Evening Seminar - The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church

The evening of Wednesday, 24 August 2011 was the occasion for CAEC’s seminar on Pope Benedict XVI’s magnificent Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini, in which His Holiness considers the nature of the Word of God, our response and the Word of God in the Church and the World.

Over 50 people gathered to hear presentations on the document from Father John Flader, Priest of Opus Dei and Mr Peter Holmes, Scripture Scholar and Lecturer at Notre Dame University. Fr Flader provided a concise and informative summary of the document. Peter Holmes explained that reading the Word of God was truly an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ.

The evening was completed by food and refreshments, good fun and socialising. For more information on Verbum Domini, please download the MP3 podcast of the evening and purchase a copy of the document itself together with CAEC’s latest INFORM publication, No 133. Visit the Mustard Seed Bookshop’s Digital site here.

Outgoing Director’s legacy of dedication

Tuesday 24th May was a day of celebration, as a large crowd gathered at the Mustard Seed Bookshop in Lidcombe for the launch of The Creed by Fr John Flader. Since 2002 Fr Flader had given classes on the Catechism of the Catholic Church at the Catholic Adult Education Centre where he was the Director. He developed comprehensive notes for the course and when a publisher suggested it might make a good book, the die was cast.

Bishop Julian Porteous launched the book and described it as an excellent "Tour Guide" for the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This endorsement rings clearly with that of Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, who said that "Fr Flader unpacks the essentials and explains them in a way that everyone can understand. " Cardinal Schönborn oversaw the original drafting of the Catechism and its latest incarnation, YOUCAT (the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church).

Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago said of Fr Flader’s book "I recommend it to all who teach the faith."

In the forward by George Cardinal Pell, he commended Fr Flader for mastering the enormously rich material of the Catechism and breaking it down for the lay reader. Cardinal Pell prayed that "all who read this will come closer to Almighty God, and appreciate more and more the truth and beauty of God’s revelation entrusted to the Church".

A Tour of the Catechism Volume One – The Creed is available from the Mustard Seed Bookshop for $29.95.

On a sadder note, the evening served as a public farewell for Fr Flader after nine years service as Director of the Catholic Adult Education Centre. Commenting on the news, Cardinal Pell said that Fr Flader was a "colossal workhorse" and an "exemplary priest". The Cardinal was enormously grateful for the "marvellous job" Fr Flader had done.

In his time at the CAEC Fr Flader had overseen more than 50 issues of INFORM, and written a number of these himself. Fr Flader wrote the Lenten program in recent years, presented countless topics of study to over 1500 students and helped to form in excess of 500 couples for the Sacrament of Marriage.

In reflecting on Fr Flader’s time as Director, Peter Holmes who worked as the Manager of Studies from 2004-2010, commented that "The staff were all witness to the endless line of people who came through the doors at CAEC to ask Fr Flader for his time. He worked tirelessly and with a perfectionism that was awesome to behold. He unstintingly and unselfishly gave them everything he had. In this way he is a fine example of a priest who imitates Christ’s true self giving. "

Fr Flader is now serving as Chaplain of the Montgrove College, Orchard Hills.

To read a review of The Creed please click here.

Fr Flader cuts the farewell cake after nine years service at the CAEC as Bishop Julian Porteous looks on.

Cardinal Pell farewells Fr Flader - a "colossal workhorse" and an "exemplary priest" (Photo courtesy of Kerry Myers at the Catholic Weekly).

Cardinal launches Five Smooth Stones

Cardinal Pell was at the Centre on Monday evening, 9 November, to launch Steve Lawrence’s book Five Smooth Stones. Also present were Bishop Julian Porteous, several priests and a large number of lay people, many of whom had worked with Steve.

Steve served as Director of Catechesis and Evangelisation for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, and the book is his journal recording the 40 days prior to and including World Youth Day week.

In launching the book, Cardinal Pell recalled having met Steve for the first time in Melbourne in 1990 after a Mass and having been impressed by his faith, especially taking into account that Steve was then playing first-grade Australian Rules football with Hawthorn.

When World Youth Day approached, the Cardinal asked Steve to be in charge of catechesis and evangelisation, since he regarded the spiritual aspect of the event – conversion, faith and repentance – as the most important and he knew Steve shared that concern.

In the end, World Youth Day was an outstanding success and Steve’s role was pivotal. The Cardinal expressed his joy in launching the book, which records for posterity Steve’s experience.

In reply, Steve expressed his gratitude to Cardinal Pell for his support and friendship over the years, including officiating at his marriage 18 years ago. He said that the “five smooth stones” in the title of the book refer to the five wounds of Christ, and that the book is really about the Lord, who was present throughout the World Youth Day experience, even in the many difficulties and challenges. Five Smooth Stones is available from The Mustard Seed Bookshop at $24.95.

