The Southern Cross - 110511

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May 11 to May 17, 2011

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LocaL eLections: Be wise about your vote

Focus on Vocations: How future priests are trained

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No 4725

John Paul ii beatification in words and pics Page 18

Pretoria archbishop plans for the future

By MaTHiBeLa SeBoTHoMa

A

The reflection of St Peter’s basilica is distorted in the window of a Roman bus near the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Why Mugabe received Communion STaFF RePoRTeR

Z

IMBABWE’S President Robert Mugabe, a Catholic, was free to receive Communion during the beatification of Pope John Paul II, according to Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, spokesman for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

“For any Christian, receiving communion is an act of personal choice made out of conscience before God. As such, it is a matter for the internal forum—between God and the believer. I won’t comment on Mr Mugabe’s internal forum,” the cardinal said.

Catholics had expressed their concerns about the presence of Mr Mugabe at the beatification ceremony at the Vatican and reception of the Eucharist there.

The Zimbabwean president has been strongly criticised for his human rights abuses and misrule by his country’s bishops, whom he recently labelled “liars” and “agents” of the West.

The Italian government waived an

European Union travel ban on Mr Mugabe so that he could attend the ceremony in St Peter’s Square, where he was greeted and embraced by Vatican officials.

Mr Mugabe told reporters in Harare that the ceremony was “fabulous, absolutely heavenly”.

“The Vatican has clarified that no official invitations were issued to heads of state,” said Cardinal Napier, a critic of Mr Mugabe. “Protocol and security would dictate that Mr Mugabe would sit with other heads of state and dignitaries, and be free to receive communion if he so wished.”

Writing in the British Catholic Herald, Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith said that “the Vatican is a Church; on what grounds can it ban someone from coming to Mass? It is perfectly true it could place Mugabe under interdict for his many sins and misdemeanours, but if you start with Mugabe, where would you finish?”

He argued that “given the difficulty in judging politicians, it does seem reasonable to accept all comers”.

FTER a period of consultation, prayer and reflection, Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria has set out his new vision and appointed new personnel to key positions in the archdiocese he took over earlier this year.

“One of the most important responsibilities of a local Church is the passing on of the faith to those around us and especially to the young,” he said. He encouraged parish priests to know their catechists. “We must continually upgrade the knowledge, formation and teaching skills for those responsible for teaching and evangelising,” said the new archbishop.

He acknowledges the “14 excellent Catholic schools in the archdiocese”, but pointed out that “in reality the majority of our Catholic children depend on the local parish for their knowledge of the faith”.

He said “it is a supreme responsibility of priests and parents to see that there is adequate catechetics provided in every parish.” Archbishop Slattery will soon appoint examiners to evaluate each parish individually to assess their catechetical programmes.

Archbishop Slattery has set up a communication office in his diocese. Through the new office he hopes that the Church will have “to make our message better known first among our fellow Catholics throughout the archdiocese and then to all the people among whom we bear witness to Christ”.

The archbishop will also re-animate Education for Life programmes which were used in Uganda to reduce the number of HIV infections. He said that “thousands of young people are destroying their lives by behaviours that allow them to suffer”.

The programme, he said, will support what is lacking in families, schools and among peers. “It is a primary task of the Church to present young people with a vision of values according to the mind of Jesus and his Gospel.” He declared himself in favour of “youth to youth programmes” that will “show the beauty of Christian life”.

The archbishop said he is aware that marriage is under severe pressure in modern society. Many families are broken and unsettled and that many children are grow-

ing up in homes that are incomplete.

He expressed concern that in many families the father plays a non-existent role.

He said priests should help in the preparation of youth for marriage, in reconciliation in marriage, and in the strengthening of married life. “We also need to celebrate success in married life by offering those good couples who celebrate silver and golden jubilees an opportunity to stand before the community and bear witness to their faithfulness.”

He appealed to priests to be available for confession. “If we offer confession and make it a real encounter with Jesus, then people will respond.” Confession is a great sacrament of healing, he said. “In so many areas of life we meet people in superficial situations, however in the confessional we meet them in affairs of their soul and their relationship with God.” The former bishop of Kokstad expects priests to improve the quality of their sermons. “The majority of Catholics learn their faith from preaching,” Archbishop Slattery said. “We fail our people badly and we fail God if we do not offer confession and good homilies to our people.”

He said evangelisation must be at the very heart of the Church’s work. Priests must help people “to concretely and personally encounter Jesus Christ. Jesus is risen from the dead, he lives within us and unless we come to know him our Christian life is empty and without zeal”.

To have an effective evangelisation programme, he is calling for a collaboration of those working in prisons, catechetics, family and marriage, hospitals and in Catholic education.

Among Archbishop Slattery’s top appointments were Fr Dabula Mpako as vicar-general, Fr Victor Phalana as episcopal vicar, and Mgr Marc de Muelenaere as judicial and finance vicar.

Mariannhill seminarians release gospel CD

By MauRiCio LaNga

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HE Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill Novitiate Group has released its first gospel music CD. The 2010 novitiate group recorded the CD, titled Ngiyavuma Baba, under the leadership of novice master Fr Lawrence Mota CMM, who not only introduced them to spiritual life but also helped the group discover their talents in music and ensure that the CD was released.

The ten-track CD sells for R50 per copy.

The demand was so high that the first batch of 1000 copies was sold out soon after release.

The proceeds of the CD will be used to promote talent amongst the young people in the congregation as well as to purchase some musical instruments.

According to Fr Mota, the CD is a tool of evangelisation and also serves to cultivate talent among young people in the congregation.

He said after he identified the potential and talent amongst some members of the novitiate he took the initiative to nurture and promote the musical talent so that they could be utilised fruitfully in praising God. Fr Mota said coming from a musical background himself aided him in identifying the young people with various musical talents.

He said he first fell in love with music in his home parish in Malawi. “Music has always been encouraged amongst the youth as this is perceived as one of the ways to express the joy of life as well as

praising God.” It is through music that the moral and social values are inculcated in society and communities we live, he said.

Fr Mota said working with a group of young people, most of whom were inexperienced in making music, was a big challenge.

“Patience is a critical factor when working with young people,” he said, adding that it is important to allow young people to identify their gifts and talents and let them know that they have responsibility with these talents to contribute to the society and community where they live. n Ngiyavuma Baba can be obtained at the Mariannhill Monastery Repository. Telephone 031 700 4289 or Fr Lawrence Mota on 078 568 5809.

Fr Lawrence Mota CMM holds the new CD recorded by the novitiates of the Mariannhill missionaries. (Photo: Mauricio Langa)

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The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

LOCAL

Supporting Seafarers is everyone’s responsibility

By CLaiRe MaTHieSoN

S

By CLaiRe MaTHieSoN

H

ELPING seafarers “is not just the responsibility of those on the coast,” said Deacon Richard Croucher, local chairman of the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS).

According to Deacon Croucher ,the vast majority of seafarers are Catholic, most from the Philippines. Started in the early 20th century, the AoS provides pastoral care to seafarers through chaplaincies in ports in all continents of the world.

The work done by the organisation is vitally important, said Deacon Croucher. However, the weight of supporting these chaplaincies has mostly fallen to the coastal dioceses.

The AoS has a long history in the country. In 1964, Fr Desmond Curran was asked by the late Cardinal Owen McCann of Cape Town to start an organisation to provide pastoral care to seafarers.

“This was brought to the Legion of Mary and was embraced wholeheartedly. Books and periodicals were requested of the laity, bundled together and delivered to seafarers on board their vessels by Legionaries,” said Deacon Croucher of the organisation’s early days in Cape Town.

However, the cardinal wanted more to be done for the seafarers.

Fr Curran took up the challenge and formally started the AoS by gathering a group of committed people.

“Fr Curran was officially appointed port chaplain, and remained active in that role for 14 years, until he was transferred to a parish some considerable distance

Divine Mercy devotion fills church to capacity

Deacon Fergus Rogers, archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein, Fr Desmond Curran, Fr Brandon West, and archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town at the opening of the Saldanha Bay branch of the apostleship of the Sea. from the harbour.” By then, the AoS had grown much longer under his guidance.

Deacon Croucher said many other priests got involved in the chaplaincy and today the Scalabrini Fathers hold the portfolio. The organisation recently opened a second facility in Saldahna Bay on the West Coast.

He said the organisation was grateful for the support that had allowed it to get “this far”. However, he said in order to sustain the work, it was important that even non-coastal parishes got involved.

“This has got to be the hardest job in the world,” said Deacon Croucher. The seafarers work in tough conditions, far from home

with very little legal protection. He said the work of the AoS was vitally important and makes a big difference in the seafarers’ lives. He said he hoped more support would be shown from other parts of the country in order to continue the great work being done.

Today the AoS serves seafarers from a facility in Cape Town harbour shared with the Anglican Mission to Seafarers who work together for the benefit of those who work at sea where internet facilities and counselling is available to the seafarers. Mass is celebrated every Saturday night and on board vessels when requested.

T ANTHONY’S parish in Durban has become a centre of the Divine Mercy devotion in the archdiocese. The parish celebrated this year’s feast with “overflowing enthusiasm and attendance,” according to parish priest Fr Sean Mullin CSSp. The service, which attracted many from around the archdiocese, was in part a tribute to a founding member of the movement within the parish, Elizabeth Pillay, who was killed in a car accident.

The Divine Mercy devotion is based on the visions of Jesus reported by Polish saint Sr Faustina Kowalska. St Faustina stated that she received the devotional prayer through visions and conversations with Jesus, who made specific promises regarding the recitation of the prayers.

The rosary-based devotion was started at St Anthony’s in 1992.

“From humble beginnings of a handful of people the attendance at that celebration, which takes place on the second Sunday of Easter, has steadily risen,” said Ms Pillay in a letter to the community written shortly before her death.

According to the letter 400 people attended the celebration within two years of the movement beginning. Ms Pillay explained that the day started with Mass, adoration, confession and a bring and share lunch for the parishioners.

“Under the guidance of our Lord and Sr Faustina, I am sure this annual day of retreat at St Anthony’s, with Fr Mullin at the helm, will continue to grow with more people drawn to the movement,” the letter said.

Fr Mullin said the church was “overflowing” and parishioners remained praying the Divine Mercy novena until the afternoon.

The movement was heavily promoted by two Polish priests at the parish in the early 1990s and has continued to grow through its promotion by a devotional group, which included Ms Pillay before her death.

Fr Mullin said the elements of trust and mercy found in the devotional prayer were attractive to many people today. “It seems to touch something in people’s lives.

In days gone by we were too judgmental and today something appeals to the concept of mercy.”

Proteas cricketer Robin Petersen (third from left) visited St Joseph’s Marist College in Cape Town to speak to the senior school pupils about what it means to be a professional sportsman. The national spin bowler spoke about his training regime, the charitable work that he is involved in being, a sportsman as well as team work. He is seen here with learners (back from left) Stephen Hendricks, Jody Brown, Bulumko Tshaka, Sipho Mqaba and elizabeth Tedder. (front) TK Nhlapo, Nadine Kinnear, Kamogelo Pooe and Darren Thomas.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

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Preaching to the deaf of Southern Africa

By MauRiCio LaNga

A

MARIANNHILL Missionary priest knows much about the labelling and discrimination exerienced by hearing-impaired people.

Fr John Turner, who ministers to a congregation of deaf people in Mariannhill, knows only too well about the stressful experiences and obstacles faced by the deaf.

The Mariannhill Catholic Deaf Mission is the first of its kind in Southern Africa. According to Fr Turner, the success of this ministry would not have been possible without the assistance of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries, which has for the past three decades cared for the spiritual needs of the deaf people.

Fr John Turner has been working with the deaf people for more than three decades.

“When I began my ministry in 1978, there was only one deaf person coming to church in the Durban area. But today there are many deaf people across the country who go without receiving the word of God and thus feeling excluded from the church,” said Fr Turner, who is also severely deaf.

In his travels across the country as part of ministry and even to the neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, he has found growing numbers of deaf in the communities.

“More than 99% of these people have no access to the sermons preached in church,” Fr Turner pointed out.

The challenge for the future, according to Fr Turner, is for the Church to be able to train deaf Catholics in sign language which they mutually understand.

“There is an urgent need for the establishment of a college for the deaf, to train them and help them to be placed as missionaries in their communities,” he said.

Fr Turner and his team are currently compiling a DVD with sign language translations aimed to aiding the deaf to understand the Catechism, Stations of the Cross and special Bible translations for the deaf to read.

“The main objective of the DVD is to get delivered to different deaf centres and homes, since they are cut off from the radio too,” he concluded,” he said.

Fr John Turner has been working with the deaf in Southern africa for over 30 years and aims to bring them the word of god. (Photo: Mauricio Langa)

New church to be built Hurley Centre gets international support in Durban community

By CLaiRe MaTHieSoN

By MauRiCio LaNga

T

HERE were scenes of joy among community and Church members at Savana Park outside Durban as their dream to have a church built in the area began to materialise with the turning of the soil and blessing of the land site for construction of the church.

For many years the community of Savana Park, Mawelewele, has been praying in their homes because of the lack of church infrastructure in the area.

Church members commended the efforts made by the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill in processing all the necessary documents to ensure that the land is secured for the building of the church. The community also thanked Fr Ignatius Heer CMM for contributing R100 000 towards the construction of the church.

“Our prayers have been answered,” said an ecstatic church member, adding that the new church will convenience local Catholics. Some of them have travel or walk about 10km to either St Wendolin or Klaarwater in order to attend Mass.

Addressing the congregation that came to witness the event, Bishop Pius Dlungwane of Mariannhill said it is important for the local people to take responsibility and stand on their own as far as sustainability is concerned.

He said the days when the local Church could rely on missionaries from Europe are gone. The onus is now on the faithful to ensure that active participation sustains the church.

The bishop urged Catholics to continue to grow and remain strong in spite of many challenges affecting the Church and the community. He also noted that some Catholics have left the Church for other denominations.

Mike Pillay, a member of the church to be built, said the unity and cooperation among local Catholics in planning the event had been remarkable. “This was a humbling experience, and I am glad that all of us worked together to ensure that this day is a resounding success,” said Mr Pillay, adding the community has now embarked on fundraising initiatives to ensure that they have enough funds for the new church.

The mission of Carmel is to keep PRAYER alive in the Church.

G. Lagrange

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DENIS Hurley Association has been established in Britain to build up a support base for the Denis Hurley Centre at Emmanuel cathedral in Durban.

According to Paddy Kearney, the centre’s coordinator, gaining local and international support was always part of the centre’s plan. “We were aware that Archbishop Hurley was internationally known for his decades-long stand against apartheid and for his promotion of the teachings of Vatican II,” Mr Kearney said. “We were aware that he had friends and admirers in many countries and knew that they would want to be involved in this project in his honour.”

Mr Kearney said the international promotion of the Denis Hurley Centre was advanced by last year’s sabbatical of cathedral administrator Fr Stephen Tully.

“Through his visits to the United States and Britain, as well as his Camino walk in Spain” to Santiago de Compostela, Fr Tully was able to bring much attention to the Hurley centre.

The chairwoman of the Association is Robina Rafferty, who headed the Catholic Housing Association for many years. Other leading members are Julian Filochowski,

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former director of Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod), and Sr Marie-Henry Keane OP, former prioress-general of the Newcastle Dominican Sisters, and Pierre Matate, a former refugee leader at Emmanuel cathedral.

