Hope characterises counter-cultural stance

As we continue on our journey of Easter hope, Sr Patty Fawkner sgs, a member of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan congregation leadership team, provides the following …

On a sun-drenched Easter Saturday using ancient words from an ancient ceremony, a young woman vowed her life to God as a Sister of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict.  Sharon Pauline Boyd from Benalla, in Victoria, made her Perpetual Profession in Saint Scholastica’s chapel Glebe Point, in the presence of family, friends and many Good Samaritan Sisters who had journeyed from overseas and interstate to celebrate with her.

The theme of hope was paramount.  Sister Clare Condon, the Good Samaritan Sisters’ congregational leader, in addressing Sharon about the seriousness of her life commitment, said that hope must be the characteristic of such a counter-cultural stance as that of Perpetual Profession.  Through Perpetual Profession religious entrust themselves to “God whom we cannot see, except in the love we experience for and from each other”, Sr Clare said.

She harked back to the congregation’s recent Chapter where the Sisters boldly proclaimed in their vision statement that, despite global conflict and tragedy, and despite the obvious diminishment of their human resources, they were women of hope.  She also quoted from the Good Friday editorial of the Sydney Morning Herald which said that Christians constituted a community of hope and that Christian hope was not a renunciation of the world or an escape from contemporary responsibilities.  To recoil from this responsibility, the editorial continued, was to deny the point of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  “To reject a hopeful disposition, is to abandon our potential, not to mention the reality that we can – and must – make a difference for our sakes and the sakes of those who will come after us.”

After proclaiming her vows of profession, Sr Sharon three times prayed the beautiful words from the ancient Rule of Benedict, “Receive me, Lord, as you have promised and I shall live.  Do not disappoint me in my hope.” Another connecting thread within the celebration was the connection with “the cloud of witnesses”, other women of hope, Sisters who had gone before Sharon in dedicating themselves to God and Christ’s mission as “Good Sams”.  The presider of the Eucharist, Benedictine monk, David Orr, reminded the congregation that they gathered on sacred ground in Saint Scholastica’s chapel, made sacred by the commitment of hundreds of Good Samaritan Sisters.  The cover of the booklet for the Profession ceremony featured the gates of Saint Scholastica’s convent.  For more than 100 years, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan have gone out through these gates on mission to proclaim the Good News.  Sr Sharon will return to Casimir College, Marrickville, where she will continue to proclaim this Good News.

Behind the cartoon

OLC’s cartoonist, Alan Holyroyd, tells us why the Artichoke is prizeless …

The 2006 Artichoke Portrait Prize follows the nation’s most prestigious portrait prizes, the Archibald, the Moran, the Salon des Refuses and the Bald Archies. Prize-money for winners of the Archibald is $35,000 and the Moran a staggering $100,000! All were launched in Sydney late March and have attracted huge interest from the public.  

The Artichoke Prize, featuring in this edition of OLC, fills a gap in that the entries must relate to art, literature and religion. The Dan Brown novel, The Da Vinci Code is already outselling the Bible and the soon to be released movie is predicted to outsell Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ. Brown and Gibson have and are on the receiving end of critical acclaim and meritorious discredit – particularly from the literature community. Their hanging in the Artichoke is therefore self-explanatory.

Mona Lisa and Pius IX belong in the exhibition because they link to four master artists whose work was both castigated and celebrated. Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1503 and is considered a masterpiece. In 1919 the traditions of classic art were being challenged by many of the new artists of Europe including one of the founders of the Dada movement, Marcel Duchamp, who satirised the classics in general including the Mona Lisa. Using a pencil he drew a moustache and a goatee on to a print of the masterpiece and to the consternation of the establishment he exhibited it as an artwork. Duchamp is considered a founder of the abstract expressionist era that had its foundations in the early 19th century.

In 1599 or thereabouts the very famous Spanish painter Diego Valazquez painted Pope Innocent X. In 1953, the very famous Anglo-Irish artist Francis Bacon painted a satire of the Valazquez work that became known as “the screaming Pope” – as Bacon was said to explain the original as an image of watchful power. The cartoon of Pius IX is an updated reflection of Bacon’s work that features a pontiff that is considered to be not so innocent, who reigned for 32 years, was a political activist, issued the Syllabus of Errors in 1864, convened the first Vatican Council in 1869 and instigated Papal Infallibility - all of which resonate in this era of political and religious post-Vatican II turmoil. 

