Editorial

A letter from the Publisher

Peter Westmore

Contents - Sep 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: A letter from the Publisher - Peter Westmore Archbishop Hart's reception at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne - Homily - Archbishop Denis Hart News: The Church Around the World The John Paul II Cultural Centre opens in Washington DC - Alex Sidhu Successful Thomas More Centre Winter School in Brisbane - Sidney Rofe Ballarat Thomas More Centre Winter School report Feminism's broad agenda within the Catholic Church - Donna Steichen Commission for Australian Catholic Women: Executive members' feminist views - Richard Egan Why today's secular culture is anti-Catholic - James Hitchcock Kenneth Bruce Dowding, Australian Catholic hero: his brother's tribute - Rev Keith Dowding Letters: Celibacy (letter) - Mrs A.M. Tilburg Letters: More on Marins (letter) - Peter Finlayson Letters: BECs (letter) - Marie Kennedy Letters: Charter (letter) - Rev A.T. Fitzpatrick Letters: Adelaide protest (letter) - Pauline Pascoe Letters: Feminists (letter) - Margaret Jones Letters: Formidable mind (letter) - Mrs V. Mulligan Letters: Aquinas (letter) - Michael Casanova Letters: Fatima Family Apostolate (letter) - Margaret Grace Letters: Church teachings (letter) - Gerry Keane Letters: Mind of the Church (letter) - Mrs Carol V. Phillips Letters: God's word (letter) - Vic Hall Books: 'The Book of Marriage', edited by Dana Mack and David Blankenhorn - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: 'The Holocaust, Never To Be Forgotten', Avery Dulles SJ, Rabbi Leon Klenicki - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'Padre Pio: In My Own Words', ed. Anthony F. Chiffolo - Mary-Jane Donnellan (reviewer) Books: 'Teens and Relationships', 'Teen Life and Christ', by Jerry Shepherd - Mary-Jane Donnellan (reviewer) Books: 'Lamentations Of The Father', by Ian Frazier - Mary-Jane Donnellan (reviewer) Reflection: Saint Catherine of Siena: how to receive the Eucharist more worthily - Sr Mary Jeremiah OP

Dear Friend of AD2000,

Every year at this time, we ask readers whether they might be able to donate to the Fighting Fund, which supports AD2000 and the National Civic Council, with which AD2000 is associated.

This request to you is undertaken with some trepidation. I am acutely aware that the financial demands on families today are heavier than ever, in many cases being additional to commitments to running a family farm, a business, holding down a job (for many families, unfortunately, a second job), and educating children.

Yet the challenges which face us and our community are immense, as a result of a culture of secular humanism, which is hostile to the Judaeo-Christian foundations of society; and widespread acceptance of a radical individualism, which rejects any moral absolutes.

Modern Western culture - as expressed in the press, on film and TV, in popular music and through the Internet - usually reflects these values, and to that extent, undermines traditional values and beliefs.

Mr. B.A. Santamaria, who established AD2000 13 years ago, saw that an effective response to this challenge required committed men and women to articulate an alternative vision of society, based on several principles, including respect for every person from the moment of conception to natural death; recognition of the family as the fundamental social unit; and recognition of the intrinsic value of religious belief and practice.

Your assistance to the Fighting Fund enables us to continue this work, in both the religious and secular arenas, where the battle of ideas is being fought out. Therefore I ask: can you help us, once again?

Peter Westmore (Publisher) - E-mail: freedom@connexus.net.au

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 14 No 8 (September 2001), p. 2