The Southern Cross - 120509

www.scross.co.za

May 9 to May 15, 2012

What Mary, Mother of God, means to us

Page 10

Inspiration from Mother Teresa

Page 7

R5,50 (incl VAT RSA)

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4774

Wikipedia founder at the Vatican

Page 5

Priests called to ‘live holy lives’

BY CAROL GLATZ

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EN years after a historic papal response to clerical sex abuse, the Vatican urged priests to strive for greater holiness in their own lives so that they might effectively minister to others and reverse the tide of atheism.

In its annual letter to priests for 2012, the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy focused on Pope John Paul II’s 2002 Holy Thursday letter to clergy, in which the late pope responded to the growing revelations and scandal of sexual abuse of minors by priests.

The congregation’s letter also gave priests a guideline for examining their consciences concerning everything from how they celebrate Mass to how well they are living a pure, humble and generous life detached from consumerism.

Signed by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, and secretary, Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta, the letter was published on the congregation’s website.

The letter marks the annual World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, celebrated in many dioceses on June 15, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Priests are entrusted with the task of challenging and helping people become more holy and obey God’s will more fully, it said.

“We cannot be sanctified without working on the holiness of our brothers, and we cannot work on the holiness of our brothers unless we have first worked on and continue to work on our own holiness,” it said.

Urging others to strive for the “ideal of perfection,” it said, “does not mean that we are not aware of our personal shortcomings, or of the faults committed by some who have brought shame upon the priesthood before the world.”

While not specifically mentioning clerical sex abuse, the letter said that given the worsening situation reported in the news, priests must take to heart “with greater strength and urgency” Bl John Paul’s Holy Thursday letter from a decade ago.

It said the letter condemned the perpetrators of such scandals as betraying the priesthood and casting a “shadow of suspicion” over the many good priests in the world.

Bl John Paul called on priests “to commit ourselves more fully to the search for holiness,” it said.

The letter from the Congregation for

Priests lie prostrate during their ordination by Pope Benedict in St Peter's basilica at the Vatican. The pope ordained eight for the diocese of Rome.

In a new letter to the clergy, the Vatican calls on priests to live holy lives to minister effectively. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) Clergy said one of the most serious problems unfolding today is people losing all sense of God’s love and hope.

Traditionally, Christian nations “are no longer tempted to surrender to a general sort of atheism as they were in the past”, but they risk falling victim to that brand of atheism that has “forgotten the beauty and warmth” of the Trinity of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

By fully embracing, adoring and living in communion with God, priests can point the way to the true face of Christ and why he is

important for men and women today, it said.

“No new evangelisation will really be possible unless we Christians are able to surprise and move the world again by proclaiming the nature of our God, who is love”, and living as closely as possible to Christ.

In addition to the letter, the Congregation for Clergy also published Scripture passages and reflections from popes, saints and theologians, and St Faustina Kowalska’s “Prayer for the Holy Church and for

Priests”, which asks God to protect clergy “from the devil’s traps and snares.”

There was also a 20-part “Examination of Conscience for Priests” that asked priests to reflect on: how well they prepare for and lead Mass in a dignified manner; how free their lives are from vain and superficial pursuits; how central their love for Christ is in guiding them away from unchaste thoughts and acts; how charitable they are in dealing with others, especially those who sin; and how faithful their lives and teaching are to the Church’s magisterium.—CNS

Fight suspicion Catholic school pupil to represent SA at science meet T STAFF REPORTER

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Sasha Holloway of Springfield Convent Schol in Cape Town travels to the United States this month to compete in an international science competition.

GRADE 10 learner from Springfield Convent in Cape Town will head to the United States to represent South Africa at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) at the end of this month.

The competition, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the world's largest international pre-college science competition. This premier global science competition for students in grades 9–12 provides an annual forum for more than 1500 high school students from 65 countries, regions, and territories to display their independent research.

Sasha Holloway, 15, entered the regional Cape Town Eskom Expo competition in 2011 with her Grade 9 science project, winning a gold medal as well as being judged the top junior project overall. She was then selected to represent Cape Town at Eskom

Expo Nationals in Pretoria in October 2011, once again winning a gold medal.

Sasha was also shortlisted for selection to the international level competition and after several rounds of interviews and hard work she was informed in December 2011 that she had been selected to go to the biggest international science fair in the world.

She will be joining eight other young South Africans. Her project is titled: “A study of the endogenous activity rhythms of the marine isopod Exospaheroma truncatitelson”—a study of how these marine creatures have inbuilt biological clocks connected to the tidal rhythms, which control their swimming activity.

Young scientists from all around the world will showcase their work to judging by doctoral level scientists as well as compete for a share in over R30 million in prizes and scholarships.

HE new media can be utilised to debunk suspicions about the Catholic Church, according to Mgr Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Speaking at the Australian Catholic Media Congress in Sydney, Mgr Tighe said the Church cannot ignore criticism.

“We can use new media to learn about the people we are trying to engage with,” Monsignor Tighe said.

“Without having to respond formally to their questions—read the blogs, read the people you don’t like, read the people who are criticising you. Look at [it] to understand where they are coming from. Can we in our communication address some of those suspicions?”

Mgr Tighe said there was often a mutual suspicion between the Church and the media. “We think they’re out to get us, and they think we’re hiding everything.”

“So know the people we are speaking with, know how they see us and try and...anticipate the problems and the hurdles.”—cathnews

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The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

LOCAL

Region’s religious leaders meet for 2012 STAFF REPORTER

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OME 67 Leaders of religious congregations met at Willow Park near Benoni for their annual general meeting. The Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life in Southern Africa (LCCL) was joined by Archbishop Joseph Tobin, secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

A Redemptorist and former head of his order, Archbishop Tobin shared his understanding of consecrated life 50 years after the

Second Vatican Coucil.

The participants were given the opportunity to share their hopes and concerns with him.

“His input and the following reflections and sharings gave inspiration to all present and a renewed sense of the identity of religious life and its meaningfulness in both Church and society,” said Sr Ann Wigley OP, the LCCL secretary general.

Sr Alison Munro OP from the Aids Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference helped the participants to clarify

TB programme begins in Dundee diocese STAFF REPORTER

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OHAN Viljoen, of the SACBC Aids Office visited the Zanethemba project operating out of the Regina Coeli parish in Madadeni, near Newcastle in the diocese of Dundee, to assist the staff and caregivers with the implementation of the new early detection of TB programme which started in April.

Patients who have TB and the people with whom they live are screened if TB is suspected, and then referred for follow up testing and treatment if necessary.

“HIV/TB co-infection is a major problem in South Africa, but TB is treatable,” said Sr Alison Munro

OP, director of the Aids Office.

“Often, however, people present themselves to health facilities very late, sometimes having infected others with TB.” The programme is implemented with funding from the British government in several places, including the dioceses of Queenstown, Dundee and Kroonstad.

their response to the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Fr Hugh Lagan SMA gave helpful input and reflection on addiction and betrayal to help congregations to face these issues and to respond in a way that is life-giving to all concerned.

Sr Wigley said several mandates pertaining to the quality of the life and mission of each institute were selected by the members of the gathering.

The new executive was elected to help all to carry these mandates forwards in the coming year.

The new executive of the body of the LCCL: (back from left) Fr Pius Afiabor SMA, Fr Michael Murphy SPS, Fr Sibongiseni Cele TOR, Fr Emmanuael Wafula AJ, Br Mike de Klerk CB (president), (front) Sr Anne Patricia Flynn MSA, Sr Michaela Prachtl MC (vice-president), Sr Elizabeth Mathabathe DIHM, Sr Lethiwe Mazibuko OP, Sr Zelna Oosthuizen RGS

Good sales for priest’s book on PE clergy

BY SHARRON REYNOLDS

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PRIESTS’ book about more than 480 late clerics and religious brothers in the diocese of Port Elizabeth has sold so well, he had to have extra copies printed.

Fr Billy Barne’(pictured) wrote his book, titled Just Remembering while recuperating from a knee replacement operation. Now preparing for a hip replacement operation, the priest wondered whether this should provide an opportunity to write another book.

The book, which has sold more than 700 copies, honours priests and religious brothers who have served the Catholic Church in the

Eastern Cape since 1830. The late Bishop Michael Coleman wrote in a foreword: “Fr Barnes has done us a great service. He has taken time and trouble to find out and do research so as to give us at least a glimpse of how our spiritual ancestors built up the Body of Christ.”

In a review in The Southern Cross, Michael Shackleton wrote: “It is easy to read and yet can impress deeply as it paints portraits of the magnificent courage and faith of the priests and religious we tend to take for granted.”

In the book, Fr Barnes also covers his own life in the diocese till his retirement after 52 years in the priesthood.

He started his ministry at

Immaculate Conception church in East London, serving it in three separate stints amounting to a combined 16 years of his life.

Other assignments include four years in the United States collecting funds for the diocesan missions, ten years at Sacred Heart parish in Port Elizabeth, nine years at Grahamstown, eight years at Cambridge, East London, and two short spells in King Williams Town and Port Alfred.

Although retired, Fr Barnes continues to celebrate Holy Mass at Emmaus convent three times a week and is currently running a bible study course. n To purchase a copy of Just Remembering at R50 contact Fr Barnes at bill-hb@telkomsa.net or phone 043 726 5487.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

3

Winter drive warming Pretoria’s streets STAFF REPORTER

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HE Knights of Da Gama Council 4 are making a difference in the lives of the poor and needy in the archdiocese in Pretoria as they embark on their annual blanket drive this winter.

