The Southern Cross - 120822 by The Southern Cross

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August 22 to August 28, 2012

VatiLeaks: How papal secretary nabbed the butler

Page 4

Why the Holy Land is the ‘Fifth Gospel’

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R6,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4789

Regina Mundi: The Cathedral of the Nation

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Does SA have the will for a better future? BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

BLUEPRINT for South Africa’s future has been presented to President Jacob Zuma—now the question is whether the government will have the political will to implement it and change the face of South African society. The National Planning Commission (NPC) has completed its long term vision and strategic plan for South Africa and has handed over the National Development Plan (NDP) to President Zuma. The plan has been hailed by the country’s bishops and Catholic political commentators as being an impressive undertaking that is essentially good and very positive. NPC chairman Minister Trevor Manuel presented the final version of the NDP during a joint sitting of parliament’s two houses following a long-term investigation into how the country might reduce poverty by 2030. The plan will now be considered by Cabinet and potentially signed into law. Mike Pothier, research coordinator of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), an office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said that while the NDP is a very promising plan to rid the country of poverty, it is not the first. Previous plans, including the Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) and the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) strategy, failed because there was the lack of political will to see the plans succeed, Mr Pothier told The Southern Cross.. “Some aspects of these strategies worked, but in a limited capacity. Most were abandoned eventually,” Mr Pothier said. “If something isn’t working, then a new plan is needed. This makes sense, but sometimes it is very clear what the underlying reasons for failure are [that] the political energy is just not there.”

he new plan aims to reduce unemployment by 11% within the next 18 years. “This is a massive task,” said Mr Pothier. He said the best suggestion as to how to achieve this goal is the government’s proposed youth wage subsidy, but that idea is “dead in the water as the unions did not like it. They thought it would affect their workers. Government completely rolled over on this because, at the moment, President Zuma needs the support of the unions as the ANC National Conference, to be held in Mangaung in December, approaches.” Mr Pothier said this is an example of a lack of political will to make an impact on poverty. “The ANC is assured of the next election. If anyone was to put such a plan in place and weather the political storms, it is the ANC,” said Mr Pothier, adding that many of the decisions needed to make the NDP a success will be unpopular for some. “They’ve already been unpopular in some areas. The Credit Act and macro-economic policies in place were unpopular but have been positive in the long run, but there has not been enough of this across the board.” Mr Pothier said the Church welcomes the NPD’s call to move away from cadre deployment. “We need a civil service staffed by professional, qualified people, regardless of their political affiliation. Cadre deployment was originally introduced to ensure that state departments were not dominated by apartheid-era bureaucrats and directors who might have been tempted to derail the whole project of democratic transformation.” After 18 years there surely is no danger of that happening, he said. Instead, the danger now is that the work of such departments

The cardinal, archbishops, bishops and apostolic administrators of Southern Africa as well as a special guest bishop who as a priest served in South Africa are pictured in this group photo. Front (from left): Joe Sandri of Witbank, Emmanuel Lafont (visiting from French Guyana), Pius Dlungwane of Mariannhill, Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein, Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha, Valentine Seane of Gaborone, Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg. Middle: Stanislaw Dziuba of Umzimkulu, Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington, Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe, Mgr Brian Deenihan (apostolic administrator of Port Elizabeth), José Ponce de León of Ingwavuma, Dabula Mpako of Queenstown, Jan de Groef of Bethlehem, Zithulele Mvemve of Klerksdorp, Mgr Jeremiah Masela (apostolic administrator of Polokwane), Adam Musialek of De Aar, William Slattery of Pretoria, Abel Gabuza of Kimberley. Back: George Daniel (retired of Pretoria), Frank De Gouveia of Oudtshoorn, Peter Holiday of Kroonstad, Barry Wood (auxiliary bishop of Durban), Wilfrid Napier of Durban, Michael Wüstenberg of Aliwal North, Graham Rose of Dundee, João Rodrigues of Tzaneen, Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg. Not pictured are Bishops Louis Ndlovu of Manzini, Swaziland and Frank Nabuasah of Francistown, Botswana. The longest-serving bishops are Cardinal Napier (since 1981, first in Kokstad), Bishop Ndlovu (since 1985), Bishop Mvemve (since 1986, first as auxiliary of Johannesburg), Bishop Dowling (since 1991), Archbishop Slattery (since 1994, first in Kokstad), Bishop Nabuasah (since 1998), and Archbishop Tlhagale (since 1999, first in Bloemfontein).