Patrons of the association are Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the retired archbishop of Westminster; Mildred Neville, former director of Catholic Institute for International Relations, and Bishop David Konstant, retired of Leeds.

The association is based at the Oblate House in Kilburn, northern London, which is shortly to be renamed Denis Hurley House.

Mr Kearney, whose biography of Archbishop Hurley, Guardian of the Light, was published in 2009, said the British association resulted directly from meetings he held at Westminster cathedral in London, and the assistance of people such as Sr Keane, Ms Neville and Sue Chapman who rallied influential friends of Archbishop Hurley.

Ms Rafferty urged people to encourage their relatives or friends in the UK to support the Denis Hurley Centre by sending donations which would qualify for tax relief through Gift Aid via the account: Denis Hurley Association, Cooperative Bank, Account Number 65456699, Sort Code: 089229.

“It’s very important to bring international players into the picture because the Denis Hurley Centre project is ambitious and it will need overseas support long after the building has been constructed,” said Mr Kearney, adding that the centre wanted firm foundations in place that will survive for many years.

Other international support for the Denis Hurley Centre has come from the United States, Germany and Norway. A partnership with the Polish Catholic Bishops’ Conference is currently being explored through the Polish embassy in Pretoria.

Newly appointed chairman of the uK based Denis Hurley association, Robina Rafferty (seated) with Mike Chauke and amanda Tshabalala of the Job Link office at emmanuel Cathedral, Durban. (Photo: JeanMarie Ntamubano)

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The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

INTERNATIONAL

Congo bishop: ‘Extortion is wearing down my people’

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CONGOLESE bishop has called on Catholics to struggle for reconciliation among families and tribes and to “denounce and fight” extortion and abuses by the Congolese police and military.

Such practices are “one of the causes of the weariness and discouragement of our population,” said a pastoral letter by Bishop Philippe Nkiere Kena of Inongo.

The bishop cited the contrast in the Mai Ndombe region between its abundant natural resources and the extreme poverty in which its population lives. The abundance of the region’s natural resources brought the imposition of forced labor and cruel, savage and inhumane treatment by the colonial powers, he noted. This history engendered fear, suspicion of strangers, divisions and a sense of powerlessness that are still pervasive among the population.

“We live today, without doubt, in a period of increased freedom, humanity and courage,” Bishop Nkiere wrote. “But we must recognise that fear, divisions and a certain fatalism still hold us back from living truly and intensely, according to God’s plan of love, manifest

in Jesus.”

He said the commonplace practice of extortion and exactions by the Congolese military and police, whereby armed forces routinely extort small amounts of money from the civilian population at roadblocks, is partly responsible for keeping the Congolese population down. Such practices have been denounced by the United Nations peacekeeping mission and human rights organisations in recent reports.

“We are called to struggle together against everything that degrades, humiliates or derides the human being in our weakest brothers and sisters,” he said. “That is why any police extortion or exaction must be denounced and fought.”

The bishop called on Catholics to struggle together for the dignity of all the oppressed in different communities, including spurned minorities such as Pygmies, prisoners and mentally ill people.

Catholics should also struggle for recognition of rights of widows and orphans, justice in the courts for the poor, and justice in the exploitation of natural resources, including the Congo’s forests, the pastoral letter said.—CNS

Catholics told to blog

By CiNDy WooDeN

T

HE Catholic Church needs active members who blog, but Catholic bloggers also need the Church, especially to remind them of the virtue of charity needed in their writing, said participants at a Vatican meeting.

The meeting was sponsored by the pontifical councils for culture and for social communications.

The councils accepted requests to attend, then drew the names of the 150 participants once the requests were divided according to geography, language and whether the blog was personal or institutional.

Richard Rouse, an official at the culture council, said news of the Vatican meeting already has encouraged other Church officials to begin a dialogue with local bloggers.

The Vatican meeting, he said, was not designed as a how-to seminar, nor aimed at developing a code of conduct, but rather to acknowledge the role of blogs in modern communications and to start a dialogue between the bloggers and the Vatican.

F Roderick Vonhogen, a Dutch priest and author of the “Katholiek Leven” (Catholic Life) blog, told the meeting that blogging “allows me to be a shepherd for people who need one, not those who already have one” because they are active in a parish.

“If you write a blog post and no one comments, you feel miserable...alone and isolated,” he said. The comments let the writer and readers experience being part of a community.

But, it’s only when you have established interest and friendship that you can bring someone to faith, Fr Vonhogen said.

Elizabeth Scalia, who writes “The Anchoress”, said that while the mainstream media tend to view blogs as “little more than a means of self-promotion”, the Catholic blogs generally are real

Catholic bloggers attend a meeting at the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) sources of “Catholic clarity”.

But bloggers can’t claim to be purveyors of clarity unless they do so with charity, she said.

“Charity is one of the biggest challenges we face,” she said, because “freedom is both a gift and a source of temptation for our egos.”

Ms Scalia said that the Catholic blogosphere is host to too much “us and them” on both the conservative and liberal sides of the Church. As Catholics, “we have no business fostering enemies”.

Rocco Palmo, author of the hugely popular “Whispers in the Loggia”, told the gathering that the 150 invitees represented “many of the finest professional communicators” working for the Catholic Church, although it is rare that any of them is paid for blogging.

The meeting, he said, is recognition of “our contribution to the life of the Church”.

One of the discussion topics at the meeting was the fact that blogging already is changing because, in many countries, Twitter’s 140-character messages are becoming a more popular form of communication.

Another theme involved the use on blogs of copyrighted stories and photographs taken from news sites.

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Mattia Marasco, author of “WikiCulture”, told the group that while it was right to acknowledge the source of material, copyrights are “an old model for a new media”.

Fr Vonhogen said professional journalists will have to get used to their material being taken, knowing that it amounts to free publicity and that if they are good journalists they will survive.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told the bloggers that while Pope Benedict XVI “is a person who does not Tweet or have a personal blog, he is very attentive and knows well what is happening in the world” and supports Catholic media efforts.

“Bloggers are important” for forming and informing church members, Fr Lombardi said, but anyone who influences what Catholics think must recognise the responsibility that brings with it.

Fr Lombardi said he had to thank bloggers for the times they acted to explain and spread Church teaching and the thought of Pope Benedict. n Read blogs by Fr Simon Donnelly, Fr Russell Pollitt SJ and Sr Sue Rakoczy IHM on The Southern Cross’ website (www.scross.co.za/ category/southern-blogs/)

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

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JP2’s life exhibited in Rome Parish scaled back after bin Laden killing A T

By CiNDy WooDeN

SPECIAL exhibit on the life of Bl Pope John Paul II will run in the Vatican until June 24.

Described by Pope Benedict as a special tribute to his predecessor, the exhibit is housed in the Carlo Magno Hall, off St Peter’s Square. Entrance is free.

The exhibit is a collaborative effort of the Vatican governor’s office and the Polish ministry of culture and national heritage.

The entrance to the Carlo Magno Hall is under a supersized replica of the Book of the Gospels; a hidden motor flips the pages, evoking a memory of how the wind turned the pages of the Gospel placed on Pope John Paul’s coffin during his funeral in 2005.

The exhibit includes artifacts from the museum set up in his family home in Wadowice, Poland, such as family photographs, a school report card and the uniform he wore when he worked at the Solvay quarry and factory. Skis, boots and poles he used in the 1960s and a canoe from about the same time also are on display, along with prayer books and his black priest’s cassock.

The exhibit contains a letter from Pope Pius XII naming him

Pope John Paul ii’s canoe and his cardinal vestments are seen in a special exhibit on the life and ministry of the Polish pope in the Carlo Magno Hall at the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958 and one from Pope Paul VI naming him a cardinal in 1967.

The section dealing with his 1978-2005 papacy includes the official medals from each year of his pontificate, a pair of his red shoes (which actually are more burgundy) and the mobile platform used to move him in processions after he could no longer walk.

Opening the exhibit, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, head of the

Vatican governor’s office, said the exhibit could give people only a small idea of who Pope John Paul II was.

“In particular, it isn’t possible to show the source from which he drew the strength and richness of his spirit”, although that was hinted at by the Book of the Gospels at the entrance and by the small replica of his private chapel at the other end of the Carlo Magno Hall, he said.— CNS

SA priest caught up in Chicago parish suspension row

A

PRIEST from Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal, who has served in the United States since 2009, has been named to take over from a priest who threatened to leave the Church if he was moved from his Chicago parish.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago appointed Fr Thulani Magwaza administrator of the mostly African-American St Sabina parish on Chicago’s South Side after he suspended Fr Michael Pfleger from the priesthood.

Fr Magwaza has served the parish as associate pastor since 2009. According to parish leaders, the plan, backed by Cardinal George, was that the popular South African would succeed Fr Pleger after three or four years.

The cardinal told Fr Pfleger

that he had “already left the Catholic Church and are therefore not able to pastor a Catholic parish” after saying in media interviews that he would refuse any assignment other than as pastor of St Sabina Church.

Fr Pfleger’s threats, Cardinal George wrote, had “short-circuited” efforts that had been under way for weeks, appointing Fr Pfleger president of Leo Catholic High School so he could continue working in the same neighbourhood in which he was a pastor for nearly 30 years.

The cardinal said the move to the school would allow Fr Pfleger to continue his work on education in the African-American community, gun violence and service to the poor.

However, Fr Pfleger described the school as “dying” and that he was told “I’d have no power

to do anything but sit there and raise money”, an endeavour for which he considers himselfg unsuited.

Parishioners have protested outside Cardinal George’s resident in support of Fr Pfleger.

An open letter signed by 14 priests serving black parishes in the Chicago archdiocese and addressed to Cardinal George expressed concern that the removal of Fr Pfleger, a German American, “will have serious and potentially long range ramifications that will harm not only the people of St Sabina, but also injure the faith of many committed Catholics, black and white”.

Fr Pfleger’s social justice activism, outspokenness on racism and comments on political issues at times have irritated archdiocesan officials.

Retired Spanish Cardinal agustin garcia-gasco Vicente of Valencia, 80, was found dead just hours before he was to go to St Peter’s Square for the beatification of Pope John Paul ii on May 1. Vatican Radio reported that the cardinal had attended the beatification prayer vigil the night before without any sign of difficulty. His death early the next morning at the guesthouse where he was staying in Rome was presumed to be the result of a heart attack.

He was named archbishop of Valencia in 1992, was created a cardinal in 2007 and retired in 2009. a former auxiliary bishop of Madrid, he also had served as secretary-general of the Spanish bishops’ conference. Born in Corral de almaguer in 1931, he was ordained a priest in 1956.

Bishop removed over women priests, celibacy

By CiNDy WooDeN

P

OPE Benedict has removed Australian Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba from office five years after he wrote a pastoral letter indicating he would be open to ordaining women and married men if Church rules changed to allow such a possibility.

In an open letter to Catholics in his diocese, Bishop Morris said the 2006 letter “has been misread and, I believe, deliberately misinterpreted” by a small group within the diocese.

The formulation of the Vatican’s brief statement indicated that Bishop Morris had not offered his letter of resignation.

The Vatican did not explain the pope’s decision, but in the

past has made it clear that the Catholic Church considers it a matter of faith that Jesus chose only men to be his apostles and, therefore, the Church is not free to ordain women. In addition, it has affirmed that while exceptional cases exist, celibacy is the norm for priests in the Latin rite.

In his open letter, Bishop Morris said misunderstandings about his pastoral letter on the diocese’s serious priest shortage led Pope Benedict to appoint US Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver to conduct an apostolic visitation of the Toowoomba diocese.

“I have never seen the report prepared by the apostolic visitor,” Bishop Morris said, and “without due process it has been

impossible to resolve these matters, denying me natural justice without any possibility of appropriate defence and advocacy on my behalf.”

The bishop said the fact that there would be no further hearing on the matter was confirmed by a letter he received from the pope, which stated: “Canon law does not make provision for a process regarding bishops, whom the successor of Peter nominates and may remove from office.”

Bishop Morris said he did not offer to resign as “a matter of conscience” because “my resignation would mean that I accept the assessment of myself as breaking communio, which I absolutely refute and reject.”— CNS

HE priest at the small Catholic parish in the northern Pakistani city of Abbottabad city said it has limited its activities after the death of alQaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in the city by US special forces this month.

“I couldn’t conduct pastoral visits to homes yesterday after security increased,” Fr Akram Javed Gill told the Asian Church news agency UCA News. He couldn’t make pastoral visits to homes after security increased, and Church feasts and services had to be cancelled.

“Also the four policemen posted guard for the church have been put on high alert,” Fr Javed Gill said.

The priest has been in charge of the St Peter Canisius church since 2007 in Abbottabad, the gateway city to the northern mountainous region. About 150 Catholics live in the city.

He said the Association of Churches of Hazara Division,

which includes the Catholic Church, was formulating a future strategy in the area.

“It is crucial to maintain peace for the scattered minority communities in the area. We alter the venue at the last moment to avoid leaking the information about the gathering in a tense atmosphere,” said Fr Javed Gill.

The priest oversees the only Catholic school, St Peter’s, in the city. About 200 students, most of them Muslims, study there.

The priest said he has faced difficulties in his work in Abbottabad, which is home to a large military establishment. He had to build higher walls to the church compound in 2009 after Muslims objected to the “open display” of the statue of Mary in a grotto in the grounds.

Last year, the authorities asked him to burn several copies of a pamphlet inviting Catholics for Marian devotion.

Do you desire a life that proclaims God’s goodness to the world?

If you are a courageous woman, strong in faith and generous in love then

perhaps you have a vocation as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur For more information, contact: Sr. Marie McLoughlin +27 (0)56-215-1003, mariemcl@act.co.za

6

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Marketing vocations

T

HE Catholic Church worldwide is facing difficulties in attracting sufficient candidates for the priesthood and the religious life.

As we observe the World Day of Prayer for Vocations on May 15, Pope Benedict urges that “every member of the Church needs consciously to feel responsibility for promoting vocations”.

The pope’s concern resides especially with cultures where the call to the consecrated life “seems to be drowned out by ‘other voices’ and [God’s] invitation to follow him by the gift of one’s own life may seem too difficult”.

He clearly refers to a western culture which offers greater lifestyle choices than were available in the past—and this is true as much in urban South Africa as it is in Europe or the Americas. It is also a culture in which entering the priesthood or the religious life is decidedly unfashionable, even countercultural.

For many reasons, some of the Church’s own doing, the priesthood and religious life are no longer positions of prestige or even social privilege—undeniably qualities that in the past helped attract vocations.

The arguments that blame the reforms of the Second Vatican Council for the vocation shortage are misplaced. Vatican II coincided with huge social shifts in western life.

Rapid secularisation and declining birth rates in western society have diminished the numbers of potential candidates. Once families might have had six or more children from whom one or two would enter the consecrated life, sometimes prodded by parents or bound by lack of other opportunities. Now families have two or three children who tend to have a wide range of lifestyle options, and usually they are not encouraged to pursue a religious vocation.

Much improved education systems have created a vast field of career opportunities that stand in competition with the consecrated life. For many who in the past might have opted for the priesthood, the promise of material comfort and family are more compelling.

In short, the religious vocation is a tough sell. Today, it requires great courage and immense sacrifice to follow God’s call.

Pope Benedict in his message for Vocations Sunday this year offers concrete advice.

Proposing vocations on the local level, he writes, means “having the courage, through an attentive and suitable concern for vocations, to point out this challenging way of following Christ which, because it is so rich in meaning, is capable of engaging the whole of one’s life”.

