The Southern Cross - 120314

www.scross.co.za

March 14 to March 20, 2012

Catholics must stand for human rights

Finding God in a gap year

Page 9

Page 3

R5,50 (incl VAT RSA)

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4767

The miracle of abundance in our lives

Page 7

Politics behind Jo’burg murder of cardinal’s nephew?

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T A Stations of the Cross procession takes place in Havana during preparations for Pope Benedict’s upcoming visit to Cuba. The Holy Father will visit the island nation as well as Mexico from March 27-28. It will be the second papal visit to the communist-ruled island; Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998. (Photo: Reuters/CNS)

Terror attacks on Christians have tripled in seven years

BY BRIDGET KELLY

T

ERRORIST attacks on Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia tripled in a seven-year period, a Vatican official has told a United Nations meeting.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent observer to United Nations offices in Geneva, told the UN Human Rights Council that while Christians are not the only victims, attacks on them in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia “increased 309% between 2003 and 2010”. He did not offer any specific numbers.

“Approximately 70% of the world’s population lives in countries with high restrictions on religious beliefs and practices, and religious minorities pay the highest price. In general, rising restrictions on religion affect more than 2,2 billion people,” the archbishop told the council members.

The archbishop denounced “intolerance that leads to violence and to the killing of many innocent people each year simply because of their religious convictions”.

In some countries, which the archbishop did not name, religious freedom is threat-

ened by “government-imposed and unjust restrictions”.

Yet religious freedom is a fundamental and inalienable right, which can foster a healthy cooperation and spirit of shared responsibility among believers of different religions, he said.

Education and the media are two powerful tools for promoting respect for religions and for religious freedom, he said. Unfortunately, many countries where there is a lack of religious freedom or outright persecution have weak schools and weak media because of underdevelopment, poverty or a restricted access to information.

The archbishop also said the international community can prevent future violence by promoting and protecting the human rights of everyone.

The international community must work, “to sustain mutual tolerance and respect of human rights and a greater equality among citizens of different religions in order to achieve a healthy democracy where the public role of religion and the distinction between religious and temporal spheres are recognised,” Archbishop Tomasi said.—CNS

HE murder in Johannesburg of the nephew of a Congolese cardinal might be connected to political instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Christian Monsengwo, 22, was fatally shot at close range at the entrance to his family home in Alberton while returning from university on February 24. He was the only nephew of Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, the archbishop of Kinshasa, who was leading the pope’s annual Lenten retreat at the time of the murder.

Congolese born Fr Jean-Marie Kuzituka Did’ho of St Joseph’s parish in Mokoena, Soweto, said members of the Congolese community in South Africa suspect that the murder might have been an attempt to intimidate the cardinal who has been outspoken about the political situation in the DRC. “Some people believe that this could be related to the uncle’s stance on the political issues in the country. It may have been an attempt to silence the cardinal,” said Fr Kuzituka Did’ho.

Church friends are ‘super-charged’

BY NANCY FRAZIER O’BRIEN

H

ARVARD University public policy professor Robert D Putnam has a tonguein-cheek suggestion for parish priests: “Spend less time on the sermons, and more time arranging the church suppers.”

That’s because research by Prof Putnam and Chaeyoon Lim, assistant professor of sociology at the University of WisconsinMadison, shows that the more church friends a person has, the happier he or she is.

“Church friends are super-charged friends, but we have no idea why,” Prof Putnam told a summit on religion in Washington. “We have some hypotheses, but we don’t know for sure.”

The researchers found that non-church friends do not provide the same benefit in terms of well-being and that other measures of religiosity—belief in God or frequency of prayer, for example—do not serve as a reliable

predictor of a person’s satisfaction with life.

“People who frequently attend religious services are more satisfied with their lives not because they have more friends overall but because they have more friends in their congregations,” the two researchers wrote in the American Sociological Review.

And church-going alone without making friends does not improve well-being, they found.

“In short, sitting alone in the pew does not enhance one’s life satisfaction. Only when one forms social networks in a congregation does religious service attendance lead to a higher level of life satisfaction.”

According to a new Gallup study on how religion affects well-being, both in the United States and worldwide, those who were considered “very religious” not only had higher well-being but were much less likely to smoke and more likely to exercise and eat five fruits and vegetables a day.—CNS

Congolese Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo of Kinshasa offers spiritual reflections to Pope Benedict and Vatican officials during the week-long papal Lenten retreat in the Vatican. While he was in Rome, the cardinal’s only nephew was shot dead in Johannesburg in what some Congolese Catholics believe was a political assassination designed to intimidate the cardinal and the Church.

(Photo: L’Osservatore Romano/CNS)

Catholics in the DRC have been targeted by police recently as the Church is a key force in the country. Some 30 000 Catholics monitored the recent election, the largest monitoring group in the country.

The results have been widely viewed as fraudulent by the Church and international observers. In January, the DRC’s 35 bishops issued a scathing report calling the election corrupt.

“People are afraid in Kinshasa, especially Catholics who are being targeted,” said Fr Kuzituka Did’ho.

Most recently, a peaceful Christian march ended when heavily armed police turned violent on the participants. Organised by the Council of Congolese Catholic Lay Apostolate and supported by Cardinal Monsengwo, the march went through Kinshasa to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the massacre of Christians on February 16, 1992. The march also aimed to demand justice and the truth of the polls and the resignation of the Independent National Electoral Commission members.

“Government refused to allow the march to take place peacefully. Several parishes were looted and many nuns and priests were arrested,” said Fr Kuzituka Did’ho.

He said Catholics were being targeted by government forces and pro-government supporters. Marchers were subjected to tear-gas and water cannons to halt their movement.

At the parish of St Joseph Matonge, in the capital city, local media reported that women were beaten in and around the parish and the office of Friends of Nelson Mandela for Human Rights was violated by police looking for marchers.

Local human rights NGOs denounced the action on the peaceful marchers, many of whom were clergy wearing white cassocks, carrying Bibles, rosaries, crucifixes, statues of Mary and other sacred images, as well as praying and singing religious hymns.

Since then things have calmed in the city, according to Missionaries of Africa Father Evans Chama, who is based in a Kinshasa parish.

“It is visibly calm [now]. Given what is on the ground now, there's very little, if not nothing, to fear,” Fr Chama said.

The priest said that there has been isolated talk linking the murder of the cardinal’s nephew to the Church’s opposition to the election results, but “there are even many people who are not aware of the assassination”.

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), has offered his condolences to Cardinal Monsengwo.

“The loss of any life by violence is not according to the will of God. The fact that another life is lost in Johannesburg—whoever it is—is very sad,” said Archbishop Tlhagale in a statement.

The archbishop assured the Congolese community in the archdiocese of his prayers and “full cooperation to bring the perpetrators of this violence to law”.

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

Revival weekend in March

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

E

MMANUEL Cathedral has invited the people of Durban to be “revived in their faith” from March 21-23 during the visit of Fr Mario Dibie, the priest from Nigeria who initiated the Revival programme currently ongoing in the archdiocese.

“Revival is a spiritual programme aimed at reviving our Christian faith, bringing back into the Church lost Christians, introducing Christ to those yet to receive the Gospel and healing and deliverance of all participants through praise and worship, vibrant sermons and teachings of

the Gospel and fellowshipping together,” said Gugu Gumede, Revival committee leader in the cathedral parish.

The programme was started in 2007 by Fr Dibie, “a vibrant Nigerian charismatic priest, founder of Lumen Christi Adoration Christi with a mission of evangelisation and reviving our Catholic Christian faith”, said Ms Gumede.

Once hosted annually, the popularity and success of the programme resulted in the meetings being hosted monthly.

Fr Dibie normally visits the parish two or three times a year to monitor the sustainability of programmes, to consult with and wor-

ship with parishioners. “This programme has already had far-reaching successes. There are numerous testimonies of healing and deliverance through this programme.

Many fallen Christians have also come back to the Church.”

Ms Gumede added that many of the archdiocese’s priests have embraced Revival and have shown a great desire to carry it forward and to extend it to other parishes.

“People can expect a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ our Saviour, healing and deliverance, praise and worship and greater fellowship with many Christians of other parishes and other Christian denomina-

Commitee aims for WYD 2013 success STAFF REPORTER

T

HE Johannesburg archdiocese has set up its World Youth Day 2013 organising committee, which is headed by Frs Rodney George and Teboho Matseke.

The team’s focus is primarily to make sure that the pilgrimage is a great success and that every parish within the archdiocese sends at least one rep-

resentative to the event in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Registrations are now open and forms can be accessed on www.catholicjohannesburg.org.za on the youth link.

To book, a deposit of R1 000 is required before March 30. n For more information about the WYD 2013 organising commitee call Lebo Majahe at the Johannesburg chancery 011 402 6400

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tions,” Ms Gumede said, adding that all are welcome at the weekend event.

The Revival leader said her team hopes to see spiritual growth of all participants by the end of the March weekend as well as an overall growth of the programme—not only in Emmanuel cathedral but right across the archdiocese.

