nov 2011 125

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Dear Friends

Fr. Stuart considers our life after death

Is your hope in this present life only? What about the life to come

after our death? God puts in the heart of every living person the desire for unending life and happiness. While death claims each of us at the appointed time, God gives us something which death cannot touch – His own divine life and sustaining power. In the Old Testament, one of the greatest testimonies of faith and hope in the midst of great suf-fering and pain is that of Job: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he

will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another (Job 19:25-27).Jesus made an incredible promise to His disciples, a claim which only God can make and deliver: Whoever sees and believes in Jesus, the Son of God, shall have everlast-ing life and be resurrected! How can we see Jesus? He is present in His word, in the breaking of the bread, and in the church, the body of Christ. Jesus reveals Himself in many

countless ways to those who seek Him with eyes of faith. When we read the word of God in the bible Jesus speaks to us and reveals to us the mind and heart of the Father. When we approach the table of the Lord, Jesus offers Himself as spiritual food which produces the very life of God within us (I am the bread of life, John 6:35). He promises unbroken fellowship and freedom from the fear of being forsaken or cut off from everlasting life with God. And He offers us the hope of shar-ing in His resurrection. Is your hope and desire to see God face to face?

What is faith and how do we grow in it? Faith is an entirely free gift which God makes to us. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals who Jesus is. We can believe in Jesus Christ because He is Himself God, the Word made flesh. Faith is a personal adher-ence to God and the free assent to the whole truth which God has revealed. Faith is active submission to the One who cre-ated us in love and who sustains us by His grace and power. To obey in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth has been guar-

I believe, in order to understand; and I understand,

the better to believe. Augustine of Hippo

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Upon this Rock magazine is published monthly by

EuropeAxess Media Ltd, Gibraltar.

Editor: Fr. Stuart Chipolina: [email protected]

Production Editor: A. Sargent

[email protected]: Fr. McAlear blesses a

member of the congregation at a Healing Mass, the lady who is just falling into the arms of helpers, was one of many who

rested in the Spirit at that event. Photo: A.Sargent

Upon this Rock magazine is entirely supported by advertising and donations. It is run in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar by EuropeAxess Media Ltd. as a not-for-profit project. For Advertisers: This magazine is hand-delivered to homes, churches, hospitals and many businesses around Gibraltar every month. To discuss your advertising requirements, or promote your church group or charity, call Tel: 200 79335 email: [email protected] Editorial is selected by EuropeAxess

Media in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar. Neither of these parties is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein, nor do the views and opinions expressed herein necessarily reflect the views and opinions of either party. Advertisers are not endorsed by virtue of advertising in this magazine. EuropeAxess Media reserves the right to refuse space to any submissions or advertisements. Efforts have been made to establish copyright owners of images, but if we have used your material, and have not credited you, please contact us to discuss restoration.

Fr. Stuart considers our life after deathI believe, in order to understand;

and I understand, the better to believe.

Augustine of Hippo

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anteed by God, who is Truth itself. We can entrust ourselves wholly to God and believe ab-solutely what He says. To live, grow, and persevere in faith to the end we must nourish it with the word of God. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) said: I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe. Jesus promises that those who accept Him as their Lord and Saviour and submit to His word will be raised up to immortal life with Him in the Day of Judgment.God Bless You, Fr Stuart Th

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Dear young friends! writes Pope Benedict XVI.

I would like to tell you a lit-tle about how it was writ-ten, because then it will be

clear why it is so unusual.You could say that it came to be from another work, whose ori-gins go back to the 1980s. It was a difficult time for the Church and for society worldwide. New guidance was needed to find the path to the future. After the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and in a changed

cultural situation, many people were confused about what Chris-tians actually believe, what the Church teaches, whether in fact she can teach anything at all, and how everything can find its place in a culture that had changed from its very foundations. Is it still reasonable today to be a be-liever? These were the questions that even good Christians were asking.At that time Pope John Paul II made a bold decision. He decided that bishops from all over the

world should together write a book in which they would an-swer these questions. He gave me the task of coordinating the work of the bishops and seeing to it that from the contributions of the bishops a book would result—a real book, not just a haphazard collection of all sorts of docu-ments. This book would have the old-fashioned title Catechism of the Catholic Church but would be something entirely new and exciting. It would show what the Catholic Church believes today and how one can, with good reason believe.I was alarmed by this task. I must admit that I doubted whether something like this could suc-ceed. For how was it possible that authors scattered all over the world could together produce a readable book? How could men who not only geographi-cally, but also intellectually and spiritually, lived on different continents create a text with an inner unity, one that would also be understandable throughout all

those continents? And there was the further difficulty that these bishops would not be writing as individual authors but would be in contact with their brother bish-ops and with the people in their dioceses. I must admit that even today it still seems to me to be a miracle that this project finally succeeded.We met for a week three or four times a year and vigorously discussed the different individual sections that had taken shape in between meetings. First, of course, we had to determine the structure of the book. It had to be simple so that the individual groups of authors that we estab-lished would have a clear task and would not have to force their work into a complicated system. It is the same structure you will find in this book. It is simply taken from centuries of catechet-ical experience: What we be-lieve—How we should celebrate the Christian mysteries—How we have life in Christ—How we should pray. I will not describe

Youth Ministry text: youcat.org

“I recommend an unusual book. It is unusual both because of its content and the way it came to be.”