Gareth Brown said the campaign has been run for the past 37 years. “It was started in 1975 by a few members within the organisation, and it has grown each year to become a way for all parishioners to donate towards this worthy cause. Last winter, thanks to the generous donations from many parishioners from our local parishes and various companies, we were in the fortunate position to be able to distribute almost 4 000 blankets to many underprivileged people within the community,” Mr Brown said.

The blankets are distributed to those most in need around Pretoria through churches and Catholic organisations such as the Good Shepherd Sisters at Madidi, Hebron and Fatima House, the Sisters of Mercy, the Catholic Family Life Centre as well as the Catholic Women’s League and St Vincent de Paul Society.

Mr Brown said each year the plight of those living on the streets increases and the Knights of Da Gama Council 4 endeavour to continue donating blankets as the homeless require new blankets each year.

“This is due to the fact that most of them have no access to washing their blankets, and after the winter months they lose or discard them as they have no means of storing them in a safe place throughout the hot summer months.”

Mr Brown said those they help rely on the help of parishioners to get through the cold winter nights where temperatures will come close to freezing point on most nights in June and July once again this year.

“We purchase thick, relief blankets in bulk and thus are able to buy the blankets at a highly discounted rate, making any contributions that are received stretch a lot further,” said Mr Brown.

This year the group hopes to outdo last year’s tally by increasing the number of blankets distributed. n For further information contact Gareth Brown on 083 731 7835.

Direct deposits can be made to: The Knights of da Gama, Nedbank branch Brooklyn (1631 45), account number 1631 067 451.

Include the word “blankets” and your name as a reference.

Maronite church celebrates ten years with festival

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

Cape Town Catholics and priests have been called by Archbishop Stephen Brislin to attend the Vision Day for Alpha in the archdiocese. The event follows a positive presentation made by Lola de Abreu (right) and Paul Miles (left), the advisors for Alpha in a Catholic context in the Western Cape, to the archdiocesan pastoral council on how Alpha can be used in the Catholic Church as an effective tool for evangelisation. The event will be held on June 9 at Our Lady of Fatima church, Bellville, and the cost is R50 for breakfast.

For more information contact Lola on 021 555 4999 or Paul on 082 931 5546.

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.

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UR Lady of Lebanon in Liefde-en-Vrede, Mulburton, south of Johannesburg, will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Shrine of Our Lady and the commencement of the building of the new Maronite church.

Ten years ago, a festival was organised by the members of the Lebanese, Portuguese and other communities to show their appreciation for the new place of worship for the Catholics of the “new and deep” south. Since then, a celebration has been held annually.

This month will see the biggest celebration to date and is fit for the whole family to give thanks for the role the church has played in the community, said parishioner Vincent Leicher.

“Both the shrine and the church have become a unifying element for all who come to worship there and have brought people together as members of God’s family,” he said.

The event takes place on Sunday, May 27 with a special Mass at 10:00. The festival will run all day and end with a bang

“ALWAYS LET YOUR PRINCIPAL RECOURSE BE TOGETHER AT THE FEET

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

OF

WILL BE IN YOUR MIDST.”

Our Lady of Lebanon parish in Liefde-en-Vrede, Mulburton, will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the shrine of Our Lady and the commencement of the building of the new Maronite church. as fireworks close the celebrations at 18:00.

“The festival is a showcase of the cultures and traditions of all the people who make up our wonderful Church community.

It is family and community orientated and has proved to be such an attraction for all the people of the area, that, each year, since its inception, the attendances keep growing. The

Healthcare workers to be blessed

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

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URSES, doctors, paramedics and all health care workers in the archdiocese of Cape Town have been called to attend a special Mass which will include a “blessing of the hands” by Archbishop Stephen Brislin.

Sr Margaret Craig PSN said the archdiocese no longer has a nurses guild or a healthcare association, something which she said would be very helpful to those working in the industry.

“The archbishop is very keen to start a healthcare desk, or rejuvenate some sort of healthcare support group.” Organisations such as the Catholic Nurses Guild are active in other parts of the country but not in Cape Town.

“We thought it would be fitting to have a special Mass during the month of May which is also the month in which International Nurses Day is celebrated. It would be a great opportunity to get all the healthcare workers together, thank them for their work and see if an association of Catholic healthcare workers would be something people would be interested in,” Sr Craig said.

The Mass takes place at Holy Name church in Observatory on Saturday, May 19 at 10:00.

All Catholic healthcare workers are encouraged to attend.

festival is also a way of expressing our thanks and appreciation to the wonderful Maronite Missionary priests who have and still serve us,” said Mr Leicher.

Entrance fee is R30 for adults and R20 for children, which includes all entertainment and rides. n For more information on the festival and celebrations contact 011 432 5331.

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

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

SPRINGFIELD CONVENT JUNIOR SCHOOL

Applicants are invited for the following post

Tangney

Special Interest Tours CHRIST THE REDEEMER PILGRIMAGE Spiritual Director: Fr Michael Connell SDB

29 October – 9 November 2012 COST: R 16 875.00* Holy Land: Galilee. Jerusalem.

Bethlehem.

Magdala: New discovery. Masada.

Dead Sea Jordan: Mt Nebo.

Authentic Baptismal site.

Istanbul: Hagia Sophia. Hippodrome.

Grand Bazaar.

Dinner: Fish restaurant on the Bosphorus.

Tel: (021) 683 0300 Fax: 086 691 9308 Email: karis@tangneytours.co.za

GRADE SEVEN CLASS TEACHER From 1 January 2013

Springfield is a day school for girls from Pre-School to Matriculation, set in beautiful gardens on Wynberg Hill in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. Founded by Irish Dominican Sisters in 1871, Springfield has a caring, Catholic atmosphere, a proud academic record, vibrant Music and Art Departments and excellent facilities for Sport.

The successful applicant will be:  fully qualified to teach in the Intermediate and Senior Phase of the GET;  willing and able to promote the school's Catholic ethos;  able to teach all subjects in Grade 7;  registered with SACE;  willing to teach Religious Education in line with the school’s ethos;  willing to become fully involved in the school's curricular and co-curricular programme.

Computer skills and knowledge of interactive whiteboards a recommendation.

Apply in writing, giving details of qualifications, experience and the names of three contactable referees, including your Parish priest or Minister, to: The Principal Springfield Convent Junior School St. John's Road Wynberg 7800 or Email: postmaster@sfc.wcape.school.za Closing date for applications: Thursday 31 May 2012 The school reserves the right not to proceed with the filling of this post. An application will not in itself entitle the applicant to an interview or appointment, and failure to meet the minimum requirements of the advertised post will result in applicants automatically disqualifying themselves from consideration.

No faxed applications accepted.

Candidates not contacted shall consider their applications unsuccessful.

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The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Vatican censures highlight Irish divisions

BY SARAH MACDONALD

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SERIES of censures has brought to the fore the divisions within the Irish Church between those who seek a leaner and smaller Church that adheres more strictly to the magisterium and those who seek space to discuss Church issues.

Up to 250 nuns, priests and laypeople held a silent protest outside the Vatican nunciature to protest against the doctrinal congregation’s censure of five Irish priests over their stance on issues such as the ordination of women, the ban on artificial birth control, mandatory clerical celibacy and homosexuality.

A spokesman for the Irish bishops’ conference declined to comment on the situation of the five priests, saying it was a matter for their congregations.

However, Auxiliary Bishop Donal McKeown of Belfast has recognised that a “real gulf” now exists within the Irish Church.

In an article submitted to the Sunday Independent newspaper for publication, he wrote: “On the one hand there are those who champion the assumed optimism, creativity and relational vision of the Second Vatican Council. These look askance as the smaller number of very active and more conservative young members who, for their part, blame that very lack of clarity for the current problems that afflict most churches.

“Truth and love risk being depicted as alternatives rather

than as two complementary principles, dedicated to journey in an inseparable covenant, whatever the tensions.”

Fr Kevin Hegarty, former editor of the Irish bishops’ magazine, Intercom, wrote in March that the Vatican is increasingly seen “as a cold place for liberals”. Fr Hegarty was removed as Intercom editor in 1994 after assigning articles on subjects like clerical sexual abuse, women priests and compulsory celibacy.

In late April the story broke that Passionist Father Brian D’Arcy, one of Ireland’s bestknown media priests and a regular contributor to BBC Radio, was censured by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in March 2011. His writings must be cleared by his superiors before publication.

Four other Irish priests have also been censured: Redemptorist Fathers Tony Flannery and Gerard Moloney, Marist Father Sean Fagan and Capuchin Father Owen O’Sullivan.

Officials of We Are Church Ireland, the lay group that organised the rally outside the Dublin home of the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown, said they were looking for a meeting with him to discuss the seriousness of the situation.

The group demanded the revocation of the doctrinal censure, which it claimed “punished these men without due process and through secretive procedures with

no right of appeal”.

The doctrinal action against Fr D’Arcy, who celebrates 50 years in religious life this year, followed an anonymous complaint in relation to four articles he wrote for The Sunday World, for which he has been writing a weekly column for almost 38 years.

The Passionist superior general, Father Ottaviano D’Egidio, was summoned by Cardinal William Levada, head of the doctrinal congregation, in March 2011. Cardinal Levada conveyed his dismay at the content of the articles, which Fr D’Arcy revealed dealt with the Church’s handling of clerical sexual abuse, why US Catholics were leaving the Church and homosexuality.

