The Southern Cross - 120222 by The Southern Cross

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February 22 to February 28, 2012

Catholic rock band hopes to inspire in Jhb

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Fr Rolheiser: What I learnt from my cancer

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Does Zuma know where he is going? BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

The parish of St Daniel Comboni in Mahube Valley, Mamelodi East, Pretoria, celebrated the fifth anniversary of the opening of the parish with a Mass presided over by the parish priest Fr James Calvera MCCJ with Fr Evans Kotoku MCCJ, assistant priest, and Deacon Sam Molebale. Over five years the parish has grown in both Christian and social activities, with eight Small Christian Communities, four sodalities, a youth group, the Coral “Izwi Lethemba”, a large group of altar servers and social projects such as a supporting group for Aids patients, and “Ithuteng”, an after-school child care project. In 2010 the parish was joined by a group of Comboni Missionary Sisters. To celebrate the anniversary, many parishioners wore shirts with a large number 5 and the words “Following Jesus together” as a testimony of the Christian experience that this community wants to live by: proclaiming Christ in the neighbourhoods of Lusaka, Mahube Valley and Mamelodi East.

The Stations of the Cross on your cellphone or PC STAFF REPORTER

OPE&JOY, through the work of the Jesuit Institute and with the blessing of Bishop Dabula of Queenstown, has moved into the world of smartphone apps by offering a replica of the Stations of the Cross that can be received on a Blackberry, iPhone or an Android handset. “In Lent, many Catholics return to the Stations of the Cross as a way of meditating on Christ’s death and Resurrection. But now instead of having to do that in a church or with a book, we are giving them a beautiful and prayerful way of meditating using their phone,” said Jesuit Father Russell Pollitt. The “Stations App” features the vibrant, challenging paintings by Johannesburg artist Joseph Capelle that were commissioned by Fr Pollitt last year for the Braamfontein church near Wits University in Johannesburg. Raymond Perrier, director of the Jesuit Institute, said: “Alongside the images, we have added words by the artist and by Fr Russell, and music sung by the University of Johannesburg choir drawing on traditional Zulu and Xhosa hymns and modern South African settings of ancient texts. In fact the whole project is proudly South African— apart from the technology which was developed by a brilliant young Zambian, Chanda Sampa.” Five versions are available, ranging in length from seven to 30 minutes, with music, with reflections or with prayers. With options designed for every kind of phone, the Way of the Cross is available to download from www.hopeandjoy.org.za either straight to your smartphone or via a computer. Although they are free to download,

RESIDENT Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address this month “failed to set out a perfect road map, but it offered at least a couple of pointers”, according to a leading Catholic analyst. President Zuma admitted that while progress has been made on the employment, education and crime fighting fronts, these are not enough to be content with, said Mike Pothier, research coordinator of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), a body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. In last year’s State of the Nation address Mr Zuma announced three major interventions against unemployment: R20 billion in tax incentives for manufacturing investment: R9 billion (over three years) for jobcreation initiatives; and R10 billion through the Industrial Development Corporation for high job-creation investments over five years. Results after a year show progress in that funds have been committed and plans made and approved, but not a large portion of spending and actual creation as of yet. “These things do take time,” Mr Pothier said. However, the CPLO commentator added, while achievements were made, these “fail to reflect the sense of urgency that should be evoked by an unemployment rate of almost a quarter of the population”. Mr Pothier said there was little to “really stir the nation’s emotions and galvanise us into unified action” in the president’s speech. “It was far from inspiring; there was no particular vision for the future, and no sense that Mr Zuma or his party has much idea of how to lead us into that future; or even that it is necessary to do so.” Mr Pothier said the fact that Grade R enrolment has doubled since 2003 is an

excellent basis for a long-term improvement in education, but more could have been said about the upgrading of education infrastructure. “Poor facilities, decrepit buildings, and a lack of textbooks and teaching aids combine to undermine the achievement of getting more children into the schools,” he said. Also of concern is the question of land redistribution. Only 8% of the country’s land has been redistributed, with a target of 30% by 2014. “The land question has been mishandled by one incompetent minister after another since 1994,” said Mr Pothier. Large-scale infrastructure plans took up more of the president’s speech which will have great benefits for both employment and the development of transport systems and other infrastructure. “Of course, as the leader of the opposition noted, infrastructure development is especially vulnerable to corruption, cronyism, maladministration and other structural weaknesses that the government has failed to tackle with the necessary vigour,” said Mr Pothier. “In this respect it would have been good to hear a greater emphasis on anti-corruption and accountability at the highest levels.” Mr Pothier also made mention of the next year marking 100 years of the Union Buildings and plans are underway to celebrate this. Work is also being done on various graves, heritage sites and historically notable houses. While this may seem unimportant, Mr Pothier said, these developments speak of “our nation’s history and heritage, and perhaps of a growing sense of ease with where we have come from”. However, he added, we still have “yet to achieve a similar sense about where we are going”.

Pope: Vocations an act of love BY FRANCIS X ROCCA

L The Stations of the Cross, as presented by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ and painter Joseph Cappelle, can now be received on smartphones and via the Internet. (Photo courtesy of Jesuit Institute SA) there is an invitation to make a contribution online to help cover the costs of development. Alternatively, the full set can be ordered on a CD-Rom at a cost of R30 (incl p&p) by e-mailing lent@hopeandjoy.org.za. Around 4 000 people, including members of parliament, will be receiving daily e-mail reflections during Lent that tie the Mass readings to our everyday lives. These can be received for free by sending an e-mail to library@hopeandjoy.org.za. Since May 2011 more than 370 000 text messages have been sent out with inspirational quotes from Vatican II documents and this will continue with Lenten themes. The daily SMS service can be subscribed to by sending an SMS with the word JOY to 31222 at a cost of R3,50 per week.

OVE of God nurtures love of neighbour, especially in people with vocations to the priesthood or religious life, Pope Benedict said in his message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The papal message for the 49th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which will be observed on April 29, was released at the Vatican. “The profound truth of our existence is thus contained in this surprising mystery: Every creature, and in particular every human person, is the fruit of God’s thought and an act of his love, a love that is boundless, faithful and everlasting,” Pope Benedict wrote. “It is in this soil of self-offering and openness to the love of God, and as the fruit of that love, that all vocations are born and grow. By drawing from this wellspring through prayer, constant recourse to God’s word and to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, it becomes possible to live a life of love for our neighbours, in whom we come to perceive the face of Christ the Lord,” the pope wrote. Pope Benedict wrote that love of both God and other people “must be lived with a particular intensity and purity of heart by those who have decided to set out on the path of vocation discernment towards the

In his message for Vocations Sunday, Pope Benedict says all vocations are the fruit of love of God. ministerial priesthood and the consecrated life”. Calling on the Church to “create the conditions that will permit many young people to say ‘yes’ in generous response to God’s loving call,” the pope recommended “Scripture, prayer and the Eucharist” as the most valuable means “enabling us to grasp the beauty of a life spent fully in service of the kingdom.” Quoting his predecessor, Bl John Paul II, Pope Benedict called families the “primary and most excellent seedbed of vocations to a life of consecration to the kingdom of God.—CNS

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

LOCAL

Ecclesia kick-starts Lent in Cape Town BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

E Parish organist Lulu Sibisi of Emmanuel cathedral in Durban play the pipe organ that will be celebrating its centenary.

Concerts to mark organ’s centenary BY THANDI BOSMAN

MMANUEL cathedral in Durban is celebrating the centenary of its cathedral pipe organ with two concerts in April. “The dedication of the cathedral organ took place on April 17, 1912, when Bishop Henry Delalle blessed the organ in the context of the first organ recital held at the cathedral,” said Paddy Kearney of the Denis Hurley Centre at Emmanuel cathedral. The first concert will be held on April 17 from 13:00-14:00, entrance to which is free. The concert will be an open recital for local organists and organ students. Those wanting to participate should book a timeslot as soon as possible.

The second concert will be on April 20 at 19:00. This will be an organ recital with an entrance fee of R20. Internationally acclaimed Capetonian organist Zorada will be a special guest performer at the concert. The concerts will “give thanks for the 100 years of the organ’s life and the important role it has played in the liturgy of the cathedral”, Mr Kearney said. He added: “The organ is one of the largest church organs in South Africa and is said to be one of the finest ‘romantic’ organs in KwaZulu-Natal”. n For bookings for the two concerts or more information contact Pinkie Mtshali at 031 306 3595 or 082 961 2165 or email at musicdirector@emmanuelcathe dral.org.za

CCLESIA, the faith-sharing programme of the archdiocese of Cape Town, will officially be launched in Lent 2012. The programme is the product of the archdiocesan synod in 2007 where the need to reflect upon, discuss and discover our faith and our relationship with the person of Jesus emerged. Joan Armstrong, director of the archdiocesan Centre for Pastoral Development, said the establishment of Small FaithSharing Groups, as seen across the country, was the way forward. She said the archdiocese decided to create a programme that would guide these groups. “It is a gathering of six to12 people who meet to read and reflect on the scriptures, to pray and to socialise,” said Ms Armstrong. “A faith-sharing group provides a place where we can simply be ourselves in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere—a place where we can renew ourselves spiritually. Faith-sharing is a prayerful experience of listening to God's word as well as other writings from Vatican II

and the Catechism of the Catholic Church and then sharing how this is lived out in our own lives and the lives of others. It is also a great way to meet and get to know others in your parish community,” she said. But it’s more than just a prayer group and it’s not formal Bible study, the director said. “You don’t have to be a scripture scholar to participate.” However, scripture, the documents of Vatican II and the Catechism are a vital part of faith-sharing, she said. Each session the participants reflect upon readings and then follow the Ecclesia DVD material. “The group will then share how they relate to their own lives and how they can turn this reflection into action,” said Ms Armstrong. Living the faith is one of the most important parts of the Ecclesia programme. Ms Armstrong said it is hoped the programme will encourage the archdiocese’s Catholics to live out what they have learnt in the group. “The spin-off to the project has been communities finding themselves being drawn togeth-

er. Our motto is ‘Sharing faith, building communities and changing lives’, and that’s what we’re seeing happen in parishes that were involved in the pilot programme,” said Ms Armstrong. Ms Armstrong said she hopes Ecclesia will lead people to change the way they do things and “we’re already seeing that happen”. With three seasons, each six weeks long, already planned, Cape Catholics have a lot to look forward to. “We’d be delighted if other dioceses, small groups or families wanted to pick up on the programme. We want to spread the good news of Jesus Christ— so we’re very keen to see this spread into other areas,” Ms Armstrong said, adding that the programme is a work in progress with future seasons being designed according to the needs in the archdiocese and the response from the groups. Ms Armstrong said facilitators have been trained and the first season of materials has been released across the archdiocese ready for Lent. n For more information on Ecclesia contact the Centre for Pastoral Development on 021 462 2417.