Inaugural Mass for students going to study


Youth Ministry text: youcat.org

now how we slowly made our way through so many and varied questions until finally a book came from it all. One can, of course, criticize some things, or even many things, in such a work: Everything that man makes is inadequate and can be improved. Still it is a marvel-lous book: a witness to unity in diversity. We were able to form a single choir from many voices because we had the same score, the faith that the Church has borne through the centuries from the apostles onward.

Why am I telling you all this?We realized at the time we were working on the book that not only are the continents and cultures diverse, but that even within individual communities there are again diverse “con-tinents”: The worker thinks differently from the farmer; a physicist differently from a phi-lologist; an executive differently from a journalist; a young man differently from an old man. So we had to find a way of thinking and speaking that was in some way above all these differences,

a common space, so to speak, between different worlds of thought. In doing this it became ever more apparent to us that the text needed to be “translated” for different cultural worlds in order to reach people in those worlds in ways that correspond to their own questions and ways of thinking.In the World Youth Days since the introduction of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, young people from all over the world have come together, young peo-ple who want to believe, who are seeking God, who love Christ, and who want fellowship on their journey.To continue reading what the Holy Father said to young people, plus a photography competition and much more, go to www.youcat.org

First Reader: Gabriella Graçia, 2nd reader: Louis Lombard.

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Youth Catechism written in their languageOn the 7th September Mgr. Charlie Azopardi presented students with their YouCat’s, repeating the Holy Father’s entreaty to read it, digest its contents and share with others. He reminded them that they can come back at any time from anywhere in the world to pray in this little Shrine that they could call their own, due to the wonderful gift of the Shrine webcam on www.ourladyofeurope.net

Inaugural Mass for students going to study


The Catholic Community Centre seemed to have shrunk

on Saturday the 16th October. The hall was filled to capacity, the ‘posh’ green upholstered chairs were lined up in 11 rows of 8 seats, and many extra seats had been deployed at the back, round the sides, and on the mezzanine floor.

A lovely altar had been set up at the north end of the hall, this was particularly well sited, as the light from the tall west facing windows shone directly onto the speaker and not into the eyes of the audience. The altar was dressed with a white cloth bearing doves and flames, symbols of the Holy Spirit and decorated with a beautiful, back-

lit flower arrangement, all on a carpeted dias. Pictures of Jesus and Our Lady were hung to the left and right of the hall. So all in all it looked homely, but at once, very smart.As the tall figure of Fr. McAlear entered the room the Music Ministry had the participants on their feet with an energetic song of praise to help disperse any after lunch sleepiness. Fr. McAlear wanted to start off his talk with a story. The Friday sessions had been dedicated to unforgivingness, and the importance of dealing with any unforgivingness in our lives before we can move on to healing. And to recap and illustrate this point before going on to the other barriers to healing, he wanted to tell a story from America. He had not been able to use it for a long time, but here, in Gibraltar he felt we were far enough away from the city where the events occurred that he might be able to share it with us.At that time he was part of a group that met mid-week for a prayer meeting and one time a lady brought a new person along. He was a high level Mafia guy who we are calling ‘George’ for this story, and he came with his bodyguard. Well, they prayed with him and during the course of the evening he was converted. As George told them his story they learned that he was a ‘hit man’ but of course after receiving the Holy Spirit into his life he saw he could no longer continue in this career. Fr. McAlear asked if he could not retire, “Oh no, he replied you can’t retire from the mob, and

it’s worse than that as I have a ‘contract’ to fill.” He explained how there was a contract out on a man who we are going to call ‘Guiseppe’ and that according to the orders from the Mafia Don, George had to assassinate Guiseppi before mid-day the following Sunday. Fr. McAlear asked him what his options were, he answered, “I kill Guiseppe, or they kill me!” Then he added as an afterthought, “or the Don cancels the contract, but,” he shook his head sadly, “that never happens!”Fr. McAlear suggested he call the Don to ask for the contract to be cancelled. George explained “You can’t just pick up the phone and talk to the Don, there are P.A.s and security guys, there is a whole hierarchy in place that you have to go through.”Nevertheless, after the prayer meeting George did pick up the phone and call the Don, and lo and behold, he answered the phone himself! George found himself being very eloquent in rationalising the reasons not to kill Guiseppe, and how it would not be good for the Don to get mixed up with that murder. The Don listened to him carefully and then said. “OK, well, let’s just cancel this contract then”!George was overjoyed and rushed to tell Fr. McAlear what had happened. On the following Sunday during the Healing Mass in the church when the liturgy brought them to the point of sharing the sign of peace George turned round to the row behind him and you can imagine his shock and surprise when the person shaking his

