Poetry

Gender-Bender Autos

Bruce Dawe

Contents - Feb 2007 - Buy a copy now Editorial: The Church and globalisation - Peter Westmore Education: Australia's Catholic school systems: the case for radical surgery - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World East Timor: priests threatened with execution - Peter Westmore Fr John Speekman: Vatican orders reinstatement of wrongly removed Sale Diocese parish priest - Michael Gilchrist Priesthood: Orthodox priests in a divided Church - Fr John Trigilio The Church and the environment: address the moral pollution first - Wanda Skowronska Salesians help rebuild post-tsunami Sri Lanka - Br Michael Lynch Why we need holy days of obligation - Joanna Bogle Music: Johann Sebastian Bach and the heavenly choir - Fr Finbarr Flanagan Letters: Shared guilt - Errol Duke Letters: Lost! - Moya and Leo Morrissey Letters: Truth and love - Chris Hilder Letters: Root Cause - Marie Kennedy Letters: Safe-sex? - Jack Blair Poetry: Gender-Bender Autos - Bruce Dawe Letters: Limbo? - Lawrence R. Hurley Letters: Manipulating language - Carol V. Phillips Letters: Obedience - Matthew Buckley Letters: Latin Mass - John Gariano Letters: Religious materials - J.W. Smith Letters: Catholic dolls - Anne Cramer Books: TREASURE IN CLAY: The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM: Five Reflections on the History of the Church - Sr Mariana Handley (reviewer) Books: SPIRITUAL DIRECTION: Who Is It For and What Are Its Benefits? - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: B.A. Santamaria's correspondence published by MUP Books: New Titles from AD Books Reflection: Why the Church must continue to uphold priestly celibacy - Fr Pat Stratford

Concern is being expressed over the use of 'inclusive language' in Church services, including the Mass

"If you've got a major problem
With your present Trinity,
Gender-Benders is the firm
You folks should go and see!
The God the Father model's clearly
past its use-by date,
And as ready for the junkyard
As a clunky Ford V8,
So trade it in with us for some
More stylized kind of car
More stream-lined, gender-neutral,
- One less particular.

And, once you've made that switch, you'll find
You'll hardly need the Son
- Our ideological runabout
Will guarantee much more fun!
We'll swap your Holy Spirit for
A more serviceable bus,
One low on fuel-consumption
- When you're ready, call on us ...

Yes, here at Gender Benders, we're all
Crazy lovin' fools
(We shouldn't be in business, we're just
Breakin' all the rules!).
History, said Henry Ford, is 'bunk'
(He knew the game);
One look around our showrooms,
And you'll be glad you came!
Our assembly-line's on overtime,
It's working through the night;
Before the Day of Judgement we
Know we'll get it right!"

- Bruce Dawe -

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 20 No 1 (February 2007), p. 14