Catholic school’s academic efforts rewarded BY MAURICIO LANGA

MARIANNHILL Catholic school has been recognised by Durban’s Ethekwini municipality for its high level of academic excellence and a 100% pass rate during the 2011 academic year. The purpose of these awards is to recognise schools and students that show outstanding achievement and educational improvement. The award ceremony, sponsored by the Ethekwini municipality and Nedbank, was held at the Suncoast Conference Centre in Durban. Jabulani B Nzama, principal of Mariannhill Secondary School—commonly known as St Francis College—accepted the award, saying the school’s achievements over the years is a result of a collective effort of both school management and educators. Mr Nzama said the school’s recognition by the Ethekwini region will serve as a morale booster for the entire staff and work even harder to maintain the high academic standards that the school is known for. “Our main aim is to maintain the 100% pass rate while at the same time improving on the number of distinctions,” said Mr Nzama. At the award ceremony a St Francis College learner,

Jabulani B Nzama, principal of Mariannhill Secondary School—commonly known as St Francis College—displays the accolades that his school received at the Ethekwini Region awards ceremony. (Photo Mauricio Langa) Thokozane Mchunu, was presented with an academic award by the Ethekwini Municipality and a cheque for R10 000 from Nedbank to support her further education. Ms Mchunu, who is currently enrolled at Wits University in Johannesburg, attained a 100% pass in her matric accounting examination. Mr Nzams said among the challenges his school faces is that of outside influence. He pointed out that the school in the recent past decided to take day scholars and most of them

arrive late since they stay in townships. In addition, the lack of parents’ involvement at school level, in spite of them having high academic expectations of their children, is a major problem. “Also the school is left in financial challenges when some parents and guardians fail to pay for their children’s fees,” said the principal. He added that the school receives additional financial assistance from the Catholic Institute of Education.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

Star journo takes reins at ADNews BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T Catholic band Pocket Kings 3:15 will perform at an ecumenical music festival in Johannesburg.

Catholic rock at Christian festival BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

ATHOLIC musicians will take to the stage in Johannesburg at an ecumenical concert aimed at reaching young adults. The Engulfed Worship Festival intends to evangelise through quality music. “We aim to bring hot Christian bands in to play and show how they are making music for God. This will be a festival centred around worship,” said the festival’s website (engulfedworshipfesti val.com). Pocket Kings 3:15 will be performing at the festival. The Catholic rock group, made up of Byron John, Julie Brenner, Michael de Klerk, Dean Spiller and Gareth Phillips was named for 2 Kings 3:15—“[Elijah said:] ‘But get me a musician.’ And then, while the musician was playing, the power of the Lord came on him.” The members say the verse has inspired the group to pursue music ministry. “Pocket Kings 3:15 aim to serve and spread the love through praise and worship at every opportunity,” said Mr Spiller. “We are essentially a praise and worship band and a band that aims to allow the Holy Spirit into people's lives by providing them

with a means to pray and express their prayers through unity and song. We try to point to Jesus through our music and play for his glory, not our own,” said Mr Spiller. Apart from performing at festivals, Mr Spiller said he can often be found serving musically at Victory Park’s St Charles parish and at the church of the Resurrection in Bryanston, both in Johannesburg. He has also been involved in working with youth groups, Singles for Christ conferences, Theology of the Body meetings and Alpha courses. Mr Spiller said he performs both in a solo and group capacity with the band as he has expressed the desire to use his gifts for God’s glory wherever possible. The festival launches on March 8 at 19:00 at The Barn Christian Fellowship Centre and then moves to the Venue in Heuningklip (15 Dorothy Road), both in Johannesburg, on March 9 and 10 from 15:00, and is free of charge. The festival will include ecumenical services and the option for visitors to camp overnight at R20 per site. Mr Spiller said the festival would be a great opportunity for Pocket Kings 3:15 to reach a wider audience and join efforts with other Christian musicians. n For more information visit www.engulfedworshipfestival.com

Have any local news? Send your local news to news@scross.co.za or call 021 465 5007

HE new editor of Johannesburg’s Archdiocesan News will be Anna Cox, a rerportter for the daily The Star. She succeeds Judy Stockill. Born to Italian parents, Ms Cox attended Holy Cross Convent in Yeoville where she matriculated, and went on to study towards a BA in English at Wits University. “I worked for the consulate general of Italy for five years after graduation, doing translations and other administrative work,” she told The Southern Cross. But it was not long before the journalism bug bit. “I joined Caxton Newspapers as a junior reporter, staying for ten years, working my way to editor of the North Eastern Tribune”. For the last 20 years Ms Cox has been with The Star newspaper, specialising in municipal affairs. This is how she met Ms Stockill, who was a Johannesburg city councillor at the time. Her popular column “Metrowatch”, published every Friday, helps residents with their municipal problems. The mother of three will be working with the same team that currently produces the monthly ADNews. “I really need Judy’s guidance until I am familiar with all

The new editor of Johannesburg’s Archdiocesan News is Anna Cox. the systems and get to know all the organisations.” Ms Cox said while much will stay the same, there will be some small changes in the future—“the most important one is improving the quality of photos and articles where possible”. Noting that many of the contributions are from novice writers and photographers, Ms Cox said she would like to do “a little basic training for the regular contributors on simple reporting and photography. Much can be achieved even with a small camera and very basic writing skills”.

Ms Cox, a parishioner of St Therese parish in Edenvale, said she hopes readers and contributors will continue submitting their requests for coverage and feedback on their events. “I would also like to get regular feedback on what, if any, changes they would like to see in the paper.” Ms Stockill said the newspaper needs as many community correspondents as possible. This will be the case especially when on April 1 a new archdiocesan website goes live with ADNews being responsible for updating news and events on the site. This is one area in particular Ms Stockill will still be involved in. “I'm not leaving so much as shedding responsibility,” she said of the change in roles. Ms Stockill, who has produced 39 issues, was never meant to take on the job full time—she offered to help out “a little” when the previous editor was ill. Since then, the newspaper has grown and adapted but has kept the same circulation as 25 years ago. Ms Cox admits she has a strong lead to follow. “I am starting to see, by the number of mails, responses and requests that are coming in, that Judy has turned ADNews into a huge success”.

Tangney

Special Interest Tours

CHRIST THE REDEEMER PILGRIMAGE

Spiritual Director: Fr Michael Connell SDB 30 October – 12 November 2012. Climb Mt Sinai. St Catherine’s Monastery. Eilat: Underwater Observatory. Holy Land: Galilee. Jerusalem. Bethlehem. Magdala: New discovery. Masada. Dead Sea Jordan: Jerash. Mt Nebo. Authentic Baptismal site. Cairo: Pyrmids. Sphynx. Cruise. Tel: (021) 683 0300 Fax: 086 691 9308 P O Box 273, Rondebosch, 7701 Email: karis@tangneytours.co.za

SMS: Get a daily SMS with inspiring words from Scripture, Vatican II and recent Popes at a cost of only R3.50 per week. Just SMS the word JOY to 31222.

E-mail: Receive a free daily e-mail reflection during Lent. E-mail your name, parish and cell number to library@hopeandjoy.org.za

Book: Buy a full colour South African book of daily reflections linking Lent to themes of Vatican II: R40 from Catholic bookshops and by mail order below.

Small group discussions: in your group or sodality or Catholic organisation use full colour inspiration cards to reflect on the themes of Vatican II during Lent. A pack of 12 cards costs R50 or 5 packs for R200.