Barriers to healing outlined prior to a blessing for the sick with Holy Oils at a three day event last month.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal Angela Sargent

Many blessings at Fr. McAlear’s Conference


hand and looking into his eyes was Guiseppe! The very man that he was due to kill, before that hour on that day.Speaking about it later, George said, “If I didn’t believe in Jesus before then, and I like to think I did, I certainly believed in Him from that moment on!”So even George was healed. He continued to take part in regular prayer meetings, bringing along many of his old Mafia friends before dying of cancer fifteen years later.


Many blessings at Fr. McAlear’s Conference

Participants filed up to the altar where the blessed Sacrament was exposed and Fr. McAlear blessed each one with Holy Oils. Many were overwhealmed with a sense of peace and rested in the Spirit. The helpers standing to the left and right of Fr. McAlear are prepared to assist as required.



ANXIETYFr. McAlear then spoke about the different ways we try to medicate for anxiety in our lives ourselves, coming from an Irish background the use of alcohol first came to mind. People will dull painful memories with ‘A wee dram’. But nowadays, he said, increasingly people turn to drugs, the dangers of illegal drugs are well documented but sometimes even legal drugs are used. He alluded to the Michael Jackson trial, recently televised, where we heard that the celebrity

could not get to sleep without the help of powerful medication, normally only used in a hospital environment. How many people are prescribed or have access to ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’ and then other meds to control the symptoms? He asked, resulting in the over use of the chemicals, all this often leading them in a downwards spiral.Then Fr. McAlear spoke about how we try to use control to deal with fear in our lives. He cited an example of a priest, who tried to do everything himself in his parish, as he felt he could not trust the people around him. Often we believe if we can just control everything and everyone around us we’ll be OK, but of course, that is not possible and very often the over-controlling personality becomes sick. Then Fr. McAlear asked “How many times does the Bible quote Jesus as saying ‘Do not be afraid.’?” The answer is, 365, once for every day of the year. Then he asked, “Why is Jesus saying ‘Do not be afraid.’? Because God is in charge, God is greater than any of us, he is all powerful. If he is in charge why

• Fear

• Anxiety

• Guilt

• Unworthiness

• Anger

• Rage

Barriers to HeAlInG

“Fear is useless” says Fr. McAlear



should we be afraid? If he is not in charge, then there is nothing any of us can do.I was reminded of the helicopter pilot’s safety brief. A woman and her husband went on a helicopter flight in Rio, to fly round the great statue of Jesus on top of the sugar loaf mountain there. It being her first time in a helicopter, she was surprised at the safety briefing. It was conspicuous by its absence. After they were safely down on the ground again and being driven back to their hotel, she asked her husband, an ex-Naval rating and veteran of many helicopter flights about this, and he told her. “Because if a helicopter is going to ditch, there is nothing you can do, you are brown bread!” “So,” Fr. McAlear continued, “God will either take care of the problem himself, or give you the strength to take care of it.”

FEAR“Fear is useless,” says Fr. McAlear, discounting it with as much emphasis as if he were throwing it away an old broken spanner. “what you need is TRUST. Don’t get me wrong, even the saints felt fear, many theologians have speculated on what Mary felt when she found an angel in her bedroom, but the angel’s first words were ‘Do not be afraid’. When you tell someone not to be afraid, they calm down, but it is a human reaction.’Fr. McAlear then tasked us all firstly to think about the things that made us afraid, and to surrender those problems to Jesus. Secondly, he said, think how much bigger and more powerful God is than these things. He encouraged us to trust in God. But not to have a vision of a God who is a far distant creator of the Universe, ‘just’

some cosmic energy, but to build a personal relationship with a loving God, as close to us as a loving father, who we can call Daddy. “Imagine God saying ‘Come and sit with me and tell me all about it’ and surrender all your worries to him.”“There is such a thing as the ‘sin of fear’. Fear is giving the permission to darkness to hurt you. Fear means giving them the power to designate themselves more powerful than your self. It is important for us to remember who we are, to take hold of our identity as a ‘Child of God’. St.

Paul says ‘Shine among them like stars in the sky’”. Fr. McAlear suggested that when confronted with evil we should not run away, but stand our ground and carry on regardless, ignoring the apparent threat, as we are Children of God, and the powers of darkness can have no power over us. “What happens when you come into a dark room and switch the light on? The darkness is no more, it is gone, and even a tiny candle can dissipate a huge amount of darkness and be seen from a great distance.”

