-ment and I saw how the therapists helped other people in a similar situation and I was so inspired by how they helped people in this situation that I decided to take a course so I could serve the disa-bled,” he said.

When asked what advice he would give to others who may be experiencing what he went through, he said, “Everything that happens can be turned for the good. God has a plan for you. You have to look to see what God’s plan is for you in every situation.” �

He recovers from blood clot and scores in exam

Don Gurugay speaks to some O Level students who beat the odds to score good grades

Matthew Tan seen here with SJI principal Koh Thiam Seng. Tan suffered a blood clot in the brain after a judo competition in 2010 and attributes the ‘power of prayer’ to his recovery and good grades.

Malaysian Louis Teo, whose family lives in Johor Bahru, faced the prospect of a two-hour com-mute to school each day.

He explained that he chose to ��and stay at Boys’ Town as a board-er for four years so that commut-ing was no longer a problem.

As the main language of in-struction in his primary school was not English, he had to strug-

gle to cope with English in his ear-ly secondary years in Singapore.

His academic efforts paid off and he managed to score an aggre-gate of nine for the O Levels.

Indonesian Patricia Siswandjo also faced a language challenge initially. She said that she had to study Mandarin which she was unfamiliar with. Nevertheless, she managed an aggregate score of 11.

Frank Yau �� in his early secondary years. He shared that he was on the verge of having to leave the school, but pulled up his socks in Secondary Three and worked his way up to Sec Four.

Not even a leg infection, which saw him being absent from classes for three months, damp-ened his spirits and he went on to score an aggregate of 11 points. �

��

From left: Louis Teo,

Patricia Siswandjo and Frank

Yau seen here with

Assumption English School

principal Mabel Leong.


A gallery tracing the history of the Montfort Schools from their found-ing in 1916 by the Gabrielite Broth-�� @� Q$

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The former Montfort student, in his address, said he is grateful for the three gifts his alma mater �� $

According to Mr Ng, a Montfort �� #��“the gift of faith, a holistic educa-�� `��9��#��$

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Montfort Alumni will host a “back to school” dinner for all alumni on April 27. For more information, visit http://www.montfortians.org/. To contribute to the Montfort Heritage Gallery, email Ms Michelle Lin ([email protected]). �

Guest-of-honour Ng Kok Song (left) and former Cabinet Minister Lim Boon Heng view exhibits at the Montfort Heritage Gallery.

Montfort Schools launch heritage gallery

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Participants of the Lodestar Countdown pose for a photo.

By Martin See

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[email protected]

Ms Joyce Ong from Assisi Hospice giving a presentation to participants.

Caritas chairman George Lim speaking on social issues facing Singapore at the Come and Encounter event.

Young adults learn of marginalisation,poverty in S’pore

8 Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews8 ASIA8

KUANTAN, MALAYSIA – The Ma-laysian government has agreed to withdraw its planned acquisi-tion of Church land in Kuantan, the head of the Church legal team announced.

Dato Bastian Vendargon told a large group of parishioners from St Thomas Church in Kuantan, led by their parish priest Fr Mitch-el Anthony Joseph, of the devel-opment on Jan 11.

The group was at the Kuan-tan High Court for the hearing of the judicial review application by the Church against government acquisition of land on which St Thomas Secondary School is lo-cated.

This decision was recorded in court “by consent of all parties in-volved”, said Mr Benedict Wong, another member of the Church’s legal team.

The proposed acquisition case began after the Church received a notice from the Government Land /��$

The Church’s application for a |�� \�� hearing on Sept 19. It was ad-journed to Sept 24 and further adjourned to Nov 2 when it was � �� $

The judge reserved judgment until Nov 16 when she granted leave to the Titular Roman Catho-lic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur to commence proceedings for a judicial review.

According to Dato Bastion, this case brought up by the Church has created history as this was the �� of land has been challenged based on unconstitutionality, in this case the infringement of the constitu-tional right to freedom of religion.

�� `�� thanks to the legal team represent-ing the Church, the Catholic com-munity for their solidarity, and many other Christian groups and well-wishers for their prayers and support. � HERALD

Govt backs down from acquiring Church land

KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA – Coadjutor Archbishop John Wong is now Archbishop of Kota Kina-balu after the pope accepted the resignation of Archbishop John Lee on Dec 1.

Archbishop Wong’s installa-tion ceremony is scheduled for Jan 24 at the Sacred Heart Cathe-dral.

When asked if he would an-nounce any new programmes for the archdiocese, Archbishop Wong, 44, said, “At the moment, I shall focus on continuing what has already been established.”

However, in conjunction with the Year of Faith, Archbishop Wong said he wants all the activi-ties and programmes of evangeli-sation in the archdiocese to pro-mote faith and morality.

At the Synod of Bishops meet-ing in Rome last year, Archbishop Wong emphasised that dialogue between religions is an important

agenda for the new evangelisa-tion.

>�� in Malay, English and Chinese, also acknowledged that the rights of Christians as the minority in

�� protected and their faith strength-ened.

The election of then Fr John Wong as a coadjutor archbishop was announced on June 21, 2010, by Archbishop Lee, who was 76 at the time.

The news apparently came as a surprise to the whole Catholic community including the arch-bishop-elect.

“I still do not know what my leadership style should be. All this time I was just following the guidelines of Archbishop John Lee,” said Archbishop John Wong two years ago when interviewed by the Herald. � HERALD

New leader for Kota Kinabalu

‘At the moment, I shall focus on continuing what has already been

established.’– Archbishop John Wong

Archbishop John

Wong’s installation

is scheduled for Jan 24.

9Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews ASIA

MANILA – Two prominent Church-men in the Philippines – an Amer-ican priest and a liturgist – have been called to the Lord.

After some 70 years of ser-vice in the Philippines, American Jesuit priest Fr James Reuter died at the age of 96 on Dec 31, follow-ing a stroke.

Filipino bishops described Fr Reuter, who was known for his use of modern media, musicals, plays and movies, to preach the Gospel, as a “great communicator of the Good News”.

He was director of the Na-�� /�� `��`�� helped organise UNDA/ASIA, the region’s international Catholic as-sociation for radio and television.

He was also a founder of the Philippine Federation of Catholic Broadcasters, a union of 41 Cath-olic radio stations nationwide.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II honoured him for his “outstand-ing service to the Catholic Church � �� $ !�later received the Pro Ecclesia et 9� ��award given to any individual.