Smartphone: You can pray a modern South African Stations of the Cross on your Blackberry, IPhone or Android: images, words and music. Download from www.hopeandjoy.org.za

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Human rights parishes attacked in Mexican govt’s crackdown on crime BY DAVID AGREN

JESUIT priest in Mexico has denounced a raid on his parish and human rights centre, calling it yet another attempt to intimidate activists who have been critical of Mexican government excesses in the crackdown on organised crime. Fr José Castilla Plasencia SJ, pastor of St Jude Thaddeus parish and director of the Juan Gerardi Human Rights Centre in the northern city of Torreón, spoke after a raid, which he said was conducted without a warrant and prompted by an anonymous tip alleging drugs were in the installations. The raid included the search of crypts. “This interruption by federal and state forces and the army shows, in a clear way, the current security policy, which, far from resolving problems, increases the vulnerability of the population that is subject to this kind of

abuse,” Fr Castilla said in comments published by the Monterrey newspaper El Norte. “The acts constitute a clear aggression and try to send an intimidating message against defenders of human rights.” Individuals working on human rights issues—including Catholic priests who protect undocumented migrants—have been subject to police and army raids, along with attacks from assailants in cases that largely go unsolved. Over the past four years, parish and diocesan human rights centres in Ciudad Juárez, Saltillo and Torreón have been either raided or robbed. Priests, including Fr Alejandro Solalinde in Oaxaca state and Fr Tomás González Castillo OFM in Tabasco state, have been accused of abandonment and human trafficking respectively during their work with undocumented migrants. Additionally, activists such as Norma Andrade, who founded the

COMBONI MISSIONARIES

A child looks at a “popeman” built by American students after snowfall in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. This was the second snowfall in a week in a city where snow is as rare as a papal conclave. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS)

group Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa (May Our Daughters Return Home) to protest against the lack of progress in the unsolved murders of so many young women in Ciudad Juárez, have come under attack. Mrs Andrade, whose daughter was murdered in 2001, was knifed on February 3 in Mexico City, where she moved to after being shot just two months earlier in Ciudad Juárez. “Evidently, it’s inconvenient for [the authorities] that there are organisations that are continually signaling the abuses they commit,” said Fr Oscar Enriquez, director of the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre in Ciudad Juárez, which was raided by the federal police in June 2010. Federal and state officials have not commented on the raid in Torreón, although the interior ministry said in a statement that human rights were “the highest priority” of the federal government.—CNS

Founded by Saint Daniel Comboni

Top British official warns of Europe’s militant secularism BY SIMON CALDWELL

A We are committed as Priests or Brothers to EVANGELISATION and DEVELOPMENT in Africa, Europe, America and Asia

JOIN US IN BRINGING THE GOOD NEWS TO THE WORLD Contact Father Vincent Mkhabela 076 975 6846 Or write to: Vocation Co-ordinator Comboni Study Centre, P.O. Box 73514 0040 Lynnwood Ridge, Pretoria www.comboni.org.za

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Holy Childhood of Jesus

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Holy Childhood Sisters P.Bag 553 Eshowe, 3815

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Sr. Teressa Zungu Sr. Bongiwe Xulu Phone: 035 -4744242 Phone: 035-4766262 Cell: 082-0932002 Cell: 076-3064446 E-mail: awerresh@netactive.co.za

“DEEPLY intolerant” militant secularism is taking hold of Western societies, according to a senior British government minister. Such secularism “demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes—denying people the right to a religious identity because they were frightened of the concept of multiple identities,” said Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a Muslim. She said Europe must counter the threat by becoming “more confident and more comfortable in its Christianity”. The cabinet minister without portfolio and co-chair of the ruling Conservative Party made her remarks in an article published by the London-based Daily Telegraph to coincide with a two-day Vatican visit by the delegation of seven government ministers. They were to be joined by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster before they meet the pope and Vatican officials to discuss a range of policy issues. The trip was “about recognising the deep and intrinsic role of faith here in Britain and overseas”, said Baroness Warsi. In her address to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy she argued that “to create a more just society, people need to feel stronger in their religious identities and more confident in their creeds”. “In practice this means individuals not diluting their faiths and nations not denying their religious heritages,” Baroness Warsi wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “The societies we live in, the

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi with Pope Benedict in 2010. (Photo: Alessia Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo/CNS) cultures we have created, the values we hold and the things we fight for all stem from centuries of discussion, dissent and belief in Christianity. “These values shine through our politics, our public life, our culture, our economics, our language and our architecture. You cannot and should not extract these Christian foundations from the evolution of our nations any more than you can or should erase the spires from our landscapes,” she wrote.

he baroness said she feared “that a militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies. We see it in any number of things: when signs of religion cannot be displayed or worn in government buildings; when states won’t fund faith schools; and where religion is sidelined, marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere. “It seems astonishing to me that those who wrote the European Constitution made no mention of God or Chris-

tianity,” she said. The baroness, the first Muslim female to hold a cabinet post in a British government, said one of the “most worrying aspects about this militant secularisation is that, at its core and in its instincts, it is deeply intolerant.” She stressed that she was “not calling for some kind of 21st-century theocracy” but “for a more open confidence in faith, where faith has a place at the table, though not an exclusive position”. At the Vatican, Baroness Warsi said the pope was right to highlight the increasing marginalisation of religion during his September 2010 address in London’s Westminster Hall. “I see it in United Kingdom and I see it in Europe: Spirituality, suppressed. Divinity, downgraded. Where, in the words of the archbishop of Canterbury, faith is looked down on as the hobby of ‘oddities, foreigners and minorities’. Where religion is dismissed as an eccentricity because it’s infused with tradition. Where we undermine people who attribute good works to their belief and require them to deny it as their motivation,” Baroness Warsi said. She said response to militant secularisation “has to be simple: holding firm in our faiths, holding back intolerance, reaffirming the religious foundations on which our societies are built and reasserting the fact that, for centuries, Christianity in Europe has been inspiring, motivating, strengthening and improving our societies”.—CNS

Pope: World must help Africans in Sahel BY MARY SHOVLAIN

OPE Benedict has urged the international community to address the problems of poverty and malnutrition in Africa’s Sahel region. “The Sahel was seriously threatened again in recent months by a notable decrease in food resources and by famine caused by a lack of rain and the resulting increase in desertification,” the pope told members of the John Paul II Foundation for

the Sahel. He said that for residents of the Sahel, “living conditions are deteriorating”. Pope Benedict noted that Africa is often described as the continent of conflict and infinite problems, but he said the opposite is true. For the Church, he said, Africa “is the continent of hope”. The Sahel is a region of semiarid grassland and desert south of the Sahara Desert. United Nations agencies and

nongovernmental organisations estimate that 6 million people in Niger are highly vulnerable to food insecurity, extreme poverty and malnutrition; 2,9 million in Mali; 700 000 in Mauritania; and more than 2 million in Burkina Faso. Thirteen of Chad’s 22 regions could be affected by food insecurity. In 1980, following his first visit to Africa, Bl John Paul II founded the Sahel foundation to combat desertification in Africa.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

Warning: Deposing Assad will harm Syria’s Christians BY CAROL GLATZ

S a sectarian conflict in Syria intensified, Pope Benedict called on all Syrians to begin a process of dialogue and reminded the government of its duty to recognise its citizens’ legitimate demands. In Beirut, the patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church warned against toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, calling for dialogue to solve the crisis in the country. “Our fear since the beginning of the bloody crisis in Syria was that the refusal of any sort of dialogue between the regime and the opposition will surely create a state of chaos that will definitely lead to a civil war,” Syriac Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan told Catholic News Service. “The world must sustain all efforts for a dialogue to solve problems and uphold the democracy in a realistic and gradual way. Forcing the departure of the Syrian president will be a step for a civil war based on confessionalism,” the patriarch said.

In St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, the pope expressed his concern for “the dramatic and increasing episodes of violence in Syria”. At the end of his Angelus prayer, he said he was praying for everyone who has been killed, injured and affected by a conflict that is “increasingly worrisome”. “I renew an urgent appeal to put an end to the violence and bloodshed. I invite everyone, especially Syria’s political authorities, to favour the path of dialogue, reconciliation and a commitment to peace,” he said. “It’s urgent to respond to the legitimate aspirations of the various sectors of the nation, as well as to the wishes of the international community, which are concerned about the common good of the whole country and the region,” the pope said. A nationwide uprising against al-Assad’s government began last March, but Syrian security forces stepped up efforts to defeat the opposition movement, especially in Homs, a centre of resistance. Intense artillery and rocket fire

Cardinal: China schism looms BY MARY SHOVLAIN

HINESE Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has warned that the Chinese Catholic Church is “on the verge of a schism” between communities cooperating with government structures and those who refuse to register with government authorities. In an article for the Romebased missionary news agency Asia News, he called on the Vatican and other Catholics to shun “organisms that are not only foreign but clearly hostile to the Church” in China. “The situation of the Church in China is particularly unusual because not bishops, but bodies outside the Church...are leading our Church,” Cardinal Zen wrote, noting the government’s continued supervision of the Church through the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. China’s more than 10 million Catholics are divided among communities registered with the communist government and those, sometimes called “underground”, who have refused to register.

In recent years, as many as 85% of government-approved bishops have been recognised by the Holy See, a “strategy of compromise” that Cardinal Zen argued has demoralised the unregistered communities. “We can see that the underground community that once flourished so well now runs the risk of dying of frustration and discouragement, because it seems to be neglected and considered inconvenient by the Holy See,” Cardinal Zen wrote. Noting the illicit ordinations of three government-approved bishops without the pope’s approval since November 2010, Cardinal Zen wrote that Beijing “still wants absolute control of religion, and in the case of the Catholic Church, China wants to detach the Church from obedience to the Holy See.” Cardinal Zen said: “The true good of the Church in China is not in continuing to bargain with organisms that are not only foreign, but clearly hostile to the Church,” Cardinal Zen wrote, “but in mobilising bishops and faithful to rid the Church of them.”—CNS

A sign in response to the violence in Syria is seen during a Mass at a church in the West Bank town of Ramallah. As a sectarian conflict in Syria intensified, Pope Benedict called on all Syrians to begin a process of dialogue and reminded the government of its duty to recognise its citizens’ legitimate demands. (Photo: Mohamad Torokman, Reuters/CNS) by government forces on residential areas in Homs left at least 200 people dead this month, opposition activists said.