Clockwise from above: Sharing a sign of peace. The paricipants praise and applaud glorifying God. Another person (not shown) falls into the hands of the helpers on receiving Fr. McAlear’s healing touch. Conference Photos: A. Sargent



Father Timothy Radcliffe, 66, is a former Master of the world wide Dominican Order (1992-2001).Strangely, even though

he was educated at Worth Preparatory

School and then Downside School, Timothy felt no stirrings towards religious life during his time at school. He does remember one time after serving Mass in one of the side chapels of Downside Abbey, when without warning, he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the Abbey and the beauty of the ritual. Perhaps this was the first small sign that he was destined

for a vocation. Another huge influence was his great uncle, Dom John Lane Fox, a monk at Fort Augustus monastery.

VOCATIONAfter he left school, for the first time in his life, he began to make friends who were not Catholics and in many cases not Christians. They would question him as to whether he really believed the tenets of the Catholic faith and whilst thinking up answers was struck by the enormity of the

questions. After considerable study he decided that it was all true. Timothy never gave a passing thought to joining the Ben-edictines although he loves the order and admires the English Benedictine Congregation which enjoys such a wonderful humane tradition. Today he welcomes the chance to stay in Benedictine monasteries.

DOMINICAN ORDER When Timothy joined the noviti-ate of a Dominican Friary it was a strange experience as the Friars were completely unlike any men he had ever met before. It was all totally new but at the same time he felt at home. He was very struck by the sense of fraternal affection and he felt that the com-munity really liked each other. Today when asked by young men if they might enjoy a religious life as a Dominican the reply is that they should go and stay in different communities but the most important factor is that they

B i o g r a p h y

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP


Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP M i ke B ru f a l

must feel at home. In his opinion there is no dramatic thunderbolt which tells the recipient that he has a vocation. He had no such experience in helping him to reach his decision. However he soon concluded that his faith was the most important fact in his life. Dominicans, unlike Benedictines do not have to stay with one community, and so they move all around the province. During his time in England Fa-ther Timothy has lived in about ten communities. Some 18 months after leaving school he joined the Dominicans and studied at Blackfriars which is the English province’s main study house. Soon afterwards he moved to St. John’s College Oxford and then a year in Paris at Sauchoir. He was 26 when he was ordained in 1971. His first ministry was as Chaplain to London University and after two years, unexpectedly, the Friar who taught scripture at Black-friars died. The Friar in charge of studies telephoned and asked

him to return to teach scripture. In vain did Father Timothy point out that he knew little about teaching scripture as the reply was do not worry as you will learn as you go alone. He was correct and Father Timothy taught scripture and doctrine for 12 years.

PRIOR OF BLACKFRIARSIn 1982, aged 37 , he was elect-ed Prior of Blackfriars and then in 1988 after two terms of three years was elected Provincial covering England, Scotland and Wales. This is a four year term of office and it is possible to be re-elected once. The Provincial visits each priory at least once a year and talks to every Friar.

PROVINCIALDuring his time as Provincial-Father Timothy was elected the President of the Conference of Religious. This is the associa-tion established for the benefit of religious superiors in England and Wales and represents them by uniting them in collabora-tive initiatives. It is also the link with the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. A meeting

was held with the Bishops each year to talk about the life of religious communities and their relationship with the Bishops. The Dominicans are independent of the Bishops’ Conference but in each diocese where there is a priory there is a relationship with the Bishop.

MASTERFather Timothy in 1992, aged 47, was elected Master of the worldwide Dominican Order and was the first Englishman to hold this position. The Master rules for nine years and cannot be re-elected. Until the time of Napoleon the position was for life but at that time there were not so many priories and so not so much travel. The Master remained in Rome and sent plenipotentiaries out to visit the Priories. The nine year fixed term was introduced at the beginning of the 19th century. Today there are some 800 priories in 106 countries and 5 continents and the Master is expected to visit each one during his term of of-fice and if possible to meet each Friar. Father Timothy achieved this target which was hard work

and managed to spend half an hour with each member of the order; this is an incredible achievement. The supervision of the Order is via the provincials and not the individual Friars. The nationality of the Master makes little difference and there were 14 nationalities in the Gen-eral Council which meant each member had to work hard to understand each other. There is a General Secretary in charge of the Secretariat and five secretar-ies dealing with five languages the most important of which are English , French and Spanish. A meeting would be held with each Provincial and his council to ascertain the challenges facing them and how they proposed to move forward, how each prov-ince was doing, were they happy and on the ball and a great deal of effort went into encouraging them. At the end of each meet-ing, a discussion paper would be prepared with the help of a member of his staff who flew out from Rome with him , and given to the Provincial, fol-lowed by another meeting held with him and his Council. After their reaction was received and