In 1989, he received the Ra-

�� `��{�� @��-nalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts, an award considered to be Asia’s counter-part of the Nobel Prize.

`�� 9�� most prominent liturgust, Fr An-scar Chupungco, died on Jan 9, a few weeks before he was to re-��9��}��9� ��award from the Vatican.

He served as consulter in the Sacred Congregations of the Di-vine Worship and the Sacraments of the Vatican and lectured to bishops’ conferences and clergy the US, Africa, Asia and Europe.

In 2011, he criticised the state of liturgical reform following Vat-ican II. Liturgical reform, he said, “is being put to task by a move-ment known as the ‘reform of the reform’”, reported the National Catholic Reporter. � UCANEWS.COM

MANILA – Domestic workers in Asia receive among the worst treatment globally, according to a report released on Jan 9 by the In-ternational Labour Organization.

Of the 21.5 million domestic �� {��=9�� three percent are entitled to a weekly day of rest against around half of all the butlers, maids and gardeners employed worldwide, according to the ILO report.

Similarly, just one percent of domestic workers in the re-gion have statutory limits to their

standard maximum weekly work-ing hours versus three-quarters of counterparts in Latin America.

Asia scored particularly badly on maternity leave, a key indica-tor of rights given that women make up 80 percent of all domes-tic workers worldwide. Only 12 percent in the region enjoy such �� Latin America every woman qual-�� $

`��Z%/��-�� {��=9��noted that the Philippines was one of

just three countries – also including �� `�� convention that sets a framework for legislation governing condi-tions. Other countries in the region are close to doing so, he added.

“It’s very encouraging that some Asian countries, such as Thailand, the Philippines and Sin-gapore, are moving in the right direction with labour reforms,” he said. “But this report makes it clear that more action is needed by more countries.” � UCANEWS.COM

LONDON – The Archbishop of �� Q* �� the military junta seized power � `� �� slowly starting and the country’s three million refugees should re-turn home.

According to Zenit news agency, in a Christmas homily re-ported by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Archbishop Charles Bo said “the opportunity” has come for the country’s mas-sive exiled community to “come back to their motherland”.

The archbishop’s appeal ex-tended to the country’s one mil-lion internally displaced people.

Archbishop Bo’s message comes amid widespread change � `� ��$ { �� -ian government was installed in `�� '*&&� � �� -ter the release of pro-democracy campaigner Aung Sang Suu Kyi. Last November, US President Barack Obama paid a landmark visit to the country.

Archbishop Bo called for the release of “political prisoners” jailed abroad and said the peo-

ple’s debts should be cancelled, �� `� ��"� �� on a loan, despite our resources”.

He appealed for an end to in-�� -sands had died in “senseless” violence and called for efforts to-wards reconciliation, saying that justice and peace were both vital.

“We are a refugee nation, we �� $`�� three million people are outside our country without proper papers ... most of them are living in hid-ing, living an inhuman life.

“Some of them have not seen their family in decades. Our sons and daughters must come back to their motherland,” he said.

Calling for a renewal of con-�� "��suffering are slowly giving way to hope. The message is the message of empowering the weak, the vul-nerable and the marginalised.”

He highlighted the country’s long period of suffering, stating that in 1962 “a darkness engulfed” �� $"�`� ��was frozen, her beauty was hid-den, her sons and daughters were

literally taken to the slavery of si-lence, many to martyrdom, many to long nights of silent tears.

"`�� millions became illegal migrants eking out an inhuman life in mod-ern forms of slavery.” But now, he �� "{��Q*years, we have come together as a people who have walked in the

darkness to see the light.“The light of truth that shines

on us, the light of freedom whose streaks are slowly waking our people, the light of opportuni-ties that is slowly emerging… the light of hope is slowly starting.

“Our journey is long – but �� -tly in our golden land. Praise be to

God. Thanks to men and women who made that happen.”

`�� {�� 9��>�� Z =��`� ��Asian apostolic delegate, concele-��̀ ��&�� ''��\�`��#�� $

About 1,000 Catholics togeth-er with Religious Brothers and \�� @� � `��during which the Korean delegate ��`� ��#��"��-vive their faith”.

The archbishop also serves as apostolic nuncio to Thailand and Cambodia and apostolic delegate to Laos. � ZENIT, UCANEWS.COM

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has sent a rare video message to Cambodia’s small Catholic �� -lation into Khmer of key Church documents.

The pope’s message was shown on Jan 7, the last day of the Cambodia Church’s national congress in Phnom Penh, which focused on the Second Vatican Council.

The pontiff recalled the “pe-riod of troubles that precipitated your country in the darkness” during the Khmer Rouge re-gime.

He praised the “faith, courage and perseverance” of Cambodia’s Church leaders and Christians who died in a “noble testimony to the truth of the Gospel.

“Be assured of the prayers of your brothers and sisters whose �� he said.

“This testimony,” he added, “has become a priceless spiritual strength to rebuild the Church community in your country.”

The pope invited Cambodia’s Catholics to “be a leaven in the dough of your society, witnessing the love of Christ for all, building bonds of brotherhood with mem-bers of other religious traditions, and walking on the paths of jus-tice and mercy”.

Cambodia’s Catholic commu-nity was persecuted and almost

disappeared during the 1975-&��`��$9� ��Penh’s cathedral was razed to the ground.

>��`�� was celebrated only in 1990 and 90 percent of the country’s Catho-lics have only been baptised in re-cent years.

According to Church sta-tistics, today there are around 20,000 Catholics in Cambodia, less than one percent of the popu-lation.

The Phnom Penh apostolic vi-cariate, led by French missionary bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, has recently bought some land in the capital to build a new cathe-dral. � UCANEWS.COM

Asian domestics most badly treated: report

Fr James Reuter’s mass media work brought a string of awards.

Prominent Churchmen called to the Lord

Snapshot of Church life: Children perform a dance on the feast of St Isidore at Tahen Catholic Parish near Battambang. ��

Pope sends video message to Cambodia’s Catholics

Light ‘dawning’in Myanmar,says archbishop

‘ ��

��’– Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon

Supporters of the National League for Democracy hold a portrait of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a by-election last year. ��

10 Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNewsWORLD

POPE BENEDICT XVI BAPTISES A BABY during a Mass in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican on Jan 13. The pope baptised 20 babies as he celebrated the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. CNS photo

NEW YORK, USA – Often, prayer intentions are offered with hands folded, but a new service allows �� – provided a cellphone is handy.

