A distant relative of mine, Theodorus Wassenberg, was a Divine Word missionary brother killed by the Japanese in World War Two.

Theodorus Joannes Hubertus Wassenberg was born at Roermond in the Netherlands on June 9, 1889.

His parents were devout Catholics and young Theodor inherited their “deep piety”. In 1917 he became a brother in the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) at Uden.

On March 14, 1923 he left to become a missionary in New Guinea, where he was considered brave and a strong support for the priests “on their journeys through the jungle and wilderness”. He was also well regarded by the natives.

I recently obtained confirmation from the SVD that Brother Joachim was serving at a place called Kanengera just before the Second World War. He was bayoneted by a Japanese soldier, and died probably at Marieneberg Mission on the Sepik River, and is believed to be buried there.

He died on 31 May 1944 at the age of 54.

At first I thought he may have been among those murdered in March 1943 when somewhere in the seas off New Britain, New Guinea, 62 captives on the Japanese destroyer Akikaze, most of whom were German Catholics, were hoisted above the deck, shot and flung into the ocean”.

This website has more details:

Akikaze massacre

The Mitsubishi built destroyer Akikaze (Lt Cdr Sabe Tsurukichi) was ordered to sail to Wewak in New Guinea to remove some German residents who were suspected of using radio transmitters to report ship movements to the Americans. Forty civilians were rounded up, most of them German clergymen, plus a few nuns with two children. About thirty more civilians were picked up when the ship stopped at Manus Island before proceeding to Rabaul. Enroute, Captain Tsurukichi received a radio message from the 8th Fleet Headquarters to dispose of all neutrals on board. On the aft deck a wooden scaffold was erected and a sheet hung across the deck to shield the executions from the rest of the prisoners. One by one the victims were led from their cabins, interrogated and blindfolded and taken to the rear of the ship. There, they were hung on the scaffold by the wrists from a rope and pulley and as their feet cleared the deck they were shot by a four man rifle party. Their bodies were then thrown overboard. The two children were taken from the arms of the nuns and thrown into the water. The men were killed first then the women, the whole procedure lasting three hours. At around 10 o’clock in the evening the Akikaze berthed at Rabaul.

The massacre was part of the Australian War Crimes investigations, which reports:

On about 16 March 1943 the destroyer Akikaze en route for Rabaul took aboard about 26 civilian internees (for the most part German priests, Brothers and nuns and their leader, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Central New Guinea; and two small children) at Kairiru Island. The following day it embarked another 20 (Dutch nuns and priests; Australian and German planters; Protestant missionaries) at Lorengau (Admiralty Island). At sea between Kavieng and Rabaul they were executed one by one. In the course of his interrogation in December 1946 one of the ship’s officers describes the slaughtering (which, he said, took two hours 50 minutes) as follows:

“Each internee passed beneath the forward bridge on the starboard side and came upon two waiting escorts. Here they were blindfolded with a white cloth and supported by each arm. By this time the interrogation of the second person was begun. Meanwhile, beneath the bridge of the quarter-deck on the starboard side, both wrists of the first person were firmly tied and he was again escorted to the execution platform. On the execution platform, they were faced toward the bow, suspended by their hands by means of a hook attached to a pulley, and at the order of the commander, executed by machine gun and rifle fire. After the completion of the execution the suspension rope was slackened and it had been so planned that when the rope binding the hands was cut, the body would fall backwards off the stern due to the speed of the ship. Moreover, boards were laid and straw mats spread to keep the ship from becoming stained . . . . Thus, in this way, first the men and then the women were executed. The child going on toward five years old was thrown alive into the ocean.”

Society of the Divine Word

Curiously, I had never heard of the Divine Word order until researching this story.

Wikipedia says the Society was founded in Steyl in the Netherlands in 1875 by Arnold Janssen, a diocesan priest, and drawn mostly from German priests and religious exiles in the Netherlands during the church-state conflict called the Kulturkampf, which had resulted in many religious groups being expelled and seminaries being closed in Germany.

