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beatitudes sum up our calling or vocation – to live a life of the beatitudes. The word beatitude literally means ‘happiness’ or ‘blessedness’. What is the significance of Jesus’ beatitudes, and why are they so central to his teaching? The beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness that God has placed in every heart. They teach us the final end to which God calls us, namely the coming of God’s kingdom (Matthew 4:17), the vision of God (Matthew 5:8; 1 John 2;1), entering into the joy of the Lord (Matthew 25:21-23) and into his rest (Hebrews 4:7-11). Jesus’ beatitudes also confront us with decisive choices concerning the life we pursue here on earth and the use we make of the goods he puts at our dposal. God alone satisfies. Theresa of Avila’s prayer book contained a bookmark on which she wrote: “Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; All things pass: God never changes. Patience achieves all it strives for. Whoever has God lacks nothing, God alone suffices.” Is God enough for you? God offers us the greatest good possible – abundant life in Jesus Christ (John 10:10) and the promise of unending joy and happiness with God. Do you seek the highest good, the total good, which is above all else?

The beatitudes which Jesus offers us are a sign of contradiction to the world’s understanding of happiness and joy. How can one possibly find happiness in poverty, hunger, mourning, and persecution? Poverty of spirit finds ample room and joy in possessing God as the greatest treasure possible. Hunger of the spirit seeks nourishment and strength in God’s word and Spirit. Sorrow and mourning over wasted life and sin leads to joyful freedom from the burden of guilt and spiritual oppression. God reveals to the humble of heart the true source of abundant life and happiness. Jesus promises his disciples that the joys of heaven will more than compensate for the troubles and hardships they can expect in this world. Thomas Aquinas said: “No one can live without joy. That is why a person deprived of spiritual joy goes after carnal pleasures.” Do you know the happiness of hungering and thirsting for God alone? “Lord Jesus, increase my hunger for you and show me the way that leads to everlasting peace and happiness. May I desire you above all else and find perfect joy in doing your will.” God bless youFr Stuart

Upon this Rock magazine is published by EuropeAxess

Media, Gibraltar.Editor Fr. Stuart Chipolina:

editor@uponthisrock.eu Production Editor:

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Cover:Graham Kendrick

Photo courtesy Jill KendricMake Way Music

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And how is it related with the ultimate end or purpose of life? Is it

not our desire and longing for true happiness, which is none other than the complete good, the sum of all goods, leaving nothing more to be desired?

Jesus addresses this question in his sermon on the mount. The heart of Jesus’ message is that we can live a very happy life. The call to holiness, to be saints who joyfully pursue God’s will for their lives, can be found in these eight beatitudes. Jesus’

Dear Friends...

What is the good life which God intends for us?

Norman Rockwell was a painter and illustrator who worked in the USA last century. Here he shows a young girl sitting with a battered old suitcase and a shiny new vanity case. She holds a small bag in her hands with a handkerchief just sticking out of it. The background looks like a drab waiting room. She looks sad, will she find joy in her new life? The piece is from Rockwell’s ‘The American Dream’ series presented on a collector plate here.

Looking for The good Life?

3

Spotlight on the man behind the voice

David Hoare spoke with a depth of feeling that shook me and had me

looking at him in wonder. “I’m so thrilled to be home, esta es mi casa, I am so Yanito, my car registration in the US was ‘Yanito’, and I’ve got it on the back window of my car at the moment.” He went on, “I can’t help it, I am several generations Gibraltarian through and through, so proud to be British, part of the UK as we are, I have a deep seated love for this place which is our Rock and

our home.” He considers the Rock of Gi-braltar his lodestone, the magnet which constantly called to him as he travelled new roads, and which now has drawn him home. “I’m back for spiritual reasons, very human feeling reasons, and I endeavour to live the Chris-tian life which sometimes can be overlooked. Hopefully that’s what I’m all about in the com-pany of my beloved Valerie, our children and grandchildren.” David and Valerie have just celebrated thirty nine years of

