The Southern Cross - 120321 by The Southern Cross

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March 21 to March 27, 2012

Reaching the top of Kilimanjaro with God

Page 3

Behind the angel’s Hail Mary greeting

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R5,50 (incl VAT RSA)

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4768

Getting ready for married life

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New nuncio returns to SA BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

FAMILIAR face to some local Catholics will return to South Africa as the newly appointed nuncio to South Africa. The apostolic nunciature has confirmed that Archbishop Mario Cassari (pictured) will begin his tenure in the country at the beginning of May, succeeding Archbishop James P Green, who was transferred to Peru in December after five years in Southern Africa. Archbishop Cassari previously worked in the country as secretary to Archbishop Joseph Mees from 1985-87, and then to Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli until 1989. “I’m pleased to see Mgr Mario Cassari return to Southern Africa as Archbishop Mario Cassari, our new nuncio,” said Bishop Hugh Slattery, retired of Tzaneen. Bishop Slattery, who was appointed bishop shortly before the then Mgr Cassari arrived in the country, said the young secretary had a good grasp of the difficult political situation in South Africa during the 1980s. His stint in Pretoria was marked by successive states of emergency and the ruthless suppression of all forms of protest and dissent. Bishop Louis Ndlovu of Manzini, Swaziland, was also appointed bishop during Mgr Cassari’s tenure as secretary. “I know Archbishop Cassari well. He was with us when the bishops’ conference of Southern Africa was struggling to fight the apartheid regime,” said Bishop Ndlovu. Bishop Ndlovu said Archbishop Cassari was someone with whom you could “confide in and ask for guidance and he was always willing to help”. Mgr Cassari briefly ran the nunciature after Bishop Mees retired in 1987 and before Archbishop De Paoli took over in 1988. During that time, the country’s bishops appreciated his stance on the country’s political situation, which was more supportive of

More than 200 people from across the archdiocese of Johannesburg celebrated a combined Alpha Weekend hosted by the Bryanston Alpha team. Catholic Alpha aims to answer questions about Christianity and reintroduce people to their faith. the bishops’ anti-apartheid position than that of Archbishop Mees. “As bishops, we appreciated his understanding of our efforts to be ‘a voice for the voiceless’,” said Bishop Slattery. “He supported our various initiatives to make a difference in the lives of the people.” Archbishop Cassari has been appointed nuncio to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana as well as Swaziland. In that role, he represents the Holy See in the local Church and as an ambassador to the those countries. Bishop Ndlovu recalls the archbishop very much liked Swaziland “because of the culture and I once invited him to the country when he was in Maputo to grace one of celebra-

tions in the diocese. He was fond of our school, down in the south of Swaziland, Our Lady of Sorrows. He liked their drum majorettes and the play Sarafina,” the bishop recalled. Archbishop Cassari was born in Ghilarza on Sardinia, Italy, and was ordained a priest in 1969. He has worked as a parish priest, secondary school teacher and bishop’s secretary in Italy. The 68-year-old has a doctorate in theology and a licence in canon law. He graduated in diplomatic studies in 1977 at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome and was admitted to the diplomatic service of the Holy See the same year.

Belgian monks’ brew voted world’s best beer BY JONATHAN LUXMOORE

HEARTY dark brown beer produced at a Trappist monastery in Belgium has been rated the world’s best brew by an online community of beer lovers. Coincidentally, the monks are temporarily boosting production of its special brew to pay for renovation work at its western Flanders abbey. The monks at the Trappist Abbey of St Sixtus of Westvleteren said they will temporarily make one additional batch per month and offer it at participating supermarkets, a first for the order. The monks’ Westvleteren 12 brew—with an alcohol content of 10,2%—was rated the best in the world by California-based Ratebeer, which offers beer connoisseurs the chance to discuss and rate their favourite brew. Until now, the Trappists sold their beer only to individuals—never to distributors or retail outlets—directly from the abbey. Customers must call ahead to reserve their purchase, which is limited to two crates of 24

bottles each every 60 days. The extra income will “finance important works” at the abbey, which dates to 1831, monastery spokesman Mark Bode, told La Croix, France’s Catholic daily newspaper. In a report, La Croix said the 30 monks usually produce 100 000 gallons of their popular Westvleteren 12 brand annually. For the short term, the monks have launched a six-pack for supermarket customers. The packaging is inscribed: “I’ve contributed to building a monastery.” Customers must obtain a voucher and present it a participating store to claim their share of the brew. Directly from the monastery, a crate of Westvleteren 12 sells for about R390. There is an additional R120 deposit on the bottles and the crate. The newspaper reported that the monks also were seeking customers froim as far as the United States and Canada but would revert to selling the beer only from the monastery once “current stocks are exhausted”. A commentary on the Ratebeer website

describes the Trappist brand as “a vast canvas of intense Belgian yeasts, sweetness, brown sugars, caramel, plum, raisin, Danish breads, malty depth, cereals and gentle hops.” Drinkers habitually “notice a gentle warmth on the throat without even tasting any hint of alcohol”, the website said. The Trappists also brew Westvleteren 8, which ranks 16th on the Ratebeer list, and Westvleteren Blond, a lighter beer. The monks’ website (www.sintsixtus.be) cautions that purchases require “a lot of patience as well as a lot of luck”. “You may often get a busy signal when you call to make a reservation, due to the fact that our beer lines are overburdened. You’re not the only one calling at that moment,” the website said. The Trappist order, whose 170 monasteries worldwide follow the Cistercian tradition of prayer, penance and silence, is widely noted for its brewing and culinary skills. A beer produced by the Trappist monastery at Rochefort, France, was ranked eighth on Ratebeer’s world list.—CNS

Archbishop Cassari has worked various nunciatures around the world, and has served as a nuncio to the Republic of Congo and Gabon, then to the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Niger, and most recently to Croatia. “I pray the Lord will bless him and reward his efforts as he continues to serve the Church in Southern Africa in his new role as the representative of the Holy Father,” said Bishop Slattery and Bishop Ndlovu added that he hoped the new nuncio will be “as helpful to me and the whole diocese as he was before. We are looking forward to working with him.” The new nuncio is currently finishing up his current projects in Croatia.

Op uw gezondheid! The Trappist beer that has been voted the best brew in the world.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

This is the Bosco Youth centre team in Johannesburg for 2012. (Back from left): Sandile Fakudze, Hlonie Yingwane and Karlo Kahlmeyer. (Centre) Deacon Joseph Nguyen, Katlego Semake, Sello Mashaba, Nhlanhla Mdlalose and Br Mojela Fihlo. (Front) Sr Giovanna, Shanee Forbay, Fr Robert Gore, Zama Booysen, Nothando Khoza and Abbie Carson

Alpha weekend inspires new evangelists BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

ORE than 200 people from across the archdiocese of Johannesburg celebrated their combined Alpha weekend on March 10-11 at a special Holy Spirit weekend hosted by the Bryanston Alpha team. Alpha for Catholics South Africa advisor Renato Acquisto said the special weekend for Alpha participants is one of the highlights of the course, which seeks to answer questions of Christianity and reintroduce people to their faith. “If the weekend is not done properly, the course really loses its touch. It’s a key part of the course,” said Mr Acquisto, adding that a well organised and properly led spirit weekend contributes so much more to bringing the course attendees closer to God which is the purpose of Alpha. The course welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds and in some parishes forms part of the confirmation process. Mr Aquisto said the course helps young Catholics “foster a real relationship with Christ” and has helped with retaining young Catholics after they have been confirmed.

Also present at the weekend event was Fr Barney McAleer from the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s Desk for Evangelisation who told the group that the laity will be the missionaries of the new millennium. As Alpha is a tool for evangelisation, Mr Aquisto said the message of the weekend was inspiring and encouraging. “From the Saturday morning starting with worship led by Duncan Todd to a exuberant Mass celebrated by Fr Barney on Sunday, one could sense God doing a work in the lives of many.” He added that the testimonies on the Sunday reflected this. Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg has supported the growth of Alpha in the archdiocese. “He has encouraged us to get all parishes in Johannesburg involved in Alpha,” Mr Acquisto said. Mr Aquisto said Alpha SA had big plans to continue to expand further adding that KwaZulu-Natal would be a new region of focus. Alpha courses take place in parishes, prisons, schools, old age homes and community halls. n For more information on Alpha for Catholics visit www.alphasa.co.za or contact 083 625 3818.

HOLY WEEK IN KEMPTON PARK Our Lady of Loreto, c/o Miller and Protea st.

PALM SUNDAY Holy Mass preceded by procession at Sat.30th March 18:30hrs Sun.1st April 07:30hrs; 10:00hrs and 18:00hrs MONDAY 2ND April Holy Mass with Lenten reflection 18:30hrs

TUESDAY 3RD APRIL Holy Mass with Lenten Reflection 18:30hrs WEDNESDAY 4TH April Reconciliation Service 19:00hrs

HOLY THURSDAY Holy Mass followed by procession to the Altar of Repose and vigil to midnight. 19:00 hrs GOOD FRIDAY Stations of the Cross inside church 09:00| (for aged and infirm) Stations of the Cross outside in procession 09:00 Celebration of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 15:00hrs HOLY SATURDAY 7TH APRIL Easter Vigil with blessing of the fire at 19:00hrs EASTER SUNDAY 8TH APRIL Solemn Holy Mass 09:00hrs

DIVINE MERCY CELEBRATION 15TH APRIL 13:30HRS

Contact Michette Burt, parish secretary, on 011 970 1985 during office hours

Justice and Peace focus on nationalisation BY THANDI BOSMAN

HIS year Justice and Peace (J&P) department of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) will be focusing on the nationalisation debate as well as in the nuclear debate, the body’s annual general meeting was told. J&P said that it has not yet taken a position in the nationalisation debate. The department declared itself opposed to the building of new nuclear power stations, and hopes to start a campaign opposing the nuclear project. The department will also work towards the promotion of social cohesion and engage with the issue of necessary environmental destruction for economic development. Bishop Barry Wood, chairman of the Justice and Peace Department, opened the meeting with a welcome and prayer. Dominican Father Mike Deeb, the department’s coordinator, reported on J&P’s activities in 2011. He said J&P was happy with the work done in the past year. One of the big highlights in 2011 was the Ride for Climate

Change held around COP17, the international climate change conference in Durban. This saw cyclists travel to Durban by bicycle, along the way educating communities on the importance of protecting the environment. Along with the Ride for Climate Change, J&P organised a Caravan for Climate Justice which enabled people to participate in a weekend pilgrimage to Durban, as well as in a “Toxic Tour” which highlighted the environmental destruction caused by petroleum and other industrial companies. J&P focused on good governance and crime which was demonstrated by the department’s Police Day celebrations in January last year. Local police officers were invited by parishes to speak to parishioners about the role the police play in the fight against crime and corruption. Other highlights in 2011 were the basic needs basket survey, which was conducted in seven dioceses. This year the Economic Justice Consultative Working Group is planning a conference to address unemployment and job creation in South Africa.

J&P will continue to work for democratic reform in Swaziland, which forms part of the SACBC territory. J&P and the Denis Hurley Peace Institute are both already involved in a project to help Swaziland’s civil society and political parties unite. “One of the biggest problems in Swaziland is the division within the main players of the struggle. Together with Denis Hurley Peace Institute we facilitated the production of a document called ‘The Swaziland We Want’ which came out of a meeting that took place in Lydenburg [in Mpumalanga],” said Theo Chiviru of J&P. “However in [2012] we are also going to continue to help the growth of Justice and Peace structures in Swaziland parishes.” The department has started the year on a high note with a meeting with Gugile Nkwinti, minister of Rural Development, and six of the country’s bishops. J&P presented the Church’s position on land reform and have since been invited to become part of the national reference group which will further develop the green paper on land reform.