German New Guinea was the Society’s third mission after China and Togo.

Missionaries of the Divine Word embrace the evangelical counsels, taking the three traditional religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

The Society’s Australian website states: “Our identity is rooted in a call to witness to God’s love precisely in situations where its inclusive embrace is not recognized and where its openness to the rich diversity of peoples is not appreciated”.

The Society today runs a university in Papua New Guinea and is the largest missionary congregation in the Church.

While it’s true that all denominations have had to deal with this scourge, the Catholic Church appears to have more than its proportionate share of cases.

Every time the issue seems to be under control, new reports emerge, most recently in Germany.

I take the view that most priests and men in religious orders are good people who wish to follow Christ and serve their fellow man.

If you begin to look at things from that premise, it’s easier to see how it might be managed.

I say “managed”, rather than “resolved”, because the nature of humanity is that sin and evil will always exist.

I’m concerned that some people are actually pleased to see the Church embroiled in controversy; it suits their own agenda to see the Church defensive and weakened.

For example, the call by atheist authors Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens for the Pope to arrested for “for crimes against humanity” is just a stunt.

The Pope has a responsibility to:

• Purge the Church of sexual predators;
• Hold to account those Bishops who have turned a blind eye in the past;
• Heal the wounds suffered by victims and families as much as possible;
• Implement reforms that minimise future instances of abuse.

In relation to the final point, there should be an immediate move towards allowing priests to marry.

The parish priest has a social job in a cloistered environment. That’s a contradiction which does not encourage typical men with good “people skills” to commit themselves.

The monastic orders are largely declining, which is a good thing. The very nature of their existence was a perfect cover for predators.

I’m not saying the majority of priests and brothers are perverts, far from it. In simple terms, the environment in which they live and work provides ample cover for those who wish to abuse the privilege of their positions.

I’d like to see a new order of married priests created. Let the individual choose celibacy or otherwise.

There have been subtle moves in this direction through the exemptions given to Anglican and Orthodox priests who have converted to Catholicism.

And, of course, celibacy has not always been a priestly requirement.

In 580AD the policy of Pope Pelagius II was not to bother married priests as long as they did not hand over church property to wives or children.

In the 15th century it’s been claimed that up to 50 percent of priests were married.

Allowing married men to be ordained today would attract a broader range of men to vocations and help address the shortage of priests.

It won’t completely solve the problem of abuse, but normalising the “workplace” will reduce the likelihood of predators sheltering behind the facade of celibacy.

Publicans took the matter to the District Court after permission to trade was initially refused.

The Gardaí (police) objected, but the judge ruled in favour of the publicans, agreeing the Magners League match between Limerick and Munster was a “special event”.

That was a sensible decision.

As the judge said, it would have been absurd to have 26,000 people drinking at the venue and then having nowhere to disperse and celebrate or commiserate afterwards.

Franciscan friars have called on devout Catholics to boycott the match.

I doubt they’ll receive much support.

It has always puzzled me how secular Australia shuts down on Good Friday, and to a lesser extent Christmas Day.

I support public holidays on these dates, but believe people should be free to choose what they do.

There isn’t much choice about what to do on Good Friday because nothing is open and nothing happens.

I suspect it won’t be long before the AFL bows to pressure and schedules a game on Good Friday in the future.

I don’t think too many people will object.

The initiative provides parishes and Catholic school families with practical suggestions for celebrating St Valentine’s Day and encouraging married couples to spend more time together.

The statement claims that St Valentine was executed on February 14, 269AD for going against a decree by Roman ruler Claudius that weddings be suspended because he needed unattached men to serve in his armies.

Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, said the campaign was an opportunity to advocate the sacred bond of marriage.

I admit I never knew the origin of Valentine’s Day and the obvious fact of it being a saint’s feast day had also escaped me.