The programme starts on Wednesday, March 21 at 18:00, consultation and confession on Thursday and Friday from 09:00 to 13:00 and an all night Revival on Friday at 18:00. n For more information contact 031 306 3595 or 082 483 0821.

Fr Mario Dibie of Nigeria initiated the Revival programme currently ongoing in the Durban archdiocese.

Cancer research supported STAFF REPORTER

T

HE Niki Duarte Project hosted the first ever CANSA Shavathon Booth at the Portuguese church, Santa Maria, as an initiative to raise funds for the South African Cancer Association, CANSA, to be utilised for research and treatment of those affected by the disease.

More than 400 onlookers, of whom 160 participated in the CANSA Shave or Spray-athon, gathered to participate in this initiative which was organised by the Niki Duarte Project committee.

The commitee is a branch of the People In Evangalisation (PIE) youth group which was formed after member Niki Duarte was diagnosed with leukaemia and died in 2011 after a lengthy battle.

More than R13 000 was raised on the day to be donated to CANSA, PIE Group and Niki Duarte Project.

Chairwoman of the committee Lizelle Gonçalves showed her support and commitment to the cause by shaving her

LITTLE BREADTAGS

Thank you!

Eden Hannah Jacobs 1yr &8mth already knows that a breadtag is valuable

Thanks to all parishioners of various parishes, all the Theology students, The Little Sisters of Charity, friends and family who so diligently collected breadtags. Together we have been able to assist 13 people in need of a wheelchair in various parishers within our Archdiocese.

You are encouraged to please keep up the good work for every Little Breadtag makes a big difference to someone’s life.

Karen Adriaanse karenadriaanse@gmail. com, 083 215 8105

A two-year-old boy was the youngest participant in the first ever CANSA Shavathon which was hosted by the Niki Duarte Project. The project was started by a youth group to raise awareness about cancer after member Niki Duarte died of leukaemia in 2011. head at the Shavathon.

Ms Gonçalves thanked and congratulated all who took part and contributed generously to

make this event successful. n For more information on the PIE Group and the Niki Duarte Project visit www.piegroup.co.za

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

3

Opera voices to sing for Women in Need STAFF REPORTER

empowering them to change their lives.

“The programme’s work exists as living testimony that the most desperate of life circumstances can be transformed, with determination and—importantly—being equipped with the tools to make such a change,” said communications manager Michail Rassool.

Since being set up by Loreto Sister Margo Mulvey, who has since returned to her native Ireland, WIN has over the years enabled these women to take charge of their lives and advancement as well as their family situations.

“Clients acquire life skills, parenting skills, leadership skills, nonviolent communication skills and, in many cases, vocational or workrelated skills, among others, aside from just receiving a meal and donations of clothing and person-

O

PERATIC voices from all around the Western Cape will join in an effort to raise funds for Women in Need (WIN), a development programme of Catholic Welfare and Development (CWD).

Hosted by St Michael’s parish in Rondebosch, Cape Town, “Voices of the Cape Town Opera,” aims to raise much needed funding for the Cape Town-based charity.

CWD’s Judith Turner said the event was a “good way for the community to support our efforts to empower the poorest and most marginalised in our society”.

WIN has intervened in the lives of women and their families living on the streets or in makeshift situations in the archdiocese since 1996, by assisting them and

al provisions,” Mr Rassool said.

WIN aims to develop their clients into well-rounded individuals who are honest, capable, selfaware, healed of hurts, wiser, committed, conscientious and courageous.

Mr Rassool said many former clients are now gainfully employed and have acquired proper homes for their families.

WIN has two components, an outreach facility in Regent Street, Woodstock, which offers meals once a day, intervention, advice, referrals and capacity-building, and visits to clients right where they are—keeping track of their situations through casework.

Then there is the WIN Playhouse in Coleridge Road, Salt River, which offers early childhood development services to WIN clients’ children.

A fundraising event is set to aid Women in Need, a development programme in Cape Town that aims to improve the lives of vulnerable women and children.

The St Michael’s fundraising group invites opera lovers to support the cause of intervening in the lives of women and their families in desperate circumstances by attending the event which takes place at Groote Schuur Manor House in Rondebosch on March

20 at 09:30 for 10:00.

Tickets costs R150 and for more information contact 082 931 0687, 082 928 2658 or 021 686 6817. n For more information on WIN, to volunteer or to donate goods contact CWD on 021 425 2095.

God found in an Australian gap year

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

“experience that has become a cornerstone of my life”.

Ms Tennant joined 52 other people between the ages of 18-30 and all with the mission to visit schools every day to spread the Good News.

Ms Tennant said while she was raised in a Catholic home and attended Mass weekly and even had a relationship with Jesus, she admits to feeling at times that Mass was irrelevant—with “so much else going on outside the church doors”.

The gap year abroad was the answer to her hunger for something more. “My year of being on the travelling NET team was not only a personal journey of profound freedom and fulfilment, but it was there that I witnessed the growing ache in young people.”

NET Ministries educates and shares themes of peer pressure, God’s love and life purpose through skits, dramas, activities

F

OR Caryn Tennant, working as a missionary did not mean giving up a year of her life and losing freedoms. Instead, the former learner at Maris Stella High School in Durban, who spent her gap year in Australia, said it was freedom she found when she found God. The young Catholic travelled down under and joined National Evangelisation Teams Ministries (NET Ministries), a Catholic youth ministry which is based in various countries in the world.

“I was not entirely sure what it would hold for me and I was possibly a bit self-conscious that I was taking a road less travelled,” said Ms Tennant, but since it was to be only a year—one full of travels and a break from studying, she thought it would be “alright”.

However, upon return, Ms Tennant has called her gap year an

Former Maris Stella learner Caryn Tennant from Durban spent her gap year in Australia evangelising to local youth. She is pictured with her mother.

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HOLY WEEK: MARCH 31 - APRIL 8 1. Preached Retreat by Fr Christopher Neville OMF 2. St Faustina & Bl John Paul II: Divine Mercy Week by Fr Urs Fischer APRIL 13 - 15 The Eucharist: Source and Summit of Our Christian Life Repeat of Lenten Lecture by Mgr Paul Nadal APRIL 20 - 22 Question and Answers: About your journey to God Led by Fr Urs Fischer

NOVEMBER 9 - 11 Search for Life by Fr Pierre Lavoipierre NOVEMBER 23 - 25 Mary, the Mother, has the message by Deacon Tony de Freitas DECEMBER 7 - 16 8-Day directed retreats by Fr Urs Fischer and Br Crispin Graham DECEMBER 24 - JANUARY 1, 2013

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and small groups.

“This opened the eyes of so many Australian youth to the relevance and importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus in our society today,” said Ms Tennant.

In addition, Ms Tennant said on a personal level she discovered that “my identity lies only in being a daughter of God. I have been created for the purpose of being in a relationship with God and others. While at the same time, God will never deprive me of my desires. He wants to provide us with adventure. He longs to grant us opportunities to be people who make an impact on this world through our talents. He wants us to be satisfied.”

Ms Tennant said during her time as a missionary she learnt that all baptised Catholics are called to mission. “For some it might mean being sent off by plane into a distant land. But more

importantly, we are all called, daily, to be God’s hands and feet on this earth simply by being the people.”

Ms Tennant said while she was at school, she was happy to surrender one hour of her life to God every Sunday and like most people, was happy to let him take care of exams and frightening moments in life.

But “I was afraid he would ask me to do something difficult—to give up social status, control, freedom” if she surrendered too much time to God. But that was not the case at all, she said. Instead, when she persued her faith “I experienced—to my surprise—freedom”.

Ms Tennant encourages other Catholic youths to find freedom in God. n For more information on National Evangelisation Teams Ministries around the world, see www.netministry.com

Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School Durban North

High School Teaching Post: July 2012 Dramatic Arts (Grades 8–12)

Applications are invited from experienced educators who possess appropriate qualifications, are registered with SACE and fit the following profile: Senior school trained educator (preferably a BA Graduate & a PGCE) with recent experience teaching Dramatic Arts, Grades 8–12.

Extensive knowledge of the GET and FET curricula.

Recent experience in an IEB school will be an advantage.

An appreciation of the School’s traditions and Catholic ethos.

Sound interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate effec-tively with learners, staff and parents.

Duties will include: Attendance at related workshops and parent interviews.

Participation in the School’s co-curricular programme, including school productions, etc.

Failure to meet the advertised minimum requirements for the post will result in applicants automatically disqualifying themselves from consideration.

Applicants are required to fill in a covering information form which is available from Mrs Bennison, or it can be posted to you on request (Tel. 031-563-5390). You can email fatimacs@fatima.co.za for an electronic version of this form.

Detailed CV to be submitted with the information form to: The Principal, Our Lady of Fatima D.C. School, 155 Kenneth Kaunda Road (Northway), Durban North, 4051.

CLOSING DATE: Friday, 23 March 2012.

4

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

White House ‘rebuffed’ Church’s freedom fears, says cardinal

I

N a strongly worded letter to his fellow bishops, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has charged that White House officials failed to consider the US bishops’ concerns that a federal mandate governing employer coverage of contraception and sterilisation under the health care law violated religious freedom principles.