marriage which he described as “anyone who has the wonder of living with someone you adore knows that it is not all traipsing through the garden sniffing the roses. Occasionally your fingers bleed on the thorns, but with God’s help, with mutual respect, and resolution in love you are able to straighten out whatever needs straightening out.” Growing up in Gibraltar was for David “nothing more than an absolute joy. We were not rich materially but we were rich in family life.” His father died over twenty years ago and his beloved mother Maruja is suffering from Alzheimer’s. This is a progres-sive and fatal brain disease which has no cure. It causes much dis-tress and sadness, especially to those who care for the person. His mother is being cared for in Mount Alvernia and David has “hardly sufficient words of praise for the extraordinary devotion, love and care given to those whom we watch over in this ‘long farewell’. A very poignant and heartfelt tribute as David and

his brother and sisters are daily involved in this loving care. He has become the interim Chair of the newly formed Gibraltar Alzheimer’s and Dementia Sup-port Group.I remember David from his days at GBC in the mid 1980’s where his sense of humour and ready wit made listening to his morn-ing show a pleasure. I was de-lighted to remind him of my own forays into broadcasting where, as his guest on radio we talked, laughed and played Irish music to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This seemed a long way from the Reverend he is today, so I asked him about that. “Around the age of sixteen I had a spiritu-al experience in the Lady chapel in the Cathedral. I recounted this to the Anglican bishop of Gibraltar at the time, Stanley Albert Hallam Eley, (1960-70) and he advised me to go away and do other things.” David did exactly that and whilst still at school started reading the news on radio Gibraltar. He enlisted in the RAF as he still needed to test his vocation. He joined an Anglican religious community, the Society of the Sacred Mis-

David Hoare tells Anne Mesilio how the Rock has drawn him back like a magnet.

Coming home

4

Spotlight on the man behind the voice

The Reverend David Hoare with Mr. Bumble and Mr. Pickwick, his lovable Affenpincher dogs. Apparently they are suited to a family with a sense of humour!

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sion, which helped young men to evaluate their vocation. He studied theology (the study of God) at Kelham Hall, “a small but pleasant village and parish,” near Newark, Nottinghamshire, which the Society had purchased in 1903. It closed in 1972 and is now the county council offices, a disgruntled David told me, “The chapel has been deconsecrated and is now a bingo hall and pal-ais de dance, which absolutely gutted me.” Then one day when he was chapel master along came a young and lovely headmistress of a school for children with Special Needs. She had a group of children on a visit and David showed them around. This was a turning point as shortly after, on his novice master’s advice he ‘kicked the habit’, and returned to Gibraltar from where he “courted Valerie from across the water.” They married and settled on the Rock, but soon David was travelling to pastures new after a meeting with a colleague from GBC, Peter Plant. On Valerie’s birthday, June 28th 1971, he started work at Pebble Mill studios, the BBC Birmingham network production centre for radio and television. The ‘Arch-ers’ was produced there, as was ‘All creatures great and small’. These were exciting times for David and Valerie as first Sarah and then Dominic came along. Valerie continued her teach-ing and radio Birmingham gave David his own radio programme. Queen’s Theological College, Birmingham University kept David’s studies going. Yet he moved on to start a new venture with radio Tees, this time from zero, which became hugely suc-cessful. Through all of this he continued his studies, going to Durham University which had

a strong tradition of theological teaching, for “the more serious stuff”. These were happy, work-ing and learning years for David and his family, but by 1978 it was obvious a recession was going to bite, so they moved back to the Rock. His studies continued and in 1995 he was ordained Deacon in the Cathedral of the Holy Trin-ity, Gibraltar. Five years later, in the year of the new millennium, 2000 AD, David suffered two heart attacks, he recovered so well, that he felt able to accept a position of pas-toral oversight for a couple of parishes that needed help, across the Atlantic in the USA. Thus began a seven year sojourn as he travelled through the Napa Valley, California, to Seattle, (a three year stay), and on to Vir-ginia, taking him to near Wash-ington DC, from whence the Rock tugged at his heartstrings and called him home. A timely return as soon he was feeling un-well and needed open heart sur-gery at Puerta del Mar hospital in Cadiz, thanks to the G.H.A. I read somewhere recently that un-dergoing heart surgery is similar to running a marathon without the training. I found that anal-ogy quite frightening and can only empathise as best I can with the enormous impact this has on body, mind and spirit. Two years later, David has recovered and taken charge of his life and I sa-lute his courage. In keeping with having returned for spiritual reasons he is back at GBC occasionally contribut-ing to the religious affairs pro-gramme ‘In Him I Trust’, which has celebrated its 200th edition. He spoke warmly of Patrick Mif-sud, Fr. Stuart Chipolina, Mgr. Charlie Azzopardi and all associ-ated with the programme which

is “a great profile to Christian living in this part of the world.” It has given David the opportu-nity to do something he likes so much, “proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel.” David was involved with the