Young people must be led to develop an intimate relationship with Christ and be made to “understand that entering into God’s will does not crush or destroy a person, but instead leads to the discovery of the deepest truth about ourselves”.

Pope Benedict urges every diocese to staff its vocations offices, “that valuable means for the promotion and organisation of the pastoral care of vocations and the prayer which sustains it and guarantees its effectiveness”, with competent and suitably qualified people.

One may add that dioceses and religious congregations should be urged to become more effective in marketing vocations as a life option. In that, they might need the pro bono help of the faithful: from experts in advertising and marketing, and from those who have the means to finance viable endeavours and strategies.

The pope also urges the faithful to pray for vocations, as Jesus did before he assembled his group of disciples (Lk 6:12).

Indeed, vocations are the business of all the People of God. So we will be wise to take to heart the pope’s observation: “Every moment in the life of the Church community—catechesis, formation meetings, liturgical prayer, pilgrimages— can be a precious opportunity for awakening in the People of God, and in particular in children and young people, a sense of belonging to the Church and of responsibility for answering the call to priesthood and to religious life by a free and informed decision.”

Unreliable sources

P

ETER Onesta persists in using as his chief source for knowledge of Islam a book that is academically unsound, and once again goes horribly wrong. Ankerberg and Weldon are not sufficiently qualified to judge what the Qur”an means: and the shakiness of their Christian doctrine disqualifies them from writing any reliable comparative theology.

Once again, Mr Onesta has quoted what appears to be a Qur”anic verse (but which is in fact three distinct verses) from his authors.

Because neither his authors nor Mr Onesta have a grounding in Arabic, they flounder in their usage of Qur”anic words and phrases which they fail to understand. Happily, I speak Arabic: so, permit me to correct some of their errors.

Theologically and at the Qur”anic level, the humankind to which Muhammad was sent to call back to its basic nature became divided into two groups: those “within” the final and best community (Islam) and those “outside” of it. These two groups have various designations: al-muslimûn and alkâfirûn, al-mu”minûn and almushrikûn.

We must have absolute clarity when we use these technical Arabic and Qur’anic terms. The word “muslim” means primarily “one who is submitted to God”. In reality, this could be a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim, and the use of the word in the Qur’an in no way clarifies this. Practically, the word as found in the text is presumed to mean a member of the Islamic religion. Similarly, the word mu’min means primarily “a believer”, which again could be a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim. Again, the text never clarifies the precise meaning, but the presumption is that it refers to a Muslim believer.

The word kâfir means “unbeliever”, “irreligious” “infidel” and can also be rendered as “ungrateful”. It does not carry the meaning of “idolater”. Some translators render it as misbeliever or disbeliever, although there is a subtle difference between the two terms (the first refers to one who does believe, but

Hollow promises?

I

WISH to respond to the letter, “The Church and Cosatu” by Demoratic Alliance member of parliament Marti Wenger (April 20).

The Catholic Church played a prominent role in speaking out against the heinous crime of apartheid when the previous regime was still in place.

I am not a politician but will add my layman’s contribution

SISTERS OF OUR LADY MOTHER OF DIVINE LOVE The field of our Apostolic has no limits, we engage in all types of mission work, e.g. chatechesis, teaching, youth work, nursing, formation of christian homes and families, social work, domestic work and work in all types of charitable institutions.

P.O Box 875 OR P.O Box 16 Queenstown Butterworth 5320 4960 Tel: 047 878 5477 or 047 491 3546

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

whose belief is in some way disordered). The word mushrik comes from the Arabic shirk, and means an idolater or polytheist. The polytheist is one who “joins partners to God”, an unforgivable sin in Islam.

So, humankind is composed of the polytheists and disbelievers on the one hand, and the single, united, monotheistic community on the other.

But from the very start of Islam there was an intermediate category standing between those “within” and those “outside of” the Muslim community. These were neither Muslims nor unbelievers, but something midway. This middle grouping was distinct (at least at the beginning): they are “the people of the Book” or “the people of the Scripture”. They are those who have received their revelation from God in the form of a book, in accordance with the Islamic doctrine that the prophets Moses and Jesus came to their people bearing revelation in this form. It is this reception and possession of a divine book that separates the followers of Moses and Jesus from the unbelievers and polytheists and places them in a distinct and privileged category.

Furthermore, it seems clear that not only is their position an intermediate one, but it is also temporary: after all, they do not move on the right path and should not continue in this way but should (eventually) convert to Islam. Hence the tendency in mainstream Islamic theological thought to assimilate the Jews and the Christians to the non-believers. This then is the position of the Christians (and the Jews): the intermediate, temporary status within the Muslim community as “the people of the Book”.

The important point is that nowhere in the Qur’an are the words mushrik or shirk ever applied to Christians. They are accused of many things: of exaggerating their religion, of misbelief and disbelief, but never of the unforgivable sin of idolatry, of “joining partners to God”.

A further clarification is necessary: the Islamic conception of hell is similar to the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, in that it is not of necessity a permanent place, except

for certain categories of sin, like idolatry. People can be released from hell after a period of punishment. Therefore, the threat of hell for the “unbelievers” is not a threat of permanent separation from God—only the idolaters will suffer that, and the Christians are nowhere accused of idolatry.

Mr Onesta brings up the issue of jihâd. He is incorrect on all counts.

Firstly, Islam has five pillars, not six, and jihâd is not regarded as one of these pillars. Secondly, jihâd does not mean “holy war” except in the fertile minds of some Western journalists. The Arabic verb means “to strive, to struggle against” and, as Muhammad himself was quick to point out, this striving and struggling is an inner phenomenon, against our lower nature and the sin that would ensnare us.

If the word is to be understood in terms of “war”, then it ought to be understood in the same light as the Opening Prayer of the Mass for Ash Wednesday, which invites us to understand prayer and fasting as “Christian warfare”. Islam clearly teaches that sometimes this “struggling” and “striving” is against an external force (and hence the connotation of “holy war”)—in fact, no lesser person than St Thomas Aquinas deals with the possibility of a Christian “holy war” and draws up the conditions that would lead to such a dreadful thing. Holy war is not unique to Islam. Nor can we judge the whole of Islam as intolerant because Saudi Arabia permits no freedom of worship.

I would urge Mr Onesta to fling aside his worthless source of information, and read something more scholarly—Fr Christian de Cherge, the martyred Trappist abbot, on Islam, or Charles de Foucauld, or Louis Massignon, the renowned French Catholic Islamacist, or the Dominican Jacques Jomier, or any number of solid Muslim authors like our own Faried Esack.

Dialogue is indeed a two-way street, and it is happening. Just not in the pages of Ankerberg and Weldon.

Fr Christopher Clohessy, Cape Town

given that we are fast approaching local elections.

The DA gives the impression that it cares for the poor and is the only viable alternative to the ruling African National Congress.

As I live in the Western Cape, I have first-hand knowledge of the daily struggle facing those who are less fortunate than others.

A few years ago, when Helen Zille had just been elected mayor of Cape Town, a group of “backyard dwellers” invaded a piece of

open land in Grassy Park and refused to move. Mrs Zille enjoyed generous media coverage with photos showing her standing barefoot on a tattered mattress as if she was championing the cause of the poor.

She moved the homeless people to a different piece of land in the area and then, through her office, promised to initiate a pilot project for backyard dwellers in Grassy Park. continued on page 19

PERSPECTIVES

Why I serve in Congo

‘W

HAT mission are you going to do in Congo?” My friend reacted when I informed him about my appointment as a Missionary for Africa priest. “The Church is well established there!” Though we habitually pull each other’s legs, this time he had thrown me a curve ball.

Reflecting on this question has helped me to clarify for myself my presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo as missionary and also to understand better what an established Church really is.

Where does the truth of my friend’s response lie? In fact, there is abundant evidence: the number of Catholics in Congo is so high that a small parish here would be regarded as a big parish in most other places.

Parish organisation, especially the level of participation of the laity, is quite advanced. There are lay parish assistants and bakambi, the lay persons who are full time administrators of parishes. There is a relatively high level of Christian education in parishes, unlike in many other places where that hardly goes beyond preparations for communion and confirmation.

Then you have the Zairean liturgy of the Mass. The number of priests and religious both within and outside the country is unbeatable. With all these you just

Fr Evans Chama Point of Mission

can’t help feeling that you are in a Church that is an “elder sister” to many in Africa. Indeed, up to this point you hardly appreciate the place of a missionary. But then something beckons you— wait a minute!

That Congo is rich in natural resources is common knowledge. However, this is made invisible in the actual life of the people. Here we are not simply talking of the poor and the old, but also about people in steady jobs. If a civil servant, proud of his master’s degree, brings home at the end of the month little more than R500, then you have an idea of the situation of the majority in humbler jobs with lower wages.

As a missionary, you begin to pose questions that often you want to ignore, or perhaps don’t even want to ask.

The capital, Kinshasa, alone is proud of its several thousands of “churches” (sects), which could be taken as sign of how copiously religious people are. Most likely, among those in the administration of the country several are Christians; but how is it that Christian principles are hardly evident?

Then one realises that even this “mature church” needs a good push to be more consistent.

In fact, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo of Kinshasa, proposed “Christian identity,

Henry Makori

The loneliness of priests

S

OME weeks back, a friend who is an official of a diocese invited me to talk to Catholic school children about the hottest topic in Kenya today: the expected trial of six high profile individuals by the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, suspended higher education minister William Ruto, suspended industry minister Henry Kosgey, civil service head and secretary to the cabinet Francis Muthaura, former police commissioner Hussein Ali, and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang’ are accused of atrocious crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the post-election violence of 2007/08.

I am not a lawyer. But I have been a school teacher and find no problem talking to kids. In addition, The Hague trials have transfixed the nation. There is a lot of information available about the process.

I took with me a former colleague.

The event was to take place in the hall of a rural parish where a certain priest, whom my friend and I know very well, works. He received the three us on the eve of the function and we enjoyed the evening at a motel not far from his parish.

The next day we had talks, questionand-answer sessions and some song and dance to relieve the nerves. There was good lunch and tea. Father was present throughout and enjoyed the proceedings. He even had occasion to do a jig with the children.

Christian coherence” as the theme for the current pastoral year. It means that Christian identity must be seen in the words and actions of the daily life of Christians: in liturgy, but also in families, streets and work places.

This is where coherence comes in—the faith professed should tally with the way people live. This is a theme given by a pastor who knows the life of his flock. In a situation where people seem to be left to themselves, people—Christians and non-Christians—are driven to earn their living in any way open to them, even if that is irreconcilable with their faith.

Here one begins to appreciate that establishing the Church on level of living Christian values is on-going, necessary even in a place where missionary work may appear superfluous.

To answer my friend, I therefore want to remain in Congo not because I have heroic missionary activity to accomplish—the country has seen enough heroes—but because I see myself in this mature Church while struggling to be more consistent.

I want grow along with this Church.

We are never established enough.

Letter from Nairobi

At the end, the kids requested a Eucharistic celebration to close the event. He readily obliged. Thereafter we said our goodbyes to the children and their teachers.

Father invited the three of us to his house. We drank tea over a lively chat until dusk approached. We announced we were leaving. And that was when I felt it.

It struck me that we would leave Father behind in his house. He would be quite lonely, I thought. Of course, he shared the parish house with a senior priest and he could use his free time as he wished, but still I could not help thinking that he was lonely.

We proceeded to my friend’s house and stayed with his family and other friends. The house was full. From time to time I imagined Father at the parish house. I felt sad for him.

There is something I have never asked him: how does he manage the loneliness which certainly accompanies him in his calling? Doesn’t it depress him, especially after close relatives or friends visiting him leave?

When I lived alone, I would have a lot of difficulty adjusting back to my normal life after friends or relatives who came to visit left. The house would feel too empty.

I know that it takes many years of training and formation before one is ordained a priest and that thereafter he may have access to on-going formation and the support of Church officials and the community.

But I still think living practically alone at Father’s house affects the quality of a priest’s personal life. I guess there is a real human desire to love and be loved by others in a deep and personal way.

I doubt a priest can reasonably expect that to come from the community of believers in his parish. In my experience, many Christians treat a priest as a spiritual specialist; with the same deferential detachment they would treat their doctor or teacher.

I once worked at a Church-run institution and Catholics who came there would be horrified on hearing workers call out the priest-in-charge by his pet name. We were expected to treat him affectionately but formally.

That priest, a missionary, lived in a community house with his confreres. But he would often stay up late in his office until the early hours of morning. He was always working. I thought he was lonely.

From what I have seen, a priest really doesn’t become a part of the community he works with, however hard he tries.

Also, the fact that he is moved to a different place or parish by his superiors after short stints doesn’t help matters.

I know the Catholic priesthood has a long and complex history. I know, too, that certain aspects of the vocation are still debated.

But I am sure that the deep human need to love and be loved in a personal way is something many priests struggle with daily.

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The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

7

Judith Turner on Faith and Life

Love yourself!

M

OST of us have been raised to love others first and to not think of ourselves first.

Our parents (and neighbours, teachers, aunts, uncles and church) drilled into us that we should not be selfish and that we should think of the needs of others before we think of our own needs.

If you were raised in a big family, this would be even more so and later become the natural thing to do—so much so that you would feel guilty if you thought of your own needs above the needs of one of your siblings.

The countless number of people coming to the door for food or money would be a constant reminder that we should think of others and not always be concerned about our own needs. Thinking of others is not a bad thing; it is good. In fact, it is the Christian thing to do. This is charity—this is love.

When then can that become a bad thing? It becomes bad when we love others at the expense of loving ourselves. It becomes bad when we do not know how to love ourselves.

God has created us and dwells inside of us. The first place we meet God is in ourselves. God is love, so the first place we experience this love is in ourselves. To love God inside ourselves is to love ourselves and to do so unconditionally.

Adolfo Quezada explains what loving yourself means, and how to do it, in his book Loving Yourself for God’s Sake. I bought this book many years ago and I have read it over and over again, using it for personal reflection and meditation. I have also used its contents in a number of personal development and leadership workshops I have facilitated over the years.

He writes: “You have been taught that to love yourself is tantamount to narcissism, to think of yourself is selfish, and to take care of yourself before others is self-centred and egotistical. This is tragic. In fact, the opposite is true.

“To enter into the communion of love with God means you are willing not only to love God but also to be loved in whatever way it pleases God to love you, even through yourself. Just as it is impossible to offer another a drink unless you first fill your cup, it is impossible to offer your love to another if you have not first loved yourself.

“Unless you love yourself as God loves you, you cannot really love others. The quality of the love you experience for others is tied to the quality of the love you have for yourself. Therefore, begin by receiving God’s total and unconditional love for you, through you. Then love God back with all your heart and soul, mind and strength. From that union comes your love for those around you. By loving them, you love yourself and God, and the circle of love continues.”

Quezeda advises that we should treat ourselves as we would treat someone we love. We should give ourselves full attention.

“If you are kind and considerate, thoughtful and gentle with someone you love, then offer these same gestures to yourself. Protect yourself from harm and stay awake through prayer. It is through your self-awareness that love will continue.”

Loving ourselves is the link between loving God and loving others, and it is for God’s sake that we do all three. n Judith Turner is the training and organisational developmental coordinator of Catholic Welfare and Development in Cape Town. This is the first in her new monthly column.

8

FOCUS

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

Farming as a vocation The profession of farming often does not command the respect it deserves. A farmer addressed young people on his job, and a priest said that agricultural work could even be seen as a vocation.

