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Change of pace — some satire...
Dear Friends,
A change of pace today. I'm pleased to be able to bring you another of Cliff Baxter's satire pieces from the menagerie. Sr Feralia's been overseas for a long while — we suspect on one of those junkets they send jaded or bored nuns on at l'Université catholique de Louvain or some such place, maybe it was in Boston or at Stubenville. Anyway she's back and following the recent spate of shark attacks around Sydney she thought it time for a bit of theology of the meaning of the Great White. She's assisted in her musings today by Fr Farzenheim whom, you might remember, has great affinity with the Great White.
<Read Sr Feralia>
www.catholica.com.au/cliffsmenagerie/008_feralia_130309.php
A tribute to one of our occasional commentators and a great "unsung hero in the Australian Church" – Bishop Pat Power...
 You may be aware from the wider media today that the Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra-Goulburn, Pat Power, has been extended a civil honour by the Government of the Australian Capital Territory (LINK). His has been named "Canberra Citizen of the Year". Could I extend the following additional tribute to Bishop Pat on behalf of the Catholica community:
Somewhere or other in the last few days I saw a small list, headed by Bishop Tom Gumbleton of the unsung heroes of the Catholic Church in the United States — so-called "liberal" Auxiliary Bishops who appeared to have been deliberately sidelined, passed over and placed in some pigeon hole marked "Never to be Promoted" by the late JPII the Great and the Vatican. If we had such a list in Australia it would surely have to be headed by Pat Power, Auxiliary Catholic Bishop of our Capital Archdiocese, Canberra-Goulburn. When push comes to shove, when the celestial angels have sung their last chord, when Lake Eyre truly has become an Inland Sea again and the Ice Caps have melted, and we're all standing around that great finishing post in paradise sipping our martinis and reminiscing about who called the Great Game of Life correctly, I have little doubt that Pat Power's name will be right up there at the top.
Surely to Jon Stanhope's list of the "refugees, Indigenous Australians and disadvantaged people" should be added that for a long time Pat Power was almost the sole voice many Catholics would bring to mind in this country as the only Australian Catholic Bishop who stood up for that other "great big minority of the dispossessed" the 86%?
Congratulations, Bishop Pat, you truly have been a great voice for the minorities and the disadvantaged. May your cornucopia when we all come to celebrate that great celestrial banquet in the hereafter — that final place where all the report cards are ultimately reconciled — be truly huge and your file marked "Promoted to the very Highest Ranks of 'the Communion of Saints'". Your continued high ranking in the Catholica Poll is measure also that many members of this community would join with me in saying this civil honour that has been extended to you is richly deserved.
<Read the CathNews Report>
www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=12332
 Finally today can I draw your attention to a media release I received yesterday from the Women's Ordination Conference which I've published in full on the Catholica Forum. They've had an article published in National Catholic Reporter in preparation for the 15th annual World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination. The article is a part of the campaign spearheaded by WOC, titled, "Break the Silence. Shatter the Stained-Glass Ceiling!"
Every year on March 25th, the feast of the Annunciation, WOC joins the global women's ordination movement in celebrating the World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination. Local leaders across the U.S. plan public witnesses, home liturgies, and presentations to break the silence on women's ordination. This year, there are events planned in five US cities, including Washington, DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Rochester.
<Read the WOC media release>
www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=24987
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