Continued on page 19

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There was the ban-queting table wait-ing for me, just as

I’d imagined, right in the centre of a beautiful lawn. It was like a scene from Narnia! The food and wine were the fin-est that one could ever imagine or hope for. And there was Jesus seated at the centre of this huge table with friends and followers all around Him. He was smiling at me and gestured to me that I should sit down at the table with Him. I was overjoyed. This was just what I’d been hoping for during all those years of trial

and effort back on Earth.I sat down where He led me and looked around me. Something wasn’t right............. Whilst the table wasn’t completely full, I’d expected to be seated next to other people and yet my near-est neighbour was 2 seats away. Was there something I’d over-looked?After a few uncomfortable mo-ments, I turned to my host and asked, “Lord, I am so happy to be here and it’s great to see you, but why have you seated me on my own? Why have you kept everyone away from me?”

“I haven’t.” He replied. “Those empty seats were for the lost people I sent you to speak to, to pray with, to console, to feed, to clothe. You were to tell them about me and lead them to me but you were a little ashamed and embarrassed, and left it to others to do the job for you. Alas those lost people will not be joining us now - those children have been lost to me forever. The chairs will remain empty to eternity.”And the food turned to ashes in my mouth as my own tears filled my wine cup.

What will your eternal home-coming be like? Will it be “Well done you good and faithful serv-ant. Come and sit here by me.” Or will it be something less pleasant? Perhaps a polite:- “Table for one, Sir?”

Andrew Mifsud meditates on what we need to do as soon as we understand the fulfilling and joyful life that is to be found in the presence of God.

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The Importance of Evangelization

Costa Rica is the happi-est place in the world, according to an in-

dependent research group in Britain with the goal of build-ing a new economy, “centred on people and the environ-ment.”Costa Rica is known for its lush rain forests and pristine beaches.In a report released last month, the group ranks nations using the “Happy Planet Index,” which seeks countries with the most content people.In addition to happiness, the index by the New Economics Foundation considers the ecolog-ical footprint and life expectancy of countries.“Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world and have the second-highest average life expectancy of the new world (second to Canada),” the organi-zation said in a statement.They “also have an ecologi-cal footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ... consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natu-ral resources.”The Central American country, tucked between Nicaragua and Panama. We know first hand in Gibraltar that people are very re-ligious in Costa Rica, and, they share a great respect and passion

for the Catholic Faith.By contrast most developed western nations faired much worse in the ‘Happiest Nation’ survey with the UK in 74th posi-tion and the US in 114th.In the USA, The Gallup Organi-zation and the Spiritual Enter-prise Institute released the results of a national survey on the state of religious and spiritual atti-tudes and practices in America in January 2007.George Gallup III said, “This is the first comprehensive survey of its kind since 1999, and a new 13-statement “Spiritual Commit-ment Index” was developed to link to trend measurements from a smaller 2002 Gallup survey.”He also said, “We see rapid shifts in American attitudes, as well as confirmation of the critical underpinning of religious and spiritual beliefs as they relate to current problems.63% of respondents in the survey agreed that the spiritual health of the nation is important, this showed a 14 point decrease from the 2002 survey.Since 1999, Americans saying they’re “spiritual but not reli-gious” has increased by 10 per-centage points and those who say they’re part of a “Christian religious tradition,” has declined6 percentage points while those

who say they have “no religious tradition” has increased 5 per-centage points.Only 18% of the adult U.S. popu-lation can be described as “high-ly spiritually committed.”49% describe themselves as “re-ligious.”Charles Harper, of The John Templeton Foundation, said, “This research provides a valu-able service to commentators discussing the impact of spiritual

values and trends in American life.”“We see many important trends in this data - but we also want to provide the research and analysis to students, jour-nalists, policy-makers, and the clergy, to draw their own con-clusions.”The full transcript of the research is posted at http://www.Spiritu-alEnterprise.org.