The United Nations has not provided an updated death toll since it estimated in December that more than 5 000 people had

been killed since the violence began last March. Patriarch Younan, noting that Syria is among the most secularised countries in the Middle East, warned that a confessional war in Syria would be far worse than a political one. “Remember Iraq,” he said, “where Christians were abused, killed in their churches and houses and forced to exile.” As a result, “they have been reduced to less than one-third of their previous numbers”. The patriarch said that, so far, he has not heard of any direct targeting against churches in Syria, but he pointed to “the innocent victims—civilians as well as some clergy—[that] have fallen since the beginning of armed opposition”. “We also hear of a massive exodus from villages and suburbs, due to threats coming from the socalled revolutionary committees in the name of God,” he said. A native of Hassakeh, Syria, Patriarch Younan is the patriarch of approximately 150 000 Syriac Catholics worldwide, with nearly 40 000 in Syria.—CNS

Abuse lawsuit against Vatican dropped BY FRANCIS X ROCCA

HIGH-PROFILE US federal lawsuit accusing Pope Benedict of covering up sexual abuse has been withdrawn. Lawyers for the plaintiff in John Doe 16 vs Holy See filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, bringing the case effectively to an end. The lawsuit was filed in April 2010 in the US District Court in Milwaukee by an unnamed Illinois man who claimed he had been molested by Fr Lawrence Murphy during the latter’s time on the staff of Milwaukee’s St.John’s School for the Deaf. The lawsuit claimed that the Vatican “has known about the widespread problem of childhood sexual abuse committed by its clergy for centuries, but has covered up that abuse and thereby perpetuated the abuse”. The lawsuit also sought to prove that the Vatican is a global business empire, engaging in “commercial activity” in Wisconsin and across the United States, and holding “unqualified power” over each diocese, parish and follower. Jeffrey S Lena, an American attor-

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ney for the Holy See, welcomed the withdrawal of “fallacious allegations of Holy See responsibility and liability for John Doe 16’s abuse”. “A case like this one against the Holy See, which was held together by no more than a mendacious web of allegations of international conspiracy, amounted to a misuse of judicial process and a waste of judicial resources,” Mr Lena said in a statement. The plaintiff was represented by Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson, who has filed thousands of abuse lawsuits against priests and representatives of the Catholic Church. Mr Anderson is still pursuing a sex abuse lawsuit against the Holy See in Oregon. Another such case in Kentucky was withdrawn in 2010. Fr Murphy worked at the school for the deaf from 1950 to 1974. In the early 1970s, multiple allegations of sexual abuse against the priest were made to civil authorities, who investigated but never brought charges. He was placed on a leave of absence for a while and later returned to pastoral ministry in the diocese of Superior, where he worked until 1993.

In 1996, then-Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee referred Fr Murphy’s case to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Vatican decided not to laicise Fr Murphy, but eventually suggested that he continue to be restricted in ministry, and he died four months later, in 1998. Pope Benedict was named as a defendant in the case because of his authority to remove priests, and because of his involvement in reviewing sex abuse cases when he was cardinal, as prefect of the doctrinal congregation. “Mythology about the Catholic Church to the contrary, the Holy See is not responsible for the supervision of the more than 400 000 priests around the world,” Mr Lena said. Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee called the outcome of the case a “reminder of the relationship of the Holy See to the dioceses”. “The Holy See offers the direction we should go,” but leaves administrative decisions up to local bishops, he said.—CNS

LEADER PAGE

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Healing old wounds

DECADE ago the abuse scandal in Boston broke, setting off a seemingly endless domino effect of allegations and revelations of Church personnel molesting minors, and Church authorities mishandling cases of reported abuse. The Catholic Church has come a long, acutely painful way since then. The initial reaction was defensive and reactive. The Church seemed programmed to regard those who complained of having been abused as adversaries. Those who called for new principles— mandatory reporting of allegations to the police, accountability in dealing with abuse cases, solidarity with the victims of abuse, an end to the culture of coverups, a Church-wide apology, and so on—were treated with suspicion and even hostility. At least initially, it was evident that the Church did not understand that it was at the epicentre of an earthquake which would damage its reputation profoundly. In trying to cut a bella figura, Church officials assumed grotesque postures, going as far as to suggest that the incidence of abuse was an “Anglo problem” and blaming a “homosexual subculture” for it. Both propositions have been shown to be rooted in ignorance. Ten years after Boston, the Church is saying all the right things, with due humility. The Vatican has effectively pronounced mandatory reporting a Church-wide policy (even though loopholes still exist); the Church has committed itself to putting the victims of abuse first; the Vatican has become more open about the incidence of abuse; Pope Benedict and many bishops have issued repeated and sincere apologies; and the Church is now aware that the safety of minors is more important than the reputation of the Church. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, put it well in his homily at a penitential service this month when he acknowledged that the Church authorities often failed to protect children and served instead as an “instrument of evil against them”. This is important: the public reaction against the Church has been chiefly against a clerical culture that allowed abuse to take place, and against Church leaders

who put minors at risk from predators—and sometimes even were complicit in the abuse by discretely moving known abusers to new parishes. That entrenched culture has harmed the Church even more than the actions of a tiny fraction of abusive priests. Pope Benedict, who as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger tried unsuccessfully to address the problem of clerical abuse, has done much to bring about this change. Likewise, diocesan bishops such as Cardinal Sean O’Malley in Boston and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Dublin have done much to start repairing the shattered image of the Church. This month’s symposium, titled “Towards Healing and Renewal”, went a long way to set out the Church’s approach to handling clerical abuse, past and future. And yet, for all its good intentions, the symposium struck a few false notes before it even began. For one thing, the outspoken and proactive Archbishop Martin was not invited to participate. It is an astonishing omission which communicates that the one bishop who has truly earned the respect of those who distrust the Church is being sidelined. Secondly, it cannot suffice to invite only one representative of abuse survivors to a conference that sought to make things right with those who were abused. It was not fair on Marie Collins, the representative who spoke movingly about her distressing experience of being victimised first by her priest and then by the previous cardinal-archbishop of Dublin. Moreover it sent the wrong signal that the views of abuse survivor organisations, not all of whom share the same perspectives and some of whom are hostile towards the Church, are not considered important to the Vatican. We must not be surprised then when they express the uncharitable view that the symposium was just “a public relations stunt”. This, however, points to another issue: What do abuse survivor organisations want from the Church, and what can the Church do? This is not a question best conducted through statements and the media. It is necessary that these organisations and the leaders of the Church meet, on terms that are not prescribed by the Church.

Don’t tar all catechists with the same brush! They study the word, prepare TAKE great umbrage to a number insult all catechists? I belong to a parish which is lessons, ensuring that they get the ILee’s of erroneous statements in John letter, “Evangelised catechism blessed with quite a number of cate- message across in an interesting, needed” (January 25), not least of which being: “We seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel in finding truly committed catechism teachers in our parishes”. Of course, I cannot speak for the parish that Mr Lee attends, but what a truly ridiculously sweeping statement to make! What studies has Mr Lee conducted to place him in such a position of authority to allow him to

Read the CCC!

REFER to Bernard Straughan’s letter, which questions the doctrine of original sin (January 18). The Catholic Church defines original sin as a doctrine—a revealed and defined truth, which a Catholic is bound to hold. “The Church, which has the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), knows very well that we can not tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ.”—Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 389. Our Church proposes, never imposes her teachings. If we hold other beliefs, we have free will and can walk away from her, any time we choose. The Church will never compromise the Truth. It is not “your truth” or “my truth”, the truth is objective. Pelagius (354), a Celtic monk, denied original sin, among other things, and St Augustine scientifically refuted this error of Pelagius. The Church condemned this error at several synods, and finally at the Third General Council of Ephesus 431. Modern Rationalism, which will deny everything supernatural and also original sin, in effect accepts the false doctrine of Pelagianism. “The First Commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance and to reject everything that is opposed to it” (CCC 2089). I’d like to thank Bernard Straughan for the opportunity to learn more about our awesome faith while defending it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a must for every Catholic who takes their faith seriously. Sam Russell, Johannesburg

Catholic roots

ÜNTHER Simmermacher’s article on Manchester United (February 1) suggests that there is a rather strong Catholic connection there. I wish to point out that there is only one football club in the UK

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chists, young and old, all of whom are God-loving, committed Christians who have a deep and personal relationship with Jesus and who love sharing this with others. It shows in their attitudes and in their interaction with others. I see it in their smiles and in their interest in the youth of our parish. These are men and women, and I am one of them, who have dedicated themselves to sharing our faith and their love of Jesus with others.

fun and age-appropriate manner. They don’t do this for recognition and certainly not for money. They do it for love. This is not only true for my parish; I am speaking on behalf of hundreds of catechists. The next time Mr Lee uses this forum to insult catechists he should ensure that he does not include all parishes, and definitely not mine. Collette O’Sullivan, Cape Town

which has a strong Catholic connection, and that club is Glasgow Celtic. Celtic was founded in 1887 in Glasgow by Marist Brother Walfrid to raise funds to feed the poor Irish who had settled in the east end of Glasgow. Bill McIntosh, President: Celtic Supporters Club, Johannesburg branch

faith. Can we still call it a Catholic school system? Fees in private schools are so prohibitively expensive, one wonders how Catholic families are able to afford it, knowing the difficult financial situation of many families today. I recently visited a well-run Catholic boys’ school in the East Rand, which is in the process now of also taking on pupils as boarders. When asking whether they would like a copy of my book What the Catholic Church Teaches, which is aimed specifically at assisting the many Catholic high school learners who no longer practise their faith, even after being confirmed, I was told that “religious instruction” is not taught specifically to Catholics there, but as a subject to all pupils, stressing human values and respect for life. It is pointless stressing so-called human values without laying the foundation: the source and power that enables one to live out those human values: Jesus Christ and the power of his Spirit. It’s like expecting apple trees to bear grapes. Your article gives a commendable and glowing report of the recent matric academic achievements at Catholic schools. But are our schools not supposed to be equally proud of our success at passing on the Catholic faith centred on a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ empowered by the Spirit, to these young people on the threshold of their adult lives? The words of Jesus ring down the centuries: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul?” It is no secret that the percentage of young Catholics practising their faith even in traditional Catholic countries is at an all-time low. What contribution is the “Catholic ethos” in our schools making towards our school-leaving Catholics regarding “Christ, the key, the centre and the purpose of human history”, of which they are part, as stressed by Pope Benedict? John Lee, Johannesburg

n Günther Simmermacher responds: The article suggested that the relationship between Manchester United and Catholicism was informal, mainly through the membership of club functionaries and legendary manager Matt Busby in the Manchester Catholic Sportsman’s Club. Long ago, Manchester’s Catholics traditionally supported United, and Protestants backed City. Today, these links are gone, whereas Celtic retains its Catholic tradition. Hibernian FC of Edinburgh (or Hibs) could also claim Catholic roots (though they have tended to downplay them). Having been founded in 1875 by Irish immigrants, the club maintained a requirement until the late 19th century that players had to belong the Catholic Young Men’s Society.

