August 2004

The Bishop's Letter
From Bishop Kevin Manning

My Dear People

A child to die for
On 16 May 2004, Pope John Paul II declared Gianna Beretta Molla a Saint, a model Saint for women. Wife, mother, surgeon, physician, St Gianna died in 1962 following the birth of her fourth child who, with her father, was present at the canonisation ceremony in St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Gianna Molla ... an inspiration and powerful intercessor for conversion to Christ

Gianna Beretta was born in northern Italy in 1922, the 10th youngest of 13 children, eight of whom survived to adulthood. The Berettas were a devout Italian family, daily Mass goers as often as possible, with a deep devotion to the Rosary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The teenage Gianna experienced a kind of mini-conversion at the age of 15 when she developed an intense love of the Sacred Heart and dedication to her study of the Catholic faith. She involved herself in Catholic Action, popular at the time, which stressed three central aspects of the life of Christ: Eucharistic devotion, apostolic action and heroic purity.

St Gianna completed medical studies at university and as a physician had a profound reverence for the gift of human life, insisting on Priests preaching and teaching about respect for human life, the evil of abortion and the abandonment of the serious ill and elderly.

Settling into married life she wrote: "Everything has a specific end, everything obeys a law, God has shown each of us the way. Our earthly and eternal happiness depends on following our vocation without faltering.

"What is vocation? It is a gift from God - it comes from God Himself! Our concern then should be to know the will of God. We should enter on to the path that God wills for us, not by forcing the door, but when God wills and as God wills."

St Gianna married Pietro Molla in 1955. In preparation for her wedding day she wrote to Pietro: "With God's help and blessing, we will do all we can to make our new family a little cenacle where Jesus will reign over all our affections, desires and actions.

"My Dear Pietro, our wedding day is just a few days away now, and I feel very moved to be so near to receiving the sacrament of love. We will be working with God in His creation; in this way we can give Him children who will love Him and serve Him." (Love Letters to my Husband pp. 40-41)

Their first child, Pierluigi, was born in November 1956 and in 1957 Maria Zeta followed. On both occasions Gianna suffered severe physical pain, and both children suffered health difficulties. Their third child, Laura Enrica, was born in 1959 and again Gianna experienced serious setbacks during the pregnancy and worried that she might lose the child.

After two further miscarriages, Gianna found herself pregnant with the fourth child.

Early in this pregnancy it was found that Gianna had developed a fibroma kind of cyst on the wall of her uterus. Doctors recommended the removal of the fibroma and the abortion of the child, or a total hysterectomy, which would also mean abortion.

Any option that included abortion was unacceptable to Gianna and Pietro. She chose instead to have the fibroma removed and to bring her child to term. Being a physician she understood well the danger involved and declared: "This time it will be a difficult delivery and they may have to save one or the other. I want them to save my baby."

In April 1962, the fourth child, Gianna Emmanuela, was delivered by caesarean section. Her birth marked the beginning of a weeklong agony for Gianna, which ended in her death.

Following her death there developed a widespread devotion to Gianna, for the faithful who knew her recognised heroic sanctity. Those who sought her intercession obtained many graces.

Today, the children, Laura and Gianna Emmanuela, remain at home with their father. Laura is a Doctor of Political Science and Gianna Emmanuela followed in the footsteps of her saintly mother and became a doctor. She has dedicated her medical practice to the care of patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

At the Second World Day of the Family in October 1997, Dr Gianna Emmanuela Molla offered the following prayer through the intercession of her mother:

"Dear Mother, thank you for having given me life two times, when you conceived me and when you permitted me to be born. My life seems to be the natural continuation of your life, of your joy of living, of your enthusiasm; I discovered my life's full meaning in dedicating myself to whoever lives in suffering. Dear Mother, intercede always for all mothers and all families who turn to you and entrust themselves to you."

The story of Gianna Molla is one of the more powerful witnesses to the vocation and mission of married people. She is an inspiration and powerful intercessor for conversion to Christ. She is a marvellous example for those who are expecting children, those who are tempted to abort children, those who don't want children!

It's not my fault
Accepting responsibility for one's actions is never easy and dates back to our first parents who were into the blame game. Echoes of Adam and Eve still resound: "They misled me", "it's not my responsibility", "he was supposed to do it", "I didn't realise it was my duty", "no one would help me", "I wasn't fully aware of what I was doing." So the blame game goes on - one can always find a scapegoat!

The Jews made no secret of scapegoating (Lev. Ch.16). Each year they gathered in the Temple on the Day of Atonement to offer sacrifice for their sins. Part of the ritual was the offering of two goats. One was chosen for Yahweh, the other for Azazel (Prince of Devils).

The goat chosen for Yahweh was sacrificed. The High Priest then imposed hands on the goat chosen for Azazel. This symbolic gesture transferred to the goat the sins of the community. The goat was sacrificed neither to Yahweh nor to the demon, but was led into the desert and with it the people's sins. Hence the term "scapegoat".

Modern day man is well into "scapegoating". A contemporary question is whether Saddam Hussein will become a scapegoat for countries, eager to rid themselves of guilt.

Few deny they try to escape responsibility, as almost every day we will blame someone for something - either to extricate ourselves from trouble or to avoid blame.

Responsibility is never easy, and as a consequence we try to escape its difficulties, foregoing its privileges, forgetting that there is no escape. One can blame drink or drugs, foster forgetfulness, or philosophise oneself out of trouble. But deep down we know our actions are not the overflow of deep unconscious urges, or an irresistible and blind life force.

Man can control his life because he can look beyond, and regulate, his actions. Within himself he carries an image of supreme good, and can see the defects in anything less than supreme good. He chooses good because it is good, rejects evil because it is evil. He may be tempted but can refuse to be bothered with anything less than perfection.

Man's journey from birth to death is not along a predetermined course. Because of free will man can choose his course. Take away free will and you take away the human character of man's actions. By free will man alone is capable of good or evil; sin or sanctity; failure or success; the honourable or the mean. Man alone is responsible for his actions.

Human history is the story of dour combat between the powers of good and evil, stretching from the dawn of history until the last day. But we have the advantage of being aided by God's grace won by Christ in His death and resurrection.

The fact that He became the scapegoat for humanity's sins and took them willingly upon Himself means that we are free to draw upon the merits of His death and resurrection to free us from our sins and to help us be responsible men and women.

Christ has given us a way out, the Sacrament of Penance, whereby our faults are absolved and our resolution to be responsible people is strengthened. It would be a pity if we didn't avail ourselves of the opportunity offered, lest we finish up with the goats on the last day (Mt 25/33).

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Bishop Kevin Manning,
Bishop of Parramatta.