Table Of ContentCatholic Resource & Information Service
112 Kintore Street Thebarton SA 5031
PO Box 179 Torrensville Plaza SA 5031
Ph: 8301 6869
Email: [email protected]
Spring 2014
Pope Francis
CONTENTS: C.R.I.S. OPENING HOURS:
Book Reviews Monday - Friday 9:00 – 5:00
Theme:
Library closed Catholic Education
Resources for Made in the Image Office Staff Days 2014::
of God ‘Being Human’ strand Tuesday, 16 September, 9-11am
Thursday, 30 October, 9-1pm
New Resources
Closed weekends and public holidays.
Book Reviews
Breaking the rules : Trading performance for
intimacy with God
Fil Anderson
IVP Books 2010
248.4 AND
Fil Anderson tells his story of growing up in the Bible Belt of USA, completing Theological
Seminary studies, becoming a pastor, as well as a spiritual director, conference giver, writer and
retreat leader. Religion taught him God was powerful, flawless and provoked to anger by his
weaknesses and sin and that he needed to obey the rules, attend religious services, read the
bible, avoid immoral activity, pray, and show kindness and generosity to others.
The author tells his story of gradually learning that he did not have to earn salvation and that God loves him as he is. For
many Catholics but certainly not all, since Vatican 11 learnt that God loves them and we took it for granted. We were
helped by the writings of Catholic authors e.g. Richard Rohr and Joan Chittister (both of whom Fil read) and the
preaching of informed priests, to take John’s Gospel and the writings of St Paul as true and to believe that God loves us.
Older Catholics will remember attending Parish Missions where the emphasis was on fear, sin, and damnation,
vigorously preached. The hope is that most have moved on from those days. Each of us has had to unlearn, as Fil
Anderson did, that not all things we were taught were true.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ” John 3:16 “Not our love for God but God’s love for us” John 4:10
“Make your home in me as I make mine in You” John 15:4 “God is love” 1 John 4:8 “If anyone loves me he will keep my
word, and my Father will love him and make our home with him “ John 14 23 “ As the father has loved me, so I have
loved you” John 15:9 “…this is the love I mean not our love for God but God’s love for us….1 John 4:10
It is interesting to reflect back on my own faith journey to try to pin-point the time when I came to know ‘God loves me’
and later when I really believed it and acted on it in my life. It is also enlightening to note the times when I slip back and
act as if God is a God with a black book keeping tally of my sins. Many we were helped to see God as a loving God by
the findings of Vatican 11, Liturgical reforms, the Mass in English not Latin, the use of the vernacular, reading the Bible
especially the New Testament, the excellent hymns composed and put to music especially in the 1980’s and 1990’s,
which we sing e.g “ Come as you are that’s how I want you”, ‘Do not be Afraid’, the increasing number of prayer groups
especially among the laity, the Psalms, the God of the Parables such as ‘ The Good Shepherd’,’ The Good Samaritan’, ‘
The Prodigal Son’ which tell of God’s love for us, and also really believing the second part of Jesus’ words ‘Love your
neighbour as yourself’.
Some learnt by experience that God’s love is divine, indiscriminate, unconditional, and gratuitous but would not be able
to express it in such words.
Fil met a friend named Mike Yaconelli and the friendship grew but was rough at times. Later on at a retreat Mike had the
courage to said to Fil, ”You know, I’ve always been told that it takes a crook to catch a crook. Anderson, I’ve already
got you pegged. You and I are much more alike than it appears. The only difference is this: I’ve quit trying to look like my
life’s all put together, but you’re still desperately trying.” Then with a tender smile, he added, “Fil, I’m looking forward to
knowing the real you.” Mike’s voice was a prophetic voice, unconventionally and bravely challenging misguided followers
of Jesus like me, and the Church throughout the world, to examine my relationship with Jesus in an open and candid
way” p. 10 Fil was able to say ‘the pathology of my religion erupted in insidious fashion: believing and doing the right
things became a substitute for living in right relationship with God. As a result, I lost in the details and simultaneously lost
my heart. I spent most of my time learning what I couldn’t do instead of celebrating and enjoying what I could do because
of my relationship with Jesus” p.10 he writes” for years shame, deception, lies, betrayals, relationship breakdowns,
disappointments, and unresolved longings for unconditional love and respect lay beneath the veneer of my life”
He came gradually to believe that the words Jesus spoke so concisely and clearly: “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life” John 14:6 p.38 Fil was able to say ‘Finally, I’m discovering a more nurturing way to live than religion could provide.