will be undermined by the presence of too many senior staff who occupy posts not on merit, but on account of their membership of the governing party. Similarly, Mr Pothier said there is too much of a focus on Mangaung. The NDP will be competing for attention as politicians are focusing their energy with potential ANC succession issues. Mr Pothier said that South Africans tolerate a 25% unemployment rate as acceptable because we are used to it. “But in Europe, when the likes of Spain approaches such figures, it is considered a national catastrophe. People riot, governments fall. There is no sense of urgency in South Africa, and it is a national crisis.” Mr Pothier welcomed the idea of the multi-year wage agreements for government employees in order to maximise stability and minimise strikes and disruption. “This is especially important in education. We cannot afford the almost annual disruption to education that occurs when teachers and the government can't agree on salary increases.” Mr Pothier said the NDP on the whole is “very positive and should be the way forward for South Africa”, but added that “we are worried about the political will and whether there is the concentration for the plan to happen.”

Nun: Syria rebels worse than Assad BY SARAH MACDONALD

HE superior of a Syrian Carmelite convent has said that the armed insurrection in her country is “producing a totalitarianism that is worse” than that of Bashar Assad’s regime. Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross, superior of the community at the monastery of St James the Mutilated in Qara, also appealed to the international community to stop supporting violent militias linked to alQaeda and other extremist groups guilty of atrocities against innocent Syrian civilians. “We know now that those people are not fighting for freedom, they are fighting for their values, and those values are not even those of moderate Islam, they are fundamentalist,” the Lebanese-born nun said. “What has really scandalised us and leaves us in distress is that the Western world seems to be encouraging this rise of sectarian violence just to topple the [Assad] regime,” she said. Mother Agnes Mariam said the insurgents were targeting religious minorities and executing moderate Sunnis such as journalists, researchers, doctors and engineers to

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an AK-47 rifle in Aleppo, Syria. (Photo: Goran Tomasevic, Reuters/CNS) pressure their families and communities into supporting an Islamist state. She claimed they were “destroying the delicate religious and ethnic balance” in Syria. “You don’t know when it will be your turn to be considered a collaborator,” she explained of the arbitrary abductions, beheadings and killings being carried out as part of a campaign of terror by the insurgents against those they claim are working for the Assad regime. “It is a life of fear and insecurity.”—CNS

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

Celebrating the life of a Jesuit pioneer BY DAVID HAROLD-BARRY SJ

JESUIT priest in Zimbabwe who for 20 years led Silveira House, the Jesuit Social Justice and Development Centre near Harare, and who was friends with the slain mystic John Bradburne, celebrated his 90th birthday, some 50 years after coming to Africa. Fr John Dove is retired now in the Jesuit home for the elderly and infirm in Harare, but he is still in robust physical health. His memory, however, no longer serves him well: “Yes, I remember you, but I’m not into names.” Fr Dove arrived in Zimbabwe

half a century ago. As a young man in World War II he served in the British army in India. There he met his life-long friend John Bradburne of Mutemwa. So different in character and calling, they had profound influence on one another which they both often acknowledged. John Bradburne, an English poet and convert to Catholicism, went on to live with the poor and outcast in a camp for leprosy patients in Mutoko, east of Harare. He was killed in 1979. As a Franciscan tertiary, he was buried in his Franciscan habit. The process towards his beatification has been started. Fr Dove wrote a book on Bradburne

and made him known to many. Mutemwa, the camp where John had been living with his friends, is now visited by many pilgrims. Fr Dove’s first appointment was as secretary to Archbishop Francis William Markall of what was then Salisbury. In the course of his work he learnt of the frustration of people as they saw freedom won by country after country in Africa while in their own land the Rhodesian government dug in their heels. His response to what he called the people’s “wounded dignity” was to join a discussion group in Highfield which blossomed into a series of study meetings on the situation in the light of the growing body of Catholic Social Teaching. Pope John XXIII had just issued his encyclical on peace, Pacem in Terris, which appealed to Christians and “all people of good will” to work for justice and peace. The Jesuit superior at the time, Fr Terrence Corrigan, decided to make the order’s Silveira House avail-