T

HERE is “no need to go to the shop to buy for your food when you are farmer”, according to Paul Mofokeng.

The farmer was addressing a large group of learners from the Free State, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape. About 186 learners from Grade 10 and 11 attended a career camp at John Paul II Centre in Bethlehem, Free State. The camp was organised by the Aids Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference last month.

Several speakers explained different career options, ranging from engineering, and medicine to farming.

Mr Mofokeng farms near Bethlehem in the Eastern Free State, considered the breadbasket of South Africa. He inspired many of

the learners.

Two learners said they are now strongly considering the option of farming, said Fr Mokesh Morar, who serves on the Land Working Group of the SACBC. One young woman believes her family will support her. “I enjoy helping my grandmother with our vegetable garden and she also taught me to appreciation the beauty of nature.”

The other one, who was thinking of becoming an engineer, believed that his family might not be happy when they hear he is interested in farming. “But I will try and convince them, and ask them where does the food come from that they eat?”

He added: “We should not look down on the work of certain kinds of others since all jobs are important”.

Another learner noted: “It is not only about money. When there is too much obsession with money, it can get us into trouble—look at all the corruption”.

Many people do not have high regard for farming, Mr Mofokeng said, but if they really understood the knowledge and experience that are needed in the profession, they would be surprised.

“Even if you have not formally

studied science, you do practise it—whether it is about the climate, water conservation, soil management or animal health.

We do get training in certain aspects, but a lot also depends on your experience and that of your neighbours,” he said.

“You also have to know how to fix equipment by yourself, and most important is how to work with your workers on the farm, including how to care and be concerned about their wellbeing. If they are happy your farm becomes more productive,” said Mr Mofokeng.

He said that people complain about poverty and hunger, but few consider even starting a small backyard garden. People will use lots of water for a lawn while they are unemployed. “Why not use that water and space for a food garden in the township?”

Mr Mofokeng encouraged the learners to start vegetable gardens and plant fruit trees. “It is good for your spirit to connect with the earth and nature and enjoy harvesting your own food for yourself and others. We become co-creators with God,” he said.

“Sure, there are difficulties and problems in farming and you need to persevere,” said Mr Mofo-

Farming is a noble profession which, according to a Free State-based priest, could even be seen as a vocation. keng before reminding the young people that the Bible states “‘you shall produce food by the sweat of your brow”.

“I feel happy with what I am doing and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to serve the rest of society by producing food”, Mr Mofokeng said.

Fr Morar, who heads the Sek-

Sisters of St Clare poor Clare Sisters

The Missionaries of Christ were founded

by Fr Christian Moser MSC in Germany in 1956.

Today there are 130 Sisters in Germany, Austria, Brazil, Russia, DRC Congo and South Africa, working in a variety of different professions

Vocation Directress PO Box 2081 Bronkhorstspruit 1020 Cell: 072 456 7382 Tel 013 935 3038 Michaela.Prachll@gmail.com

Do you feel called to the Franciscan way of life?

‘Drawn into the love of the Trinity, we the Missionaries of Christ are sent to be the light of the world and to proclaim Christ’s message through our whole being: To make Jesus Christ present in the world.’

wele Centre for Social Reflection in Bethlehem, asked the young people to consider farming as vocation.

“People have become so divorced from the whole process of producing food and are not aware how much damage we have done to ourselves and the environment,” he told the learners.

Ours is an enclosed life centered on prayer.

Do you feel drawn to such a life?

For more information contact: Monastery of Santa Chiara, p. O. Box 1638, 4700, Kokstad South africa, Tel: 039 727 2628, E-mail:clares@futurenet.co.za

(Statement of Charism)

SOCIeTY OF AFrICAn MISSIOnS

Augustinian Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus

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Jesus is here; he is calling you!

Come and follow him by joining the SMA Fathers, who are committed to the person and mission of Jesus Christ through primary evangelisation and formation of local Church.

We are going to serve Christ in the poor and sick.

Where are you going?

The Vocations Director PO Box 914-1192, Wingate Park, 0153 082 409-1457 / 012 345-1172 Email: ofmvocations@rocketmail.com

Contact:

For further information, please contact Fr Justin Inandjo, SMA on: Tel. 016 422 1286 Mobile 072 288 7813 You can also write to: Fr Justin Inandjo, SMA Vocation Director, P O Box 126, Vereeniging, 1930 or e-mail justinjiko@yahoo.com

For help to find out what you are called to do contact: Sr Margaret Anthony, P O Box 41, Botha’s Hill, 3660, Ph. 076 8455521 JW2@ibound.co.za

LOCAL ELECTIONS

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May17, 2011

9

Voting wisely and thoughtfully on 18 May South Africans will cast their votes in the local elections on May 18. MiKe PoTHieR suggests that voters exercise their democratic right and duty wisely, drawing from the advice of the bishops of Southern Africa.

T

HERE is a very clear link between the tragic death of Andries Tatane at the hands of police in Ficksburg on April 13, and the local government elections that are due to take place on May 18.

Mr Tatane was part of a group of residents protesting against a lack of service delivery. Among their complaints were inadequate access to water, badly-maintained roads, poor sewerage infrastructure, and potholed roads.

In the last few years, all over South Africa, communities have found themselves having to take to the streets to draw attention to their needs. Time and again we hear of how people have phoned municipal call-centres, delivered petitions to mayors, and even boycotted their rates payments, without result. Only when they move to more radical forms of protest, it seems, do the authorities begin to listen. Sadly, the authorities also sometimes over-react, as happened in Ficksburg.

It may be ludicrous that citizens of a relatively well-off country should have to protest physically in order to get their public repre-

sentatives and paid officials to do their jobs, but this is one of the weaknesses of the democratic system: if the people you elect fail to serve you, you have to wait five years before you can get rid of them.

On Wednesday, May 18, the five-year wait will be over, and we will all have a chance to signal our satisfaction, or otherwise, with the performances of our councillors and mayors. In their recent pastoral letter on the municipal elections, our bishops stressed that participation is not only a right, but a duty.

“Every citizen has the right to vote, to participate in the choosing of public representatives, and to give a mandate to those entrusted with governance. But it is more than simply a right—it is a duty which rests on every eligible voter.

Each of us must use our vote wisely and thoughtfully, in order to help ensure that our cities, towns and districts are run by honest and competent people, to the benefit of all, especially the poor and the vulnerable.”

Two important considerations flow from this part of the bishops’ statement. Firstly, if we are to use our vote “wisely and thoughtfully”, then there is no place for voting simply out of blind loyalty to a party or a leader. At the same time, there is no place for voting against a party simply because you happen to dislike its leaders or because you think it represents a different race or class from your own.

We have to think clearly and objectively about who we vote for, and we should make our choices on the basis of which individual councillor is likely to do the best

aNC supporters at an election rally in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. South africans go to the polls on May 18 in local elections. (Photo: Mike Hutchings, Reuters/CNS) job for the local community; and which party is likely to serve the interests of our town or city best.

This brings us to the second consideration: our communities must be run, as the bishops say, for the “benefit of all, especially the poor and the vulnerable”. In other words, we should not vote to preserve privilege, to defend the narrow interests of the affluent, or in a way that would perpetuate the rich-poor divisions that afflict our country.

W

e are called, therefore, to approach the elections with a generosity of spirit that looks beyond our own immediate neighbourhoods, and that recognises that our country’s most pressing problems— unemployment, poverty, crime—will not be resolved if we withdraw into separate laagers and gated communities. And this may mean that we should consider

voting for a party or candidate that we would not usually support, if that choice is likely to be best for the community as a whole.

It is also important to think about the abuses that inevitably creep in when one party remains in power for too long; or when it controls all levels of government, all over the country. In a recent newspaper interview the African National Congress’ secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, referred to greed and corruption in public life as “sins of incumbency”.

Although Mr Mantashe would no doubt advise voters to continue to put their faith in his party, this candid and creditable admission points to the simple fact that the longer a party remains in power and the more secure its hold on power, the more corruption and self-advancement tend to squeeze out honesty and service of the common good.

This is not a local phenomenon: it happens in any country where a party becomes so used to being “in charge” that it starts to think that it has a right to be in power for ever, regardless of the quality of the service it delivers.

It is not the task of the Church to instruct its members which party they should vote for or against in a democracy. All voters are by definition adults, and should be capable of making up their own minds.

But at the same time the values espoused by the Church, especially in its social teaching, must not be overlooked by Catholic voters.

Thus, we should give—or more accurately, lend—our vote to the party which will best uphold the common good of everyone in our community; which will best serve the special needs of the poor in our community; which will promote people-centred, as opposed to profitcentred, local development; and which has a reputation for honesty, openness and accountability in government.

It is not difficult, really, to decide which party or candidate is most deserving of your vote. Look around at the state of your town, your city or your district: are you content that the people who have been in charge for the last five years have done an honest job, concentrating on the needs of the most vulnerable members?

If your answer is “yes”, then vote for them again. But if the answer is “no”, then it is time to give another party a chance to show what it can do. nAdv Mike Pothier is the research director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

10

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

FOCUS

Salesian Institute: 100 years of service to boys The Salesian Institute in Cape Town is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. JaCK RiVeRS, a member of the Salesian Cadets and Brass Band in the late 1960s, looks back at a century of educating boys in arts and trades so that they may be a credit to society and themselves after completing their studies.

G

ENERAl Louis Botha, the prime minister of the young Union of South Africa, was supposed to open the new Salesian Institute on March 25, 1911. He was indisposed and his wife Annie took up the task.

The foundation stone at 2 Somerset Road in Green Point, Cape Town, had been laid the previous July 31 by the long-serving Bishop John Rooney.

The opening took place at the main entrance in Somerset Road where a large crowd had gathered.

The Salesian band was in attendance, entertaining the crowd with much pride and gusto. This was a big day for them: their new home was about to be opened and they would soon be moving in.

There was a moment of anticipation with the press, various dignitaries, benefactors, priests and interested parties had gathered on the pavement. Mrs Botha was welcomed by Senator Powell on the steps of the Institute. At the conclusion of his speech, the band come in with yet another short tune.

Mrs Botha presented the front door key with green ribbon attached. She turned to face the crowd gathered and said: “May God bless this house and crown every effort of those working within these walls with success.”

She proceeded to unlock the double doors at 16:30, and they were swung wide open officially for the very first time.

The band increased their vol-

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ume to a great crescendo to let everyone know that they were the new kids on the block.

It was indeed a momentous event. It was going to mean that many, many young boys would get a better chance at life. It was the opening of the very first public industrial school in Southern Africa.

The new Salesian building had been built by the famous engineer Joseph Rubbi, an Italian immigrant who proceeded to build several other notable buildings in Cape Town, such as the Old Mutual skyscraper.

On Monday, March 27 the Salesian boys began moving from the 47 & 59 Buitenkant Street premises that had been their home since March 1897.

The Nazareth Sisters played a big part in the early days of Salesians in Cape Town. Nazareth House looked after boys until they had completed primary school, but what could they do for them thereafter?

The Salesians of Don Bosco were the answer to their problem.

Salesians had served as an orphanage and a home for displaced boys who had completed primary school. Nazareth House was pleased that they would now have a Catholic institution to which they could send their boys.

The Sisters of Nazareth House welcomed the Salesians in Buitenkant Street with their first meal. The Sisters carried on providing the Salesians with their mid-day meals for the next six months. This practical act of charity has never been forgotten by the Institute.

The Marist Brothers visited the Salesians and saw that they were in need of some assistance. They soon returned with pieces of furniture. The Salesians were hard at work and within a few months had classes for bookbinding, printing, carpentry, shoe-making and tailoring.

Following the example of their founder’s work in Turin, the Salesians are famous for their holistic approach to caring for boys. Boys, the philosophy went, should have fun too and lots of exercise. They were not going to take care of their

The Salesian institute in green Point, Cape Town, continues its great work of making a positive difference within the city and celebrates a century this year.

studies if they were not happy.

So the boys were often taken for walks on Table Mountain, had lots of camps on farms in the Paarl and Ceres areas.

One of their favourite outings were the day trips to Robben Island. They were even allowed to camp there for a weekend from time to time.

On one occasion the Salesian band even played for the mentally ill and lepers who were kept on the island. The islanders showed their appreciation by presenting the Salesian band with a sum of 28 pounds for the school funds.

The band played at many events and helped to raise money, which was always in short supply even as it is today.

W

orld War One begun in 1914 and by the end of the war four years later, 14 Salesian past pupils had lost their lives.

1918 came with another devastating event, the flu epidemic.

Some 140 000 people were recorded to have died during seven weeks in South Africa, with 66% of them in the Cape. This created estimated 2 000 more orphans. By the grace of God, the Salesian Institute was spared this great tragedy.

Twenty-four Salesian past pupils paid the ultimate sacrifice during World War Two. They are remembered on the Roll of Honour at the Salesians Institute.

The Salesians were famous for their band and cadets and won high honours at competitions and other events. They were involved in two royal visits and were awarded the honour to march up Adderly Street in the royal procession of 1947.

The Salesians were first honoured with a royal visit on April 30, 1921, when Prince Arthur of

Connaught was welcomed by the Salesian band, cadets and staff.

There were 140 boys being instructed in the various workshops and the school was a hum of activity on that day.

The prince was genuinely impressed with the work of the Salesian Institute and was most complimentary in his speech of appreciation.

Times have moved on and many adjustments have had to be made to suit the needs of the youth of Cape Town and surrounds.

And the Salesian Band soldiered on until 1970.

Salesians later became a hostel for boys who attended other schools in Cape Town.

During this time many street children used to gather at the gate to watch the boys playing football.

It was found that these street children were not getting any schooling. Here was a new mission for Salesians.

Homestead and other homes for street children were opened—but where would they receive an education?

Br Peter put a proposal together, and after much planning the Learn to Live programme was launched in 1979, with the chapel being converted into classrooms.

Some of the older boys attending the programme needed accommodation, and in 1991 the Don Bosco Hostel was opened to cater for otherwise homeless boys.

These boys need rehabilitation and a structured programme and training to prepare them for a socially acceptable life style.

A 16-plus outreach and development programme was put into place. This has helped them to become good citizens of Cape Town. They have been helped to apply for their ID books, and have received assistance to get off whatever drugs they were on. They are introduced to organised sport and the art of making music and taught trades. But the commitment has to come from them.

The Salesian Institute has done great work over the last one hundred years, making a positive input to the lives of the citizen of Cape Town.

Oblates Sisters of St. Francis de Sales

after hours 021 701 2692.

BLIND READERS OF

A group of readers is preparing audio tapes of excerpts from The Southern Cross, including editorials, selected articles, and regular features such as Fr Nicholas King SJ and Chris Moerdyk, as well current affairs in the Church. Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this service, available for an annual subscription fee of only R50, is invited to contact Ms Veronica Vieyra at “Clareinch”, Union ave., pinelands, 7405 or phone 021-532 0661.

Called by God, we strive to live according to the motto of our Foundress, Leonie Aviat: To forget myself entirely and work for the happiness of others. if you are interested, and want to know more about us, please contact: The Mistress of Novices P.o. Box 28 Koelenhof 7605 e-mail: oblate@iafrica.com

The Vocation Directress P.o. Box 28 Springbok 8240 e-mail: srsmcathi@gmail.com

VOCATIONS

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

11

The long journey into the priesthood Candidates to the priesthood need support from their parish, family and bishop on their way to ordination.

