Press release on the grand opening of the Ideal Church of Scientology of Perth May 5, 2017, published on Scientology.org
Take the most remote major city in the world, sandwiched between largely empty vistas of oceans and deserts; add in wave after wave of hardy and hearty pioneers from England, Scotland, Italy, China, Vietnam, Greece and a score of other ethnic homelands; cook all of that in with the gung-ho, can-do spirit of Down Under; throw in battalions of gold prospectors and diamond miners; sing a couple of bars of Waltzing Matilda, add a kangaroo or two and you have the setting for the planet’s newest Church of Scientology: Perth, the capital and largest city in Western Australia.
The new light in this “City of Lights” is just one block away from the Great Eastern Highway, a mere fifteen minutes from the Perth city centre and located by the famous Swan River that is home to the majestic black birds after which the river is named. It is here more than 1,000 Scientologists and their guests—some crossing thousands of miles to reach Perth—gathered on Saturday, May 5, 2018 to celebrate the grand opening of a new Church of Scientology.
Mr. David Miscavige, the ecclesiastical leader of Scientology, trekked 9,000 miles to reach Perth. He told the grand opening celebrants that he’ll soon embark upon a ribbon-pulling trek across another 20,000 miles. But, for Perth, Mr. Miscavige proclaimed: “This is the NOW for which you have been waiting.”
As he led the dedication ceremony, Mr. Miscavige spoke of Scientology’s new future in Western Australia. “And with that, we step out of Dreamtime to realise the final dream before that ribbon falls… Which is to say this is now the time to bring our help wholeheartedly and indiscriminately. For only in this way, this new Church of Scientology both serves Perth and becomes Perth.”
Mr. Miscavige has spearheaded a period of unprecedented growth with the opening of 65 new Churches in recent years. Perth marks number 66. These Churches set a standard defined by Mr. Hubbard and carried out by Mr. Miscavige, which envisions every Church as a perfect expression of the religion’s principles and practices, including its many community outreach and humanitarian programmes.
On the southwest corner of Australia, Perth is isolated and hard to reach—it’s quicker to fly there from Bali than from Sydney. The closest Australian city to Perth is Adelaide, more than 1,300 miles away on the continent’s south coast.
Perth’s isolation has made it a formidable city where the motto is “Floreat,” Latin for “flourish” or “prosper.” That hasn’t been lost on Scientologists. After all, a famous urging by Mr. Hubbard was that one and all should “flourish and prosper.”
In that very spirit the Church’s grand opening was inaugurated with the traditional Australian national anthem, “Advance Australia Fair,” followed by a rousing rendition of a local victory song, which echoed the bold and enterprising spirit of Perth Scientologists.
While Perth’s population is prosperous, like any city its drugs, crime and other social pitfalls are ever-present factors. The city’s Church of Scientology—established more than 60 years ago—has been at the forefront of social betterment and humanitarian campaigns.
Scientologists have distributed tens of thousands of copies of the Church-sponsored The Truth About Drugs booklets. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, also sponsored by the Church, waged a successful campaign in recent years to stop barbarous psychiatric practices, including the sterilization of people deemed “mentally ill.”
Other Church-sponsored programmes—The Way to Happiness, a common sense guide to better living; and United for Human Rights, which fosters those rights for all people—are also intensely active in Perth and Western Australia.
All those activities reflect the hard and enthusiastic work by Scientologists to help build a great city and culture in Perth. And the city’s citizens have noticed.
The full press release is available on Scientology.org
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