Church and had given their lives to it and had been a great inspiration to many people.

He said they were now being treated “as pariahs or as a cancer...that has to be shut away.”

He said the main issue for him now was how the Church authorities deal with people who are asking questions and want discussion around issues such as women priests and contraception and clerical celibacy.

John Murray, a lecturer in moral theology at Mater Dei Institute in Dublin, said in an interview with BBC Ulster that he was “bitterly disappointed in these priests who are trying to make things difficult for the Church.” He added that he expected priests of the Catholic Church “to be people who will promote the teachings of the Catholic Church” because there was already “plenty of criticism of the Church and no shortage of critics.”—CNS

I

n an RTE Radio interview, Fr D’Arcy said he could not be silent about the protection of children.

“I speak strongly about this and I will make no apologies. I don’t mean it to be an offence to anybody when I say this, but if people expect me, who was abused twice in my life, to be silent about issues and about the protection of children, I can’t do that,” he said. He was abused as a 17-year-old seminarian, a fact he revealed last year in his best-selling autobiography, A Different Journey.

A leading campaigner on social justice, Jesuit Father Peter McVerry, said that the doctrinal congregation’s censure of the priests was distressing because the five had been very committed to the

A makeshift altar outside Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, commemorating more than 10 000 people murdered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, since 2008. (Photo: Joseph Kolb, CNS)

Bishops: Nigerian government fails to protect its citizens

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COMBONI MISSIONARIES Founded by Saint Daniel Comboni

HE leader of the Catholic Church in Nigeria has criticised his government for allegedly failing to protect Christians in the north of his country from attack by Islamist terrorists.

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, said he could not understand why the government appeared powerless to prevent the killings of Christians.

Speaking after 21 people were killed and 20 others injured in coordinated attacks on Sunday services at a university campus in Kano and a Protestant chapel in Maiduguri, the archbishop said the incidents showed “that government security is not working.

“The government is not able to cope with the security situation, and we feel quite apprehensive as a result,” he told Aid to the Church in Need, a pontifical foundation that helps persecuted Christians, in a telephone interview.

“Why the government cannot identify the people involved baffles the imagination,” said

Local officials remove the body of a shooting victim in Kano, Nigeria, after gunmen killed at least 21 people and injured many others in coordinated attacks. (Photo: Reuters/CNS) the archbishop. “We pay tax money and we have a right to know what is being done about the problem.

“Those young people killed at the university represented the hope of our country. It defies all logic. They were people trying to build a better country.”

His sentiments were echoed

by Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja.

“At first we were ready to be patient with the government when it was saying that this kind of Islamic terrorism is new,” he told Aid to the Church in Need.

“They have had adequate time to learn how to deal with this situation, gathering intelligence about those directly involved and bring them to book,” he said.

“It has become clear that we have a weak government that has put together a whole lot of compromises that means that the action that should be taking place is not taking place,” the archbishop added.

No one has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, but the Islamist group Boko Haram is suspected to be behind them because it is already responsible for the deaths of at least 450 people in 2012 alone, according to Aid to the Church in Need.

The attacks targeted two lecture halls in Bayero University Kano that were being used for Christian services. According to reports, gunmen opened fire on people fleeing initial explosions in an attack that lasted more than 40 minutes.

Gunmen later attacked a Church of Christ in Nigeria congregation in Maiduguri, killing five people, including the pastor.

Portugal to drop two Catholic holidays

BY JONATHAN LUXMOORE

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

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

ORTUGUESE Catholic officials have criticised government plans to suppress two religious public holidays as part of an austerity drive and urged postponing the plans until next year.

Fr Manuel Morujao, spokesman for the Portuguese bishops’ conference, said that Church officials understand that government leaders are trying to solve the nation’s economic crisis by improving economic competitiveness. In addition to removing two religious holidays, the government plans to eliminate Portugal’s October

5 Republic Day and December 1 Independence Restoration Day. The religious holidays will be negotiated between the foreign ministry in Lisbon and Vatican officials, under the terms of Portugal’s 2004 concordat with the Vatican.

Fr Morujao said the bishops’ conference had agreed to remove the feast of Corpus Christi, this year June 7, as a holiday.

However, he added the bishops had called for the reform to be postponed until 2013, rather than introduced immediately, and had requested that the second day should be the Novem-

ber 1, All Saints’ Day, rather than the August 15 feast of the Assumption, proposed by the government.

Eliminating All Saints’ Day as a holiday could cause problems, since many people use the holiday to honour the dead in cemeteries, “but this would be better than to abolish Assumption Day”, the priest said.

The Catholic Church makes up approximately 80% of the 10.3 million residents of Portugal, which has been severely affected by recession and unemployment during Europe’s financial crisis.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

Vatican: Free market does not serve common good

BY CINDY WOODEN

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HE global financial crisis and the worldwide recession it triggered have demonstrated that allowing financial markets to self-regulate does not serve national interests and the good of the international community, a Vatican official has said.

“The international community cannot let the financial system continue being a source of global economic instability; it must urgently take measures to prevent the outbreak of other financial crises in the future,” said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to United Nations agencies based in Geneva.

The archbishop made his comments during a top-level meeting of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, which was being held in Doha, Qatar.

The 2008 financial crisis “marked a turning point for the world economy,” Archbishop Tomasi said. “In particular, the subsequent global economic recession has eliminated at least 30 million jobs around the world,” according to statistics from the International Labour Organisation.

“The enjoyment of fundamental economic and social rights by countless persons has been compromised, including the right to food, water, decent work, education and health,” he said.

The financial crisis and the global recession have taught both rich and poor countries that they could face “serious social, political Damiaan Donker, a dark Belgian ale named after St Damien de Veuster has been launched in Hawaii by Italian-born chef Donato Loperfido. It recalls the 19th-century Belgian missionary who ministered to people with leprosy in Hawaii.

(Photo: Darlene Dela Cruz)

and economic costs if the financial markets are left to regulate themselves”.

The good of the human person must be at the centre of economic activity and economic policy, he said. And for that to happen, development must be “employment oriented”.

Archbishop Tomasi questioned the practical benefits for nations and individuals of what was known as “jobless growth” in the economies of the world’s richest countries.

Work is not just an activity that produces a product or service and earns a person wages, the archbishop said; it is essential to human dignity because it gives a person a sense of worth and allows people to contribute to the good of their families and societies.

Efforts to promote development must also recognise the central role of education, he said. “If young minds, the future of our society, are not sufficiently prepared, millions will not be able to enter the labour market of tomorrow.”

The UN’s efforts to forge a stronger partnership between developed and developing countries must also look at ways “to reduce the excessive volatility of food commodity prices” because the international trade of food products “has consequences on the daily nutrition and life of the poorest people in the world, and carries therefore a strong ethical dimension,” Archbishop Tomasi said.—CNS

The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

5

Wikipedia founder on abortion terminology

BY CINDY WOODEN

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HE co-founder of Wikipedia told a Vatican audience that his online encyclopaedia could contribute to peace by promoting “a more thoughtful world”, even as the site was under fire for how it referred to those who oppose and support legalised abortion.

Jimmy Wales, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001, was invited to address the annual assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The meeting at the Vatican focused on Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris and continuing challenges to promoting peace and justice in the world.

In an interview after his speech, Mr Wales also spoke about Wikipedia’s arbitration process to determine the correct Wikipedia use of the terms “pro-choice”, “pro-life”, “abortion rights” and “anti-abortion” to describe individuals and movements.

Wikipedia, which allows almost all entries to be initiated, updated and edited by almost anyone, had received complaints about an inconsistent use of the terms, which some people felt unfairly tended to use the negative “antiabortion” to describe the pro-life position while almost always using the positive “pro-choice” label to describe those who support legal abortion.

The online site conducted a

A Wikipedia web page is pictured on a laptop computer. Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales told a Vatican audience that his online encyclopaedia could contribute to peace by promoting “a more thoughtful world”, even as the site was under fire for how it referred to those who oppose and support legalised abortion.

(Photo: Gary Cameron, Reuters/CNS) “community consultation” of users from March 23 to April 23, asking them to discuss the terms, their implications and list in order of preference the terms they thought were most appropriate.

Mr Wales said that in general Wikipedia recognises that certain words or terms “are heavily loaded” and the goal always is to find “a single, simple, neutral term”.

One of the Wikipedia principles is that “you can refer to people as they refer to themselves”, Mr

Wales said. “Certainly the most common terms in the US in this discourse are pro-life and prochoice, but both sides have complaints” about the accuracy of the other’s description.

Wikipedia also wants to be careful about using terms that implicitly imply a judgment, for instance by using the term “pro-abortion”, he said. Those supporting legalised abortion “may be pro-abortion relative to a Catholic priest”, he said, but most people who support legalised abortion would not say they promote abortion.

In his presentation to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Mr Wales explained how Wikipedia pursues its goal of promoting “a world in which every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge”.

While most pages of Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, the edits are reviewed by other Wikipedia users and can be referred to Wikipedia administrators and to an arbitration committee.

Wikipedia is a “mediating and moderating influence on the discourse on the Internet,” he said, because each article is open to review, discussion and correction.

Much of the information people access through the news media tends “to be inflammatory. That doesn’t contribute to peace at all”, he said. His goal is to have Wikipedia be “calmer, slower and more reflective than that.”—CNS

Priest beheaded in French Revolution beatified

A

CATHOLIC priest has been beatified as a martyr more than two centuries after he was guillotined during the French Revolution.