At last I’m learning how to live from my heart instead of from my head.’ After years of living with a set of religious
demands that he could never live up to Fil found relief in learning to be with God rather than doing for God. He tasted the
depths of God’s love for us after he quit trusting in his own ability to live for God and simply trusted in God instead.
In this book Anderson has interesting Chapters on The Myth that Jesus thinks like us, Right Rules or Right Relationship,
Worse than Blindness, the Gift of Memory and Throwing in the Towel on Religion.
Michael Flaherty cfc
Mercy : The Essence of the Gospel and Key to
Christian Life
Walter Kasper
Paulist Press, Mahwah, 2013
241.622 KAS
Pope Francis rightly gives praise to this book by Cardinal Walter Kasper, entitled “Mercy. The
Essence of the Gospel and Key to Christian Life.” As Francis says, ‘This book has done me so
much good.’
Kasper explains that the theme of God’s mercy is taken up by all the Popes, beginning with John
XXIII’s opening address to the Second Vatican Council; Paul VI’s description of ‘the culture of love’; John Paul II’s
establishment of the Feast of Mercy; Benedict VI’s encyclical, Caritas in Veritate and Francis’ inauguration address. They
all call us to re-examine God’s mercy and justice in our times. Kasper sums up their teaching by declaring, ‘the role of
mercy calls for a rethinking the Christian understanding of God.’
To read this book is to stand in awe at the depth of knowledge of this great scholar. Not only is he a theologian of the
calibre of Karl Rahner but Kasper’s biblical knowledge is immense. His philosophical knowledge allows him to analyse
the development of the thinking of all the great philosophers and then give the Church’s stance. Above all, he stands
before us as a pastor, so much abreast of modern times.
There are many wonderful themes and passages to attract one, but the reader will remember most his dealing with the
paradox of God’s judgment versus God’s mercy. How can they be reconciled? The Biblical example he gives comes from
the prophet Hosea, the high point of the Old Testament’s revelation of God’s mercy. Kasper writes:
“The people of God have broken the covenant. God has broken with his people. He has decided to show no more mercy
to his unfaithful people. Everything appears over. But then the dramatic turn comes… instead of the people being
subverted, the subversion takes place in God’s very self. Mercy is victorious over justice in God.” He then goes on to add
a basic point, “Only God can forgive and forgiveness belongs to his Essence.”
Kasper is disappointed with the present theologians, who barely mention mercy, or fail to take into account the issue of
God’s justice. He appeals to the younger theologians to base their theology on God’s mercy and justice, so that the
modern world may not despair. “We cannot speak flippantly of an either/or: either a righteous God or a merciful God, as
if that were the most obvious matter in the world. His transcendence is not infinite distance and his nearness is not close
chumminess. God’s mercy is not a message of cheap grace. God expects us to do what is right and just.”
The book deals with the challenges facing the Church in the modern world. The quest for justice is dealt with in
discussing such topics as asylum seekers. He acknowledges the effort needed in the changing social situations whereby
‘in light of Christian anthropological principles to find an understanding of the human person in an attempt to respond to
the challenges of modern situations that have arisen from industrialisation.’
Kasper speaks of types of justice. He calls one type generational justice: the present generation ought not to impose on
future generations the burden of public debts that this generation itself is neither ready nor able to pay back. Another
type of justice is environmental justice that insists we ensure we leave future generations a humanly liveable natural
environment by dealing responsibly with nature and its resources.
Kasper writes at length on justice in today’s world but tells us justice alone is not enough unless we allow a deeper
power, which is love, to shape human life in its various dimensions. Benedict XVI made love, not justice, the systematic
departure point for his social doctrine. Caritas in Veritate is explicitly dedicated to social doctrine, in which he expressly
characterises love as the chief path and principle of the church’s social teaching.
While social justice plays such an important part in the role of the Church, Kasper, in his pastoral role, also speaks of
some special needs within the Church. Penance as the Sacrament of Mercy is an important one of these. His conclusion
is, ’for the future of the church, it is essential to come to a reinvigorated penitential order and renewal of the sacrament of
reconciliation. Many no longer experience the sacrament of reconciliation as an Easter gift of liberation.’ He goes on to
describe the great benefits of finding the peace that comes from this sacrament. There are so many little gems to pick up
in reading this book.
