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Ratzinger's Faith. The Theology of Benedict XVI
A new book, entitled "Ratzinger's Faith. The Theology of Benedict XVI" (Oxford University Press, 2008), offers a valuable insight into the mind and priorities of Benedict XVI and locates his thinking in the context of the Second Vatican Council and the previous Episcopate of John Paul II. This is no academic text, its language is accessible and pitched at the average educated person. For those with responsibility for shaping the Catholic response to a still dominant but embattled and retreating secularism in Australia, this book is invaluable and is recommended to all members and friends of the Order of Malta.
The book's author, Dr. Tracey Rowland, Director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family (Melbourne), is a Dame of Magistral Grace in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Her book has been favourably reviewed in The London Tablet and will be reviewed in The Australian, The Spectator, the London Catholic Herald, Crisis, First Things and the Diocesan Press in Australia.
Available in bookshops from April 2008, or on-line through amazon.com (rrp $US24.95).
Gorman House, Sydney
More than two years have passed since the Order of Malta in New South Wales adopted Gorman House as a charitable works project. Since then, with your support, we have raised over $400,000, enabling Gorman House to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the past 18 months.
Members and Friends of the Order of Malta have also assisted at resident barbecues held three times a week and obtained a large number of clothing items for the benefit of residents, with excess items being sold - the proceeds from the sales going to the Gorman House fund.
Our commitment was to raise $200,000 per year for three years until Gorman House was relocated to the new O'Brien Building currently under construction. To honour this commitment the Order of Malta is now commencing fundraising for the third $200,000 which will ensure Gorman House remains open seven days a week until September 2009.
The Order is also pleased to announce it has decided to extend its financial support beyond 2009 to keep Gorman House in its present location until the new facility is ready for occupancy in mid 2010.
From October to January, Gorman House admitted 520 residents, including 61 women and 459 men. Of those admitted during these four months, 338 were alcohol-related and 182 were drug-related. In the previous four months to this, 440 residents were admitted to the Unit.
There is no doubt of the importance of keeping this service in operation.
Gorman House News - March 2008
Singers strike opening chords
Rehearsals for the Gorman House Choir got off to a flying start last month. The doors at Heffron Hall opened at 11.00 o'clock and 20 people walked in with guitars, violins and bongo drums. Under the direction of Peter Lehner, the newly appointed Choirmaster, there was singing, dancing and plenty of laughter.
St Vincent's Hospital delivered lunch, the new key board - donated by the Order of Malta - arrived and worked brilliantly and with visitors from the Sydney Street Choir and Matthew Talbot, we all enjoyed two hours of good music.
It was a very good beginning. So where to from here?
Our hope is that participants will obtain comfort from being associated with the group as well as a sense of achievement from the singing. The choir draws on soul and Christian music.
Many thanks to the City of Sydney Council for providing Heffron Hall free of charge.
The Gorman House Singers Choir meets fortnightly. For more information, please contact the Order of Malta at communications@smom.org.au
Resident profile: "Nic"
To all the beautiful staff at Gorman House.
Thank you for being so wonderful to me during my stay and also when I have rung here (or the AIDS line).
Whenever I have gone to you guys for a talk, chat, meds or just in general, the care, concern, advice and importantly, honesty, has been a God send to me.
You've let me be irrational (on Sunday when I tried to come in but didn't have my meds), cry when I needed it, understood my level of anxiousness, given drops of lavender for my spa to help me relax but especially the extra night. Though I wanted to go it was for the wrong reason and though I am scared today to be walking out the door, I now have also been able to be honest with myself and am better equipped to do something which seems so simple but has always been an issue for me and that is to say "no".
It's not long between here and Palm Court and I am finally open to getting help, dealing with past demons and also to be easier on myself and not so harsh or judgemental. I'll take it hour by hour and though at the moment, life without substance is inconsumable (still to a degree), it's only because I haven't been able to face what has driven me determinedly to always find an addiction of some sort and I know if I don't stop I'll do or drink myself stupid.
Thank you to Michelle and Tony from Pastoral Care whose compassion, guidance, prayers and allowing me to receive the Eucharist has meant so much and during my franker moments these have enlightened me and I know I have a spiritual compass that will help.
I want to mention names but don't want to miss any one or get their names wrong, but thank you guys from the depth of my heart. Take care of yourselves; you'll be in my prayers. The extra day has made a world of difference and I am ready to walk out the door now. If I see you on the street, I'd love to say hi but I know you won't take it the wrong way when I say I never hope to see these walls at Gorman again.
Love always,
Nic xox
To all the beautiful staff at Gorman House.
Thank you for being so wonderful to me during my stay and also when I have rung here (or the AIDS line).
Whenever I have gone to you guys for a talk, chat, meds or just in general, the care, concern, advice and importantly, honesty, has been a God send to me.