Joburg CWL celebrates 80 years BY THANDI BOSMAN

HE Catholic Women’s League (CWL) in Johannesburg will be celebrating its 80th anniversary in June. The CWL will celebrate the anniversary with a Thanksgiving Mass staring at 10:00 on June 30 at Victory Park. After the Mass a “bring and share” tea will be held in the hall at the De La Salle Holy Cross College. On September 30 there will be a fête at the De La Salle Holy Cross College in Victory Park. With 64 branches and 1 630 members, the CWL reaches out to people by “visiting the sick and offering support where needed [and] fundraising for distribution of monthly food parcels for the poor families in their parish”, said Ann Scott, secretary of the CWL in Benoni and the co-convener of the

fête. She added that the league is engaged in many more activities. The South African CWL was founded in 1930 after Margaret Mahoney met Margaret Fletcher, the founder of the CWL in England. In 1932 the CWL was formed in Johannesburg with Mary Immaculate, Mother of God being the patroness and with “Charity, Work and Loyalty” as the league’s motto. Mrs Scott said that a lot has been achieved over the past 80 years and the league has four main projects: St Anne’s Home for Elderly Ladies, Mary Immaculate Queen Pre-School Centre in Eldorado Park, the Catholic Adoption Society, and the Kopanong Kitchen in Dobsonville, Soweto. She said that the league had developed and changed over the 80 years.

“A great many new branches of the league sprung up and central councils, later to be called regional councils, for each area [East Rand, West Rand and Johannesburg] were established at the end of 1947. A league badge was introduced in 1934 and the league applied to the English Association of the Catholic Women’s League for affiliation,” she explained. “During the 80 years of its existence, the Catholic Women’s League has valiantly tried to live up to the ideals and aspirations of Margaret Fletcher and is still daily attempting to carry out the mind of the Second Vatican Council, with charity, work and loyalty,” Mrs Scott said. n For more information about the Thanksgiving Mass for the Catholic Women’s League call Ann Scott on 083 449 7914 or email annscott197@gmail.com

ST. KIZITO CHILDREN’S PROGRAMME

St. Kizito Children’s Programme (SKCP) is a community-based response to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. SKCP was established through the Good Hope Development Fund in 2004 in response to the Church’s call to reach out to those in need. Operating as a movement within the Archdiocese of Cape Town, SKCP empowers volunteers from the target communities to respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) living in their areas. The SKCP volunteers belong to Parish Groups that are established at Parishes in target communities. Through the St. Kizito Movement, the physical, intellectual, emotional and psycho-social needs of OVCs are met in an holistic way. Parish Groups provide children and families with a variety of essential services, while the SKCP office provides the groups with comprehensive training and on-going support. In order to continue its work, SKCP requires on-going support from generous donors. Funds are needed to cover costs such as volunteer training and support, emergency relief, school uniforms and children’s excursions. Grants and donations of any size are always appreciated. SKCP is also grateful to receive donations of toys, clothes and blankets that can be distributed to needy children and families.

If you would like to find out more about St. Kizito Children’s Programme, or if you would like to make a donation, please contact Bonus Ndlovu or Marian Hendricks on (021) 633 7701, or Shirley Dunn on (021) 782 2792. Email info@stkizito.org.za. Donations can also be deposited into our bank account: Bank: ABSA; Branch: Claremont, 632005; Account Name: Good Hope Development Fund; Account Number: 4059820320 Listen on iPhone or Blackberry: http://listenlive-c2p1.ndstream.net:8030 on DStv audio channel 170 & streamed on www.radioveritas.co.za

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

Christians see red at advert BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

OLLOWING protests against a controversial advertisement broadcast on local television, some television stations have removed the “blasphemous” commercial. Red Bull’s animated commercial for an energy drink portrays Jesus in a fishing boat with two disciples. The Jesus character leaves the boat, walking on water. The disciples proclaim the action must be the work of the energy drink, but are instead informed by the Jesus character that it is neither the beverage nor a miracle, but simple knowledge of knowing where the stepping stones are. The character is then seen stubbing his toe on a rock and uttering a profanity, using the Lord’s name. The advertisement has outraged Christians around the country, many calling for a boycott of the energy drink brand. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, spokesperson of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, has stated his disappointment at the advert. “In a multi-faith country like South Africa, where over 70% of people profess to be people of

faith, the use of Faith-based symbols in a satirical, if tongue-incheck manner is guaranteed to cause a reaction.” He hailed the action many Christians have taken with advertising and broadcast authorities in the country. “While the Red Bull adverts are characterised by their cleverness, we believe that Red Bull South Africa have overstepped a mark,” the cardinal said. The bishops have called for full cancellation of the campaign and suggest the marketing, advertising and public relations teams behind the campaign attend sensitivity training. “People are more than consumers and faith-based symbols are more than marketing opportunities.” The bishops have also called on Catholic store owners and others to fast from displaying and consuming the product during Lent and money that would be saved instead donated to charitable works.“In this way, the company will understand that the idea that there is ‘no-such-thing-as-badpublicity’ is dangerous territory when it comes to mocking religious symbols”. One local Catholic, Mary Anne

Murray, immediately contacted e.tv after seeing the advert. “I believe that Jesus is a sacred name deserving of all respect, and placing the name in an ad referring to the time in the Bible when Jesus did walk on water and where Jesus was teaching Peter to have faith is hardly appropriate for selling a drink, to say the least,” she said. e.tv has already stopped airing the controversial advert, regretting that viewers “found the ad so offensive”. “I was amazed at how fast they [e.tv] reacted to the advert, as this represents revenue in their pockets. I would like to congratulate them on their response and on the speed of their response,” Ms Murray said. This is not the first time the company has angered Christians. Last year, a cartoon about Joseph and Mary was banned in Italy and in 2010 another advert depicting Moses crossing the Red Sea garnered multiple complaints internationally. Red Bull South Africa said: We regret that [the viewers] have been offended by this particular cartoon. This advertisement was part of the regular Red Bull series; it is now off air and has now been followed by another.

Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein (pictured) organised a workshop at the diocese’s cathedral to explore the mutual relations between the religious congregations and the archdiocese. “It started slowly but gradually built up to discuss openly the issues that affect the relationships of the religious in the diocese with the archbishop and with parish priests and with each other. We are moving towards articulating a common vision for the future,” said Br Rex Harrison OMI, one of the attendees.

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

Alpha Catholic volunteer climbs Kilimanjaro

KRUGER PARK

STAFF REPORTER

VIVA SAFARIS

HANTAL Ramsingh of St John the Apostle parish in Northriding, Johannesburg, reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, calling the accomplishment a “good time for prayer and reflection”. Ms Ramsingh said she was touched by the fact that half of their support team in Tanzania were in fact Catholic. She attended Mass a number of times, including one with more than 1 000 Catholics at the Christ the King cathedral in the town of Moshi, in the Kilimanjaro region. “Climbing Kili was challenging,” said Ms Ramsingh, but she added that she was reminded of Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart a person plans their course, but the Lord determines their steps”. Ms Ramsingh said the verse kept her going and reassured her that anything is possible with God “one step at a time”. Ms Ramsingh has been working with the Catholic Alpha teams in the Florida and Northriding parishes in Johannesburg. “Clearly one can see the joy

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www.volunteersafaris.co.za Chantal Ramsingh at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. She says her faith helped her get to the top. and that lovely smile which we are fortunate to experience on the Alpha team here in the west deanery of the archdiocese of Johannesburg and in the parish at St John’s,” said Tom Miles, Alpha for Catholics Development Manager in Africa.

“Her wonderful passion of adventure however takes her into a new Youth Alpha programme which was launched on February 24 at St John the Apostle Catholic Church Florida where she is helping to host the course,” said Mr Miles.

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The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Nigeria bomb ‘evil, beastly’ BY PETER AJAYI DADA

HIS month’s suicide car bombing of a Catholic church in Jos was an “evil, irrational, beastly and criminal” act, said the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria. Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos also called on Christians to remain calm after the bombing— during a Mass—claimed the lives of three worshippers and led to retaliatory violence that resulted in at least seven deaths around the city. “We want those that are behind this crisis to come and seek dialogue rather than attacks,” Archbishop Kaigama said. Fr Peter Umoren, a parish priest, told journalists he had begun Mass when an explosion rocked the church. “I was right on the pulpit when

Bishop slams proposed curbs on worship in Kuwait BY JONATHAN LUXMOORE

HE bishop who administers the Church in Kuwait has criticised legislation that would restrict Christian places of worship in the country. “There’ll be problems if the government adopts this proposal; it’s out of step with the traditions of Kuwait, which seeks to be an open, tolerant country welcoming other religions besides Islam,” said Italian-born Bishop Camillo Ballin, apostolic administrator of Kuwait. Such proposals come “from ideologies which want to divide the world between Muslims and non-Muslims”, he said. In February, the newly formed al-Adala [Justice] Bloc introduced legislation to remove Christian churches from Kuwait and impose Islamic law, or Shariah. Party officials said later the legislation would not

addition to those killed in the bombing and afterward, 24 people were injured, including several soldiers. Several of the victims were critically injured, authorities said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. Various sites in Jos have been targeted by Boko Haram, which the Nigerian government considers an extremist Islamist sect. The loosely connected organisation has claimed credit for a series of bombings on Christmas Eve 2010 that killed as many as 80 people and a similar church bombing on February 26 on the headquarters of the Church of Christ that left three dead and 38 wounded. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the bombing and reaffirmed the government’s determination “to end the space of mindless attacks and killings”.—CNS

we heard the heavy explosion,” Fr Umoren said. “The church building almost collapsed on the congregation, but God saved us, that the roof did not come down but the ceilings were shattered.” That evening, gunmen killed three Christians in a village south of the city, said Pam Ayuba, Plateau state spokeswoman. She said officials did not believe the shootings were connected to the earlier church violence. The incidents are the most recent in a decade-long conflict among Christians and Muslims that has claimed thousands of lives in and around Jos. The bombing led to retaliatory violence by youths who set fire to homes. Soldiers guarding the city opened fire in suburbs, witnesses said. Government and relief officials told Agence France-Presse that in

remove the churches but prohibit further construction of Christian churches and nonMuslim places of worship in the country. Bishop Ballin said that alAdala’s claims that there were more churches in Kuwait than needed by its Christian minority were untrue. “We want to collaborate with the government to make an ever-better society in Kuwait. But for this, we need to ensure constant religious education for our faithful, and this requires space, time and personnel. “The world is becoming one big village, where we cannot separate people and religions. We have to live as brothers, since we’re together every day.” He said Christian minorities were respected in Kuwait and that he had “never experienced enmity” despite wearing his cassock and pectoral cross everywhere. —CNS

Women run from the scene of a bombing at St Finbar Catholic church in the Rayfield suburb of the Nigerian city of Jos. The bomb detonated as worshippers attended the final Mass of the day, killing at least ten people at the church in Jos, a city where thousands have died in the last decade in religious and ethnic violence. (Photo: Reuters/CNS)

Eucharistic Congress won’t ignore scandal BY CINDY WOODEN

HE International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin from June 10-17 will be characterised by humility, moderation and a renewed focus on the Eucharist as the source and nourishment of unity in the Church, said the president of the Vatican committee charged with overseeing the gathering. Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, said the congress will reflect that this year is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, but also that Catholics in the host country, Ireland, are still reeling from the clerical sex abuse scandal and are engaged in a process of repentance and reform. The Dublin congress will have “two very positive aspects, in my opinion: the lack of triumphalism—and, so, a congress based on interiority, on moderation, also because of the difficult economic situation. The other aspect is the focus on the Second Vatican

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Council’s teaching that communion is the centre of the Eucharist, its primary aim,” Archbishop Marini said. The theme of the 2012 congress, which is expected to bring together more than 80 000 Catholics from around the world, is: “The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with One Another.” The Eucharistic liturgy brings individuals into communion with Christ and creates communion among them, said Archbishop Marini. “Christ comes to transform us into himself,” into the body of Christ. “Communion is needed within the Church, where we fight with one another, but also outside the church, for our witness in the world, our witness for a more just, more tolerant world where people are more respectful of one another and of nature,” he said. Archbishop Marini, a liturgical scholar, began serving at the Vatican in 1965, working in the office charged with implementing the council’s liturgical renewal. In

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1987, he was named master of papal liturgical ceremonies, serving both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict until October 2007 when he was named president of the Eucharist congresses committee. The international congresses, which began in the late 1800s, accompanied and encouraged the liturgical, biblical, patristic and ecumenical movements that were developing in the Church at the same time, Archbishop Marini said. “The Eucharistic congresses were the place the movements were most manifest” until the 1960s, when their scholarly and pastoral foundations were deepened and they were accepted by the Second Vatican Council. Since the Second Vatican Council, he said, the congresses have been centred around the daily celebration of Mass, although the processions and Eucharistic adoration are still present and valued as expressions of a piety that flows from the Mass and leads people back to it.—CNS

