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December 7 to December 13, 2011

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HOPE&JOY: Catholics on the liturgy today

Host the Messiah this Christmas

Page 9

Page 7

No 4753

The pope and the economy Page 10

Priest calls SA youth to action

By CLaIRE MaTHIESON

T Bishop José Ponce de León of Ingwavuma (right) is joined by the mayor of Hlabisa, Bhekinkosi Ntombela, at the Justice and Peace Ride for Climate Justice road show in Hlabisa, KwaZuluNatal. Local communities were educated on climate issues and learnt that even individuals could make a difference by planting indigenous trees. (See also pages 2 and 4)

Bishop: Violent crime is becoming ‘our daily bread’

By SyDNEy DuvaL

O

NE moment Catholics in Eshowe diocese, KwaZulu-Natal, were singing the Salve Regina at the Requiem Mass for a murdered priest; the next they moved on to rural roads and thatched settlements to join a newly ordained priest who was celebrating Mass for his home community.

At Holy Cross in Emoyeni, mourners left the church to walk in procession, with Bishop Thaddaeus Kumalo of Eshowe and 83 priests from various parts of the country, following a muddy path drenched by overnight rain, flanked by fields of sugar cane, to the cemetery where the diocese buries its diocesan priests.

The next day at Ndweni, a place of many hills and vast pastoral landscapes, several priests, religious and laity who had been at the funeral of Fr Senzo Mbokazi the day before, gathered together for the Thanksgiving Mass of Fr Bonga Majola OMI at his home village—a celebration touched with sensitive thoughts since Fr Mbokazi was to have concelebrated the Mass he had been helping the Majola family to prepare.

Fr Mbokazi was found murdered in his parish residence at St Pius X in Melmoth, when parishioners and police went to investigate why he had not turned up for Sunday morning Mass on November 20. He had been stabbed several times.

Bishop Kumalo’s homily at the Requiem was a palette of many colours which he used to paint the psyche of a country which specialises in crime notorious for the egregiously brutal quality of its violence—a culture of violence that seems to have no bounds and is acted out with impunity.

Bishop Kumalo summed up the situation as living in a country where brutal violence “is becoming our daily bread” and as living in a society with a new culture “which has no respect whatsoever for human life or the dignity God has given us [...] in South Africa we kill babies in the womb and it is legal”.

Priests led by Bishop Thaddaeus Kumalo of Eshowe walk through sugar cane fields to bury slain Fr Senzo Mbokazi. (Photo: Sydney Duval) He pointed to President Jacob Zuma’s remarks during a breakfast show when he acknowledged that South Africa had crime, but so, too, did the rest of the world. In South Africa, though, crime was different because it was so violent—and we did not understand why it was so violent.

Criminals usually wanted to be sure no one was at home when they called, the bishop added, but in South Africa they seemed to make sure you were at home so they could kill you.

Bishop Kumalo told the large gathering crammed into the oldest church in the diocese: “Many people have been saddened and shocked at the senseless killing of this young priest who chose to serve God and humanity through priestly ministry. I saw him lying there, bound hand and foot and stabbed to death in his own house.

“But we must remember that the brutal manner of Fr Senzo’s death is not an isolated case—it is becoming our daily bread and an unacceptable culture in our society.”

Recalling the time in 2009 when two Continued on page 3

HE Catholic youth needs to wake up and face realities, according to national youth chaplain Fr Sammy Mabusela CSS. “There are a lot of needs in the Church, and unless the youth start making the sacrifice and contribute their God-given talents, the Catholic ethos that serves many schools and institutions that have all benefitted us, will be lost.”

Fr Mabusela told The Southern Cross the issue had been gnawing away at him for quite some time, but on a recent visit to Mthatha, where a few Catholic intuitions and schools are either being closed down or are now government-run, the problem became real to him.

“We run the risk of losing these institutions forever. The youth need to take over,” he said.

However, he noted, this issue is not located in just one area but across the country—and is a matter for deep concern.

The number of vocations in the country has dropped in recent years and Fr Mabusela said this was partially on account of a lack of interest from the youth and a lack of grooming from the Church’s leadership.

“The custodians of our faith and ethos, found in schools, clinics and outreach stations are unable to carry on because they are sick or too old. We will lose this ethos altogether when they go—because there are no youth to take over,” the Stigmatine priest said.

He pointed at the irony that the youth, who have grown up in Catholic environments—through education, health care or projects—will expect the same upbringing for their children, but are not doing enough to ensure that these institutions will still exist when that time comes. “[Today’s youth] have aspirations for their children going to the same schools as they did. But at this rate, the Catholic schools of the future will be very different,” Fr Mabuselsa said.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the nuns and priests who taught me,” Fr Mabusela told The Southern

Cross. “We benefit from the Church. Now, we need to give back and make sacrifices— it’s what we’re called to do!”

Fr Mabusela said the Church has made a positive contribution to the well-being of the country, often in rural areas, where few wanted to go. “Missionaries went because they had faith that they were fulfilling a mandate from God,” the youth chaplain said. That mandate is still present, he added. But the presence of young vocations is not.

However, the situation is not entirely a lost cause. “There is interest from the youth, but there is also a lot of fear.”

Fr Mabusela said the youth have many questions and it’s up to our leadership to answer and help groom these potential future vocations. The youth need to be reminded that it was faith that drove the early missionaries and faith is what must carry them, the chaplain said. “We [religious] are partly to blame. We need to give witness, be good examples and role models,” he said, adding that the change could start at parish level.

“It is not enough to pray for vocations.

We need to nurture the few and form them according to the modern times. We need to prepare them for the challenges of a world where the paradigms have shifted—their challenges will be different to ours.”

And the solution needs to be local, Fr Mabusela said. While in the past the Church had relied on foreign orders to step in and help, the work is too vast and too complicated to just pick up from where one order left. “The education system, for example, is a huge challenge for local orders, it would be too much for someone new.”

Also, young people are complaining there is no work in the country. “But there is so much work to be done. The youth just need the right motivation and the right direction.”

Fr Mabusela said there are great needs in the Church and everybody can make a contribution.

“We need action, not just lip service.”

And that action specifically should come in the form of vocations.

Christmas on a Sunday C

HRISTMAS Day falls on Sunday, so this year’s Christmas edition is timed to be available in parishes on the weekend of the feast of the Birth of Our Saviour.

We ask parishes to please announce the availability of the bumper edition of The

Southern Cross at the Christmas Masses, and to consider ordering extra copies to meet demand. n Parishes are asked to please contact Avril Hanslo at subsc r i p ti o n s@ sc r o ss. c o . z a o r 021 465 5007 to order extra copies.

2

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

LOCAL

Ecumenical tributes to late priest STaFF REPORTER

H

UNDREDS of people of all races and faiths packed Durban’s Emmanuel cathedral for the funeral of Fr Garth “Msizi” Michelson OMI. The funeral Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, Bishops Barry Wood, Edwsard Risi, Hubert Bucher and Fritz Lobinger, and more than 40 priests.

Fr Michelson died suddenly on November 16 at the age of 78.

The Michelson family were represented by his older sister, Maureen, and her family. Present were also a number of representatives of the Hindu Divine Life Society and the Islamic Turquoise Harmony Institute who gave testimony to the important role Fr Michelson had played in their lives and how much they had learnt from him.

Others in the congregation included Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of the Mahatma, and Professor Ahmed Bawa, vice-chancellor of the Durban University of Technology.

In his homily, Bishop Wood, auxiliary in Durban, spoke about his fellow Oblate of Mary Immaculate as “a man for all seasons”, who faithfully implemented in word and action the Oblates’ motto: “He has sent me to preach the good news to the poor”.

Fr Michelson had a passion for uniting people across the barriers of race and faith and, though a scholar and academic of note, lived a life of great simplicity and humility—always seen either in his white Oblate habit or royal blue jacket instantly recognisable as part of a worker uniform, Bishop Wood said.

Bishop Wood said that Fr Michelson had imbibed the message of Vatican II because he had been studying at the Gregorian University in Rome at the time of the Council. Especially important to him was the declaration Nostra Aetate, on the Church’s relationship with other faiths, which was to become a compass for his life and ministry. Fr Michelson’s scholarship and practical experience of

Fr Garth “Msizi” Michelson OMI who died on November 16 at the age of 78. a funeral service was held at Emmanuel cathedral in Durban, attended by hundreds of people. interfaith dialogue led to his being a trusted advisor to the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) for many years.

Rajan Reddy, a member of the Divine Life Society’s management committee, recounted how Fr Michelson had been involved with the society for more than 30 years, regularly attending their Sunday evening satsangs (services), as a

personal friend of Swami Sahajananda. The priest and swami had been attracted to each other by the feeling that, despite their different faiths, they were essentially walking the same path.

Mr Reddy said that the ashram had greatly appreciated the presence of this extraordinary priest in their Sunday evening prayers. He always reminded them that his master was Jesus, but he clearly found a deep satisfaction in the tranquillity of prayer at the ashram. Much had been learnt from him: they admired how easily he could relate to people of all races and religions, and his special love for the poor.

Members of the Divine Life Society had seen how on the occasion of a big service at the Ntuzuma church when the toilets simply couldn’t cope with the great numbers, it was Fr Michelson who got to the root of the problem, not afraid to delve with bare hands into the blocked sewerage pipes.