Kasper’s last chapter is devoted to Mary, the mother of mercy. He calls her the archetype of human and Christian mercy.
‘Mary is a type of the church, and, therefore, she is also a type of Christian mercy. Christians from every century, who, in
their diverse internal and external difficulties have appealed to the mother of God as the mother of mercy, have
experienced her assistance and consolation.
This book is not just for the theologians but a statement of the Church’s praxis for the future. It is a great classic.
Br Reg
Bakhita : From Slave to Saint
Roberto Italo Zanini
Trans. Andrew Matt.
Ignatius Press. San Francisco, 2013
282.092 ZAN
In 1876, aged about 9, St. Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped by Arab traders from her family
farm near Dafur, Sudan. She was sold four times – the last to an Italian consul. In 1885, he
passed her on to the Italian Michieli family, in the hamlet of Mirano Veneto, outside Venice. She
became their maid and nanny, and began to learn the language of the Veneto.
When the family planned to return to their newly built hotel in Suakin on the Red Sea – taking
Bakhita as bar worker – the 16 year old flatly refused. She had been boarding with the youngest Michieli child in the
Canossian House of Catechumens while the family attended to their business enterprises. By then, Bakhita had been
attracted to Christianity. Her determination to stay in Italy was supported successfully by officials of both Church and
State.
She remained in the Canossian House, and was baptised in 1890. She entered the Sisters’ Congregation in 1893,
taking the name “Mother Josephine”. She died in 1947, after 50 years of professed religious life. Beatified 1992,
canonised 2000. This book, packed full of history and stories, is the account of her amazing life and widespread
influence.
It is appalling to recall that Bakhita was just a little girl when she endured the horrors of Arab slavery. She lost freedom,
home, family, language and identity. Too terrified to answer her captors’ question: “What is your name?” she was given
the name “Bakhita” – a cruel irony, as this means “Lucky”. In 1910, her religious superior asked the illiterate nun to
dictate her story to another sister. In 1931, this account was printed in Italy as, “Tale of Wonder”.
Thus we know about the long captive journey on foot – often in chains; an attempted escape; absolute obedience under
threat of the lash. Worst still were the excruciating body tattoos inflicted with a razor – “six cuts on my breasts, sixty on
my stomach, forty eight on my right arm”. (P60). Salt was then rubbed roughly into the cuts to make them larger and
remain open for scarring. Telling of this agony, Bakhita added, “I can honestly say that the reason I did not die, was that
the Lord miraculously destined me for better things”. (P61).
Such “better things” are revealed in Zanini’s book. As a Canossian sister, Bakhita lived and worked “joyfully and
serenely” in convent, orphanage, kitchen, infirmary and sacristy. She had discovered her “Paron” – her true,
compassionate Master and His Blessed Mother. Within the peace of obedience to her convent rule, she was at last free
to serve everybody to her utmost – no longer out of fear, but with dedicated love.
A dark-skinned woman in Italy was something of a “curio” at the time. People often wanted to meet her, simply out of
curiosity – but always went away inspired – by her warmth, her smile, her few encouraging words in her adopted dialect.
Children, students, adults were genuinely attracted to “the little brown Mother”. In fact, she made a lasting impact of
genuine holiness on all who met her, even briefly. For 4 years she accompanied sisters on journeys to many parts of
Italy, promoting their mission project. When asked to speak to an assembly, she said little beyond, “I am here because
the Paron has been so good to me”. (P111). Her religious mentors often expected a longer speech. But her serene
presence, her brief messages, certainly impressed audiences.
As for being “black” – chocolate brown, in fact – stories abound. “Bakhita faced the racial climate of her day with the
same sense of pride with which she witnessed to the faith”. (PP192-194). Out of ignorance came such questions as :
“With dark hands, how do you make such snow-white embroidery?”. Or, when as sacristan in charge of white altar
linens, “How do you keep the cloth so clean with those dark hands of yours?”. Any allusions to her “blackness” were
usually countered cheerfully and patiently with: “What counts is that one’s soul is white”! Thus she “called attention to
the equal dignity that every human being shares in God’s eyes”.
