Letters

Stations of the Cross

D.T.S. Moorhouse

Contents - Apr 2005 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Pope's suffering a potent Easter witness - Michael Gilchrist Australia prepares for World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World 'Flying bishops' consecrated for orthodox Anglicans - Fr Nigel Zimmerman Exploding myths about the 'pre-Vatican II' Church - John Young Vocations: Why some new religious orders are attracting recruits - Fr John Hogan Events: Carnivale Christi returning to Sydney with an Easter theme - Liz Arblaster and Anthony McCarthy Cardinal Ratzinger: Liturgy should be God-centred - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Letters: Dissent - Fr John Speekman Scripture: So, what else did Jesus say? - Gavan O'Farrell Adore 05: Sydney's successful Eucharistic Youth Congress - Nicole Osmak Letters: ACU - Sabina Sannen Letters: Chavagnes International College - Raymond De Souza Letters: Teaching the faith - Rosanna Sherman Letters: Stations of the Cross - D.T.S. Moorhouse Letters: Religious habit - Fr G.H. Duggan SM Letters: Practice of faith - Br Con Moloney CFC Letters: Confession - J.G. Wilson Letters: Talking in Church - Judith McRae Letters: Christ the Creator - Gerard J. Keane Letters: Good news - Geoff Storey Letters: Pregnancy Assistance - Brian A. Peachey Books: The Path to Rome: Modern Journeys to the Catholic Church - Michael Casanova (reviewer) Books: Love Alone Is Credible, by Hans urs von Balthasar - Kerrie Allen (reviewer) Books: Mass Without a Congregation: A Sign of Unity or Division? - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Poetry: A Centurion Reflects - Bruce Dawe Books: Religious resources for 2005 Reflection: Pope John Paul II: 'In the risen Christ all creation rises to new life' - Pope John Paul II Marian Valley Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians, Canungra

A sizeable group of parishioners at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch, New Zealand, were shocked by the recently installed Stations of the Cross, several of which consist of unclothed depictions of Jesus and his mother. Apart from that, the Stations are bland, failing to bring out the pain and anguish of Our Lord's Passion as the former Stations did.

Lew Summers, who is well-known around Christchurch for his nude statues, was given a free hand to sculpt the new Stations in the Cathedral. Many of us would have gladly paid for a professional cleaning of the old ones.

A delegation of ten met with the Bishop and his advisor for a fruitless 70 minute discussion in December 2004, with both declaring they liked the nude depictions.

Some good Catholics who answered the call to donate NZ$3,000 for one station will now feel deceived and betrayed.

D.T.S. MOORHOUSE (MR)
Dallington, New Zealand

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 18 No 3 (April 2005), p. 14