Having removed the blockage, he washed his hands and continued

Disappointing turnout for COP17 faith rally STaFF REPORTER

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HURCH leaders took a stand on climate change—but where were the people?

Only about 3 000 people came to an interfaith rally in Durban at which leaders such as Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town and other religious leaders shared the stage.

The rally, at Durban’s Kings Park stadium, coincided with the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, known as COP17.

The conference has brought together leaders from Governments, UN agencies, corporations and NGOs, and also religious leaders.

At the rally, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu spoke about the need to send a message to political leaders not to shy away from their responsibilities to do what’s right.“This is the only home we have,” the Nobel Peace laureate said.

Earlier in the day, Cardinal Napier, archbishop of Durban, said at a Mass in Emmanuel cathedral that care for the environment was part of our bigger mission to respect the dignity of each and every person, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier leads parishioners from Emmanuel cathedral to walk to the Durban Faith Rally.

A Franciscan, the cardinal quoted the dying words of St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology: “Brothers, up to now we have done nothing. Let our work begin.”

In the same way, Cardinal Napier explained, the work of protecting the planet is only just beginning.

After the Mass, the cardinal led hundreds of parishioners to walk the 5km from the cathedral to the rally at Kings Park. Joining the ecumenical crowd was the group of Justice and Peace cyclists whose journey from Beitbridge in Northern Limpopo culminated in the rally.

The Ride for Climate Justice cyclists travelled to the event as a gesture of environmentally responsible travel, while educating communities along the way.

Justice&Peace advocacy officer Theophilous Chiviru said the ride was successful. “We had a big turnout at all the events and we had an opportunity to help the locals understand the issues on climate change,” he said.

One of the most important aspects was showing how each person can make a difference, he said.

The group planted indigenous trees at every road show and worked closely with local municipalities not only to ensure smooth and well organised road shows but also to ensure local leaders were aware of climate change and how even small communities can tackle the problem.

But the final rally, which should have been the biggest event, was sparsely attended.

A petition contained in a

miniature Noah’s Ark was delivered to Maite-Nkoana Mashaba, the minister for International Relations and President of COP 17.

But instead of the million signatures that had been promised, the petition had only reached 200 000.

A Catholic lay leader at the event, who asked not to be named, said: “A high profile and highly expensive event that had brought together all the main religious leaders failed to draw any significant interest from churchand mosque-goers. It meant that our leaders were not able to make the claim that the rally was supposed to demonstrate: that ordinary voters, especially people of faith, care about the environment and want their politicians to do something about it.”

He expressed disappointment at what he described as a failure to capitalise on COP17 as a way of educating South African Catholics.

“The organisers may shrug off the dismal numbers and say that yet again it proves that ordinary pew-sitters have failed. But the real failure is on the part of those who are charged to mobilise the Church on issues of justice and peace. If they want the Church’s voice to be heard they have to learn to get beyond the few enthusiasts and draw in the masses of Mass-goers.”

as if this was all in a normal day’s work.

The society had also been greatly moved by how he treated a man who mugged him, calling out after the robber as he ran away: “May God bless you”. On another occasion, Fr Michelson visited another criminal who had hijacked him.

The priest told him, “I have come to see you out of respect and concern”, which led the man to ask his forgiveness with many tears.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Fr Michelson’s personality for the members of this Hindu ashram, was a sense of deep contentment. “He was desire-less, there was nothing unfulfilled about his life” which was borne out by something he had written not long before his death: “If the time has come for me, along life’s pilgrimage path, to lay down life, I do it freely in Jesus only to take it up again in him.

A deep sense of gratitude wells up in me to God and to all—please thank everyone for me and I thank you.”

Conman calls Catholics STaFF REPORTER

P

ARISHES have contacted The Southern Cross to warn of a conman who in telephone calls asks for financial assistance.

"Someone claiming to be a new parishioner phones people whose phone numbers are listed on their parish websites," said one Cape Town Catholic. "He never phones the parish secretaries as they could verify this information. He supposedly is phoning from Johannesburg saying he is stuck and needs money to get back to Cape Town."

The Rondebosch parishioner said a friend from a nearby parish had been scammed too.

"He gives similar but slightly different stories and claims to know [the people he phones] and to have chatted to them. He uses various accents and names."

He usually asks for R400500.

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

3

Hope&Joy: A quarter million messages sent STaFF REPORTER

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HE Hope&Joy SMS service has now sent out more than a quarter of a million text messages to subscribers since its launch in May. The daily text messages quote documents and statements from popes, Vatican II and other Church sources.

“We set out to try something unique—to make the treasures of Vatican documents accessible to people who would never have the time to read them,” said Raymond Perrier, convenor of Hope&Joy. “In doing this we were actually being true to a Vatican II document ourselves: Inter Mirifica encourages us to use the marvellous technical inventions of human genius to touch people’s spirits.”

Each message is 160 characters or fewer in length. Mr Perrier said it was “the first time in the world anyone has tried to deliver Vatican teaching in this way”.

He said the messages are edited from the original texts “so that they are short and punchy and use accessible lan-

guage”, but the original quotes, and all the previous SMS, can be seen on the Hope&Joy website (www.hopeandjoy.org.za).

“There are many SMS services that are inspirational—we wanted to be inspirational and informational,” said Frances Correia of the Jesuit Institute, one of the editors of the SMS service.

She said editing the messages has been a growth experience. “I have certainly learnt a lot by ploughing through these documents looking for appropriate phrases to quote.”

Almost 4 400 people have tried the service at some point and there is a steady usage of about 1 700 each day, Mr Perrier said.

“The service is priced at R3,50 per week, which just about covers the costs of delivery, which is effectively 50c per SMS,” he said.

“But even then for some Catholics this has proven too expensive—the main complaint has been the cost; Catholics want everything for free!”

“This [service] has helped us to reignite the hope and joy of

Vatican II and to find ways to translate the hope and joy of Vatican II into the 21st century,” said Fr Sean Wales CSsR of Redemptorist Publications, who have been promoting the SMS service.

Fr Sammy Mabusela CSS, the national youth chaplain, said: “Hope&Joy has managed to break down even the jargon of Gaudium et Spes. It comes in chewable and digestible chunks on a daily basis—and what a palatable meal it makes.”

Some subscribers have said that they would like to see quotations from Scripture, Mr Perrier noted, but the feedback suggests that the messages are being valued.

One priest reported that one of his youth parishioners is storing the messages on a computer for use by others, and an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion said that he shares the messages with “those who are frail and needy”.

Others said that they were sharing the messages with their children. nTo receive the daily Hope&Joy message at R3,50 per week, SMS the word JOY to 31222.

Bishop decries murders Continued from page 1 priests, Fr Daniel Matsela Mahula of Klerksdorp and Fr Lionel Sham of Johannesburg, were murdered within a week of each other, Bishop Kumalo said: “Priests are brutally killed by the very people who have received their kindness and help. Priests are bludgeoned to death by the very people they have helped to educate to improve their chances in life.

Children are raped not by their stepfathers but by their own fathers—we measure the incidence of rape in South Africa not by the month or day, but by seconds. There are men slaughtering their wives in front of their own children and there are younger men jealous with rage who are imitating their fathers.”

What South Africa needed, Bishop Kumalo continued, was

to embrace Christ the light of the world, his transforming presence and his culture of forgiveness, even in brutal and senseless killing.

He spoke of his own sense of outrage at seeing the bloodied body of Fr Mbokazi, “but also there was Jesus, saying to me and to all of us, that if we are so angry that we cannot forgive the perpetrator, we are not ready to enter the kingdom of God—what a challenge to us”.

“So when we pray for Fr Senzo let us also pray for those who killed him...we want the transformation of those who killed, even brutally, because of Jesus who is within us and transforms us,” Bishop Kumalo said.

The mourners left that windy place called Emoyeni blown along with the spirit and news of the day, that the Chris-

Bishop Thaddaeus Kumalo preaches at the Requiem for slain Fr Senzo Mbokazi. (Photo: Sydney Duval) tian way of life compels us to value life, truth and justice; in the Christian heart there must be room for forgiveness, healing and reconciliation.

Some of the 34 cyclists from Santa Maria dos Portugueses parish youth group that participated in the 94.7 Cycle Challenge in memory of a late group member, Niki Duarte.

Church group cycles in memory

By CLaIRE MaTHIESON

A

YOUTH group from Pretoria has been taking evangelisation to the streets—literally, by participating in the recent 94.7 Cycle Challenge in memory of a late group member, Niki Duarte.

People Into Evangelisation (PIE) from Pretoria’s Santa Maria dos Portugueses parish created the Niki Duarte project after their fellow member was diagnosed with leukemia and battled with the disease for 19 months before passing away in March this year.

“Throughout his ordeal, Niki inspired many people with his story and was the last to complain about his condition,” said Claude de Sousa, the group’s marketing manager.

Mr de Sousa said the project aims to help those “in our community by whatever means we can as this is something that Niki surely would have wanted us to do. This will range from continuing our awareness of leukemia and how we can all help by becoming donors to raising funds for those in need in our community as far as we can”.

The decision to ride the popular cycle tour was an easy one, Mr de Sousa said as Niki was an avid cyclist and it presented the group with a great opportunity to raise funds—through both the 94,7km distance and the children’s cycle challenge where cyclists aged 2-6 were also able to raise funds.