‘Water is a right, not a commodity’ BY CAROL GLATZ

LEAN and potable water is a human right, not a for-profit commodity dependent on market logic, according to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Unfortunately, “there persists an excessively commercial conception of water which runs the risk of mistaking it for just another kind of merchandise, and making investments for the sake of profit alone, without taking into account water’s worth” as a public good, it said. “There is a risk of not seeing one’s brothers and sisters as human beings possessing the right to a dignified existence, but rather seeing them as simply customers,” which leads to making water and sanitation available only to those who can pay. The document, “Water, an Essential Element for Life”, is an update to previous documents of the same title by the council. The update, which focused on effective solutions to the world’s water crisis, was presented at the Sixth World Water Forum in Marseille, France. While the international community has recognised access to clean and potable water as a human right, about half of the world’s population still does not have guaranteed access to potable water, and more than a billion people have no access to proper sanitation, the document said. The Vatican delegation said effective solutions were urgently needed. It asked developed countries to contribute substantially to investments in developing nations’ water needs and infrastructure through traditional aid and donor programmes as well as innovative sources of financing including monies collected from “an eventual tax on financial transactions”.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

Pope: Renew commitment to church unity BY CINDY WOODEN

EMEMBERING the common roots of the Christianity they share, Roman Catholics and Anglicans should renew their commitments to praying and working for Christian unity, Pope Benedict has said. The pope and Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, held an evening prayer service at Rome’s church of St Gregory on the Caelian Hill, the church from which Pope Gregory the Great sent St Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow monks to evangelise England in 597. The service was part of celebrations marking the 1 000th anniversary of the founding of the Camaldolese branch of the Benedictine order. Camaldoli monks and nuns live and pray at the church of St Gregory and have an active programme of ecumenical contacts. “We hope that the sign of our presence here together in front of the holy altar, where Gregory himself celebrated the eucharistic sacrifice, will remain not only as a reminder of our fraternal encounter, but also as a stimulus for all the faithful—both Catholic and Anglican—encouraging them ...to renew their commitment to pray constantly and to work for unity, and to live fully in accordance with the ‘ut unum sint’

(that all may be one) that Jesus addressed to the Father,” Pope Benedict said during the evening prayer service. Faith is a gift of God, but it requires a response, the pope said. “It requires the commitment to be reclothed in Christ’s sentiments: tenderness, goodness, humility, meekness, magnanimity, mutual forgiveness and, above all, as a synthesis and a crown, agape—the love that God has given us through Jesus, the love that the Holy Spirit has poured into our hearts.” Camaldoli monks and nuns— wearing hooded white robes— were joined by cardinals, Anglican and Catholic faithful and representatives of other Christian communities in Rome for the prayer service. As the pope and archbishop arrived at St Gregory, they also were greeted by dozens of members of the Missionaries of Charity, who have a convent and a shelter for the homeless next door. The pope and the archbishop of Canterbury held private talks in the morning at the Vatican.

rchbishop Williams told Vatican Radio that he and the pope spoke about the situation of Christians in the Middle East “and about our shared sense of deep anxiety and frustration and uncertainty about what the future holds there”.

requires as many and “as deep resources as we can find”.

Pope Benedict is assisted by Mgr Leonardo Sapienza while walking up stairs as he arrives with Archbishop Rowan Williams (left) for vespers at the basilica of St Gregory on the Caelian Hill in Rome. Pope Benedict has invited Archbishop Williams to address the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation in October. (Photo: Franco Origlia via CNS) He said they also spoke about Pope Benedict’s invitation to Archbishop Williams to address October’s world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelisation. “I’m being invited to give some theological reflections on the nature of mission, the nature of evangelisation, and I’m extremely honoured to be invited

to do this,” he told Vatican Radio. “I hope that it’s a sign that we can work together on evangelisation in Europe,” the archbishop said. “It’s disastrous if any one church tries to go it alone here and tries to assume that it and it alone has the key,” because reviving the Christian faith in Europe

rchbishop Williams’ homily at the evening prayer service with the pope focused on how the Camaldolese efforts to balance solitude and community life teach the virtues individual Christians and Christian communities need to accept each other, work together and witness the Gospel to all. Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, he said, both are committed to “a vision of the restoration of full sacramental communion, of a eucharistic life that is fully visible, and thus a witness that is fully credible, so that a confused and tormented world may enter into the welcome and transforming light of Christ.” But Catholic-Anglican unity is imperfect, at least in part because Catholics and Anglicans have an “unstable and incomplete” recognition of one another as the body of Christ, Archbishop Williams said. “Without such ultimate recognition we are not yet fully free to share the transforming power of the Gospel” within the Christian community and in the world. He told Vatican Radio that Anglicans and Catholics “can become so fixated” on issues of authority and church structure “that we can forget the gift of baptism and the gift of one another in baptism”, which are the true basis of unity.—CNS

Number of Catholics, priests, bishops up Filipino cardinal dies at 91 BY CAROL GLATZ

HE number of Catholics in the world and the number of deacons, priests and bishops all increased in 2010, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline, according to Vatican statistics. At the end of 2010, the worldwide Catholic population reached 1,196 billion, an increase of 15 million or 1,3%, slightly outpacing the global population growth rate, which was estimated at 1,1%, said a statement published by the Vatican press office. Catholics as a percentage of the global population “remained stable at around 17,5%”, it said. The statement reported a handful of the statistics contained in the 2012 Annuario Pontificio, a yearbook containing information about every Vatican office, as well as every diocese and religious order in the world. Officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State and its Central

Office of Church Statistics presented the first copy of the 2012 yearbook to Pope Benedict during an audience. Detailed statistics in the yearbook are based on reports from dioceses and religious orders as of December 31, 2010. The percentage of Catholics declined slightly in South America from 28,54% to 28,34% of the regional population, and dropped considerably in Europe from 24,05% percent to 23,83%. The percentage of Catholics increased in 2010 by just under half a percentage point in South-East Asia and Africa. The Vatican said the number of bishops in the world increased from 5 065 to 5 104; the number of priests went from 410 593 to 412 236, increasing everywhere except Europe. The number of permanent deacons reported—39 564—was an increase of more than 1 400 over the previous year. 97,5% percent

of the world’s permanent deacons live in the Americas or in Europe. The number of men joining a religious order showed “a setback”, the Vatican said, with an increase of only 436 male religious worldwide in 2010. The number of women in religious orders fell by more than 7 000 in 2010, despite showing a 2% increase in both Asia and Africa. At the end of the year, Catholic women’s orders had 721 935 members. The number of seminarians around the world showed continued growth, from 117 978 at the end of 2009 to 118 990 at the end of 2010. In the last five years, it said, the number of seminarians rose by more than 14% in Africa, 13% in Asia and 12,3% in Oceania. Numbers decreased in other regions of the world, particularly Europe, which saw a 10,4% drop in the number of seminarians between 2005 and 2010.—CNS

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ARDINAL José Sanchez, who once served as prefect of the Congregation for Clergy at the Vatican, died on March 9 at 91. A priest for 65 years, Cardinal Sanchez was the fifth Filipino to be named a cardinal. Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu, president of the Philippines bishops’ conference, described Cardinal Sanchez as a “prelate of passionate love. He loved God and loved the Church with joy and dedication”. “He left a legacy of ministry worthy of emulation and a source of pride for us Filipinos,” he said. Cardinal Sanchez was born March 17, 1920 in Pandan, Philippines. He was ordained to the priesthood May 12, 1946. At the age of 47 in 1968, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Caceres. Three years later, he was named coadjutor bishop of

the Diocese of Lucena and succeeded Bishop Alfred Mario Obviar in September 1976. He became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia in January 1982 and was elevated as cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1991. Cardinal Sanchez left the Philippines in 1985 after Pope John Paul named him secretary of the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples. He served in the post until being named prefect of the Congregation for Clergy in July 1991. He resigned from the position in 1996. The cardinal also served as president of the Commission for Preservation of Artistic and Historic Patrimony of the Church from 1991 to 1993.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Are we using the right bible? These ancient texts brought us ECENTLY there have been R articles in The Southern Cross much closer to the original text preparing us for the coming revi- written by the inspired authors

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

The new nuncio

INCE the departure in December by Archbishop James Green, the former apostolic nuncio to the Southern African region, local Catholics have awaited the announcement of the identity of Archbishop Green’s successor. Finally, we know his identity. The nuncio is the Vatican’s ambassador to the nation or nations of his posting, representing the concerns, interests and priorities of the Holy See. Ecclesiastically, the nuncio represents the pope and the Vatican in the affairs of the local Church, with the nomination of new bishops a particularly important responsibility. Naturally, there has been some anticipation concerning the new nuncio’s nationality, his history and his approach. In the 68-year-old Italian Archbishop Mario Cassari, the pope has appointed a man who is familiar with South Africa, and who is remembered with fondness by those who had dealings with him when he served as secretary to two nuncios from 1985-89. Indeed, many of those will recall with respect and admiration a momentous address he delivered to the assembled bishops of Southern Africa in a plenary session in 1988. At the time Southern Africa was between nuncios. The retired nuncio, Belgian Archbishop Joseph Mees, had disappointed many friends in the episcopate when he admonished the bishops to keep out of the struggle against apartheid, as Paddy Kearney recalled in his biography of Archbishop Denis Hurley, Guardian of the Light. Doubtless conscious of this, Mgr Cassari, speaking on behalf of the pope, told the bishops: “You, more than others, know your people, you live among them, you share their anxieties and their sorrows as a result of everyday conditions. For all this you must shout even from the rooftops—in the name of God— that the time has come that South Africa really becomes a New South Africa.” And it is to the new South Africa which he so eloquently pleaded for that Archbishop Cassari will come, more than two decades later. In Archbishop Cassari, Southern Africa receives a nuncio with wide experience in Africa. He has served as nuncio to Congo and

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.

Gabon, and then to the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Niger. Before that, he also worked in the nunciature in Sudan, an experience which will surely aid in the great efforts by the Southern African Church in fostering democracy in South Sudan. Archbishop Cassari succeeds a popular nuncio. Archbishop Green made many friends in Southern Africa on the strength of his efficiency, gregariousness, approachability and good humour. Local Catholics now will have to allow Archbishop Cassari to bring his own personality to the nuniciature. Archbishop Green has left the local Church in a fine shape. More than half of the current episcopate was appointed during his tenure, and he helped steer the bishops’ implementation of the new Roman missal, a process that was not without hitches. Archbishop Cassari inherits a nunciature that needs to fill only three vacant dioceses—Kokstad, Polokwane and Port Elizabeth. Presumably some or all of the processes in doing so are already underway. Only two local bishops are required to submit their resignation, required upon reaching the age of 75, within the next five years, so barring illness, death or other unexpected circumstances, the current episcopate will require no new ordinaries. When Archbishop Cassari asks the local Church what their hopes of his tenure are, many may well raise the question of auxiliary bishops. While some of our bigger dioceses can draw on the help from retired bishops living in their region, the need for auxiliaries in Johannesburg and Cape Town especially might be a subject of fruitful discussion. It is difficult to predict what sort of diplomatic issues the new nuncio will be facing, but as the discontent of the people in Swaziland grows, his engagement on behalf of the Catholic Church might become necessary. Southern African Catholics will welcome Archbishop Cassari with great joy and warmth. We congratulate Archbishop Cassari on his appointment and wish him God’s blessings as he prepares to take on the significant task of representing the pope and the Holy See in our region, in the service of Our Lord and his Church.

sion to the scripture readings at Mass, including Chris Busschau’s history of biblical translations that led up to the Revised Standard Version (RSV) that will now be used. His history, however, stopped short of the more recent revision of the RSV, now entitled the NEW Revised Standard Version (NRSV). This is a loss on two counts. First, the NRSV is a revised and updated translation of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament made in light of the significant recent discoveries of Masada and the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as numerous other ancient manuscripts.