Among so many positive aspects of Bakhita’s nature is her great good humour – her smiling face. Even In her task as
portress – opening the convent door to visitors – her happy greeting was her trade-mark – a few encouraging remarks of
welcome. Never po-faced or glum, she lived what Pope Francis called, “The Joy of the Gospel”. People sensed this at
once. The Pope – talking to religious – also said: “Sometimes melancholy Christian faces have more in common with
pickled peppers than the joy of having a beautiful life”. No “pickled peppers” for Bakhita.
Anecdotes from the sisters reveal that during community recreation, Bakhita, in her imperfect Italian, would have them all
in fits of laughter with her stories. “Bakhita loved to laugh and make others laugh for the simple joy of laughing”. (P176).
The “Tale of Wonder” sold for 2 Lire per copy. Because of it, many people came to see Mother Josephine. Yet another
arrived during recreation, and waited in the parlour. “With her usual spontaneity, Bakhita responded (to her superior)
with a quip that set off a chain reaction of laughter: ‘Mother, if it costs two Lire to read about me, how much is it to see
me?’ ” (P176).
Then there is her absolute lack of blame or resentment towards those who had treated her so atrociously when a slave.
“On the contrary, she prayed for…’those poor souls (who) were not bad; they did not know the good Lord, and perhaps
did not know how much harm they were doing to me’ “. (P109). Or as her Paron prayed: “Father forgive them for they
know not what they do”.
Bakhita neither forgot nor repressed her past. She willingly spoke of it – even to children eager to listen – and
transformed it into a prayer-filled, generous, loving life. She saw her sad childhood as a way of teaching everyone “the
certainty of being loved and of being led by the hand to know the infinite mercy of the Paron” (P223), whom she did not
even “know” during her terrible suffering.
In 1993, 124 years after her birth, Pope John Paul II took the relics of “our universal sister” back to the Sudan – to a
tumultuous welcome. Her fame has spread across Italy, Africa, America and far beyond. A song in her honour calls her:
“Bakhita daughter of Africa – daughter of the whole world”. Many schools and institutions bear her name. Children are
often called Bakhita in her honour. “Wonders” are attributed to her intercession. Her small, simple convent room in
Schio remains a place of constant, prayerful pilgrimage.
This is the “mystery and attraction of a poor, uneducated, barely literate” African woman, former slave. She “shines like
a bright star…for all today who are victims of injustice and exploitation, victims of discrimination and of persecution”.
(P213). In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus thanks the Father for “revealing to little ones the secrets of the kingdom”. Please do
meet “the little brown Mother” from Sudan in Zanini’s book.
Kay Stringer. July 2014
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Gospel: The treasure hidden in the field.
The pearl of great price (Matt. 13 : 44 -52).
Sex Trafficking :
Inside the Business of Modern Slavery
By Siddharth Kara
Columbia University Press. New York, 2009.
364.15 KAR
This book is part of the 26 page supplement at CRIS, “Human Trafficking Kit”, compiled 2014.
Kara is the first “Fellow on Human Trafficking” with the Kennedy School at Harvard University.
He left a lucrative career in banking and consultancy, travelled to eighteen countries and six
continents, seeking out “the countless faces of torture, savagery and abject slavery”.
Chapters 3 to 7, detail his findings in India, Nepal, Italy, Western Europe, Moldavia, The Former Soviet Union, Albania
and the Balkans, Thailand and the Mekong Subregion, The United States. Australia – mentioned several times – is not
exempt. Kara reminds us that “In Australia, Thai sex slaves are euphemistically termed ‘contract girls’, because they
ostensibly sign work contracts before travelling to Australia, after which they are coerced into prostitution”. (P274).
World-wide, modern transport, along with a well-bribed officialdom – police, customs officers, border guards – have
facilitated the efficient movement of this human “commodity” across borders, even into countries we may deem as
historically sophisticated – “civilised”.
Kara worked with delicacy and tact – careful not to risk worsening the already dire plight of those he encountered. He
returned from his depressing, exhausting investigations “with a new found mission to contribute to more successful
international efforts to abolish sex-trafficking and all other forms of contemporary slavery”. (Preface).