You've let me be irrational (on Sunday when I tried to come in but didn't have my meds), cry when I needed it, understood my level of anxiousness, given drops of lavender for my spa to help me relax but especially the extra night. Though I wanted to go it was for the wrong reason and though I am scared today to be walking out the door, I now have also been able to be honest with myself and am better equipped to do something which seems so simple but has always been an issue for me and that is to say "no".
It's not long between here and Palm Court and I am finally open to getting help, dealing with past demons and also to be easier on myself and not so harsh or judgemental. I'll take it hour by hour and though at the moment, life without substance is inconsumable (still to a degree), it's only because I haven't been able to face what has driven me determinedly to always find an addiction of some sort and I know if I don't stop I'll do or drink myself stupid.
Thank you to Michelle and Tony from Pastoral Care whose compassion, guidance, prayers and allowing me to receive the Eucharist has meant so much and during my franker moments these have enlightened me and I know I have a spiritual compass that will help.
I want to mention names but don't want to miss any one or get their names wrong, but thank you guys from the depth of my heart. Take care of yourselves; you'll be in my prayers. The extra day has made a world of difference and I am ready to walk out the door now. If I see you on the street, I'd love to say hi but I know you won't take it the wrong way when I say I never hope to see these walls at Gorman again.
Love always,
Nic xox
For more information on supporting Gorman House, please contact us at communications@smom.org.au, or you can make a donation on-line here.
Frą Matthew Festing - 79th Grand Master of the Order of Malta
Frą Matthew Festing, 59, an Englishman, today becomes the 79th Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, elected by the Council Complete of State (the Order's electoral body).In accepting the role, the new Grand Master swore his Oath before the Cardinal Patronus of the Order, Cardinal Pio Laghi, and the electoral body. He succeeds Fra' Andrew Bertie, 78th Grand Master (1988-2008), who died on 7 February.
The new Grand Master affirms his resolve to continue the great work carried out by his predecessor.
Fra' Matthew comes with a wide range of experience in Order affairs. He has been the Grand Prior of England since the Priory's re-establishment in 1993, restored after an abeyance of 450 years. In this capacity, he has led missions of humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Kosovo after the recent disturbances in those countries, and with a large delegation from Britain he attends the Order's annual pilgrimage to Lourdes with handicapped pilgrims.
Educated at Ampleforth and Trinity College Cambridge, where he read history, Frą Matthew, an art expert, has for most of his professional life worked at an international art auction house. As a child he lived in Malta and Singapore, where his father, Field Marshal Sir Francis Festing, Chief of the Defence Staff, had earlier postings. His mother was a member of the recusant Riddells of Swinburne Castle who suffered for their faith in penal times. He is also descended from Sir Adrian Fortescue, a knight of Malta, who was martyred in 1539.
Frą Matthew served in the Grenadier Guards and holds the rank of colonel in the Territorial Army. He was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the Queen and has served as her Deputy Lieutenant in the county of Northumberland for a number of years.
In 1977 Frą Matthew became a member of the Order of Malta, taking solemn religious vows in 1991.
As well as his passion for the decorative arts and for history, for which his encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of the Order is legendary, as is his very British sense of humour, Frą Matthew spends any free time possible in his beloved Northumberland countryside.
Death of Grand Master of Knights of Malta
Frį Andrew Bertie, 78th Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the first Englishman ever to hold that office, died in Rome on 7 February at the age of 78 after a short illness.
A private funeral will be held on 16 February and a State funeral in Rome on 8 March.
Born in London in 1929, Andrew Bertie's father James was a foreign exchange dealer on the London stock exchange. His mother Lady Jean Crichton-Stuart was a descendant of the Stuarts who ruled England and Scotland from 1603 to 1714 apart from the 11-year Cromwellian Protectorate.
Frį Andrew was educated at Ampleforth College and read Modern History at Oxford before becoming a financial journalist in the City of London.
He joined the Order of Malta in 1956 and took the vows of a fully professed member in 1981. He was elected Grand Master of the Order in 1988.
A consummate linguist with a particular love for Africa and the Orient Frį Andrew Bertie in office as Grand Master impressed as a very calm and pious man of sound judgment, widely travelled and regarded with affection by all members and volunteers of the Order who met him.
He quietly modernised the structures of the Order of Malta and presided over 20 years of growth, high morale and spiritually motivated focus on the care of the poor and sick... MORE
Visit of HIH the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia
HIH the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia and members of her suite were present at an Order of Malta luncheon tendered by its President Mr A J Macken and senior members of the Australian Association in Melbourne on Monday 24 September 2007. The Grand Duchess who is an honorary Dame of Honour and Devotion in the Order of Malta was on a visit to Australia, supported by the Embassy of the Russian Federation, to mark 200 years of a Russian presence in Australia.The Grand Duchess is pictured with Mr Ambrose Galvin (left) and the President of the Australian Association of the Order of Malta, Mr A J Macken.