10% evangelised

T was most edifying to read that Collette O’Sullivan (February 22) is a member of a parish blessed with a number of good catechists, young and old. I am sure there are other parishes in similar situations. But why the angry reaction in response to my letter, and could she enumerate the number of erroneous statements I’m supposed to have made? Is Ms O’Sullivan aware that the situation is not so ideal in many parts of the Church today? It is admitted by those in authority in the Church that only about 10% of Catholics are evangelised. In Brazil, the world’s most populous Catholic country, there are more ex-Catholics attending Sunday evangelical church services than Catholics at Sunday Mass! Bl John Paul II had this to say, as cited in The Protestant Challenge in Latin America: “We cannot forget that the success of the sects is owed to the tepidity and indifference of the Church’s children, who are not up to the level of their evangelis ing mis s ion because of their weak testimony of a coherent Christian life…The effects of an insufficient catechesis and formation leave many faithful in lamentable helplessness before the recruitment work by non-Catholic agents.” Are we to accuse Pope John Paul of insulting catechists by this statement? Cardinal Francis Arinze has pointed out the lukewarm and indifference of our Catholic people and the widespread Catholic confusion regarding the basis of salvation, that we are justified through faith in Jesus Christ and by his grace. How many of us

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than was possible in the 1940s when the RSV was produced. Significant changes have also been made to the New Testament Greek text due to almost a century of intense textual studies. As early as 1974, the RSV’s own translating committee saw the need of revision and update. The NRSV was a response to that need. It is therefore surprising and perhaps even irresponsible to forgo a translation from the most reliable original text to date and opt instead for a textually and stylistically inferior version of the Word of God. A second consideration in the NRSV, as a member of the committee notes, was because “many of the churches have become senknow the theological meaning of the word justification, or the basic Gospel message? Is Ms O’Sullivan going to accuse Pope John Paul and Cardinal Arinze, both people of the greatest authority and integrity of generalising? The dimension of religious experience must not be forgotten in catechists’ presentation of the Gospel. It is not enough to supply our young people with intellectual information only. Catholic Christianity is neither a set of doctrines nor an ethical system. We need to know Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life— not only about him. John Lee, Johannesburg

A hopeful expression of an ideal

F we are not all Church, as Paddy Ross (February 15) suggests, then the second Vatican Council was largely in vain. The obedience called for in canon law regarding our Godgiven teaching authority includes what is promulgated at a Council of Shepherds of the Church. It is presumed that bishops in such serious circumstances express the needs of the flock they represent. Judging from Mr Ross’ opinion about the We Are All Church (WAAC) movement in Southern Africa, he does not concur with the teachings of Vatican II. In stating categorically that he does not share the views of WAAC, he is saying that—among other things—he does not believe in the primacy of conscience, nor that lay members should have any recourse to openly inquire or debate any matter affecting their faith or morals. Not to say or do anything to implement love and justice in all areas of our life and religion would be spitting in the face of Christ, in my view. The names We Are Church or We Are All Church are not meant to imply anything, in my view. It is a hopeful expression of the ideal church where all baptised feel they belong. Rosemary Gravenor, Durban

Continuous prayer

OCTOR Claude Newbury, former president of “Pro-Life, South Africa”, and presently practising in England, has recommended that the following 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.

sitive to the danger of linguistic sexism arising from the inherent bias of the English language towards the masculine gender, a bias that in the case of the Bible has often restricted or obscured the meaning of the original text”. The decision to go with the RSV, rather than the NRSV, can only further the suspicion that behind the entire exercise of the new missal (including the rejection of the 1998 ICEL translation) was the attempt to ensure that inclusive language is kept far away from the Catholic Church, and that women are never directly addressed by the word of God. Fr Wojciech Szypula SVD, Department of Theology, St Augustine College, Sr Judith Coyle IHM, Senior Lecturer & Coordinator: Pastoral Theology prayer, based on the words of the hymn the Dies Irae, should be said continuously for all those involved in the practice of abortion. Day of Judgement: Prayer for forgiveness for the world’s abortions. Day of wrath! O day of mourning. See fulfilled the prophets' warning, Heaven and earth in ashes burning, Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth, When from heaven the Judge descendeth, On whose sentence all dependeth! Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth, Through earth's sepulchres it ringeth, All before the throne it bringeth. Death is struck, and nature quaking. All creation is awaking. To its Judge an answer making. Lo! the book exactly worded, Wherein all hath been recorded, Thence shall judgment be awarded. When the Judge His seat attaineth, And each hidden deed arraigneth, Nothing unavenged remaineth. What shall I, frail man, be pleading, Who for me be interceding, When the just are mercy needing? King of Majesty tremendous, Who dost free salvation send us, Fount of pity, then befriend us! Think, good Jesu, my salvation, Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation, Leave me not to reprobation. Faint and weary thou hast sought me, On the cross of suffering bought me, Shall such grace be vainly brought me? Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution, Grant Thy gift of absolution, Ere the day of retribution. Guilty, now I pour my moaning, All my shame with anguish owning, Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning. Thou the sinful woman savedst, Thou the dying thief forgavest, And to me a hope vouchsafest. Worthless are my prayers and sighing, Yet, good Lord, in grace complying, Rescue me from fires undying. With thy favoured sheep, O place me, Nor among the goats abase me, But to thy right hand upraise me. While the wicked are confounded, Doomed to flames of woe unbounded, Call me with Thy saints surrounded. Low I kneel, with heart-submission, See, like ashes, my contrition, Help me in my last condition. Ah! that day of tears and mourning! From the dust of earth returning, Man for judgment must prepare him. Spare, O God, in mercy spare him! Lord all pitying, Jesu blest. Grant them thine eternal rest. Amen. Damien McLeish, Johannesburg

PERSPECTIVES

Nine reasons why I love the rosary

HERE is a beautiful poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) titled, “How Do I Love Thee?” In it, the poet claims there are nine different ways. I shall try and show you nine reasons why I love my Rosary prayers. 1. My burning desire to draw closer to Jesus, through meditation of his teachings, such as those in the mysteries of Joys, Sorrows, Perseverance, Tears, Sweat and Blood. 2. Our Blessed Mother Mary has asked many times in her apparitions that we should pray the Rosary. Since she does so much for me, I am delighted to please her in this matter. Many say it is too repetitive, but think of it this way: do you ever get tired of hearing your spouse or your child say “I love you?” In the same way I constantly offer my “Aves” so that Mary can know that I love her. 3. Some of the Church’s greatest prayers are part of the Rosary: the Gloria, the Creed, Doxology, the Jesus prayer, and most importantly the one our Lord taught us to pray, the Our Father. On this note, I once met a priest who had been a missionary in China. When the Communists took over, they burned all bibles, prayer books and broke down churches and banished priests. Twenty five years later, the priest returned to his former parish as all the prohibitions had been lifted. He told me that he was shocked, amazed and joyful to find that numerous children who had never seen a church or a bible were very

adept at all their prayers. It transpired that their mothers and some fathers had fashioned rosaries by threading grains of rice on cotton, and had taught them the prayers in this way. If their house was raided and searched for Christian artifacts, they just broke the cotton and threw the rice into the cooking pot. 4. The Rosary to me is the surest way I know to offer a nine-day novena, and for it to be answered favourably. In Luke 11:5-9, there is the story of the home owner who had gone to bed, but answered the door because of persistent knocking. My “Aves” are my knocks on the door. 5. Our beloved Bl John Paul II said in an article when he introduced the additional rosary of the Mysteries of Light, that the rosary was his favourite manner

Getting to work in the family

INCE 1995 South Africans have celebrated Human Rights Day on March 21, in memory of the Sharpeville anti-pass law protests on that day in 1960 when 69 people were shot by the police. UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) also marks March 21 as the annual International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in memory of the massacre. Human Rights Day. The name still evokes a political overlay, but in fact the greater focus is on the whole wider area of human rights. South Africa’s Bill of Rights focuses primarily on the rights of the individual. Other legislations focus on women and children, or categories of workers or prisoners. But little in South African law addresses the rights of a family as a unit. The Catholic Church’s Charter of Rights of the Family was produced in 1983 by the then newly established Pontifical Council for the Family, a result of after the Synod on the Family in 1981. The document addressed itself to governments and leaders as well as to the People of God, and includes an article on the right to work. As the Pontifical Council for the Family is co-hosting the World Meeting of Families in Milan from May 30 to June 3 with the theme “Families, Work and Celebration”, it is of interest to consider some aspects of work as presented in the Charter of Rights of the Family. Families have a right to a social and

economic order in which the organisation of work permits the members to live together and does not hinder the unity, well-being, health and stability of the family, while offering also the possibility of wholesome recreation. Remuneration for work must be sufficient for establishing and maintaining a family with dignity, either through a suitable salary, called a “family wage”, or through other social measures, such as family allowances or the remuneration of the work in the home of one of the parents. It should be such that mothers will not be obliged to work outside the home to the detriment of family life and especially of the education of the children” (Article 10). No 7 of the catecheses provided for the World Meeting on the subject of Family and Work uses Genesis 3:17-19 for reflection. God creates a garden, places man in the garden to cultivate and care for it and by the sweat of his brow provide bread to eat. The catechesis suggests that man (that is, human beings) is a collaborator with God in the work of creation, and not a mere slave of the gods. We are to care for every other creature and for creation and at the same time rediscover the dignity of manual labour and the humanising function of work. “Man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but also achieves fulfilment as a human being.” Work is good, it avoids idleness and encourages industriousness. But the risk that work may become an idol is noted.

Jean Page

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

Ude Emmanuel Enyinnaya

Point of Reflection

of prayer. To coin a phrase: “What’s good enough for him is certainly good enough for me!” 6. Because it makes Satan squirm and shiver in his boots! 7. It gives me great pleasure to think of Mary, her obedience, humility and compassion. I don’t think anyone I know would travel 100km on a donkey to help and assist me as she did for Elizabeth. She never grumbled at giving birth in a stable. Let me assure you that I would definitely have had a moan about it. 8. Convenience. Recently I had a bout of illness which kept me in hospital for a week. It was too difficult to read, which required sitting up in bed, or lifting one’s arms to hold a book, especially a Bible. However, my beads were always there to comfort me, always handy under my pillow. 9. Hopefully at my death, the Blessed Virgin Mary will say to me: “I greet you now Jean with love, because of all the times you greeted me.” Someone once scornfully said to me that the rosary is just a counting mechanism. And, yes, that it is indeed! I count on it to sweeten my soul. I count my blessings on it. I count it a privilege to pray with it.

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

This happens when work has the absolute primacy over family relationships and happiness is sought in material wellbeing while God may be forgotten. Both domestic and professional choices need to be discerned wisely within the family with a fair distribution of duties to be worked out. The family is described as the first school of work where one learns to be responsible for oneself and others. It is there that members are taught values, where they learn to appreciate the concept of toil and strengthen their will towards the common good. The right to work is certainly important and the responsibility to work industriously and productively equally so. Retrenchment after having worked and the unemployed state of never having worked, or of having no prospect of work, are other realities faced by too many, especially young people. With an attitude of industriousness and a sense of responsibility for one another, could more be done on the ground to alleviate the sense of hopelessness, dependency and even laziness that so often prevails even within our own families? “Get off your butt kid, and clean your room, wash the dishes, plant some vegetables, fix your bike, the car, my computer or the dog’s house. Don’t let your mother do everything!” Are these not at least calls to value formation?

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

“It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins” (II Macc XII,46) Holy Mass will be celebrated on the first Sunday of each month in the All Souls’ chapel, Maitland, Cape Town at 2:30pm for all souls in purgatory and for all those buried in the Woltemade cemetery.