The New York-based Holy ��9�� has started a service it calls Text �9��Z �� $

The service debuted in Janu-ary with the new year.

Here’s how it works: Text �� "�� "�� $ \� �� -�� $ \� ��will receive a text in reply stat-� �� -

ceived and will be prayed for.The intentions are received on

a website, and will be included collectively in the friars’ prayers twice a day and at Mass.

"~�� needed to offer people an updated way to ask for prayers for special intentions and needs either for ��@� �� Convertino, executive director of �� !��9�� $

"~� �� #� �� $ "Z� �� can tweet, friars can text!” � CNS

US Franciscans offer ‘text-a-prayer-intention’ service

BERLIN – �� #��bishops criticised the country’s �� $

>�� '�=�� -��@� &~��9��$

"9�� |��|��-ticians,” said the conference presi-dent, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch ��$

"Z�� -��$"Z�� -ence.”

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{�� -��'�*%��'�� \��{�� =��-racy protests in Bahrain.

{�� Archdiocese, Mr Robert Eberle, ��#��\�� @� 4, “We hope the Church’s voice �� $�� CNS

German bishops criticise country’s growing arms industry

VATICAN CITY – The Catholic #�� @�� "�� -ceptable” to consider the Jewish �� $

"Z�� @�� #��@��%��$

Z � �� >�� +*� �� \��\�9�� @�� "� �� #�� -� �@��\�� #�� "�� ZZ �� the Church’s”.

�� -�� #�� the traditionalist society have been "�� #�� @��̀ �� $

>�� -� �� =�� '��/��%��`�� #��{�� !�� / -tario, Canada.

{�� @� Q�� \ �� ">�� -�� -�� #��#��

the salvation of souls”.>��"��

�� @�� 9�� \�Matthew: “Whoever is not with �� $�

"� �� @�� @�� @�� $

�� %�� #�\ ��\�� #�� -�� {�� #�� @�� spiritual bond, and denounced any �� @��$� CNS

Calling Jews enemies unacceptable: Vatican spokesman

PARIS – { �� “listen to the streets” after hun-dreds of thousands of people ral-�� =��$

"~�� `�� 9�� -�� Metro daily.

"Z�� -sponsibility rests with those elect-��$ �� -�� $

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{�� -� �� 9��#�� `�� 9��-dent Hollande to “hear and un-��

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>�� "�� -tween those who will be born �� $

�� %� �� several Catholic bishops – includ-� �#�� 9�� %� � |�� $

Z � �� -�� 9�� =��the bishops’ conference president, 9��#�� { �� =>��said he had not participated be-�� "�� -�� " �� $� CNS

Thousands of demonstrators march in Paris on Jan 13 to protest France’s planned legalisation of same-sex marriage. CNS photo

‘Listen to the streets’ on marriage, says French bishops’ spokesman

Franciscan friars

read prayer requests from cell

phones at a New Jersey

friary in the US. CNS photo

11Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews WORLD

ROME – Politicians who want to act as if God did not exist and as if there was no such thing as objec-tive moral truths are bound to fail in their efforts to promote the com-�� $

“The politics we have today in Europe and North America with-out ethical foundations, without a reference to God, cannot resolve our problems, even those of the market and money,” said Arch-bishop Gerhard L Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doc-�� $

The archbishop, coordinator of the project to publish the com-plete works of Joseph Ratzinger-Pope Benedict XVI, said one of the key teachings of the pope is the importance of faith and reason �� $

Speaking on Jan 11 at a Vatican bookstore in downtown Rome, Archbishop Muller said, “Faith and reason are like two people who love each other deeply, who cannot live without each other, and who were intimately made for one another, so much so that they cannot be considered sepa-rate from one another and cannot ��$

He quoted Pope Benedict XVI’s speech to diplomats on Jan 7: “It is precisely man’s for-getfulness of God, and his failure to give Him glory, which gives �� $Z �� no longer make reference to an objective and transcendent truth, how is it possible to achieve an authentic dialogue?”

Archbishop Muller said that in the current run-up to Italian elec-tions he has heard that some poli-ticians want the Catholic Church

to “talk about love, charity and mercy of God” but not insist that ��$

“But where is love without ��¡��$

The archbishop made his com-ments during a short presentation of his new book in Italian, Ampli-��%�/�� $9��una Lettura di Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI, (Broadening the Horizons of Reason: Reading Jo-�� =�� Z_$

In the book, Archbishop Mul-ler highlights the importance Pope Benedict gives to the need for faith and reason to support and purify one another; the pope’s insistence that Christianity is pri-marily about a relationship with Jesus Christ and not simply the acceptance of rules and doctrines; and the key role that studying the life and work of St Augustine has had both on the pope’s theology � �� $� CNS

‘The politics we have today in Europe and North America

without ethical foundations, without a reference to God, cannot resolve our

problems.’– Archbishop Gerhard L Muller,

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Politics that ignore God ‘bound to fail’: ��

12 Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews

Fortnightly newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore

2 Highland Road, #01-03 Singapore 549102.Telephone: 6858 3055. Fax: 6858 2055. Website: www.catholicnews.sg Facebook: www.facebook.com/catholicnews

IN MEMORIAM: Susan Lim: [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS: Richard Paul: [email protected] ADVERTISEMENTS: Elaine Ong: [email protected]: Medona Walter: [email protected] / LAYOUT: Christopher Wong: [email protected] Elaine Ong: [email protected]

MANAGING EDITOR: Father Johnson Fernandez: [email protected]

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Christopher Khoo: [email protected]

STAFF CORRESPONDENTS: Darren Boon: [email protected] Martin See: [email protected]

EDITORIAL MATTERS AND QUERIES: [email protected]

Please include your full name, address and phone no. for all letters to the editor. Published submissions will be edited.

IN VIRTUALLY all his novels, Czech writer Milan Kundera manifests a strong impatience with every kind of ideology, hype or fad that makes for group-think or crowd-hysteria. He is suspicious of slogans, demonstrations and marches of all kinds, no matter the cause.

He calls all these the great march and, to his mind, they invariably lead to violence, all of them. Kundera likes artists because they tend to steer clear of causes,

wanting to paint or write rather than march.>�� |��

wounds in our world that demand our involvement beyond our wanting rather to paint or write. Still Kundera’s severe judgment on marches and demonstrations of all kinds, the great march, is fair warning. Why?