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it was rare that the Provincial did not agree with his sugges-tions, a letter would be sent to the Provincial and a copy to each member of the province. It must be remembered that the Domini-cans are a fraternal order and where there were disagreements it was nearly always possible to discuss the problems in a calm and good humoured way. In the final analysis it was the Master’s decision but this was used very rarely. These cases were usually about some major difficulties that had not been correctly ad-dressed. Father Timothy is a writer and has several best selling books to his credit. As he is an early riser he finds the time to write whilst others are asleep. He was awarded the Michael Ramsey prize for theological writing for his book ‘What is the Point of being a Christian’. His other books include ‘Why go to Church?’, ‘Sing a New Song’, ‘I call you Friends’, ‘Seven Last Words’, ‘The Dominican Way’, ‘Just One Year’ and ‘The Chris-tian Vocation’. It is as a preacher that he has found international prominence. He stresses that to be a good preacher does not come easily. The best sermons are ones that have to be struggled with and there are many times when a text is read and the mind is a total blank as to what can be said. If the sermon comes too easily then what is said may well sound very facile. Father Timothy said; “The difficulty is not thinking about what I am saying to them in the audience but what are they going to hear. The real effort is to put yourself in a seat in the congregation and try to imagine what the audience is going to take in and

remember”. As a University Chaplain he was full of enthusiasm for preaching and had listened to many great preachers at Blackfri-ars. He aspired to emulate them but soon discovered that the un-dergraduates thought otherwise and told him that on the whole they found the sermons boring. The answer was some market re-search and so after each Sunday Mass he used to take some of the congregation to the pub and ask them where he was going wrong, what was expected, what did they expect to hear and how did they rate what they heard. It was a painful experience but a wonderful preparation and he became a better preacher as a result. It is not easy to submit sermons to a weekly critique from the congregation but on the other hand builds up a close re-lationship between preacher and the laity. Some of the students involved remain in contact and friendships maintained over the decades. ‘A successful preacher requires two apparently contradictory qualities; confidence and humil-ity’ he says with a smile. It must be quite difficult from after being the Master of the Order to return to Blackfriars as an ordinary Friar. But Father Timothy is finding life both re-laxing and busy as he is much in demand as a preacher, writer and lecturer. We hope he may be able to contribute in future issues of the magazine.

B i o g r a p h y


To set up the crib at home can be a simple but effective way of

presenting the faith and trans-mitting it to one’s children. This helps us to contemplate the mystery of God’s love who revealed himself in the poverty and simplicity of the Bethlehem cave.Saint Francis of Assisi was so overwhelmed by the mystery of the Incarnation, that he wanted to present it again in Greccio with the living manger, thus becoming the initiator of a long popular tradition which still keeps its value for evangeliza-tion today.The crib can help us, in fact, to understand the secret of the true Christmas, because it speaks of humility and the merciful good-ness of Christ, who “though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor”. (II Corinthians 8:9) His poverty enriches those who embrace it and Christmas brings joy and peace to those who, as the shepherds, accept inBethlehem the words of the angel: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant

wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger”. (Luke 2:12) It continues to be a sign also for us, men and women of

the 21st century. This is the real essence of Christmas, making the reason for the season a high priority in our homes.

Crib Competition Maria Louisa Aguilera

“And this will be a sign for you...”GIBRALTAR DIOCESAN

CRIB COMPETITION

2011ENTRIES ARE INVITED

FROM HOMES, SCHOOLS AND PLACES OF WORK.

JUDGING WILL TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY 16

DECEMBER 2011.FORMS CAN BE

COLLECTED FROM CATHEDRAL BOOKSHOP AND HANDED IN AT ST

THERESA’S CHURCH NOT LATER THAN THURSDAY

15 DECEMBER.(Forms will be available for

collection as from Thursday 1st December.)

ENTRANCE FEE £5 PER CRIB.

Winners will be contacted and Prizes will be handed out on

Saturday 24 December during the Children’s Christmas Eve

Mass at 5.00pm on the 24th Dec.(For more information please

contact Maria Louisa Aguilera at 58008677)