Some 34 riders participated in the challenge, many of whom were doing the challenge for the first time but he said what made the difference this year was accomplishing a positive goal—not only “accomplishing a personal goal but that we would be riding for a very good cause and purpose”.

Mr de Sousa said the first 30-40km were the most fun and the final 25km the most challenging. “Getting to the last downhill was an awesome feeling as I had just accomplished something so great,” Mr de Sousa said. He said the support from friends and spectators was entirely moving.

“For many of us it wasn’t about the personal goal or the cause, it would be about riding the race remembering our dear friend Niki Duarte.”

“While fighting his battle with leukemia, Niki was still passionate about cycling and was able to finish the Cape Argus with his dad at his side all the way. This act of bravery inspired many of us to partake in this challenge for if he could do the Argus while fighting leukemia what would stop us from finishing The 94.7 Cycle Challenge being healthy!”

The 34 riders wore pink to identify their cause and were sponsored per kilometre successfully completed.

Mr de Sousa said the group was already looking forward to next year’s Niki Duarte project and raising further funds for leukemia.

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

Pope to world leaders: No cop out on climate change

By JOHN THavIS

P

OPE Benedict has urged international leaders meeting in Durban for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (or COP17) to reach a credible agreement on climate change, keeping in mind the needs of the poor and of future generations.

“I hope that all members of the international community can agree on a responsible, credible and supportive response to this worrisome and complex phenomenon, keeping in mind the needs of the poorest populations and of future generations,” the pope said.

The meeting, which runs until December 9, is the latest in a series to consider follow-up action to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obligated industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a specific amount. The Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012, and the Durban encounter is considered crucial in forging an additional commitment period.

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, was leading a 20-person Caritas delegation to

COP17 to press for an agreement on behalf of poor countries that have been severely impacted by climate change.

“Our climate is changing. Caritas organisations are responding to increasing unpredictability and extreme weather conditions experienced around the world. This year we saw floods in Central America, South and Southeast Asia and drought across East Africa,” Cardinal Rodriguez said in a statement released by Caritas.

“Urgent action is necessary. Climate negotiators in Durban must not further delay agreeing to international legislation to curb the threat of climate change and set the world on a path to a more just and sustainable future,” he said.

In 2011, East Africa suffered the worst drought in half a century.

Caritas noted that drought was not new in East Africa, but said changes in weather patterns combined with lack of investment, competition for land and water have eroded the capacity of local people to cope.

“The whole world is vulnerable to climate change, but poor countries are affected more,” Cardinal Rodriguez said. “Africa is one of

the most vulnerable continents to the impacts of climate change.

Africans are taking a stand in Durban; it is time for the world to stand with Africa.”

Before leaving for Durban, Cardinal Rodriguez took several thousand young Italian members of a Franciscan environmental group to the Vatican for a lively encounter with the pope.

The pope told them that the Church’s teaching on the environment follows from the principle that men and women are collaborators with God and his creation.

The lessons of responsible stewardship over natural resources are increasingly important, he said.

“In fact, it is by now evident that there is no good future for humanity or for the earth unless we educate everyone toward a style of life that is more responsible toward the created world,” the pope said.

He said education towards environmental responsibility must begin in families and schools and must reflect the Church’s teaching that respect for the human being— in all stages of life—goes hand in hand with respect for nature.— CNS

Marchers in Durban protest ahead of the COP17 talks. Pope Benedict has urged leaders to reach a credible agreement on climate change, keeping in mind the needs of the poor and of future generations. (Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko, Reuters)

Carols to welcome Vatican crèche

T

HE Vatican is planning to sing its way into the Christmas season this year, with a chorus and orchestra leading Christmas carols at the annual unveiling of its Nativity scene.

The hour-long evening ceremony on December 24 will feature traditional Christmas songs in several languages, performed by a 100-person choir and orchestra in

St Peter’s Square.

The Vatican is arranging for worldwide television broadcasts of the event, according to Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He described it as a “sung meditation” on Christmas.

As usual, Pope Benedict is expected to bless the gathering from his apartment window above the square.—CNS

Church sells publisher over porn claim

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Based in Augsburg, Weltbild employs 6 400 people and has annual book sales of 1,6 billion euros. It also owns book clubs and several nationwide bookstore chains, including Hugendubel and Jokers.

The Association of German Dioceses has owned 24% shares in the company for the past three decades, with a further 13% owned by the archdiocese of Munich-Freising and 11% by the Augsburg diocese.

Approximately a dozen more of Germany’s 27 dioceses also co-own the firm.

In October, Weltbild insisted erotic material amounted to just

ERMANY’S Catholic dioceses have ordered the immediate sale of a Church-owned publishing house after reports that it made millions of euros selling erotic and pornographic titles.

The Association of German Dioceses said announced its decision after a meeting in Würzburg amid controversy over the output of Weltbild, Germany’s largest publisher, which includes Church documents and devotional works, but also steamy titles such as Tempted by Sin and The New Kama Sutra.

a small fraction of its list and said media claims that “the Catholic Church profits from pornography” were “untruthful and defamatory”.

“Pornography is a clearly defined term in law—by this definition, neither Weltbild nor its associates earn millions from pornography,” said the company, which added that it would take legal action “against its slanderers”.

Germany’s Deutsche Welle radio reported that an October survey by a publishers’ trade magazine had turned up 2 500 titles under the keyword “erotik” on Weltbild’s website.—CNS

US bishops: Bury or burn obsolete missals said. “Its disposal should be handled with respect.”

The bishops’ liturgy office recommends “burying the sacramentary in an appropriate location on church grounds, or perhaps in a parish cemetery”.

“Some have even suggested following a custom used in various Eastern churches whereby liturgical books or Bibles are placed in the coffin of the

A

FTER the switch to a new liturgical translation, old liturgical books should be respectfully buried, either intact or after being burned, according to the US bishops, the Catholic News Agency reported.

“Whether or not the sacramentary has been blessed by an official rite, it is appropriate to treat it with care,” the bishops' Secretariat for Divine Worship

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deceased as a sign of devotion and love for the liturgy.”

According to the US bishops' secretariat, the ashes of liturgical books should be collected and “placed in the ground in an appropriate location on church grounds”.

Catholic tradition offers these means of disposal in order to ensure that objects used in worship are not casually mistreated.

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

5

Nun, volunteer executed in brutal Burundi robbery A CROATIAN nun and an Italian medical volunteer were murdered in a robbery in Kiremba in Burundi.

Sisters of Charity Mother Lukrecija Mamica, and Mr Francesco Bazzani were killed during the attack on the Ancelle della Carita mission. Another nun, Italian Sister Carla Brianza, was injured.

“Two armed men entered the house of the Sisters of Charity,” Fr Michele Tognazzi, a Fidei Donum priest in Kiremba, told the missionary news agency Misna.

They killed the Croatian nun and after taking about 4 000 euros

fled with Mr Bazzani and Sr Brianza as hostages in the mission’s car. After travelling for 8km, the attackers ordered their hostages out of the car and shot Mr Bazzani at point blank range, killing him.

“Sr Carla managed to grab the gun, which helped save her life”, Fr Tognazzi said. One of the attackers stabbed her in the hand before fleeing with his accomplice.

Police said that two men, aged 20 and 24, have been arrested.

Reports say that there has been a wave of attacks in Burundi in recent months. Officially blamed on “armed bandits”, many believe

Crisis needs ‘courage of brotherhood’

By JOHN THavIS

P

OPE Benedict has said the global economic crisis demands the “courage of brotherhood” between the world’s rich and poor, and calls on the Church to look at the causes of poverty.

The pope, addressing officials of Caritas Italy, said true charity requires not only concrete gestures but also announcing hope and asking questions.

“Responding to the needy means not only giving bread to the hungry person, but also reflecting on the causes that led to his hunger, with the gaze of Jesus who knew how to see the

deep reality of the people who came close to him,” he said.

The Church needs to look closely at the current economic crisis and consequent flows of human migration, the divide between the North and South and the injury to human dignity.

All of this “calls us to a charity that is able to widen, in concentric circles, from the small economic systems to the big ones”.

Humanity does not need only benefactors, he said, but also “humble and concrete people who, like Jesus, know how to place themselves at the side of their brothers and sisters, sharing a little of their burden”.—CNS

the attacks are part of an incipient rebellion.

Fr Tognazzi told Misna that Mother Lukrecija had lived in Burundi for ten years after spending two decades in Ecuador.

Mr Bazzani worked for a medical charity based near Verona in northern Italy and was administrator of a hospital next door to the convent, in Ngozi, around 100km north-east of Bujumbura, near the border with Rwanda.

Claude Nahayo, governor of Ngozi province, has said that an investigation had been launched “to determine the circumstances of the attack, but we are sure that it is simple banditry”.

Men work on the roof of a tower at the construction site of the cathedral of Bl Teresa of Kolkata in Pristina, Kosovo. The new cathedral will be the tallest building in the capital and large enough to hold 2 000 churchgoers.

(Photo: Hazir Reka, Reuters/CNS)

Pope calls on laity to take lead in reawakening awareness of God

By JOHN THavIS

A

DDRESSING members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, who were meeting in a plenary assembly at the Vatican, Pope Benedict said lay Catholics should take the lead in reawakening an awareness of God. Looking ahead to next October’s Synod of Bishops on the theme of “new evangelisation,” the pope said that the tendency to shut God out of people’s lives and society is common today, and “the spread of this mentality has

generated the crisis that we are experiencing today, which is a crisis of meaning and values even before it is an economic and social crisis”.