“This act of martyrdom invites us to live our communion with Jesus coherently and faithfully, despite wounds and sufferings of all sorts which modern society inflicts on the Gospel through its erroneous ideologies,” said Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes, during the homily at the beatification of Norbertine Father Pierre-Adrien Toulorge (1757-93), in the cathedral in Coutances.

Fr Toulorge was publicly executed in the northern town for secretly ministering after the French government suppressed religious orders.

Cardinal Amato said the priest had been just one of many clergy “persecuted, incarcerated, subjected to summary trials and executed” during the revolution’s reign of terror, but had welcomed his death as a chance to be “crowned as a martyr”.

“We learn from the blessed martyr Toulorge how to resist the culture of death with grace and prayer, facing with force and perseverance the sacrifices necessary for remaining faithful to Christ...May

his intercession help us be good Christians as well, strong and victorious in defence of our faith.”

Born on May 4, 1757, into a peasant family at Muneville-le-Bingard, Fr Toulorge was ordained in 1781 and joined the Norbertines six years later at their abbey in Blanchelande.

He fled to British-ruled Jersey in 1790 with more than 560 other priests after the revolutionary government suppressed religious orders and imposed a loyalty oath, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, on the Catholic Church.

However, he returned to work secretly as a priest and was arrested in September 1793 with liturgical

objects during a “priest hunt” in Normandy.

The priest was sentenced to death after refusing to withdraw an earlier testimony, and he was beheaded on October 13, 1793, in front of the mayor’s residence in Coutances.

On the eve of his execution, Fr Toulorge wrote letters from his prison cell forgiving his persecutors.

Coutances diocesan spokeswoman Anne Jacquemot said Fr Toulorge’s “story sets an example for all Christians and reminds French people that the same values remain important, even two centuries later”.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Catholics and atheists

T

HIS week we devote the entire letters page of responses to an atheist who wrote of his disappointing experience of going to Mass at Easter.

No doubt, the sincerity of the correspondent and the respect he showed to those who do believe in salvation have made an impression on many readers.

In turn, they hope to engage him with testimony of their experience as believers.

This is a good example of how dialogue between believers and non-believers should be: frank and courteous exchanges of perspective with a view not to proselytise or score points, but to advance mutual understanding.

Pope Benedict would approve of this. When he hosted representatives of virtually every religion at Assisi, Italy, last year, he made it a point to also invite a delegation of atheists.

Addressing the Assisi gathering, Mexican philosopher Guillermo Hurtado said: “We, humanists in dialogue with believers, commit ourselves together with all men and women of good will to building a new world in which respect for the dignity of each and every person... is the foundation for life in society.”

This represents a way in which atheists and believers can strive towards common goals of justice and peace in this world, even as they differ on whether there is a next world.

This is a far cry from the scorched earth style of debate proposed by Richard Dawkins, who has called on atheists to publicly “ridicule and show contempt” to believers.

Especially in the Anglophone world, the atheist strategy (in as far as there can be said to be a concerted effort) of engaging with Christians is often marked by disrespect, distortion, exclusion and calumny. Even where religious freedoms are protected, the voice of the church is systematically marginalised in public discourse, told to mind its own business.

The Catholic Church fosters this sense of antipathy at times when its leaders make reckless and inflammatory pronouncements, for example when US Bishop Daniel Jenky, in trying to illustrate the Church’s marginalisation, compared US President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler

and Joseph Stalin.

The US bishops are right to object to a requirement which would force Catholic institutions to pay for employee health coverage that includes measures in conflict with its teachings.

However, the Church’s case is not strengthened by some of the hyperbole that has accompanied their objection.

Unlike the persecuted Church in Pakistan, Iraq or China, the Catholics of the United States are not in danger of physical persecution, nor is the Catholic Church in danger of being suppressed, as several US bishops seem to claim.

In western democracies, those who frame laws that contradict the Church’s moral teachings usually do so not because they hate the Church or despise God. Most do so in disagreement with or indifference to these teachings and for what they perceive to be the common good. If the Church’s mission is to influence lawmakers and voters that such laws are iniquitous, then the strategy of threat, fury and defamation is unlikely to persuade them, but only serves to entrench already existing positions.

Of course the Church has a right and moral obligation to speak out against all that is in opposition its teachings, and it must do so vigorously and credibly when the situation demands it. But the teachings of the Church are not diluted when they are communicated with reason and respect for those who do not subscribe to them.

The weakness of atheist crusaders such as Dawkins is exposed in the call to mock Christians, not to reason with them. Christians are rightly affronted by this and therefore must beware not to fall into the trap of reciprocating, or regarding all non-believers with hostility.

The Dawkins brand of atheism, which has many zealous followers, promotes contempt over discourse. When Christians employ the same strategy of contempt (as, alas, many do even when addressing fellow believers), the hope of rational dialogue diminishes.

The experience of Assisi 2011 and the present exchange on our letters page shows that fruitful dialogue is possible, if we are willing to recognise good will in others.

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

Opening the door a chink ARIO Compagnoni (“A non- haps unknowingly, have opened M believer’s opinion”, April 18), that door just a chink, and are at welcome to the company of seekers: present trying to make out what is those who are not satisfied with what is given them, but wish to know more about themselves and their lives; those who wish to discover what our existence is all about!

One of the elements you have chosen to investigate is that of faith and belief in God, and that of itself is a giant step forward. Although by your letter you have just scratched the surface and are not all that enchanted by what you find, you are looking for a bit more by your invitation to discussion. May I make the following comments.

God is always there for us. He has said in the sacred books: “Look!

I am standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he will eat with me” (Rev 3:20).

Note that he doesn’t come in unless invited, but he’s always available! And I suspect that you, per-

Where is the context?

M

ARIO Compagnoni’s letter refers.

It is difficult to reconcile the statements “I realised that such a belief system was no longer within my grasp” and Mr Compagnoni’s attendance at Mass “looking forward to being imbued with the inspiring message of the resurrection”, as well as “we can always take comfort …” in the final paragraph. Seemingly the “unshakeable conclusion” which he holds might be on rocky ground. Or perhaps he was yielding to peer or family pressure in attending Mass at all—else, why was he there?

I wonder whether sufficient thought was given to the values he professes to hold. If a religious set of moral or ethical values is not to be considered, whence the “personal” set he has opted for? How does he decide what “do good” means without the context in which he lives? Is he a reed, blown any which way by the wind, or, assuming he has strong principles, whence did they come?

No man is an island, as the poet John Donne has said, and we are all affected by the society we live in—what is considered “good” by one culture in one era might not suit another time and another people.

In the first millennium, one is led to believe that the rape of women by the reigning gentry was quite acceptable—does this mean that it might be acceptable today according to a set of “moral values” developed for one’s own ends?

Our ethics and values are developed to a large extent by those of the society in which we live, and to co-opt any of them as of our own creation would seem to be arrogant. We have a few individuals in government today who have seemingly set up their own value system!

As ever in this type of debate, the beginning of the universe needs to be mentioned. Without going through all the Richard Dawkins/Stephen Hawking/Darwin arguments (and I do believe in evolution), the discussion always ends up with the “big bang”. With the established theory of cause/effect, what caused the big bang? And who put the constituents there?

Perhaps it should be mentioned that faith is just that—belief without the needing of evidence. I also believe that the South Pole is actually there.

Cecil Cullen, Alberton, Gauteng

Be open to God

Y

OU, Mario Compagnoni, are already leading a Christian life with your moral values and doing good to others. Indeed, it is not easy to believe in God.

on the other side. Carry on! Things might not be too clear at first, and perhaps they won’t come easily, but as the door opens it will change your life. It may change it in complete rejection of God’s love, or perhaps it will enable you to accept and experience that love ever more deeply as time passes.

At this stage you could be thinking that you don’t need any more of this “pap”. Perhaps the leap forward is just too much—after all, you’ve only been seeking the confirmation of your own convictions.

But in fairness to yourself, give it a try!

What could you lose? You yourself have said that you envy those with a belief system which offers them such comfort. Even if there is absolutely nothing after death, as you believe, does the comfort the believers gain from their faith not make their lives more liveable? Why endure the hardships that you say

I was like you, but without your values. While watching a video of Our Lady’s apparitions in Medjugorje, I was filled with a strange peace, and knew these to be true.

So I turned to God and begged him to help me believe in him as I couldn’t on my own; I promised to say the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be five times daily as Our Lady asked.

I had to learn these and say them slowly; I persisted and pushed away all negative thoughts.

I read John’s gospel, followed by all the books of the New Testament then the whole Bible, over and over. My faith grew. My treasure now is my Catholic faith and I long to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

I respect all denominations and other religions, as they were all my friends in Malawi.

Do try and be open to God. He will listen. You will be in my prayers; someone prayed for me.

We will meet in heaven.

Marina Bouic, Westville, KwaZulu-Natal

Go on your knees

I

N Mario Compagnoni’s letter, the remark: “humans had created God...”, prompts my reply: Oh yes, their God, but whether you like it or not “God created you”, without him you would not exist.

“I created you and cared for you, while you were still in your mother’s womb” (Psalm). He will never stop caring and in the unrest of your soul he is speaking to you, plus all the people in The Southern Cross, who are going to help you to realise it.

Take this truth from a very elderly lady, who comes from a very Catholic family and Catholic school. Knowing God? Standing on my own two feet amidst a raging war (WWII) and witnessing unbelievable cruelty, I all of a sudden knew: he was there.