CLaiRe MaTHieSoN found out how many of the young men who enter the seminary graduate, the challenges they face and how future priests are being trained.

‘I

T’S not easy being a priest.”

This is one of the first things pointed out to interested men when they enquire about the vocation.

Deciding to devote one’s life to the service of others is not an easy decision and not an option available to everyone. Becoming a priest is a long journey where much time, money and prayer is invested. But the outcome of this process is a man trained to help make his community a better one.

St Francis Xavier National Orientation Year Seminary in Cape Town is the first year training centre for future diocesan priests. Seminary formator Fr Chris Chatteris SJ said the men that arrive at the institution have already gone through a long consultation process.

Not anyone can become a priest.

There are a set of tests and certain expectations of the potential priest.

Converts to Catholicism are able to become priests, however they usually have to be practising Catholics for two years, a cooling off period to ensure his enthusiasm hasn’t dwindled.

“The men have to show that they are reasonably intelligent as their studies are at tertiary level. The applicants also have to prove that they are level-headed, healthy and show maturity,” Fr Chatteris said.

The Jesuit said the applicants represent their diocese. Their parish priest and family, and later their

bishop will all have been involved in bringing him to the seminary— and even then, some don’t stay long, for either personal or professional reasons.

Seminarian Harry Bopape said he experienced fear when first arriving.

“Firstly, I feared the amount of schoolwork, whether I would cope with what the seminary put before me. Secondly, would the ever shy person of me be able to fit in with other seminarians that are coming for their orientation too.”

Fr Chatteris said the workload is “reasonably heavy”, but that the hardest aspect of joining the seminary was the change in lifestyle.

“One of the most important things in the seminarian’s study is the support he receives from home,” he said. There are big expectations of the priest-in-training, and support from his family and parish can make all the difference.

Seminarian Tsekiso Sebotsa said he found his vocation after being inspired by one priest, but he said he was still “young and confused about the future”.

“My vocation was encouraged by my brother, who told me to stay positive and continue praying because it will help me be aware of the Holy Spirit.”

The seminarian is not obliged to live like a priest at this point in time, but it is encouraged.

“Not being a member of a religious order makes the return home over the semester break difficult for some,” said Fr Chatteris. He added that a bishop who shows he cares for the seminarian’s progress is the key to the seminarian’s success.

Seminarians come from a variety of backgrounds. “Catholic schools don’t necessarily produce religious.

They come from township parishes [and from] strong Catholic families, but nowhere in particular,” Fr Chatteris said.

He said dioceses often face a dilemma when sending candidates to the seminary. “There’s a need for more priests, but it’s not something

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you want to push. You never know how many you are going to get!”

While the diocese wants to ensure they are bringing priests into their service, training a seminarian is expensive, so the bishop would want to be quite certain his candidates are going to be good choices.

There are 34 seminarians at St Francis Xavier’s this year.

Seminarians are students. During their first year at St Francis Xavier they study English, because “they will be studying old religious texts, so need a thorough knowledge” of the language, said Fr Chatteris. In addition the students will read liturgy, scripture, faith development (basic theology) and human development (formation of the self in relation to others).

“This is an introduction to prayer life. The seminarians study an academic side, spiritual side and learn about human and emotional growth.”

The students are expected to achieve good grades. They are judged continuously on their suitability and their spiritual and emotional development. “Not everyone makes it, for various reasons,” said Fr Chatteris.

Only an estimated 50% of those that enter the seminary will leave as priests. Some leave the seminary because they are advised to do so.

Others leave because they feel a different calling.

“When a person finds their vocation, whatever it is, it is a cause for joy,” Fr Chatteris said, adding that the Church was made up of all sorts of people and duties. “There is often pressure to stay. It requires great courage to leave. Either way, good discernment is the goal.”

Once they have completed their first year at St Francis Xavier, students move on to St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria—the major national seminary for training diocesan priests. Students study philosophy and theology.

Typically the priest-in-training will remain at the seminary for

Three ordinations: Frs Baliso Makhetha, Tsoeute Rakaki and Lefalamang Sebusi were ordained at Kriste Lesedi la Ditjaba (Christ the Light of the Nations) parish in Bloemfontein in 2009. archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein was the celebrant. seven to eight years. It is then his local bishop’s decision as to when the candidate will be ordained, and in what direction the priest will be moved. “Sometimes the bishop might decide to send the seminarian to study further and some will be sent to Rome to learn. It depends on the strengths the seminarian has shown and the need in the diocese,” said Fr Chatteris.

Most commonly the newly ordained priest will be placed in a parish as an assistant. “This helps the priest come to terms with the realities of being a priest,” said Fr Chatteris, adding that it is important to give the young priest an opportunity to learn from a more experienced person. “Something like hearing confession for the first time can be humbling and terrifying,” he pointed out. Therefore it is important that a more experienced pastor “holds the new priests hands”.

A priest is trained to be an “every man”, because that’s who he will be dealing with, he said. The seminary

attempts to prepare the man practically for the priesthood—the training is aimed at forming priests to be reflective, prayerful, integrated, serving and community-minded. Fr Chatteris explained that self development, prayer and realisation were the other part of the years spent in the seminary and were equally important.

A trained priest will emerge with an enhanced spiritual, ethical and intellectual side ready to serve his community. Fr Chatteris said the seminary trains the men to be able to think their way through different circumstances that might not have been covered by the course. “In life, there are so many variables and possible situations. The seminary helps grow adaptable thinkers.”

These adaptable thinkers are to become the future priests of South African parishes. But these future priests need as much support as they need training. “It’s a hard job, but some are called to do it. Support makes it so much easier,” said Fr Chatteris.

12

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

VOCATIONS

How nuns came to Carmelite convent The 16 Carmelite Sisters in Nairobi, Kenya, come from different backgrounds. BaRB FRaZe visited them to find out how they got there.

F

OR several of the cloistered Carmelite Sisters at Mount Carmel Convent in Nairobi, Kenya, their life of prayer began in their families, when they were children.

“My dad taught me to pray for others,” said Sr Bernadette, one of the younger sisters. She said her father told her he knew sisters who prayed for everyone, and she asked if they could pray for her, too. She said she began corresponding with the sisters and was drawn to their life of prayer.

Sr Constanza, who professed her final vows in January, said she attended Mass each morning because she did not live far from the local church. Each evening, her family gathered to pray the rosary and other evening prayers.

“I decided to give myself to the Lord for myself and for the salvation of souls,” and the best way seemed to be contemplative life.

“I never dreamed of becoming a nun,” said Sr Monica, who now serves as novice mistress for the order. In college, she met some Catholic students who began praying the rosary together, then attending daily Mass. One of the students wanted to become a Franciscan priest, and as he talked more about the saints, her interest grew.

She said she was filled with “a desire to belong to Christ”.

Sr Regina, a young nun who works with aspirants, said her family prayed the rosary and intercessions every day.

“I came from a praying family,” she said with a smile. She said she felt called to pray, “especially for priests”.

Not all of the sisters are from Kenya. Sr Agnes, from India, said a friend of her sister was becoming a Carmelite, and “somehow that mystique of Carmel drew me very strongly”.

The cloister was founded by Carmelites from Dublin in the mid-20th century.

When the archbishop of Nairobi visited Cleveland in the United States, he asked the Carmelites there for help, and six nuns and three postulants flew to Kenya in 1951.

Three US sisters who entered as postulants—Srs Margaret, Jean and Mary— remain, now as some of the oldest members of the order.

Sr Margaret, originally from Pittsburgh, said when she was a teenager, she had visited the Carmelites in Cleveland, and they invited her to go with them to Kenya. They “took a chance” and took her along, she said. Since then, she has only travelled home to be with her mother when she died.

She and Sr Agnes spoke of how much the area around the cloister has changed.

Today, it has been built up and surrounded by affluent homes. When they arrived, they were the only building on the hill, and they could see Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro in different directions. Now the city is too built up to see far, they said.

The two were there during the eightyear Mau Mau uprising that started in 1952, and the Mau Mau had a hideout in

Carmelite Sister Bernadette is among 16 sisters in the contemplative community who spend most of their time in prayer at Mount Carmel convent in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Nancy Wiechec, CNS) the valley. Sr Agnes said one of the local priests talked to the Mau Mau, who promised never to trouble the sisters, because they were holy.

Today, when young women apply to join the order, the sisters require that they finish high school and begin some other course work, Sr Monica said. “It gives them time to mature a bit.”

Sr Regina, who works with the aspirants, said she checks to see if candidates are “determined to live the life.”

“Does she feel called because she has other things she is afraid to face or does she feel called because God is calling her?”

An aspirant will join the sisters for three months to see if a contemplative life is something she really wants. The day begins with the prayers of the morning office at 5:20 and ends around 22:00 or 22:30.

Other than a couple of hours of recreation, the day is spent in prayer. While the sisters work—sewing vestments and altar linens, printing greeting cards and making Communion hosts—they meditate. Meals, cooked by the sisters, are eaten in silence while one nun reads—to nourish the soul.

The sisters pray for their own intentions—pregnant women and mothers, priests, events in the world—as well as intentions of those who ask, including Muslims, Hindus and Protestants.

Sr Bernadette said they prayed for Americans before the 2008 elections “because we have our American sisters”.

“It’s not just like we are here for Kenya,” added Sr Regina.—CNS

HOLY SITES TRAVEL HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE organised by Kreste Modisa Parish OCTOBER 2011 Contact: Elna Ferreira on 082 975 0034, E-Mail: elna@holysites.co.za, Website: www.holysites.co.za

MINISTRY

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

13

Stuttering a ‘blessing’ for two priests The success of the Oscarwinning film The King's Speech has turned the spotlight on stammering. PHoNg ViNH NguyeN reports on two priests who have made their speech problem the focus of their ministry.

W

ORLDWIDE, some 1% of adults stutter and about 4% of children show signs of stuttering at some time during their development.

Among those who stutter is Fr Michael Dunn of the diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Fr Dunn was counselling troubled teenagers and going for a graduate degree in counselling when he decided to enter the priesthood.

He was encouraged during the application process and seminary training that his superiors were so supportive of him in terms of his stuttering.

“They were always very supportive and helpful and remained more confident than I was that my speech would not be an issue for me,” Fr Dunn recalled.

This understanding and encouragement was in contrast with some poor treatment Fr Dunn had received during his childhood.

Other children at times teased him or mocked his speech. He said the most embarrassing moment of his life was during grammar school when he tried out for a part in the school play; when it was his turn to read, he could not get out the

Frs Michael Dunn and Michael Skrocki see their stuttering as a blessing that aids them in their ministry. first word and eventually gave up and sat down.

Today Fr Dunn counts his speech problem as a blessing as it helps him in his ministry in that people can relate to someone who is not perfect.

“I believe that my stuttering has made me a more compassionate, patient and understanding person in my dealings with others.”

He encourages young Catholics who stutter not to let their speech stand in the way of pursuing a vocation. “I think with God’s grace and help you can do or overcome anything so young people should not be afraid or think they can’t do it.”

The priest has come across other priests who stutter and they have shared both advice and techniques they have found helpful.

Fr Michael Skrocki, parish priest of St Ann’s Melkite Catholic church in Danbury, Connecticut, is the product of numerous failed speech therapy programmes. He cannot remember a time when he did not stutter.

Saying Mass has never presented a problem for him. “Well, most, if not all, of the divine liturgy in

the Eastern Catholic Churches is sung, so I suspect I have less difficulty than if it were recited. The primary ‘spoken’ part would be the homily. If I run into a problem, I simply pause and try again. Perhaps that effort makes my congregation listen a little closer to what I’m saying.”

Fr Skrocki believes that faith provides an answer to stuttering.

“Whether it’s a stutter, some other physical, emotional or psychological disability, I’ve always looked at it as the way God made us... the challenges that God has given us to overcome, for whatever reason.”

F

ather Skrocki pointed out that Moses probably had a stammer.

The verse in Exodus where Moses tries to “bow out” of doing God’s will to free the Israelites because he’s worried about his powers of speech is sometimes interpreted to mean that he stuttered (in the Muslim faith this is actually rather explicit). “And yet God chose Moses, with whatever flaws he had, to be the vehicle of God’s Word and God’s Will in the world,” Fr Skrocki said.

He referred to St Paul: “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

Fr Michael Dunn mentioned another positive in giving advice to people who share his speech problem: “I have always felt that God has been the source of my strength, not only with my stuttering, but in every other challenge and obstacle as well. Without him I would have never made it; I would have given up or thrown in the towel.”

A nun who has vast experience in working with children who stut-

Congregation Sacred Stigmata Go and proclaim the Gospel. They lived together in poverty and happiness as Religious.

Though different in age, character, culture and national origin, we wish to tell the world that it is beautiful and joyful to live together as If you are interested in joining us, write to: brothers. We do our Congregation Sacred Stigmata (Stigmatine) part, God will surely do Vocation Promoter, his own.

P.o. Box 16239, 0116 Pretoria North Tel +27 12 546-4619 Cell +27 79 962-7116

Colin Firth as george Vi in the multiple awardwinning film The KIng’s Speech, which has put the speech problem of stammering into the spotlight.

(Photo: Weinstein Company)

ter, but does not stutter herself, is Sr Winifred Danwitz, an Ursuline and retired speech language pathologist.

Five decades ago, Sr Danwitz saw a need to help children with speech problems in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, a borough of New York City. In 1961 she founded the Mount St Ursula Speech Center to meet the needs of children with all types of communication disorders.

“I am most proud of the fact that we never refused treatment to a child because of a parent’s inability to pay a fee,” she said.

Now long retired, Dr Danwitz recalled: “It was a marvellous step to meeting a need that was not addressed.”

The centre is still going strong and continues with Sr Danwitz’s

mission of treating children with speech and language disorders at low or no cost.

The website (www.stammer inghelp.org) of the Stuttering Foundation, a Memphis-based nonprofit organisation, has an extensive list of famous people afflicted by stammering. It includes, of course, King George VI, the protagonist of the film The King’s Speech.

Others include actors Bruce Willis, James Earl Jones, Marilyn Monroe, Eric Roberts and Emily Blunt, musicians Carly Simon and Mel Tillis, and authors Lewis Carroll and Charles Darwin.

The website offers diverse help on stuttering in the form of free resources such as streaming videos, downloadable brochures, and an international directory of qualified speech therapists.

14

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

COMMUNITY

St. John's parish in Northriding, Johannesburg, had their confirmation retreat at Bosco youth Centre in Walkerville. The centre offers a variety of programmes that aim to enhance the lives of the youth through the word of god. it also gives youths a chance to get away from their normal lives and focus on their faith amongst their peers. (Submitted by Clarence Watts)

COME AND SEE THE SISTERS OF NAZARETH We the Sisters of Nazareth, founded by Victoire Lamenier and inspired by the gospel, are committed to the Mission entrusted to us, by the Church. Together with the people of god, we aim to present the love of god to all, especially the poor, through the ministry of care and education. We value and respect the dignity of each human being, based on the words of Christ, “you did it to me”. Mt: 25-40 Contact: Sister Helen o’Connell Nazareth House, 1 Webb Street yeoville, Johannesburg 2198 Phone: 011 648 1002

Founder, St eugene de Mazenod

anna accolla and Collen Dickens of Wentworth parish, Durban, are members of the Catholic Women's League. Both work freely, lovingly and willing to collect nappies for a drive held by the parish.

on World TB Day pupils at St Joseph’s Marist College in Cape Town were given the opportunity to find out more about tuberculosis and how it can be prevented. These grade 5 pupils were part of a group of 110 intermediate Phase pupils at the school enjoyed Shireen Surtie’s (from aeRaS global TB Vaccine Foundation) fun and interesting way of presenting this vital information to them. From the left (back row) Sethu Luthuli, Shireen Surtie, Sahil Madanjith and olwetu Ngalonkulu (front) Matthew Mitchell and Brandon Browne.