Happy are the Costa RicansFor they have retained their faith?

MasterKey is a vocal gospel group formed in Costa Rica, where all members learned music at an early age. The group performed in local churches over their first years, before gaining national recognition which led them to perform before Costa Rican presidents, and even before the King and Queen of Spain.

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Is Faith linked to Happiness?

NEWS

Heart Beat! is a fort-night of celebration of different forms of

Christian music, from chil-dren’s carols through folk to classical. Its climax will be the visit to Gi-braltar of world-renowned sing-er/songwriter Graham Kendrick who will perform “Dreaming of a Holy Night”, a musical of the Nativity in song.Whilst Graham is not a house-hold name in Catholic circles, his songs certainly are. “Shine, Jesus, Shine”, “Knowing you Jesus” and many others are sung regularly in our churches and prayer-meetings

and are well-loved by millions all over the world. He and his band of seven musicians will be play-ing their concert at the Queen’s Cinema on Saturday, December 5th at 8.30pm. It promises to be a wonderful family event, in a great atmosphere and an excellent start to the Christian build-up to Christmas. But the genesis of Heart Beat! was not as a Christmas cel-ebration. This first Festival is anchored around Graham Ken-drick’s visit and has been posi-tioned close to Christmas on our calendar because Dreaming of a Holy Night warrants it. Heart

Beat! seeks to try to bring all forms of Christian music and de-votion to our theatres and streets to help Christians and non-Christians alike to celebrate the joy and power of the redemptive love of Jesus.The organising team is led by Chris Pitaluga who is enthusias-tic about the power of music to touch souls: “It’s a fact that when people hear about the Lord in song or music, it has the capacity to inspire them to think on Him, contemplate His majesty and be drawn to worship Him. We want-ed to try to assemble a range of different forms of Christian mu-sic that would appeal to as di-verse a segment of our popula-tion as possible so that all could be touched by the Lord in some way this Christmas.”The programme for the Festi-val grew rapidly around Gra-ham Kendrick.“It became ap-parent to us quite soon that not only was there a lot happening around that time of the year but also that many of our local mu-

sicians and singers were keen to get involved in something that tried to take a bigger agenda out onto the streets of Gibraltar.”First in were the concerts given by the Gibraltar School Choirs at St Theresa’s Church, by kind permission of Monsig-nor Charles Azopardi who was “wonderfully supportive,” says Chris, of the Festival as a whole. These concerts have been taking place at the Church since 2003 and are a great favourite for par-ents, grandparents and friends of the children who perform.As news of the event spread to the local clergy, Catholic and non-Catholic, other fea-tures were incorporated. From the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned, “Regina Coeli” an evening of classical hymns to Mary; from St Andrew’s Church of Scotland, a traditional Christ-mas carol service; moreover, a band of local Christian musi-cians has been formed to play contemporary Christian music at the Queen’s Cinema at an

heart Beat! Christian Music festival!This December will see the first ever Christian music festival in Gibraltar.

8

event called “MAJESTY!” the night before the Graham Kend-rick event.Dreaming of a Holy Night usu-ally involves the formation of a local choir which Graham uses to assist him at each concert. For the Gibraltar concert, Victor Francis has been appointed as the musical director and he has been instrumental in drawing to-gether a choir to perform at the Queen’s Cinema with Graham Kendrick.Chris Pitaluga has been delighted with the support he and Christian Mission Teams have received throughout. “We’ve had fantas-tic support, from Bishop Charles and the RC priests, and the non-Catholic clergy. We sense a hun-ger for the word of God in song and celebration. I also need to thank the owners of the Queen’s Cinema for allowing us to use the venue for the concerts. It’s the perfect location for this time of the year and we are so grateful for their permission to use it for the glory of God.”There is a deeply evangelistic

aspect to the nature of the Festi-val. In addition to the advertising for Dreaming of a Holy Night, which will hopefully include a design on the back of a bus as well as the usual poster and flyer campaign, the Christian Mission Teams intend to publicise the Festival in all the local media as well as on the Costa del Sol where news of Graham’s visit is already spreading. Graham Kendrick has also agreed to end the concert with an invitation to those who are touched by the music and the story of Jesus’ birth and life, to come forward to the front of the Cinema where they can hear more about the Gospel and, if they wish, be prayed for indi-vidually. Heart Beat! begins on Tues-day 1st December with the first of four nights of School Choir concerts at St Theresa’s Church. Majesty! a musical praise event with a local band will take place on Friday 4th December at the Queen’s Cinema. Saturday 5th