In all circumstances, surroundings and people, he is there touching all of this with his spirit, asking you specially to open up a little bit, so he may fill you. Read the Bible and good books; one of them by Ralph Martin: The Fulfillment of All Desire.

Go on your knees, ask him to make himself known to you.

I and lots of other people will pray with you and study the catechism with you. I will leave it to 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.

living without a belief in God entails—what does it do for you?

Isn’t the believer’s way, the Christian way, worth a try?

I have said that I believe that you are seeker after truth, the sort of person worthy of admiration if for that reason only. You may not agree, but I think that you have been given a grace from God—he has brought the thought to your mind that you wish to know more about your life, and in continuing your search I believe you will be brought to know him.

In what way, to what persuasion —that’s a subject for another discussion. But you cannot imagine the transformation that God’s acknowledged presence in your life can make. I say “acknowledged”, because he is there anyway.

If you’re really serious in your search, may I recommend to you CS Lewis’s little book Mere Christianity.

If I’m not mistaken it formed a part of a BBC TV series. Lewis was an Anglican, by the way.

I wish you God’s grace—I believe you’ve already been given some of it!

Tom Drake, Johannesburg learned people to explain to you.

God bless you in your search.

Riet Kneppers, Dundee

Our ideas of God

I

AM intrigued as to how Mario Compagnoni, perhaps tongue-incheek, could assert that he has come to the “unshakable conclusion that humans had created God”. Perhaps he meant the “idea” of God. There is surely a major logical and real difference!

Robert N Bellah’s lengthy anthropology Human Evolution and Religion certainly supports the notion that we evolved our idea of God, as we also evolved our various and more complex social structures that support both ourselves (groups, tribes, society, the state and so on), as well a religious perception of life that supports and affirms our society and social structures.

The book leaves quite open, in a scientific fashion, as to whether there is a god.

That is a matter of faith; as we always say, faith, like everything else, is a gift of God. Fr Vince Carroll MSC, Nzhelele, Limpopo

No salvation

M

ARIO Compagnoni gives his viewpoint as a non-believer and quotes Prof Alan Schreck in his hope not to be excluded from salvation—a pious but erroneous wish.

In his book Catholic & Christian that same Prof Schreck writes: “God in ways known to himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to that faith without which it is impossible to please him.” Well, Mr Compagnoni does not seem to belong to that category.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states unambiguously: “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation” (cf Mk 16:16; Jn 3:36).

JH Goossens, Dundee

I am blessed

M

ARIO Campagnoni doesn’t believe in God, yet he went to Mass! If humans created God, who created Man? How does he “know” that there is nothing after death. I know there is life hereafter. We are all free to believe what we want.

To quote from Corrie Ten Boom, a Holocaust survivor: “Faith is believing the impossible, seeing the invisible and experiencing the impossible.” All of which I and many others have been blessed to have experienced and continue to experience.

Annette Tyropolis, Port Elizabeth

PERSPECTIVES

Choose blessings, not curses

T

HE apostle Paul writes to the Romans: “Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them...Never pay back evil with evil…Never try to get revenge…If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink…Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good” (Rom 12:14-21).

Every single day we are called to do the above.

When we look at the world around us, on all the stages of life; relationships, politics, economics, church, workplaces—we are asked to choose life above death/evil.

But what is asked of us here goes against

our grain of human nature.

When someone hurts me, I want to hurt back—those who hurt me must experience what I have experienced.

When others get away with doing wrong—I want to justify my wrong-doing by saying that others also do it. When we see irregularities in our companies and organisations, we tend to ignore or not get involved. When relationships break down, it is difficult for us to take the first move towards reconciliation, because we are not “the wrong one”. And so it goes on.

We will never be able, on our own, to rise above and to do what God wants us to do. We will be able to act according to

Schoolchildren hold a portrait of Bl Teresa of Kolkata during a candlelight prayer ceremony. In her column, Judith Turner takes inspiration from Mother Teresa. (Photo: Rupak De Chowdhuri, Reuters/CNS)

Ancestors and faith

B

EFORE Christianity came to our land, Africans believed in the continuity of life after death and that is by moving into the spirit world.

However, not everyone who is dead would qualify to be an ancestor (idlozi).

According to Dominique Zahan, an ancestor “is first of all, a man who has reached a great age and who has acquired along with longevity a profound experience of people and things”.

One day I heard an expert on such topics saying on the radio that an ancestor cannot be an unmarried person and also a young person.

This means that many deceased people are excluded from being ancestors because of their marital status and by their age, irrespective of their conduct in life. This also means that those who are excluded from being ancestors cannot mediate on behalf of their loved ones.

Strangely, most of those who practise this belief ignore the “original” meaning of the ancestor by making people ancestors whose lives were not commendable. After all it doesn’t make sense to ask someone whose life was lived carelessly and without any form of respect for life to be your mediator, let alone believing in God. Africans are not alone in this belief.

Many early Christians were persecuted for their faith, leading many Christians in Rome to hide in the catacombs (an underground cemetery consisting of tunnels). As a result, they found themselves praying and worshipping God surrounded by the tombs and bodies of the dead. When possible, they sought to pray among the bodies of dead Christians, sometimes using a coffin or tomb for an altar on which to celebrate the Eucharist.

From the early apostolic times, it appears the Church held a respectful veneration for the dead. They reported witnessing healing miracles in connecATTORNEYS

l

tion with the bodies of dead Christians, or observing sweet-smelling myrrh exuding from their bones. This, combined with their belief in the Resurrection of Jesus and future resurrection of all Christians (the Resurrection of the Dead), eventually led to the veneration of saints and of their relics.

Here at home, you find people being told by izangoma, abathandazi or any kind of traditional fortune tellers to go to the wilderness and call upon their ancestors to come with them to their homes. When they do this, all the demonic spirits found on wastelands would join them because they want a home too, because their spirits have never been committed to the Lord after death. This results in people facing problems of evil spirits in their homes which causes them to suffer a great deal.

Even Christians forget that the souls of their loved ones are entrusted to God and therefore cannot live with them in their homes.

T

he term “ancestor worship” is a misnomer in many ways. In English, the word “worship” usually refers to the reverent love and devotion accorded to a deity or divine being.

In other cultures, this act of worship does not imply the belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity. Rather, the act is a way to respect, honour and look after ancestors in their afterlives as well as seek their guidance for their living descendants.

The Bible takes a negative view of necromancy, or attempts to communicate with the dead (Lev 19:26-31; Deut18:10-11; Job 7:7-10; Is 8:18-20; Lk 16:19-31).

Jesus’ account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke provides further insight into the condition of the dead and what happens after death. It clearly indicates that it is impossible for the living to communicate directly with the dead.

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On Faith and Life

Paul’s words only by knowing with our whole beings that what we are asked to do for others, is what God has already done for us.

Mother Teresa’s words are always inspiring, motivating and encouraging us to stay focused and to realise what really matters. She says: People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centred. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

These words cut to the heart of spiritual life. They make it clear what it means to choose life, not death, to choose blessings not curses.

Simangaliso Magudulela

New Vines, New Skins: An ecumenical series

From this, it is evident that there is a clear divide between the righteous and the unrighteous dead, and that the dead do not have freedom of movement, as is suggested by the underlying beliefs of ancestor worship or veneration.

Clearly then, the dead are not able to exert an influence on the lives of the living.

Christ tells us that the dead cannot communicate with the living on any matter. Clearly then, the Bible does not encourage or support a relationship between the living and the dead. Furthermore, these scriptures indicate that the fear of the ancestors is unfounded.

As John Samuel Mbiti, a Kenyan Anglican theologian concedes, “most, if not all, of these attributive deities are the creation of man’s imagination”.

If we believe that the dead have the ability to intercede for us to God on our behalf then there would be no need for us to believe in Jesus Christ.

While we know that Christ is our intercessor, we are also joyful to know that the saints whom God had sanctified are able to pray to him on our behalf (Rev 8:3-4).

St Cyril of Jerusalem said: “Then during the Eucharistic prayer we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition...”

Whatever we may believe, we must have faith in the Holy Trinity, knowing that our direct prayers to God are heard and are answered by him through Christ’s intercession. n Simangaliso Magudulela belongs to Holy Cross Anglican church in Orlando West, Soweto. This is an adapted version of an article that first appeared in Southern Anglican magazine.

The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

7

Steven Edwards

Youth and Mission

Getting to know God is like getting fit

T

HE other day I jumped on my bike to go for a ride around where I live. The golden leaves were starting to blow off the trees and the sun was lower than in summer.

As I turned a corner the cold wind blew at my back and the analogy dawned on me: faith, or more accurately, a relationship with God is like cycling. If you have a goal to ride a race or get fit, it takes some discipline to get up early in the morning to train.

Any activity like running, cycling or swimming requires training and effort. It might be cold, wet, windy—but if you really want to improve, you push through the weather and your own laziness and get out on the road.

Then, as you get going, your body warms up and you don’t even feel the cold. The hills aren’t so steep as the blood flows to your warm muscles and sometimes you forget that you’re even riding because you’re “in the zone” to go.

Growing a relationship with God requires an element of training and self-discipline too. It takes discipline to be quiet and listen to God; it takes discipline to wake up early to talk to God in prayer, or read Scripture—especially when it’s cold and dark outside, or raining.