(Submitted by Sheryl gelderbloem)

IN FOCUS

“Come and learn who you are in the eyes of God.”

Oblates choose to live in community, sharing their life in faith and prayer, working in solidarity with those who are poor, excluded or searching for meaning.

Like Eugene, every Oblate desires to lead people to recognise their human dignity and come to know the life that is offered in Jesus Christ, life to the full, free of injustice, alienation, and lack of opportunity.

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Northern Province of South Africa PO Box 44029 Linden 2104

Edited by: Lara Moses

The grade 00 learners at St Henry's Marist Brothers College in Durban re-enact the washing of the feet at Last Supper with Dineo Clark playing the role of Jesus. (Submitted by Michelle Singh)

Send photographs, with sender’s name and address on the back, and a SASE to: The Southern Cross, Community Pics, Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000 or email them to: pics@scross.co.za

a fundraiser was held at St Dominic’s parish, iin Hillcrest, Durban, for a World youth Day pilgrim. a gourmet dinner was cooked and served to parishioners by the Kilfoil family, parishioners of St Dominic’s. (Submitted

by Robynne Lott)

FOCUS

Pioneers of health in South Africa school wearing neat uniforms and sensible shoes, carrying bulging schoolbags. They could be growing up on a different planet from their parents.

The following is an excerpt from Catholic Health Care’s new book, in the Service of Healing. The book features the history of health care in South Africa and honours the early missionaries in Catholic Health Care.

A

S

ISTER Dity von Spaun and Sr Marlene Sach came to the Hlabisa region, (northern KwaZulu-Natal) from Austria and England in 1966. They began mobile clinic work in 1968, which became known as the Good Shepherd Nursing Service. Sr Marlene tells of two of their field trips in the mobile clinic—the events are 30 years apart.

“It is 1968, the aged Land Rover lumbers over the rim of the last donga and wheezes up the hill to the homestead where the clinic is today. The journey of 30km has taken over an hour and anything that might be mistaken for a road has been left far behind. A dozen barefoot little boys race gleefully beside and behind the vehicle—they don’t see one very often. We turn into the homestead, chickens and children scattering in all directions and park facing downhill, just in case…

A smiling young woman leads us to the hut they have prepared for us. It is a round thatched hut with a pounded cow dung floor, cleanly swept and empty except for grass mats on the floor. By the time we have unloaded our simple equipment the first clients have begun to trickle in and we sit around on the mats and chat.

We are learning about local customs and lifestyle and the culinary and medicinal uses of the plants that grow here.

When a small group has gathered we steer the conversation toward today’s health education topic—immunisation. At first the idea of giving an injection to a healthy child seems strange. But the concept of pro-

tective medicine is not new.

They use medicinal plants and other substances to protect their home from lightning or their crops from failing (maybe even themselves from bewitchment).

There is general agreement that this immunisation could be a good thing.

Then it is time for action.

Babies are weighed and immunised. Everybody watches everything, commenting freely, and weight charts are compared with much discussion. Pregnant women are examined, minor ailments treated. There is time to talk with everyone and we are getting to know these families. Our team of two nurses and a helper sees about 25 people.

On the way home, on a rocky stretch of “road”, a rear half shaft breaks. With only front wheel drive left there is not enough traction to get up a steep track. People from a nearby homestead hitch up a team of donkeys and pull us up the hill. They remark that donkeys are always reliable. Wheels are obviously not!”

“It is now 1998, and we are zipping along in our shiny double cab Toyota Hilux that can transport five nurses in comfort or six with a bit of a squash. We occasionally slip into fourth gear for a stretch. The road is a road, though still rough and these days we meet other vehicles along the way. We pass crowds of children going to

pproaching the clinic we see a long line of people waiting outside the fence. They will come into the clinic in groups of 60. The building is purposebuilt, two rooms and a veranda, with tables and benches and a cupboard. On days when there is no clinic it is used as a crèche.

Equipment is quickly unpacked, though there is much more of it now. New patients are registered—the lull before the storm. Then everything happens at once. In one area babies are weighed and immunised, not without audible protest. In another area the chronic sick are being checked and given their supplies of medication, while in their own corner the antenatal patients are being seen, and blood taken and tested.

Then there is a seemingly endless line of people waiting for treatment of minor and notso-minor ailments. The pressure is on, and we work quickly, always aware that when this group is finished there are another 60 clients waiting at the gate. No time to chat, health education is given on the basis of what this person needs to know now. When we are lucky there is a Community Health Worker on hand to help with oral rehydration or talk to a mother about feeding her child.

We may even have a trained Aids educator talking to the people waiting to come in. We know that we are in the midst of an Aids epidemic and this must be one of the factors responsible for the increase in our curative workload. By the time we finish we have seen more than 200 people. We are glad that we don’t have to worry about a broken half-shaft on the way home.” n In the Service of Healing is available at R60 plus postage from Cathca. For more information contact info@cathca.co.za or 011 880 4022

The Southern Cross,May 11 to May 17, 2011

15

THE CONGREGATION OF THE MISSIONARIES OF MARIANNHILL "If no one goes, i will" - Abbot Francis Pfanner - Mariannhill The Missionaries of Mariannhill are a group of religious men who have responded to God's call, following the example of Jesus Christ, to proclaim the Good News to all Nations,especialy to the poor and needy. Following our missionary vocation, which is a gift of the Spirit of God, we remain available to serve the Church where we are needed. If you feel called to community life, prayer, pastoral work and willing to be sent anywhere in the World to proclaim the message of Christ, please write to us: The Vocations Director or The Vocations Director P. O Box 11363 P. O Box 85 Mariannhill Mthatha 3624 5100 email: cmmvocdirector@yahoo.com

HOLY CrOSS SISTErS LIVING IN A WORLD OF CONSTANT CHANGE ARE CALLED to an ONGOING SEARCH FOR GOD AND ONE’S TRUE SELF to live: A vow of self-emptying - POVERTY A vow of love expansion - CHASTITY A vow to listen – respond – convert – OBEDIENCE. OUR GOAL • Following Jesus and being true to the vision of our founders, we commit ourselves to respect, protect and promote life.

• We uphold the dignity and rights of every person.

• We stand in solidarity with the disadvantaged, especially the women and children.

AS A YOUNG WOMAN IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD COULD GOD BE CALLING YOU TO THIS SAME SEARCH? IF SO WHY NOT CONTACT: Sr. Bernadette Duffy Holy Cross Sisters, P.o. Box 48775, HeRCuLeS, 0030, Telephone : 012 379 8559 / email:berduffy@yahoo.co.uk

Fransiscan Sisters Servants of the Holy Childhood of Jesus

Are you called to join us to love God, in praising Him in Prayer annd serving Him, as we care for people in need, especially children?

Write, phone or visit us Holy Children Sisters P.Bag 553 Eshowe, 3815

Mbongolwane Convert P.Bag 506 Eshowe, 3815

Sr. Teressa Zungu Phone: 035 -4744242 Cell: 076-3064446

Sr. Bongiwe Xulu Phone: 035-4766262 Cell: 082-0932002

E-mail: awerresh@netactive.co.za

16

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

FAMILY

Family life: Are you doing enough?

The month of May has been declared the month of the family. CLaiRe MaTHieSoN talked to Toni Rowland of the Family Life Desk on why the initiative is so welcome

T

HE Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference declared May as family month—a happy choice as May is also the month of Mary, the mother of God. While there are efforts in the Church that highlight the importance of the family, there are some that believe that not enough is being done by both Church officials and individuals.

Toni Rowland of the Family Life Desk and a monthly Southern Cross columnist, said family life is an important and very real element in everyone’s life all the time. She said one of the objectives of the Family Life Desk is to promote such a family focus. Dedicating a specific month to the effort highlights the importance of the family in Church life.

“The month came about as a consequence of a request from Johannesburg’s Culture of Life, a pro life group, for a Sunday once a year to create awareness about life issues. They requested this from the bishops at the August plenary [in 2010], and the outcome was a focus on family and life for the month of May,” Mrs Rowland said.

She added the work of familyassociated movements tends to be considered the work of the Family Life Desk and regarded as not everyone’s business. Family issues, however, concern everybody.

“Having the whole Church focus on family life for a month means that everyone should be on board, and one can also promote a range of relevant issues during that time.”

The Family Life desk hopes the month—which has been packed with family related events—especically in the archdiocese of Johannesburg—will create a greater family focus in Church life throughout

the year. Mrs Rowland said she hoped a greater sensitivity to practical family needs, as well as the particular spirituality of family life would result from the dedicated month.

She said every family movement is invited to use this opportunity to develop that sensitivity to the concept of the family. She said the month was an opportunity to look at how one can make their family life better but added it was important to celebrate the family and what it is achieving today.

Building up and strengthening family relationships, which includes their unity in spirituality and prayer, is a long term goal.

The Family Life Desk has been promoting parish family ministry and achieved a heightened sense of awareness for the family in the country. But, Mrs Rowland said, because family life keeps changing, more proactive action, such as the dedicated month, was needed.

“I believe that families have changed very largely because the environment has changed. Pressures of time and the intrusion of media and technology, individualism, materialism etc all contribute to a loss of a sense of community,” said Mrs Rowland. She added there were some benefits to the media age as individuals are able to learn about life and be more aware but “generally the breakdown in communication because of so little time spent in intimate communion is a negative change”.

Mrs Rowland said this change in communication within the family was further motivation for the month of focus.

She said at present the Church is definitely not doing enough to support families. “The conclusions of Phase I of the Interdiocesan Consultation, which were recently analysed, found that apart from marriage preparation almost nothing is seen to be done for family life.”

The Family Life Desk has noted that some groups around the country report that a lot is happening. “Marriage preparation is probably the best known [family life course], but there are marriage

enrichment, parenting and widowed groups and programmes counseling and youth work, run mainly in the larger urban areas,” Mrs Rowland said. She added that the Theology of the Body, based on Pope John Paul II’s series of talks on sexuality, is one popular course which some bishops have embraced.

Despite the work done by these groups and bishops, there is still a lack of family focus she said.

“Maybe the question needs to be asked: if people are saying they do not get support, are we listening and offering what they want or need? From my perspective there is insufficient coordination or collaboration, with everyone choosing to do their own thing.”

Mrs Rowland noted that where programmes or support groups are offered, families often do not avail themselves of these opportunities.

“It is always a battle to get volunteers to work for family life. This applies almost across the board. Our Catholic spirituality is very individualistic and seldom is the statement ‘the family that prays together stays together’ really true.”

She said people are quick to complain about support offered to the family. While she feels there isn’t enough support, there is little being done by individuals.

“Time to start thinking, but also time for action, time to get passionate!”

Mrs Rowland reflected on Pope John Paul’s words that: “The future of the Church and of the world is through the family.” She said she hoped everyone in the Church would acknowledge this and use the month of May to launch a renewed focus on the importance of family life. n For information on events in your area contact the Family Life desk 021 323 6458, or your local diocese office.

a family poses for a photo. The bishops of Southern africa have declared May this year Family Month.

Marist Brothers Southern African Province



6 Countries



25 Schools



120 Brothers

Striving to make Jesus known and loved among young people in the way of Mary.

To find out more contact: Br. Christopher, Box 1945, Uitenhage, 6230, E-mail: muth@telkomsa.net

REFLECTION

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May17, 2011

17

Christ and the Buddha A South African Redemptorist and iconographer has produced a remarkable icon featuring Jesus and Buddha in an embrace. Author gRaHaM WiLLiaMS reflects on the icon and the similarities between aspects of Christianity and Buddhism.

T

HREE years ago I saw an original icon by Br Richard Maidwell CSsR, who has since made a copy for my collection. It depicts Christ and the Buddha.

Br Maidwell belongs to the Redemptorist Community in Cape Town and his speciality is the study, restoration and production of religious icons. He explains that icons are more than a religious work of art, and are a source of grace, enlightenment and merit. Through them, without the need for any written or spoken word, mind images are seen and insights gained.

They are visual stories and help us to get in touch with what we believe, and what is our sense of purpose and direction.

What follows are some of the things I see and sense when I contemplate Br Maidwell’s Christ and Buddha icon.

Ken Wilbur in his 1979 book, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, notes that every boundary creates a potential battle line.

Theistic Christianity and nontheistic Buddhism seem poles apart.

Both are susceptible to dogma (a belief that something is true regardless of proof), for example resurrection and reincarnation (or rebirth).

There are differences that cannot be reconciled.

Christianity and Buddhism both allow more for paradox than we realise—earth-bound yet spirit-guided from above, connected to others and yet connected to God or self.

Holding two apparently different truths compassionately yet pointing in a way that honours our human-

ness, for example commandments about homosexuality yet instincts of love that do not fit biblical categories narrowly interpreted.

Holding of opposites is a function of a mature faith and an antidote to fundamentalism that interprets things literally: God who loves us yet allows suffering; a self that allows us choices yet needs us to take responsibility for consequences.

Religion traditionally conceived, gives the impression of straight lines and there are only really wavy ones. Paradox takes you to grey, religion takes you to black and white.

Arnold Toynbee, the great British historian, once said that the meeting of Buddhism and Christianity would come to be viewed as the most important event in modern history.

The Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh points out that a mango cannot be an orange, yet both are fruits, have the same influences and elements within—sun, cloud, rain, sugar, acid, soil, toil.

And we can appreciate and enjoy both.

In Br Maidwell’s icon, a few elements are particularly striking: Revolutionary: Both Buddha and Jesus introduced radical teaching at odds with the prevailing politics, values, religions, cultures of their times.

Humble: Both the Buddha and Christ are barefooted, indicating their humanness, earthiness, humility. Both have royal lineage. Buddha was born into a royal family and gave up his privileged position and worldly wealth to be a poor monk.

Christ washed his disciples’ feet.

The Buddha washed one of his sick disciples’ feet some 600 years before, when no one else would do it. This humility is echoed in the robes they wear. Buddha’s robe stems from a time when monks sewed together pieces of cloth gleaned from the dead and dyed saffron. The red in Christ’s robe symbolises lowly human blood.

Suffering: Buddha is reported to have said: “I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffer-

ing”. The four noble truths cover the fact that we all suffer physically and psychologically, that we may have a part in creating this suffering through our self-destructive desires and attachments, that we can refrain from doing the things that create suffering, and that there is a clear, right and mindful path that leads to an absence of suffering.

Getting in touch with our suffering wakes us up to an aliveness otherwise not activated in us. By bearing them, carrying our crosses, we can spiritually transcend them.

Loving kindness and compassion in action: Both exhort us to practise self-sacrifice and attend to the call of others. Buddha discovered that there is no escape from the plight of human suffering—the sick, the old, the dead: “awakening...is rooted in the anguish of a man lying uncared for on the ground”, the charitable man has found the path of liberation. As an 8th century Indian monk said: “All the happiness in the world comes from thinking of others, all the suffering in the world comes from thinking of only oneself”.

“For I was hungry and ye gave me to eat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked, you clothed me.

I was sick and ye visited me. I was in prison and ye came unto me” (Mt 13:34). Mother Teresa of Kolkata lived this as she cared for the suffering and the dying.