For further information, please contact St Jude Society, Box 22230, Fish Hoek, 7975 Telephone (021) 552-3850

Point of Debate

It is time to set the poor free

HOSE capitalists, politicians and others who claim to represent the poor but get salaries and allowances that are more than what hundreds of poor people can earn in a month should heed the words of St Ambrose (340-397). The archbishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church said: “Why do you reject one who has the same rights over nature as you? It is not from your own goods that you give to the beggar; it is a portion of his own that you are restoring to him. The earth belongs to all.” They refuse to give the poor proper houses but live in well secured mansions; they refuse to give the poor security but go everywhere with state-funded security personnel; they refuse to give the poor water but drink only water certified fit for the elitists to drink; they refuse to give the poor food but eat food made by the best chefs money can pay; they refuse to approve proper wages for the poor but take unhindered their own obscene wages from the sweats the harsh labour of the poor have provided; they refuse to employ the children of the poor but make serial job provisions for their generations yet unborn; they refuse the poor their right to demand their natural and proper status in the society but encourage a perpetual structure that will ensure that their descendants will occupy elitist positions; they refuse to build proper roads for the poor but roads are nylon tarred. They refuse to recognise the poor but want the poor to always recognise them; they refuse the poor welfare but create a system where only they can afford to buy well-made commodities at high rates; they refuse to respect the poor but want the poor to always worship them; they refuse the poor proper and affordable means of transportation but fly in the air, business class, while the poor walk on the land; they don’t educate the poor but have their children and generations yet unborn receive the highest levels of education; they refuse to listen to the plights of the poor but want the poor to gather and listen to their lies and empty promises. They make the poor dig out gold, diamonds and precious metals but put the price so high that the same poor people cannot buy them; they take God’s gift of fertile land from the poor and relocate them to infertile places. The poor man does odd jobs for a pittance while the capitalist sits in his office and takes a big salary. The poor man is constantly mentally, psychologically, physiologically drained but the capitalist is constantly mentally, psychologically, physiologically elevated; the poor man’s children are taken into virtually slavery to perennially serve the needs of the rich while the children of the leading class are being trained to replace their parents and perpetuate status quo. But I am happy because I know for sure that a day of judgment will come for everybody. They owe the poor and they will not have true rest until they set the poor free. But why, my capitalist and politician brothers? But why? Lenten observances calls for a change of heart and attitudes towards others, including and especially the poor. n Ude Emmanuel Enyinnaya is a former president of Society of St Vincent de Paul Conference, cathedral of Christ the King, Johannesburg.

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The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

CHURCH

How Church’s human rights culture evolved T

HE theologian Roger Ruston has remarked that “[i]n the perspective of the two thousand years of the existence of the Church and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, universal human rights appears to be a novel teaching with dubious origins” gaining popular acceptance only after 1945 (Human Rights and the Image of God, 2004). Indeed, if anything the Catholic Church had for centuries been wary if not overtly hostile of the term since it echoed the secular and anti-clerical rhetoric of the “Rights of Man” language of the French Revolution. Where the Church had embraced human rights quite fervently was in the area of rights to practise the faith where Catholicism was in the minority. Here the Church insisted on the values of liberty of conscience and religious tolerance. In countries where it was the majority it had a different view, however: the faith should directly influence public policy and government; indeed Catholic politicians who did not privilege the Church’s teaching were seen to be acting in bad faith. As Catholic social teaching started to grow after 1890, the language of human rights started to creep into Church documents, but always qualified as group rights and specific to certain things (for example rights to property, to work or to representation). The idea of rights as human, general and appropriate to individuals, took longer to develop.

Anthony Egan SJ

A Church of Hope and Joy

It was Pope John XXIII, who as a Vatican diplomat during World War Two had seen directly the effects of societies where human rights were subsumed under totalitarian ideologies, who broke the mental logjam. In his message to the United Nations, in his encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963), and in the documents of the Second Vatican Council that he called and inspired, a new Catholic approach to human rights emerged. The idea that humans had rights by virtue of being human— including what philosopher Isaiah Berlin called negative and positive freedom (freedom from persecution, unjust discrimination and so on, and freedom to pursue their well-being and so on)—was central to Pope John’s public interventions. In these, he emphasised the importance of the United Nations in promoting human fellowship as much as peace between states. For Pope John, rights precede duties— rights are conferred by nature, duties are imposed by relations between individuals. Thus, for example, “the right to live involves the duty to preserve one’s own life; the right to a decent standard of living, the duty to live in a becoming fashion; the right to be free to seek out the

truth, the duty to devote oneself to an ever deeper and wider search for it” (Pacem in Terris, 28-29). Pope John’s vision, which echoes throughout the documents of the Second Vatican Council, is one of balance. By appealing to natural law he is also able to bring himself in line with the best of secular philosophical reasoning on human rights. Wherever, in fact, we read in the Council documents about the Church engaging with the modern world and speaking up for such pressing issues as peace between nations, political freedom, decolonisation, rejection of racism and for economic justice and tolerance between cultures, we see precisely what Pope John himself expressed.

his is even present in Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, where it started to address religious freedom in a new, less schizoid way than in the past. No longer a double standard between Catholics and the rest, all people (including Catholics!) ought to be accorded freedom of conscience, freedom to seek the truth and freedom from religious persecution. What distinguishes the Catholic perspective on human rights and makes it an important contribution to human rights in general is its stress on the individual as a social person made in God’s image and endowed with reason and freedom of choice, able to distinguish right and wrong, as Ruston notes.

Young people in Manila, Philippines, hold candles during a human rights vigil. The Church fully adopted the universality of human rights only in the early 1960s, during the pontificate of Pope John XXIII. (Photo: Cheryl Ravelo, Reuters/CNS) In short, this shift in official Catholic attitudes to human rights was not simply an accommodation to the modern world, but a retrieval of classical Christian thinking about the person as imago dei. We may ask, as Ruston does later in his book, how far we have put our theory into practice within the Church. We speak a lot of freedom of conscience and intellectual openness, but theologians still get harassed—often through processes that do not accord with what we would demand of secular civil

legal procedures. The Church is governed by the bishops “together with the pope and never without him”, but how much of this collegial governance do we really see? It is saddening when, while trying to defend the rights of peoples against authoritarian regimes and multinationals, we are brushed off as irrelevant because—at least in the eyes of others—we do not seem to practise what we preach. Granted, we have come a long way, but it seems we need to keep moving forward.

Thomas Aquinas and why evil is allowed to happen THOMAS AQUINAS ON GOD AND EVIL, by Brian Davies, Oxford University Press, New York. 2011. 192pp. Reviewed by John O’Leary RIAN Davies, professor of philosophy at Fordham University, has written a very readable account of how St Thomas Aquinas dealt with the problem of evil. Traditionally put by Epicurus and others since his time, the problem is this: Is God willing to prevent evil but is unable to do so? If so, then God is impotent. Is God able to prevent evil but unwilling to do so? If so, then God is malicious. Is God both able and willing to prevent evil? If so, then why is there evil? Clearly this problem is at the heart of any significant attempt to make sense theologically of the immense suffering that is in the world, both evil done and evil suffered. Davies shows how Aquinas, as both philosopher and theologian, begins with “what there is”. This involves a short discussion of “being”, “essences” and “causes”. There follows a chapter on “goodness and badness”, in which our assumptions about what is good or bad about any event or thing are well and truly rattled. Davies notes that “Aquinas thinks that nothing is unreservedly or purely bad”. The chapter on “God the Creator” takes us through how

we know that God exists, and there is more on the meaning of the words “essence”, “existence” and “God”. Then we move on through two delightfully intriguing sections on “what God is not” and “divine simplicity”. Davies then moves to the heart of the matter in chapters on “God’s perfection” and “God’s goodness”, and on “the Creator and evil”. This latter chapter deals with omnipotence, God’s causation in relation to both evil suffered and evil done, and concludes with a section on human choices. Then Davies takes us t h r o u g h Aquinas’ views on “Providence and Grace”, followed by a chapter on “the Trinity and Christ”. The highlight is the concluding chapter, titled “Aquinas, God and Evil”. It contains a fivepage, seventeen-point summary of Aquinas’ philosophical and theological understanding of evil that should be essential (no pun intended) reading for anyone who would like a very readable introduction to what is often dismissed as too complex a mystery to be worth trying to understand. Surely we have a duty as Christians to ensure that our faith seeks understanding? Brian Davies’ book is an excellent place to start, both for the serious student and for the curious believer who may

St Thomas Aquinas as painted by Botticelli not have an academic interest in the subject, but who has an urgent need for tools with which to make sense of God and evil. Readers may be interested to know that Davies is the curator of the written work of the late Dominican Father Herbert McCabe who gave three lectures in Cape Town in 1980 on God and Creation, God and Freedom and God and Evil. The one on God and Creation will be published soon (the others are already published. Fr McCabe’s own book, God and Evil in the theology of St Thomas Aquinas (Continuum Books, London, 2010) is referred to in Davies’ book, and approaches the question from a slightly different angle. Both books are highly recommended. Brian Davies’ book is a challenging and rewarding read. n John O’Leary is an attorney working in Cape Town.

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

Devotion to the Divine Mercy is is not just one more devotion, just another booklet or picture. It is incomparable with anyone or anything. e Devotion of the Divine Mercy is determining the destiny of the world, the destiny of humanity. No diplomacy, politics or any human faculty or skill can save that which seems to be heading for the destruction man has prepared - not just for one individual, but for humanity. Only Jesus, the Cruciﬁed One and Risen One can do this; and this I maintain through Mary. - Franciszek Cardinal Macharski

Will you help me? Please help us to spread and promote this most beautiful, important and necessary devotion amongst all people in a broken world so badly wounded by sin and evil. This vessel (Image) full of endless grace for all the family can be in your home and will rejuvenate family faith. By spreading this devotion we allow God to step into our lives, with his blessings and graces, and to be there to help us in all our troubles.

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY 15th APRIL 2012 WHY SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON THE FEAST OF MERCY?

WHAT IS DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY? (FEAST OF MERCY) - WHY DO WE NEED IT? SIN IS THE PROBLEM - DIVINE MERCY THE ANSWER LET US PREPARE OURSELVES TO CELEBRATE THIS MOST BEAUTIFUL AND IMPORTANT FEAST OF MERCY (leaflet L28) HOW DO WE PREPARE OURSELVES TO CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY?

Jesus I trust in you

To explain, promote and make more and more people familiar with this important devotion, we are selling these books and articles at cost and below cost. Once off only.

All answers and info regarding this devotion are available by ordering from the following list: BOOKS ON SPECIAL OFFER 1. Divine Mercy Handbook - Will you Help Me? 2. I need my Priest, book on Mercy Sunday 3 Pope John Paul. We will miss you (with 30 large coloured pictures) 4. Enthronement of Divine Mercy (How to enthrone the Image) 5. Life Offering - Call to be a quiet Apostle 6. You Are Not Alone - A re-assuring book 7. e Final Hope of Mankind - Definite explanation about this devotion 8. e Reason I Believe in God 9. Sent Down From Heaven...How the Holy Spirit influenced important decisions St Faustina had to make 10. Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist,... Powerful book you will use again and again 11. e Pieta Book ... One the most popular prayer books 12. Antidotes and Stepping Stones - 12 poisons that plague our daily lives 13. Mary Lead Me, Guide Me - Highlights important relationship St Faustina had with Mary

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ORDER BY PHONING CHRISTINE 082 566 8071 or 044 38 7 1144 email: dcbodley@telkomsa.net WE WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL PARISHES WHO WILL BE CELEBRATING THE COMING FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY ON THE 15th APRIL GOD'S RICHEST BLESSINGS AND WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE THIS IMPORTANT WORK OF SPREADING THIS DEVOTION

Katja Kowalec also wishes to thank everybody in the Witbank diocese for receiving them in their parishes and wishing them lots of blessings for the Feast of Mercy.

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

Warrant officer John Watson received a special blessing on behalf of all his colleagues in the South African Police Services (SAPS) from Fr Dominic Zekoundi SAC at St Anthony's parish in Sedgefield, Oudtshoorn diocese. After the Mass he addressed the congregation on crime in Sedgefield. (Submitted by Bobbi Morgan-Smith)

St James parishioner Denise Spriggs from Cape Town was presented with the papal Bene merenti medal by Archbishop Stephen Brislin. Ms Spriggs spent more than 25 years taking Communion to patients at Groote Schuur Hospital and caring for St Luke’s Hospice patients. (Submitted by Maria Wagener)

COMMUNITY The first combined confirmation Mass of Christian Brothers College and parish of the Resurrection in Table View, Cape Town, was concelebrated by Archbishop Stephen Brislin with parish priest Kevin Dadswell (front right), Fr David Anderson (front left) and Fr Charles Prince (far left). The class is also photographed with Sylvia Clutton (catechist CBC) and Andrew O’Neill (Lifeteen Youth Minister and parish catechist). (Submitted by Melanie Pisanello)

IN FOCU S

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

Young people at the Salesian Institute in Cape Town are being trained in various skills such as woodwork, panel beating, metal craft and leather craft. (From left) Br Clarence Watts (projects director), Elizabeth February (leather craft instructor), Br Chris Sharpe (principal of Learn to Live) and some of the learners from the leather craft workshop displaying some of the items they produce.