The pope said the challenge is not simply to engage those outside the Church, but to strengthen the awareness of God among Christians themselves.

“Sometimes efforts are made to increase the impact of Christians in social, political or economic life, and perhaps the same concern has not been shown for the solidity of their faith, as if this

were something to be taken for granted,” he said.

Christians “do not live on a distant planet, immune from the ‘diseases’ of the world”, but are subject to the same pressures, confusions and problems of modern society, he said. Therefore, it is no less urgent to propose the question of God inside the Church.

“How many times, despite defining oneself as Christian, is God not the central point of reference in ways of thinking or acting and in the fundamental choices of life?” he asked.—CNS

6

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

An Advent oasis

W

HEN Christians and those of no faith talk about Christmas, they sometimes mean the same thing, and at other times refer to completely separate events.

For Christians, Christmas is the feast of the Nativity at which we celebrate the birth of the Saviour. It is an important feast on the Christian calendar, but secondary to the feast of the Resurrection at Easter. As Christians, we prepare for Christmas throughout the season of Advent, which precedes the 12-day season of Christmas that ends on the feast of the Epiphany on January 6.

In temporal western society, the Christmas season winds down just as the Christian Christmas season begins. The shopping will have been completed, gifts distributed and lavish lunches consumed.

In that form of Christmas, the presence of Christ is not always evident. Indeed, often Christ is being excluded from the feast that takes his name.

Many shop windows proclaim Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays in case customers are offended at being wished a Merry Christmas.

There is no doubt that the public face of Christmas is the bell-ringing commercial figure of Santa Claus (himself based on St Nicholas of Myra), not the infant born to redeem the world.

In the temporal domain, Santa Claus, Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and the infant Jesus have arrived at a measure of cultural equivalence.

Some Christians bravely object. The call to “Put Christ back into Christmas” serves as a timely annual reminder that Christmas is not supposed to be about commercial excess and conspicuous consumption. It prompts some atheists to complain, not always humorously, about the intrusion of religion into Christmas.

Proponents of maintaining a Christian sense of Christmas are not always playing fair either. A decade or so ago, Christians expressed outrage at reports that the city council of Birmingham, England, had replaced Christmas with an event named “Winterval” to appease assorted constituencies of non-Christians. In the years since, “Winterval”—which as a

compound of the words “winter” and “festival” has a suitably pagan ring to it—has come to be a symbol for all Christmas-related attacks on Christians, real or imagined.

However, in November this year, the Daily Mail issued an apology for misrepresenting the intentions of Birmingham’s Winterval event, noting that it “was the collective name for a season of public events, both religious and secular, which took place in Birmingham in 1997 and 1998” and not intended to “rename or replace Christmas”.

Such forays into the realms of polemic and lies aside, Christians are right to remind the world, and themselves, of the roots of Christmas.

They must do so by example.

For instance, many parishes use the Advent season to step up their outreach to those living in poverty (though one must be sure that outreach programmes should go on throughout the year). And in our seasonal salutations, we should not hesitate to use the word “Christmas”.

In the hustle and bustle of preparations for the feast, one may well neglect the true significance of Christmas, with its profound implications.

Most families cannot opt out of the temporal Christmas celebrations. Indeed, these can be joyous and affirming. It is enchanting, for example, to witness a child’s excitement at a well-chosen gift, just as we delight in God’s gift of his Son to us. And the general sense of good will that accompanies Christmas is salutary.

There is no infidelity to our Christian faith when we take part in what one might call a dual Christmas: the temporal affair, with its commercial activity and consumption; and the sacred feast, which involves reflection, prayer and joy at the birth of our Lord—as well as reaching out to those who will not have a merry Christmas.

When we put Christ back into Christmas in our lives, we encounter the true meaning of Christmas which can provide a spiritual oasis amid the commercial yuletide frenzy.

This Christmas, let us shut out noise of the “Happy Holidays” and turn our focus on the silent night as we contemplate the child in the manger.

GABRIELLE PHILLIP SOUTH AFRICA

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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.

Good preaching can change a parish

T

HE Southern Cross gets better and better and I so admire your ability to find and appoint brilliant contributors. In the edition of November 16, this was illustrated, for example, by Mphuthumi Ntabeni with his article, “Why we must really know our faith”, and Fr Ron Rolheiser with his article, “Our fear of death is holy, healthy”.

In fact I don’t think you charge enough for The Southern Cross at only R5,50 whereas other Sunday newspapers cost three times as much, but only about 10% of their content is worth reading.

I was so pleased to read in the same edition the comments made

by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi

We vs I believe

I

N his article “What we say at Mass” (October 26), Chris Busschau explains the change in the Nicene Creed of the Novus Ordo translation from the communal “We believe” to the individual “I believe”, which makes “the creed a personal statement of commitment to personal belief”.

Maybe so, but I think it a sad retrograde step to an inadequate confusion of the two forms of the Creed in the Tridentine Mass of Pius V. As Mr Busschau rightly points out, in the “I confess” I am making a personal confession of my sinfulness. No one else can do that for me. Likewise in the “Lord, I am not worthy”, only I can express my unworthiness to receive our Eucharistic Lord in Communion.

In the liturgical renewal that pre-dated Vatican II, we were taught that the Mass is a communal celebration. In the 1960s the Dialogue Mass was permitted which removed the responses of the congregation from the exclusive prerogative of the altar server and allowed the congregation to participate by expressing for themselves their responses to the celebrant.

Thus, “Lift up your hearts” and the congregation accurately responds, “We lift them up”.

The Novus Ordo of Paul VI captured the spirit of the celebration by restoring the communal form of the Nicene Creed which was its original expression, in Greek, by the Council Fathers at the First Ecumenical Council of the Church held at Nicea in 325 AD. When it had been formulated

about the need to improve on sermons.

About seven years ago while visiting England, my wife and I attended Mass at the Catholic church in Borrowash, a suburb of Derby. What a miserable event it was. The congregation consisted of a few very elderly people, and the homily and atmosphere was so depressing that we could not wait to get away. From the way the congregation dispersed after Mass, they obviously all felt the same.

In September this year we returned to Borrowash and reluctantly decided to go to Mass in the same church. What an incredible transformation had taken place!

The church was full, the con-

gregation consisted of a mixture of young and old, and the homily was brilliant. After Mass the congregation, with very few exceptions, went into the church hall where they had a weekly raffle to raise funds for the church and sold tickets for tea and coffee.

I would attribute the quite dramatic improvement to the new priest, Fr Ka Fai Lee, a young priest who was born in Hong Kong and who came and chatted with us in the hall.

A priest has a wonderful opportunity during his homily to create an atmosphere of love and hope and worship for our Lord, and all too often this opportunity is wasted, mainly from a lack of training and inspiration.

Roy Glover, Tzaneen

and agreed by the Fathers, they rose triumphantly to proclaim with one voice (in Greek, the language of the Church in the 4th century) “We believe”. The formula was improved at the next Council at Constantinople in 381.

The Apostles’ Creed was formulated as a baptism creed for the catechumen to proclaim before being baptised. Later the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed was cast into the first person singular for use as a baptism creed.

Venerable and special as the Roman rite is to us Roman-rite Catholics, it would be naïve to hold that it was the apogee of all liturgy. There is room for improvement, and the 16th century form approved by Pius V is certainly not the last word in liturgy. The post-Vatican II liturgical scholars recognised where improvements could be made.

One was the inspired replacement of the baptismal version of the creed to the communal one of the bishops of the council, “We believe”.

How sad that the concept of Formal Equivalence (direct translation) has been imposed on us English-speakers by a Chilean cardinal who was hell-bent on abandoning the concept of Dynamic Equivalence, employed frequently so successfully in the Novus

Ordo so that we return to “Credo”—“I believe” in Latin. It also removes the “We believe” to introduce respectively the formulations about Christ and the Spirit.

Mr Busschau is mistaken when he states, “the words ‘I believe’ are repeated at each of the statements of our belief in the three persons of the Trinity and in the “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.“ Because they do not occur in the original they have been eliminated, which in my view is a loss.

Fr Michael Austin SJ, Johannesburg

Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

Trefoil supporter

I

CAN understand Carmen Smith’s impatience with the delay in the arrival of the Trefoil (November 16).

Like her, I too can’t wait to receive my copy of Trefoil for it is so excellent a magazine— Catholic in both senses of the word, its contents are topical, insightful, relevant, touching, challenging and at times even humorous.

Indeed, like my favourite St Thomas More, it is a “‘magazine’ for all seasons”.

I am happy too, to endorse Mrs Smith’s praise of the editor Else Strivens.

In conclusion I say to my fellow Octogenarian: pace Carmen, I have no doubt No 278 will be well worth the wait.

Aideen Gonlag, St Michael’s-on-Sea, KZN n Issue 278 is out now with articles on subjects such as the spirituality of leadership, the Camino de Santiago, the person in community and men.—Editor

PERSPECTIVES

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

Host the Messiah at Christmas

Anto Akkara Letter from India

Nun’s murder puts Catholics on edge

T

HE name “Valsa” means “dear one”. By laying down her life in defence of the poor, Sr Valsa John has literally become dear to the whole Church as well as social activists in India.