And yes, why is the Artichoke prizeless?  Quotes to consider: Hilton Kramer said that the more minimal the art, the more maximum the explanation and Pablo Picasso said that the people who make art their business are mostly impostors.

May the graces of the Easter season continue to bring hope into your lives.

Penny Edman

Diary

MAY

2-12 Australian Catholic Bishops’ plenary meeting

5-7 Project Rachel healing retreat, Tasmania (Anne, 03 6229 8739)

6   The Commission for Australian Catholic Women will host a workshop developed for the Gender Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia; Australian Catholic University, Antill Street, Watson, ACT.  Cost $15. Registration, 02 6201 9864

7 World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Men and Earth retreat day, with Tony Hempenstall and Philip Costigan, Four Winds and Mount Mee Forest, Qld; 10am-4pm

8-12   Thecla Women’s Retreat, Centre of Ignatian Spirituality, Pymble; 9.30am – 3.30pm

9-14   Mercy and Culture conference, Dublin, Ireland (Sisters of Mercy)

12   Doing social justice: the relevance of social analysis for today
with Peter Henriot SJ (Director of the Centre for Theological Reflection in Zambia, co-author of the Catholic best-seller Social Analysis) and Frank Brennan SJ (Professor of Law at the Australian Catholic University and of Human Rights and Social Justice at the University of Notre Dame Australia);  ACU Strathfield (Gleeson Auditorium); noon-1:30pm

13  Tasmanian Council of Churches annual general meeting with leading ecumenist Bishop Michael Putney (Townsville) speaking on national and international ecumenism (about 11.30am); Salvation Army Citadel, Elizabeth Street, Hobart; 9.30am-3pm

Ecumenical Cranmer celebration, St Peter’s Eastern Hill, Melbourne (information: John Bunyan, jrbpilgrim@bocnet.com.au )

Australia Does Not Have a Bill of Rights!  Do we need one?  What are the options? How did we get by without one? With Fr Frank Brennan SJ, hosted by The Grail and the Grail Centre, 22 McHatton Street, North Sydney; 10.30am-3.30pm

Mass in Dublin, Ireland, to celebrate Catherine McAuley and 175 years since the foundation of the Sisters of Mercy congregation

14   Ecumenical forum, Being Christian in today’s multi-faith world, with Bishop Michael Putney (Townsville) as guest; Hobart City Church of Christ, 8 Goulburn Street, Hobart; 2pm

14-21   Simply Sharing Week:  Simply hoping for health, the Solomon Island story, sponsored by Caritas Australia and the Christian World Service of National Council of Churches in Australia

15   International Day of Families

Information night on human trafficking, Lourdes Hill College, Hawthorne, Brisbane; 7.30-9pm.  RSVP, May 13, 07 3399 8888

15-21   Inaugural National Safe Schools Week

18   University of Melbourne International Public Lecture, Does Religion Cause Violence?  The struggle for peace, by US Catholic theologian, Dr William T. Cavanaugh, Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Uni. of M., Parkville; 6.30pm

The Da Vinci Code movie opens in Australia

19-21   Project Rachel healing retreat, Sydney (Julie, 02 9440 7980)

20 and 21   Introductory intensive Journal workshops by Kate Scholl (as written about in And the Dance Goes On) sponsored by the Eremos Institute.  Saturday 9.30-5pm, Sunday 9.30am-4pm, Parramatta.  Registrations 02 9876 5176.  

21   World Social Communications (mass media) Day

25   Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea

25 (7.30pm) – 28 (5pm)

Cursillo weekend for women, Greenhills, Canberra.  Spiritual director, Fr Michael Fallon, msc.  (Margie Doyle, 02 6288 0309)

26   Sorry Day

28-June 4   Week of Prayer for Reconciliation and Christian Unity – Australia:  Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Mt 18:20)

28 and 29

The Centre for Progressive Religious Thought, Canberra, presents Australian Theologian Dr Val Webb, In defence of doubt and Catching water in a net:  Imagining the divine, St James Church Centre, Gillies Street, Curtain; 7.45pm Monday and 10am Tuesday.  Entry costs apply.