A relationship with God is like cycling. It often takes some effort to get going in the beginning, but once you’re “in the zone” and riding with the Father in the rhythm of prayer, and you know the security of his warm presence within, then you realise that being on the road isn’t that hard at all.

Actually being on the road is pretty fun, challenging and exciting.

Training for cycling or running takes effort, but it’s almost always easier when you’ve got a team holding you accountable or training with you (Prov 27:17). The same is true with a relationship with God—it’s so much easier when you’ve got someone keeping you on the right road.

When we join others, or invite others to join us on the ride of faith, the getting-going is so much easier, and the resistance we face from the world affects us less, because we know that as a team we’re riding towards the same goal (1 Peter 1:9).

When we have the support of a faithful community, we have the accountability to get up and “get prayed up” before we start our day. We can encourage one another to keep riding, and they can cheer us on when our legs hurt and we want to give up (1 Thess 5:11).

God wants us to ride with inflated tyres and energetic legs, confident in his love. He’s given us the faith community so that we don’t have to ride alone.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could say with enthusiasm at the end of the road—I got on my bike (rather than sleeping in or pushing it along the road), “I finished the race, I kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7)? n Steven Edwards teaches at a Catholic school in Johannesburg.

A man rides his bicycle through snowfall in St Peter’s Square. In his article, Steven Edwards suggests that building a relationship with God is akin to fitness training. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS)

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The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

COMMUNITY

Fr Charles Uloko CSsR, parish priest of St Anthony’s parish in Coronationville, Johannesburg, blessed Tullie Pereira (left) who celebrated her 90th birthday and Freda Campbell. Ms Pereira remains an active parishioner and assists in making up the flower bouquets for the church.

(Submitted by Barenice van Reenen)

Corpus Christi parish in Humewood, Port Elizabeth, welcomed four young people into their church. The candidates had undergone instruction from Fr Noel Winston OFM and the parish chairman Bernard Hutton. They had been well prepared and after the singing of the Litany, came forward accompanied by their sponsors, to receive the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. They are Nkeletsang Anne Monyepi, Regina Patricia Wamba, Latifa Isidora Mkwawa and Ofentse Victor Mohutsiwa. (Submitted by Frank and Helen Manson- Kullin)

IN FOCUS

St Mary of the Angels parish in Crawford, Cape Town, ran an Ecclesia programme during Lent. Photographed is the Crawford Ecclesia group led by Glynis Joseph. (Submitted by Penny Pretorius)

A group of pilgrims from George and Knysna participated in the Via Dolorosa in Dysselsdorp, Oudtshoorn diocese. The winding zig-zag footpath up the hill represents the different Stations of the Cross, symbolising Jesus Christ's route to Golgotha. During the pilgrimage young and old shared their spiritual experience as they moved up the hill, from station to station, meditating and praying. They are seen here at the top of the Via Dolorosa. The group was led by Deacon Benito Botha of St Liborius parish in Parkdene. (Submitted by Leveinia Botha)

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

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James Maher was the first baby to be baptised at St Columba’s church in Capital Park, Pretoria, in 1923. He is seen here with the parish’s pastor, Fr Chris Townsend.

Sr Bartholomew Cunningham celebrated the 70th anniversary of her profession at Assumption convent in Port Alfred. Her nephew, Canon Liam Stephenson, came from Ireland to celebrate it with her. (Submitted by Assumption Sisters)

CHURCH

The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

What the Church teaches on ecumenism As South Africa prepares for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, May 17-27, PADRAIG SMYTH outlines what the Catholic Church teaches on ecumenical relations.

B

ETWEEN 2012 and 2015 there will be many occasions to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the various documents of the Second Vatican Council. One of these is the council’s decree on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio.

The document begins with a quite remarkable statement: “The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.” This means that ecumenism is right up there alongside the Council’s focus on themes such as the role of the laity, the dialogue with contemporary culture, the centrality of sacred scripture and the nature of the Church.

For a Catholic the task of seeking unity with our brothers and sisters of other churches and ecclesial communities is not optional, like the dessert on a menu might be. It is part of the main course. Unfortunately for some of us ecumenism may not even be on our spiritual radar.

Ecumenical endeavour is intimately bound up with the whole thrust of Vatican II as it highlights the deepest sense of what it means to be a follower of Christ— being part of his mystical Body.

The principal task of every Christians is to build up this Body.

We get no prize for going it alone, for crossing the finishing line first in a two-legged race

without my companion. Jesus puts it clearly: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:24-25). So if there is division in the Body of the Church, then we are all called to be in the front line in working to heal the rift, just as antibodies rush to the scene whenever the health of the physical body is threatened.

Unitatis Redintegratio gives the theme of unity a most profound theological foundation by referring to the priestly prayer of Jesus: “That they all may be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (Jn 17:21).

That unity is made possible by three principal means: when we live the New Commandment to love one another; by the crucified Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit who brings us into intimate union with Christ and therefore with one another; by the Eucharist “by which the unity of his Church is both signified and made a reality”.

That unity, which is ultimately a mystery, “finds its highest exemplar and source in the unity of the Persons of the Trinity: the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, one God”. The same theme would be deepened later in Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint.

When we refer to the other churches as brothers and sisters, we acknowledge that we are still essentially part of the one family, children of the same Father, for “it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in baptism are members of Christ’s body”.

This fact sets the whole tone

for the work of ecumenism, placing the main emphasis on reconciliation. As part of that process the council’s decree insists on highlighting everything positive that is contained in the various churches and communities: “The written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too,” and the fact that their liturgical actions are really and truly a means of salvation for those who sincerely partake in them.

The dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium is even clearer in its listing of the elements of sanctification and truth contained in the various churches and communities: “For there are many who honour sacred scripture, taking it as a norm of belief and of action, and who show a true religious zeal. They lovingly believe in God the Father Almighty and in Christ, Son of God and Saviour.

They are consecrated by baptism, through which they are united with Christ. […] we can say that in some real way they are joined with us in the Holy Spirit, for to them also he gives his gifts and graces, and is thereby operative among them with his sanctifying power.”

O

f course the road to reconciliation is not easy. One of its most challenging aspects may appear to be the fact that as Catholics we hold that the unity which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning “subsists” in the Catholic Church, as the decree on ecumenism puts it.

What needs to be understood is that this conviction is part of the self-understanding of the Catholic Church, part of its duty to articulate what it holds to be its essential nature—but not the first item on the agenda for ecumenical dialogue.

The goal of ecumenism is not

9

Pope Benedict prays at the tomb of St Francis in the crypt of the basilica in Assisi, Italy in 2011 at the end of the interfaith meeting for peace. Pictured second from left, kneeling in front, is Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury. Third from right, standing, is Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. (Photo: CNS) to affirm the fact of this subsistence, but rather the achievement of that unity which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning. The level playing field of ecumenism is that whatever church or community we belong to, we all must be willing to place ourselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who alone knows the mysterious ways of Divine Providence which lead to that day when we shall all celebrate the Eucharist together in full unity.

And certainly if our own sinfulness is an obstacle to unity, no church has the monopoly. That is why the decree asks all Christians to undergo a “change of heart”, quoting St Paul: “I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.”

Christian unity is a divine mystery and as such cannot be worked out simply by sitting around a table. Instead it requires that each one of us ardently strives to die with Christ so as to rise with him and so enter fully into the Father.

In the words of the decree: “The closer their union with the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, the more deeply and easily will they be able to grow in mutual brotherly love.” It calls this endeavour “the soul of the whole ecumenical movement”.

This does not mean neglecting

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the hard work of theological dialogue regarding matters of doctrine in faith and morals. When a building collapses it must be rebuilt brick by brick. And, in fact, slow but steady progress has been made in this area, for example the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church in 1999.

It is worth noting that the decree highlights the extent to which all the Christian churches can give a common witness to the message of the Gospel by cooperating in all those areas where we as Christians are called to work for the good of the whole of humanity.

The decree puts to us the challenge: “In these days when cooperation in social matters is so widespread, all men without exception are called to work together, with much greater reason all those who believe in God, but most of all, all Christians in that they bear the name of Christ.

“Cooperation among Christians vividly expresses the relationship which in fact already unites them, and it sets in clearer relief the features of Christ the Servant. […] All believers in Christ can, through this cooperation, be led to acquire a better knowledge and appreciation of one another, and so pave the way to Christian unity.” n Padraig Smyth is the coordinator of the Department for Ecumenism and Inter-Religious Dialogue of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

10

HOPE&JOY

The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

Mary and our faith

D

EVOTION to the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the things that differentiates Catholics from most other Christian denominations. To some, it is seen as a distraction to our devotion to God, but to many Catholics, devoting time and prayer to Mary is a way of drawing nearer to God the Father and enhancing one’s spiritual life.

Because of her place in the story of salvation, devotion to Mary began in the early centuries of the Church as a way to honour her, says Sr Sue Rakoczy IHM of St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal.

“Down the centuries, forms of devotion grew as did her titles: the Rosary, novenas and feasts. At times it appeared that Mary was almost a ‘rival’ to her Son, since people placed her between Christ and the Church, rather than in the Church.”

Sr Rakoczy says the renewal of Vatican II called the Church to first honour Mary in the liturgy, especially in the four major Marian feasts: Mary, Mother of God (January 1), the Presentation (February 2) the Assumption (August 15) and the Immaculate Conception (December 8).”

