The Catholic Weekly 20 December 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 4 NEWS 20, December, 2020 NOTED FRENCH philoso- pher and distinguished visit- ing professor at the Australian Catholic University’s Facul- ty of Theology and Philoso- phy Claude Romano has been awarded the highest award for philosophy in Europe - the ‘Grand Prix de Philosophie’. Created in 1987 and awarded by the prestigious Académie Française, the Grand Prix is regarded as the highest award for a philoso- pher in France and a stellar achievement in the academic field on a global scale. It is at- tributed for the entire work of its recipient. Past recipients include such illustrious figures as Em- manuel Levinas, Paul Ricœur, Gilles Deleuze, René Girard, Jean-Luc Marion, Vincent Descombes  and Jacques Bouveresse. Based in Paris, Professor Romano is a research fellow AS THE world of late-night shopping and end-of-year parties swirled outside, peo- ple gathered at St Mary’s Ca- thedral on 13 December for Catholic Cemeteries and Cre- matoria’s annual Christmas Remembrance Service. Bishop Terry Brady pre- sided at the ecumenical and interfaith service, and at the conclusion, invited all present to watch the Lights of Christ- mas display from the cathedral forecourt. Sinead Kent, coordinator of memorial and remembrance liturgies for the Grief Care Team said the emotion was tangible during the simple yet powerful service. “People have been waiting to get together again to pray, to get back into the church and engage in a holy space,” she said. “It was really beautiful. “The whole year was very different for us due to COV- ID-19. “We recorded or live- streamed all of our annual ser- vices including Mother’s Day, Fathers’ Day, All Souls Day, whereas it had been the norm for up to 400 people to attend these events. “The response we’ve had from people has been phe- nomenal, people have en- couraged family members and friends in different parts of the world to be part of our services online. “However it is so important for people to be able to come together, not only for those grieving the death of a loved one this year but others want- French-based visiting academic’s win is a stellar achievement in the world of philosophy ¾ David Ryan ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues ACU philosopher wins Grand Prix Catholic cemeteries rememberance Mass Loss increasing in Philosophical Hermeneu- tics and Phenomenology, and maintains a strong interest in the analytic tradition from Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle. Romano’s first books (translated into English as Event and World, Event and Time and There is: The Event and the Finitude of Appear- ing ) explore these concepts. Claude Romano has also worked on the relations be- tween philosophy and litera- ture.  Speaking to The Catholic Weekly by email, Professor Romano acknowledged the support of ACU for his work.  “I am very proud to share that honour with all themem- bers of the Faculty of Theolo- gy and Philosophy of ACU in Melbourne where I am so pleased to teach every year since 2013,” he said. “I hope to be back as soon as the coronavirus will leave New research indicates smaller Mass attendances in Australian Catholic churches will be an unavoidable consequence of COVID. us in peace [because] the trust and support from that great Australian University means a lot to me, and I am proud to collaborate with so many extraordinary scholars.” Professor Romano will continue his collaboration with the Faculty and the Insti- tute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at ACU in 2021 and beyond. ACU philosopher Claude Romano was been awarded one of Philosophy’s highest prizes. Page Bullen and Mark Hamilton light candles representing loved ones who have died during the past year. The Christmas Remembrance Service is an annual ecumenical and interfaith event. PHOTO: GIOVANNI PORTELLI ing to do something special to remember the good times.” This year the service was at- tended by 300 people includ- ing members of the Abdal- lah and Sakr families whose children Anthony, Angelina and Sienna Abdallah and Ve- ronique Sakr died in February. Patricia Thomas said the Remembrance Service was established by Bishop Terry Brady and CEO of Catholic Cemeteries & Crematoria Pe- ter O’Meara eight years ago when Grief Care was launched and it remains a popular event. “In ministering to families we were aware that the first Christmas after losing a loved one in particular is a struggle,” she said. “We usually see 500-1000 people come to the service each year, and it just acknowl- edges that as well as the joy that Christmas brings it is also a time of deep and profound sadness for many. “The beautiful setting of the cathedral provides some heal- ing in itself and gives people hope coming into that season.” Another very important as- pect is beautiful sacred music, provided by liturgical music coordinator at Grief Care Si- grid Evangelista, with Kye and Koe Evangelista, Jane Kent and accompanied by cathedral or- ganist Titus Grenyer, she said. NEW RESEARCH into the effects of the COVID-19 on worship patterns reveals that while the most engaged Catholics were eager to return to Mass after the easing of re- strictions, the overall pattern is one of accelerated loss of people from the pews. Philippa Martyr, psy- chology honours student at Monash University and The Catholic Weekly columnist, says that the challenge ahead for Australian bishops is to engage Catholics in regular Mass attendance as possible to avoid a drastic loss of prac- ticing Catholics and potential church closures in the future. But the survey was not all bad news, revealing a highly-engaged cohort of Catholics aged under 35. The national online study was conducted between August and October this year with more than 1100 responders, the largest proportion from New South Wales. Almost all participants had used a mixture of virtual and real-life worship choices during COVID-19 with lives- treamed Masses the most popular virtual worship event. The rate of Mass attend- ance before COVID-19 was the strongest predictor of the number of both virtual and re- al-life worship events chosen by participants. Of those who attended Mass on Sundays and Sun- days-and-weekdays before COVID-19, around two-thirds have now resumed their nor- mal rate of Mass attendance. But around 20 per cent of all participants have now re- duced their rate of Mass at- tendance post-COVID-19. “It comes down to how of- ten you went to Mass before COVID19,” Ms Martyr said. “The less often you went to Mass before, the more likely you are to have stopped going toMass at all now, even if your churches are open.” Further modelling, though “crude”, indicated that NSW, although it has the greatest religious affiliation in the country may have lost a “very large number of practicing Catholics because of the lock- downs”, Ms Martyr said. She said the NSW bishops are interested in the survey results as they examine the effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on church engagement. COLUMN P22 I am very proud to share that honour with all the members of the Faculty of Theology and Philos- ophy of ACU inMel- bourne where I am so pleased to teach ...” Claude Romano, laureate