National Assembly in Adelaide
The two yearly National Assembly of the Australian Association met in Adelaide between June 22 - 24 2007 and was attended by over 200 members and guests from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Timor Leste, Vietnam and Hong Kong.
A full agenda of business was transacted by Executive Council followed by the convening of the National Assembly hosted by the SA Branch Chair the Hon Greg Crafter. The officers of the Australian Association - President, Chancellor, Treasurer and Hospitaller delivered reports.
Bishop Greg O'Kelly SJ addressed the Assembly, delivering a most challenging and stimulating address entitled "The Need for Catholic Schools" which among other things analysed youth culture, the renewed importance of imagination, religious illiteracy, past defects in the transmission of the Faith and the loss of the affective in Catholic culture. He summed up:
"We have so much scope for the revitalisation of the Church through our schools in Australia. The sheer numbers of our students and our teachers present a marvelous opportunity, an apostolic opportunity that must not be missed ... The affirmation of Catholic education is a marvellous opportunity for an organisation like the Knights of Malta." Click here to read the full text of Bishop O'Kelly's address
Chief Justice's Address
That evening the formal dinner of the Association was held at the Adelaide Hilton. The guests of honour included His Eminence Cardinal Cassidy, His Grace Archbishop Philip Wilson and the Hon John Doyle, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia and Mrs Doyle.
The Chief Justice addressed members and guests on Values from the standpoint of legal philosophy and processes - an area of which much more may be heard.
On Sunday June 24 a concelebrated Mass in Adelaide Cathedral fittingly concluded the formal activities of the National Assembly.
Members and guests met one last time for lunch at the Glenelg Golf Club at which the South Australian Branch Chair Confrere the Hon Greg Crafter farewelled visitors and warmly thanked those from the SA Branch who had made the weekend so successful.
The Chair of the Queensland Branch Confrere Dr Ian Marshall then issued an invitation to all present to attend at Brisbane in 2009 where the Queensland Branch will host the next National Assembly of the Australian Association.
International Lourdes Pilgrimage
The next international pilgrimage of members of the Order of Malta worldwide will be held at Lourdes, France between May 2 and 6, 2008.
The year 2008 marks 150 years since the apparitions of Our Lady to St Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
Each year the Order of Malta replenishes itself by its care for our Malades at Lourdes and the occasion is joyous, prayerful and deeply moving. It is expected that many Australians will participate in 2008.
Lourdes Day MelbourneFor those who cannot travel to Lourdes the Order of Malta in Victoria each year organises a Lourdes Day for the Sick, for their Carers and Relatives and for our Members, with several thousand attending.
This year the Lourdes Day event will be held in St Patrick's Cathedral Melbourne on Saturday 1 December 2007, centering on Mass and Blessing of the Sick by Most Rev Denis Hart, Archbishop of Melbourne and the Magistral Chaplains of the Order of Malta.
Lourdes Event SingaporeThe Singapore Association will hold a Lourdes Event for the Sick and their carers and members of the Order in an indoor stadium on Saturday 6 December 2008 with 10,000 attendees expected. Australian members of the Order visiting Singapore are invited to be present.
Meeting of Presidents
The Presidents Meeting held annually will take place in Paris on 1 and 2 May 2008. This brings together the Presidents of the 46 National Associations of the Order worldwide and, subject to Sovereign Council, is a key policy-making assembly of the Order of Malta.
Sovereign Council Meetings
Meetings of Sovereign Council of the Order of Malta will next be held in Rome on:
- 25 October 2007
- 6 December 2007
- 30 January 2008
- 16 April 2008
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
The High Charges of the Order including the Grand Commander will lead an international pilgrimage of the Order of Malta to the Holy Land between October 5 and 10, 2007.The pilgrimage will include Jerusalem and also Bethlehem in the Occupied Territory where the Order of Malta has conducted the Holy Family Maternity Hospital since 1989.
The Holy Family Hospital has 90 staff. Since 1990, over 37,000 babies have been delivered without a single case of maternal death despite the poor health of many mothers, and the difficulties of transit.
Registration of Titles and Devices
Under the direction of the Chancellor Confrere Brian Wilson the Australian legal firm of Clayton Utz has successfully achieved the trade mark registration in Australia of all titles and devices of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
The necessary legal work was attended to on a pro bono basis by the skilled professionals of Clayton Utz.
The titles and devices of the authentic Sovereign Military Order of Malta have been frequently misused or appropriated by some self-described Orders of St John, even in Australia. In consequence the goodwill of the public and even some Church personnel has been imposed upon.
Enforcement action can now be taken by the Order of Malta to put an end to these practices and to protect the public.
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