November is the month of remembrance when, at the 11th hour of the

11th day of the 11th month 1918, the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous war-fare. We commemorate this day by the wearing of an artificial poppy in place of the delicate and vibrant red flower which has become synonymous with the great loss of life in war, all wars. It was this flower which survived ‘mur-dered nature’, the churned up earth and ravaged woodlands of Flanders Fields (Belgium), site of half a million deaths in the horrific trenches of WWI. A Ca-nadian military doctor, soldier

and poet, Major John McCrea saw his friends killed and buried in graves decorated with plain wooden crosses. Nature must have felt the senseless loss of life and wild poppies bloomed between the crosses that marked the graves of the fallen. Observ-ing this, McCrae gave the dead a voice forever in his poem ‘In Flanders Fields’; “If ye break the faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Fields”. Every year since 1921 the nation remembers and turns its attention to the wearing of poppies and the laying of wreaths in solemn and dignified ceremonies. Whilst the poppy is worn in remembrance of the dead, it is now helping the

living who suffer from mental and physical hardships as a result of the ravages of war. After the first world war, appalled by the aftermath of the savagery, Field Marshall Earl Haig founded the Royal British Legion. One year later, Major George Howson MC, an engineer who served on the Western Front of the Great War, founded the Disability Society. With a grant of £2,000 he set up a small factory off the Old Kent Road with five ex service men and here the first British poppies were made. Also moved by the plight of people who had suf-fered terribly, and inspired by McCrae’s poem, an American , Moina Michael and her French colleague, Madame Guerin, sug-gested selling poppies for Poppy Day. And so it began, this tradi-tion which has not only survived to this day but has grown as “we will remember them”. It as all about helping real people as Ma-jor Howson recognised and a col-lective consciousness seemed to

be at work. A copy of the letter he wrote to his parents which is displayed at the factory says; “I have been given a grant of £2,000 to make poppies with. It is a large responsibility and will be very difficult... I do not think it can be a great success... but it is worth trying...”. Standing before the framed copy of this poignant let-ter I was ready to start my visit to the Poppy Factory, nearly ninety years later.The first chills of Autumn were nipping at our heels as together with my daughter Tara who was accompanying me, we made our way to the factory, tucked unob-trusively away off the Petersham road in Richmond, Surrey. We were met by the General Man-ager, Bill Kay who welcomed us warmly and in a friendly and re-laxed manner escorted us around. A heart-warming story unfolded as we learned how, contrary to Howson’s expectations, the fac-tory had grown and moved to its present location in 1933. When

Where do poppies come from? Anne Mesilio

When You Remember Me“If ye break the faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Fields.”



When You Remember Me

he had suggested to the British Legion (now Royal) in 1922 that unemployed servicemen could make artificial poppies. These were designed so that someone who had lost the use of a hand could still assemble them; it is a principle which endures to this day. The workers in the factory are predominantly made up of disabled people who are either ex-servicemen or their depend-ents. On walking into the fac-tory floor we were not met with the frenzied activity or hum of machinery associated with a fac-tory environment, but rather with a sense of well ordered calm purpose as the people there that day went about their organised tasks. Bill explained that each person works at his/her own level producing by hand an average of one hundred wreaths per day. There is no quick fit assembly or high speed technology here, though production methods have evolved with the years. Our atten-tion was drawn to an old, faded

photo depicting two men work-ing on an early production of wreaths, sitting among piles and piles of dried leaves with a wob-bly ladder propped precariously behind them, and the two of them were smoking! When we had finished chuckling Bill showed us the plastic moulds used for the present day wreaths as opposed to straw ones where the poppies had to be sewn on. Today, the distinc-tive red coloured polyester mate-rial is imported from Hong Kong, the silk leaves from China. There is some use of machines to to cut out flower and leaf shapes which are then assembled by hand. We learned that in addition to the reg-ular workers there are a number of people assembling poppies in their own homes, confined there

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POPPY FACTORY FACTSEstablished 1922 Richmond, Surrey.Holds Royal Warrant.Makes poppies for England, Wales and N. Ireland.Poppies exported to smaller Commonwealth countries, e.g. Gibraltar.In 1926, Lady Haig established Scottish factory which supplies Scotland and operates independently.Production 2011: 130,000 wreaths and 49,000,000 poppies were made at the poppy factory.

Photos clockwise: Ian, who assembled my poppy and maybe yours! Stephen Sinclair with Bill Kay. (34years working), The Poppy Factory built in 1922, John busy with the crosses, overleaf, an Assembly point. Photos Tara Mesilio


either by chronic illness or dis-ability. The plastic moulds are supplied from two outlets in the UK and in HM Prison Ford (Ford Open Prison, a category D men’s prison at Ford, West Sussex), with the emphasis on re-settlement of prisoners into the community. The plastic stamen to click petals into the frame, are made here.There is also a ‘Getting you back to Work’ initiative being run to enable ex-service men and wom-en back into employment, which has successfully placed over sixty veterans of all ages in jobs around the UK. There is a great need for funding and this is helped by the letting of offices and residential flats, but when you consider that £4,000,000 is needed to help 500, that staggers the imagination. We were slowly making our way around the floor and stopped to chat with some of the work-ers. We were delighted to meet Stephen Sinclair who has worked at the factory for thirty four years. Shy and retiring but with a lovely smile he consented (a rare privil-ige we were given to understand) to pose for a photo with Bill. By now, Tara had had the role of pho-tographer thrust upon her and we moved on to meet Ian, celebrating a birthday (Oct 6th), who assem-bled and presented me with my own personal poppy as he worked beside his wife. Then came John, busy making crosses of mixed

