Some Good News & Some Bad News from PNG – by Bro. Jim Coucher CP.

A couple of years ago, I celebrated my golden jubilee of Profession for which I was offered an overseas trip. At the time I was not ready to go anywhere but, in my heart, I knew that one day I would like to return to Papua New Guinea. In the middle of last year I felt that I should go while I still had the chance and so I decided to go in December to celebrate Christmas there and catch up with all my friends over the holiday period; also to attend the Ordination of John Auram.

Everyone said that PNG would not be the same as when I was there and that I would be saddened with all the changes. I knew that, but I was going so as I could catch up with all my friends in the villages and had made up my mind not to get involved in anything else. Little did I know just how drastic the changes were and my resolve, not to get involved, left me on the very first day. I had lived and worked in PNG for 43 years and most of the adults in the Vanimo diocese, were just little nippers whom I saw grow up into adults and parents; many of them I knew very well and were great friends and as I found out, that friendship is still very strong. There were many people from various villages there to meet me at the airport, as well as children and volunteers from the Senta Bilong Helpim. It was indeed a very lovely and a very emotional time, not only for me but for the people also. There were hugs, kisses and tears as well as many flowers draped around my neck. Those emotions were experienced every day I was there as not a day went past when I met and was warmly welcomed by the people from those early years. The joy and happiness I felt was unbelievable and I felt very much at home as soon as I stepped off the plane.

I was privileged to be there to celebrate Christmas as it is celebrated in the true spirit without the commercialism and materialism. It is hard to describe the experience but Christmas Mass was just so beautiful. It was joyous, spiritual and very moving. The singing I could only describe as heavenly or angelic and I really did have goose bumps from listening. That is the experience at all the liturgies; I think that we could learn a lot from the people there.

Much of my time there was spent doing maintenance at the Senta Bilong Helpim. I was able to fix the pump on the pool as well as getting the generator working, both of which had been out of action for nearly 2 years. I also repaired tanks and guttering as well as any other maintenance that needed doing. I certainly had enough to do but still had plenty of time to visit with friends and to catch up on all the happenings since I was last there and this is what broke down my resolve, not to get involved. I could not ignore the pleas of the people who are hurting badly from the corruption and bribery that is going on around them. When I was last there I was concerned about the logging that was going on but I never could have imagined the immensity and the devastation of the vandalism to the magnificent rainforest that is taking place today. Logs are being shipped out in tens of thousands. Acres of forest are being pillaged and plundered. Local authorities are becoming very rich and in some cases, even millionaires because of the bribes. The grassroots people (the landowners) get virtually nothing. I could not see any improvement in the lifestyle of the village people since logging started about 40 years ago. If anything, it has gone backwards as education and health is virtually nonexistent in the rural areas and even in the Vanimo town hospital there is no medication.

I visited the hospital almost every day I was there and between Christmas Day and the time I left, I watched 5 people die because of the lack of medication. They all died of diarrhoea. The youngest was 11 and the eldest 40. These people are the landowners and yet there is not even enough money to provide their basic needs and rights. Most do not have sufficient money for school fees even if schools were functioning. The jungle that provided their hunting is no longer there. The harbour that was a great fishing ground is now so polluted that there are very few fish. The once pristine beaches are now littered with logs and other debris. Then of course there are all the other consequences apart from bribery and corruption. There is also smuggling, prostitution, aids, drugs and alcohol abuse.

People ask me what is the answer? What should we be doing? I can honestly say that I don’t think there is an answer. I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel and as long as people, especially politicians, are getting handouts, no one has the will to stop the logging. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has signed agreements with his counterpart in PNG and is sending money to stop the deforestation but I don’t think he has any idea of the enormity of the problem. When people ask me what we should be doing, all I can say is to write to your members of parliament and tell them of the concerns that you have heard of. It should be a real concern for each and every one of us as it must surely have a detrimental effect on our climate as well.     Bro. Jim CP.

                                                                      Fr Kevin Hennessy CP

FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE AND A RED PAPER CLIP – Fr Brian Traynor CP.

On 12 July 2005, Kyle MacDonald began trading his way to a house. He used a webblog to advise readers of his intention and people began to follow his trading through the Internet. On that first day he managed to trade his starting item, a large red paper clip, for a fish pen in Vancouver. The fish pen was swapped for a ceramic doorknob and the doorknob was swapped for an outdoor camping stove. Next, the stove was swapped in New York for an electric 1000W Honda EX generator that in turn was swapped for a Neon Bar sign and a beer keg. The bar sign and keg were swapped for a snowmobile and the snowmobile was exchanged for a ski vacation which in turn was swapped for a van and the van was swapped for a recording contract and this recording contract was traded way for one year’s free rent in an apartment in Arizona. Next Kyle swapped the rented apartment for an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper, which he managed to swap for a snow globe featuring the rock band KISS. The snow globe was swapped by actor Corbin Bernsen for a role in his next movie ‘Donna on Demand’. Then the town of Kipling Saskatchewan, keen to promote the municipality, swapped the movie role for a house. In the space of one year, Kyle McDonald was able to turn a paper clip into a house. It seems unbelievable. Who said miracles can’t happen?