Lay the foundation

REFER to “Catholic ethos is the key in education” and “The Catholic School”( January 25). There is much talk these days in education circles of the “Catholic ethos”; ethos being described in the dictionary as the “characteristic spirit and beliefs of a community or system”. According to your excellent editorial, 73% of pupils in Catholic schools are not of the Catholic 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.

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PERSPECTIVES

The reaffirmation of the conscience

‘D

EEP within their consciences men and women discover a law which they have not laid upon themselves and which they must obey. Its voice, ever calling them to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, tells them inwardly at the right moment: do this, shun that. For they have in their hearts a law inscribed by God” (Gaudium et Spes, 16). With these powerful and poetic words, Vatican II reaffirmed an ancient Christian moral principle: conscience. Present in the earliest practice of the Church, elaborated most articulately by the great Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages, the principle of conscience—a person’s “most secret core” or sanctuary where one is “alone with God”—has been a persistent part of the Church’s moral teaching, despite distortions and attempts to play it down in favour of moral legalism. Conscience, properly understood, is an ongoing exercise in making judgments—and like any form of exercise, the more you do it the better you get at it. Conscience is formed by exercising it. And conscience must also be informed— by getting to know, understand and interpret the moral teachings of the Church. Aquinas summed it up neatly: “Follow your formed and informed conscience.” The Council further suggested that “[t]hrough loyalty to conscience, Christians are joined to others in the search for truth and for the right solution to so many moral problems which arise both in the life of individuals and from social relationships”. Of course, many have objected that appealing to conscience is dangerous. People make wrong choices. People are driven by self-interest. Some would go so far as to say that since people are inherently sinful they will inevitably make the wrong moral choices. Hence, argues theologian-psychologist Bart Kiely, it is better to do as Holy Mother Church tells you—and if the Church is wrong you are not morally blameworthy.

A variant of this school of thought, proposed by Germain Grisez and John Finnis among others, argues that one only follows their conscience correctly if their moral judgment is in accord with the Church. While one might more easily reject the Kiely approach as too pessimistic about human nature, this second approach demands a more careful examination. It is true to say that one’s conscience may be in error. Here the Church and Vatican II acknowledge two forms of error: “It often happens that conscience goes astray through ignorance which it is unable to avoid, without thereby losing its dignity. This cannot be said of the person who takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is gradually almost blinded through the habit of committing sin.” This is helpful because it distinguishes between genuine ignorance and a refusal to bother to be properly morally informed. The great danger with conscience, which both the Kiely and GrisezFinnis schools emphasise and which

Franz Jägerstatter is beatified in a ceremony in Linz, Austria, in 2007. Bl Jägerstatter was beheaded in 1943 for conscientiously refusing to serve in the Nazi army. He was beatified as a martyr.

Anthony Egan SJ

A Church of Hope and Joy

Aquinas himself understood all too well, is that it can become an excuse for people at best not exercising proper moral discernment, at worst appealing to selfinterest. However, the danger for the GrisezFinnis school is that it may conflate conscience (which must be an exercise of God-given freedom) with a kind of “inner policeman” (what Freud called the superego) which, when exercised by those who confuse authority with power, can become spiritually abusive. A historical example of this might be the case of Nazi concentration camp guards who committed genocide and justified themselves by saying they were “just following orders”. This defence, as we know, was rejected at the Nuremberg trials after World War: following commands does not make actions morally right in and of themselves. Conscience goes even further. There may come a point where I may have to go against the commands of authority in order to be true to that “inner voice”. To use another historical example, Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstatter was called up for service in the German army during the Nazi era. Despite the exhortations of his family, his parish priest and his bishop to accept induction into the army, he refused. Deep within his conscience he rejected military force and believed further that he would be serving an evil regime if he obeyed. That he was beheaded by the Nazis illustrates all too well the cost of conscience. In 1965 Vatican II affirmed the Jägerstatters of this world by reiterating the importance of following conscience. Do we listen to our conscience? Or do we goosestep merrily to whoever waves the biggest stick?

Is it gremlins or the devil in my works?

O you believe in gremlins? Wikipedia gives a handy definition for a gremlin which might even be a little too “impish.” It describes an imp as “an imaginary creature commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented” and associated particularly with aircraft. It is also linked with mischievous imps in old English folklore. My understanding of an imp is not necessarily evil, but maybe that is an understatement. Are gremlins really imaginary and not an excuse for not wanting to identify a more sinister source for whatever goes wrong in one’s life when you are trying to do something right? Why does your credit card get misused, your car window get stuck, radiator hoses split, dogs go frantic with fear in a thunderstorm and rip up curtains trying to force their way in through an open window? Just when you think you are doing something important and worthwhile for God and really have no time to waste you spend hours at the bank, waiting for the car to repaired and getting yourself worked up over quite a small matter really? The question to ask is this: “Is the devil real? Is he really out to just put spokes in the wheels of your life without necessarily causing a major disaster?” Another term associated with a gremlin apparently is “vexed”, which could refer

to both the confused and unanswerable and to feeling angry and resentful. I had such a week around the time when I was trying to put together a parish family ministry workshop and market the current Marfam booklet while entertaining a visitor on a part study, part sightseeing visit. There were certainly enjoyable and memorable moments: wonderful animal sightings in the Pilanesberg, interesting meetings with people, but they tended to become overshadowed by the negatives. Murphy’s law of “If something can go wrong, it will” applied itself with a vengeance. The power of evil. Name it and shame it? Call on God to overcome it and strive to strengthen one’s faith? These for me, and I’m sure for many others, are vexed questions. We avoid talking about Satanism for fear of naming Satan. And is a gremlin in reality possibly a serious power of evil? Can all that be a serious Lenten reflection to add to the list I made already? The 1st Sunday of Lent begins with an account of Jesus’ temptation by the devil. In my work I try continually to link faith with life and in scripture reflections use a real-life situation to bear on the scripture passage. For me this vexed question of why these gremlins have come to disturb my peace is very real right now. The temptation in part is: “Where am I going with this ministry to families that is not nearly as well supported as I would

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

like?” Is it a hobby-horse? An ego trip? Is it because that ministry is something important and meaningful that “gremlins” or the devil are attacking me and it? I don’t yet know the answer. It will be part of my Lenten reflection beginning with Jesus’ temptation The saddest part for me in all this gremlin-fighting was the fact that I genuinely forgot some family birthdays. I felt sad, but also guilty, having produced a family year planner and encouraged everyone far and wide to use it as a reminder. Why then did it not work for me? How did I feel when my son sent me an SMS gently asking: “Hi mom, did you forget a birthday?” Just a gremlin or a more serious evil? My omission hurt—not only me, but my granddaughter too. As a consolation Wikipedia also showed an imagine of a good luck gremlin mascot that was carried in a Second World War fighter plane. I haven’t got one of those and don’t even wear a rosary round my neck, but I do shoot up a short prayer to my two St Christophers when I set out on a journey. With the help of the local garage—so far so good.

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

A trust in women General Intention: That the whole world may recognise the contribution of women to the development of society. ICRO-BANKERS already recognise the contribution of women to the development of society. In fact their regard for women’s contribution is so high that they discriminate positively towards women when it comes to the lending of money. From the male point of view, of course, this means that they discriminate negatively against men. The Bangladeshi Grameen Bank, often seen as the originator of modern micro-credit, gives 95% of its loans to women. And worldwide the estimate is that 75% of all micro-banking loans are made to the ladies. How can they be so unfair to the poor men? Well, the first reason is that experience has shown that women are far more reliable in repaying their loans. Secondly, they ask for smaller and more prudent amounts, and this enables the bankers to spread their money more widely. Thirdly, women use the loans more constructively. In other words women actually use the credit to develop the lives of their families and communities far more effectively than men and then they pay the money back. Hence it would seem that the financial empowerment of women is a vital way of enhancing the development of society. “Recognition” can sound rather woolly and patronising unless it is accompanied by the kind of concrete empowerment practised by Grameen and other bankers to the poor. At a time when the big investment bankers are in the moral doghouse, we can give thanks for those banks that invest in the poor and pray for them and their (mostly) women customers.