denominations, Christian, Mus-lim, Ghurka, Jewish and Sikh/Khanda, for example, of which 1.7 million are Christian and the rest total 6-12 thousand between them. We met Julie who shared with us the recent sad loss of her mother and how she was missing her, but was bravely carrying on with her work. The bell rang for tea break and as the floor emptied I was curious to know the number of poppies and wreaths made for this November. The breath-taking number of 130,000 wreaths and 49,000,000 poppies was the reply. The factory holds the Royal War-rant and makes wreaths for the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Prince An-drew who recently paid a visit to explore ways of making changes to his wreath. We had moved on to stand before a frame of poppies (approximate-ly seven feet by four feet) and Bill recounted how this is one of two being cleaned, poppies replaced and so on, with the other one be-ing around the Tomb of the Un-known Warrior in Westminster Cathedral, who was chosen to represent all who fell in the Great War. I found myself unexpectedly moved at the respect which goes

into caring for this tomb.Each November since 1928 the Royal British Legion cre-ates Fields of Remembrance to pay tribute to those who bravely served in our armed forces and are no longer with us. The Fields, outside Westminster Cathedral become a sea of scarlet remem-brance poppies. The Queen Mother who died in 2002, and lost her brother Fergus in 1915, attended the service for 48 of her last 50 years to honour the dead of all wars. The crosses numbered 87,000 last year. The annual Serv-ice of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall will take place on Saturday the 12th November and the culmination as always will be the release of 800,000 crepe paper poppies, softly falling. Falling in blood red tribute, into the solemn silence, when you remember me, leaving no heart unmoved.If you have never paid more than token tribute, as you wear the poppy this year, reflect on the work being carried out in the Poppy Factory where your poppy has come from. Already the quota has been met for 2011 and the work of making poppies for next year is underway, a year long undertaking. Remembrance,

in the chains of red poppies which bind us to the past, and link us to the future, is a form of resurrection, a way of giving meaning to what has been lost, and what lives on, as death leaves a heartache no one can heal, but love leaves a memory no one can steal.



N e w s

On Saturday 1st Octo-ber during a packed 12.25p.m. Mass at

the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned, Bishop Ralph spoke warmly of his predecessor and acknowledged the grief that the Diocesan family feels, to-gether with Bishop Caruana’s blood family.

“A people is defined and brought together not only by love but by shared memories. Deciding what to remember defines who we are. Fr. Caruana was close to his family, and they still feel his loss keenly, but the Diocesan family too still mourns a great loss.” He went on to say that both families cling to

these memories in the hope of strength and consolation. It is generally agreed that Fr. Caruana will be working on for this Diocese, echoing the words of Saint Theresa who shares his 30th September anniversary “I intend to spend my entire life in heaven continuing to do good work on earth.”

Bishop Charles Caruana1932-2010

“For God’s faithful people life is changed, not ended”

Bishop Caruana’s First Anniversary Mass

CHRISTIAN FAMILY MOVEMENTANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS25th, 40th, 50th & 60th Wedding

Anniversary Celebrationsat the Cathedral early next year

Couples celebrating their 25th, 40th, 50th or 60th wedding anniversary in 2011 are invited to join in this celebration and renew their vows. Cut out (or photocopy if you prefer) the form below and hand it in to the Catholic Bookshop next to the Cathedral not later than the 14th January. (Forms will also be available at the Catholic Bookshop.)

Mr. & Mrs.: ________________________________________

Forenames: Husband ________________________________

Forenames: Wife ____________________________________

Neé: _______________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________

___________________________________________________

e-mail: _____________________________________________

Tel. No. : Home ______________________________________

Tel. No. Work _____________________________________

Mobile _____________________________________________

Date of Marriage : __________________________________

Church: ____________________________________________

N.B. If marriage took place outside Gibraltar please produce a copy of the marriage Certificate when handing in this formThis form should be handed in at the Cathedral bookshop as soon as possible and not later than Friday 14th January You can e-mail above detail/form to: [email protected]


MaterCare Interational organize a Conference in Rome for all health professionals who work in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. They describe

themselves as: “an international group of Catholic obstetricians and gynaecologists, which has adopted a preferential option for mothers and babies. MCI’s mission is to carry out the work of Evangelium Vitae (the Gospel of Life) by improving the lives and health of mothers and

babies both born and unborn, through new initiatives of service, training, research, and advocacy, designed to reduce the tragic levels of abortion world-wide and maternal and perinatal mortality, in developing countries.” I first heard about NaProTechnology at the MaterCare Conference in 2004. I was unable to attend this last conference but this article from the blog of a Medical Student who attended gives an excellent account of the current updates in NaProTechnology.