�� to get caught up in ideology, hype, fad, group-think and crowd-hysteria in a way that leaves us mindless. It’s hard to know what we really think and believe, as opposed to what the cultural circles we move within prescribe for us. It’s hard not to be caught up in the fashion of the mo-ment.

But it’s even harder for us to ground ourselves in something deeper. How can we ground ourselves in a depth that immunises us from ide-ology, fad, hype, fashion, and the subtle group-hysterias that plague every culture?

In Luke’s Gospel, the disciples sense that Jesus is drawing His wis-dom, calm, strength and power from somewhere beyond Himself, that He is grounding Himself in something beyond both the enticements and threats of the present moment.

>�� !�� $>�� to connect to this depth and power and they have come to realise that prayer is the route, the only route, to take them there.

And so they ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. What did He teach them? How do we pray in such a way so as to ground ourselves in something truly beyond our own individual and collective narcissism?

Metaphorically, this is described for us in the passage in Scripture which records the martyrdom of St Stephen. This is the scene:

A crowd of very sincere, though misguided, persons, driven by re-ligious fervour, but caught up in some group-hysteria, gather to stone Stephen to death.

Here’s how Scripture describes it: “They were infuriated when �� $��\�� the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Je-sus standing at God’s right hand. ‘Look! I can see the heaven thrown open,’ he said, ‘and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.’

All the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they made a concerted rush at him, thrust him out of the city and stoned him.” (Acts 7, 54-58)

Stephen’s death was real, but the description of his dying is replete with metaphors that tell us what it means to pray and what it means to not pray.

What does it mean to not pray? The crowd, notwithstanding their religious fervour and sincerity, do not pray. The description here says it all: Their gaze is on Stephen, at whom they are looking with misunder-standing and hatred. Moreover, his message of love is at that moment an inconvenient truth so they are stopping their ears so as not to hear.

And they are in the grip of group-hysteria. They are not seeing the heavens laid open, but rather a very earthly person whom they hate; � �� !��\�� $That is why their gaze never rises above their bitter glare at Stephen.

They are solely in the moment, in the now, seeing only what is below the heavens, and that is non-prayer. No matter how sincere we are religiously, what has just been described is not prayer. Indeed sometimes even our sincere prayer together is nothing more than the deepening of our group narcissism and a deeper enslavement to the maddening crowd. Our eyes are still on each other and not on God.

Stephen, on the other hand, is praying. He is described as having his eyes turned upward (a metaphor, not a pictorial description) and he is gazing into heaven and seeing the heavens laid open. His gaze is beyond the crowd, beyond the moment, beyond human divisions, beyond hatred, beyond even the fear of his own death. He is gazing into something beyond the crowd and the present moment. This, and only this, is prayer.

I share Kundera’s fear about the great march and how easily and blindly I, and most everyone else, can fall into step. His hunch is that art can help ground us outside the maddening crowd. I would add that prayer is even more helpful. �

Keeping clearof hysteria

LETTERS

LETTERS/OPINION

Please allow me to clarify the misconceptions of Ms Estella Young (Non-biblical Traditions?, CN Jan 13) and Louis Figueroa (Not Rooted In Pagan Celebra-tion, CN Jan 13) and to state what I wanted to say in my letter that was glossed over by your readers both in print and online.

Ms Young mentioned that “adults dress as zombies or mu-tilated corpses – the bloodier, the better” is not the point I’m saying.

The point I am making is that Halloween can be redeemed by go-ing back to the early practices of our Irish Catholics and to help our chil-dren celebrate Halloween by pray-ing for the dead as what All Saints and All Souls are all about, and that we need not be afraid of the dead as what the secular world teaches.

Secondly, all celebrations whether it be Chinese New Year or National Day (as Ms Young points out) – that “it is a time where we honour our elders, visit friends and family to spread good tidings of God’s peace and bless-ings, and even have a special Mass where we thank God for a good Lunar New Year ahead” –

are congruous with our Catholic faith and so are teaching points for �� $

Mr Figueroa misread my sen-tence: “Jesus wasn’t even born on Dec 25, it has its roots as a pagan celebration of the Sun God.” His point, “the Dec 25 feast of Sol Invictus appears to have been the Romans’ attempt to paganise a Christian festival, rather than the other way around”, is exactly what I said in the sentence above.

To explain what I was trying to bring across is that the New Testa-ment gives no date or year for Je-sus’ birth. In the fourth century AD, Christians imported the Saturnalia �� -duced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week-long period of lawlessness celebrated between Dec 17 and 25.

It was imported hoping to take the pagan masses in with it.

Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to cel-ebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.

The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Chris-tian about Saturnalia. To rem-

edy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, Dec 25, to be Jesus’ birthday.

>�� #�� observed the Nativity on Dec 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that month, but because the heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those pagan holidays meta-morphose into Christian ones.

Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts be-tween 1659 and 1681.

The point I was making with this is that we do not stop celebrat-ing Christmas just because the sec-ular world celebrates it with exces-sive dining, wining and partying.

We should use Christmas as a teaching tool that Christmas is about God giving us His Son Jesus and not the copious food, wine, presents and parties.

Ellen TanSingapore 578840

Managing Editor: With this letter, we close the discussion on the topic

Clarifying some points

Z� �� -cult these days to contemplate the �� !��}��during Mass because of loud mu-sic during Communion.

This is not to disparage the in-valuable contribution of the choir but rather to suggest improve-ments so that the experience of the Mass for the congregants can be further enhanced.

Though the Mass is a thanksgiv-ing ceremony, joyous and celebra-tory in nature, there should not be an over-exuberance in music so as to eclipse the contemplative com-ponent, which is equally important.

Ideally, the music during Com-�� toned down to provide a tranquil ambience to facilitate contempla-tion on the real presence of Christ.

With very few congregants participating in the hymn and the vast majority with heads bowed and eyes closed, I can only sur-

mise that many are struggling to shut out the distracting music to treasure a poignant moment of union with our Lord.

There is a profound moment during the consecration of the sacred host when the silence is almost deafening as the congrega-tion is fully absorbed in reveren-tial worship.

The sacred space after receiv-ing Communion is, in my opinion, equally deserving of silence and should be preserved from the in-trusion of loud music.

The constant reminders that

“only Catholics are allowed to receive Holy Communion” is a pronouncement of a fundamen-tal doctrinal difference between Catholics and Protestants.

What sets us apart from our Protestant brothers, who believe only in a “symbolic presence”, is our faith in the true bodily pres-ence of Christ in the Eucharist.

