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Churches full for Bosco relics BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
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HURCHES have been packed as the relics of St John Bosco, founder of the Salesian order, travelled around Southern Africa. The relics of the Italian saint, who lived from 1815-88, visited Salesian communities in South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho as part of a world tour of the relics to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the saint’s birth and 150 years since the founding of the Salesian order. The right palm of the saint, covered by a vestment, is contained in a glass casket, mounted on a large wood and aluminium cart, holding a life-size wax replica of the saint’s body. The display weighs almost 2 000kg and measures about 2,4m in length, 90cm in width and 1,2m in height. Fr Alberto Villalba SDB said the tour had been very successful with people from both Salesian environments and beyond visiting the relics. “The churches have been full,” said the Salesians’ delegate for youth ministry and social communications. The relics arrived in the country on July 1 in Johannesburg, where Robertsham, Ennerdale and Johannesburg cathedral parishes played host to the Salesian tour. The relics also visited the Don Bosco Centre, a youth initiative, where “learners gave the relics a good reception”, Fr Villalba said. “It was amazing to see people singing and dancing and welcoming the relics,” he added. Two newly ordained Salesian priests, Frs Joseph Nguyen Thoi and Peter Nguyen Hieu, said their Thanksgiving Masses in the presence of the relics. The relics were also visited by various African communities, church groups and the Salesian sisters who were on their annual retreat. “Many people came from many different places. The churches were packed, so it was not only those involved in the Salesian environment,” Fr Villalba said.
“For the whole Salesian family, this tour was very important because we are celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of our founder’s birth.” Since the relics have already visited more than 80 countries, Fr Villalba said their presence is a blessing. “We can see Don Bosco and we can let Don Bosco see how his community has grown in 150 years.” Fr Villalba called the visit a renewal of Salesian spirituality. “To have Don Bosco here, to see his casket, to know that this is something that connects our community—it was a deeply spiritual experience. This tour has touched many people,” he said. “To see people crying, touching the casket, young and old coming together and praying and asking for a special blessing— it has been very moving,” the Salesian priest told The Southern Cross. The relics also spent time in Swaziland, Lesotho, and were scheduled to come to Cape Town from July 10-15, visiting the parishes of Lansdowne, Delft, Hanover Park, and Westridge, as well as the Salesian Institute in Green Point. They will depart on July 16 for Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. The world tour, which began on April 25, 2009, will end in Turin in 2014. The bicentennial of St John Bosco’s birth in Castelnuovo D’Asti, near Turin, will be celebrated with events in 2015. In 2009 Pope Benedict agreed, at the request of the Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva, the Salesian rector superior, to grant plenary indulgences to those who make a pilgrimage to see and pray before the relics on their global pilgrimage. The Salesians of Don Bosco were founded in 1854. Now the third-largest missionary congregation in the world, the Salesians have 34 000 priests and sisters working in 128 countries. The order came to South Africa in 1896, and is represented in the Western Cape and Gauteng, Swaziland and Lesotho.
Olympic rings mounted on a barge on the River Thames are seen in front of the Tower of London. London is hosting the summer Olympic Games from July 27 to August 12. See pages 8-9 for a tour, in photos and text, of London’s greatest Catholic landmarks. (Photo: Andrew Winning, Reuters/CNS)
Bishop of two dioceses dies at 74 BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
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NLY a few months after retiring due to ill health, Bishop Mogale Paul Nkhumishe of Polokwane died on June 29 at age 74. Born the second child of a family of 12 children in Nylstroom, Limpopo, Bishop Mogale was brought up by his grandparents. In 1957, he entered St Theresa Roma Minor Seminary in Lesotho where he matriculated before moving to St Peter’s seminary in Hammanskraal. Ten years later, he was ordained a priest by the same man who had baptised and confirmed him, Bishop Clemens Van Hoeck of Pietersburg. As a priest, Bishop Nkumishe served the parish of Doornspruit and later Seshego, and served the diocese of Pietersburg as vocations director where he was said to have attracted many young men to the priestly vocation. Fr Jeremiah Masela, apostolic administrator of Polokwane, as Pietersburg diocese was renamed in 2009, said the late bishops’ passion for local vocations remained a priority throughout his life. “He was always very near to seminarians.” Bishop Nkhumishe was also dedicated to faith formation and education of the diocese’s youth. “He was a pastorally minded man. He had a passion for serving the people and empowering them to become active in the life of the Church,” said Fr Masela.
The last photo of Bishop Nkumishe in public. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma) In 1981 Bishop Nkumishe was appointed auxiliary bishop of Lydenburg-Witbank, and on February 14, 1984 he was consecrated as the diocese’s bishop. He served there for almost 16 years until his transfer to his home diocese to succeed retired Bishop Fulgence Le Roy. Bishop Nkumishe thus became the diocese’s first black, locally-born and non-Benedictine ordinary. Bishop Nkumishe was installed as bishop of Polokwane on June 4, 2000, serving it until Pope Benedict accepted his resignation due to ill health in December 2011. Fr Masela described Bishop Nkumishe as being passionate about building the local Church, which “he dedicated his life to”.
Pope to visit Lebanon in September BY FRANCIS X ROCCA
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Pilgrims touch the casket containing the wax effigy and relics of St John Bosco at All Saints church in Ennerdale, Johannesburg. The relics of the 19th-century Italian founder of the Salesian order have toured the world since 2009. It is expected to conclude in the saint’s hometown of Turin, Italy, in 2014.
OPE Benedict will present a papal document addressing the church’s concerns in the Middle East, meet with representatives of local Christian and Muslim communities, and address political and cultural leaders on a three-day visit to Lebanon from September 14-16. Pope Benedict’s primary task on the trip will be to present a document, called an apostolic exhortation, based on the deliberations of a special synod of bishops held at the Vatican in 2009. That two-week meeting, which was attended by 185 bishops, most of them from the 22 Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Holy See, focused on the precarious circumstances of 5,7 million Catholics in 16 Middle Eastern countries. A document released by participants at
the end of the synod called for “religious freedom and freedom of conscience” in Muslim lands, a theme Pope Benedict is likely to address on his visit. Pope Benedict has called on the international community to end the Syrian conflict, and told Catholics from the Middle East that he prayed Mary would “watch over the upcoming trip that—if it pleases God—I will make to Lebanon” in September. The pope will visit St Paul’s basilica in Harissa where he will sign the post-synodal apostolic exhortation. In Bkerke the pope will meet with young people in the square outside of the Maronite patriarch’s residence. In Beirut Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass and present the apostolic exhortation for the Middle East at the Beirut City Centre Waterfront.—CNS