These exhortations are of course present in other religions too.

Disciplined inner life: Both taught about emptying or dying to self in order to transcend and find a path to higher consciousness (being light to the world or becoming enlightened), an inner life of discipline, contemplation and meditation.

Buddhist self-liberation and enlightenment is likewise paralleled with a focus on the moral imperative to seek the well-being of others.

Letting go of I, me, my, mine is not a means to protect the imaginary self, but to acknowledge an everchanging, non-permanent, nonseparate self. Our faculties of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and mind

Detail of an icon featuring Jesus and Buddha in embrance, created by South african Redemptorist Brother Richard Maidwell are to be controlled, disciplined, developed so that we engage, understand, evolve in wisdom, peace and love.

Buddha taught beneath the tree of enlightenment, and Christ died on the tree of redemption.

Being present through mindfulness practice or through the Holy Spirit generates an energy of understanding, compassion, love, healing. Achieving inner peace is in order to show the way to others.

Divinity: Both wear halos, a symbol of divinity (whether claimed or not).

Temptation: Mara blocked the Buddha’s path and Satan blocked Jesus’ path. The blocker, deceiver, adversary sought to hinder and prevent their work, and to promote instead the negative aspects of life.

We are of the flesh, have desires and egos, and people cannot escape that. Were this not so, we would be lifeless and silly. So we need to find the divinity through flesh so as not to lead lives dictated only by fleshly desires. Self-delusion, deception, unkindness and wrong intention impede this progress.

Symbols: The symbol of the cross above Jesus in the icon is that of victorious love, a function of our vertical dimension enabling our horizontal dimension (mindful

compassion and love to all around us). Shalom in Christianity is about completion, authenticity, blessings of inner peace, well-being in every respect. Above Buddha the Dharma wheel-of-becoming on our path of transformation, and the compassion mantra resonate with the cross: a symbol of completion and wholeness.

A new awareness of the possibilities of Christ meeting the Buddha is a small beginning. But like the tiniest mustard seed, this could grow into the largest of trees, providing hope, sustenance, comfort, safety, communion, joy.

When Christ and the Buddha meet, there is no need for them to speak. In the face of God there is nothing to say, but allowing God to be.

In the icon they are silent but touch and embrace. And indeed, according to Thich Nhat Hanh, who sees the Buddha and Christ as brothers: “Not only have they met today, but they met yesterday, they met last night, and they will meet tomorrow…Their meeting is the hope for the world. The Buddha and Jesus have to meet every moment in each of us.” n Graham Williams is the author of the Halo And Noose e-book (www.haloandnoose.com).

MICASA TOURS

50th International Eucharistic Congress

DUBLIn, Ireland (with extension to Lourdes)

09 – 22 June 2012 r24 995 Subject to change Terms and Conditions apply

Limited place available!!

Tel: 012 342 0179 / 072 637 0508 (Michelle) E-mail: info@micasatours.co.za

MONK?

YES! If you are seeking God …And you desire to live a life of prayer and personal transformation …And you are able to live the common life…

Perhaps you have the vocation to do so as a Benedictine Monk

For more information contact: The abbot Inkamana abbey p/Bag X9333 Vryheid 3100

Or

The prior Benedictine abbey Subiaco pO Box 2189 pietersburg 0700

Is God calling you to the Religious Life in the Franciscan Family?

St Francis

We Franciscan Sisters of the immaculateConception strengthen our relationship with god by prayer in order to serve Him and His people. We work with all agegroups and where the Church needs us.

If you wish to know more about us, contact: The Vocations Directress at PO Box 2912, Middelburg, 1050.

Tel (013) 243 3410, 072 213 4671

18

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

Pilgrims venerate the casket of Bl Pope John Paul ii in front of the main altar in St Peter’s basilica at the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS)

BEATIFICATION

a tapestry featuring an image of Pope Pilgrims attend a vigil on the eve of the John Paul ii hangs from the facade of beatification at the ancient Circus Max- St Peter’s basilica during his beatification Mass. (Photo: Stefano Rellandini, imus in Rome. (Photo: Paul Haring, Reuters) CNS)

Sr Tobiana Sobodka (left), John Paul ii’s housekeeper, and Sr Marie Simon-Pierre, whose cure from Parkinson’s disease paved the way for his beatification, with a relic of the late pope. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS)

Pope Benedict prays at the casket of his predecessor following the beatification Mass. (Photo: Catholic Press Photo)

Even the weather smiled on Blessed John Paul II The beatification of Bl John Paul II highlighted the late pope’s faith and courage.

CiNDy WooDeN looks back at a historic day for the Church.

P

OPE John Paul was a true believer, a courageous voice of truth and a man whose witness to the faith grew more eloquent as his ability to speak declined, Pope Benedict and others who worked closely with the late pope said at events for his beatification.

“John Paul II is blessed because of his faith—a strong, generous and apostolic faith,” Pope Benedict said just minutes after formally beatifying his predecessor.

In the beatification proclamation, Pope Benedict said that after a consultation with many bishops and faithful and a study by the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, he had decided that “the venerable servant of God, John Paul II, pope, henceforth will be called blessed” and his feast will be on October 22, the anniversary of the inauguration of his pontificate in 1978.

Italian police said that for the beatification Mass more than 1 million people were gathered in and around the Vatican and in front of large video screens in sev-

eral parts of Rome. The next morning 60 000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square for a Mass in thanksgiving for the beatification.

The official celebrations began with a nighttime prayer vigil at the Circus Maximus, the site of ancient Roman racetrack.

The crowd—estimated at about 200 000 people—cheered French Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, whose cure from Parkinson’s disease was accepted as the miracle that paved the way for Pope John Paul’s beatification. The nun beamed as she recounted her unexpected healing.

She said when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2001 at the age of 40, she found it difficult to watch Pope John Paul, who suffered from the same disease. “I saw in him the image of my illness.

But I admired his strength and courage,” she said.

Two months after the pope died, her condition worsened.

Then, after prayers to the late pope, she awoke early one morning feeling well rested.

“I felt something had changed in me, and I was healed,” she said.

The crowd in the Circus Maximus erupted in applause.

Many others in the crowds for the events also had personal stories about Pope John Paul. Likewise, Pope Benedict ended his homily at the beatification Mass sharing his own personal story.

People pack St Peter’s Square during the beatification of Pope John Paul ii at the Vatican. The late Polish pontiff moved a step closer to sainthood during a joyous ceremony that drew more than 1 million people, with many camping out the night before. (Photo: Massimo Sestini, italian National Police) “I would like to thank God for the gift of having worked for many years with Blessed Pope John Paul II,” he said.

As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1982 until his election in 2005, Pope Benedict said he worked at the pope’s side “and came to revere him”.

“His example of prayer continually impressed and edified me: he remained deeply united to God even amid the many demands of his ministry.”

Pope Benedict said that even at the moment of his death people “perceived the fragrance of his sanctity and in any number of ways God’s people showed their veneration for him. For this reason, with all due respect for the Church’s canonical norms, I wanted his cause of beatification to move forward with reasonable haste”.

After the Mass, Pope Benedict went into St Peter’s basilica and knelt in prayer for four minutes before Blessed John Paul’s casket, which was set in front of the main altar.

After the pope left, the concelebrating cardinals filed up to the wooden casket,

Capuchin Franciscans “You too following in his footprints, especially those of poverty and humility, can without doubt, always carry him spiritually in your hearts.” – St Clare

Wouldn’t you like to follow in Our Lord’s footsteps?

St Francis did!

• Cape Town: Fr Albert 021 696 6713 albertcapuchin@gmail.com • Port Elizabeth: Br Matthew 041 368 3033 rev.mattgormley@gmail.com • Pretoria: Br Kees 012 345 5290 keesbus@telkomsa.net (If they are not in on calling, kindly leave a message with your phone number)

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, the late pope’s long-time personal secretary, prays at the new tomb of Bl John Paul ii in in the chapel of St Sebastian in St Peter's basilica. Placed on top of the casket was “one of the most precious gospels in the Vatican Library’s holdings”, the illuminated Lorsch gospels from the medieval era.

(Photo: L’osservatore Romano)

touching it lightly and kissing it.

Later, the Vatican opened the basilica to the general public and kept it open until 5:00. Vatican police said 250 000 people filed past the casket or knelt in prayer near it in those first 13 hours. The basilica was opened again after the thanksgiving Mass so more people could pay their respects.

P

residing at the Mass of thanksgiving, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, thanked God for “having given us a pope able to give the Catholic Church not only a universal reach and a moral authority on a global level like never before”, but also one who helped Catholics be “more spiritual, more biblical and more centred on the word of God”.

“Finally, we thank the Lord for having given us a saint like him,” Cardinal Bertone said.

Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, who was Pope John Paul’s personal secretary for nearly 40 years, spoke at the beginning of the thanksgiving Mass, noting that the late pope was declared blessed in the same square where almost 30 years ago a Turkish gunman tried to assassinate him.

“We can never forget that 30 years ago, in this very square, he gave his blood for the cause of Christ,” Cardinal Dziwisz said.

The assassination attempt took

place on May 13, 1981, while the pope was riding through the square during his weekly general audience.

During the beatification Mass, a silver reliquary containing a vial of Blessed John Paul’s blood was carried up to the altar by Polish Sister Tobiana Sobodka, who ran Pope John Paul’s household, and by Sr Marie Simon-Pierre, who was cured of Parkinson’s disease.

The reliquary, a sculpture of olive branches, was also carried in procession to the altar at the thanksgiving Mass.

While the biggest groups of pilgrims at the beatification events came from Italy and Poland, more than 80 countries sent official delegations and most of them had at least a few pilgrims present as well.

Thousands of people spent a chilly, damp night camped out near the Vatican in an attempt to find a place in St Peter’s Square.

The gates were scheduled to open at 5:30 for the 10am Mass, but the crowds were so large that police began letting people in at 2am.

Weather forecasts of a weekend of heavy rains turned into innocuous grey clouds the day before and then sunny skies on the day of the beatification, which many attributed to Bl John Paul.

“We prayed to John Paul that it wouldn’t rain,” Josephine Faehrmann, a young woman from Sydney, Australia, said at the vigil.

She and her friends planned to sleep outside.

By 12:30am on beatification day, thousands of people already were camping out against buildings, on strips of grass and on sidewalks several blocks from the Vatican since all access roads to St Peter’s Square were closed.

Isabel Marin, 16, said she and her two friends from Madrid, Spain, stayed on the street all night. She had a brand new air mattress, but didn’t have room to unroll it.

Although she was only ten when Pope John Paul died, Isabel said, “our parents have told us a lot about him and told us this was a great opportunity to grow our faith”.

“Pope John Paul was a wonderful pope. He was like us. My mom showed me a video where he was watching a clown and really laughing. And I saw another video where he moved his feet when the people were singing, following the beat,” she said.—CNS

The Southern Cross, May 11 to May 17, 2011

Hollow promises

WLCU president dispute

Continued from page 6 She has since reneged on this promise and the people of Zilleraine Heights now face imminent eviction.

On another occasion, one of Mrs Zille’s councillors urged residents and restaurant owners in Rondebosch not to feed the homeless and those living on the streets.

More recently, some residents of Hangberg in Hout Bay lost their eyes after being shot at because they had built their homes above the mountain fire break.

This while developers in nearby Hout Bay destroy surrounding wetlands with impunity.

The DA-led City of Cape Town has also not complied with a High Court Judgment ordering it to include the homeless people of Bonnytoun in Wynberg into its housing programme; this after the City had illegally evicted these people as far back as 2005.

The DA’s promise on its election posters that “we deliver for all” is a hollow statement to the poorest of the poor as they, like their counterparts in other parts of the country, do not enjoy the service delivery to which they are constitutionally entitled.

Colin Arendse, Cape Town

I

REFER to the article “Head of the Lebanese diaspora to visit SA” (April 6). The central general secretariat of the World Lebanese Cultural Union in Beirut, Lebanon, wishes to clarify that Mr Eid Chedrawi is not the world president of the World Lebanese Cultural Union. The legitimate president is, in fact, Mr Ahmed Nasser.

Mr Chedrawi is more than welcome to visit members of his family in South Africa and to address the community, but only in his personal capacity, not as world president of the World Lebanese Cultural Union. He has no legitimate right to speak on behalf of the union or to represent it in all global forums.

Your source, Ken Hanna, was informed by senior members of the community as to the title of Mr Chedrawi, but did not heed the advice.

John Haddad, Johannesburg n It appears that there are two rival factions of the WLCU, both claiming legitimacy. The Southern Cross published the report on Mr Chedrawi in good faith, and without endorsing one faction over the other.—Editor.

Word of the Week Zuchetto: The small, round skullcap of the ecclesiastic.

Application: The pope wears a white zuchetto, cadinals a red zuchetto and archbishops and bishops wear violet zuchettos.

Liturgical Calendar Year A Sunday May 15, 4th Sunday of Easter, Vocation Sunday Acts 2: 14,36-41, Ps 23, 1Pt 2:20-25; Jn 10:1-10 Monday, May 16, St Margaret of Cortona Acts 11:1-18, Ps 42:2-3; 43:3-4,John 10:1-10 or 10:1118* Tuesday, May 17, St Paschal Baylon Acts 11:19-26, Ps 87:1-7, John 10:22-30 Wednesday, May 18, St Felix Porri of Cantalice, Capuchin Acts 2:44-47 or Colossians 3:12-17, Ps 131:1-3, Luke 12:22-31 Thursday, May 19, St Crispin of Viterbo Acts 13:13-25, Ps 89:2-3, 21-22, 25, 27, John 13:16-20 Friday, May 20, St Bernadine of Siena Acts 13:26-33, Ps 2:6-11, John 14:1-6 Saturday, May 21, Easter Weekday Acts 13:44-52, Ps 98:1-4, John 14:7-14 Sunday, May 22, 5th Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7, Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19, 1 Peter 2:4-9, John 14:1-12

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #444. ACROSS: 3 Sanhedrin, 8 Oboe, 9 Almsgiver, 20 Family, 11 Maker, 14 Ratio, 16 Wands, 18 Eden, 20 Curia, 21 Ducts, 24 Cosmic, 25 Turning up, 26 Enid, 27 Absentees. DOWN: 1 Confirmed, 2 Committed, 4 Ally, 5 Hosea, 6 Driven, 7 Idea, 9 Allow, 11 Minds, 12 Reprimand, 13 Moral code, 17 Scoop, 19 Nuance, 22 Tenet, 23 Dumb, 24 Cure.

J.M.J

Family Reflections May 15—4th Sunday of Easter, International Day for Families (UN) The Shepherd and Guardian of our Souls. Good Shepherd Sunday is traditionally a day of prayer for vocations.

The priesthood and religious life are important and we need to remember too that good vocations to whatever form of life are developed in good families. Discuss vocations and pray that we will all grow in a sense of vocation and that life is not just a job.

Community Calendar To place your event, call Claire Allen at 021 465 5007 or e-mail c.allen@scross.co.za, (publication subject to space) BETHLEHEM: Shrine of Our Lady of Bethlehem at Tsheseng, Maluti mountains; Thursdays 09:30, Mass, then exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. 058 721 0532.

CAPE TOWN: Good Shepherd, Bothasig. Perpetual eucharistic adoration in our chapel. all hours. all welcome.

Day of Prayer held at Springfield Convent starting at 10:00 ending 15:30 last Saturday of every month—all welcome. For more information contact Jane Hulley 021 790 1668 or 082 783 0331.