Sr Valsa was brutally murdered on November 15 for her dedicated work for impoverished tribal people against exploitation by the coal mining industry in the eastern Jharkhand state.

Early reports had it that the 53-year-old Sister of Charity of Jesus and Mary had been shot. The truth was even more gruesome. The nun was beaten up by a group of about 50 men and then hacked to death in the remote village of Bachuwari.

“Sr Valsa is a precious gift to the Church in India,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of Catholic Bishops Conference of India, told mourning family members at her home at Vazhakkala near Kochi in the southern Kerala state.

Even Hindu and Muslim leaders joined the memorial services for the slain nun in several cities.

Sr Valsa had been staying in the jungle village since 1995, living in a hut. She took up the cause of poor tribal people who were being exploited and treated like slaves by the coal mining industry.

After years of tribal protests, led by the bold nun, the coal mining firm had to concede all the demands of the impoverished tribals who had been displaced by coal mining. This included return of their lands, royalties for the mining, and building houses and even a school for them.

The nun might have won a historic battle against the coal mining lobby, but Stephen Marandi, former deputy chief minister of Jharkhand, confirmed that the nun had told him about repeated threats against her. Mr Marandi was a signatory to the agreement the tribals made with the coal mining company in 2007.

A

fter Sr Valsa’s victory, her superiors asked the nun to leave the “dangerous” region. But she stayed, sharing a mud hut with a tribal family while most of the community lived in the concrete houses the nun had made the company build for them.

The police arrested seven people in connection with the brutal murder of the nun, saying that some of the villagers who were part of the nun’s movement for tribal rights had turned against her.

It is said that these people sided with the coal mafia when they turned greedy and started taking money for themselves from the tribal funds the nun had won as royalty from the coal mining company.

The final straw might have been a rape case.

While Sr Valsa was away in August to visit her family in Kerala state, a young woman whom she had worked with was raped, allegedly by the same people who were collaborating with the coal mining industry.

Sr Valsa’s insistence that police open a rape case infuriated her adversaries who prevailed on the police to hush up the rape.

The murder of Sr Valsa has caused concern for some Catholics. “This [murder] will make the religious more cautious in their work,” said Holy Family Sister Prasanna Thattil, president of the women’s section of Conference of Religious India, which includes 80 000 nuns. But, she added, the “many determined nuns and priests” serving the poor and the vulnerable in remote areas in northern and eastern India, where Christianity is unknown, will continue their mission.

Though the brutal killing of Sr Valsa is not a missionary murder, it exposes the dangers faced by those who stand up for the voiceless poor and oppressed people in India especially in hinterlands where notions of “might is right” prevail.

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W

HEN we are on a long journey we sometimes take a detour in order to see an important person whose home is located away from the direct route to our destination. When we do this, we might find that the detour gives us the opportunity to encounter someone who is going to tell us all we need to know about our final destination.

In a similar way, this column takes a break from matters that deal with the history of the Church so that we can spend time reflecting on how to receive Jesus at Christmas.

Our reflection this Christmas is based on the reflections of the Home Cell Groups (or Small Christian Communities) of St John Fisher parish and the church of the Beatitudes in Pretoria East.

This is the third year in which the Home Cell Groups Task Team has developed special materials to help parishioners put Christ back into Christmas.

In 2009 the Home Cell Groups were involved in “Constructing the Highway to Christmas”. Last year the theme was “Following the Star to Bethlehem”. For 2011 the general theme is “The Messiah Is Coming!”

Over four weeks each Home Cell Group meets weekly to discuss and reflect on the sub theme of the particular week. For each session there is an opening prayer, a narrative that gives the background to the theme of the week, scripture readings, an activity, a discussion based on the scripture readings, an inspiring commentary and a closing prayer.

The theme of the first week was “Inviting Jesus into Our Lives”. For the activity, the members were asked to write a Curriculum Vitae of Jesus. To aid them

in doing this, they went through a model CV written by Jesus himself. In this CV Jesus gives a brief account of his qualifications, educational background, work experience, major accomplishments and so on, with relevant scripture passages as evidence.

He explains the purpose of this CV as follows: “I’ve sent you my CV because I’m seeking the top management position in your heart”. Jesus is in fact sending this CV to all of us, for he wants to direct our hearts, be the most important person in our lives, and lead us into eternal life.

The theme of the second week was “Welcoming Jesus”. Here the participants thought of all the things they normally do to welcome an important guest, such us cleaning the house, removing all the weeds and shrubs, arranging the décor and so on. The readings were based on how Mary received the message of the Angel Gabriel; how her cousin Elizabeth

Living in the moment on retreat

G

OING on an eight-day retreat through the Jesuit Institute South Africa, for whom I work in the area of information technology, was a new experience for me. I had never made a silent retreat before.

We were using an Anglican retreat house in Rosettenville, Johannesburg.

My first surprise was that the person directing me was an Anglican bishop— and I am a Catholic!

Later in the week, a woman priest came to say the Anglican Mass. That capped my surprises. It was the first time I had attended an Anglican service, and now the celebrant was a woman priest!

The question came to me: Am I a Catholic or Christian? I felt the need to respond to this question, but in the confusion God spoke to me. The retreat was not about who is directing me and who is cerebrating the liturgy, but chiefly about how I am responding to the call of Christ at this moment.

I did not know that there would be challenges in this whole retreat experience. As a good Catholic layman, my prayer before this retreat had been the rosary and the Divine Mercy. I even have the beads of the rosary on my cellphone, so that I can pray wherever I am.

In our first meeting, when my retreat director spoke of Lectio Divina and Gospel Contemplation, I did not know

what these were. My gestures clearly spoke for themselves. When my director realised that I had no clue what he was talking about, he explained how to go about praying using Gospel Contemplation and Lectio Divina.

Working for the Jesuit Institute became another positive challenge. My director thought I knew something about Ignatian spirituality. However, my work in the institute is purely technical. On retreat I learnt how friendly and interesting Ignatian spirituality really is.

Now I feel a need to share it with everyone who has never been on a silent retreat before.

Words transform more on a retreat and become the message that the Lord wants you to hear. They become special and exciting.

Lectio Divina is the holy word that transforms and opens you up to be with the Lord. I opened up. I heard these words from the Scriptures a lot: “One has to let go.” I have always told myself that as a young man, I do not have much to let go of. The first thing I had to let go of was the outside world. My cellphone had to be off; my laptop, which is my other joy, was left at home. At first life without friends was not easy. I had to adjust to all of this.

As the only young African man in his twenties making this journey, I asked

7

Emmanuel Ngara Christian Leadership

received her when she visited, and how Mary, Martha’s sister, used a very expensive perfume on Jesus.

For the activity, each member was asked to prepare and say brief words of welcome to Jesus. In the brief speech each member was promising Jesus what he or she would do to make the Saviour feel really welcome.

The following are examples of what the participants and all of us are invited to do to make Jesus really welcome at Christmas: cleaning our inner house by going to confession; finding ways of mending our relationships with others; striving to overcome our ego so that Jesus can grow bigger and bigger in us and be the Chief Executive Officer of our hearts.

The theme of the third week is “Receiving Jesus Christ in Our Lives”. For the activity each participant is required to prepare a door hanger and write a message on it such as “Jesus, Be the Master of My Heart”; or “Jesus, Come and Be my Best Friend”. We are all invited to prepare a similar door hanger so that every time we open or close the door, we see the message and are reminded of the need to truly and sincerely receive Jesus at Christmas.

The last week ends with a celebratory dinner with Jesus as the guest of honour.

As they feast, the participants have an empty chair at the head of the table and are conversing with Jesus who is imagined to be sitting in that chair.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, we are all urged to invite Jesus to be with us so that we can truly feel his presence among us as God made human!

Chanda Sampa Point of Reflection

myself who the fellow journeyers were.

The word “strange” came to me, which reminded me of Moses when God spoke to him while he was looking after the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. When the distraction came of wanting to know about my brothers on this journey, God came and gave me a focus. It was for me again to let go and let God be God at this moment.

Another good experience was learning to keep a journal. I loved it. I was excited to see myself on paper with God. Another thing which moved me was the importance placed on silence. Every person around us was silent, though in the first two days I asked myself whether I would make it. God calls and we respond. I responded to his call of silence and prayer, and was blessed. The food was delicious—and as I look back that was needed.

Finally I had something to take home when finishing my eight-day silent retreat: the text of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8—to live as God wants me to in every moment.

My final sense was: I know I did not “betray” the Catholic Church by being in an Anglican environment, but I learnt a lot about being Catholic and Christian.

8

COMMUNITY

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

Catechists from different parishes in the East London deanery gathered at Holy Spirit church, Nahoon, to share and celebrate their ministry together.

Ms Juliana yazbek, the parish catechetical coordinator, thanked all the catechists for participating in the celebration. Before the final blessing the celebrant, Fr vales Dania, asked the catechists to come forward and gave each one a special blessing. (Submitted by Sr agnes Kreuzberg)

Twelve young people from Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in vereeniging, were confirmed. They are photographed with Fr Justin Inandjo SMa, archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg and Fr Herbin Gbagoue SMa. (Submitted by Kokou Inandjo)

IN FOCUS

Bradley and Caitlin de Jager (née Martin) were married at St Theodore’s parish in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal. (Submitted by Marie-Olga Martin)

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 Edited by Lara Moses

The Congregation of the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary celebrated the 60th anniversary of the foundation of their congregation as well as the golden jubilee of Srs Michel Malatjie and Brigid Kgole. Srs Elizabeth Mathabathe and Celilia Malaza celebated their silver jubilee. They are with Bishop Giuseppe Sandri MCCJ of Witbank, priests and celebrants.