In this Year of Faith, let us treasure our Catholic identity as believers in Christ’s sacramental presence in the Eucharist and re-evaluate the role of the music min-istry in re-establishing the quiet, contemplative element of Mass.

The music ministry should complement, not compete with, the Mass. In a secular world inun-dated by the culture of noise, let us restore the sanctity of “Sacred Silence” to our Holy Mass.

Joseph ChngSingapore 560104

Loud music at CommunionMusic during

Communion should ��down to facilitate

contemplation.

13Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews FOCUS

COMMENTARY

By Bishop Thomas J Tobin.

The right to own guns is not an absolute right. As a personal right it always has to be balanced with the legitimate rights of other people and with protecting the common good. That’s a principle that applies to all individual freedoms.

For example, we’re guaranteed the right to free speech, but it’s not an absolute right. It was decided a long time ago that because of the common good and for rea-�� "��in a theatre.

And you want to test your freedom of speech? Try talking about your fascination with bombs the next time you’re boarding an airplane and see what happens.

As a society we need always to achieve

a proper balance between individual free-dom and the common good.

The question about the “right to bear �� -als, has been forced into public debate once �� '�� '*�� #� ��by one deranged young man.

We’ll all be thinking about and praying for the victims of that terrible event for a long, long time.

>�� #� ��societal questions that need to be earnestly addressed – ensuring the safety of children in our schools; improving the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness; the rampant vi-�� these days; the stability of the family unit; and the general lack of respect for human

life and dignity in our society, come quickly to mind.

It’s the control of guns, however, that’s emerged as the most emotional and politi-cally divisive issue of the lot. It seems to me, though, that it’s an issue where a little bit of common sense would go a long way in re-storing a proper balance between individual rights and the common good of society.

>�� {�� again emerged as a key player in the current ��$�� NRA is not a fourth branch of government.

If the association wants to be a respect-ed and credible part of our community, it has to be part of the solution, not the source of the problem. It has to promote the com-mon good; not protect its own interests. The NRA, too, is subject to the law of God.

One of the signature songs of the icon-ic folk group Peter, Paul and Mary was Blowin’ in the Wind, written by Bob Dylan. There they ask nine questions, including: "!�� ¡�

In a similar way we can ask ourselves, “How many children must die, how many families must suffer, how many communi-�� -arms? If the answer’s not clear now, it never will be.

It’s time for our nation, state and local governments to enact legislation that will �� -arms available to the general public. � CNS/

excerpted from the Jan 3 issue of the Rhode Island Catholic, Newspaper

of Providence Diocese, USA.

��

By Darren Boon

One felt he received the call to en-�� '*�$The other had always wanted to �� $

Both of them started their studies at the St Francis Xavier Major Seminary on Jan 14.

“God has convinced me to a point that I cannot deny it…I can- �� Z �� '�=��=�� $God initiated the call and all I did was to answer His call, he said.

The former staff member of a polytechnic’s Student Develop-ment Unit said he felt the call to � �� '**�� which he sought spiritual direc-tion and discernment.

Shawn Wong, on the other hand, said he had always had a desire to �� $

>�� ''=��=�� #��\�� Xavier, his parish, and credited Fr Gerard Weerakoon, who was as-sistant priest then, for inspiring him to join the priesthood.

Fr Weerakoon guided and supported him when he became the leader of the altar servers, he said. This and other experiences of reaching out to parishioners allowed Wong to better under-stand the role of a diocesan priest, which convinced him even more of his priestly vocation, he added.

“Most importantly, it was the experience of God’s love in my life, through the challenges, the �� ~� �$

“That was what convinced me that God was calling me to share His love that I have experienced with the people around me. What

better way to do that than through �� ¡�

Wong said he was ready to join the seminary last year, but then decided to go to New Zea-�� evangelisation with people from around the world. The experience �� |�� priesthood, he said.

Before that he was a customer service agent with Singapore Air-port Terminal Services (SATS).

As for Robert, he said that while he enjoyed his job as well ��#��\�Michael, which included being an

�� "��seminary’s vision of supporting � �� $

Reactions from people re-garding their decision have been varied, both shared. Some were �� it illogical. Others were worried the two could have made a wrong decision, while others wondered if the young men would be able to live without worldly attractions.

Yet others were respectful while some kept silent, apparently unsure of how to respond.

~� �� to explain the rationale behind his decision as he is doing it out of love for God. So rather than try to convince friends, Wong said he would set a good example by liv-� ��#�� $

However, both Robert and ~� � �� "�� with their decisions.

Although the way ahead is "� �� "��is showing me this direction now. Whether there’s a turn ahead, I do not know. It is up to

!��£��$�Becoming a priest after eight

years of training is not a foregone conclusion, said Robert, as the discernment process is ongoing. "{ �� $

The ultimate goal is to make it to ordination, Wong said, “but only if it is God’s will. So I’m �� $�

“For the two of us, we’re com-ing in with total openness towards ��$��

[email protected]

��

For two 20somethings, 2013 will be a lot different from previous years as they enter the St Francis Xavier Major Seminary

Gerard Robert (left) and Shawn Wong started studies at the seminary on Jan 14.

altar server, he nevertheless felt called to join the seminary.

One thing both men agree on is that pursuing their vocation means giving up marriage and raising a family, and possibly seeing less of family members and friends.

While coping with the studies appear to be the least of their wor-ries, both acknowledge they have to make adjustments to their lives, such as adhering to the seminary’s schedules and timetable.

Living a community life with people of different backgrounds would also pose its own set of challenges, noted Wong.

He realises he has “to be more sensitive to the needs of my fel-

‘God has convinced me to a point that I cannot deny it… I cannot say, ‘No, I won’t do this.’’

– Gerard Robert, 29

14 Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNewsCHRISTIAN UNITY WEEK

VATICAN CITY – Sharing an obli-gation to spread the good news of salvation in Christ, all Christian communities are challenged by the fact that many people today do not think they need God, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“The spiritual poverty of many of our contemporaries, who no long-er perceive the absence of God in their lives as a privation, represents a challenge for all Christians,” the pope said in a meeting with mem-�� 9� �� #�� Promoting Christian Unity recently.

The pope said authentic ecu-menical prayer, dialogue and co-operation cannot ignore “the cri-sis of faith that vast regions of the planet are experiencing” nor can Christians ignore signs that many modern people still feel a need for some kind of spirituality.