An invitation from the White House to “work out the wrinkles” regarding the mandate either by rescinding it or at least widening the exemptions on religious grounds failed to reach an agreement and the effort “seems to be stalled,” he said in the letter.

Cardinal Dolan referred to recent comments by a White House official that the mandates are a fait accompli.

Despite the setback, Cardinal Dolan promised that the US bishops would not back down in its drive to overturn the mandates because of its overriding concern for religious freedom.

President Barack Obama’s revision said religious employers could decline to cover contraceptives if they were morally opposed to them, but the health insurers that provide their health plans would be required to offer contraceptives free of charge to women who requested such coverage. Questions remain as to how it relates to religious employers who are self-insured.

In his letter, the cardinal reiterated that the bishops’ conference will “continue to accept invitations to meet with and to voice our concerns to anyone of any party, for this is hardly partisan, who is willing to correct the infringements on religious freedom that we are now under”.

Cardinal Dolan also expressed hope that Congress may be more willing to address religious freedom concerns legislatively.

“Our commitment to seeking legislative remedies remains strong. And it is about remedies to the assault on religious freedom.

Vatican: Aid rural women

W Men carry a statue of “El Nazareno”, the Black Nazarene, during a Lenten procession through the streets of Guatemala City. (Photo: Jorge Dan Lopez, Reuters/CNS) Period,” Cardinal Dolan said.

The letter outlined planned actions to spread the word about the mandates to parishes. It said advocacy and education efforts will expand and that catechetical resources on the significance of religious freedom to the Church and the Church’s teaching on it from doctrinal and moral perspectives are being developed.

“Given this climate we have to prepare for tough times,” Cardinal Dolan wrote.

“Brothers, we know so very well that religious freedom is our heritage, our legacy and our firm belief, both as loyal Catholics and Americans. There have been many threats to religious freedom over the decades and years, but these often came from without. This one sadly comes from within.

“As our ancestors did with previous threats, we will tirelessly defend the timeless and enduring truth of religious freedom,” he said.—CNS

OMEN around the world, particularly rural women who face serious challenges from poverty and hunger, deserve recognition for their contributions and should be allowed to influence decisions that affect the lives of families, a Vatican official told the United Nations.

Improving the lives of women will assist families, the communities in which they live and society as a whole, said Dianne Willman, attaché at the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations.

Poverty and hunger are largely caused by unfair social and political systems that perpetuate inequality and deprive women of legal rights and a voice in decisions that affect them, Ms Willman said.

“Education and training, the provision of resources, service delivery, access to financial systems and communication technology are just some areas which demand ongoing attention as they lead to realisation of the right to development,” she said.—CNS

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against gay marriage

BY SIMON CALDWELL

L

EGALISATION of same-sex marriage could obscure the “real meaning” of marriage for generations to come, the bishops of England and Wales are telling Catholics.

In a letter read aloud in about 2 500 parishes the weekend of March 10-11, the bishops said that an imminent government proposal to change the law represents “a profoundly radical step”.

“Its consequences should be taken seriously now,” said the letter, co-signed by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark, vice-president.

“The law helps to shape and form social and cultural values,” the letter said. “A change in the law would gradually and inevitably transform society’s understanding of the purpose of marriage.

“It would reduce it just to the commitment of the two people involved. There would be no recognition of the complementarity of male and female or that

marriage is intended for the procreation and education of children.

“We have a duty to married people today,” the archbishops wrote, “and to those who come after us, to do all we can to ensure that the true meaning of marriage is not lost for future generations.”

The archbishops argued that the roots of the institution of marriage are natural and based on the complementarity and fertility of opposite sexes.

“Neither the Church nor the state has the power to change this fundamental understanding of marriage itself. Nor is this simply a matter of public opinion.

The letter comes ahead of a consultation on gay marriage that could result in a change in the law before the next general election in 2012. British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is “emphatically in favour” of such a change.

It also comes days after Cardinal Keith O’Brien of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, criticised government proposals to redefine marriage.

Cardinal O’Brien said that

civil partnerships introduced by the government in 2004 already conferred many of the rights of marriage on homosexual couples.

The drive to legalise gay marriage represented “an attempt to redefine marriage for the whole of society at the behest of a small minority of activists.”

“Redefining marriage will have huge implications for what is taught in our schools and for wider society,” the cardinal said in an article in The Sunday Telegraph. “It will redefine society, since the institution of marriage is one of the fundamental building blocks of society. ” He also argued that the legalisation of same-sex marriage would be “a grotesque subversion” of Article 16 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which recognises the right of men and women to enter into marriage.

“Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father,” the cardinal said.—CNS

Church was on the scene after Brazzaville disaster

A

CATHOLIC church where Sunday Massgoers were just leaving was among dozens of buildings flattened by a series of explosions triggered by a fire at a military munitions depot in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

Government officials suspect a short-circuit set off the fire at the military storage facility, causing huge fires and a series of explosions of missiles, bombs and munitions that devastated Mpila, a suburb on the eastern edge of Brazzaville, causing the collapse of several buildings. The church of Saint Louis des Francais was razed to the ground.

The most serious explosion occurred after Mass had ended.

There were still parishioners on the church grounds, though,

and it is almost certain that some of them died.

The apostolic nunciature in Brazzaville was damaged slightly, but no one there was injured, sources told Fides. The nunciature staff later joined government officials and representatives of social service and aid agencies to mobilise assistance for the victims and the homeless.

The nunciature assisted state authorities in addressing the humanitarian crisis. Catholic organisations were on the ground, assisting the wounded and providing shelter, food and other aid to those affected by the disaster.

Among the Catholic bodies who provided immediate aid were the Sisters of St Joseph of

Cluny, who operate the city’s university hospital, the Place Mariale, the parishes of NotreDame du Rosaire and St Pierre Claver in the populous district of Bacongo, and the community of St Charles Lwanga and the Ugandan Martyrs.

The diocesan Caritas and many clinics of the religious orders scattered throughout various neighbourhoods of the Capital also treated and assisted hundreds of injured who could not be hospitalised in state hospitals, which were already full.

The shock wave of the explosions caused damage throughout Brazzaville and were felt in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, about 10km from the site of the accident.— CISA/CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

5

Vatican urges support for the Holy Land’s Christian presence

BY CINDY WOODEN

T

Pope Benedict shows a drawing done of himself by children as he celebrates Mass at the church of St John Baptist de la Salle in suburban Rome. (Photo: Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters/CNS)

ENSION, hostility and even violence are the “daily bread” of many of the Christian communities living in the biblical lands of the Middle East, according to Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

In a letter to bishops around the world, Cardinal Sandri asked for widespread participation in the annual collection on behalf of Christians in the Holy Land.

The collection, coordinated by the Congregation for Eastern Churches, is taken up during Good Friday services in many dioceses.

Cardinal Sandri said Good Friday is a special time to remember Mideast Christians’ needs, which “are bound up with the sufferings

German bishops hopeful about the Church’s future T HE president of the German bishops’ conference has welcomed progress in a national dialogue on the Catholic Church’s future, inaugurated in the wake of sexual abuse scandals.

“This process is on the right track—we’re all getting a chance to make our voices heard,” Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg said at a news conference marking the end of the bishops’ four-day meeting.

Archbishop Zollitsch said he hoped the dialogue would be advanced by the Church’s Katholikentag festival in May and a national Eucharistic congress in 2013.

The Dialogue on the State of the Church, launched in June by 30 German bishops and 300 invited clergy and lay representatives, is to run till 2015, with each year examining a Church task, including liturgy and witness.

The archbishop said the dialogue theme for 2012, “Diako-

nia: Our responsibility in a free society”, would give further impetus to the consultations, but he cautioned against “exaggerated expectations”, noting that the Church’s 27 dioceses were “working at different speeds”.

A bishops’ conference statement said the dialogue was about “the challenge of social pluralism to the Church and how best to demonstrate the Church’s public and charitable purposes”.

“It could set a spiritual process in motion, which does not take decisions and formulate demands on the run, but asks openly and critically what the Church of tomorrow needs,” the statement said. “This process is engaging many Catholics at various levels.”

However, the assessment was criticised by Germany’s dissenting We Are Church movement, which said lay Catholics would not be satisfied with ‘”pro forma dialogues and beautiful visions”.

“The German bishops initiat-

ed this dialogue process at the height of the abuse crisis. The faithful expect not just a Church of listening and spiritual renewal, but of concrete pastoral steps,” said a statement from the movement.

Several hundred Germans have claimed molestation by priests and Church personnel since allegations were made against a Catholic college in Berlin in January 2010.

Under August 2010 Church guidelines, people who work with Catholic youth must now obtain police checks and undergo psychiatric tests, while the Church’s 27 dioceses must have independent ombudsmen and experts.

At their meeting, besides discussing the national dialogue, the bishops debated the situation at Germany’s 54 theology faculties and institutes, after new Church data confirmed student admissions had dropped by half in the past 15 years. The sharpest decline was in Pope Benedict’s native Bavaria.—CNS

Gunmen attack Syrian monks for cash, arms

BY MICHAEL GUNN

M

ASKED gunmen stormed the Syrian desert monastery of Deir Mar Musa, about 70km southwest of Homs, destroying property and briefly holding its inhabitants captive.