Dr. Monique Risso

...at the 8th ‘MaterCare’ International Conference in Rome

naProTechnology...

What has been discussed above is a part of the solution to bringing about a change in medicine where the moral and scientific truth of reproductive medicine is finally realized.

MaterCare Day 4 Part 1 6th September 2011

NFP as a SolutionGreetings in Christ! I am happy to say that I have safely returned to the States after a full day of travelling. The last full day of the conference was an excellent one, filled with good news from multiple people. The talks on this day offered concrete examples of solutions that were working around the world. The morning started with several excellent talks that centered on Natural Family Planning within hospitals. We first heard from Dr. Angel Francesco Filardo, an Italian obstetrician and gynecologist, who spoke of taking part in the first Billings Ovulation Method course in Italy in December of 1978. This course was transformative, and Dr. Filardo found both his practice of medicine and his marriage changed for the better. From this point, Dr. Filardo began participating in the research that would give validation to fertility awareness methods and to help establish training programs for other instructors throughout Italy. Dr. Filardo also emphasized his ability to help many, many women throughout his career due to his knowledge of natural family planning, and felt himself to be luckier than some of his colleagues, because he had opportunities they did not have, both in clinical practice and in professional development. Listening to Dr. Filardo speak, I was inspired by how much good he has done in his own country by taking the principles of Humanae Vitae, and putting

them into clinical practice. He offered an example of how practicing medicine in light of the Truth can bring forth a successful and fulfilling practice.Italy was not the only country about which we heard on this day. We had the pleasure of hearing another NFP clinic success story out of Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Luke McLindon spoke of the establishment of the NFP clinic at Mater Mother’s Hospital and how over the past 30 years, the program has evolved from a handful of nurses and midwives providing instruction to a physician based clinic that offers fertility awareness based instruction, treatment, and research services. It was a blessing to hear of a concrete model in which a morally sound fertility clinic could be incorporated into a hospital system.Part of being able to offer these types of services is having the training to do so. Dr. Eileen Reilly, a Scottish physician, gave an excellent overview on becoming a Creighton Model FertilityCare System provider. She explained how there are three levels: 1) Creighton model Instructor, 2) Medical Consultant and 3) FertilityCare Practioner. More details about these programs can be found in the Certificate Programs Brochure.The efficacy of the Creighton Model and the use of Naprotechnology (Natural Procreative Technology) were demonstrated in the presentation given by Dr. Philip Boyle of Ireland. Dr. Boyle made it clear in his talk that one of the greatest obstacles in treating infertility in medicine today is the approach. Main-stream medicine treats

infertility, which he defined as a syndrome that is typically the consequence of multiple chronic conditions, in an acute fashion through assisted reproductive technologies. He emphasized that a chronic disease requires a chronic treatment, rather than an acute approach. It is this long-term approach that is employed in NaProTechnology and the Creighton model when dealing with infertility. NaPro looks at a multiple dimensions of infertility and is able to discern the root cause of the infertility in many cases through the use of hormonal, ultrasound, and surgical techniques along with other methods. In the end a NaPro trained physician is able to create a treatment for the individual patient that is based upon the data obtained from the patient and is alterable as the patient’s condition changes. Dr. Boyle then showed us some of the statistics from the first few years of his practice, then gave three examples of patients he had been able to help achieve pregnancy. These three cases were printed in a European Journal which is available online, (see blog for link). Dr. Boyle offered some excellent resources, including the RestoreMyFertility website and information about the International Institute of Restorative Reproductive Medicine.These talks highlighted that there is an alternative to what mainstream medicine offers for reproductive care. The standard OB/GYN training fails to recognize that natural family planning and NaProTechnology offer a better approach to fertility and cycle issues, approaches that are both morally and

scientifically sound. More and more information is emerging that indicate that doctors employing NaProTechnology are having greater success rates for achieving pregnancy than many of the assisted reproductive technologies. Even more so, this type of information and approach can be used at multiple levels of medicine with varying levels of cost. As opposed to assisted reproductive technologies, which can be very expensive and limited to only a few women, NaProTechnology and related approaches can be used by women at all socioeconomic levels.

http://www.cathmed.org/students/students_blog/matercare_day_4_part_1_nfp_as_a_solution/NaProTechnology is available locally, contact me (Dr Monique Risso) for further information:Dr Monique Risso MB ChB MRCGPGeneral Practitioner and NaPro Technology PhysicianSpecialist Medical Clinic, Unit 7, First Floor, ICC Building, Casemates Square, GibraltarTel: +350 200 49999ladyofeuropefertilitycare.com


naProTechnology...

What has been discussed above is a part of the solution to bringing about a change in medicine where the moral and scientific truth of reproductive medicine is finally realized.


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