Have Your Say 

Recent Comments

1. How much is this costing? Surely there are better ways to spend money than this.
   I believe this borders on idolatry.
   Any consultation with the people?

   Posted By: Maree

2. As I understand it, St Francis Xavier is no longer a Patron Saint of ours; we have only Our Lady Help of Christians.
   While we were designated a Missionary country we had him but we are no longer a Missionary country.
   However, maybe we need to think again about that because re-evangelization is needed!

   Posted By: Desmond

3. When Australia was a mission country St Francis Xavier was a patron of Australia along with St Therese.
   Now that we are not a mission country, only Our Lady under the title of Help of Christians is Australia's patron.

   Posted By: Majurice Shinnick

4. Reading the two articles about the vial of the late pope's blood and the arm of St Francis Xavier, I had a moment of deja vu.
   Were we back in the days of indulgences that helped bring on the Reformation - the days of Luther. Were we back in the days of 1000s of pieces of the 'true cross' being peddled in every market place?
   I am not against memory pieces - we all have pictures of our late parents, etc. but spare us! do we keep an arm or a vial of blood.
   Didn't Angelie Jolie do this with one of her husbands?

   Posted By: gloria healey

5. This is not what the church is about! Gawking at body parts of the dead! It is sensational nonsense.
   I feel it is not respectful of the dead person and quite sickening and macabre.
   I would not go across the road to see it.
   We expect better of our Australian church

   Posted By: Kate McK

6. I think it is really gross and it certainly speaks of idolatry, which is so against God's law.
   What sort of message is this sending to people of other faiths, and especially to atheists?
   'Believe in Jesus and you will be saved' - there is nothing in the bible about looking at severed limbs to reach God.
   It's just wrong.
   

   Posted By: Yvonne Graham

7. Relics remind us that Grace manifests in bodies.
   Relics remind us in all their physicality and gross imperfection that such is where God manifests and works through.
   It is disturbing to consider that so many that protest loudly against the Gracefulness of bodies are also probably the same that speak about the imperatives of justice, and attend to all sorts of related causes.In service to abstractions.
   More and more we should see that such dislocated fervour for justice has in fact less and less to do with actual broken human beings.

   Posted By: Mark Johnson

8. Relics! In this day and age, why? Why are our beliefs so precarious that we need such things to prop us up?
   Relics should be left in the past where they belong.
   No wonder so many view the Catholic church as being out of touch.
   I agree with comments that it borders on idolatry, and I certainly find it sickening and macabre.
   I feel ashamed to be associated with such a practice.
   

   Posted By: Kathy Hennessy

9. For those who have difficulties with the tradition of venerating relics, may I suggest a quick google of 'relic theology' - the Truth will set you free.
   I'm very excited about them coming to our parish; thank you, Bishop Comensoli, for this wonderful initiative.
   

   Posted By: Fr Grace

10. We RCs have been obsessed with death for centuries.
    Not a healthy state to be in. Let's focus on the resurrection.

    Posted By: Francis

11. Officially I agree with Fr Shinnick - Australia is no longer considered a 'mission country'.
    However I think the practical reality is that we are perhaps more a mission country than ever before, having suffered a terrible decline in faith and practice of the faith (and the Church weddings stats story also carried today is a case in point).
    Perhaps even just one of St Francis Xavier's arms would be of the greatest heavenly assistance to us now ...
    I for one will take the opportunity to venerate the relic of this great Saint, in accordance with the Church's constant teaching and praxis.

    Posted By: Peter in Canberra

12. 'Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood you will not have eternal life'
    Who said this? Are you horrified or disturbed by this statement? Do you think this is macabre?
    Do you believe that at the consecration bread and wine become the actual Body and Blood of Our Lord which you consume at Communion?
    If you don't then you are denying an absolutely fundamental Catholic Doctrine. In fact a foundational Doctrine of the Faith.
    Btw the way, if veneration of relics of the Saints is idolatory then having statues, icons and crucifixes in church must also be such. Better speak to your Bishop to get rid of these.
    This squeamishness is pathetic.