promises to be a busy day with a Children’s Christmas Party at 4.00pm at the Catholic Com-munity Centre followed by Dreaming of a Holy Night at the Queen’s Cinema at 8.30 that night. On Sunday 6th at 6.00pm a traditional Carol Service will take place at St Andrew’s Church of Scotland, followed on Monday 7th by Regina Coeli, Queen of Heaven, a dedication to hymns of the Virgin Mary at the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned. The Festival draws to a close on Thursday 10th De-cember with a concert presented by the Gibraltar Philharmonic Society called Spirituals, a col-lection of classical Christmas songs by two invited sopranos.All in all, Heart Beat! will draw in many talented mu-sicians and singers and will provide some entertainment for everyone. Be Inspired This Christmas!

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Karel Mark Chichon made a highly success-ful debut at the Ba-

varian State Opera, where he conducted Bizet’s opera “Car-men” alongside Julia Gersteva and Jose Cura in the title roles. The run of performances were held on 5th, 7th and 10th Oc-tober.“Die Neue Merker” published a critic of the performance on 7th October under the title “2x fan-tastic - 3x boring”, referring to Chichon and Maija Kovalevska (in the role of Micaela) as the two “fantastic” artists on the night. The Neue Merker’s critic, Dorothea Zweipfennig, went on to write:-

“From the first moment Con-ductor Karel Mark of Chichon produced the right musical ambi-ence, with his rapid speeds and a dedicated and inspired Bavarian State Orchestra. Transparency and a full range of colours came out in Bizet’s music and in the re-quired places Chichon’s produced lyrical and tender moments of magic. One can be very sure that we were never bored with Chi-chon’s conducting, even if there were other middle-class singers on stage……..the only two stars of the evening, Kovalevska and Chichon, were given the public’s most sumptuous solo applause.”The Bavarian State Opera is con-sidered one of the leading opera houses in Germany, together with the Deutsche and Staatoper Berlin. Maestro Chichon’s per-formances of “Carmen” in Mu-nich finalize a high-profile string of debuts during the last two months, which have included his critically acclaimed debut at the Berlin Deutsche Oper and his highly successful opening concert in Riga as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony.

karel Conquers MunichCritic acclaims Chichon as a “fantastic” artist.

Music

“Music is so much closer to God”

Mario Finlayson

10

In a speech earlier this year, the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair will

highlight the role of faith in in-ternational development.His comments came at the first in a series of seminars exploring faith and development hosted by The Tony Blair Faith Founda-tion, the Department for Inter-national Development, Islamic Relief, World Vision and Oxfam.The founder of the Faith Foun-dation will say that faith has tra-ditionally been a ‘blind spot in the UK policy arena’, which has tended to be ‘dominated by eco-nomic and political discourses’.His comments come after the Department for International De-velopment announced in July it would double central funding for faith-based groups.The move followed a consulta-tion at Lambeth Palace in March between faith communities and DfID. The Archbishop of Canter-bury’s senior advisors on inter-faith relations and international development were joined by representatives from all the UK’s religions and many development agencies to discuss the White Pa-per consultation and to empha-sise the contribution of religious communities to its formulation.Tony Blair said: “In many devel-oping countries religion is one of the most powerful sources of

personal identity – for good and ill. Understanding these identi-ties is critical to tackling con-flict and understanding politics. Equally, the role of religion in forming attitudes and behaviour can be profoundly important in addressing the causes and effects of poverty.“In countries where the state has a weak or erratic presence, people often organise essential services through faith com-munities: the churches are the largest healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa. Faith can also be a channel through which people become engaged as active citizens, and press for change, whether in recent Kenyan elec-tions or the protests in Burma.“At the turn of the millennium government understood that the churches could deliver powerful and effective advocacy messages in favour of development ob-jectives: on aid, trade and debt. With Gordon Brown and myself, they were mainly knocking on an open door. We valued that commitment to making poverty history. The great London multi-faith march by religious leaders this year to promote the Millen-nium Development Goals was further evidence of the power wielded by faith communities when they work together.“We know they are effective

advocates – that’s not the key question in development. But do religious leaders and faith com-munities in the developing world have the capacity to contribute effectively to national develop-ment plans? Or are they only interested in the welfare of their own constituencies, so that fund-ing them would be divisive?“The answer is providing help to enable faith communities to develop their capabilities. It doesn’t make sense for them to do this separately.”Blair drew attention to the situa-tion in Mozambique where there are programmes which train leaders from different faiths to-gether so that they can play their role in health education among their communities.