Efforts to reunite all Christians are an essential part of the new

evangelisation, the pope said. Re-sponding to the obligation to share the Gospel and to heal a divided Christianity, he said, every Chris-tian must “return to the essential, to the heart of our faith, giving the world a witness of the living God, that is, a God who knows us and loves us and in whose gaze we live; a God who awaits the response of our love in our everyday lives”.

Pope Benedict said the theolog-ical dialogues the Catholic Church is engaged in with other Churches and Christian communities are im-portant means of keeping the ecu-�� the faith and not simply on trying �� $

“Even when one cannot see in the immediate future a possibil-ity for the re-establishment of full communion,” he said, the dialogues “allow us to become aware not only of resistance and obstacles, but also of the richness of experiences, spir-�� that can become a stimulus for an ever deeper witness”.

The pope said Jesus’ prayer that His disciples be one so the world would believe means that Christians cannot accept dividing differences as something normal. “It is full communion in faith, sacraments and ministry that will make the present and active power of God concretely visible in the world,” he said.

Opening the council’s plenary meeting, Cardinal Kurt Koch, coun-cil president, told members that

“the ecumenical process of over-coming the division of the Church cannot help but have a consequence on the relationship modern secular

culture has with religion in general and with Christianity in particular”.

Unfortunately, today, new Christian divisions are arising on

the basis of differing approaches to moral and ethical questions, particularly regarding the safe-guarding of human life from con-ception to death, he said.

“If the Churches and Christian communities are not able to speak with one voice in the face of the great ethical problems of our age, that will harm Christian ecumen-ism and the credibility of the new evangelisation,” he said. � CNS

‘Christians must face secularisation together’

Ecumenical cooperation can’t ignore crisis of faith in world, says pope

Anglican Archbishop Michael Jackson (left) and Catholic Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland, leading an ecumenical Good Friday procession last year. CNS photos

‘The spiritual poverty of [those] who no longer perceive the absence of God in their

lives as a privation, represents a challenge.’– Pope Benedict XVI

15Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews

By Bishop Denis Madden

When I was a boy, Catholics did not enter Protestant or Orthodox churches. We did not pray togeth-er except for an occasional prayer before a public event.

Now, 50 years after the Second Vatican Council, we pray together regularly. This type of “spiritual ecumenism” is at the heart of our movement towards Christian unity.

The council’s Decree on Ecu-menism (1964) “Unitatis Redin-tegratio” (Restoration of Unity), opened the doors of the Church. The council exhorted “all the Catholic faithful…to take an ac-tive and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism” [Decree, #4].

We began to build relationships of trust and forgiveness with our Protestant and Orthodox neigh-bours. We became friends. We be-gan to look together more honestly at the issues that divide us.

The council urged us to make “…every effort to avoid expres-sions, judgments and actions that do not represent the condition of our separated brethren with truth and fairness ….” [#4]

In formal dialogues and in-formal conversations, we moved from mutual suspicion and some exaggerations to an honest search for the facts and the truth of the past. Often our perceived differ-ences came from the preconcep-tions and emotions of times past and not from deep divisions.

Our renewed relationships led to practical collaborations. Today the local food pantry or soup kitch-

en in the US is often sponsored by an ecumenical coalition of church-es. Frequently, we coordinate our international efforts to aid those in need so we might be more effective.

On the local level, we see Catho-lic parish Bible study groups. These did not exist in my youth. We see many Protestant churches celebrat-ing the Lord’s Supper every Sunday.

Protestants have shared with Catholics their love for the Bible; Catholics have shared with Protes-tants their love for the sacraments.

Both the Vatican and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops

Vatican in 1999. Z��

">�� alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works” [Declaration, #15].

In 2006, the World Methodist Council signed the Declaration.

More recently, representa-tives of many Orthodox Churches and of the Holy See endorsed the Ravenna Statement on the Church.

This little-known statement about the sacramental nature of the Church and its implications for Church life and authority – lo-cal, regional and universal – was a �� -plications for the unity of Eastern and Western Christians.

Of course, there’s still some way to go, and this challenges all Christians. We are just beginning to address ecumenically some of the “hot” moral issues of our times, such as questions of sexual morality.

While we have substantial agreement on many moral issues, we need to dig down deeper into the causes of our divergences.

The work of ecumenism is slow but steady. We are touching the deep foundations of our lives. We all adjust slowly to change – even change for the better. �

Bishop Madden is chairman of the Committee for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Vatican II’s quest for

Christian unityA look at Vatican Council II’s Decree on Ecumenism

as the Church marks Christian Unity Week

Representatives of Christian Churches in Singapore bless the congregation at an ecumenical prayer service during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity last year. The special week is held from Jan 18-25 yearly.

Photo: WONG LEONG JEAM

engage in scholarly dialogues with Protestant and Orthodox friends and colleagues.

“Through such dialogue eve-ryone gains a truer knowledge and more just appreciation of the teaching and religious life of both communions” [#4].

One result of these dialogues was the Joint Declaration on the �� @�� -fully worded statement on the key theological issue of the Reforma-tion that was agreed to by the Lu-theran World Federation and the

In dialogues, we moved from

mutual suspicion to an honest search for

the facts and the truth of the past.

CHRISTIAN UNITY WEEK


CHILDREN’S STORY:

By Joe Sarnicola

During the seventh month, the peo-ple of Israel assembled in the square by the Water Gate. Ezra the scribe stood before them in order to read from the laws and commandments God had given to Moses. So Ezra be-gan to read to the men, women and children who were gathered in front of him. He read from the time the sun �� $

Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been built for the readings he ��$!��for the people to see before he read from them. Because he was on the platform, he was above the crowd, which made it easier for everyone to see and hear him. Before Ezra read from the scrolls, he blessed the Lord and the people raised their

hands and said, “Amen, amen!”>��

bowed before the Lord.Ezra was assisted by some of

the Levites, who helped to explain the laws. As Ezra read, he interpret-ed what he was reading so the peo-ple would understand.

Nehemiah, the governor, also ��}��$!��people. “Today is holy to the Lord your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep.” He said this because some of the people cried as they heard �� $“Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.”

Then the Levites stepped for-��$">��$�� be saddened.” So the people of Israel stopped crying and began to rejoice

and celebrate because the laws of God had been read and explained to them.

On the next day, the priests, the Levites and the leaders of the ances-tral houses met with Ezra to con-tinue studying the laws. As they did so, they discovered that God wanted the people of Israel to live in special booths during the seventh month. They instructed the people to build the booths out of branches, and the booths could be found in courtyards, on the roofs of their houses and in the square of the Water Gate.