Crushing religion Missionary Intention: That the Holy Spirit may grant perseverance to those who suffer discrimination, persecution, or death for the name of Christ, particularly in Asia. HEN looking at Asia I used to think of China as one of the more hopeful areas for the Church. Then I read The Party: The Secret World of China’s Secretive Rulers by Richard McGregor, the Financial Times’ China correspondent. Far from describing a Communist party on its last legs, McGregor shows us how ingeniously adaptive this all but invisible but all-controlling body still is, and how determined it is to keep things that way. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has over 70 million members, many of whose livelihoods are bound up with the survival of the current regime. “The Party is like God,” a professor from People's University in Beijing confided to McGregor. “He is everywhere; you just don’t see him.” It used to be assumed that with China’s embrace of capitalism it was only a matter of time before democracy dawned. However, because so many of the party have a lucrative corrupt relationship with burgeoning business, it is very much in the party’s interest to remain in close control, a control which is still ultimately maintained by the threat and exercise of terror. This means that the Christians whose task it is to witness to one fifth of humanity have to do so with serious restrictions to their freedom. All religious groups are under suspicion, not just Christians. An apparently innocuous Buddhist spiritual meditation movement like the Falun Gong was brutally crushed because it represented a centre of power outside the party’s control. The Catholic Church represents another such source. Since that source is perceived also to be foreign, this makes it doubly suspect in a country whose rulers continually hark back to the days of China’s colonial humiliation. This is a climate that exists, in various forms, in other parts of Asia—in Pakistan, the Middle East and parts of India. Despite inculturation and the emergence of what Karl Rahner called the “World Church”, Christian communities in these lands are often identified with the West by thin-skinned regimes and politicians intent on distracting attention from their own shortcomings. That the Church survives and even grows in this climate of xenophobic persecution is a tribute to courage, faith and the power of prayer.

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COMMUNITY

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria presided over the ordination to the diacionate of (from left) Deacons Josiah Shabangu, Tony Tweehuijsen and Molefe Mokoka at Sacred Heart cathedral in Pretoria. (Submitted by Gillian Tweehuysen)

The learners who are leading the student body of St Henry’s Marist College in Durban in 2012 are (from left) Matthew Gorlei (deputy head boy), Lisa Moore (head girl), Dylan Powell (head boy) and Claire Gillespie (deputy head girl). (Submitted by Rowan Phillips)

The City Bowl deanery of the archdiocese of Cape Town held a facilitator training workshop for the Ecclesia faith- sharing programme. The workshop was hosted by St Luke's parish in Factreton. (Photo by Cedric Meyer)

Fr Michael Hulgraine, retired parish priest of the church of the Resurrection in Table View, Cape Town, celebrated his 85th birthday with friends and parishioners. (Submitted by Tomasz Zakiewicz) The head prefects for 2012 of Convent Primary in Uitenhage, Port Elizabeth, with principal Bernadette Duxbury. (From left) Farren Pullen (head girl), Darren Brooks (head boy), Ms Duxbury, Debaneigh Jordaan (deputy head girl) and Timothy Rossouw (deputy head boy). (Submitted by Charmelle Redcliffe)

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The Board of Governors invites suitable applicants to apply for the position of PRINCIPAL commencing duties on 2 May 2012.

The ideal candidate will understand, identify with and contribute to the Catholic Ethos and values of the School and will furthermore: •

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have an appropriate Bachelor’s degree or equivalent recognized teaching qualification which must include at least 9 years teaching experience plus credible, relevant and an established, successful record of leadership in a school. be registered with SACE. have a good and thorough knowledge of the relevant education policies and legislation pertaining to independent schools. be able to lead a strong team to sustain the school’s academic ethos ability to deal effectively with the challenges and changes facing independent schools and education in this country have the vision to build on St Theresa’s proud history of exceptional education.

Applications must be accompanied by a Curriculum Vita with three contactable references and certified copies of relevant qualifications and ID document.

Applications can be delivered to: St Theresa’s Convent School, 14 Riversdale Street, Coronationville or faxed to 011 673-1614 or e-mailed to st_theresas@mweb.co.za. for attention, The Chairperson of the Board of Governors

The Board of Governors of St Theresa’s Convent School reserves the right to make no appointment. An application will not itself entitle the applicant to an interview or an appointment. Failure to comply with these instructions will disqualify applications from being processed. CLOSING DATE: 09 MARCH 2012

IN FOCUS

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

CHURCH

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

Church and abuse: A new era A four-day conference this month in the Vatican discussed the Church’s response to abuse by its personnel. It heard Church leaders apologising for past errors and undertaking to act against abuse, as CAROL GLATZ reports.

HE take-away message from this month’s Vatican-backed symposium on clerical sex abuse was clear: Victims, truth and justice come first. And the Church can no longer wait for a crisis to erupt before it begins to address the scandal of abuse. “We do not need to wait for a bomb to explode. Preventing it from exploding is the best response,” said Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle. The archbishop of Manila was one of more than 200 bishops, cardinals, priests, religious and laypeople who attended a landmark symposium in Rome. The conference aimed to inspire and educate bishops’ conferences around the world as they seek to comply with a Vatican mandate to establish anti-abuse guidelines by May. Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office that issued the mandate, said more than 4 000 cases of sexual abuse have been reported to the doctrinal office the past decade. Those cases revealed that an exclusively canonical response to the crisis has been inadequate, he said, and that a multifaceted and more proactive approach by all bishops and religious orders is needed. Countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and Germany are among those with the most comprehensive and binding guidelines or norms, Cardinal Levada said. “But in many cases such

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response came only in the wake of the revelation of scandalous behaviour by priests in the public media,” he added. Learning the hard way, after generations of children and vulnerable adults are harmed and traumatised, shouldn’t be the norm, symposium participants said. “Does each country around the world have to go through this same agonising process?” asked Mgr Stephen Rossetti, clinical associate professor of pastoral studies at The Catholic University of America, Washington. Hard lessons over the decades have taught the Church the essential elements of an effective childprotection programme, Mgr Rossetti said, but such standards need to be implemented today around the world. Not all bishops or superiors are fully on board, he said, as some believe that no abuse has happened or will happen under their watch. “It is kind of like moving a mountain,” trying to convince everyone that addressing abuse with swift and effective programmes is an urgent obligation. “It’s not just changing a few policies, it’s a change in the way people think about these issues, and that takes a cultural shift,” he said. That kind of conversion did happen at the conference, he said, for Church officials who had never heard a victim speak in person about his or her trauma and concerns. Marie Collins, an abuse survivor from Ireland, said having her abuser’s superiors shift the blame on to her and fail to stop the perpetrator caused her more pain and shock than the abuse itself. “I was treated as someone with an agenda against the Church, the police investigation was obstructed and the laity misled. I was distraught,” Ms Collins recalled. In 1996 she went to Dublin's then-archbishop, Cardinal Desmond Connell, after the Irish bishops had adopted a tough new policy to report abusers to police. She said Cardinal Connell told her that he didn’t have to follow the

Irish abuse victim Marie Collins (right) and Mgr Stephen Rossetti (left), a clinical associate professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC, attended a four-day symposium, “Toward Healing and Renewal”, at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. (Photos: Tony Gentile, CNS/Reuters) Church’s guidelines. Eventually, civil authorities prosecuted and jailed the priest, Fr Paul McGennis. He was convicted twice more for molesting other children. At the symposium’s start, Ms Collins said that she wanted the Church to listen and respect victims and take their accusations seriously. She said hearing a Church leader ask for forgiveness for shielding abusers was critical to healing, and she wanted to make sure there would be consequences for anyone who did not adhere to Church norms. “The [Vatican’s] guidelines must have something backing them in the way of a penalty or a consequence for any religious leader or bishop who decides not to implement them,” she said.

octor Sheila Hollins, a psychiatrist who participated in the Vatican’s investigation of the Church in Ireland, said victims need to be heard by the Church to start healing from their abuse. “Not being believed or even worse, being blamed for the abuse, adds hugely to the emotional and mental suffering caused by sexual abuse,” she said. The failure of the priests to admit his guilt, or for his superiors to take appropriate action “further compounds the damage”.

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It appeared that symposium attendees and organisers were listening. Canada’s Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and ten other bishops led a solemn penitential service in which they asked forgiveness for failing to protect children and serving instead as an “instrument of evil against them”. “Sometimes the violence was committed by deeply disturbed persons, or by those who had themselves been abused. It was necessary to take action concerning them and to prevent them from continuing any form of ministry for which they were obviously not suitable. This was not always done properly, and once again we apologise to the victims,” the cardinal said. The ten bishops included Cardinal Séan Brady, primate of All Ireland, who two years ago apologised for having failed to report an abuser priest to the police in the 1970s. The Vatican’s top investigator of clerical sex abuse, Mgr Charles Scicluna, didn’t leave any wiggle room when it comes to complying with Church and civil laws. Everyone, especially the lay faithful, he said, needs to develop the confidence “to denounce the sin when it happens and to call it a crime—because it is a crime—and

to do something about it”. The “deadly culture of silence, or omerta, is in itself wrong and unjust,” Mgr Scicluna said, and bishops have a duty to cooperate fully with civil authority when civil laws are broken. Experts, too, insisted that listening to victims and putting truth, justice and their safety must be the top concerns of all Church leaders. “There are false allegations to be sure,” Mgr Rosetti told the conference, and it is critical to restore a priest’s good name when he has been cleared. “But decades of experience tell us that the vast majority of allegations—over 95%—are founded.” As a result, he said, trained civil authorities, not bishops, should determine whether an allegation is well-founded. Even if prosecutors don’t proceed with a criminal case, bishops should form an advisory panel of law enforcement, mental health and canon law experts to investigate and decide how to proceed. Mgr Rossetti said that if there had ever been any doubt about the Vatican’s position, “those days are over”. The pope and the Vatican are “all on the same page, and so that’s a powerful message to every bishop in the world,” he said.