Clergy Workshop with Fr Mitch Pacwa

A group of clergy from several dioceses and religious orders were treated to an entertaining and enlightening workshop with Fr Mitch Pacwa SJ at Cathedral House in Sydney on Wednesday, 14 July. The workshop was the fifth in a series organised by the CAEC at the request of Cardinal Pell, beginning in 2009.

Fr Pacwa is well known for his frequent appearances on EWTN as well as for his books, which include Catholics and the New Age and Father, Forgive Me for I am Frustrated.

In the workshop he spoke on the New Age, giving its background, its manifestations and the dangers associated with it.

His second talk, on "Relativism and its ugly sisters", listed individualism, pluralism and multiculturalism, all understood in a particular way, as the offshoots of relativism.

The workshop began with lunch, hosted by Bishop Julian Porteous, and ended with afternoon tea.

Copies of Fr Mitch Pacwa's books are available from the Mustard Seed Bookshop.

Fr John Flader (left), Fr Mitch Pacwa and Fr Peter Joseph enjoy a joke during a break at the Clergy Workshop.

Fr Mitch Pacwa, EWTN TV personality, scholar and author is fluent in 12 languages including Aramaic and Hebrew.

Fr Fleming’s book launched

A full house at the Centre was treated to one of the most fascinating book launches in years when John McCarthy QC launched Fr Fleming’s Convinced by the Truth on Wednesday, May 5.

The book relates Fr Fleming’s conversion from the Anglican priesthood to the Catholic Church and eventually to the Catholic priesthood in 1995.

But it also relates Fr Fleming’s vital assistance to the Traditional Anglican Communion, through its worldwide Primate Archbishop John Hepworth, in seeking the union of the TAC with the Catholic Church. Their discussions in a Parramatta restaurant in 2005 led to the TAC making a formal petition to Rome in 2007 and to Pope Benedict publishing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus in 2009, setting out the provisions for this union.

This fascinating story was summarised by Mr McCarthy in his launch of the book. He said: " By any measure both Archbishop Hepworth and Fr Fleming are immensely significant and effective Church leaders whose vision, action and writings have shaped some of the most important contours in Church development world-wide. Both have much more to contribute and accomplish but their roles in bringing the Apostolic Constitution to proclamation and operation should be acknowledged and valued by everyone of good will who desires Christian unity."

In his response, Fr Fleming summarised his conversion from his Anglo-Catholic beginnings, in which he always regarded himself as Catholic, through the turbulent years in which he saw the Anglican Church separate itself more and more from its traditional beliefs, to his eventual decision to enter the Catholic Church along with his wife Alison.

A highlight of the evening was the presence of Archbishop Hepworth, who told of his friendship with Fr Fleming as fellow Anglicans and how he sought Fr Fleming’s advice to speed up the entry of the Traditional Anglican Communion into the Church. He related many of the difficult steps along the way and expressed the hope that by the first Sunday of Advent of 2010 seven Ordinariates (similar to dioceses) of the Anglican rite might be established worldwide, with a total of some 200,000 faithful.

Click here for the full text of Mr John McCarthy's launch speech.

Convinced by the Truth is available from the Mustard Seed Bookshop at the price of $22.95.

Mark Shea launches new book in Sydney

Mark Shea, prominent Scripture scholar, author and speaker from the U.S., launched his new trilogy on Our Lady, Mary, Mother of the Son, at the Centre on Tuesday, February 2, 2010.

On introducing the launch Fr John Flader, Director of the Centre, commented on the author’s popularity with youth, mentioning that on the previous evening he had spoken to a standing-room-only crowd of some 600 young people at Theology on Tap in Parramatta.

Peter Holmes, former Manager of Studies for the Centre, introduced the author and commented on how much his earlier book By what authority? had struck a chord with him in his own spiritual journey into the Catholic Church.

The author explained that for many evangelicals, like himself before entering the Church in 1987, Mary is the last big hurdle to overcome. Protestants wonder where the Catholic Church gets its belief in such dogmas as the Immaculate Conception, the perpetual virginity and the Assumption of Mary, when they are not at all clear in the Scriptures. And why Catholics have the audacity to pray to Mary or why they pray the Rosary and what to make of supposed Marian apparitions.

To his surprise, when he asked Catholics about these beliefs, most were unable to give reasons for them. This led him to hope that someone would write a book that addressed all the questions Protestants like himself asked, and that would help Catholics too to know why they believe what they do. Since the years passed no such book appeared, he finally decided around 2000 to write it himself. The book was almost ten years in the making, and significantly the author first began to write it in Australia when he was here in 2004.

The trilogy is intended to be a “one stop shop” on all the commonly asked questions about Mary, addressing modern myths and ancient truths about her, the four Marian dogmas in depth, and Marian devotions and apparitions.

It is available from the Mustard Seed Bookshop at the special price of $44.95 for the three volumes together.

Click here for previous editions of CAEC News