“Faith communities given train-ing, some funding and mobile phones, could provide govern-ments with missing data about incidence of disease and the ef-fectiveness of healthcare deliv-ery in parts of their populations where government has negligible access” he will say. “But there is little research on what these communities need, even what they are already doing, to know what interventions are required. DFID is funding one of the first research consortiums studying faith and development based at Birmingham University. But we need more.”

The full text of the speech can be found at http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10167

Faith a Blind Spot in UK politics says Tony Blair

Former Prime Minister highlights role of Faith in international development

International Development

11

Anne Mesilio

Childline came to the Rock over three years ago providing a Hel-

pline Service, a free phone hel-pline 8008 available every day between 6pm & 10pm to chil-dren and young people, their mission being to end cruelty to children in Gibraltar. “Our mission is a society in which all children are loved, valued and able to fulfil their potential. In other words, a society that will not tolerate child abuse - whether sexual, physical, emotional or ne-glect.”The service has expanded to in-clude work with schools and youth groups, producing a maga-zine three times a year and an Ap-

propriate Adults Scheme. When a minor is arrested and does not have an adult present the, Royal Gibraltar Police can request help from Childline. During the summer Childline has been preparing a series of lo-cally made adverts to promote the Helpline using school children as actors. Four different scenarios were developed that children of various ages may encounter and these various roles were acted out. Over a very hot and humid month of August these scenes were filmed, all actors, film crews and helpers were volunteers and the high standard results were launched on 29th September at a well attended reception.

The first advert depicted bul-lying. This is now followed by others depicting drugs and peer pressure in November, family is-sues and cyber bullying, and in December self-harming, Preg-nacy and dating issues. “This will help to promote our serv-ices available through Childline Gibraltar to children and young people letting them know they can turn to us, always in confi-

denc,” said Caroline Olivero, Lead Manager of Childline. The adverts are available on the website, www.childline.gi and Facebook, they will be shown in cinemas as well as becoming part of schools programmes for the next academic year as well as being shown on the screens in our buses.

Childline gibraltar Launches new Adverts As seen on GBC, find the ads on-line and on Facebook. 8080

12

Childline Gibraltar’s website offers information to young people seeking advice and also to adults interested in volunteering.

Anne Mesilio

Childline gibraltar Launches new Adverts

13

gibraltar day Mass

According to the Chronicle, some 270 leading finance centre figures from the City of London, many of them guests of Gibraltar institutions, gathered at the Drapers Hall on the 20th October to hear

the message from Chief Minister Peter Caruana. The venue had been changed because the RCA could no longer accommodate increased numbers of those wanting to attend the event.Chief Minister Peter

Caruana read the lesson at a Mass held the day before in Fulham at the church of Our Lady of Dolores, run by the Servite Order in the Parish of WestminsterThis was the adopted church of Gibraltarians evacuated during WWII. In 2004 a replica of Our Lady of Europe was donated to mark the Tercentenary and local links with London that continue to this day.

Photos Left to Right: The Chief Minister and Mrs Caruana in front of the replica of the statue of Our Lady of Europe presented to

Our Lady of Dolours in Fulham. Father Jim OSM Ruth Ress (Catholic journalist) Sharon Keenan (Sculptor of the

Admiral Sir George Rooke statue)Above: Father Jim OSM with Bishop Charles Caruana.

Bishop Charles Caruana talks to Andrew Rosindell at the Gibraltar Day reception.

More people than ever before attend the London Gibraltar Day events.