The monastery’s website reported that approximately 30 armed men infiltrated the hillside monastery, holding community members at gunpoint as they searched for weapons and money.

Dating from the sixth century, Mar Musa was re-established by an Italian Jesuit priest in the early 1980s. The monastery and its church are staffed with Catholic and Orthodox nuns and priests, and the compound has become a centre for MuslimChristian interfaith dialogue.

The year-long uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been followed by the appearance of armed militias, some loyal to the regime and others made up of former Syrian army members who now carry out attacks on government troops.

Those at the monastery said it was impossible to determine the identity of their assailants.

“There were many contradictory elements,” said Sr Dina, a Catholic nun from Homs who

A boy eats bread as others wait in front of a bakery shop during snowfall in Al Qusayr, near Homs.

Syrian rebels left their shattered stronghold in Homs on March 1 after a bloody 26-day army siege.

It is impossible to say whether an attack on a monastery 70km from Homs was carried by rebels or forces of embattled President Bashar al-Assad. (Photo: Goran Tomasevic, Reuters/CNS) works at the monastery. “They asked for money and weapons, but at the same time they didn’t steal anything and they didn’t cause much damage.”

Sr Dina, who asked that her last name not be used, said she was meditating in the monastery’s chapel when the intruders burst in, about 7:30 pm.

“Three of the men charged in—one blocked my way with a gun. I asked them what they

wanted and told them this is a place of worship that should be respected.

“One man said, ‘Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you,’” she continued, describing “professional” assailants who appeared “used to carrying weapons”.

“They broke all our means of communication, our computer, our phones, then they told us to stay in the chapel for one hour as they left,” she said.

Local authorities told the monastery that nearby villages had been struck by similar attacks, with an armed group stealing from homes and shops.

The monastery’s superior, Italian Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, was reportedly in the Syrian capital, Damascus, when the attack took place. In December, Fr Dall’Oglio, who once said he developed Mar Musa “to build harmony around a religious fault line,” was reportedly asked to leave Syria after he told a Catholic newspaper the country could no longer live under a “totalitarian dictatorship”.

Christians are said to make up around 10% of Syria’s roughly 22,5 million population.

Their participation in the country’s uprising has been limited, say activists, citing Christian fears of a future Islamist government.—CNS

of the entire Middle East. For the disciples of Christ, hostility is often the daily bread that nourishes the faith.”

Proceeds of the collection are distributed to Latin and Eastern Catholic bishops, parishes, schools and projects in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Egypt.

While the focus is on Catholic pastoral work in the region, he said, the Church also offers social services to the needy, whether or not they are Catholic.

“In this way fraternity, which can overcome division and discrimination, increases and gives renewed impetus to ecumenical dialogue and interreligious collaboration,” he said.

Cardinal Sandri noted the ongoing high rates of Christian

emigration from the Holy Land as families seek futures free from the threat of violence.

At the same time, those who stay need help not only in maintaining their families, but also in preparing for a better future, he said. The region’s Christians need “support now for schools, medical assistance, critical housing [and] meeting places”.

With the money they received from the collection in 2010/11, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land improved facilities for pilgrims at holy sites; provided university scholarships to 420 students throughout the region; provided counselling, housing and medical care to families in need; and funded construction or reconstruction projects at Catholic parishes and schools.—CNS

Ursulines of the Blessed Virgin Mary We are the Ursulines of the Blessed Virgin Mary, called to serve Christ through education of girls, women and servants, pastoral and social work.

Do you feel God’s call? Join us.

Contact Vocation directress: Ursuline Sisters PO Box 36 Ngqeleni 5140 Cell: 072 958 2111 OR Box 212 Libode 5160 Tel: 047 555 0018

6

The Southern Cross, March14 to March 20, 2012

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Real religious freedom

C

HRISTIAN hegemony over the centuries may well have clouded perceptions, especially in the West, about the incidence of religious freedom, to a point where attacks on Christians are sometimes ignored or otherwise regarded as insignificant.

In traditionally Christian societies, especially those which are rapidly secularising, Christian sensitivities are often casually disregarded, or relegated to belonging to an agenda which merits no voice in the public discourse. Religious faith, and all perspectives that flow from it, are increasingly expected to occupy the private domain.

In some ways, this regrettable mindset is a consequence of the churches in the past exercising greater influence on public affairs than many felt was their due. The antipathy which the Church in Ireland is encountering now is due not only to the shock of the abuse scandal, but also to the massive influence it previously wielded in shaping public policy, despite being an unelected body. The distinction between religious and temporal spheres was not always recognised.

So to outsiders it may seem exaggerated when the Catholic Church in the United States speaks of its religious liberties being attacked by the proposed provisions in President Barack Obama’s health policy which could force some Catholic employers to pay for birth control, including abortifacients, and voluntary sterilisations.

For many people, this issue might not be a big deal, but it does cut to the inalienable right to freedom of conscience, an absolute mainstay of all religious liberty.

Remove the element of conscience, and the freedom to religion is profoundly compromised.

Religious freedom extends well beyond the ability to subscribe to a creed and worship in peace. It requires that the government cannot compel individuals (or, for that matter, religious bodies) to violate the teachings of their faith.

Of course, for many Christians, even the basic threshold of religious liberty—the freedom to choose one’s religious faith and access to worship—cannot be taken for granted.

The strict measures against non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia, where expressions of Christian faith can lead to imprisonment, are well known, as are the recent attacks on Christians in Egypt and

northern Nigeria. Less known are the dangers faced, for example, by Catholics in China who wish to exercise their faith in full communion with Rome, and not with the regime. Nor does the appalling discrimination of Christians in Pakistan attract much attention.

It should alarm the international community that, according to Vatican statistics, attacks on Christians in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia increased by 309% between 2003 and 2010.

In discussion of the crisis in Syria, where the regime of Bashar al-Assad has been in battle with rebels for more than a year, the potential plight of the country’s Christians, who constitute 10% of the population, is often overlooked. Syria’s Christians fear that the fall of the Assad regime, which they acknowledge to be a political tyranny, will lead to an Islamic theocracy that might emasculate the country’s ancient Christian community.

There is an acute precedent for that. As is the case in Assad’s Syria, the Christians of Iraq enjoyed significant religious freedoms under the otherwise monstrous regime of Saddam Hussein. After Saddam’s fall, Christians came under attack from Islamic fundamentalists— and in many cases their neighbours, with whom they had coexisted peacefully, exploited antiChristian sentiments to appropriate their properties and possessions.

Many Iraqi Christians fled to Syria where they now live in fear of reliving the trauma of their persecution if the Assad regime be toppled.

The future of Syria remains unclear. The recent victory of Assad’s forces in the rebel stronghold of Homs suggests that the regime is safe, for now. However, international pressure will not abate, and some form of negotiated solution seems likely, and necessary. Should such negotiations proceed, the rights of minorities must feature high on the agenda.

Archbishop Silvano Tomsasi, the Vatican’s envoy to the United Nations agencies in Geneva, put the challenge to the international community when he said it must work “to sustain mutual tolerance and respect of human rights and a greater equality among citizens of different religions in order to achieve a healthy democracy where the public role of religion and the distinction between religious and temporal spheres are recognised”.

What has happened to our Catholic schools?

C

ATHOLIC schools, especially in the townships, have changed from what they used to be.

Back in the day, when you walked into a Catholic school you could immediately feel that you were in a different environment, and when you engaged with learners, you immediately realised that there was something unexplainably remarkable and extraordinary about them.

This could have had something to do with the principal ethos of Catholicism that was instilled by the religious sisters, brothers and priests in our schools, which was a lived experience for the whole school community, and was realised by daily interactions and by everyone’s prayer lives.

We had a chapel which was open the whole day for all to go and pray, whenever.

Thank you for sharing

I

AM very grateful for your publishing Fr Ron Rolheiser’s “Learning from cancer” (February 22). I couldn’t have read it on a more appropriate day than when I started another round of chemotherapy in battling breast cancer.

I thank Fr Rolheiser for being a little more personal than usual by sharing with us his feelings and thoughts about coping with his cancer. I am sure many of my fellow cancer patients appreciated his gentle, understanding and encouraging words.

I particularly valued Fr Rolheiser’s resolve to use the time of his treatment as a grace in his life, his slowing down the pace of his life, his recognition to be more patient, his determination to be more faithful to daily prayer and his commitment no longer to take life, love, friendship and health for granted.

As he said, this is my challenge, not only over the next five months of my chemo and radiation therapies but, please God, beyond this time.

I might mention that my 2004 battle with cancer made me less materialistic. What car I drove, where I lived and what clothes I could afford to wear no longer bothered me.

This time around, my cancer has made me aware that ultimately only my relationship with people is of consequence in what life God grants me.

Cynthia Jammine, Pretoria

Spreading the Good News We invite young men to apply We Dominicans are priests and brothers, living a Religious life together in communities, dedicated to contemplative prayer and the study of God’s message, with the aim of communicating it to the world, so that all people may benefit.