Ezra continued to read every day and the people celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day they observed a solemn assem-bly, according to the laws given to Moses. �

Read more about it: Nehemiah 8

Q&A1. Why did Ezra stand on a wooden

platform? 2. What did the Levites say about the

day of the reading of the law?

PUZZLE:Unscramble the following books of the Bible:1. s c h e l r o c n i

______________________________

2. l a m p s s ______________________________

3. m a s o r n ______________________________

4. d e j u ______________________________

5. r a z e ______________________________

6. a l i n e d ______________________________

7. w h a t t e m ______________________________

Bible Accent:Scholars used to believe that the /��>�� }�� Nehemiah had been written by the same person. Now there is doubt about that claim because there is some confusion about �� actually happened.

~�� -ever the authors were, give us one of the best accounts of the origins of the Jewish people who lived in Judah after they had returned from their exile in Babylon.

Most of the information we have about the man Ezra, who was a priest and a prophet, is from Ezra Chapters �=&*� ��#�� $>��}��helped to preserve the laws of God for the people and to record the many years of history and traditions that had passed before the exile. �

SPOTLIGHT ON SAINTS:St Eystein ErlandssonEystein Erlandsson (d. 1188) was the second archbishop of the very young see of Nidaros, Norway. Prior to that ap-pointment, he had been serving as the chaplain to King Inge.

After traveling to Rome for an audience with Pope Alex-ander III, Eystein returned to Nidaros to oversee the expan-sion of the cathedral. He also had the privilege of perform-� �� `�� $

�� }�� } �� $~��-per called “The Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Olaf”. {�� ¦� � `�� }�� $

We honour him on Jan 26. �

Answers to Puzzle:1. Chronicles, 2. Psalms, 3. Romans, 4. Jude, 5. Ezra, 6. Daniel,7. Matthew.

Answers to Bible Trivia: Seven

Answers to Wordsearch:

BIBLE TRIVIA:How many sacraments are there in the Church?

WORDSEARCH: � SEVENTH � MONTH � ISRAEL � SQUARE � EZRA � SCRIBE � ORDER � LAWS � MOSES � PLATFORM � SCROLLS � BLESSED

17Sunday January 27, 2013 � CatholicNews WHAT’S ONEVENT SUBMISSIONS

We welcome information of events happening in our local Church.

Please send your submission at least one month before the event. Online submissions can be made at www.

catholic.sg/webevent_form.php

SATURDAYS FEB 23RCIY@ST MARY OF THE ANGELS3.30-6.45pm: For 13-18 years old. At Church of St Mary of the Angels. T: 9746 4548 (Jeannette); E: [email protected]

WEDNESDAYS JAN 16 TO MARCH 20BIBLE STUDY – LETTER TO THE ROMANS 8-10pm: Lectures by Fr Ambrose Vaz on St Paul’s letter to the Romans. Free. At Church of St Francis Xavier (St Mary Room). Register E: [email protected] (Ron), [email protected] (Maisie)

JAN 24IADORE8.15-10pm: Eucharistic adoration for youth and young adults. Confession available. At Church of the Holy Spirit (Chapel). T: 90667944 (Derek), E: [email protected]

JAN 25EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR YOUNG ADULTS8-9.30pm: With rosary, scriptural �� $ At Church of St Ignatius (St Francis Xavier Chapel Kingsmead Hall). E: [email protected]

JAN 26COMMISSIONING OF PRINCIPALS & SERVICE OF COMMITMENT 6-8pm: Commissioning of principals and service of commitment for principals and vice principals of Catholic schools. By ACCS. At St Anne’s Church. T: 68587080; E: [email protected]

FEB 1WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR CONSECRATED LIFE6-7pm: The Church is invited to remember with gratitude the women and men who have dedicated their lives in service to the mission of Jesus. Mass celebrated by Archbishop Nicholas Chia. At Church of St Teresa. T: 9362 5408; E: [email protected]

FRIDAY FEB 1 TO SUNDAY FEB 3MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER WEEKENDFri (8pm)-Sun (6pm): A live-in marriage

enrichment programme for happily married couples to equip themselves on this till-the-end-of-time journey of love. By Marriage Encounter Singapore. At 201-B Punggol 17th Avenue. Register T: 9670 5390; E: [email protected]

SATURDAY FEB 2 AND SUNDAY FEB 3FAITH AND LIGHT COMMUNITY SHARINGFaith and Light will be sharing about its ministry – centred on people with intellectual disabilities – with everyone, especially families with these special persons. Both intellectually disabled and non-disabled persons are most welcome �� |�� $ At Church of the Risen Christ. T: 9639 9660 (Kok Wing); E: [email protected]

WEDNESDAYS FEB 6 TO APRIL 10HOME RETREAT – JOURNEY TOWARDS NEW LIFE7.30pm: A10-week retreat over Lent-Easter season based on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. It is a school of prayer to learn how to pray for those who are too busy, who want to deepen �� God in the midst of their daily living.

By Cenacle Sisters. At Church of Sts Peter and Paul. Register T: 6565 2895, 9181 7763, 9722 3148; E: [email protected].

FRIDAYS FEB 15 TO MARCH 22YEAR OF FAITH7.30-9.30pm: 6 sessions to help Catholics rediscover their faith and become joy-�� $�{#9>$At Church of St Bernadette AVA Room. Register by Feb 8. SMS: 8467 6161, 8467 6363; E: [email protected]

TUESDAYS FEB 19 TO APRIL 30THE MESSAGE OF THE PROPHETS8-9.30pm: Lectures by Msgr Eugene Vaz. By Church of the Holy Family Biblical Apostolate Team. At Church of the Holy Family (Function Room Level 4). Register E: [email protected]

THURSDAYS FEB 21 TO MAY 9 ALPHA COURSE7.15-10pm: The Alpha course is to help people have a basic understanding of their Christian faith. All are welcome. At Church of Blessed Sacrament (Damien Hall). Register T: 9239 5562; E: [email protected]

FEB 24 TO APR 7 MARRIAGE PREPARATION COURSEFor couples intending to get married. / ��=��=��$ Quarter 2 course from Apr 28 to Jun 2. T: 9839 9840 (Ron/Grace); E: [email protected]; Register in parishes or W: http://www.catholic.org.sg/mpc