The Immaculate Heart of Mary sister says devotion to Mary should always be rooted in the Scriptures and the liturgy, and prayer to Mary must always be seen in reference to Christ. “They are not rivals. Mary is our sister in faith and thus a good companion on the journey of faith.

Devotion to her is more significant than devotion to any other saint.”

Pat Gonsalves leads a pilgrimage from Cape Town to the Marian shrine of Ngome in the diocese of Eshowe every year. For him the highlight of each pilgrimage is hearing those who make the journey say they that they have been transformed by the experience, brought closer to God because of their devotion to Mary. For some, he says, it is a new devotion.

“Mary is there to assist us to get closer to God. She helped me, she helps everybody,” Mr Gonsalves says. He likens Mary to mothers

J.M.J

Claire Mathieson

A Church of Hope and Joy

who will help their children when they have encounter disapproval elsewhere. “As a child, when you are in trouble with your father, you turn to your mother for help. That’s what Mary does—she listens to us.”

Lebo Lentsoane is the Soweto Youth Deanery Forum coordinator.

He believes that Catholics revere the mother of Christ because “she was the one chosen to conceive and give birth to Jesus, our Saviour. She was appointed by Jesus to be the mother of the Church,” Mr Lentsoane says.

The parishioner of St Philip Neri church in Moletsane, Johannesburg archdiocese, says because Mary is Jesus’ mother, she is the fastest way to communicate with him. “Jesus cannot refuse his mother,” and she is therefore a great option when looking for help to pray to God, Mr Lentsoane says.

Revering Mary is not, as some Protestants accuse, “worship”—this is reserved for God, says Mr Gonsalves. He believes the Blessed Virgin is a source of inspiration and love. “Mary and the saints are there to guide us to God’s love.”

The sites of shrines dedicated to Mary around the world are usually associated with an apparition or the site of a miracle in which Mary was involved. In South Africa, Ngome is one such place of prayer. Our Lady is said to have appeared ten times to German-born Benedictine Sister Reinolda May between 1955 and 1971. Mr Gonsalves believes it is a place where one can draw nearer to God through Mary.

B

lessed Sacrement church in Malvern, Johannesburg, hosts an annual pilgrimage to the local Schoenstatt shrine to honour Mary on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

Parish secretary Gail Carroll says the

A close-up of Mary, part of a larger “Mary and Joseph” statue, by US artist Rip Caswell. In different ways, the Blessed Virgin is important in the spiritual lives of Catholics. (Photo courtesy of Rip Caswell) pilgrimage has become a community event with more than 1 000 people attending. “We walk from the parish to the shrine to honour Mary as the Mother of God to pray and intercede for our favours and concerns.”

Ms Carroll says prayers have been answered as people find the space and the environment to be calm enough to think through their issues properly. “It’s a very spiritual experience. We have people from all around Johannesburg and even non-Catholics joining us.”

The annual event, initially promoted by the Portuguese community in the area, has grown to include all cultures, ages and understandings of the devotion. “It’s a great introduction to Mary. It’s just so lovely,” Ms Carroll says.

Sr Rakoczy says sites of pilgrimage to Mary are generally linked with apparitions of Mary. “The institutional Church is very careful about affirming apparitions as signs of God’s presence through Mary.

Places such as Lourdes, Fatima in Portugal, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and South Africa’s Ngome have been and continue to be carefully investigated to ensure that the ‘message’ of Mary and the forms of devotion that were surfacing were in accord with Catholic understand-

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ing of Mary. These sites give people a focus for prayer; often prayer for healing.”

M

r Gonsalves’ pilgrimage group, Friends of Ngome Cape Town, upholds the value of the pilgrimage site in Ngome because, along with learning about Mary’s love, it also provides a space for silence—something he believes is necessary in developing a relationship with God. “There are too many distractions in life today—from cellphones to televisions and the Internet, life is noisy. Getting away, just as Jesus did when he went to pray at Gethsemane, is a way of drawing closer to God. We do this with the help of Mary,” he says.

These shrines and apparitions have even taken on national importance in some countries. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the national symbol of Mexico, Our Lady of Šiluva is a symbol of Lithuania, and Lourdes in France is a major Catholic symbol with more than five million pilgrims visiting annually. Only Paris has more hotel rooms than Lourdes.

“Pilgrimages play an important role in our lives as they are a part of our spiritual journey. We go to places such as Ngome as we believe miracles happened there. Offering our prayers, or rather petitions, to Our Lady of the Most High Taberna-

cle, [we believe] they will be answered” through Mary’s intercession, says Mr Lentsoane.

Mr Gonsalves believes intercession is achieved through respecting and honouring Mary. “If you concentrate on the Rosary and on what you are saying, you are drawn into Mary’s love and you believe and know your prayers will be answered, one way or another, with her help.

It’s nice to know there’s someone to assist you when praying to God.” For Mr Gonsalves, Mary is “amazing” and changes the lives of those on the pilgrimage. For Mr Lentsoane, who describes himself as “a devoted young Catholic”, Mary “plays a very important role in my life, like any child who loves and trusts their mother. I don’t worship Mary but I believe that she intercedes and is the mediator to Jesus Christ.”

For all Catholics, Mary is revered and present. Our Lady facilitates miracles in many Catholics’ lives.

She is a vital part of their spirituality.

Sr Rakoczy says people have their own distinct spirituality in which, for some, Mary is very important and for others less so. But regardless of how one prays, whether one looks for intercession or not, Mary “should not be absent from our life of faith”.

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Community Calendar

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

BETHLEHEM: Shrine of Our Lady of Bethlehem at Tsheseng, Maluti mountains; Thursdays 09:30, Mass, then exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. 058 721 0532.

CAPE TOWN: St Paul’s parish in Somerset West will be having a fundraising cheese and wine event on May 19 at 6:30 in the church hall. An auction of a painting of The Crucifixion will also take place. (www.stpaul-somer setwest.co.za) Cost: R 50 (single) or R90 (double).

Contact: Monique Rolando on 082 5555 610 or stpaulsw@netactive.co.za Sr Rosemarie of the Holy Cross Sisters is looking for musical instruments (new or used) for the elderly and adult patients of the psychiatric ward. Contact Sr Rosemarie at the Holy Cross Convent, Modder-

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

DURBAN: St Anthony’s, Durban Central: Tuesday 09:00 Mass with novena to St Anthony. First Friday 17:30 Mass. Mercy novena prayers. Tel: 031 309 3496.

JOHANNESBURG: Rosary at Marie Stopes clinic, Peter Place, Sandton. First Saturday of every month, 10:30-12:00. Also Gandhi Square, Main Rd. Third Saturday of every month, 10:30-12:00. Tel: Joan 011 782-4331 PRETORIA: First Saturday: Devotion to Divine Mercy. St Martin de Porres, Sunnyside, 16:30. Tel Shirley-Anne 012 361 4545.

The Southern Cross, May 9 to May 15, 2012

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #497. ACROSS: 5 Pool, 7 Immaterial, 8 Goer, 10 Browsers, 11 Attain, 12 Injure, 14 Effect, 16 Baruch, 17 Converge, 19 Soda, 21 Encyclical, 22 Isis.

DOWN:1 Ring, 2 Marriage, 3 Reuben, 4 Tivoli, 5 Plus, 6 Overpriced, 9 Out of doors, 13 Jurassic, 15 Thrice, 16 Breach, 18 Vies, 20 Ally.

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Year 2

Sunday, May 13, Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48, Psalms 98: 1-4, 1 John 4: 7-10, John 15: 9-17 Monday, May 14, St Matthias Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26, Psalms 113: 1-8, John 15: 9-17 Tuesday, May 15, feria Acts 16: 22-34, Psalms 138: 1-3, 7-8, John 16: 511 Wednesday, May 16, feria Acts 17: 15, 22:, 18:1, Psalms 47: 2-3, 6-9, John 16: 12-15 Thursday, May 17, Ascension of the Lord Acts 1: 1-11, Psalms 57: 8-12, Ephesians 4: 1-13, Mark 16: 15-20 Friday, May 18, feria Acts 18: 9-18, Psalms 47: 2-7, John 16: 20-23 Saturday, May 19, feria Acts 18: 23-28, Psalms 47: 2-3, 8-10, John 16: 23-28 Sunday, May 20, Seventh Sunday of Easter Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26, Psalms 103: 1-2, 11-12, 1920, 1 John 4: 11-16, John 17: 11-19

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Word of the Week

Infallibility: Incapable of error in expounding doctrine on faith or morals.

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CLASSIFIEDS

11

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

DEATH

AMANN—Sr M Christophora. Holy Cross Sister, Sr Christophora, aged 83, passed away at Holy Cross Convent, Fatima House Retirement Home, Aliwal North, on 24 April 2012. Lovingly remembered by her family circle in Germany and the Holy Cross Sisters. May she rest in peace

IN MEMORIAM

SEMPER (BLAND)— Tracy. In loving memory of a wonderful daughter, mother, sister and friend who was called to her heavenly home five years ago on May 14, 2007.

Always in our hearts and remembered daily by Ken, Kirsty, Carol, Jennifer, Mathew, Paul, extended family and friends. Rest in peace with Mom and Our Lady and her beloved Son, Jesus.

STEYN (NEE GAYKO)— Chantelle Inez. God looked around His garden and found an empty space, He then looked down upon His earth and saw your loving face. He put His arms around you and lifted you to rest, His garden must be beautiful, He always takes the best. Dearly beloved daughter and loving mother to Sean, bravely fought and lost the battle to cancer a year ago on May 11, 2011. Remembered with love by all those who knew you. Our hearts are missing you.