able for a further flowering of this work. Fr Dove headed the initiative, starting in 1964. He had no money, no “strategic plan” and not even any furniture. Gradually there were knocks on the door, and each request was examined and reflected on, and expert help was sought. Within a few years there were programmes in political awareness, industrial relations, farming cooperatives, youth training for life and others. Fr Dove was a great enabler; he saw his role as opening the door for others. He knew he could never do the training himself in the townships and the rural areas, or indeed at Silveira. But he also knew that he was in a position to organise the resources needed for others to do the work. Besides his training for the priesthood, his background as an officer in the army helped him to fulfil this role. There have been four directors since he left Silveira in 1985. The current director is Fr Francis Gibson Munyoro SJ, who said that he is fully aware of what his generation

Fr John Dove seen here after receiving an honorary doctorate, has turned 90-years-old. has inherited, and therefore is carrying on the tradition of a flexible response to current issues with the same, and even greater, imagination in answering “knocks on the door”.

Hike to destigmatise depression BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

The Culture of Life Apostolate, in response to Johannesburg Archbishop Buti Tlhagale’s request, and together with many committed lay Catholic volunteers, opened a second pregnancy crises home in the Johannesburg archdiocese. Fr Duncan Tsoke, vicar-general of the Johannesburg archdiocese, officially blessed the Divine Mercy House in Brakpan on the East Rand on the opening of the pregnancy crises house for girls up to the age of 18 years. The Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary from the Democratic Republic of Congo will manage the house. Mother Perpetua, provincial of the order, visited South Africa for the occasion and two sisters have moved into the house and are ready to accept young mothers. The Brothers of Charity of Jesus and Mary have made their building available for this work. Fr Joseph Wilson, of Brakpan, offered the parish’s support for the project. To aid the home contact Michelle on 082 609 6919 or email cultureoflife jhb@gmail.com. Bank details: Culture of Life Apostolate, Standard Bank, Current Account, No: 560074875, Branch: Rivonia (00-12-55).

N an effort to raise awareness on depression, a local group has arranged the first annual Hope Hike to be held in Stellenbosch on September 9. September 10 is World Suicide Prevention day. Professor Lizette Rabe from Stellenbosch University recently formed a non-profit entity, the Ithemba Foundation. Ithemba, which means “hope” in isiXhosa, aims to raise awareness of depression and raise funds for research. “I have lost one of my beautiful, beloved sons to depression. He was a brilliant medical student in his fourth year, but he did not even want his dad to know that he had been diagnosed with depression, because he had to be the perfect son. We need awareness-raising campaigns for depression to increase understanding of the illness as a medical condition, to break the stigma of mental health,” Prof Rabe told The Southern Cross.

“Depression is not about ‘just feeling low’, and will not disappear by ‘just pulling yourself together’. It is a medical condition, and as with other biological illnesses, it requires treatment and medication.” Prof Rabe said depression is still an illness not spoken openly about in society. “The terminal, fatal consequences of this illness, suicide, is an even bigger taboo.” As is the case with other illnesses, early recognition of symptoms and the necessary treatment can increase a depression sufferer’s quality of life. It can also save lives, the professor said. “We need to break the silence around the illness, and ensure there are more victors than victims.” Another volunteer for the Hope Hike is Dr Ben Broens, a Catholic who also lost a child to depression. But the event is for everyone, as depression affects all communities. “Whether you want to make a contribution to breaking the silence and help to destigmatise the illness, whether

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you want to contribute your R100 to the research fund, whether you want to support a family member who suffers from depression or whether you want to commemorate someone who has lost her or his life to depression—all are welcome,” Prof Rabe said. The 5km Hope Hike takes place on Sunday, September 9 on Wiesenhof Estate on the R44 between Stellenbosch and Paarl at 10am. Participants are encouraged to wear sky-blue ribbons— the colour of depression awareness. The entry fee of R100 per person goes in its entirety to one of the depression research funds. n For information, please go to www.iqela-events.co.za/hope .html or e-mail LRABE@mweb. co.za. Enter early to avoid disappointment, as entries are limited. Those who have lost loved ones to depression can find comfort in a “cyber retreat” on www.survivor sofsuicide.org.za.