International Travellers

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Baillon’s Crake; a new addition to the GONHS 2009 Bird List

On the night of Fri-day 16th October, a strange bird flew

through the open window of an 8th floor flat at Harbour Views, a residential area near the har-bour. The owner, Kaelan Joyce was as-tounded and took several photos with his mobile phone camera. He then contacted a friend who came to pick up the bird, so that it could be released the follow-ing day. It was assumed it was a Quail Coturnix coturnix, but upon release it was noted to be different. Luckily, the photos were available and were provid-ed to the members of GONHS’ Strait of Gibraltar Bird Observa-

tory, who identified the bird as a Baillon’s Crake Porzana pusilla; in all probability a juvenile.This is the first record of the species in Gibraltar, subject to formal ratification by the Rari-ties Panel, as favourable habitat for waterfowl and wading birds is non-existent here. There have been similar incidents where Moorhen, Purple Gallinule and indeed Allen’s Gallinule have turned up in the town area. This species brings the total number of bird species recorded in Gi-braltar to 312.

A visitor from foreign shores

A total of 286,650 pilgrims visited the relics during their month long stay

in England and Wales, which started in Portsmouth on 16 September 2009.The relics arrived at 6.30pm on Monday 12 October 2009 and departed at 4.30pm on Thursday 15 October 2009 after a Mass of Farewell celebrated by the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols. In his Homily for the Mass of Farewell, Archbishop Vincent Nichols described the meaning of the relics of St Thérèse as being “God’s way of opening our hearts to his unwavering love”.He quoted the words of St Thérèse, written in 1896: “My vocation is love…Yes, I have found my place in the Church….in the heart of the Church. My Mother, I will be love.”Archbishop Nichols reminded people that these words were written at a time of great pain when St Thérèse was suffering from the ravages of Tuberculosis. “These words” continued

Archbishop Nichols, “speak directly to us today when, as a society, we struggle to understand and respond to the experience of terminal illness and approaching death. In the shortened perspectives of many, such moments are pointless and actually rob life of all its meaning. Therefore some seek the right to exercise the only solution that is within their own power: that of killing themselves and having others free to assist them to do so.”“St Thérèse lived through those same moments. She too experienced suicidal thoughts of ending the pain and the overpowering sense of futility. She warned the sister who cared for her that when she had patients who were ‘a prey to violent pains’ she must not ‘leave them any medicines that are poisonous.’ She added, ‘I assure you it needs only a second when one suffers intensely to lose one’s reason. Then one would easily poison oneself.’”“So Thérèse too lived the tension

95,000 pilgrims visited the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux during their four day stay at Westminster.

Saint Thérèse draws huge crowds

that many experience today, the tension between her individual, autonomous choice, on the one hand, and, on the other, the bonds which bound her to her community, to her family, to those who cared for her, to life. She argues, as we do today, that reason, in the context of our relationships, must acknowledge life as a gift and not an individual possession and, at the same time, embrace death when it

comes.”His Lordship continued to highlight the insights that the St Thérèse gave to those nursing her and other terminally ill patients on paliative care he continued, “Here we see that St Thérèse, indeed, proclaims the Gospel for our times.”At each venue of the St. Thérèse tour, a monk, nun, friar or sister was available to speak about St. Thérèse and how she continues to inspire religious and lay people.

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Towards a Greener Community

Getting people out of cars and onto bicycles, a much more sustainable form of transportation, has long vexed environmentally conscious city planners. An emerging body of research suggests that a superior strategy to increase pedal pushing could be had by asking the perennial question: What do women want?In the U.S., men’s cycling trips surpass women’s by at least 2:1. This ratio stands in marked contrast to cycling in European countries, where

urban biking is a way of life and draws about as many women as men—sometimes more. In the Netherlands, where 27 percent of all trips are made by bike, 55 percent of all riders are women. In Germany 12 percent of all trips are on bikes, 49 percent of which are made by women.“If you want to know if an urban environment supports cycling, you can forget about all the detailed ‘bikeability indexes’—just measure the proportion of cyclists who are female,” says Jan Garrard, a senior lecturer at

Ask the ladies!More and more people are cycling to work in Gib on a regular basis, but what is stopping the rest of us?