Jesus was able feed a huge multitude with 5 loaves and 2 fish. He took what the people had, and with God’s grace it was enough. But what was this miracle? Dietary laws were strict in New Testament times. Because there was fear of defilement in the event of contact with sinners or if unclean food was taken, regulations were strict about how food was to be prepared and eaten and with whom it might be safely shared. Careful ritual washings were necessary to avoid contamination. Observant Jews avoided all contact with outcasts, sinners, pagans and non-observant Jews and they refused to share a meal with someone if they were uncertain about their moral and religious status. Because mingling with non-Jews was a fact of life for those living in the cities of Galilee and Judea, it became increasingly challenging to observe these laws. This is important to recognize in appreciating that table fellowship was one of the distinguishing features of Jesus’ ministry. His eagerness to share meals with ‘sinners’ and ‘outcasts’ was perhaps the most outstanding feature of his ministry. These meals Jesus shared with the outcasts were not simply occasions for preaching his message. They were the message! This can help in understanding the miracle of loaves and fishes. For a miracle to have genuine religious significance it must transform the human heart. Curing a lame person is not as miraculous as curing a hardened heart or a despairing spirit and the great miracle of Jesus' ministry was reconciliation, with God and with others. Jesus did not perform tricks. The story of Jesus feeding five thousand people suggests that those who had come to hear Jesus, brought no food with them. Since his audience would have been almost exclusively Jewish, it is likely that they would have taken the precaution of bringing with them enough bread or dried fish in order to faithfully observe the dietary laws. The women would surely have thought of this! It would have concerned some law abiding Jews that Jesus had a reputation for attracting and tolerating the socially marginalized, and eating in their company would have been a risk. After preaching to the people, Jesus invited them to sit down and prepare for a meal with those around them. Sharing a meal together like this was an opportunity to break down the religious and social barriers that Jesus had been preaching about. It was practice for living in the kingdom he spoke of. Jesus didn't just share the few loaves and dried fish and cause them to multiply. He gave thanks to God. This was his first act. Then He blessed the bread, broke it and passed it around. Here is Eucharist ‘out in the open’. Everyone is welcome at this meal and there is enough ‘food’ for everyone in this all-inclusive family. It was then that the miracle occurred. God opened their hearts, and they, in turn, opened their satchels, and the greatest miracle of all occurred. Jesus preached of God’s abundant love and forgiveness and then invited those who heard his message to sit down together and live for a moment in the ‘kingdom’ about which he was preaching. The people knew the significance of Jesus’ action.

Faced with famine, Elisha had been given 20 loaves of barley which he directed be given to ‘one hundred men’. When challenged that this was not enough, Elisha ordered that it be done and when they had all eaten ‘there was some left over’. (2 Kings 4:43-44). Elisha had some food left over after he been able to feed one hundred people with 20 barley loaves. Now here was Jesus with 12 baskets of leftovers after he had fed 5 thousand people, with just 5 loaves of bread. How many people could Jesus feed? Five thousand, fifty thousand or five hundred thousand? There is no limit. God’s abundance was here to been seen and people could share in providing for one another out of God’s table of plenty. The miracle created a new kind of community, generated by prayer and inclusion. Brief as it was, it was an experience of ‘the kingdom’. Jesus’ miracle was the changing of the human heart. Has our heart been changed? Is our discipleship a matter of the head or the heart? If we don’t have enough tomato to give everyone a piece, or enough ham and pineapple so that everyone gets a serve, but we do have some flour, an oven and some cheese, we can make enough pizza for everyone. We can focus on what we don’t have. The task can seem so big we can’t get started. But if we open our hearts we can be part of the 5 thousand, sharing what we have and caught up in Jesus’ vision of a family for all. Paul says ‘without love, I am nothing’. What is this love? Paul continues, ’Love is patient and always takes the initiative; it is not jealous or boastful; nor arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful; Love bears all things. Love is always ready to believe, always ready to trust, always ready to hope and always ready to endure anything. Love never comes to an end.’ What a miracle it would be if we showed that to our world.

“Aton Kalibutan, Aton Das Bwanlag”
  -  by Fr Peter Gardiner CP.

 As part of my work as Chaplain to Christian Brothers College, Adelaide, I am totally privileged to accompany students on two pilgrimages we undertake. The first is in September, to the Philippines. We live with some of the urban poor in Manila. We visit the rubbish tip of Payatas, and share a meal with families who live and make a living there. We live with students on the island of Negros. These kids are dirt poor, yet possess enormous dignity and talent. All they lack is the vast array of options and opportunities we have here in this great country.