Contact: The Vocations Promoter PO Box 100150, Scottsville, 3209 or email us at vocations@zaop.org Check our website www.zaop.org

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

The academic excellence in our schools was due to a good team and the excellent relationship between dedicated teachers and learners. The religious atmosphere fostered formation for learners, making them understand and appreciate their faith.

I recently visited the primary school I went to and was shocked to notice that the school is the contrary of what I knew Catholic schools to be when I grew up.

A friend from another township told me that similar stories

Bringing clarity

I

WISH to thank the editor for the simply outstanding editorial “Healing old wounds” (February 22). This is the way to most prophetically help the Church to be true to her calling.

The editorial was fair and balanced, affirming recent efforts while critical of previous years’ reactions.

It’s hard enough surviving the times we live in—there are many profound crises, whether political, spiritual or even philosophical, when the value of the human person is seriously devalued, all human rights efforts notwithstanding.

Yes, “the safety of minors is more important than the reputation of the Church”.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s comment that Church authorities often failed to protect children and served instead as an “instrument of evil against them” is a hard pill to swallow. But this is what happened in too many tragic instances.

We know we are a Church of sinners and as adults we must face the consequences of our behaviour, even the derision of the public.

As the editor says, it was a clerical culture that allowed the abuse to take place.

Thank you for bringing all of this 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.

are experienced in another school in Soweto.

I was astonished to learn that religious education was not even taught in the school. Could this be because most of the children who attend Catholic schools are not even Catholic?

I attended their Ash Wednesday Mass and wished I hadn’t.

The noise and on-going chitchats were a distraction. The priest would remind the learners that they are at the Mass, but the noise would still persist.

What’s the use of taking nonCatholics to Mass when they don’t appreciate being there?

This doesn’t mean that I’m suggesting that they be discriminated against, but the least they could do is to allow others to freely and openly participate in the liturgy.

Mlebana WA Majahe, Johannesburg

A necessary evil

into focus for us.

Dorothea Russell, Cape Town

R

EGARDING “A theft of land by law” (February 8).

That Mr Salman, a Catholic and the former town manager of Bethlehem cannot attend to his 1560m² olive grove because it is beyond the separation wall erected by Israel, is a necessary evil.

The fact is that Christians in Israel are more secure than before 1967 because of the following reasons: The main airport of the country is no longer just 17km from an area under military Arab sovereignty.

The separation wall prevents Muslim suicide bombers and other Muslim terrorists from entering Israel. The criminality level is lower in Israel today then in many countries, for example South Africa.

It is interesting that the writer of the article could not find a better example of “land theft” than Mr Salman. He is not a “farmer” at all.

He has rather farming as his hobby because a 1560m² olive grove would not be of economical significance beyond his pension money.

Instead of choosing a politically correct bashing target (Israel), The Southern Cross should consider devoting some space for interviews (and photographs) with some of the thousands of Nigerian Christians who left (fled) northern Nigeria and the families of Egyptian Coptic victims.

However telling the truth about Muslim atrocities is not as easy as bashing Israel.

Don Friedigen, Pretoria

PUBLIC LECTURE

by DR AUGUSTINE SHUTTE Catholic philosopher and theologian

‘Catholic Faith in the Postmodern World’ Wednesday 28 March, at 7.30 pm

CK Storey Hall, Methodist Church, Main Road, Rosebank, Cape Town.

Parking and entrance via Chapel Road Entrance is free. Donations welcome

PERSPECTIVES

The miracle of abundance

T

HERE is more than enough of everything to go around in the world. The poverty, of all forms, we see around us today is not so much because of a lack of resources, but a lack of a mentality of abundance within.

What is an abundance mentality?

When we have an abundance mentality, we feel free to give of everything we have. We believe that there is more than enough to go around. We have seen the miracle of multiplication. We share easily. We need not be rich to

have an abundance mentality; more often it is the poor who show us how to share.

The opposite of an abundance mentality, is a scarcity mentality. When we live from this mentality we live out of fear that there will not be enough for us to survive. We hoard. We do not share.

We keep our time to ourselves, our money to ourselves and our friends to ourselves. We are afraid that if we share these, we will lose all of it.

There is absolutely no truth in that kind of mindset. Have you ever been

A fourth-century mosaic in the church of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha in Galilee commemorates the miracle of the multiplication.

Loving the differences F ROM our village on the south-east coast of the Eastern Province we get superb sightings of the stars, among which is the Southern Cross constellation.

It is sometimes low on the horizon and sometimes high, but always it points due south. Sometimes it is obscured, but by now we know where due south is in relation to the position of our house and other landmarks. We know that it is there, pointing constantly since time immemorial over thousands of miles of ocean to the South Pole.

The Church of Christ was established to be such a beacon, to point humankind to the constancy and truth of God. Humankind being what it is, however, often seems to have made more of an issue over where we should be in the sky rather than concentrating on where we should be pointing.

My experience in the church over the past two decades has been markedly different from before, in that as a so-called white person I have been immersed in a so-called coloured church setting. My cultural location has changed. The position in the sky is different. Sometimes clouds seem to have obscured the Cross.

I have had to learn a new language, not the words so much as the pictures they evoke. I have had to learn new forms of worship, often noisier and more robust than I was used to. I have had to learn cultural nuances—when to be more direct and literal than I was

used to, and when to seek for deeper symbols. And sometimes I have had to come to terms with simple outward manifestations of diversity, such as dress codes or how not to lose your place in the food queue or the funeral procession, as others with a different sense of personal space crowd in before you.

I have learnt that it is helpful to be mindful of the differences, and to use them to try to filter out the non-essential parts of my own preconceptions and prejudices and cultural bias, in order to keep the end-objective of the Cross more clearly before me—in short, to celebrate diversity.

There is a difference between our faith—our relationship with God in Christ and with others—and the structures we use to help carry and understand those relationships. Often enough those structures are culture-bound, which is surely in itself not a sin, but we do well to understand them for what they are, lest in their very human imperfection they obscure the really important.

Speak to people who have lost the sight of one eye, and you will learn that one of the most difficult adjustments they have had to make is adjudging distance. They have lost the depth of vision they had when they had the use of both eyes.

If we can truly accept the Pauline call to be thankful in everything, we can learn to celebrate our differences rather than try to justify them. We can learn to

Judith Turner

On Faith and Life

invited to a family gathering where everyone had to bring a plate of eats?

There is always more than enough— even when you think, “will there be enough, what I am bringing looks so little”. But once we have put all the things together, it looks like a feast. This is when we see the miracle of multiplication.

When we have an abundance mentality we can share more than just food. In our organisations or parishes or workplaces or families, as leaders, we need such a mentality to feed people around us. We feed people with praise and affirmation.

Many times we do not do this out of fear that other people will look better than us when we praise them. We think that when someone else receives the praise, all the praise in the world is now given to that person and that there is now no more praise left for us. How silly!

What happens when you receive a word of praise or congratulations for a job well done from your manager? You feel empowered. You feel inspired to tackle even a bigger job. You feel you can do more. That is the miracle of multiplication.

Christ said: “I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” When we live with a mindset of abundance, we will see the miracle that what we give away multiplies: food, knowledge, praise, love, everything.

There will even be many leftovers.

Rev Mike Kirby

New Vines, New Skins: An ecumenical series

gain a depth perspective of our own selves through the eyes of caring people whose experiences have not been exactly the same as ours.

We start with our own perspectives: we learn to use the insights of the other to give depth to our vision. We will not feel we have to justify our own understandings, nor give up those things that help us, including the institutional structures we are comfortable with. Nor will we feel that we must change the perspectives and insights of others: although we may find we want to modify some or other stance or insight of our own.

We will be enabled to see what the essentials of our faith are and what merely the carriers of the precious cargo are. There is a distinction to be made between the cargo and the cargo-carrier.

If I am really interested in what you think, you cannot feel threatened. The essence of the discussion is to be nonjudgmental. It is to inform our own understanding without feeling threatened—because we know we share the insight that God has given Christ the task of reconciling the world to him and us to one another, and we are all invited to join in that work. n Michael Kirby is a minister emeritus in the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa in Kenton-on-Sea.

The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

7

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Where can one find the Tridentine Mass?

Since the Vatican instruction Summorum pontificium permitting the Tridentine Mass, what is the position of the Southern African bishops?

Where can one find parishes that celebrate this extraordinary form of the Mass?

John E Cunha HE Southern African bishops permit the Tridentine Mass to be celebrated in any parish.

This, as you say, follows Pope Benedict's 2007 motu proprio, Summorum pontificium.

Its purpose, the pope explained, was to bring back to the Church those who felt alienated by the newer liturgy and “to place at the Church's disposal all the treasures of the Latin liturgy that for centuries had nourished the spiritual life of so many”.

Parish priests are free to celebrate the Tridentine Mass at any time, even at the parish’s scheduled Mass times on Sundays.

There are restrictions. The Tridentine or “extraordinary form” of the Roman Rite, approved by Pope John XXIII in 1962, must never be habitually celebrated for the faithful, because it is not the “ordinary form” of the Mass, approved by Pope Paul VI in 1970, with which we are familiar today in our own spoken languages, and which is the liturgical norm. In fact, there must be a need for the celebration of the extraordinary form, such as a request from a “stable group” of the faithful or even a special request by a couple who would like it, say, for their nuptial or anniversary Mass.