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Towards a Greener Community

Ask the ladies!Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, and author of several studies on biking and gender differences.Women are considered an “indicator species” for bike-friendly cities for several reasons. First, studies across disciplines as disparate as criminology and child rearing have shown that women are more averse to risk than men. In the cycling arena, that risk aversion translates into increased demand for safe bike infrastructure as a prerequisite for riding. Women also do most of the child care and household shopping, which means these bike routes need to be organized around schools and supermarkets to make a difference.“Despite our hope that gender roles don’t exist, they still do,” says Jennifer Dill, a transportation and planning researcher at Portland State University. Addressing women’s concerns about safety and utility “will go a long way” toward increasing the number of people

on two wheels, Dill explains.John Pucher, a professor of urban planning at Rutgers University and longtime bike scholar noted that when cities do install traffic-protected off-street bike paths, they are almost always along rivers and parks rather than along routes leading “to the supermarket, the school, the day care center”. In a study conducted last year, Jennifer Dill examined the effect of different types of bike facilities on cycling. The project, which used GPS positioning to record individual cycling trips in Portland, compared the shortest route with the path cyclists actually took to their destination. Women were less likely than men to try on-street bike lanes and more likely to go out of their way to use “bike boulevards,” quiet residential streets with special traffic-calming features for bicycles. “Women diverted from the shortest routes more often,” Dill says. Safe cycle routes for young people going to school would also help cut the numbers of cars involved in the school run.

To get more of us on our bikes, Town Planners must listen to what women want.

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Pausing for Reflection

In the Presence of God, has

become far more than the title of a book that I was involved in preparing for print. writes Angela Sargent. So who or what is the God in whose presence Mary Ward was so keen that we should remain in the presence of? After my first Tolle moment it is through science that I have discovered a working concept of God. Much helped by a superficial knowl-edge of physics. I understand that there are particles that emi-nate from the sun and go right through everything, I think they are called neutrinos. They have even been measured at the bot-tom of a mineshaft. And quan-tum mechanics encompasses classes of phenomena that clas-sical physics cannot account for, such as wave-particle duality, whereby energy can behave as a wave or a particle depending on the circumstances. To me this proves the omnipotence and

surprising properties of energy, and I can easily attribute this to an intelligent designer who has created the universe in general, and me in particular. It would not be the first time the study of quantum mechanics were to be linked to the Jesuits. It also puts me in my place, for in humility,

this God goes on doing his thing irrespective of whether or not I am aware, or under-stand or even care. But there is something cold and calcu-lating in this understanding of God, and that’s where Mary Ward comes to guide me. ‘In the Presence of God’ this new book on her spiritiality, she is quoted as saying in one of her addresses, “God is present in all places. He sees me not as a severe judge that beholds with rigour to punish, but with love, desirous to communicate unto me his particular graces.”So into my equation I have to add love. Love for the force that created me, love for the universe for bringing me into being. Love brings an attitude of gratitude. If you are suffering or in pain, you may wonder what there is to be grateful for, and this is where the magic of the great secret re-veals itself. For as soon as you start to become aware of your situation, through an effort of will, in this present moment, you start to realise how fortu-nate you are and that even in the most dire straits, God’s love can pervade your life. Just as a neutrino can sail through mat-ter to the bottom of a mineshaft.To be continued. In the Presence of God is on sale at the Catho-lic Multimedia Centre on Main Street next to the Cathedral.

In the Presence of God

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Continued from page 5

Coming home The man behind the voice

700th anniversary celebrations of Our Lady of Europe where he narrated the proceedings with skill, knowledge and heart-felt love for the mother of God, showing “how Jesus draws you to himself through his beloved mother.” Daily life is being with his moth-er as often as possible, support-ing Valerie in her ministry, lend-ing a hand to the Reverend John Hill, R.N. at the nearby King’s Chapel, enjoying the company of his children and grandchil-dren, Adam and Marc, as well as that of Mr. Bumble and Mr. Pickwick, his lovable Affen-pincher dogs. Playful and loyal, they love to be with family; in-deed they slept contentedly at our feet during our chat, and I

understand they are suited to a family with a sense of humour! They are in the right place as is David, though he travels not too far away to Torre del Mar on the “Costa del plenty” as he dubs it, where he helps out in the Lux Mundi Ecumenical centre at St. Barnabas’. I was curious to discover who this saint was, and learned that he was “a good man, who preached the Gospel to people of many different back-grounds.” This makes sense to me.

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