Such “highly organised crime” is governed by the global market rules of “demand and supply”. A very lucrative
“business” with little effort or outlay. “At present, costs of acquiring slaves, operating expenses and economic risks are
minimal”. (P205). Plentiful demand for a “cheap product” from eager consumers, co-conspirators in the crime.
Slaves are obtained by “deceit, sale by family, abduction, seduction or romance, recruitment by former slaves”. (Pp 6 –
15). Global financial inequality, and the lower status of female children, also contribute. Impoverished families readily
take money for girls, who are promised work, education, marriage and a return of funds to the family. The slave owners
often send back small sums – as if from the girls. As one slave admitted Kara: “We are like slot machines to our
families”. (P8).
Sex-slavery has reduced millions to victims of market forces – to a cheaply procured, easily accessible “commodity”.
Kara, in his vast travels, interviews and writings, reveals the victims’ humanity, their betrayal, their dreadful sufferings.
His is a mission of outraged compassion, because “every minute of every day, the most vulnerable women and children
in the world are raped for profit with impunity, yet efforts to combat sex-trafficking remain woefully inadequate and
misdirected”. (P3).
The 21st century already presents many disasters. But for Kara, “the rise in world-wide slavery is one of the most
reprehensible disasters ….and sex-traffickers in particular have followed the U.S. economic model well. Profits above
all, no matter the human cost. The harms that have been caused are incalculable, the time for massive redress is long
overdue”. (P198).
With an analytical mind, Kara presents his “Framework for Abolition” of sex slavery. (Ch 8). This includes “severe
upward shocks” in global legislation – harsh punitive measures against the profiteering providers of the “commodity” as
well as against the consumers. This is the first vital step – the cutting off of supply so that the market is starved. As Kara
points out elsewhere, the extremes of poverty world- wide, so often a factor in slavery, must be confronted rigorously by
negligent governments responsible for it. This includes the Western regimes who control international finances, directly
and indirectly.
During his Italian investigations into slavery, Kara visited the Sistine Chapel. He “gazed upward to see how (in
Michelangelo’s painting) God’s hand beckoned forth with a father’s hope, and bestowed the spark of life to man”. There
he recalled the words of the poet, Dante: “Consider your origin : you were not born to live like brutes”. (P107). This
verse summarises the essence of Kara’s book, his tireless advocacy, his passion for justice in the face of “the abyss of
humankind’s most savage cruelty”. (P216).
The many disturbing accounts in Kara’s text may leave us feeling powerless. He assures us that “The challenge is great,
but the necessity to prevail is greater”. So we ask: “What can one person do?” He replies encouragingly: “One person
can listen, one person can learn, one person can draw a line in the sand, and one person can convince another person
to act”. (P43).
A 15 year old Shan Burmese girl, living in a shelter, had worked for eleven years in a brutal slave factory. She explained
to Kara: “I want to tell people my life story, so they know what happens to people like me. I want other people who have
suffered to know they are not alone”. (P219).
What an incentive to investigate the many resources on this topic at CRIS. In mind, heart and prayer, we can absorb the
horrendous experiences of the innocent, wounded ones. We can spread the word, re-tell the stories, to ensure that
indeed “they are not alone”. Maybe that is our “first step”. Let us not hesitate to take it.
Kay Stringer. August 2014
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time.
Gospel: When Jesus saw the large crowd,
He had compassion on them. Matthew 14.
A Country Too Far
Rosie Scott and Tom Keneally
Viking, Melbourne, 2013
325.210994 SCO
This is a rich anthology of twenty-seven of Australia’s finest writers focussing on asylum seekers
journeying from their own countries, escaping death, starvation, torture, civil war, rebels,
bombings, refugee camps, poverty or terror to an imagined paradise in Australia. No attempt has
been made to have the authors write directly on asylums seekers or to focus the contribution on
the debate about them. Some use poetry and others memoirs, essays or fiction.
Sue Woolfe writes (page 40) ‘The True Story of My Father’ and very much later in her life, she
and her brother were able to travel overseas and to find and meet a long lost aunt in a nursing home and to find out
why their mother always stopped their father from telling the true stories about their father. Christos Tsiolkas writes
(page68) a story about the life of a homosexual. John Tranter (page17) writes ‘Homeland’ in poetry form as does Les
Murray (page 110) in ‘Immigrant Voyage’. Denise Leith (page 78) writes ‘The Garden’, the true story of Hassan released
after four years in detention having no contact, word or information from his wife and four children over those years.