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

Jhb CWL celebrates 80 years STAFF REPORTER

OME 650 members of the Catholic Women’s League (CWL) of Johannesburg celebrated 80 years of the group’s service to the community. The jubilee was celebrated at St Charles church in Victory Park, with the archdiocese’s vicar-general, Fr Duncan Tsoke, assisted by Fr James Ralston, as well as Fr Vincent Pienaar, the diocesan spiritual director and eleven other branch spiritual directors who concelebrated the Mass. In his homily, Fr Tsoke congratulated the league on 80 years of service, commenting on the growth of the league from 130 ladies who attended the inauguration by Fr Louis Peron at End Street Convent in 1932, to the

present total of over 1 600 members in 62 branches. He thanked the members for their continued support of the poor, the sick and the elderly in the various communities and thanked them also for being rooted in their parishes and for the wonderful support they give their priests. The offertory procession was led by representatives carrying a banner depicting the four main projects run by the CWL in Johannesburg, including St Anne’s Home for elderly women, Mary Immaculate Queen preschool centre in Eldorado Park, the Adoption Society and the Kopanong soup kitchen. A gift of vegetables symbolised the work done by the CWL, not only in soup kitchens but in all

its charitable work throughout the archdiocese. Elaine Phillips, CWL diocesan president, encouraged members with the words of Pope John Paul II, to “remember the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm and look forward to the future with confidence”. She then led the members in the rededication of CWL to Our Lady Assumed into Heaven, patroness of South Africa. The group enjoyed a special lunch but even in their celebrations, a collection raised funds for the Mamohau Motshehetsi Community Support and Care Centre in Moroka—the centre which was nominated as the 80th anniversary project of the CWL archdiocesan council of Johannesburg.

Green fingers priest brings new life to church grounds STAFF REPORTER

CAPUCHIN priest put his “green fingers” to work to improve the premises of Parow’s Immaculate Conception church in Cape Town. Fr Sonny Gadai OFM Cap has “transformed the church grounds” and given parishioners a place to spend time with the memories of loved ones no longer with us, said parishioner Val Rensburg. “When we visit overseas countries, we are astounded to see such well-manicured cemeteries. People are attracted to them, for they find a place that offers them peace and serenity, giving them an ideal space to pray for their beloved departed ones. Sad to say, here in our country, the same can’t be

said, for added to the neglect is the fact that our cemeteries are not safe places at all,” Ms Rensburg said. However, things have changed in Parow. Ms Rensburg said the

parishioners considered themselves fortunate to have Fr Gadai who has rejuvenated the garden of remembrance, or columbarium. “You can clearly see what a beautiful resting place this has

become for our beloved relatives and friends who have passed on. Colourful flowers adorn the garden, making it attractive. Our parishioners frequent this place for the atmosphere inspires them to prayer.” “No matter the weather, Fr Sonny will push the wheelbarrow to make sure that he has achieved what he had set out to do. Moreover, he has placed flower pots in strategic places to enhance the beauty of our church grounds,” said Ms Rensburg. The parishioner added that a new enthusiasm has emerged at the Parow church and Fr Gadai has many volunteers “eager to help”. She said the gardens had brought new life into the church and are enjoyed by all.

250 men from St Anne’s parish, Durban, walked 1,6km in high heels to raise awareness of violence against women and children and fund-raising for the education of priests.

Walk for women in their shoes U NDER the slogan “Walk a mile in her shoes”, some 250 courageous men put themselves in their wives’ and girlfriends’ shoes by literally walking in high heeled shoes for 1,6km around Barns Road Grounds in Sydenham, Durban, on Women’s Day. The event was intended to call for a stop to violence against women and children. Among those who walked was Fr Albert Danker, 83, who has served St Anne’s parish for three decades. His purpose, besides awareness-raising, was to collect funds for the education of priests. The initiative was organised by the St Anne’s Catholic Women’s League which decided this year to shift the emphasis on to men in line with the old saying: “You can’t really understand another person’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” After opening prayers and a candle ceremony led by assistant parish priest Fr Siyabonga Dube, the event was addressed by Jessica Foord, a rape victim survivor and activist. She said that it is not real men who rape women, but cowards. She noted that she was addressing the wrong people because the men participating in the event had already