In addition, the priest who celebrates the extraordinary form has to have at least a basic knowledge of Latin and not only pronounce the Latin text correctly but also know its meaning. Priests who have celebrated the extraordinary form in the past would be best suited for this.

Priests may, at any time, celebrate private Masses using the extraordinary form, and they need no special permission from their bishop or superior to do so.

It is because few priests these days have much fluency or adequate comprehension of the Latin language that it is not easy to find one who is willing and able to celebrate this form of the Mass. Besides, some priests are known to resist it because they see it as a backward step away from the ethos of the reforms of Vatican II. So, finding a parish church or chapel where the Tridentine Rite is celebrated is difficult. Perhaps the best way is to consult the local parish priest or diocesan chancery and ask there.

T

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

8

The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

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The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

Upholding values is to protect human rights A

RCHBISHOP Denis Hurley worked in South Africa, Oscar Romero in El Salvador, Cesar Chavez in the United States, Kerry Kennedy in Kenya and Northern Ireland and Fr Peter Nguyen Van Hung in Taiwan— whether you know them or not, you need to be aware of the massive contribution Catholics such as these have made in the fight for human rights around the world, in various areas of concern. While these are the famous examples, as Christians, our own lives should contribute to the rights of others simply by living out our faith.

Fr Brian Williams, director of Sekwele Centre for Social Reflection in the diocese of Bethlehem says that while we are not all called up to the front line of the human rights fight, we are all called to “act justly, love tenderly and to walk close to the side, if not in the footsteps of God”. The centre, the brainchild of Bishop Hubert Bucher, retired of Bethlehem, seeks to recover the precondition of social reflection for action.

Fr Williams believes if we answer this call to act justly, human rights activism could be one of many outcomes—all important. “For Catholics, human beings are made in the image of God. This belief makes all the difference to how we view, relate and treat people irrespective of their gender, generation, religion or ethnicity,” he said.

“The best service we as Catholics can offer each other and our society is to commit ourselves to a common mission, that mission being the vision of the SACBC Pastoral Plan of 1989— ‘Community in Service of Humanity’. Just as we are only beginning to discover and mine the value of the Second Vatican Council 50 years on, so we have yet to discover and mine the value of that prophetic document of the Southern African Catholic Church 25 years on,” Fr Williams says.

The same inspiration is what keeps one Pretoria Catholic youth active in the human rights movement. Joepac Ndaba of the cathedral of Sacred Heart parish says human rights need not be earned and therefore cannot be denied.

Mr Ndaba believes that in order to stop the cycle of degrading other fellow human beings, individual, associations, churches and states should institute policies aimed at human rights protection. As he heads the Western Deanery Youth of Pretoria and is a member of Archdiocese of Pretoria Youth Committee, he believes that rights should be proactively protected through legislation and where that fails,

Claire Mathieson

A Church of Hope and Joy

actively assisted to correct the errors.

“Catholics should all remember that for us to preserve life and respect others, human rights must be managed efficiently.” He says issues of mistrust, undignified betrayal and past injustices must be addressed, and the rule of law must be restored. Mr Ndaba says we should also pioneer new social norms or reestablish old moral standards and practise ubuntu as it is a basic Christian value.

Fr Rampe Hlobo SJ, assistant country director of Jesuit Refugee Services in South Africa (JRS), believes that post-apartheid South Africa is filled with zeal and enthusiasm to talk and approach the notion of human rights. “The promotion and protection of human rights in South Africa in the last two decades has even led to the country receiving accolades from unanticipated sources.”

However, while South Africans have worked together to improve the rights of the majority, many people “have sadly, still not come to perceive human rights as applicable to other members of the human race, especially the marginalised members of society like gays and lesbians, refugees and migrants, just to mention a few,” the Jesuit feels. “For many South Africans, these human rights are perceived to be applicable to South Africans and not to everyone living in this country,” so there is still much work to be done.

“Rights are not just legalistic declarations that can be argued and debated under judicial systems—they are intrinsically in harmony with ethical and religious beliefs based on the natural law written in the human heart as Popes John XXIII and Benedict XVI have argued. Hence they are inalienable, that is can never be taken away,” Fr Hlobo says.

F

ather Sean O’Leary is the director of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute, a body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) that is dedicated to peace-building in Africa. He says the role of the agents involved in social justice, like the peace institute, is to challenge and try to change injustice wherever it is found, be that in the political, economic, social, religious, cultural or environmental arenas. He says the Church, throughout the world “is sustaining the hearts of people living in near despair as a

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result of conflict, exploitation, and abject poverty”.

It was in fact during the Second Vatican Council that Pope John XXIII and the bishops from all around the world decided that the Church needed to be more involved in the world. Enter the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace and a decision that each bishops’ conference should establish their own Justice and Peace (J&P) Commission and that all bishops work towards establishing J&P commissions in their dioceses. “The SACBC was one of the first bishops’ conferences in the world to establish a Justice and Peace department in 1967,” says Dominican Father Mike Deeb, head of the department today.

J&P continues the mission of Jesus Christ in our societies by promoting human dignity, justice, peace and the integrity of creation both within the Church and in the broader society, drawing on gospel values and the social teachings of the Church, the director says. The department also works to help all levels of the Church in the conference “to realise that work for justice and peace is an integral and indispensable part of our Christian faith”.

F

urther to the establishment of a human rights commission, the launch of Africae Munus (2010), the papal exhortation that is the culmination of the Second Bishops’ Synod on Africa, “places the struggle for social justice at the very heart of the ministry of the Church in Africa”, says Fr O’Leary. For at least the next two years, he says, those working in the field of social justice have a solid papal backing. “This is the golden moment for social justice advocacy in the African Church and we must seize the moment,” Fr O’Leary says.

“We are called as human beings and as fellow believers to uphold and respect the rights of other human beings because every person is created in the image of God,” says Fr Hlobo.

He says irrespective of our milieu—faith or none—we all have this innate and indestructible image of God. “Christianity draws arguments to support the notion of human dignity from the biblical view that we are all made in the image of God and stand at the peak of creation. Judaism and Islam also exalt humanity above other creatures with the divine image imbedded in humanity,” the Jesuit explains. “It is through

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Enzongo Odette Malik (left), a refugee from the DRC, protests against xenophobia at the Home Affairs stall in Johannesburg. An example of people standing up on human rights issues as all Catholics are called to do. this understanding that there exists in Christianity the teachings of love or charity for others irrespective of their social status.”

And there are plenty of organisations doing the work of the Church and of this fundamental Christian belief. “The work of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office is a prime example of effective social justice advocacy and in particular in the persons of Fr Peter-John Pearson and Mike Pothier. Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg is known worldwide as a social justice advocate,” says Fr O’Leary. He adds that the work towards human rights can come in various forms and is an “an integral part of the both evangelising and in particular the Social teaching of the Church”.

Such is the inspiration for the JRS; whose mission is to accompany, serve and advocate for the rights of refugees. “In our endeav-

our to address the socio-economic needs of refugees and the forcibly displaced, JRS is in its small and humble way contributing in the restoration and protection of the human dignity in all refugees.”

Fr Hlobo says that in helping refugees to enjoy their rights, JRS prevents further violations of their human rights. “It is a mission that tries to protect the human dignity because the dignity of the human person, as John Paul II has repeatedly said, is the pivot on which the entirety of Catholic social doctrine turns.”

Because we are all built in the image of God, we all deserve the dignity of basic human rights and, as Fr Williams says, acting to protect the lives and rights of others is “a characteristic of obedience, love and most importantly an active love for what belongs to God—and everything belongs to God”.

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CHURCH

The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

HOLY REDEEMER, BERGVLIET, CAPE TOWN

New campaign promotes The Southern Cross A parishioner of Holy Redeemer church in Bergvliet, Cape Town, took the initiative to actively promote The Southern Cross—with the full support of his parish priest, as THANDI BOSMAN reports.

W

ITH a long history of Redemptorist priests, the parish of Most Holy Redeemer in Bergvliet, Cape Town, has launched a new campaign to promote The Southern Cross.

Holy Redeemer parish recently increased its order of copies of The Southern Cross by a tremendous number. It promotes The Southern Cross through means of the bulletin and mentioning the newspaper during Mass.

Parish priest Fr Seán Wales CSsR said that a parishioner, Keith Awood, had taken the initiative of spearheading a special promotional campaign for the newspaper. He said the campaign was a “great success”.

“We sell The Southern Cross because we are committed to Catholic publications. As Redemptorists we have our own Redemptorist Pastoral Publications, so we

ORFORD

CONSTRUCTION

are alert to the importance of spreading Catholic literature, not just news, but also reflection and comment,” Fr Wales said.

The Redemptorist said that he “appreciates” the editorials and described himself as a “fan of Günter Simmermacher”, The Southern Cross’ editor, adding that he would buy The Southern Cross just for the editorials.