They joined him two years later on. Gail Jones (page 103) writes the true story “The Ocean’ which retells the Tampa
Rescue when 438 people were rescued and others were lost at sea and how the story was reported in our media, how
Australia treated them and the enquires that followed. Judith Rodriguez (page 204) expresses herself in ‘Five Poems’ in
which she writes about the plight of children, politicians, the Tampa rescue mentioned above and asylum seekers. Arnold
Zable ‘Zahtra’s Lullaby’(page 116) is the true story of escaping in a smuggler’s boat, of being stranded at sea when the
engine stops and they find themselves floating in the sea among the dead bodies and finally being rescued. Arnold
relates the long-time effects on those who survived.
No one contribution conveys the key message –the story of asylum seekers. The contributions from all the Australian
authors were very different - but the impact of all the writings together give a vivid picture of the plight of asylums
seekers, what they suffer and how they are treated in Australia. The impact is moving and extraordinarily powerful.
The background of the writers is informative and well written but unfortunately the names are not in alphabetical order or
even listed in the order of the chapters as they appear in this book.
We know from our media and the two major Australian parties’ policies on asylum seekers that are in place at present
and the enormous cost to Australian tax payers to implement these policies. But are we are receiving in the media
unbiased reporting? Many people believe so. There are other less expensive ways of tackling the concerns. Paul
Keating’s Redfern speech (page 90) is one of the most powerful and well-known expression of it (Australia’s treatment of
our own Aboriginal peoples) : “We brought the diseases and the alcohol. We committed murders. We took the children
from their mothers. We practised discrimination and exclusion”. It is telling to compare Keating’s speech with the asylum
policies our government is following at present regarding asylum seekers at an enormous cost and damaging our
reputation of giving all Australians ‘a fair go’. ‘There are more than one hundred Australian organisation giving help to
refugees’ (page 3) “Aussies don’t lock up kids. They don’t drive desperate people to the edge of despair, pushing them
into depression and madness” (page 15). In the present debate about asylum seekers terms such as convicted
criminals, queue jumpers, illegal emigrants are biased, emotive and not helpful. They cannot apply in the normal way as
applies to those entering Australia by the airways or over stop in Australia when their visas run out and get fed up
waiting. Australia could help by reducing the waiting time to be processed or given temporary visas.
This book is by Australian authors and the overall impact is very significant regarding asylums seekers. Recommended
for reading.
Michael Flaherty cfc
Jesus Was A Migrant
Deidre Cornell
Orbis Books. Maryknoll. New York. 2014.
261.836 COR
The author begins: “I have been blessed through migrants and immigrants. For two millennia, as
Christians have interiorised the great Biblical stories of human mobility, migration has figured
prominently in our faith”. (P5). That is the “soul” of this great little book.
Cornell, her husband and five children, have vast experience – in America and beyond –
focussing their missionary practice on emigration and immigration – causes and effects. They tell
stories both heart-breaking and heart-warming. This American text aptly applies also to Australia. In the past, many
have migrated to these nations from a background of extreme hardships, making “sacrifices which made our future
possible”. (P35). Those who still come, seeking asylum, likewise have so much to contribute.
The author presents us with a form of “lection divina”, Biblical spirituality as it applies to life today. Her premise, and
hence the title of the book, is that “Jesus descended from heaven as the quintessential migrant.” (P87). Virgilio Elizondo
puts it this way. “(This book) gives flesh and spirit to the Gospel narratives which bring out the profound and universal
meaning of migration – God migrates to us so that we might migrate to God”. (Covernote)
Within the past and present context of global migration, Cornell points to our Scriptural heritage. We have travelled from
Eden, through the Exodus, the Exile – “perhaps the most neglected by Christians in our reading of Biblical spirituality.”
(P20). Then come the Psalms, the Prophets, the Gospels and Apostolic Letters. Some texts to the Jewish Diaspora,
others to us, the “Gentiles”. For as St. Paul insists in Ephesians, “there are no ‘illegals’ in the reign of God”. (P28). The
following notes are just a few examples to indicate treasures found in this book.
