| Mission Report: Australia and East Timor: September 2011 |
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 My speaking engagements in Australia were organized by a Catholic apostolate involved in promoting Catholic Apologetics, Parousia Media. I combine talks on the Gospel of Life with Catholic Apologetics, and experience has shown that the positive results are both visible and durable. The four-day visit to East Timor was organized by the Dili archdiocese, in combination with a group of people from the movement Couples for Christ. Both organizers saw to it that HLI would not incur any expenses in this trip apart from the airfare.VISIT TO AUSTRALIA After a 14-hour trip from Los Angeles, I arrived in Sydney in the morning of July 30 and in the afternoon addressed a group of some 50 people at St. Dominic’s parish, whose pastor is a great apologist and pro-lifer, Fr. Peter Joseph. On the same day I was received by the Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, the Most Rev. Julian Porteous, who kindly hosted me at his own house. On Sunday I addressed some 300 people at Our Lady of Lebanon parish on the Message of Our Lady of Fatima and the expansion of the errors of Russia, of which abortion was the first. On Monday I went to Melbourne, where I addressed some 100 young people at the monthly meeting of “Theology on Tap” on the basics of Natural Law, which is but a summary of the talks I gave on EWTN, in the context of the Culture of Life. On Tuesday another group of 300 people heard a talk in a parish hall on the issue of “De-Christianization and the Gospel of Life,” which was particularly well-received. The priest wants me to go back to Melbourne sometime next year to give a full-day seminar. More on that later. On Wednesday, I was back to Sydney to address some 200 young people at the St. Charbel parish of the Lebanese community – the most actively pro-life youth in Australia – and on Thursday the talk was given to a group of some 150 young people from the St. Margaret Mary’s parish on the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the fight against abortion. Friday was the last talk – about 350 people– on the issue of defining good and evil in terms of the Natural Law and the Culture of Life. 
Raymond de Souza (right), meeting with His Excellency Alberto Ricardo da Silva.
VISIT TO EAST TIMOR On the following day (Sunday) after I left for East Timor, arriving there on Monday morning. A friend from the group “Couples for Christ” picked me up at the airport and took me immediately to meet the diocesan Bishop of Dili, East Timor’s capital city, who kindly received me in his office. His Excellency Alberto Ricardo da Silva made it very clear to me that HLI is most welcome to work in his diocese, and he indicated his desire to have a committed pro-life/ evangelization group working in close cooperation with HLI. I was lodged at the convent house of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, where the Superior, Sister Bibiane, who is also the provincial of the congregation for East Timor, did her utmost to make me comfortable and welcome in the community and country. Without giving me time to rest, the Vicar General of the Diocese, the young Fr. Ludgerio, came to the house to pick me up to take me to visit the seminary and later in the afternoon to give a talk to some 30 people — most of them young — on the issue of chastity and modesty in dress. On the following day, a pro-life forum was held for some 50 nuns and priests on the Gospel of Life, in which I was able to give concrete suggestions for new initiatives, always within the context of prayer, study and action. The day ended with a two-hour interview for the Catholic radio, which they will tailor to produce a series of 15-minute presentation to broadcast on a regular basis. 
Raymond with Couples for Christ.
More concretely, a ‘Catholic Electoral League’ is planned to be formed — not a political party — to ask specific questions to candidates and have their answers publicized. An “East Timor Family Manifesto” will be prepared to list the “non-negotiable issues” to be defended at the elections, which include the total prohibition of abortion, pornography and prostitution. With the exception of this workshop, which was held in English, all the talks and radio interviews were held in Portuguese (for those who understand it) and included a translation into the local language, Tetun, which is spoken by everyone. Although Portuguese is still the official language, it is spoken only by the older and more educated people. Everybody speaks Indonesian alongside their native Tetun because of the Indonesian occupation of 24 years. But today, university students prefer to learn English because of the influence of Australia. The last event in this visit was a dinner with several couples of the movement Couples for Christ, who were delighted to know about the work of HLI and the Apologetics promotions I carry out. They promise to start putting aside one evening a week to study Catholic doctrine and morals in order to better equip themselves for the battle against the culture of death. On the cultural side, the official name of East Timor in the Tetun language is Timor-Lorosai, literally meaning“Timor-rising sun,” which is a beautiful name for the country. And the word “God” in the native language is the same as “Light”… which creates a problem for reciting the Nicene Creed, which says, “God of God, light of light”. So they say ‘Light of Light, and shine of shine…” very interesting! 
Raymond addressing a youth group on chastity.
A pro-life curiosity in the Tetun language: the word “pregnant” referring to a woman is isinrua, which means literally ‘two-bodies’ (isin = body; rua = two), which clearly indicates that in a pregnancy there are two persons, not just one, the woman. So, in Timor one refers to a pregnant woman as a “two-body”… remarkable! Next year, Timor will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese navigators, who brought the Catholic Faith to their land. Great celebrations are on the drawing-board, including a conference of the Portuguese-speaking Bishops of the world to be held in Dili. This conference is held once every three years in a different Portuguese-speaking country (the previous one was in Macau, China). Perhaps it might be a good idea to have a solid HLI presence on that occasion. |