put themselves in women’s shoes and thereby showed that they cared. The whole community came together to celebrate women, with picnic baskets and “braai and swaai”, as well as entertainment for children and adults, including dance performances by The Illusions Dancers and live music by The Savoys. Fr Danker pointed out that it costs R75 000 a year to train one priest for nine years and donations are needed to sustain vocations in the priesthood. Meanwhile, the parish of Christ the King in Nongoma hosted a Women’s Day celebration for the Makhosini deanery in Eshowe. “Though this celebration started as political action, way back in 1956, women of today may use the same spirit to move things and propel justice and development in the Church and society at large. The same fortitude…must be shown by today’s ladies. It is high time that women stand against domestic abuse, rape and financial dependence,”said parish priest Fr Sifiso Ntshangase. n Contributions to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Mission can be made through First National Bank, Account number: 62051523308, branch code: 222826, ref: walk a mile.

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

Bishops: Preaching not enough; Church French bishops pray against ‘trampling by fundamentalists’ must set example in green policy BY ANTO AKKARA

NVIRONMENTAL protection is “an expression of faith in God,” said the bishops of Kerala state in India. “Our faith calls for protecting the creation of God and adopting our lifestyle accordingly,” the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council said in a statement after its meeting, attended by 36 bishops. “In the context of the energy crisis and problems of waste management in Kerala, the Church has the duty and responsibility to propagate use of solar energy and eco-friendly waste management,” the statement said. Authorities are considering instituting rotating power outages in Kerala as much of the state has experienced significantly less rainfall than normal for months, leaving a network of hydroelectric power dams almost dry. Waste management also remains a major problem in the state where population density is more than twice the

national average. “It’s not enough that we preach on environmental protection. We are setting examples to others by using solar energy in the bishops houses and other institutions,” Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, KCBC president, told Catholic News Service. “These steps are in follow-up on implementing the green policy we have already adopted,” he said. In June, the bishops’ council adopted the “Towards Green Meadows” policy in an effort to involve the Church in wide-ranging conservation activities.

The policy listed several measures for Church-run institutions to follow including the promotion of eco-spirituality, nature resource conservation and waste management. One step called for environmental education to be extended to seminaries and catechism classes. Fr Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary-general of the bishops’ council, said that engineering colleges within Catholic institutions have been asked to promote the use of solar energy and initiate a major in environmental engineering. The statement comes on the heels of a discussion on the utilisation of solar energy in Church properties between Bishop Gebhard Fürst of RottenburgStuttgart, Germany, the Kerala bishops and other Church leaders. The southern German diocese has established a solar technology programme in diocesan buildings and parishes.—CNS

HE French bishops’ “prayer for the nation” reminds Catholics of the social and political implications of Christian values, but it seeks to do so in a way that avoids the polemical tones of “Catholic fundamentalists”, said the spokesman of the bishops’ conference. Mgr Bernard Podvin, the bishops’ spokesman, said the prayer was part of “a spiritual mobilisation in defence of Christian interests, a measured way of reaffirming our values and putting Catholic convictions into the political debate”. Quoted by Vatican Radio, Mgr Podvin said the prayer was a way to remind the French of Christian values without “being trampled by Catholic fundamentalist groups”, who, he said, “have taken radical positions, making the Catholic community a caricature and damaging its position”. Reviving a tradition that began in 1638 and continued until after World War II, the bishops com-

posed the prayer for the nation, to be recited at Masses throughout the country on August 15, the feast of the Assumption. The French bishops’ prayer begins by asking God to guide politicians in adopting policies to help the poor and to inspire Catholics to be more generous with their solidarity. Then it prays that political leaders would listen to their consciences and not special interest groups; that spouses would be faithful to each other; and that children not be treated as commodities to be desired, but would enjoy the love of “a father and a mother”. Mgr Podvin said the prayer asks for spiritual guidance at a time when serious decisions must be made. The new French government has begun work on laws legalising gay marriage and permitting samesex couples to adopt, and it is examining the possibility of legalising some form of assisted suicide.—CNS