LITURGY

The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

The psalms are better now

As English-speaking Catholics around the world are implementing the new lectionary, CHRIS BUSSCHAU explains how this affects the psalms and how to use the Book of the Gospels in the liturgy

S we know, the earliest Christians were devout Jews and they continued the Jewish practice of using the psalms as a key element in community prayer. They followed the Jewish devotion of praying at different times of the day, and this gradually evolved into the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, which is prayed by all members of the clergy and also by people who live in community such as monks and sisters. An important element in that evolution was the inclusion in the Rule of St Benedict of the structure of the Liturgy of the Hours. With this culture and practice already part of their lives, those early Christians would quite naturally and automatically have included psalms in their other major liturgy, the living out of Jesus’ instruction at the Last Supper to “Do this in memory of me” when they celebrated what we today call the Holy Mass. Of course, one important characteristic of the psalms is that verifiably accurate original wording in Hebrew or Aramaic has existed since before the time of Jesus. The

source documents therefore never presented the same requirement for scientific research as the New Testament. So, when the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) sat down to prepare the English vernacular liturgy after the Second Vatican Council, they applied some slightly different criteria to the selection of the most appropriate version of the psalms. The translators did not need to find the most authentic original language, but did need to provide both a sound English translation and, importantly, a translation that could be sung or chanted. It comes as no surprise to find that it was a Benedictine source that provided the translation that was selected. The Benedictine Abbey in the city of Conception, Missouri had a 1 500 year tradition of following the Rule of St Benedict. Following the Benedictine way of life, “Ora et labora” (Pray and Work), they had developed a vocation of working on the translation of Church documents and had translated the Liturgy of the Hours into English for use by the Grail Community in the 1950s. A further translation of the psalms that the monks of the Abbey completed in 1963 was selected by ICEL. That Psalter provided both the psalms used in the Mass as well as the Liturgy of the Hours. The Psalter was duly named the Grail Psalms. The monks of the abbey of Conception embarked on a new translation in 2001. A fully revised Grail Psalms was submit-

ted for authorisation in 2008 and the official recognitio was issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2010. The result is not only an improved translation from the Hebrew, but a text that has been even more carefully structured to lend itself to both singing and chanting. It is hoped that this will bring increased joy and prayerfulness to the public worship of the English speaking Catholic world.

The African flavour

ne of the less obvious but very important elements in the edition of the new Englishlanguage missal that we will be using in South Africa is that the feast days of the year now include those of a number of African saints. The specific inclusion of the African saints in our African edition of the Missal reminds us that holiness is not the preserve of holy people from another age and from another continent. Holiness is the calling of every one of us, today, here in South Africa. Every time we celebrate the feast of Saint Charles Lwanga or the Uganda Martyrs we will be reminded of the relevance of our faith today, here and now. In the years before the Second Vatican Council, even though the missal contained everything needed for Mass, including all the prayers and readings, the Book of the Gospels held a special place in the liturgy although it was probably not known at all in South Africa outside of seminaries where

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HOLY CROSS PILGRIMAGE 31 August to 10 September

A detail from Psalm 23 from the Bay Psalm Book of 1640, the first book printed in what is now the United States. (Photo: Nancy Wiechec, CNS) it was used for ordination ceremonies. Some parishes began to use a Book of the Gospels in addition to the lectionary shortly after the Second Vatican Council. However, even today this very meaningful symbol is hardly even noticed by many Catholics, let alone understood. In the early years of Christianity, when most documents were in the form of either layered scrolls or separate sheets of parchment or skin, people recognised the sacredness of the Gospels by binding them into volumes that were essentially the first books. The pages of these books were illustrated or illuminated by wonderfully skilled artists and the books were carefully stored and brought to the altar in procession at the beginning of all public services. These precious books were then “enthroned” on the altar and were reverenced as the living Word of God and solemn processions carried the books to the place of proclamation. Sadly, this practice gradually disappeared over the centuries and in many countries, including South Africa, the Book of the Gospels was only used in seminaries during the liturgy of ordination. Some of the liturgists of the Second Vatican Council were very conscious of this ancient custom and persuaded their confreres that it would bring a new awareness of and reverence for the Good News. This was further emphasised when the lectionary was separated from the missal, clearly underlining this part of the Mass. The result is a full resuscitation of the ceremonial entry of the Book of the Gospels with the entrance procession, its enthronement on the altar, and a short procession

to transfer it from the altar to the ambo where the Gospel will be proclaimed. This is the high point of the first part of the Mass, called the “Liturgy of the Word”, just as the consecration and the reception of the Lord in Holy Communion are the high point of the second part of the mass, called the “Liturgy of the Eucharist”. We should experience a change of focus, a new rhythm, an air of excitement at the time of these two encounters with God—the first with him in his Word and the second with his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist. The ceremonial use of the Book of the Gospels helps to create this enhanced focus on the Word. Members of parish liturgy committees should apply their minds to incorporating these element into the Liturgy of the Word. The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible has been used to compile the new lectionaries and all scripture readings during public worship will be from that version. However, the new Book of the Gospels is still being produced by the publishers and will be distributed only later this year. As with the new missal last November and the new lectionary this year, the new Book of the Gospels should be introduced to all parishes and communities in an appropriate ceremony when it arrives in this country. This will provide a wonderful opportunity to inform and educate people about this ancient and beautiful element in our liturgical life. n Chris Busschau is a member of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Committee for Liturgy and the English Missal Implementation Committee.

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The Southern Cross, February 22 to February 28, 2012

The truth behind reality TV Mark T Pattison HE need for media literacy may be no more evident than when it comes to reality TV. Reality TV may show real events, but it’s a director’s and editor’s version of events. It can be the visual equivalent of a newspaper story where the subject complains that he was interviewed for a half-hour, but the only thing that appears is a quote taken out of context. Of course, reality shows bind their subjects to nondisclosure clauses until it suits the network—like having them appear on the station’s programmes the day after they’re voted off the island. But there is emerging evidence that reality TV can be damaging to girls—not that they had been considered any more or less immune to the genre than other demographic groups. A study by the US Girl Scout Research Institute demonstrated the impact of reality TV on girls. One of the more eye-opening findings is that girls who view reality TV regularly are more focused on the value of physical appearance. Some 72% say they spend a lot of time on their appearance compared to 42% of

Media Watch

nonviewers. The news isn’t necessarily all bad. The study, “Real to Me: Girls and Reality TV”, also disclosed that 68% of girls agree that reality shows “make me think I can achieve anything in life” and 48% said that they “help me realise there are people out there like me”. “Girls today are bombarded with media—reality TV and otherwise—that more frequently portrays girls and women in competition with one another rather than in support or collaboration. This perpetuates a ‘mean-girl’ stereotype and normalises this behaviour among girls,” said a statement by Andrea Bastiani Archibald, a developmental psychologist for the Girl Scouts. “We don’t want girls to avoid reality TV, but want them, along with their parents, to know what they are getting into when they watch it.” The notion of “girls and women in competition” is borne out in another study by the Par-

Liturgical Calendar Year B

Sunday, February 26, First Sunday of Lent Genesis 9:8-15, Psalm 25:4-9, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:12-15 Monday, February 27, feria Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18, Psalm 19:8-10, 15, Matthew 25:31-46 Tuesday, February 28, feria Isaiah 55:10-11, Psalm 34:4-7, 16-19, Matthew 6:715 Wednesday, February 29, feria Jonah 3:1-10, Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19, Luke 11:29-32 Thursday, March 1, feria Esther 4: 17k-t (4C), Psalms 138: 1-3, 7-8, Matthew 7: 7-12 Friday, March 2, feria Ezekial 18: 21-28, Psalms 130: 1-8, Matthew 5: 20-26 Saturday, March 3, feria Deuteronomy 26: 16-19, Psalms 119: 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, Matthew 5: 43-48 Sunday, March 4, Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 22: 1-2, 9-13, 15-18, Psalms 116: 10, 15-19, Romans 8: 31-34, Mark 9, 2-10

MICASA TOURS

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ents Television Council, which examined the four top-rated reality shows on the MTV cable channel. The study, “Reality on MTV: Gender Portrayals on MTV Reality Programming”, looked at Jersey Shore, Teen Mom 2, 16 and Pregnant and The Real World. According to the study, the reality shows do women no favours. “Overall, women were more disparaging than men when speaking of themselves or someone of their own gender,” the study said. “Females talked about sex acts more than men, talked about sex more graphically than men, mentioned sexual body parts more than men, and talked about intercourse and preliminaries to intercourse more than men,” it added, noting, “Females were the recipients of an ‘F-word’ or ‘S-word’ 662 times or once every four minutes and ten seconds.” Perhaps the saddest stat of all: When all the shows’ dialogue was taken into account, only 24% of what females said about themselves was positive. And to think that the music videos that were a staple of MTV 30 years ago caused such a fuss.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #485. ACROSS: 1 Lent, 3 Adoption, 9 Bad name, 10 Oasis, 11 North America, 13 Secure, 15 Clasps, 17 Antithetical, 20 Alive, 21 Product, 22 Blessing, 23 Lend. DOWN: 1 Lebanese, 2 Nadir, 4 Dreams, 5 Poor relation, 6 Insects, 7 Nose, 8 Fatherliness, 12 Isolated, 14 Connive, 16 Chopin, 18 Cause, 19 Barb.

Community Calendar

To place your event, call Lara Moses at 021 465 5007 or e-mail l.moses@scross.co.za, (publication subject to space)

BETHLEHEM: Shrine of Our Lady of Bethlehem at Tsheseng, Maluti mountains; Thursdays 09:30, Mass, then exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. 058 721 0532. CAPE TOWN: 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. Sr Rosemarie of the Holy Cross Sisters is looking for musical instruments (new or used) for the elderly and adult patients of the psychiatric ward to help make a “holy noise to the Lord”. Contact Sr Rosemarie at the Holy Cross Convent,

Modderdam Road or call 021 934 6006. You can leave your gift at reception at Nazareth House, Upper Mill Street, Cape Town.

