HEROIN DECREE SPLITS CATHOLICS

The Catholic Church in Sydney and Melbourne was further divided last
night as the Vatican's intervention in Sydney's heroin injecting room
project widened the chasm between conservative and progressive Catholics.

And while the Uniting Church signalled it would explore the
possibility of taking over the experiment in Sydney, Victoria's
Catholic Premier, Mr Bracks, also vowed to go ahead with his trial of
five injecting rooms in Melbourne.

Rome's order to the Sisters of Charity to abandon the trial was
revealed only hours before the NSW Upper House passed the Drug Reform
Bill unamended on Thursday.

But the Vatican's decree also angered some Catholic laity and was
strongly criticised by many figures in the Church hierarchy.

In a statement headed "In solidarity with the Sisters of Charity", the
Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes -
representing 10,000 priests, brothers and nuns - criticised the
Vatican's lack of debate. The conference's executive director, Sister
Mary Cresp, said the decision by the Sisters of Charity to operate the
trial room flowed from compassionate concern for those severely
affected by drug abuse.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Sydney, Father Brian Lucas, said
the Archbishop, Cardinal Edward Clancy, had submitted a question "for
clarification on the issue" to the powerful Congregation of the
Doctrine of the Faith in early October and that in later
correspondence St Vincent's and the sisters had provided a dossier.

But it is understood that St Vincent's and the sisters deny that this
material could be regarded as a "submission" and that they were given
any opportunity to argue their case.

However, speaking on ABC Radio, Mr Paul Brazier, a barrister who heads
the Conservative Catholics' Advocacy Centre, said the injecting room
plan should have never have been adopted because it was "formal
co-operation in evil, which the Catholic Church has made plain no
Catholic - or anyone, for that matter - is entitled to do".

Father Steve Sinn, of St Canice's parish in Kings Cross, said he
believed the difficulty with the Pope's order was that not everyone
had been consulted: "That is what makes it hard to accept. There is a
huge reservoir of loyalty inside the Catholic Church and people will
obey.

"[Rome's] view is that it [an injecting room] sends out the wrong
signals ... to those who don't use drugs, presumably. But that
viewpoint ignores the suffering of those who are addicts and who have
nowhere to go to use.

"They are marginalised and voiceless and helpless, and it is that
group that is the most at risk. In not providing a room but providing
needles we are putting this so-called wider good of a 'message being
sent' against their immediate need."

The director of Jesuit Social Services in Melbourne, Father Peter
Norden, suggested the Vatican look "more closely" at what was
happening in the grounds of the parishes of Kings Cross and in many
other Catholic churches around Australia, where drug addicts injected
in church toilets and school grounds. "Our drug treatment programs in
Melbourne are all directed towards moving addicted persons towards
rehabilitation and a drug-free lifestyle," he said.

"Catholic Church agencies are clearly not intending to give the
message that drug addiction can be tolerated."

The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, refused to be drawn on whether the
Vatican should have intervened, but said he was pleased with its decision.