Bishop Dabula Mpako of Queenstown, together with the priests of the diocese, participated in a leadership workshop facilitated by Rural Development Support Program. It also served as an opportunity for the priests to interact with each other and build team spirit.

(Submitted by Eugene Jackson)

St Conrad’s College High School students in Klerksdorp collected two tonnes of mealie meal for Gift of the Givers, the largest disaster response NGO of african origin on the continent.

The mealie meal will be sent to Somalia to relieve the famine there. (Submitted by anne Walker)

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9

The liturgy: collaborating with the congregation T

HERE was a time when the liturgy was something arranged, planned and lived almost exclusively by Catholic religious. While the liturgy is any act of public worship, it largely excluded the laity.

But since Vatican II, getting the laity involved in the liturgy is not only allowed but also encouraged to be part of the Mass, from the very basic of services of the Mass to the inculturation of the liturgy to draw from a region’s rich heritage.

Mariannhill Father Casimir Paulsen from St Emmanuel parish in Landsend, Mthatha, says that the laity simply did not have a role in the liturgy prior to Vatican II. “They were passive observers. They did their thing and the priest did his thing. Only the readings were in English,” said Fr Paulsen, adding that often people did not understand what was happening in the Mass.

From baptisms to confirmation services, ordinations and parish bands—the laity are now called to embrace the spirit of Vatican II: the Church coming together and worshipping in common.

Fr Paulsen says in his parish, the laity are trained to do things a priest might not have time to do.

He recalls one of his parishioners saying: “A word is said, and I help say it; a deed is done and I help do it; that word touches the very heart of God and that deed redeems the world!” Fr Paulsen believes it is thinking and acting in this way that not only enhances the involvement of the laity in the Mass but also its meaning. “I think that she was an excellent theologian.” hris Busschau, a member of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s executive committee for the liturgy, recalls the preconciliar Mass. “You learnt what certain things meant, but for the most part, many people did not understand Latin and were clueless about what was going on.”

Vatican II made the Mass accessible to the Church’s people, says Fr Paulsen. “After Vatican II, when the liturgy was explained as the public worship of the Church, the people of God together with their priest,

C

declining permission for the regular celebration of Mass in the Tridentine rite, many turned to the Masses offered by the Society of St Pius X, which was founded by excommunia Church of cated Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Hope and Joy In 2009, Pope Benedict made the Mass in the Tridentine rite according to the 1962 missal more widely available with his decree Summorum celebrated the liturgy.” The priest Pontificum. But the pope stressed turned to look at his congregation, that the post-Vatican II Mass would he spoke in a language they under- be the Church’s predominant form stood and “the Lay people were of worship. invited and encouraged to take up Fr Victor Phalana of Pretoria’s the various ministries so as to fully cathedral of the Sacred Heart says participate in the Eucharistic cele- that through liturgy we enter the bration”. action of Christ, “we glorify God Mr Busschau says this opened and we in turn are sanctified. Liturthe door to everyone to get gy is a celebration of the Paschal involved directly in Mystery. Through the Mass. From the liturgy, the ushers, floral mystery of salvaarrangers, choir tion is remembered members and readand actualised.

“There is no Mass ers to extraordinary Liturgy is worship, ministers of Holy with a rite, a celeif there is no Communion and bration of a comgirl altar servers. munity in and congregation and Fr Paulsen puts through the it like this: “The there needs to be Church”. idea was to give the Liturgy therelaity the full opporfore has the capacicollaboration tunity to particity to absorb local pate in the liturgy, cultural expreswith them.” not as spectators, sions. Inculturation but as participants is an attempt to in a sacrificial, bring the Roman familial offering liturgy closer to the together with the priest, with Christ cultural experiences of African at the centre.” believers, Fr Phalana says.

Today, any active involvement Vatican II encouraged involvesurrounding the Mass is considered ment in the Mass and the Mass reppart of the worship. “Even cleaning, resents the people, allowing African joining the offertory precession and culture to assimilate into the tradiushering contributes to part of the tional Mass is an obvious progresworship and is therefore a valued sion, the vicar-general of Pretoria part of the Mass,” Mr Busschau says. archdiocese says.

“There is no Mass if there is no “Some of the elements of a congregation and there needs to be Roman liturgy are sobriety, directcollaboration with them.” he says. ness, brevity, simplicity and practiThe Council Fathers at Vatican II cal sense. We need to assimilate in a wanted Mass to be as it was in the creative way some elements found early Church, with a direct involve- in African worship which include ment from congregants. spontaneity, freedom, spending ot everybody saw this as a good time in the joyful celebration of life, thing. For many, the transition death, and the afterlife. We honour of the old Mass in the Tridentine the rich Christian heritage found rite represented a profound loss of specifically in the liturgy while at the solemnity that is at the heart of the same time acknowledging that the celebration of the Eucharist. liturgy must embody the riches of With most of the world’s bishops different nations,” Fr Phalana

Claire Mathieson

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Since vatican II the faithful actively participate in the liturgy of the Mass through various ministries such as reading at Mass or as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. explains, adding that this conforms with the spirit of Vatican II and the African Synods. argaret Blackie of St Michael’s parish in Rondebosch, Cape Town, heads the liturgy portfolio on the parish pastoral council where there is a strong lay involvement in the Mass.

The parish has two choirs; one traditional and one a contemporary band, named Genesis. “The music ministry is totally lay driven. There are about 50 people involved in the music ministry,” says Dr Blackie.

The music groups have specific directives.

“An important element of the Genesis band and choir is a persistent focus on the purpose of the band being at the service of worship rather than musical perfection,” an important attribute to make note of, Dr Blackie says—and one that can be tricky with many talented musicians. But, she adds, it’s important to remain focused and keep in mind what it is they are doing: worshipping. “There are some very good musicians in the group, but anyone is welcome to participate.”

Rondebosch sees an active contribution of more than 100 lay people on a regular basis. “St Michael's is a good, active, vibrant parish that welcomes participation. The fact that there is so much going on at any given time encourages further involvement,” Dr Blackie says.

She believes there are particular reasons for that. While Vatican II made way for the average layperson to get involved in the Mass, it is the Church leadership that can enhance this. Dr Blackie says that in Rondebosch when something can be be lay-led, it is. The responsibility and lack of micro-management often has very positive results and gives their parish priest time to deal with any more pressing matters, she says. “The liturgy is well done, but is

M

carried out in a spirit of care, and not of fear of getting it wrong.”

The Mass is for the people so it makes sense to use the people to deliver the message. The liturgy is enhanced through lay involvement.

“Getting involved is not seen as the only way to serve, or indeed as the most important way to serve,” says Dr Blackie.

Similarly, the way the African Church celebrates Mass must involve African culture. Fr Phalana points out that certain traditional African practices are incompatible with the Christian message and are not used. However, he adds, it is important to be critical of the form of Christianity Africa received which is closely linked to Western culture.

“The western paradigm neglected and marginalised the African paradigm. The process of inculturation entails free discourse, deconstruction and reconstruction of new, contextual theologies; critical questioning and creative interaction,” he says.

Pope John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Africa in 1995 said: “An inculturation wisely carried out purifies and elevates the cultures of the various peoples.” Fr Phalana believes we should be critical and lead the way for the transformation and inculturation of Christianity.

The liturgy should be lived out by the people of the Church and in doing this the liturgy can take on various forms. Whatever language or formula the liturgy takes, the Eucharist is the pinnacle of Catholic worship and theology.

This is unity in diversity: Catholics, regardless of their cultural traditions, are able to comfortably celebrate one faith in diversity—a faith that they can truly serve and one that truly represents them.

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10

AFRICA

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

The pope and the global market In his document on the Church in Africa, Pope Benedict issued a scathing critique of the global market. As JOHN THavIS reports, he has done so consistently on many occasions over the past years.

A

FEW minutes after landing in Benin in November, Pope Benedict delivered a stern warning against the “unconditional surrender to the law of the market or that of finance” in Africa and throughout the global economic system.

His words were immediately seized upon by those wondering where the German pope stood on a recent Vatican document that proposed the creation of a world political authority to regulate financial markets and rein in the “inequalities and distortions of capitalist development”.

In short, it seemed the pope was speaking the same language as the document’s authors.

In his apostolic exhortation to the Church in Africa, Africae munus, which he unveiled during his trip to Benin, the pope asked all members of the Church to “work and speak out in favour of an economy that cares for the poor and is resolutely opposed to an unjust order which, under the pretext of reducing poverty, has often helped to aggravate it”.

He specifically denounced business groups that exploit African

resources and leave local populations impoverished.

All of this seemed to echo the tone of the 41-page text on global financial reform released in late October by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Such admonitions, however, are nothing new for Pope Benedict.

Those who have paid attention in recent years know that the pope has consistently taken a wary and critical view of the global economic system and the disparities it has generated.

Above all, he has taken aim at the patterns of consumption that seem to be built into the structures of modern capitalism. He has done so repeatedly, in language that leaves no doubt about where he stands.