DURBAN: St Anthony’s, Durban Central: Tuesday 09:00 Mass with novena to St Anthony. First Friday 17:30 Mass. Mercy novena prayers. Tel: 031 309 3496. JOHANNESBURG: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament: first Friday of the month at 09:20 followed by Holy Mass at 10:30. Holy Hour: first Saturday of each month at 15:00. At Our Lady of the Angels, Little Eden, Edenvale. Tel: 011 609 7246.

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IN MEMORIAM

OVIS—John David. Passed away February 25, 2009. In loving memory. Rest in peace. Always remembered by your wife Theresa, children, grandchildren, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law and all the families. Psalm23.

PERSONAL

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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 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 Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (say 3 times) Holy Mary I place this cause in your hands (say 3 times) Thank you for your mercy towards me and mine. Amen. Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and publish. Lino.

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THANKS

THANKS for prayers answered. Our grateful thanks to Sacred Heart of Jesus, Infant Jesus, Mother Mary, Tabernacle of Most High and all the Saints. Anne.

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2nd Sunday in Lent: March 4 Readings: Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18, Psalm 116:10, 15-19, Romans 8:31-35, Mark 9:2-10

If God is with us, who is against us?

Nicholas King SJ

DD things happen on mountains. On the second Sunday in Lent every year we read the account of the Transfiguration, which of course takes place up a “high mountain”; and this year, next Sunday, in addition, we shall hear as our first reading that other, far more chilling, story of a son and a father and God up a mountain. The message from both readings is that we have to listen out for the voice of God; and we may need that, this Lenten season, if we are to arrive at our Easter. That “chilling” story is of course the terrible tale of the testing of Abraham. The first reading omits some of it, and you could do worse, in the course of the coming week, than read through the whole of Genesis 22, to see what has been edited out. Notice how starkly the story is told. Abraham says (and we should always be careful what we say to God) “here I am”, when he hears the divine summons; as a matter of fact he says it twice, so he cannot be accused of pusillanimity. His instructions are such as to make any of us quail, and the wording leaves no room for evasion: “Take, please, your son, your beloved, the one whom you love, and off you go to the land of Moriah, and offer

Sunday Reflections

him up there as a sacrifice, on one of the mountains, which I am going to tell you”. Well—what would you do? Abraham does exactly what he is told, and apparently takes no one into his confidence, and only at the very end, as we long to scream, “Don’t do it, Abraham!”, does the angel of the Lord intervene and prevent the terrible deed from taking place. Abraham gets his reward, in the sense that he receives God’s blessing, and is told “I shall bless your offspring, like the stars of the heavens”. But we also notice that Sarah, who is not mentioned in the entire tale, dies in the very next chapter, and that Isaac never speaks to his father again. So our God is not one created in our own image and likeness, but one whose majesty is a resounding challenge to us.

The psalm is a very appropriate one: “I trusted, even when I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted’”, it begins, and certainly that describes Abraham’s response; he could also make the next line his own: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.” Like Abraham, the psalmist is ready to offer sacrifice, but we are relieved to notice that it is “a sacrifice of thanksgiving; I shall call on the name of the Most High”. This poet will let nothing put him off the task of praising God, and ends his song with a loud “Halleluiah”. We may need to learn this gift. The ability to see the love of God in all things, even in the death of a beloved son, is something that Paul knows. Here he is at the end of the passage in Romans in the second re ad in g where he is giving his readers grounds for their confidence in what God has done in Jesus. The heart of the matter is “If God is on our side, who is against us?”; but then he quotes precisely the words that God used to Abraham, according to the Greek translation of the Old Testament: “Who did not spare his only Son”, before he goes on, “but handed

Learning from cancer A S a columnist, I’ve always harboured a certain paranoia about being overly-personal or exhibitionistic in my writing, or in thinking that my own emotional ups and downs are of interest to others. I’ve tried to respect that fear. Occasionally, however, circumstance dictates that I do write something more personal. This is such an occasion. I want to express my gratitude for all the prayers and support that I have received during these past seven months while undergoing treatments for cancer. That desert-journey has finally ended, and with a good result. A month ago, I finished my last chemotherapy treatment and, two weeks ago, after a battery of medical tests, was pronounced “cancerfree”. To God, family, friends, colleagues, and to the many of you who have supported me in prayer: Thank you! John Updike, in a poem entitled “Fever”, once wrote about what illness might teach us: I have brought back a good message from the land of 102 degrees: God exists. I had seriously doubted it before; but the bedposts spoke of it with utmost confidence, the threads in my blanket took it for granted, the tree outside the window dismissed all complaints, and I have not slept so justly for years. It is hard, now, to convey how emblematically appearances sat upon the membranes of my conscious-

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

ness; but it is truth long known, that some secrets are hidden from health. Indeed some secrets are hidden from health! What secrets did I learn from my loss of health? The initial diagnosis of cancer caught me by surprise and for a time left me mostly numb and frightened. But, after having surgery and having the projected treatment (six months of chemotherapy) and the projected long-term prognosis (good chance for a cure) explained to me, I prayerfully laid out a number of conversion-steps that I hoped this illness and its bitter treatment would conscriptively impose on me. I resolved to make this time of treatment a grace in my life: I would slow down my life, not just during treatment but forever afterwards. I would learn to be more patient. I would be rigorously faithful to a daily practice of contemplative prayer. I would no longer take life, love, friendship, and health for granted, but would finally, after years of failed resolutions, begin to live more inside of the wonder of God and life and not have my energy so absorbed by the demands of work and agenda. What happened? Old habits die hard, even under the pressure of illness. After

Conrad

Do you think if Jesus went into the desert nowadays he'd be off-roading?

six months of treatments, on my better days, I sense some modest improvement. Some of my resolutions have borne fruit, but I’m still a long ways from the ideals that I had set for myself. My old habits have been quick to reassert their grip on my life. But life is what happens to you while you are planning your life, so too conversion. Having cancer taught me some lessons other than the ones I’d planned. Most important among these was this: Like everyone else in this world, I’ve always wanted joy in my life—friendship, love, celebration. But, and this has been the big handicap in finding these, I have always (however unconsciously) felt that the joy and celebration I so longed for could only come my way when I was finally free from all anxiety, emotional tension, pressure, overwork, illness, frustration, and stress of all kinds. We nurse this strange fantasy that it is only after all our bills are paid, our health is perfect, all tensions within our families and friendships are resolved, and we are in a peaceful, leisured space that can finally fully enter life and enjoy it. In the meantime, we put our lives on hold as we perpetually gear up, get ready, and wait for that perfect moment to arrive where we can finally rejoice within life. While undergoing cancer treatments I learned something. When I first started the treatments I began marking a calendar—day one, day two, day three—consciously putting my life on hold, putting myself into a posture of waiting, marking away the days until, in my fantasy, the treatments ended and I could live life again. But, strangely, as the days unfolded, to my own surprise, I found that I was living through one of the richer and happier periods in my life. Inside of the tiredness, nausea, and neuropathy, I was finding a rich enjoyment in friendships, colleagues, work, and (on days when I could actually taste them) food and drink. The six months within which I was undergoing cancer treatment turned out to be, to my own surprise, six happy and deeply meaningful months. As John Shea puts it: Life includes suffering. When you are spending all your energies only rejoicing in that part of life that does not include suffering, you will not enter into life because you will be dominated by fear and exclusion and not faith. Cancer taught me this lesson and, for that and your prayers, I am most grateful.

him over on behalf of all of us”. And Paul performs his important trick of holding God and Jesus very closely together: “Who is going to condemn [us]? Christ Jesus who died, and, better still, was raised from the dead, who is at God’s right hand, who is interceding for us?” Like Abraham (and, for that matter, like the Psalmist), Paul is well aware of the nasty hand that life can deal us; but he also knows that because of what God has done for us in Christ, nothing can go wrong. That is the message of the gospel for next Sunday; Mark places it just here in the unfolding of his gospel, precisely where Jesus’ disciples are starting to see the problems involved in following him (and just when you are realising that Lent is really rather a long journey), and we need some encouragement. The journey, Jesus with his “inner cabinet” up the high mountain, is reassuring; we shall eavesdrop on something important. That indeed turns out to be the case; after the astonishing vision of the truth about Jesus, we hear the Father’s voice, talking about “My Son, the Beloved”, and we cannot help thinking of Abraham on that other mountain; but then we have to take in the next words, and live them out, this Lent: “Listen to him.”

Southern Crossword #485

ACROSS 1. Given to be given back (4) 3. Do in a pot around legal parentage (8) 9. Unpopular title (3,4) 10. Fertile spot for Holy Family in Egypt (5) 11. Continent of Chicago archdiocese (5,7) 13. Certain to remain safe (6) 15. Holds hand tightly (6) 17. A thin lattice is mutually incompatible (12) 20. Continuing to breathe (5) 21. It’s the work of human hands (7) 22. Priest gives it with his hand (8) 23. 1 across in the present (4)

DOWN 1. People of the Maronite Rite (8) 2. Lowest point around drain (5) 4. Pharoah told Joseph of his (Gn 41) (6) 5. Not a good story: uncle has no money (4,8) 6. Ants in religious groups? (7) 7. It’s plain on your face (4) 8. Paternal quality (12) 12. Lost idea about hermit’s condition (8) 14. Conspire (7) 16. Great composer (6) 18. Reason to want a canonisation (5) 19. Barbiturate has sharp beginning (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

PRIEST was leaving his parish and was saying farewell to his congregation at the church doors for the last time. He shook the hand of an elderly lady as she walked out. She said: “Your successor won’t be as good as you.” “Nonsense”, said the priest, in a flattered tone. “No, really”, said the old lady, “I’ve been here under five different priests, and each new one has been worse than the last.” Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.