MONDAYS FEB 25 TO MAY 6 ALPHA COURSE7.45-9.45pm: The Alpha Course provides an opportunity for people to deepen their Christian faith or to explore it in a relaxed and informal environment. It is designed to let people think and talk about the Christian faith at their own pace. At Church of St Bernadette (12 Zion Rd). Register T: 9798 7788 (Richard), 8322 5356 (Andy); E: [email protected]

THURSDAYS FEB 28 TO APRIL 4 COMMON SENSE PARENTING WORKSHOP�$+*=�$+*��{��=�� workshop developed by Boystown, USA, that has helped thousands of parents to walk the talk in raising responsible children. Parents will gain �� approach to manage behaviours and guide children in the choices they make. By Morning Star Community Services. At 4 Lor Low Koon. Register T: 6315 8812; E: [email protected] FRIDAY MARCH 8 TO SUNDAY MARCH 10 BEGINNING EXPERIENCE WEEKENDFri (6pm)-Sun (4pm): For those divorced, separated, or who have experienced the death of a spouse. Work through one’s grief and put one’s past behind, to be �� $ Register T: 9647 9122 (Sue), 9828 5162 (Jean), 9661 8089(Joseph); E: [email protected]

By John P McCarthy

NEW YORK – In Porta Fidei (The Door of Faith), an apostolic letter announcing the current Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI urges us to study the history of Catholicism, which he describes as “marked by the unfathomable mystery of the interweaving of holiness and sin”.

This striking observation also �� $All too often in movies, however, sin dominates and holiness is dif-�� $

In the spirit of the new evan-gelisation, the Year of Faith is an appropriate time to ask what con-stitutes a faithful and, more spe-��#��$

Z� �� -�� grade; if too broad, the designa-tions themselves will become meaningless.

>�� #�� there are many reasons a picture might be deemed Catholic. But the dynamic between those who create a work, the work itself, and the audience beholding it is a use-ful shortcut.

A movie may qualify as #�� Catholic sensibility, if the subject matter – plot, personae or setting – involves Catholicism, and/or if a viewer offers a plausible Catholic interpretation.

{�� -tions and outlook is problematic because cinema is such a collabo-rative medium. Still, provided they �� -maker’s aims and sensibility are a rich source of interpretive material.

The pantheon of Catholic direc-tors (lapsed and devout) includes Robert Bresson, Luis Bunuel, Frank Capra, Francis Ford Coppo-la, Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitch-cock, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Martin

Scorsese and Andrei Tarkovsky./� ��

�� #�� with a Catholic theme, plot, set-�� $A minimum amount of respect for the Catholic subject matter must be evinced, even if strong doubts are expressed and considerable ambiguity permitted.

The range of examples stretch-es from Carl Theodor Dreyer’s si-lent masterwork The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and popular entertainments from Hollywood’s Golden Age – Bible epics and cer-tain Bing Crosby vehicles, for in-stance – to more recent fare.

The latter includes the biopic Romero (1989), The Chronicles of Narnia series (2005-2010), the documentary Into Great Silence (2007) and the fact-based French ��/�� `� ^'*&&_$

When assessing subject mat-ter, movies blatantly hostile to religion, patently heretical or ob-viously anti-Catholic are readily ��$ >�� pay lip service to religious faith or peddle watered-down beliefs are nearly as easy to dismiss.

While better than many alter-natives, what passes for religiosity in most mainstream movies is too shallow and generic to leave a deep impression. Humanism, non-specif-ic ethical concerns and advocacy of a vaguely spiritual, less materialis-tic approach to life are not enough.

\�� illustrate this point. As a boy, the title character in Life of Pi embarks � � �� picking and choosing from a num-ber of different faiths, including Catholicism. Yet, as his atheist fa-ther remarks, “Believing in every-thing is like believing in nothing.”

Many elements in the time-travelling fantasia Cloud Atlas can be considered pro-faith. But its overarching theme concerning indi-viduals linked throughout history is � �� $

Two other current releases un-derscore another important point. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Un-chained address the immorality of slavery in very different ways.

Both want to entertain and en-lighten audiences about historical realities. Yet, with its revenge narra-tive, the graphic violence, obscene language and exploitative tenor of >�� any salubrious message. � CNS

John P McCarthy is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

Cinema in the Year of Faith: What makes a movie Catholic?

Ben Barnes and Warwick Davis star in a scene from the movie The Chron-icles of Narnia: Prince of Caspian.

A movie may qualify as Catholic if the

��sensibility, if the subject matter – plot, personae or setting – involves

Catholicism, and/or if a viewer offers a plausible Catholic interpretation.

COMMENTARY

CNS photo

VATICAN CITY – Vatican City State vendors, including the Vati-can Museums and supermarket, stopped accepting credit and debit card payments on Jan 1, �� Z�� -thorities.

Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said on Jan 2, “The arrangement between �� #��\��and one of the POS (point of sale) providers, whose services were employed to facilitate payments by tourists and pilgrims inside the Vatican, is about to expire.”

He said the Vatican already was in negotiations with other providers, and the no-plastic pol-icy was expected to short-lived.

While declining to speak on the record, sources at the Vati-can did not dispute reports that the credit and debit card prob-lem arose when Italy’s central bank denied Deutsche Bank Ita-lia – the Vatican’s point of sale provider – permission to operate

in Vatican City State, a foreign country.

The central bank, the Bank of Italy, said it discovered in 2010 that Deutsche Bank Italia had been handling the Vatican’s credit and debit card transactions without the necessary approv-al. Deutsche Bank applied for permission, which was denied on Dec 6 by the Bank of Italy, claiming Vatican City State did �� laws stringent enough to prevent money laundering.

While the Vatican negoti-ates with potential new credit card handlers – presumably non-Italian companies – it continues �� laws and procedures to comply with international norms against �� -� � �� -cial said.

Just a few days after the Deutsche Bank petition was de-nied, amendments to the Vati-�� effect, giving the Vatican’s new

Financial Information Authority greater independence in sharing information with other countries’ � � ��$

In December 2010, Pope Ben-edict XVI instituted the agency �� operations. At the same time, the Vatican promulgated a new law �� established penalties – including possible jail time – for their vio-lation. � CNS

Vatican suspends acceptance of credit cards amid tension with regulator

A notice on the Vatican Museums’ website informs patrons that they will be unable to pay using credit and debit cards beginning Jan 1.

Visitors stroll through the Court of the Pigna, part of the Vatican Museums.

CNS photos


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JANUARY 27, 2013, Vol 63, No 02