The media statement appears to have simplified things a little though and possibly stretched the facts. Other sources reveal that like many of the early saints, not much is known about Valentine.

According to this Catholic website: The origin of St Valentine, and how many St Valentines there were, remains a mystery.

“St Valentine was a priest, martyred in 269 at Rome and was buried on the Flaminian Way. He is the patron saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers and young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia muddies the waters further, but perhaps more realistically, in identifying the origin of Valentine’s Day.

“The popular customs associated with St Valentine’s Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on February 14, ie half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules we read:

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

“For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers’ tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the 14th and 15th centuries contain allusions to the practice.”

That sounds plausible to me. Many Christian traditions had pagan or cultural origins.

This doesn’t undermine the Archdiocese’s campaign in any way. There’s no harm in focusing on love within marriage as part of the day’s reflection.

The book mixes historical fact with modern fiction to describe the polygamous tradition of “plural marriage”, also known as “celestial marriage” in the early Mormon church, which continues among dissident fundamentalist sects today.

Ebershoff writes well, with humor and irony. He transports the reader back in time and place.

He makes it clear the book is fiction and that he has “filled in some gaps” regarding the true story of Brigham Young’s disgruntled ex-wife Ann Eliza Young.

Brigham was the second prophet of the Latter Day Saints following Joseph Smith’s assassination. He founded Utah, where he led the believers on a remarkable trek.

Brigham is believed to have had 50 wives. Ann Eliza was the 19th, or by some accounts the 27th.

Smith claimed to have received a revelation from God that the “saints” should have plural wives to populate the faith.

Brigham confirmed the revelation and encouraged the practice. It continued until a later “prophet” abolished it, largely for political reasons so Utah could be admitted as a state of the USA.

These facts are described in the novel, along with extracts from Ann Eliza’s own book and reports of her public speeches denouncing polygamy.

Interspersed between historical passages is the parallel modern story of a young man expelled from a Mormon sect who learns that his mother (the 19th wife) has been charged with murdering his father.

I sometimes found the transitions distracting and irritating, at times, but the stories generally weave together nicely.

The booked opened my mind to a part of history I knew little about.

I vaguely recall a friend from Victoria travelling to Utah on a farm exchange and spending some time with a polygamous family, but really I knew little of its origins or practice today.

Polygamy is abhorrent in a modern society, of course.

One is left to assume Joseph Smith and Brigham Young invented a holy message to satisfy their lust.

Given the falsehood they concocted to sanction promiscuity, the credibility of Smith’s earlier revelations must also be questioned.

That’s a point made several times in the novel and one the Mormons will never escape.

The original Mary MacKillop School at Penola.

Penola is 50km from Mount Gambier and we walked around the town today.

Mary’s birthday is one day before mine, albeit 125 years earlier. She was born at Fitzroy in 1842, the suburb in Melbourne of the football club I used to follow.

In 1866, at the invitation of Father Tenison Woods, Mary established the first school in Australia that catered for all children, irrespective of family income or social status.

The original schoolhouse was a renovated stable that catered for more than 50 students. It was replaced in 1867 by what is now known as the Woods MacKillop Schoolhouse (pictured above).

The school adjoins Petticoat Lane, which is a state heritage area.

According to the State Heritage website:

The Petticoat Lane heritage precinct is the oldest part of Penola, with timber and stone cottages dating from 1850 to the First World War. It is also an area with significant open allotments, reflecting important aspects of early life in the town (pictures below).”

Mary founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. They were to live in poverty and dedicate themselves to educating poor children. With Mary its first member and Superior the society was founded at Penola in 1866 with the approval of Bishop Sheil.

He later excommunicated Mary for alleged insubordination, but withdrew the edict shortly before he died.

In 1992, it was determined that prayer to Mary MacKillop was responsible for the recovery of an apparently dying women in 1961.

She was later beatified, the first step towards canonisation.