In 2007, for example, he deplored materialistic ideologies that tell people: “Take everything we can get in this brief moment of life. Consumerism, selfishness and entertainment alone are worthwhile. This is life. This is how we must live. And once again, it seems absurd, impossible, to oppose this dominant mindset with all its media and propagandist power.”

The same year, addressing Catholic economic experts, the pope said economic models based on “irresponsible consumption of natural and environmental resources” were jeopardising the well-being of present and future generations.

He has warned that “the consumer race and consequent waste” not only threaten supplies of resources but also tend to generate a spiritual vacuum among people in well-off countries. He views

Pope Benedict on his visit to Benin where he issued the apostolic exhotaation Africae munus which included a critique of the global market. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) consumerism as an ideology, and he said in 2010 that the prevailing models of consumption and production are clearly unsustainable.

Visiting Brazil in 2007, the pope critiqued the false promises of Marxism and capitalism. Marxism, he said, has left a sad heritage of economic and spiritual destruction.

He added: “And we can also see the same thing happening in the West, where the distance between rich and poor is growing constantly, and giving rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness.”

V

isiting a homeless shelter in 2010, the pope described the global economic system as a world in which “the logic of profit and the search for self-interest seems to prevail”. That was a key point in his 2009 encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (“Charity in Truth”), which said financial speculation for

“short-term profit” was a cause of global financial insecurity.

Last July, the pope said world hunger was also a consequence of the current economic model: “How can we be silent about the fact that even food has become the object of speculation or is tied to the course of a financial market that, lacking definite rules and poor in moral principles, appears anchored to the sole objective of profit?”

The document by the Justice and Peace council was more specific than papal pronouncements in proposing concrete measures to correct economic imbalances, and that’s where it drew the most criticism.

In particular, its call for a “central world bank” to regulate monetary exchanges was seen by some as violating the Church’s teaching about subsidiarity—the principle that a central authority should perform only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at

a more local level.

Writing about economic and social justice in Africae munus, Pope Benedict reiterated that principle and cited the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: “In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals and intermediary bodies.”

But Pope Benedict also has expressed his view that current modes of regulating the financial system have failed, and that new structures and institutions may be needed.

Addressing the Pontifical Academy of Social Science in 2010, the pope strongly argued that the market is not a self-calibrating mechanism and that oversight may have to take new forms.

“The worldwide financial breakdown has, as we know, demonstrated the fragility of the present economic system and the institutions linked to it. It has also shown the error of the assumption that the market is capable of regulating itself, apart from public intervention and the support of internalised moral standards,” he said.

The current crisis, he added, “obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment”.

Pope Benedict’s language on economics is very much in keeping with Bl John Paul II, who warned of an “idolatry of the market” and said there was a “social mortgage” on private property, which must serve the common good.—CNS

The Southern Cross, December 7 to December 13, 2011

Fr Russell Campbell

F

ATHER Russell Campbell of Pretoria died on September 25 after a short illness, two days before of his 73rd birthday.

Neville Russell Campbell was born in Waterval Boven on September 27, 1938, the oldest of four children. He was schooled in Pretoria and Johannesburg where he proved to be an exceptional scholar.

As an Anglican, he studied for the Anglican priesthood and was ordained in 1960. He served as a curate at St Martin’s-in-the-Veld and St Mary’s Anglican cathedral.

He was then posted to St Alban’s in Ferreirastown in the late 1960s, where he honed his skills of working for and with the poor and forgotten.

In 1967, he qualified as a school-teacher and worked in disadvantaged areas. In 1990, Russell resumed full time-ministry in Johannesburg and then in Pretoria.

In 2000, he was confirmed in the Catholic Church and ordained Catholic priest on November 1, 2003. He served in Laudium and Lyttleton. During this time he was chaplain to Mount St Edmund’s

Christian Brothers College.

Fr Russell loved his new work as prison chaplain. He coordinated Specialised Ministries (military, correctional service, emergency services and police) for the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference. He was passionate about prisoners, their rights and their cares. He was instrumental in getting the feast of St Peter-in-Chains recognised with a week of prayer for prisoners, victims of crime and families in Southern Africa.

He was a popular and sometimes eccentric presence in Khanya House, not least because of his love for an old woollen beanie that looked like a tea cosy, which he wore perpetually. He also didn’t understand closed doors—with his big voice, no conversation was ever missed by those with offices near him. He could also suddenly appear in the middle of a conversation and expect everthing to be dropped until his query (generally technology related) was answered!

Frank van Velsen, one of his students at CBC Pretoria who now is engaged in evangelisation in London, said that those who knew him “will never forget his

Fr Victor Carter

wit, his eccentric ways, and most of all his sheer authenticity”.

“I first came into contact with Fr Russell when he was my Religious Education teacher at CBC Pretoria in 2000, where he was a favourite among students and a real character in the staff room. I had the incredible privilege of also working alongside him at the Specialised Ministries Desk of the SACBC in 2010.

“As a convert to Catholicism, Fr Russell had an incredible passion for reaching out and ministering to those in prison as well as those in need. He once pointed out to me that in Matthew 25:3536—‘For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me’—that society often takes the first five requests quite seriously, but it’s the prisons that get the short end of the stick and are often forgotten about.

“CBC, all those involved in prison ministry and the greater Catholic community owe a debt of gratitude to Fr Russell.”

Fr Chris Townsend ing TV together.

He was a man who valued prayer—he couldn’t cope without his prayer time. In the last years of his life, he took on an almost monastic lifestyle, having retired from active ministry.

My prayer is that Fr Vic arrived to meet his Lord—and didn’t fight too much with the powers that be in Heaven. And yes, Vic, we’re talking about you!

Fr Chris Townsend

guides, he struggled as a student at St John Vianney Seminary.

At his ordination, he was asked to be chaplain to Baragwanath Hospital. This was a ministry that he loved, but it also took its toll on his mental and physical health. He found it very difficult to decode after the visits. He could be very sensitive to the hurt of others, probably from his own vulnerability.

Fr Vic loved animals and kept two dogs much to the frustration of Sunday, December 11, 3rd Sunday of Advent the priests he Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11, Psalms: Luke 1:46-50,53-54, lived with. He 1 Thessalonians 5, 16-24, John 1:6-8, 19-28 a n d t h e d o g s Monday, December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe could often be Zechariah 2:14-17 or Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10, found watchJudith 13:18-19, Luke 1:26-38 or 1:39-47 Tuesday, December 13, St Lucy Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13, Psalm 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-19, 23, Matthew 21:28-32 Wednesday, December 14, St John of the Cross To place your event, call Claire Allen at 021 465 5007 Isaiah 45:6-8, 18, 21-25, Psalm 85:9-14, Luke or e-mail c.allen@scross.co.za, (publication subject to space) 7:18-23 BETHLEHEM: Central: Tuesday 09:00 Thursday, December 15, feria Mass with novena to St Shrine of Our Lady of Isaiah 54:1-10, Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13, Luke 7:24anthony. First Friday Bethlehem at Tsheseng, 30 Maluti mountains; Thurs17:30 Mass—Divine Friday, December 16, feria days 09:30, Mass, then Mercy novena prayers.

Isaiah 56:1-3, 6-8, Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 7-8, John 5:33exposition of the Blessed Tel: 031 309 3496.

36 Sacrament. 058 Saturday, December 17, feria JOHANNESBURG: 721 0532.

Genesis 49:2, 8-10, Psalm 72:1-4, 7-8, 17, Exposition of the CAPE TOWN: Matthew 1:1-17 Blessed Sacrament: first Good Shepherd, BothSunday, December 18, 4th Sunday of Advent Friday of the month at asig. Perpetual Eucharis2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16, Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29, 09:20 followed by Holy tic adoration in the Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38 Mass at 10:30. Holy Hour:

F

ATHER Victor Carter of Johannesburg died on September 21 at the age of 73.

Born on May 14, 1938, he was a man with many sides. He was a late vocation, or rather a delayed one. He had wanted to be a priest as a young man, but the circumstances of his family prevented him from following his dream on completion of matric at St Charles Marist College in Pietermaritzburg. He did many things, from being a projectionist in a theatre (he proudly kept his “licence to project”) to selling furniture. He was a passionate sportsman and loved his cricket and rugby. He met many people this way.

Never a man for books, unless they were novels or TV

Liturgical Calendar Year B

Community Calendar

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.

DURBAN: St Anthony’s, Durban

first Saturday of each month at 15:00. at Our Lady of the angels, Little Eden, Edenvale. Tel: 011 609 7246.

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

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #474. ACROSS: 1 Reigns, 4 Cobweb, 9 School bullies, 10 Dismiss, 11 Ethic, 12 Limps, 14 Stole, 18 Trail, 19 Hateful, 21 Reincarnation, 22 Prying, 23 Target. DOWN: 1 Reside, 2 Inhospitality, 3 Naomi, 5 Oiliest, 6 Weightlifting, 7 Basics, 8 Abuse, 13 Pelican, 15 Stir up, 16 Third, 17 Planet, 20 Tiara.

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DEATHS LENNON—Sr Senan. Holy Cross Sister, Sr Senan, aged 88, passed away at Holy Cross Convent, Fatima House Retirement Home, aliwal North, on 19 august 2011. Lovingly remembered by her family circle in Ireland and the Holy Cross Sisters. May she rest in peace!