“One Migrant’s Psalm,” (Ch. 10), was written during Lent, when “the passion of Jesus came alive” for Cornell. She was
called late at night to visit a 20 year old migrant, Jose, unjustly imprisoned, threatened with deportation. Later, from
detention, Jose sent a poetic letter, in which Cornell sees a reflection of the hopelessness and isolation of Psalm 88’s
writer. Yet, even in the “pit” of despair, “the psalmist is still able to speak to God”. (P84). Jose wrote that he had felt “the
tender touch and goodness of those who are supporting me”, and he prays:- “I know that you O Lord are with me, and I
am never alone”. (P85). Thus, as Cornell believes: “The psalms sing us home”. (P86).
“We barely notice the feast (of Epiphany), which holds such significance for the universal church”. (P97). Once, at that
season, the Cornell family travelled by car 1,000 miles to Florida to visit border Mexican “compadres”, including god-
children. The itinerant seasonal workers lived in an old, hot, dusty school bus. “A seemingly senseless uprooting” left
these people in a trailer park as home base. In “Epiphanies in a Trailer Park” (Ch. 7), Cornell recalls the Magi and the
later “Flight into Egypt”. She notes that the Magi “took a different way home”. Following the family’s joyful visit with the
compadres and the sharing of gifts, the Cornell family realised that, henceforth, they too would “travel by a different
route” in their pastoral work, because “I had unconsciously assumed that we were bringing the Church to migrants, when
it was they who had also freely shared the Church with us”. (P61). This was their special “Epiphany”.
“What to make of a village woman, Mary, from a conquered people, voicing her acceptance “ to God’s request? (P69).
What to make of Tomas, a poorly educated Andean migrant worker, housed in lowly communal quarters in America? He
had asked for Baptism. Pastoral associates, including Cornell, acted as witnesses to his decision. Before a picture of
Our Lady of Guadalupe, rapt in prayer and utterly open to the Spirit”, Tomas repeated a mantra he so often said in his
own dialect “an utterance from his heart. Roughly translated it meant ‘Here I am Lord to do your word’”. (P69). With very
little formal religious instruction, Tomas was innocently unaware of the Biblical precedents.
Cornell is certain that, “as St. Luke intended” – in his Annunciation story – “the scene prompts us to look for messages
from God in our own settings.
Annunciations take place all around us. Why NOT in a windowless, cinderblock dormitory?” (P71).
“Few things have the power to move me like watching a Communion line”. (P105), “because I have come to think of the
Communion line as migration to (a place) where Jesus has already come to us”. (P107). Chapter 13, “Food for the
Journey”, explains this beautifully.
Cornell’s practical spirituality is steeped in compassion. Jesus’ words in His parable, “I was a stranger and you welcomed
me” set the tone. What politics now deems a “problem”, the author transforms into “revelation”, thus working on often
negative attitudes. Whatever currently impels migration – forcible people trafficking, wars, exile, persecution, dire
economic necessity – Cornell stands in word and action by her firm conviction: “Migrants are not statistics. They are
people”. (P10). As St. Paul says of them and all of us: “We are no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the
saints and also members of the household of God”. (Ephesians 2:19. Cited p.63).
Cornell stresses the role of Mary as “our mother on the journey”, who “walks with us every step of the way”. (P87). In her
many stories and stirring reflections after 20 years of mission and ministry, this writer, “connecting both outer journey and
the inner journey of the soul” (Covernote), falls in line with Mary, who, “treasured all these things and pondered them in
her heart”. (Luke 2:19).
Deidre Cornell helps to open our heart, eyes and ears as she bestows on us the “grace” of “pondering”. She awakens us
to our Christian belief “in a Saviour who embodied migration in His lifetime – and who continues to cross borders as the
risen Lord. In migration, we find a source of blessing”. (P132).
Kay Stringer. July 2014.
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Gospel: “Blessed are your eyes because they see,
and your ears because they hear”. (Matthew 13).
The Flight into Egypt (by an anonymous Coptic artist)
Made in the Image of God
Welcome to the Made in the Image of God feature of this Spring edition
of the Catholic Resource Information Service newsletter. I am Teresa
Hudson and I work as the Made in the Image of God consultant and I am
absolutely thrilled to share this with you all.
The belief that human beings are made in the image of God is a
foundational principle of the Catholic Church. It underpins the Church’s
teachings about the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of
sexuality. Firstly we must come to appreciate what attributes God has to
begin understanding the meaning of what it is to be made in God’s image.