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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 and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen.

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RETREATS

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Website: www.scross.co.za 7th Sunday of Easter: May 20 Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26, Psalm 103:12, 11-12, 19-20, 1 John 4:11-16, John 17:11-19

W

E are, remarkably, almost at the end of the Easter season now, and have to start looking ahead to our time as Church, that is to say, to our becoming in fact the group of Christians who proclaim the message to a world that needs it. What is the message? Why, the fact that in the Risen Jesus God has become King of all the world. The readings for next Sunday give us a few clues about how we are to do it.

The first reading offers us a glimpse of the brokenness of the Church, under Peter’s leadership. There are only 120 of them at this stage, and already they have to replace one of them, namely Judas, “who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus”; and the criterion is that it must be “one of the men [this was a very patriarchal society, we remember] who came with us at every moment when the Lord Jesus came in and went out upon us...a witness of his resurrection”.

So that is to be our task: to know Jesus intimately, from his baptism to his ascension, and to testify to the Resurrection. It will not necessarily, however, be an opportunity for their becoming famous or rich. Two people are deemed to meet the criteria, namely “Joseph called Barsabbas, surnamed Justus” and “Matthias”, of whom absolutely nothing else is said, anywhere in the New Testament.

God makes known his choice by the casting

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Make God visible Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

of a lot (and there are those who argue for bishops to be once more selected in this way!)¸ Matthias is appointed, and that is the last we hear of him. Are you happy for that to be the upshot of your preaching the kingdom?

The psalm, as so often, responds to God’s kingship with exuberant joy: “Bless the Lord, my soul, and everything inside me, [bless] his holy name...do not forget all his benefits.”

That last imperative is not bad advice for us at this time. Then the psalmist offers two lovely illustrations (which we need always to keep in mind) of how different God is from us, “as the heavens tower over the earth...as far as East is from West”; but we should also notice that forgiveness is at the heart of the matter, since the distance is also taken to be how far God removes our sins from us. That is a message that this world, locked in its failures to forgive, urgently needs to hear. But we must never forget God’s kingship: “The Lord

has placed his throne in heaven, and his kingdom over all.” The psalm concludes with an invitation to God’s messengers (and this means you, this week): “Bless the Lord...you who perform his word.”

In the second reading, we continue to follow 1 John, which has been with us since Easter Sunday. The heart of the matter is love; “No-one has ever seen God, but if we love each other, God remains in us, and God’s love is made complete in us.” In other words, your task, this week, is to make God visible by the quality of your love.

The central fact revealed by the mystery of Easter is that “the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world”; that is what we have to proclaim, that “God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God”. That is how you are to proclaim God’s kingdom, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life.

The gospel, appropriately enough, is part of the great prayer of Jesus to the Father, for those whom he leaves behind, delivered at the Supper, the night before he died. We are invited to eavesdrop on his petition for us: “Holy Father, keep them in the name which you have given me, that they may be one, as we are one.”

Looking at the terrible divisions that we have made in the Church, we might find it profitable to meditate on those words in the course of this week. Then, with a proper hint

Gone, but still with us I

N his autobiography Nikos Kazantzakis tells the story behind his famous book, Zorba the Greek. Zorba is partially fiction, partly history.

After trying unsuccessfully to write a book on the German philosopher Nietzsche, Kazantzakis experienced a certain emotional breakdown and returned to his native Crete for some convalescence.

While there he met a man of incredible energy and vitality.

The Zorba-character in the book is based on this man’s life; never before in his life had Kazantzakis been so taken by the life and energy of another human being.

But mortality doesn’t make allowances for that. Zorba eventually died and his death very much disillusioned Kazantzakis: How can such exceptional vitality simply die? And what happens to it, does it simply disappear as if it had never been? What happens at death to all the colour, energy, life, love, and humour that a human being has embodied?

Kazantzakis wrote Zorba the Greek as an attempt to give some immortality to the wonderful energy that an exceptional man had embodied. Zorba cannot be dead. It made for a great book and a great movie, but is that really what makes for immortality? Does simply remembering somebody or publicly celebrating his life make him alive? And when someone dies, what does happen to that very unique and wonderful energy, vitality, love, colour, and humour that a person embodied during his or her life?

Classic Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

Several days ago, I was at a wake service for a woman whom I had never met. The formal prayer service was followed by a half-dozen eulogies delivered by her family. They were wonderful, warm, witty, colourful, and full of humour. As these stories were told she became alive again to everyone in the church.

We all smiled and laughed and the sadness of her leaving was eclipsed for the moment (and partly forever) as the colour and vitality of her life were again made alive for us. And we weren’t just remembering her. We were reminding each other that she was still with us.

It’s the same for everyone who dies.

They remain with us in more than memory. And it’s not just some purified spirit of theirs, washed clean in death, that remains. Their unique colour stays too.

I think, for instance, of my own family.

We’ve had to mourn the loss of a number of our members, but we’re not only nurtured by the gift that each person’s life and virtue was for us, we’re still fed by the unique colour each of them embodied.

They are still with, as is their colour.

Our family legends abound about those whom we have lost: stories about my dad’s

unique way of combining the Serenity Prayer with Murphy’s Law in an exasperated expression: “Just now!”; about my mother’s incapacity to find a place to begin a story without having to first go back to Genesis ( “In the beginning…”); about my deceased sister’s love of chocolate and her concomitant love for deflating what was pompous; about my deceased brother’s proclivity to lecture the entire planet on social justice; about my deceased brotherin-law’s love for cooking sausages and laughingly inquiring about the aesthetic condition of your suspenders; and about a deceased uncle’s habit of lighting up a cigarette and getting a mischievous gleam in his eye as a prelude to telling a thoroughly wicked story.

The list could go on and on because the stories in the lives of our deceased loved ones do go on and on.

So what does happen at death to that very unique energy, vitality, colour, and humour that a person has embodied? The English logician Alfred North Whitehead suggests that it’s immortalised in the “consequent nature” of God. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin assures us that nothing will be lost and everything will be in some way preserved, right down to the lives of our pets.

Our Christian doctrine on the Communion of Saints tells that our loved ones are still alive and that someday we will be faceto-face with them again.

I don’t doubt the truth of these assertions, but they can seem pretty abstract when our hearts are saddened and aching at the memory of a loved one who has died. Being alive in our memories is not a sufficient form of immortality and being alive in God’s memory can seem too abstract to bring much consolation.

I don’t doubt that our loved ones are alive in God’s “consequent nature” or that they are alive inside the communion of saints, but I believe something more, based on how our memories of their unique colour affects and nurtures us here on this side.

I believe that what they so wonderfully and uniquely embodied here on earth is still going on, happening on the other side. I suspect there are more than white clouds, harps, and floating angels in heaven, but that heaven is rife with wit, colour, humour, and thoroughly wicked stories, because whenever we recall these about our deceased loved ones their memory turns warm and nurturing.

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of sadness, we hear Jesus say: “Now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in them.”

There is no invitation here for Christians to be miserable, even if Jesus goes on to say that “the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world”. We need to be careful of this idea, of course; it does not mean that our task is to live in some other world, as Jesus goes on to say: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the Evil One.” Our task is to proclaim God’s kingdom against those powers who think that they are in charge. We belong here, in this country that stands in so much need of the message, and what Jesus asks is: “Make them holy in the truth.”

That is our task, and we should not be daunted, since Jesus immediately reminds us that “your word is truth”. The fact is that we take on this task precisely as people who have been sent, even if we feel that our frailty and sinfulness is bound to get in the way, because “just as you sent me into the world, so I have also sent them into the world”.

And we should listen, carefully, to Jesus’ final petition: “I am consecrating myself on their behalf, that they too may be consecrated in truth.” This is not something that we have to do for ourselves; it is something that God in Jesus does for us.

We can set about our task of proclamation with great optimism.

Southern Crossword #497

ACROSS

5. Water spot at Siloam (Jn 9) (4) 7. Spiritual, therefore irrelevant? (10) 8. One who won’t stay about gore (4) 10. Serbs row about casual readers (8) 11. Gain by effort (6) 12. Hurt (6) 14. Every cause must have it (6) 16. Jeremiah’s secretary (Jer 36) (6) 17. Meet at one point (8) 19. So Daniel shows this kind of water (4) 21. Pope’s letter to the bishops (10) 22. Egyptian goddess twice affirmed (4)

DOWN

1. Handy episcopal arena? (4) 2. Spouses’ sort of contract (8) 3. Jacob's eldest son (Gen 35) (6) 4. “Ilovit”, you cry back at famous Italian gardens (6) 5. Sign to be added (4) 6. Cover pride? It's not worth it (10) 9. Open-air Mass is said here (3,2,5) 13. Hollywood’s park for dionsaurs (8) 15. Twice, then once more (6) 16. Break of promise to marry (6) 18, Contends in rivalry (4) 20. Partner legally without the limb (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

O

NE day a man decided to get as close to God as he could. He thought climbing a mountain would be the best route to get there.

Once he reached the top of the mountain, he called out to God. To his amazement, God answered him loud and clear. With such an amazing opportunity to speak with God, he wanted to ask a few philosophical questions.

“God, how long is a million years to you?”

“It’s like a minute to you,” answered God. “What does a million dollars mean to you?”

“It’s like a penny,” answered God. The man replied: “Can I have a penny?”

The Lord answered: “In a minute.”

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