Holy Redeemer Bergvliet: Padre Pio

HOT POT PAINT AND HARDWARE

prayer group, every 3rd Sunday of the month.

DURBAN: St Anthony’s, Durban Central: Tuesday 09:00 Mass with novena to St anthony. First Friday 17:30 Mass—Divine Mercy novena prayers.

Tel: 031 309 3496.

JOHANNESBURG: Family walk talk—May 22, 10:30. Start—La Salle College Discovery, Roodepoort, finish St John’s, Havenga Street, Florida Park. also May 29, 11:30.

PRETORIA: First Saturday: Devotion to Divine Mercy. St Martin de Porres, Sunnyside, 16:30. Tel Shirley-anne 012 361 4545.

CLASSIFIEDS Births • First Communion • Confirmation • engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • in memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • accommodation • Holiday accommodation • Personal • Services • employment • Property • others Please include payment (R1,15 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

DEATHS

PRAYERS

HACKETT— James Brian (Jimmy) passed away peacefully in his sleep on april 27, 2011, just two days before his 91st birthday. May god rest his soul.

Sadly missed by his children, Margaret, James, Brendan, Kate, the rest of his family and friends.

HOLY St Jude, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you i have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. in return i promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. amen. in thanks for prayers answered. PF. HOLY St Jude, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you i have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. in return i promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. amen. PD. O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruit vine splendrous of heaven, immaculate Virgin assist me in my necessity. o Star of the sea, help me and show me you are my Mother. o Holy Mary, mother of god, Queen of heaven and earth, i humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to secure me in my necessity. There are none that can withstand your power. o Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (say 3 times).Holy Mary i place this cause in your hands (say 3 times).Thank you for your mercy to me and mine. amen. Say this prayer for 3 days. Me.

IN MEMORIAM SEMPER—(BLaND) Tracy. in loving memory of a wonderful daughter, mother, sister and friend who was called to her heavenly home four years ago on May 14, 2007. always in our hearts and remembered daily by Ken, Kirsty, Carol, Jennifer, Mathew, Paul and family and friends. Rest in peace with Mom and our Lady and her beloved Son, Jesus.

TRACEY—Pat 26/5/192919/1/2011. Jesse 8/5/193126/1/2011. in loving memory of our brothers. Sadly missed and forever remembered. From Maureen, Tom, Jimmy and Val.

PERSONAL ABORTION WARNING: ‘The Pill’ can abort, undetected, soon after conception (a medical fact). See website: www.human life.org/abortion_does _the_pill.php CRUCIFIXES FOR AFRICA: Made in four complete sizes. Phone/Fax: 046 604 0401 for details and brochure.

SERVICES ANNUAL REPORTS, newsletters, books etc designed and edited at competitive rates. Phone gail at 082 415 4312 or gailsctn@gmail.com DO you need the following?

Driver/Cook/Companion for elderly patients or children 3 or 5 days a week. Contact Laura 011 882 7461 (home) or 072 388 6794, between 07h30-09h30 or 14h30-16h30. Johannesburg area only.

(PTY) LTD 46, 12th Street, Springs, 1559 Tel: (011) 362 3071, (011) 362 4682/3, (011) 812 1655/6/7

BRANCHES: Springs

(016) 427 5525

Alberton

(011) 907 8676

Benoni

(011) 422 2331

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(016) 349 5886

Boksburg

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Randburg

(011) 678 2436

Lephalale (Ellisras) Mike or Annette (014) 763 3147

ALL AT THE VERY BEST PRICES! Looking to open franchises in ALL areas.

If interested please contact Nero or Gerald on 083 4606650

SOUTH COAST, uvongo: Three bedroom house, fully furnished, en-suite, lock-up garage. R3 000 per month.

Tel: Donald 031 465 5651, 073 989 1074.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE A once in a lifetime journey with never- to- be- forgotten sightseeing of Mexico to include a visit to the famous shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and other pilgrimage shrines. Spiritual Director Rev Fr Allan Moss; cost from R19 037 10 to 18 July Extension to Machu Picchu; cost from R13988 Tel: (031) 266 7702 Fax: (031) 266 8982 Email: judyeichhorst@telkomsa.net A list of current pilgrimages can be viewed by clicking on the Valley View Travel icon at www.catholic-friends.com

KNYSNA: Self-catering accommodation for 2 in old Belvidere with wonderful Lagoon views. 044 387 1052.

LONDON, PRoTea HouSe: underground 2min, Picadilly 20min.

Close to River Thames.

Self-catering. Single per night R250, twin R400. email: houseprotea@hot mail.com. Tel 021 851 5200.

MARIANELLA guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of god with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Tel: Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675 or mjsali da@mweb.co.za STELLENBOSCH: Five simple private suites (2 beds, fridge, micro-wave).

Countryside vineyard/forest/mountain walks; beach 20 minute drive. affordable.

Christian Brothers Tel 021 880 0242, cbcstel @gmail.com UMHLANGA ROCKS: Fully equipped self-catering 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, sleeps 6, sea view, 200 metres from beach, DStv. Tel: Holiday Division, 031 561 5838, holidays@ lighthouse.co.za

FOR SALE HOBHOUSE, eastern oFS: Big sky country, beautiful sunsets, crime free, tranquility, free healthcare, three bedrooms, study, garage, fruit-trees etc. R299, 000 (Discount for pensioners) Tel 051 983 0022, 071 595 7715.

Po Box 2372, CaPe ToWN, 8000 Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION NEW FOR 2012

ful en-suite rooms available at reasonable rates. Magnificent views, breakfast on request. Tel: 082 774 7140. e-mail: bzhive@telkomsa. net HERMANUS: Pleasant getaway, self-catering double accommodation. Comfortable, fully equipped, in tranquil church garden.

Five minute walk to Village Centre and sea-front. R250 per day, minimum two days. get one night free for all bookings of three nights or more. Phone church office 028 312 2315.

Mon/Wed/Fri 9-1pm or leave message and phone number.

WILDERNESS: Rustic farm cottage. Sleeps five, self-catering. Ph 073 478 9038. thewoodvillecot tage@gmail.com

CAPE TOWN, Cape Peninsula: Beautiful homes to buy or rent. Maggi-Mae 082 892 4502. Colliers international False Bay, 021 782 9263, maggi maev@colliers.co.za

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Vereeniging

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BETTY’S BAY: (Western Cape) Holiday home, sleeps seven, three bathrooms, close to beach, R600/night. 021 794 4293, marialouise@mweb.co.za CAPE WEST COAST yzerfontein: emmaus on Sea B&B and self-catering.

Holy Mass celebrated every Sunday at 6pm. Tel: 022 451 2650.

FISH HOEK: Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4.

Secure parking. Tel: 021 785 1247.

GORDON’S BAY: Beauti-

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5th Sunday of Easter: May 22 Readings: Acts 6:1-7, Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 1819, 1 Peter 2:4-9, John 14:1-12

O

UR Easter faith does not mean that nothing can ever go wrong. As you well know, things are going wrong all the time. What the Resurrection means is that God is in control, always trying to get things right.

In our first reading for next Sunday, the hitherto idyllic existence of the early Church has a cloud come across it, in the shape of racial tension between (probably) Hebrewspeakers and Greek-speakers among Jesus’ followers. This latter group is indignant because “their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution”.

The reaction of the “Twelve”, the leadership-group in the Church, is interesting; they do not say, “You are Christians, and you should not be squabbling”. Instead, they admit that there is an issue to deal with, but they can’t do it, as their task is not “to abandon the word of God in order to wait at table”.

Instead, they suggest that the Greekspeakers appoint seven people who are to be “from your group, authenticated, full of the Spirit and wisdom”; and the Twelve will appoint them “for this need”. Everyone thinks that this is a great idea, and they select seven men with impeccable Greek names, whom they present to the apostles.

The Twelve then pray and lay hands on

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Trust in God when things go wrong Nicholas King SJ Sunday Reflections them, and all is well: “and the word of God increased; and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased very much, and a great crowd of priests were obedient to the faith”.

End of story, you may think; except that the only two of the Seven of whom we shall ever hear of again, namely Stephen and Philip, are found, not waiting at table, but preaching the gospel. Stephen, indeed, dies of it; but the Spirit is able to use even his martyrdom to spread the word. God’s ways are rather different from ours.

For the poet who composed the psalm for next Sunday, it is absolutely clear that God is in control, as he invites us “rejoice, you just in the Lord; praise is appropriate to the upright”. Then the virtuous are invited to “praise the Lord” on a variety of musical instruments, “for the Lord’s word is true, and all his works are done with integrity”.

It is not that the faithful will experience no hardship, it is more that the Lord will

“deliver their lives from death, to give them life in [a time of] famine”. That is the source of our joy, this Easter-time.

The second reading next Sunday continues the journey through 1 Peter, and it is the well-known meditation on the idea of the “stone”. It is, we learn, a “living stone”, and there is a glance at the psalm that spoke of the “builders’ rejection” of the corner-stone, which refers to Christ. But it also refers to us, “living stones”, who believe in the One who has been placed “in Sion, a corner-stone, chosen and precious”; and there are other stones: “a stone of stumbling, and a rock to stub your toes on”.

Nevertheless, the reading ends, beautifully, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his inheritance...called into his wonderful light”. We recognise that the darkness surrounds us, but struggle to preserve our confidence that God is able to deal with it.

And we feel something of that darkness surrounding the little group that in the gospel for next Sunday are listening to Jesus’ farewell discourse. They are told “not to let your hearts be distressed”, as they huddle together against the darkness and try to come to terms with Jesus’ impending disaster by believing in God and in Jesus, and he encourages them to believe that “in my

Feeling at home in Tuscany T HE region of Tuscany in Italy is a place where, in spite of my heritage having no Italian connection whatsoever, I feel comfortably at home and very much alive in both body and spirit.

There is so much more to Tuscany than myriad Michelangelos in Florence, breathtaking vistas, a deep sense of community and fabulous food, wine and more historical monuments and documents than in the rest of Europe put together. It is a place where Catholicism is not only manifest in diverse and magnificent churches, but in the very air that you breathe.

It brings peace of mind through an unhurried sense of perspective. Places not all that remote where, when you cast your eye from horizon to horizon, it is impossible to tell not only the time of day, nor month nor year but what century you are experiencing.

It is fascinating, fulfilling, fabulous and more than just a little bizarre.

And an absolute must for any Catholic is a walk up to the little hermitage of San Galgano on the ancient road from Grosseto on the coast to Siena. A road, incidentally, from which I had to pull off rather hurriedly on my first visit to the area, to answer a call of nature which I managed from a tiny little stone bridge, hidden in the undergrowth and spanning a narrow but deep chasm which added excitement to my sense of relief from what was close to complete renal failure.

“You piddled off the bridge didn’t you?” asked my brother when I got back to the car and exalted in the sheer joy of my experience.

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Father’s house there are many places to stay”, and Jesus’ departure means that “where I am, you also may be”.

This however does not go down very well with the disciples, as two of them ask slightly aggressive, and certainly very unhappy, questions. First there is Thomas (whom we met a few weeks ago, disbelieving in the Resurrection); he maintains: “We don’t know where you are going—how can we know the way?”, and has to be told, firmly:, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life”, and reproached for not sufficiently knowing either Jesus or his Father.

This is the cue for Philip, who, like Thomas, really only appears in the fourth Gospel, to ask a dumb question in his turn: “Lord—show us the Father; and that is enough for us”. His doubts, too, are briskly dealt with: “Am I with you so long, Philip, and you don’t know me? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

The secret is that Jesus is going to his Father, is indeed in the Father, and the Father in him.

That has to be the answer for us too, every time we find ourselves doubting that the God who raised Jesus from the dead really knows how to rescue us from evil.

Southern Crossword #444

Chris Moerdyk

The Last Word “So what,” I said.

“Oh nothing really, except that the bridge you have just defiled, the Ponte de la Pia, is mentioned in some detail in Dante’s Inferno! And I’m not sure you should be piddling off national heritage sites…”

On to San Galgano in chilly silence.

A tiny, remote hermitage, high on a hill.

Galgano was, in fact, a baron knight who owned vast tracts of land and generally treated his workers with such contempt as would, in these modern days, have had Cosatu toyi-toying non-stop for a year.

One day, while out riding, he saw a trespasser on his land and immediately drew his sword and charged. The trespasser turned out to be an angel and Galgano’s sword went clean through the apparition, carrying the bewildered knight off his horse and lodging the sword firmly in a rock.

Galgano got the fright of his life, mended his ways, became a hermit and devoted his life to God, eventually achieving fame by rescuing a young child from a hungry wolf.

At the hermitage of San Galgano today one can inspect his sword stuck in the rock, view in a glass case St Galgano’s arm that was bitten off by the wolf, and purchase a delicate wine made

The abbey at St galgano in Tuscany from the leaves of bluegum trees and sold by the local monks to defray the cost of preserving hermitages, swordbedecked rocks and arms in glass cases.

Do not make the mistake though of mocking or even questioning in any way the veracity of these stories or suggesting jiggery pokery when it comes to saints who have been perfectly preserved for centuries, because you will be considered a heretic and probably never get to taste any of the really good chiantis.

And talking of saints, last time I was there I was witness to an agreement between the city fathers of Siena and a delegation from a tiny town about 70km down the Autostrada del Sole.

Basically, it had taken almost 500 years for the two towns to agree on the perfectly preserved remains of San Bernardino to be loaned by the smaller town to big brother Siena, where in fact he—and not St Catherine, as most people believe—is the patron saint.

I then saw the agreement break down because the little town wanted him moved in a hearse and the Sienese insisting on using an ambulance.

They eventually agreed on an ambulance, but then it all broke down again because they couldn’t agree on whether police outriders on motorbikes should accompany the cavalcade.

Eventually the police were left out, San Bernardino arrived to a tumultuous welcome in Siena where he was greeted and eulogised from here to Christmas and back by, can you believe it, a communist mayor.

Bizarre, but beautifully so.

ACROSS

DOWN

3. Her sin and Jewish judicial body (9) 8. Hobo easily hides woodwind (4) 9. He donates to the poor (9) 10. Kind of ties in the clan (6) 11. The Creator (5) 14. Quantitative relation in some aberrations (5) 15. Roman fiddler? (4) 16. Rods having magic properties (5) 18. Original garden (4) 20. Papal governing body (5) 21. Vessels in the body for your tears (5) 24. Comics for the universe (6) 25. Arriving (7,2) 26. Dine back with Blyton (4) 27. They won't be doing 25 ac (9)

1. Ratified sacrament received (9) 2. Christian who is dedicated (9) 4. Letter leaves alley for a friend (4) 5. Minor prophet (5) 6. Taken by car to distraction? (6) 7. It may come to mind (4) 9. Give permission (5) 11. Takes care of (5) 12. Errand imps get as rebuke (10) 13. Model Cora gives a set of principle to live by (5,4) 17. So cop may provide some icecream (5) 19. Subtle difference (6) 22. Article of faith both ways (5) 23. Mute (4) 24. French priest may heal (4)

Answers on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

F

ATHER Lucy believed in the vow of poverty “to have nothing, to spend little, and to possess all things.” He was in pain and had need of a doctor.

He called the receptionist: “Good morning madam, I need to see doctor today. Tell me what will he be charging me?” The reply was snappy: “R150 for the first visit, and R50 for the second.”

Fr Lucy showed up at the surgery: “Good morning, doctor, here I am AGAIN!”

Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.