To be canonised, the postulator of the cause must now prove the existence of a second miracle.

According to Wikipedia, the case of a second former cancer patient is under investigation in Rome, and Pope Benedict XVI has been quoted as saying: “She will be canonised, we’re waiting for the miracle.”

I think it’s great that Australia’s probable first Saint has a strong connection to this area. I prayed at her shrine in St Joseph’s today.

Update: Mary was canonised on October 17, 2010.

Neither comes as a shock. There have long been rumors that Bill was a Mick, but author Joseph Pearce has apparently found new evidence.

Jesus would have been a great opening batsman and handy spin bowler. Unlike Bradman, who just fell short, he would have certainly achieved the 100 average.

Apparently the Bible can be translated as follows: “He (Jesus) would take the boys to the seashore and, carrying the playing ball and the club, he would go over the waves of the sea as though he was playing on a frozen surface, hitting the playing ball. And watching him, the boys would scream and say: ‘Watch the child Jesus, what he does over the waves of the sea!’ Many would gather there and, watching him, would be amazed.”

One of the Gnostic gospels is said to include: “Jesus carried all before him as the Egyptians inflicted plague and pestilence. He carried his palm leaf to the gates of Jordan while men were dismissed from his presence.”

Modern scholars interpret this to mean that Jesus scored an unbeaten century after opening the batting while the rest of his team succumbed to hostile fast bowling.

The evidence appears overwhelming.

As for Shakespeare being a Catholic it’s probably true and not really a shock.

Those were turbulent times in England and there is plenty of superficial evidence to support the argument.

That’s if you believe Shakespeare really wrote the plays.

Not that there is anything forbidden (I think) about the West Australian Apostolic District of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia.

I’m just surprised it exists because I had never heard of them before.

According to their web site: “The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is a worldwide association of Continuing Orthodox Anglican Churches, working to promote the Catholic Faith as the Anglican Church has received it and to resist the secularization of that Church.”

I’m vaguely aware of divisions in the Anglican Church about women priests, gay priests, women bishops, etc. Those issues get headlines whenever there’s a synod or controversial ordination.

I’m also aware of the desire among some Anglicans for unification with the Catholic Church. To me that would be a desirable outcome.

The “Traditional Anglicans” point out they are not in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, but don’t explain why they won’t receive communion from the Bishop of Rome.

I’m not surprised The Vatican has a web site; it’s just I had never thought about it before and had never visited.

As The Inquisitr reveals, a Latin section was only recently added.

I’ve never studied Latin and I was born just after the Second Vatican Council, so I never experienced a Latin Mass.

I can appreciate the value of Latin. From Roman times to the Industrial Revolution it was the universal language.

It was never really replaced in that role, although the European aristocracy spoke French for several centuries and English today is ubiquitous.

So it’s good to see Latin being preserved as a means of communication in the Church. I can’t understand a word of it, but here is the link.

While browsing the English section of The Vatican’s site I came across the Pope’s message to Burma.

Deeply saddened by news of the tragic aftermath of the recent cyclone, the Holy Father expresses his heartfelt sympathy. With prayers for the victims and their families, he invokes God’s peace upon the dead and divine strength and comfort upon the homeless and all who are suffering. Confident that the international community will respond with generous and effective relief to the needs of your countrymen, His Holiness asks you to convey his solidarity and concern to the civil authorities and to all the beloved people of Myanmar.

The tragic events in Burma have been well publicised, but given the brutality and isolation of the regime I’m afraid it will be soon forgotten.

That’s the sort of nonsense you come to expect from the Uniting Church.

I have written before about how Australia’s public holidays need an overhaul, but I never envisaged dropping Easter or Christmas.

Australia’s demographics have changed, but it’s important we respect our Christian origins and observe the major feast days. To do otherwise would be to suggest that our value-system has changed, and I don’t believe that’s the case.

Labor Day is the most obvious holiday to be dumped and made uniform across the country.