    Posted By: deric davidson

13. I think it is really gross and it certainly speaks of idolatry, which is against God's law.
    What sort of message is this sending to people of other faiths, and especially to atheists?
    'Believe in Jesus and you will be saved' - there is nothing in the bible about looking at severed limbs to reach God. It's just wrong.
    

    Posted By: Yvonne Graham

14. Venerating relics, In this day and age?
    In our Australian church? Who needs these reminders of saints? Perhaps they are better buried and forgotten so that they cannot remind us of our mission and purpose here on Earth.
    While we're at it, should we rid ourselves of holy cards, medals, statues, and any other form of iconography? We don't want to be accused of idolatry by other churches and atheists, do we?
    In fact, would it be best to also throw out any pictures and mementoes we have of our loved ones who are no longer with us? Surely we only need God and our own self-belief to prop us up?
    Seriously though, for those who are sickened by the idea of bodily relics, may I suggest a contemplation of the fact that Catholics don't just look at or touch, but eat the body and blood of Jesus each week. It's also worth refelcting on these words:
    'This is a hard saying. Who can accept it?' John 6:60

    Posted By: Paul Keen

15. Venerating relics is as much idolatry as receiving the Eucharist is cannibalism.
    This is a great opportunity. Come, discover more!

    Posted By: Trish

16. The veneration of relics was, and still is, a part of universal ongoing Catholic tradition.
    Veneration of of relics has spiritual foundations, but is not meant to replace faith and Catholics are not obliged to venerate them.
    There is nothing like this subject to bring out Australian Catholics kicking and screaming.
    Europeans are far more familiar with this Catholic tradition, and don't make such a fuss about it
    When Pope Benedict XVI was here for WYD in 2008, he celebrated mass at St Mary's Cathedral for the dedication of the new altar, a very beautiful and ancient ritual, but very long and physically exhausting.
    One part of this rite involved the installation of relics in the altar.
    St Thomas a Beckett, St Oliver Plunkett and others were installed at this ceremony as well as Japanese and Korean Martyrs, probably stressing St Francis Xavier's importance for Asia and Australia, as one of our national patrons.
    The pope made me chuckle to myself by a very deliberate action he made before the mass, I think largely unnoticed.
    I was in the choir sitting near the front of the cathedral, coincidentally near the relics displayed of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati brought from Italy for WYD.
    Our pragmatic Australian cardinal was carefully steering the pope through the crowded congregation after arrival at the back of the cathedral to vest in the sacristy. The entourage was almost at the sacristy when His Holiness raised his finger and stopped His Eminence and the others.
    He unexpectedly knelt near the relics and commenced a short private prayer, I suspect to venerate them.
    Catholic protocol? Superstitious medieval nonsense?
    Whatever some Australian Catholics may think about relics, thank God we have a cultured European pope whose attention to detail and understanding and respect for our religion's great or small traditions is unquestionable.
    

    Posted By: Brent Egan

• » Advertise in CathNews

Email to Friend Please fill out the following details (fields marked with a * are mandatory):
Send To Email Address*:
Send To Name *:
Sent By Email Address*:
Sent By Name *:
Text to include in email:
Captcha validation:	please enter the code above:

^ Page Top

Comment on this article

More from this section

1. Priest who translated Bible into Chinese to be beatified

   The Italian Franciscan priest, Fr Gabriele Maria Allegra, who translated the entire Bible into Chinese for the first time, will be beatified next month, reports Vatican Insider.

2. Vatileaks defence lawyer quits over strategy differences

   The lawyer for the papal assistant charged with stealing Vatican documents, has left his client's defence team, citing a difference over defense strategies, according to a Catholic News Service report on NCR Online.

3. Church campaigns against council over car park

   A Catholic church on Sydney's northern beaches has ramped up a campaign against the redevelopment of a neighbouring carpark ahead of council elections on September 8, reports The Manly Daily.

4. Qld Catholic teachers vote to strike

   Catholic school teachers across Queensland have voted to strike next Thursday, September 6, over a 2.7 per cent wage offer, reports The Daily Telegraph. But most Catholic schools will remain open.

    

5. Vial of JPII's blood recovered after theft

   A trio of thieves on a train stole a backpack containing a vial of Pope John Paul II’s blood from a traveling Catholic priest on Tuesday, according to a report by the New York Daily News in The Inquisitr.