O’SULLIVAN—Sr Celia.

Holy Cross Sister, Sr Celia, recently of Holy Cross Convent, victory Park, Johannesburg, aged 75, passed away at Holy Cross Home, Pretoria, on 26 October 2011. Lovingly remembered by her sister, Sr M. aquinas O’Sullivan HC, her family circle in Ireland and the Holy Cross Sisters.

May she rest in peace!

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PRAYERS O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that 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 who can withstand your power, O show me that you are my mother. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Thank you for your mercy towards me and mine. amen. “Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and publish.” Thank you for prayers answered.

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THANKS MAY the Sacred heart of Jesus be adored, glorified, loved and preserved throughout the world now and forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us, St Jude worker of miracles pray for us. St Jude helper of the hopeless pray for us. alix

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December 11 3rd Sunday of Advent. Our Joy in Christ. The words of the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me, to bring good news to the poor, news of liberation and healing,” are well known. Peace is sometimes a quiet acceptance but at times too it is accompanied by joy. Celebrate peace with joy this week at home.

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4th Sunday of Advent: December 18 Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16 Psalm 89: 2-5, 27, 2 9, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38

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OD is faithful, in ways that we find it almost impossible to understand; but we must, as Christmas rushes upon us, understand this: that it does not depend on any initiative of ours. The only Christmas present that we can give to God is to accept the divine invitation.

This is the lesson that David has to learn in the first reading for next Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Advent. He is nicely settled, thank-you very much, and his enemies have been put in their place, so he fancies giving God a little bit of a reward, a decent house to live in.

In that world, of course, building some massive religious structure was one of the ways that people had of impressing their contemporaries. God, however, does not want a house; and indeed the boot is on the other foot, for God is going to give David a house, not in the sense of a building, but in the sense of a guaranteed successor: a son of his on his throne.

When Christians read this story, we inevitably think of Jesus as the promised son; but the Messiah who was to die on the cross was certainly not what David and

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The mystery of Advent is revealed Nicholas King SJ Sunday Reflections his court-prophet Nathan will have had in mind as they listened to the divine oracle.

The psalm for next Sunday reflects on this fidelity of God: “I shall sing of the Lord’s steadfast love for ever,” he sings, “and from generation to generation I shall make known your integrity”.

Then he talks of God’s covenant, and reminds God of his promise: “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant.” Our part of the psalm concludes “he will call on me— you are my father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation”.

That sounds great, doesn’t it? But if you have a moment, you might look at the rest of the psalm, and you will see that it is really a lament, because God does not appear to have performed what he said he

would do. And if this is how you are feeling, as Christmas comes upon you, then know that you are not alone. But know also, as the psalmist knows (or he would not be singing at all) that God never goes back on his word.

Next Sunday’s sec o nd reading is the very last bit of Paul’s massive Letter to the Romans; it may not have been written by Paul, as it appears in various different places in the manuscripts of the letter; but notice its effect: we are driven back, as always, upon God and what he has done in Jesus: “The One who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and according to the preaching of Jesus Christ.”

The author admits that it is not easy, since “the mystery was wrapped in silence through everlasting times, but now has been revealed”. It is all God’s doing; but there is still a response that is expected of us: “Obedience of faith,” as this extraordinary mystery turns out to be revealed, not just to David’s tribe of Judah, nor merely to the twelve tribes of Israel, but to “all the gentiles.”

And the prayer concludes, as your Advent should conclude, with giving

Our problems with praying I

N our more reflective moments we sense the importance of prayer; yet, we struggle to pray. Sustained, deep prayer doesn’t come easy for us. Why? First of all, we struggle to make time for prayer. Prayer doesn’t accomplish anything practical for us, it’s a waste of time in terms of tending to the pressures and tasks of daily life, and so we hesitate to go there. Coupled with this, we find it hard to trust that prayer actually works and brings about something real in our lives.

Beyond that, we struggle to concentrate when we try to pray. Once we do settle in to pray, we soon feel ourselves overwhelmed by daydreams, unfinished conversations, half-forgotten melodies, heartaches, agendas, and the impending tasks that face us as soon as we get up from our place of prayer.

Finally, we struggle to pray because we really don’t know how to pray. We might be familiar with various forms of prayer, from devotional prayers to different kinds of meditation, but we generally lack the confidence to believe that our own particular way of praying, with all its distractions and missteps, is prayer in the deep sense.

One of the places we can turn for help is the Gospel of Luke. More so than any of the other gospels, his is the gospel of prayer.

In Luke’s gospel there are more descriptions of Jesus in prayer than in all the other gospels combined. Luke gives us glimpses of Jesus praying in vir-

Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI Final Reflection tually every kind of situation: He prays when he is joy-filled, he prays when he is in agony, he prays with others around him, and he prays when he is alone at night, withdrawn from all human contact. He prays high on a mountain, on a sacred place, and he prays on the level plane, where ordinary life happens. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus prays a lot.

And the lesson isn’t lost on his disciples. They sense that Jesus’ real depth and power are drawn from his prayer.

They know that what makes him so special, so unlike any other religious figure, is that he is linked at some deep place to a power outside of this world. And they want this for themselves. That’s why they approach Jesus and ask him: “Lord, teach us to pray!”

But we must be careful not to misunderstand what constituted their attraction and what they were asking for when they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. They sensed that what Jesus drew from the depth of his prayer was not, first of all, his power to do miracles or to silence his enemies with some kind of superior intelligence.

What impressed them and what they

wanted too for their own lives was the depth and graciousness of his soul.

The power they admired and wanted was Jesus’ power to love and forgive his enemies rather than embarrass and crush them. What they wanted was Jesus’ power to transform a room, not by some miraculous deed, but by a disarming innocence and vulnerability that, like a baby’s presence, has everyone solicitously guarding his or her behaviour and language.

What they wanted was his power to renounce life in self-sacrifice, even while retaining the enviable capacity to enjoy the pleasures of life without guilt.

What they wanted was Jesus’ power to be big-hearted, to love beyond his own tribe, and to love poor and rich alike, to live inside of charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, long-suffering, fidelity, mildness, and chastity, despite everything within life that militates against these virtues. What they wanted was Jesus’ depth and graciousness of soul.

And they recognised that this power did not come from within himself, but from a source outside him. They saw that he connected to a deep source through prayer, through constantly lifting to God what was on his mind and in his heart. They saw it and they wanted that depth-connection too, for themselves. So they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.

Ultimately, we too want Jesus’ depth and graciousness in our own lives. Like Jesus’ disciples, we also know that we can only attain this through prayer, through accessing a power that lies inside the deepest deep of our souls and beyond our souls. We know too that the route to that depth lies in journeying inward, in silence, through both the pain and the quiet, the chaos and the peace, that come to us when we still ourselves to pray.

In our more reflective moments, and in our more desperate moments, we feel our need for prayer and try to go to that deep place. But, given our lack of trust and our lack of practice, we struggle to get there. We don’t know how to pray or how to sustain ourselves in prayer.

But in this we are in good company, with Jesus’ disciples. And so a good beginning is to recognise what we need and where it is found. We need to begin with a plea: Lord teach us to pray!

“glory for ever to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ”.

The g o sp e l is that loveliest of Lucan stories, the Annunciation to Mary. See how beautifully the picture is painted, the telling details of where Mary is and her social situation; and then we are in the middle of what God is doing: “Greetings, gracious lady—the Lord is with you”.

That is the point, as we watch Mary wrestling with her puzzlement, but without the aggressive questioning that caused Zacchary to be struck dumb. And the whole thing is managed by God, from whom Gabriel is sent, by whom the Holy Spirit is missioned to “come upon” Mary, so that “the power of the Most High will overshadow” her, and her offspring “shall be called ‘Son of God’.” “Nothing”, we learn, “is going to be impossible to God”.

Then we breathe a sigh of relief as Mary does all that can be expected of a human being: “Look—the Lord’s slave-girl: let it happen to me in accordance with your word”.

If Christmas is going to work for us, then Mary’s words have to be ours also.

God is utterly faithful.

Southern Crossword #474

ACROSS 1. Who lives and... (prayer) (6) 4. It’s woven in dusty corners (6) 9. They ill treat in the playground (6,7) 10. The deacon will do it for us at last (7) 11. Set of moral principles (5) 12. Walks with difficulty (5) 14. Pinched the priest’s vestment (5) 18. Blazer for one making new track (5) 19. Arousing intense dislike (7) 21. Rebirth, not the Christian way (13) 22. Being nosy (6) 23. It’s what can be aimed at (6)

DOWN 1. Have a domicile in the parish (6) 2. It shows when you’re not welcome in the ward? (13) 3. Ruth’s mother-in-law (5) 5. Most greasy of the chrisms (7) 6. Samson’s heavy way of exercising? (13) 7. Get down to these principles (6) 8. Treat with cruelty (5) 13. Bird in place (7) 15. Agitate (4,2) 16. Not the first divine Person (5) 17. Heavenly body (6) 20. It will enhance a royal hair-do (5) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

LITTLE boy opened the big, ancient family bible and with fascination looked at the old pages as he turned them. Then something fell out of the bible and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that had been pressed in between the pages.

“Mom, look what I found,” the boy called out.

“What have you got there, dear?” his mother asked.

With astonishment in the young boy’s voice he answered: “It’s Adam’s suit!”

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