Fr Wales understands the importance of reading and learning about the Catholic faith. He writes for Trefoil, the Catholic magazine, addressing challenges of the Church from “50 years after the beginning of Vatican II”.

Some of the challenges and questions he addresses include: “Are we still on track with the Council? Are the reforms of the Council being rolled back? What happened to collegiality? Is the Church any holier now than before Vatican II? What is the real story behind the recent controversial translations in the liturgy?

Why are some topics not discussable?”

Fr Wales said: “We need the spirit of the Council and the optimism, hope and joy, of John XXIII together with the theological subtlety of Benedict XVI to keep us on track and remain faithful to the spirit of Vatican II”.

With about 1 200 families, Holy Redeemer serves the Bergvliet and

ESTABLISHED 1982

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Heathfield areas in the southern suburbs, and is neighbours with St Pius X in Plumstead and St Mary’s in Retreat; the latter is also placed in the care of the Redemptorists.

“The parish has grown considerably as the area became more densely populated,” Fr Wales said.

Fr Wales said that the church was opened some 75 years ago by Redemptorists, and the parish has been served by Redemptorist priests and brothers ever since.

“The Redemptorists came to Cape Town in 1925 and began with a small temporary church in the Heathfield area,” he said. Later the present site, in Bergvliet Road, was acquired and a monastery and the church were built there.

Fr Wales said that his life as the parish priest is made easier with an efficient secretary and dedicated staff.

“The parish office is open every day Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 18:00. All the church services run smoothly because of a team of very competent sacristans. The music ministry has a high priority and we are delighted to have the services of two volunteer organists, one professional organist, and many groups who take responsibility of particular liturgies.”

The parish has many other church activities, Fr Wales said, such as “altar servers, basic Christian communities, catechists, coun-

Every December, parishioners from Holy Redeemer collect groceries in “Bags of Love” which is their own version of “Buckets of Love”. The items collected are then distributed to those in need in and around the Bergvliet area.

In 2011, some 300 bags were collected. sellors and charismatics”. Other groups include various choirs, coworkers of Mother Teresa, crafts group, family support group, flower arrangement, funeral teas, a fundraising committee, the Legion of Mary, extraordinary ministers of Communion, youth bands, readers, repository, rosary group, sacristans, St Vincent de Paul Society, Sunday lift club, welcome group, youth, and a theological circle.

“There is also a francophone group who have their own charismatic meeting and their own Mass twice a month,” Fr Wales said.

Holy Redeemer has a youth group called “Kick” which meets every week. “Other youth activities are organised by the catechists,” Fr Wales said.

“There is a very strong core group of parishioners who are very

supportive of Church related events,” he added.

“Throughout the year we have Eucharistic adoration Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 22:00. We have novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help every Thursday at 19:30, often with a special series of presentations, for example during Lent and Advent, May and October. We are very happy to be able to reach out in a small way to the migrant community of Frenchspeaking Catholics,” Fr Wales said.

With the information and news The Southern Cross generates, Fr Wales hopes that the parishioners of Holy Redeemer will be more informed about the Catholic faith and engage with the newspaper.

“I would hope that we could move to contribute, rather than just passively receive.”

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The Southern Cross, March 14 to March 20, 2012

How the pope spends a normal day This is the second excerpt from the English translation of My Brother, the Pope by Mgr Georg Ratzinger.

The book takes the form of an interview, along with editorial commentary, by co-author Michael Hesemann.

Q: What does the pope’s normal daily routine look like?

Now, I do not know what all is supposed to be confidential, but I think I can speak about this.

Early in the morning around 7, he celebrates holy Mass in his private chapel, and afterward he makes a short meditation and, finally, prays the breviary until breakfast at around 8. Until then, we are together, when I happen to be visiting him; then we say goodbye at that point in time, and each goes to his apartment.

Then he prepares for the events of the day, for instance, for the visitors he will receive in a personal audience: Who are they and what is their concern or the request they come to make?

That, of course, requires a thorough preparation and an equally careful follow-up.

On Tuesdays, there is also the preparation for the large audience on Wednesday morning.

For example, he has to practise the pronunciation of the foreign languages in which he will greet the pilgrims and the pilgrimage groups—of course, he does not speak them all fluently. For this purpose, he listens to the correct pronunciation on a tape and then practises it, so as to avoid

making big mistakes and to be understood correctly.

At 1:15 pm on weekdays, the midday meal is served—on Sunday, earlier at 1—and afterward, he takes a short walk through the garden on the roof of the Apostolic Palace, because “Post coenam stabis vel passus mille meabis” [After eating you should rest, or else walk a thousand steps]. Then comes the siesta, but he does not use the whole siesta time to rest; instead, he also writes letters and postcards and reads all sorts of things. I get the impression, in any case, that he works for part of the siesta time.

In the summer, we always prayed the breviary at around 4 in the afternoon, while at 5 he takes a walk either in the Vatican Gardens or the garden of Castel Gandolfo, during which he prays the rosary together with his secretary, Mgr Georg Gänswein. In the winter, on the other hand, when it gets dark early, this walk takes place at 4.

Towards 6, the regularly scheduled audiences are held. In the morning, there are the private audiences, in which he receives most importantly the bishops who come from abroad and heads of state, and so on, while the afternoon is reserved for the regularly scheduled audiences in which the heads of the various curia offices give their reports and offer suggestions in matters in which the pope must make a decision.

The evening meal is at 7:30; at

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: Fundraiser Car Boot Sale and Morning Market at St Brendan's Corvette Rd cnr Longboat Rd Sunvalley, last Saturday of every month 7am-1pm R25 per lane Maggi-Mae 021 782 9263 or 082 892 4502 mvidas@mweb.co.za Third annual Good Friday procession to St Mary's cathedral, starting April 6 from Immaculate Conception church in Parow, at 09:30am. To join contact Dino on 0718619401 or Ursulla on 0826708229.

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.

Rosary at Marie Stopes clinic, Peter Place, Sandton. First Saturday of every month, 10.30-12.00. Also Gandhi Square, Main Rd. Third Saturday of every month, 10.30-12.00. Tel: Joan 011 782-4331

8 he watches the news. At around 8:30, he takes another short walk on the roof or, in the winter, in the corridors of the house. Afterward, compline, the night prayer of the Church, is prayed, and with that his work day actually ends. Usually we sit down in the living room and talk for a while.

Does he go to bed rather early?

Yes, actually after the evening meal he does not work anymore; that was always the case. He can concentrate phenomenally throughout the day and works very quickly and efficiently. But he is not at all someone who works at night.

What does it mean for you to be “the pope’s brother” now?

Ah, personally, little has changed; more externally than interiorly. It is true, of course, that I am suddenly interesting to many people for whom I was previously nobody important. So I get many phone calls, from the press and other media, too; people often visit me, and I have been able to establish contacts that I did not have before. At first this led to a certain unrest in my life but, fortunately, that has gradually ebbed away.

Otherwise, I must admit, not much has actually changed in my relationship with my brother, either. Only in prayer, then you present entirely different concerns to the dear Lord now. But still, the personal relationship has remained the same.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #488. ACROSS: 4 Vivaldi, 8 Erebus, 9 Skinned, 10 Office, 11 Tilted, 12 Victoria, 18 Ordinand, 20 Podium, 21 Elisha, 22 William, 23 Stroll, 24 Heathen.

DOWN: 1 Resolve, 2 Perfect, 3 Nuncio, 5 Inkstand, 6 Annals, 7 Deemed, 13 Room-mate, 14 Passion, 15 Ideally, 16 Polite, 17 Violet, 19 Inlets.

Word of the Week

Imprimatur: Latin for let it be printed.

Application: When a Catholic bishop grants his imprimatur to a printed work, he assures the reader that nothing therein is contrary to Catholic faith or morals. This imprimatur is not given lightly; only after a thorough review process.

Liturgical Calendar Year B

Sunday, March 18, Fourth Sunday of Lent 2 Chronicles 36:14-17, 19-23, Psalm 137:1-6, Ephesians 2:4-10, John 3:14-21 Monday, March 19, St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16, Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29, Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22, Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24 or Luke 2:41-51 Tuesday, March 20, feria Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, Psalm 46: 2-3, 5-6, 8-9, John 5:116 Wednesday, March 21, feria Isaiah 49:8-15, Psalm 145:8-9, 13-14, 17-18, John 5:17-30 Thursday, March 22, feria Exodus 32:7-14, Psalm 106:19-23, John 5:31-47 Friday, March 23, feria Wisdom 2:1, 12-22, Psalm 34:17-21, 23, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 Saturday, March 24, feria Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalm 7:2-3, 9-12, John 7:40-53 Sunday, March 25, Fifth Sunday of Lent Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:3-4, 12-15, Hebrews 5:7-9, John 12:20-33

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CLASSIFIEDS

11

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,15 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

IN MEMORIAM

BROOKS—Leslie, died on March 18, 1997. Will always be remembered by Doreen and family.

KLAASEN—Milton.

Passed away 5 years ago on March 15, 2007. Always in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. Deeply missed by Elaine and family.