National youth coordinators and chaplains from Glenmore in KwaZulu-Natal who attended the National Youth Desk of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference held in Johannesburg. (Submitted by Sr Victoria Sibisi)

Reggie Jenniker, a prominent member of St Martin De Porres parish in Port Elizabeth, died tragically on January 30, 2012. (Submitted by Dave Michael-Chinnia)

Desmond Fitzgerald died on February 22, 2012 after being hit by a bus on his way to church and then being in a coma. He was an active member at St Patrick’s in Mowbray, Cape Town, for many years. He was a teacher at St Columba’s High School in Athlone.

Sr Mary Martin Sullophan, a Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart, celebrated the diamond jubilee of her religious profession in Aliwal North, Eastern Cape. She joined the Sacred Heart Sisters in Aliwal North in 1952 and after her first vows she trained as a teacher at the Holy Cross Teachers’ College in Parow, Cape Town. On the completion of her training, she taught at the then St Joseph’s School in Aliwal North for over 20 years. One of her students, Fr Peter Whitehead, was present at the celebration. (Submitted by Sr Jane Odey)

FOCUS

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

Getting ready for married life

Marriage is not easy and requires good preparation. Catholic Engaged Encounter is offering to help couples prepare for matrimony, as THANDI BOSMAN explains.

UST as people get called to religious life, so are people called to married life. From the beginning to the end, marriage is a holy sacrament, and just as we prepare for the sacraments of confession and communion, so too should we prepare for marriage. For more than 30 years Catholic Engaged Encounter (CEE) has been preparing couples for this holy journey, helping them spend time with each other away from the tension and pressure of daily life. CEE is an international Catholic organisation which originated in the United States out of the Marriage Encounter movement. “No one should enter into the sacraments without proper preparation. We prepare deacons and priests for five to seven years. We prepare for first holy Communion, first reconciliation, [and] confirmation. It is only right that the sacrament through which most adults live their faith has proper preparation,” said Fr Chris Townsend, part of the national team for CEE. “Engaged Encounter is one of many processes that prepare couples to be ministers of the sacrament of marriage—not just on their wedding day, but every day. It is this privileged ministry to each other, to the family, the Church, community and the world that helps us all live out good news,” Fr Townsend said. CEE weekends are for couples of any age who are planning to get married. The weekend helps couples to talk honestly and deeply about the future in a Catholic context. “It is a marriage preparation course for couples wanting to be married in the Catholic Church,” according to Kelsay Corrêa. Mrs Corrêa serves on the national coordinating team of the CEE in South Africa with her husband Gustovo Corrêa and Fr Townsend. She said that CEE started in the USA in 1974 and by the following year it had become a “national entity in the United States”. In South Africa, CEE weekends started in 1981, initially in Johannesburg. “The first weekend had six couples and four weekends a year were offered. In 2006 we celebrated our 25th anniversary, and 20 weekends are currently held in Cape Town, Durban, Ga-Rankuwa [north of Pretoria] and Johannesburg,” Mrs Corrêa said.

oday, the CEE is represented in more than 50 countries worldwide, Mrs Corrêa said. “About 40 000 couples attend the weekends worldwide each year.” The CEE weekend-away course starts on Friday nights and go on until the Sunday afternoon. Throughout, the couples engage and listen to talks about various subjects. “CEE covers issues such as communication, unity, marriage as a sacrament, family, intimacy, financial and legal issues, to name a few,” said Claudine Ribeiro, who with her husband has been a coordinator for CEE’s Johannesburg region for about six years. “Couples also get the opportunity to dialogue with their fiancé throughout the weekend.” Other topics addressed over

Engaged couples attend a weekend programme run by Catholic Engaged Encounter that prepares them for married life. The weekend programmes are held in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and GaRankuwa (north of Pretoria). the weekend are conflict resolution, making joint decisions, and forgiveness in marriage. Information is also provided about natural family planning. Mrs Ribeiro said that Johannesburg runs nine weekends a year and “together with ten other couples, and priests, we take turns to present weekends throughout the year. We also have a large group of volunteers who help us with our bookings, admin, prayers and funding. It is a large and vibrant organisation.” Mrs Corrêa said that there is a “junior couple” (a couple married for more than two years) and a senior couple (married for more than 15 years) along with a priest who address the group over the weekend. “These married couples and the priest share personal stories about their respective vocations. The married couples share openly about their courtship, wedding and marriage. This sharing deeply touches the engaged couples who attend the weekend. The priest shares about his vocation and the Church’s teaching on marriage. He is also available over the weekend for confession, spiritual direction, Mass and prayers,” Mrs Corrêa explained. She has been presenting with her husband as a junior couple for three years. Mrs Ribeiro said that couples have given positive feedback about the CEE weekends. “They feel re-connected to God, to their spirituality and to their partners, at a time when only wedding plans are usually in discussion”. She added that this marriage preparation course teaches couples how to become “life giving”, living up to the motto of CEE: “A wedding is a day, a marriage is a lifetime”. Mrs Corrêa expanded on what “life giving” means: “It means loving the other person by giving of themselves completely by paying attention to the small details, [for example] how they like their coffee in the morning, giving them time to enjoy the things they like to do, spending time together doing something that the other person likes to do.”

t the end of the weekend, Mrs Corrêa said, “couples can expect to come away from the weekend with a deeper knowledge and understanding of each other”. CEE aims to help and prepare couples for marriage and life together, but does not tell couples what is right and wrong in marriage, Mrs Corrêa said. “The weekend is not a series of lectures telling couples what they can and cannot do. It is not a theoretical approach to marriage. It is not a weekend of homilies and preaching. The sharing of the couples and priest presenting the weekend is personal and entertaining, which makes easy listening. After each presentation the couples are invited to write to each other about the topic that was

presented. They then come together to share their letters with each other and to dialogue about the subject that was discussed”. The personal letters between the couples are exchanged privately and couples are not expected to share the letters with the rest of the group, Mrs Corrêa added. Mrs Ribeiro said that CEE has helped her and her husband with their spiritual and emotional journey to marriage, adding that the weekend “will enable other couples to grow and learn”. “So often, couples think that they know how to communicate, whereas in fact they are only touching the surface of communication. CEE teaches the skills and tools needed for real communication, within a very nurturing and peaceful environment. Couples also get to see their marriage as sacramental, and learn the value of involving Christ in their marriage,” Mrs Ribeiro said.

he CEE course was a good preparation for her marriage Mrs Ribeiro said; it facilitated good communication within the marriage and taught her the skills needed for dialoguing. “It made us aware of the many factors that are involved in making the commitment of marriage, and it also prepared us for the challenges that may come our way during our marriage. We were also very inspired and moved by the spiritual nature of the weekend, and learning about how our marriage is a vocation and a sacrament was very inspiring and informative,” said Mrs Ribeiro Mrs Corrêa said that as presenters on the CEE weekends, she and her husband are “constantly reminded of the values that are important to us in our marriage”. “Engaged Encounter has helped to renew our relationship and also helps to bind us together more closely. We find that when we are having a rough patch, or have difficulties to contend with, we are better able to deal with this because of what we have learnt and continue to learn with Engaged Encounter,” said Mrs Corrêa. Being presenters on the CEE weekends, Mrs Corrêa said that she finds a certain urgency working with CEE. “We are so aware of how marriage as an institution is breaking down, and marriage and family values are being attacked. Marriages all around the world are tending to become more self-centred, rather than life giving, and couples are faced with increasing materialism and sexual permissiveness,” she said. Mrs Corrêa said that the weekends are a reminder to her that she and her husband are still “becoming married” and to help them to achieve their goal of a “sacramental marriage”. n For more information visit www.engagedencounter.co.za

URSULINE SISTERS OF THE ROMAN UNION “LEAD A NEW LIFE” “WHEREVER THEY ARE, THEY SHOULD SEEK TO SPREAD PEACE AND CONCORD.” FROM THE SECOND COUNCIL OF ST ANGELA MERICI.

“ALWAYS LET YOUR PRINCIPAL RECOURSE BE TOGETHER AT THE FEET

JESUS CHRIST AND... JESUS CHRIST FROM THE LAST LEGACY OF ST ANGELA MERICI.

WILL BE IN YOUR MIDST.”

E-mail: vocdir@mweb.co.za Tel: 011 706 3520 www.ursulines.org.za Fax: 011 953 3406

For more information: The Vocations Promoter PO Box 235 RANT-EN-DAL, 1751

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The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

Defining the roots of original sin through the Trinity Lumko

The topic of original sin has occupied Southern Cross readers over the past couple of months. Here Fr BONAVENTURE HINWOOD OFM aims to explain the theology of original sin.

Pastoral Institute of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference 1. Formation/Training Course for Funeral Leaders Dates:

HEN in a recent letter headed “Time to reassess the doctrine of Original Sin” (January 18) Bernard Straughan spoke in the same breath about limbo and original sin, he was comparing chalk and cheese. Limbo is not, nor ever was, part of the Church’s official teaching, original sin is. There is no mention of limbo in the documents of Vatican II, but there is mention of original sin. Limbo does not feature in any of the earlier Church councils, whereas the Council of Trent devoted a whole decree to original sin. Without it, Trent’s pivotal teaching on justification has no context. Original sin is one of the Church’s defined dogmas, but not St Augustine’s particular explanation of it, popular as this later became. (By the way “original sin” is not the most satisfactory of names. The Afrikaans erfsonde—inherited sin—is much better). Evidence of the core idea of what St Augustine called “original sin” can be found much earlier. It was not a new idea when the Council of Carthage in 214 AD dealt with the baptism of infants. In line with that African Council’s teaching, the writer Origen in his Homilies on Leviticus, written in Palestine in the 240s, says: “Every soul that is born into the flesh is soiled with the filth of wickedness and sin […] In the Church baptism is given for the remission of sins…even in children.” Notice the plural “sins”, not the singular “Adam’s sin”. This is the clue to the correct understanding of original sin.

riginal sin may be described briefly as a negative condition: the state of being without that personal union of love with the Trinity and other people in Christ, which is what God intends for us. It also means not being able by oneself to come to this intimate union with God and with other people, because one does not share in the divine life of love through oneness with Christ, the only Mediator between God and human beings. This lack is due to the past sinful free decisions of other people, before any decision of this particular individual. To explain this, as any other truth of the faith, we need to go back to the beginning. This beginning is God, whom Jesus taught us is a love community of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so completely given to each other in love and open to receive each other in love, that

April 26 - 29, 2012 (Arrival: 26th for supper. Departure: 29th after breakfast) June 14 - 17, 2012 (Arrival: 14th for supper. Departure: 17th after breakfast) 2. Formation/Training Course for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion & Care of the Sick Dates:

Adam and Eve are depicted in a stained-glass window at St Nikolaus church in Feldkirch, Austria. (Photo from Crosiers) they are only one single life unit, one God, whom we call the Trinity. Genuine love always wants to share. So the Trinity willed to create free personal creatures outside of God, who could open themselves to receive the divine Persons giving themselves in love, and freely respond in love by giving their human selves to the Trinity. This would happen by human persons being united with the divine Son, the second Person of the Trinity, who would take on human nature in order to mediate the divine love life to humans. We know that this took place historically in Jesus Christ. This oneness is so close that St Paul could call those united in this way to Jesus “the body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27; see also Rm 12:5). Human beings are created in “the image and likeness of God” (Gen 12:26). But God is a community of three Persons so closely knit together that they are only one God. So human beings are created essentially social beings designed to build together a community of love. Their basic solidarity, which is the basis of this community, we call “humanity”. It may be likened to an archipelago, a group of islands each appearing to be independent but joined together by a land mass under the surface, so that, if the water were drained away, they would be seen as the peaks of a mountain range. It is this common substratum of human nature, shared by each individual,that makes it meaningful for us to speak about “human rights” and a human code of behaviour or “morality”. Unless we had a great deal in common despite our individuality, such terms would make no sense.

sin is basically an individual turning in on self in some form of self-centredness, instead of going outwards in love and self-giving. By such sins, by which we go against what God planned for us, humans have infected humanity with sin. The first sin is unique,

because it started the infection of humanity with sin. This is why “the sin of Adam” is sometimes alone blamed as the source of original sin. But all other sins have also added to the sin-diseased condition of humanity. Each person at conception draws his or her human nature from this infected pool. It is something like a baby born with HIV from HIV-infected parents. The baby has never done anything to cause its HIV condition, but is HIV-infected from having been conceived by HIVinfected parents (like all analogies, this comparison must not be pushed too far). This is what the Council of Trent meant when it said that original sin is passed on “by propagation not by imitation” and is “proper to each”, as it states in the Decree on Original Sin. The effect of this is that every human person comes into the world created by the Trinity and destined for life in the love community of the Trinity through oneness with the mediator Jesus Christ, yet lacking a share in the divine-human life of Christ which alone makes this union possible. This is the effect of the accumulated sins of others: in other words, the condition of original sin. You could possibly ask: If a person conceived, by entering infected humanity is contaminated by sin, why does it not equally receive God’s grace through the share in the divine life which its parents, relations and so many others have actively and gratefully welcomed in love? The answer is simply: Sin is of human making and so can be passed on through humanity; grace, a share in the divine life, is God’s gift, which can only by freely given by God. Church teaching used the word “justification” for the process by which a person is saved from the human sin condition for life in the love community of the Trinity, by baptism or some other means used by God for giving his grace. Such life in the Trinity is the full meaning of “salvation”.