 
 In November, together with students from St Mary’s College, Adelaide, we visited Phu My Orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Phu My is home to 350 disabled orphans. The boys, through the Social Action Group, support fund raising for these and other projects in these cities. One project we support is a hostel for HIV Positive babies. I can assure you that it is incredibly humbling to hold a five-day-old baby boy, born HIV+.  Who was I to be born into such a loving and caring family, when these kids have so much hope wiped out even before they see the light of day?

The pilgrimages are both profound and life enhancing experiences. As different as they are, and as different as the experiences they contain, the students come back with two common responses. Firstly, a profound gratitude for the life and opportunities they have here in Australia. And secondly, a profound gratitude for the young men and women with whom they share this experience. To go to the edge with your mates and young people you respect and care about, is a profound experience. When you are with any one of these people, knowing it takes all the love and courage in their hearts to face the challenges that confront them, challenges  that they can’t walk away from, but instead  they face their fears, and overcome them, then it’s pretty hard for us to have any other emotion than total love and respect for these  people .

To visit a rubbish tip, and sit down and eat with people, and all you can smell is the rotting rubbish on the tip, is an experience I both recommend to you, and not recommend to you. Visiting the Orphanage is the hardest thing I do in my life. To see these profoundly disabled kids, to try and feed them, while they spit on you, throw up on you, or worse, and to not walk away, is both a challenge and a Gospel call. It is humbling to be with a lad, who is in the First VIII, in the First XVIII, who’s crying, because he’s just been peed on for the third time that day. He’s not crying because he’s been peed on again. He’s crying because of the love and compassion he felt for this struggling bundle of life he is cradling in his arms. Before we left for the Philippines, I asked the students to compose a slogan for our Pilgrimage. They came up with ‘Our World, Our Future’. We had it translated into the Iloilo language of the people we were sharing life with: ‘Aton Kalibutan, Aton Das Bwanlag’. It is both a challenge, and a choice we make.

    I like to think I am a better person for sharing the road with these young men   
    and women.          Fr Peter CP.

“Winter in America is cold ...”
from our foreign correspondent -Denis Travers CP

    I recall a well-known group that sang this line in a song once... and it appropriately sums up my experience at the moment.

   The New Year began for me in Australia, and then in quick succession I found myself in Italy and in Kenya, but for the past six weeks, I have been in the United States of America (mainly on the east coast) and for the first four weeks, I was essentially in the midst of snow, ice and cold!

 It is pretty constant for me - I am officially visiting each of about 20 monasteries interviewing the men and writing reports on the communities we have here, be it a parish or retreat house etc. In each house I also meet the local community and some of the local lay groups; I make at least one main presentation in each house and I interview every man. I usually meet with the staff members or parish council and/or retreat board members and then after it all, I write a report for Fr Ottaviano in Rome. I pack and unpack about every three days!

I began in early February and will finish at Easter - it is a busy schedule (for example in one week I was in 4 houses in 8 days! (from one Sunday to the following). My quietest moments and most solitude have been at airports waiting for flights!

 

I have gone from cold and snow in New York and Pittsburgh to tropical heat (Jamaica West Indies), to moderate warmth (Florida, Georgia and N Carolina) and back to cold in Chicago and am anticipating snow again as I still have to go to our places in Canada (Toronto) and New England (US). So one minute I am in short sleeves and the next in a weatherproof jacket complete with scarf and gloves!

 Passionist Companions Meeting

    Another form of Passionist Association

The Passionist Companions of Holy Cross gathered for the first time this year on the evening of March 25^th.

(◙ If you have not attended a Companions gathering, and would like to come in the future, please phone holy Cross 9846 6014 for future dates.)

Michael Doyle – co-ordinator for the group – welcomed everyone, while noting that the first gathering that had planned for February 11^th was changed, but not cancelled, when the Companions were able to join with the Passionists and other members of our Passionist family, in the celebration of the life of a well loved Passionist and Theologian, Father Greg Manly CP who had passed into eternal life that very week.

Fr John Curtis CP led the evening’s discussion, commencing with a challenging question: ‘Who is Jesus?, and focusing particularly on the Passion of Jesus as reflected in the Gospels. Appropriately, the music played was ‘May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts’.

Fr John then invited us to consider particular aspects of each of the Gospels of the evangelists in turn, starting with Mark, then Matthew, and Luke and John, drawing on a particular, yet unique, aspect of each Gospel, for example, in Mark, ‘abandonment’ - why have you forsaken me? And in this same account, another perspective, we see the conversion of the Roman Centurion: ‘in truth this man was a son of God’.

Turning then to the Gospel of Matthew, Fr John asked us to consider: ‘who was responsible?’ Pilate? Herod? The Roman Soldiers? The High Priests, the Elders, the Scribes? The people, everyone, ie us?

Similar, yet different questions were considered in relation to the Passion accounts of Luke and John, with interludes of reflective music between each account. 

Four discussion groups were then formed to consider questions connecting our lives to the Passion of Jesus – challenging questions, such as: ‘what spoke to you in these reflections on the Passion of Jesus?’ and ‘what feelings/emotions do you think would have been most alive in Jesus as he faced his Passion?’