PERSONAL

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Seeking any LOGs out there. Please contact Maureen to join the celebrations. Email: mau reen44@telkomsa.net Cell: 0795170067 especially the class of 1962 for our 50th reunion. All other years are most welcome. Yours sincerely, Maureen Fernandes (née Lynam) YOU CAN have no culture of life until you have a culture of Christ. See www. abort73.com/end_abortion

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PRAYERS

HOLY ST JUDE,apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart. I humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. In thanks for prayers answered. Pat.

St Jude

HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faith-

ful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart. I humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. Thank you for prayers answered.

Angie & Fabian.

THANKS

Schoenstadtt Mary

THANKS for favours received. J.S.

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5th Sunday of Lent: March 25 Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:34, 12-15, Hebrews 5:7-9, John 12: 20-33

‘Create a pure heart for me, oh God’

N

Nicholas King SJ

EXT Sunday we enter into “Passiontide”, that deeper, more sombre stage of Lent, when our focus is much more on the appalling death of Jesus. It is important to keep our eyes on this grim reality, of course, but we are not permitted to miss what God is up to here.

The first re ad in g , it is important to notice, is Jeremiah gazing bleakly at the time of Exile, and, against all his normal instincts, finding signs of hope: “Behold, the days are coming (an oracle of the Lord) when I shall make a covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah—a new covenant.”

That is not the kind of language that we are used to from him. Jeremiah looks back to the Exodus from Egypt, and says that this exodus will be “even better”: “I am going to put my Law within them, and on their hearts”; and then those lovely words, which the prophet Amos had apparently ruled impossible: “I shall be God for them; and they shall be my people...all of them shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” In the deepest darkness, we need to remember these words.

Sunday Reflections

The psalm for next Sunday is from the most famous penitential lament, Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, God, in your steadfast love, and in the abundance of your mercy wipe away my offence”; but it is cheerful and confident in tone, though it does not deny the singer’s guilt: “Create a pure heart for me, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

There is no attempt at all to deny the seriousness of sin; but confidence in God is uppermost in our hearts and that of the psalmist.

The seco nd reading is from Hebrews, and the distinguished theologian who wrote this extraordinary meditation (or homily) is reflecting on Jesus’ approach to death: “In the days of his flesh, he offered intercession

and begging to the One who was able to save him from death...and was heard because of his piety.”

But just in case we were thinking, “So that’s all right then”, we hear the dark words, “although he was Son, he learnt obedience from what he suffered, and having been made perfect, he became the cause of eternal salvation for all those who were obedient to him”.

The point here is that the death of Jesus, towards which our Lenten journey is now galloping, is God’s decisive response to the mess in which we find ourselves, but there is no waving of a magic wand; God’s response is very costly indeed, and we need to gaze with sober and serious eyes upon it.

The gospel for next Sunday is something quite extraordinary. It is the closest that John’s Gospel ever gets to showing Jesus in any kind of doubt; you might call it his equivalent of the “Agony in the Garden”.

It starts with some Jewish Greek-speakers approaching one of the two of Jesus’ disciples who have Greek names, namely Philip, stating that they wish to see Jesus; Philip goes to Andrew, the other Greek name in

How we are consecrated W E can lose our freedom for different reasons and, sometimes, for the best of reasons.

Imagine this scenario: You are on your way to a restaurant to meet a friend for dinner, a perfectly legitimate agenda, but en route you witness a car accident. Some of the people in the accident are seriously hurt and you are the first to arrive at the scene.

At that moment your own agenda, dinner with a friend, is put on hold.

You’ve lost your freedom and are, by circumstance and need, conscripted to remain there and help. You phone for an ambulance, you call for the police, and you wait with the injured until help arrives.

During that whole time your freedom is suspended. You are still radically free, of course. You could leave the injured to fend for themselves and head off to meet your friend, but you would be abdicating part of your humanity by doing that.

Circumstance and need have taken away your existential and moral freedom. They have consecrated you and set you apart just as surely as a bishop’s blessing sets apart a building to be a church. The building didn’t ask to be a church, but it’s now consecrated and no longer free for other usage. So too with us, circumstance can consecrate us and take away our freedom.

In the ordinary mindset, consecration is a word that connotes things to do with church and religion. We understand certain things as consecrated,

Conrad

“They

should be eternally

grateful I

spared the

time to act as their labour

broker!”

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

taken out of the profane world and set aside for sacred, holy service; for example: buildings (churches), persons (priests, deacons, monks, nuns), tables (altars), cups (chalices), clothing (vestments and religious habits).

There is some merit in that, but the danger is that we tend to see consecration as a cultic and metaphysical separation rather than as a setting apart for service. Setting aside your freedom in order to stop and help at a traffic accident doesn’t alter your humanity; it just suspends your ordinary activity. It calls you to service because you happen to be there, not because you are more special or holier than anyone else.

That was the case with Moses. When God calls him to go to Pharaoh and ask him to set the Israelites free, Moses objects: “Why not my brother? He has better leadership skills. I don’t want to do this! Why me?” And God answers those objections with the words: “Because you have seen their suffering!”

It’s that simple: God tells Moses that he may not walk away because he has seen the peoples’ suffering. For that reason, he is the consecrated one, the one who is not free to walk away. Circumstance and need have consecrated him.

Our very notion of church draws on this concept. The word Ecclesia comes from two Greek words: Ek Kaleo. Ek is a preposition meaning “out of”, and Kaleo is verb meaning, “to be called”.

To be a member of the Church is to be “called out of”.

And what we are “called out of” is what our normal agenda would be if we weren’t conscripted by our baptism and by the innate demands of consequent discipleship. Baptism and Church membership consecrate us. They call us out and set us apart in the same way that Moses’ having seen the suffering of the Israelites took away his freedom to pursue an ordinary life and in the same way as witnessing a traffic accident on the way to meeting a friend sets aside our dinner plans for that night.

The late Dutch Dominican theologian Edward Schillebeeckx once wrote a book within which he tried to explain why Jesus never married. He examined various theories and possible motives and concluded that, ultimately, Jesus never married because “it was existentially impossible” for him to marry.

In essence, what Fr Schillebeeckx is saying is that Jesus never married because the universal embrace of his love and magnitude of the world’s wounds and needs simply never left him the freedom to marry, like someone on her way to have dinner with a friend but who has that agenda derailed because she witnesses a traffic accident.

Like Moses, he was conscripted by a moral imperative. He didn’t not marry because he judged it holier to be celibate or because he needed some kind of cultic purity for his ministry. He never married because the needs of this world simply suspended ordinary life. He was celibate not by emotional preference or by spiritual superiority, but by moral conscription.

Today the word consecration has lost much of its rich meaning. We have relegated the word to the sacristy and overloaded it with connotations of purity and cult.

That’s unfortunate because both what’s best in our humanity and our faith are forever trying to consecrate us.

The needs and wounds of our world are constantly asking us to suspend our radical freedom, to set aside our own agendas, in order to serve.

And, like Moses, we have all seen enough suffering in this world that we should no longer be asking the question: “Why me?”

the Twelve, and the two of them approach Jesus.

This apparently harmless request evidently tells Jesus that we are now in the endgame: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”, and so he utters the chilling parable of the grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”.

This parable is not just for him, but for all his disciples (“If anyone is to serve me...”). Then he pronounces “Now is my soul disturbed”, while absolutely refusing to retreat from the Father’s mission (“Father, glorify your name”); then he is supported by the voice of God, saying “I have glorified it, and shall continue to glorify it”, which the surrounding crowd misinterprets as thunder.

Jesus, however, is aware that it means crucifixion (“As for me, if I am lifted up from the land, I shall draw everybody to myself”). In case we had missed it, the evangelist comments, “he said this, giving a sign about the death he was to die”.

At this stage of Lent, which we properly call “Passiontide”, our task is to keep our eyes on Jesus and hence on God.

Southern Crossword #488

ACROSS 4. Valid VI composed for the composer (7) 8. Be sure about Hades (6) 9. Peeled and grazed (7) 10. Room for priest’s breviary? (6) 11. What happened to the leaning tower? (6) 12. Queen of Australia (8) 18. He’s expecting holy orders (8) 20. The conductor takes a stand here (6) 21. Elijah’s successor (1 Kg 19) (6) 22. You are old, Father ...

(Lewis Carroll) (7) 23. Leisurely walk (6) 24. He has no acceptable religion (7)

DOWN 1. Make firm decision (7) 2. Contrition without fault (7) 3. Pope’s ambassador (6) 5. It held the old scribe’s pot (8) 6. Records of year’s events (6) 7. Considered among the redeemed (6) 13. One who shares your accommodation (4-4) 14. Christ’s strong emotion (7) 15. Most suitably (7) 16. Odd pilot heading east is respectful (6) 17. Liturgical colour (6) 19. Silent about places to enter (6)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

PAINTER is working on the ceiling of the church when a woman comes in to pray before Our Lady’s chapel. There is nobody else in the church, and he decides to have some fun.

“This is Jesus!” he calls down to her. She doesn’t look up. “This is Jesus!” he calls out a little bit louder. Nothing.

He gets frustrated, and shouts: “THIS IS JESUS!” The woman responds firmly: “Be quiet, I’m talking to your mother!”

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