May 3 - 6, 2012 (Arrival: 3rd for supper. Departure: 6th after breakfast) June 28 - July 1, 2012 (Arrival: 28th for supper. Departure: 1st after breakfast) 3. Formation/Training Course for Marriage Preparation & Enrichment Teams Dates:

May 10 - 13, 2012 (Arrival: 10th for supper. Departure: 13th after breakfast) August 23 - 26, 2012 (Arrival: 23rd for supper. Departure: 26th after breakfast) 4. Catechetical Course

Understanding and implementing the RCIA as a Model for all Catechesis & Introduction to our Christian Heritage Catechetical Series (Books 1, 2 & 3) Dates:

May 17 - 20, 2012 (Arrival: 17th for supper. Departure: 20th after breakfast) July 5 - 8, 2012 (Arrival: 5th for supper. Departure: 8th after breakfast) September 13 - 16, 2012 (Arrival: 13th for supper. Departure: 16th after breakfast) 5. Basic Bible Seminar Dates:

May 24 - 27, 2012 (Arrival: 24th for supper. Departure: 27th after breakfast) July 12 - 15, 2012 (Arrival: 12th for supper. Departure: 15th after breakfast) 6. Christian/Pastoral Leadership, Management & Good Governance Course Dates:

May 31 - June 3, 2012 (Arrival: 31st for supper. Departure: 3rd after breakfast) August 2 - 3, 2012 (Arrival: 2nd for supper. Departure: 5th after breakfast) 7. The Second African Synod Comes Home – Understanding and Living Africa’s Commitment (Africae Munus) in the Parish Context Dates:

June 7 - 10, 2012 (Arrival: 7th for supper. Departure: 10th after breakfast) August 16 - 19, 2012 (Arrival: 16th for supper. Departure: 19th after breakfast) 8. Symposium and Consultation

Theme: “Culture, Inculturation and Interculturality” How Far Have We Come & How Far Do still Have to Go In the Process of Inculturation of the Gospel Evangelisation of Culture? Dates:

Symposium: September 4, 2012 Consultation: September 5, 2012 For all the courses the fee is R 870.00 Symposium and Consultation, More information will be available between July and August 2012. If you are interested to attend you could already make reservations by sending an email or fax, or phone as above. International Courses 1. International Catechetical Course Dates:

October 8, 2012 (Arrival) October 27, 2012 (Departure) Course Fee: R6, 300. 00 (This fee covers full board and lodge, tuition and course materials) 2. International Pastoral Ministry Course Dates:

October 29, 2012 (Arrival) November 24, 2012 (Departure) Course Fee: R8, 150. 00 (This fee covers full board and lodge, tuition and course materials) Venue for all Programme: Lumko Institute, 47 Dickinson Road, Benoni, Johannesburg, South Africa To apply or for more information contact Lumko Postal Address: P.O. Box 5058, Delmenville, 1403, South Africa Office Address: 147 Dickinson Road, Brentwood Park, Benoni, Johannesburg, South Africa Cell/Mobile Phone: 0829640118 // 0723595611 Fax: 011 8653589 e-mail: lumko@global.co.za // gabby@global.co.za

The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

FAITH

Ave Maria, gratia plena: Behind the Hail Mary When the Archangel Gabriel hailed Mary as being “full of grace”, what did he mean? Fr RALPH DE HAHN discusses the angel’s salutation, and what it means to us.

UR traditional Catholic teaching gives us a very clear and beautiful picture of the Annunciation with Gabriel’s greeting: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” This passage from Luke 1:28 has met with a number of colourful interpretations in both Catholic and Protestant bibles. There are some Bible scholars who call this “an ambiguous greeting”, charging that the Roman Church is guilty of the “deification of Mary”. Indeed, there has been a strong preference to use the word “favour” in placed of “grace” as an unmerited gift granted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is confusing and, for many, even disturbing that the word “favour” should be seen as a worthy substitute for the meaningful word “grace”. Surely the two words cannot have the same meaning, nor are they interchangeable in the full context of the Incarnation. We are here speaking of the God-Man born of a Virgin, and his coming proclaimed by the Archangel Gabriel, who has been sent from God himself with a message that is to transform the history of all mankind. “Ave Maria, gratia plena” is what the angel meant to say—a message from God. Mary you are highly privileged, “of all women you are the most blessed” for you are full of grace. It’s a gift so exalted and so superabundant, a grace so extraordinary that Satan will find you untouchable, immacu-

late and God’s very temple, totally possessed by His Holy Spirit; that from you, humble maiden of Nazareth, God will ask flesh from your flesh, blood from your blood in order to give his life for the redemption of the entire world. In this context the word “grace” cannot be substituted with a simple “favour”. In the Old Testament we have the stories of two heroic women also highly favoured, namely Jael (Judges 4) and Judith (Judith 13), who were called to save their people. But there is no record in Scripture or history of an angelic greeting such as that of Gabriel to Mary. Unquestionably, it is unique and that truth is guarded by the infallible teaching of Mother Church.

t is interesting to refer to the book of Daniel where the archangel’s apparition is one of terrifying splendour (10:5-6) or the magnificent vision in the book of Revelations (1:13-15), because this is not the manner in which Gabriel appears to Mary. Here this mighty angel is the servant of God and she is to be the mother of God’s son! It would seem as if the angel realises that Mary’s splendour is greater than his. He greets her with the words: “Hail full of grace”. You, Mary, have been chosen to be the Mother of the incarnate God, the Word made flesh! The greeting “hail” is “joy” in the Greek context and peace in Hebrew. In researching a number of Bible texts one finds expressions like “Peace be with you, you are greatly blessed” (Good News, Living Water), “Rejoice you who enjoy God’s favour”(Jerusalem Bible, Fr Nicholas King’s New Testament, the King James Version, New English Bible, the EnglishHebrew translation), and the most tasteless, “Congratulations, favoured lady” (Living Bible).

The Revised Standard Version reads: “Greetings, most favoured one”, while the Latin Vulgate (Douay) version is translated as, “Fear not, Mary, for thou has found grace with God.” The Afrikaans Bibles are very positive, “Wees gegroet, begenadigde” (Gideon version) and “Wees gegroet, vol van genade” (the Pallotti Pers). The Italian and French translations are beautiful and true to Catholic tradition. This is a highly privileged and solemn declaration from God to Man. God has spoken; there is no room for an opinion. One does get the impression, maybe wrongly, that there are certain biblical scholars wanting to demote the Virgin Mary, “to put her in her place”. Dr Richard Bucher, in defending Martin Luther, argued that “we regard the Vulgate translation of ‘full of grace’ as unfortunate and inaccurate as it has led to exaggerated claims for Mary, thinking that because she is ‘full of grace’ she is able to dispense graces to sinners. Mary is a sinner that God regards graciously—and not because of anything meritorious in her! In the same sense every Christian is a ‘favoured one’.” That is astonishing! It suggests that the Son of God will take on sinful flesh and blood to redeem sin. With very little effort it would be possible to find in the Holy Bible many individuals who “had won God’s favour”, who were exceptionally privileged—Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Joseph of Egypt, Isaiah, King David, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Paul of Tarsus—and thousands of saints and martyrs, all highly graced and privileged. But Mary was different. She had to be because the son born of her was, and is, the Son of God. So, let’s stick to “Ave Maria, gratia plena”.

(Above) Pilgrims take photos of the grotto in the basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth where the Archangel Gabriel reputedly hailed Mary as being “full of grace”.

(Below) The Vatican’s mosaic, with an image of Pope Paul VI, is one of many from around the world, including South Africa, represented in the courtyard of the basilica of the Annunciation. (Photos: Günther Simmermacher)

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The Southern Cross, March 21 to March 27, 2012

CLASSIFIEDS

New evangelisation begins with confession BY CAROL GLATZ

ONFESSION can help Catholics build lives filled with hope and holiness, which are needed for effective evangelisation, Pope Benedict has said. “New evangelisation, therefore, also starts from the confessional,” he told confessors and other participants attending a course sponsored by the Apostolic Penitentiary—a Vatican court that that handles issues related to the absolution of sin. New evangelisation “draws its life blood from the holiness of the children of the Church, from the daily journey of personal and communal conversion to adhere ever more deeply to Christ, he said in his address. There is a strong link between holiness and the sacrament of reconciliation, he said. The true conversion of a person’s heart that has opened itself to God’s transformative power of renewal “is the driving force of every reform and it translates into a true evangelising force”. The sacrament of reconciliation reminds people of God’s

limitless capacity to “transform, illuminate all the dark corners and continually open up new horizons,” he said. Through confession and God’s mercy, the repentant sinner becomes a new person who is “justified, pardoned and sanctified”, who can become a gracefilled and more authentic witness to God’s love, he said. “Only he who lets himself be deeply renewed by divine grace can carry in himself, and therefore proclaim, the Gospel news. Thus each confession, from which each Christian will emerge renewed, will represent a step forwards for new evangelisation,” he said. Given the “educational emergency” in today’s world, in which relativism has eradicated any sense that people can gradually come to know the truth and experience the truth of God, “Christians are called to proclaim with vigour the possibility of an encounter between people of today and Jesus Christ”. God became human precisely to be able to be close to all people so that they could see and hear him.

Liturgical Calendar Year B

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 Monday, March 26, The Annunciation of the Lord Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10, Psalm 40:7-11, Hebrews 10:410, Luke 1:26-38 Tuesday, March 27, feria Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 102:2-3, 16-21, John 8:21-30 Wednesday, March 28, feria Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95, Daniel 3:52-56, John 8:3142 Thursday, March 29, feria Genesis 17:3-9, Psalm 105:4-9, John 8:51-59 Friday, March 30, feria Jeremiah 20:10-13, Psalm 18:2-7, John 10:31-42 Saturday, March 31, feria Ezekiel 37:21-28, Jeremiah 31:10-13, John 11:45-56 Sunday, April 1, Palm Sunday Isaiah 50: 4-7, Psalm 22: 8-9, 17-20, 23-24, Philippians 2: 6-11, Mark 14: 1-15, 47

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That is why the sacrament of reconciliation helps a person open his or her heart and let God in. The certainty that Christ is near and will be there for humanity even when burdened by sin “is always the light of hope for the world”, said the pope. In his address to the pope, Portuguese Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro, major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary and a former nuncio to Southern Africa, said priests play a major role in making sure people understand the enormous value of confession and they should be aware that they hold a “precious and irreplaceable” ministry. The pope echoed that sentiment urging priests to see themselves as key to helping people meet God and usher in a new beginning in their lives. Yet priests, too, “must be the first to renew an awareness of themselves as sinners, and of their need to seek sacramental forgiveness in order to renew their encounter with Christ” and promote evangelisation, he said.—CNS

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #489. ACROSS: 3 Paraclete, 8 Oven, 9 Conductor, 10 Mormon, 11 Ashes, 14 Nodes, 15 Tutu, 16 Tibet, 18 Ties, 20 Rufus, 21 Delft, 24 Bazaar, 25 Chartered, 26 Lamb, 27 Jetted off. DOWN: 1 Community, 2 Begrudged, 4 Anon, 5 Andes, 6 Locket, 7 Troy, 9 Coast, 11 Abbot, 12 Suffragan, 13 Subscribe, 17 Tread, 19 Secret, 22 Freud, 23 Shoe, 24 Beef.