The nature of God is love ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, for
God is love.’ 1 Jn 4:8. Therefore Christians hold true to the fundamental
belief that God is love.
The made in the Image of God framework is a document that invites
school communities to work together to espouse a sense of worth in each
child. Parent partnerships are of upmost importance in this area of learning
as we seek to give our students a sense of care towards self, each other,
the created world and ultimately to be invited into relationship with God.
The Church recognises the important role of families and the role of schools is to offer sexuality education that
supports parents in this primary role.
Therefore this Spring edition of the newsletter offers a Made in the Image of God focus and contains a range of
resources to support school communities, parent partnerships and ultimately the development of our young people
who are faced with messages contradictory to celebrating their worth on a daily basis. We have important work to
do and we must work together to understand the sacredness of sexuality and in the process explore what it means
to be human, connected and moral. Schools are therefore invited into a collaborative relationship through the Made
in the Image of God blog listed in this edition of the newsletter. Please exercise caution when using items on the
blog by accessing and applying the checklist for resources and following the school’s scope and sequence. If you
require further assistance or have any inquiries please don’t hesitate to make contact:
Teresa Hudson
Made in the Image of God consultant
[email protected]
8301 6629
Teresa Hudson
Religious Education
Made in the Image of God Framework
Catholic Education SA
CRIS Resource suggestions for
**
Human Sexuality resources 2014
Made in the Image of God* Program for Catholic Schools
Being Sexual strand
*Made in the Image of God program is arranged in four strands – Being Human, Being Sexual, Being Connected
and Being Moral. Made in the Image of God program presents a developmental framework arranged in Year
level groups.
Standard 1 R to Year 2 / Standard 2 Years 3-4 / Standard 3 Years 5-6 / Standard 4 Years 7/8 and above /
Standard 5 Years 9-10 / Standard 6 Years 11-12.
**this is only a starting point – many other titles are available, some in multiple copies from CRIS
All titles are available for loan from:
Catholic Resource & Information Service
112 Kintore Street, Thebarton SA 5031
T: 83016869 E: [email protected]
STANDARD TITLE AUTHOR CALL NO.
A book about birth : an easy-to-understand illustrated guide Collier, Merri BK 6 18.2
to childbirth
4 A child is born Nilsson, Lennart BK 6 12.6
1 A Gift of Love from God Horan, Clare PBK 6 12.6
A journey in love : a developmental programme for children Groden, Jude BK 6 12.6
in the primary years
A kid's guide to keeping family first Jackson, J. S. PBK 2 59
1 A new baby is coming! : a guide for a big brother or sister Menendez-Aponte, BK 6 12.6
Emily
2 A new sister for Julian Chapouton, Anne- PBK 612.63
Marie
A true person Marin, Gabiann PBK 823.3
Arguing about Sex : The rhetoric of Christian sexual Monti, Joseph BK 2 41.66
morality
As I have loved you : A programme for Christian education O'Shea,Gerard BK 6 12.66
in human sexuality : Years of innocence and puberty
Babies on the go Ashman, Linda PBK 5 91.56
Babies with love BK 3 05.26
Because we love them : fostering a Christian sexuality in Havlik, Sheree BK 2 41.66
our children Whitters
Before you were born Carlstrom, Nancy PBK 3 06.85
White
Before You were born : A lift the flap book Davis, Jennifer PBK 6 12.63
Being born Kitzinger, Sheila PBK 6 12.64
4 Boys talk Pickering, Lucienne BK 6 12.6
4 Boys, girls and equality [DVD] Mann, Colette DVD 3 05.235
Brand new baby Graham, Bob PBK 6 12.6
Cherry pie Killeen, Gretel PBK A 823.3
Christian love : Sexuality, marriage & the single life Edwards, John BK 2 41.66
5 Compass : The Billings and their method [DVD] DVD 6 12.6
3 Everybody tells me to Be Myself but I don’t know who I am : Rue, Nancy BK 2 48.833
Description:which we sing e.g “ Come as you are that's how I want you”, 'Do not be Afraid', .
Caritas in Veritate is explicitly dedicated to social doctrine, in which he expressly
.. school communities to work together to espouse a sense of worth in each.
