2011 Fighting Fund launched

Peter Westmore

Contents - Sep 2011 - Buy a copy now 2011 Fighting Fund launched - Peter Westmore Pope appoints Archbishop Chaput to troubled Philadelphia - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Youth: Catholic young adult ministry: Sydney's formula for success - Br Barry Coldrey Cloyne Report exposes Ireland's continuing sex abuse crisis - Michael Gilchrist Glimpses of a new dawn in Russia - Babette Francis Abortion grief: mother love, mercy love and God's compassion - Anne R. Lastman Sacred Art: Catholic church statuary: a craft in danger - Christopher Akehurst Interview: Pope's brother sheds more light on Benedict's early years - Zenit News Agency Letters: Teaching authority - Fr M. Durham Letters: Irish child abuse - Arnold Jago Letters: Where is Jesus? - Michael Apthorp Letters: Book of Genesis - Frank Mobbs Letters: Catholic schools - Maria Plustwik Events: Ignatian Spiritual Exercises for busy people Books: THE COUNCIL IN QUESTION: a Dialogue with Catholic Traditionalism - Fr Glen Tattersall (reviewer) Books: SNOW ON THE HEDGES: The Life of St Cuthbert Mayne, by Helen Whelan - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Donations: Please Support the Fighting Fund! Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Proper church etiquette: a public witness of faith - Bishop Arthur Serratelli

Many years ago, the founder of AD2000, Mr B.A. (Bob) Santamaria inaugurated the Fighting Fund as a means by which ordinary Australians could contribute to the great struggle in which he was then centrally involved: the fight for democratic trade unionism against the forces of Soviet totalitarianism led by the Communist Party.

It is a matter of history that this struggle came to a successful conclusion, not through legislation but by the actions of thousands of patriotic Australians, many motivated by Christian social principles.

Today's Australia is vastly different from that of the 1940s and 1950s. As Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI have pointed out, Christian values in contemporary society are being challenged by the culture of relativism which denies moral absolutes and puts personal autonomy at the centre of life. This is what lies behind the push for legalised abortion, homosexual "marriage" and euthanasia, and the effort to remove all vestiges of Christianity from public life.

Two centuries ago, the great British statesman, Edmund Burke, in his essay, Thoughts on the Causes of the Present Discontents, wrote that "when bad men combine, the good must associate, else they will fall." His sentiment remains as true today as it did then. We must stand up for what we believe, in all walks of life.

If you are able to contribute, donations may be sent to PO Box 251, Balwyn, Victoria, 3103.

Peter Westmore is Publisher of AD2000

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 24 No 8 (September 2011), p. 2