Word of the Week

Acosmism: Denial of the world’s existence. Application: The theory borrowed from Oriental pantheism, taught by Hegel and others, claiming that the external world (cosmos) does not exist because it is really absorbed into God. It is the opposite of God disappearing in the world, which would be atheism.

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) DURBAN: BETHLEHEM: St Anthony’s, Durban Shrine of Our Lady of Central: Tuesday 09:00 Bethlehem at Tsheseng, Mass with novena to St Maluti mountains; ThursAnthony. First Friday days 09:30, Mass, then 17:30 Mass. Mercy noveexposition of the Blessed na prayers. Tel: 031 309 Sacrament. 058 721 0532. 3496. CAPE TOWN: JOHANNESBURG: Fundraiser Car Boot Sale Exposition of the Blessed and Morning Market at St Sacrament: first Friday of Brendan's Corvette Rd cnr the month at 09:20 folLongboat Rd Sunvalley, lowed by Holy Mass at last Saturday of every 10:30. Holy Hour: first Satmonth 7am-1pm R25 per urday of each month at lane Maggi-Mae 021 782 15:00. At Our Lady of the 9263 or 082 892 4502 Angels, Little Eden, Edenmvidas@mweb.co.za vale. Tel: 011 609 7246. Third annual Good FriRosary at Marie Stopes day procession to St clinic, Peter Place, SandMary’s cathedral, starting ton. First Saturday of every April 6 from Immaculate month, 10:30-12:00. Also Conception church in Gandhi Square, Main Rd. Parow, at 09:30am. To join Third Saturday of every contact Dino on month, 10:30-12:00. Tel: 0718619401 or Ursulla on Joan 011 782-4331 0826708229.

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BIRTHDAY

MOORE—Rev Sr Louis Carmel. May I, on behalf of my fellow classmates of the 1946/7 class at St Augustine’s Training College, Parow, wish you God’s choicest blessings on the occasion of your 100th birthday, March 21, 2012. God bless you and keep you and His Holy Mother protect you always. Henry Burggraaff, 19 Daffodil Crescent, Silvertown, 7764.

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. Grateful thanks to Almighty God, and St Jude, Anthony, Infant Jesus for prayers answered. Vicky.

IN MEMORIAM

ARENDSE—Martin, passed away March 23, 1983. Deep in our hearts you will always stay, loved and remembered every day. Always in our thoughts. Jacoba and family. PILLAY—Mrs Johanna of Springbok, Namaqualand. In loving memory of our dearest mother, passed away March 31, 2001. A loving mother gone to rest, for all of us she did her best. Dearest mother we still miss you very much. Rest in peace. Always remembered by your loving children, grandchildren, great and great-grandchildren, your daughter-in-law and all other families. VOGEL—Mervyn, died on March 23, 1996. We shall always cherish your cheerful smile, your heart of gold and the great example you set. Mom, Dad, Tracy and Roedi.

PERSONAL

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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. Thank you for prayers answered. Angie & Fabian.

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Palm Sunday: April 1 Readings: Mark 11:1-10, Isaiah 50:4-7 Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24, Philippians 2:611, Mark 14:1-15:47

The Paschal mystery–centre of our faith

Nicholas King SJ

EXT Sunday we start the week-long celebration of the greatest feast of the Church’s Year, the Paschal mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection that is the centre of our faith. As you would expect, the readings are extraordinarily rich, and I suggest that you sit down with them all during the next fortnight or so, and read attentively, either on your own or with others, all the scripture texts that the Church offers between now and Holy Saturday. There is not enough space here to go through all next Sunday’s readings; but the most eye-catching text is Mark’s bleak account of Jesus’ passion and death, and it may be best to point you to certain features of it that will help you to pray your way through it. In the first place, Mark has clearly inserted, right at the beginning, into an account of the religious establishment’s plot to murder Jesus, the extraordinary story of the anointing at Bethany, by the anonymous woman. She clearly intends this as a statement that Jesus is the Messiah; and in the flurry of indignation that her very daring gesture provokes Jesus offers an alternative interpretation of it:

Sunday Reflections

“She has done it in advance, to anoint my body for its burial.” This reinterpretation, meaning that Jesus is the Messiah, but a Messiah who is about to die, gives us the lens through which the evangelist wishes us to read the rest of the story. The next episode is the gloomy affair of the Passover meal. This should be an enormously joyful occasion, celebrating Israel’s liberation from Egypt, but the supper is dreadfully overshadowed by Jesus’ astonishing comment that “one of you, the one who is eating with me, is going to betray me”. They are stunned by this remark, and can only bleat “It’s not me, is it?”; the reader, of course, already knows that it is Judas—but all of them, as Jesus goes on to point out, “are going to be made to stumble”. Naturally they energetically deny it, but the words spoken over the bread and the wine

(“my body...my blood, poured out for many”) remind us that death is near. Next we are in Gethsemane, and Mark allows us to eavesdrop on Jesus’ prayer: “Abba Father...take this cup from me”; and here is the first failure, when Jesus’ inner cabinet, who have been specifically asked to “stay awake”, simply snore their heads off. Next Judas turns up with the arresting party, and all those brave men, who had been boasting of how they would never, ever abandon Jesus, simply disappear in a panic-stricken puff of smoke. Then things get very serious, and there is a trial (of some sort) before the Sanhedrin, in the course of which Jesus says almost nothing in answer to the accusations against him, until the High Priest forces him to respond to a question, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”, and Jesus answers, in words that ring down the centuries to us, “I AM—and you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven”, which seals his fate. Meanwhile, brave Peter, who was going to “die with you—no way am I going to deny you”, is heard swearing the most terrible oaths to a “little slave-girl” that he has never, ever heard of this Jesus-person.

Then there is a trial before Pilate, the Roman authority (crucifixion, we have always to remember, is a Roman punishment), who tries to acquit Jesus, but in the end weakly submits to popular pressure. And so to Jesus’ death, as king, mocked as such by the soldiers and the high priests; all his disciples have apparently abandoned him, as, it seems, has God (“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”). And yet, look carefully, and you start to notice some signs of hope: a passing African, Simon of Cyrene, who is forced to help with Jesus’ cross, and yet is “the father of Alexander and Rufus”, which means that something happened to Simon on that Friday afternoon, so that his family were known to Mark’s church. There is the comment of God: the darkness over the whole earth, and the tearing of the Temple veil; there is the extraordinary comment of the centurion (“truly, this man was God’s son”); there is the discovery that the women disciples were there, after all; and then, finally, Joseph of Arimathea has the guts to demand Jesus’ body from Pilate. So perhaps the absent God is present, after all. What do you think? Read the text this week, and read your life in it.

We must fast before we feast Southern Crossword #489 C ELEBRATION is a paradoxical thing, created by a dynamic interplay between anticipation and fulfilment, longing and inconsummation, the ordinary and the special, work and play. Life and love must be celebrated within a certain fast-feast rhythm. Seasons of play most profitably follow seasons of work, seasons of consummation are heightened by seasons of longing, and seasons of intimacy grow out of seasons of solitude. Presence depends upon absence, intimacy upon solitude, play upon work. Even God rested only after working for six days! We struggle with this today. Many of our feasts fall flat because there hasn’t been a previous fast. In times past, there was generally a long fast leading up to a feast, and then a joyous celebration followed. Today, we’ve reversed that—there is a long celebration leading up to the feast and a fast afterwards. Take Christmas for example: The season of Advent, in effect, kicks off the Christmas celebration. The parties start, the decorations and lights go up, and the Christmas music begins to play. When Christmas finally arrives, we are already satiated with the delights of the season—tired, saturated with the things of Christmas, ready to move on. By Christmas Day, we’re ready to go back to ordinary life. The Christmas season used to last until February. Now, realistically, it’s over on December 25. That hasn’t always been the case. Traditionally the build-up was towards the feast, celebration came afterwards. Today the feast is first, the fast comes after. We are poorer for that. Without a previous fast

Conrad

“No Carlos! Not the cigars now!”

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

there isn’t much sublimity in the feast. A colleague of mine likes to say that our society knows how to anticipate an event, but not how to sustain it. That’s only partially true. It’s so much that we do not know how to sustain something; we don’t know how to properly anticipate it. We mix the anticipation with the celebration itself because we find it hard to live in inconsummation and unfulfilled tension without moving towards resolving it. Longing and fasting are not our strong points; neither is feasting. Because we can’t build properly towards a feast, we can’t celebrate it properly either.

elebration survives on paradox. To feast, we must first fast; to come to true consummation, we must first live in chastity; and to taste specialness, we must first have a sense of what’s ordinary. When fasting, inconsummation, and the ordinary rhythm of life are short-circuited, fatigue of the spirit, boredom and disappointment replace celebration and we are invariably left with the empty feeling: “That’s all?” But that’s because we have short-circuited a process. Something can only be sublime if, first, there is some sublimation. I am old enough to have known anoth-

er time. Like our own, that time too had its faults, but it also had some strengths. One of its strengths was its belief, a lived belief, that feasting depends upon prior fasting and that the sublime demands a prior sublimation. I have clear memories of the Lenten seasons of my childhood. How strict that season was then! Fast and renunciation: no weddings, no dances, few parties, few drinks, desserts only on Sundays, and generally less of everything that constitutes specialness and celebration. Churches were draped in purple. The colours were dark and the mood was penitential—but the feast that followed, Easter, was indeed special. Perhaps this is mostly nostalgia speaking; after all, I was young then, naive and deprived, and able to meet Easter and other celebrations with a hungrier spirit. That may be, but the specialness that surrounded feasts has died for another reason, namely, we do not anticipate them properly anymore. We short-circuit fasting, inconsummation, and the prerequisite longing. Simply put, how can Christmas be special when we arrive at December 25 exhausted from weeks of Christmas parties? How can Easter be special when we’ve treated Lent just like any other season? How, indeed, can anything be sublime when we have lost our capacity for sublimation? Today the absence of genuine specialness and enjoyment within our lives is due in a large part to the breakdown of this rhythm. In a word, Christmas is no longer special because we’ve celebrated it during Advent, weddings are no longer special because we’ve already slept with the bride, and experiences of all kinds are often flat and unable to excite us because we had them prematurely. Premature experience is bad simply because it is premature, no other reason. To celebrate Christmas during Advent, to celebrate Easter without first fasting, to short-circuit longing in any area, is, like sleeping with the bride before the wedding, a fault in chastity. All premature experience has the effect of draining us of great enthusiasm and great expectations (which can only be built up through sublimation, tension, and painful waiting). It’s Lent. If we use this season to fast, to intensify longing, to raise our psychic temperatures, and to learn what kinds of gestation can develop within the crucible of chastity, then the feast that follows will have a chance of being sublime.

ACROSS 3. Spirit of advocacy (9) 8. Move near inside the hot place (4) 9. He manages the choir (9) 10. Latter Day Saints' member (6) 11. Phoenix comes up from them (5) 14. Knots on the chalices (5) 15. Ballet costume for archbishop (4) 16. Dalai Lama’s land (5) 18. Bonds (4) 20. Son of Simon of Cyrene (Mk 15) (5) 21. Dutch town of clay (5) 24. Church market (6) 25. Kind of accountant (9) 26. One that’s shepherded (4) 27. Went away by air (6,3)

DOWN 1. Nuns live in it (9) 2. Be drugged for having envied (9) 4. Soon (4) 5. Danes can move mountains (5) 6. The case of the neckchain (6) 7. Ancient city (4) 9. Power-free movement near the sea? (5) 11. Monk's head (5) 12. Assisting bishop (9) 13. Make a contribution to underwriter (9) 17. Do angels fear to do so? (5) 19. Story never told (6) 22. Psychoanalyst (5) 23. It goes over the hose (4) 24. Complain this tea is not drunk on Good Friday (4)

Solutions on page 15

CHURCH CHUCKLE

WO hippies were waiting at the bus stop along with a nun with her leg in a cast. The first hippie asked: “Sister, how did you break you leg?” “I slipped in the bathtub,” the nun replied. The second hippie asked the first: “What’s a bathtub?” The first hippie replied: “How should I know, I’m not Catholic!” Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.