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BY CINDY WOODEN

OPE Benedict’s personal secretary, Mgr Georg Gänswein, told investigators into the leaking of confidential Vatican correspondence that the pope’s personal assistant and chief suspect, Paolo Gabriele needed to be “continually guided and directed” and “sometimes it was necessary to repeat things more than once”. Nevertheless, after about a year of working together, Mgr Gänswein said he began giving Mr Gabriele simple administrative tasks, including drafting responses to letters and notes in Italian when the subject matter was not particularly sensitive. Two days after an Italian journalist published a book featuring private Vatican correspondence and documents, Mgr Gänswein called together Mr Gabriele and the pope’s assistant secretary, the four women who care for the papal apartment and Birgit Wansing, a long-time administrative assistant to the pope, according to a report by Piero Bonnet, the Vatican’s investigating judge. The monsignor went around the room, asking each person if they had given the documents to the journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi. They all denied it, Mr Bonnet said. Then Mgr Gänswein told Mr Gabriele in front of the group that two of the letters in Mr Nuzzi’s book were letters for which the monsignor had asked Mr Gabriele to prepare a response. Mgr Gänswein told Mr Gabriele that while he did not have hard proof that Mr Gabriele leaked the documents, he had strong suspicions. “In response, I received a decisive and absolute denial,” Mgr Gänswein told investigators. Vatican police searched the Vatican apartment where Mr Gabriele lives with his wife and children and found copies of dozens of documents. They found a further 37 documents in the apartment Mr Gabriele used at Castel Gandolfo when he accompanied the pope to his summer villa, Mr Bonnet said. Mr Gabriele was arrested on May 24 and initially declined to respond to questions on the

Pope Benedict’s personal assistant, Paolo Gabriele, seated in front left, arrives with the pope in St Peter’s Square on May 23, the day before his arrest. The pope’s personal secretary, Mgr Georg Gänswein, sits behind Mr Gabriele. (Photo: Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters/CNS) basis of not incriminating himself. However, about ten days later, he began cooperating fully, Mr Bonnet said. He admitted photocopying the documents, taking them home and giving them to the journalist over a period of months. As time went on and he worried about getting caught, Mr Gabriele would copy the documents on the printer hooked up to his computer rather than use the office copy machine, Mr Bonnet reported. Mr Gabriele also said he had given copies of some of the documents to his spiritual director. The priest affirmed that Mr Gabriele had given him a box full of documents, which the priest told Vatican investigators he burned.

any of the documents speak of power struggles and financial corruption within the Vatican. “From my position, I could observe the double papal function, that as head of the Church and head of the state [of Vatican City],” Mr Gabriele told Mr Bonnet. Particularly the way Vatican City was operating could be a “scandal for the faith”, he said. “I was aware that the Holy Father was not informed about some of these things or was misinformed. With the help of others like Mr Nuzzi, I thought things could be seen more clearly,” Mr Gabriele said.

He said that “seeing evil and corruption everywhere in the Church”, he reached “a point of no return” and felt compelled to act. “I was certain that a shock, even in the media, could be healthy in putting the Church back on the right track,” Mr Gabriele was quoted as saying. Mr Gabriele has been formally charged with aggravated theft, along with a computer technician from the Vatican Secretariat of State, Claudio Sciarpelleti, who has been charged on minor charges of aiding Mr Gabriele after he stole Vatican correspondence. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ said the charge against Sciarpelleti carries a “very light” sentence, which is unlikely to include any jail time. Pope Benedict could have intervened at any time to stop the investigation and legal process and he still has the option of clearing the two laymen without a trial. If the pope does not intervene, Mr Gabriele and Mr Sciarpelleti would go to trial before a panel of three Vatican judges, all of whom are laymen and professors at Italian universities. Vatican law, like Italian law, does not foresee the use of juries in criminal trials. Fr Lombardi said the trial would not be set before September 20 because the Vatican court is in recess from August 14 to September 20.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

Saints show that Church is holy BY CINDY WOODEN

Ramoncito Campo kisses his wife Hernelie Ruazol Campo at a Catholic church submerged in floodwaters in Manila, Philippines. The couple pushed through with their scheduled wedding despite severe flooding that inundated wide areas of the capital and nine nearby provinces this month. (Photo: Ramoncito Campo, via Reuters/CNS)

Bishop: Be anti-gay marriage, but don’t be homophobic

HE Catholic Church opposes legalizing same-sex marriage but at the same time the Church “has no tolerance for the misuse” of the issue “to incite hostility toward homosexuals”, according to a US bishop. Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, made the comments in a letter to Catholics of the diocese accompanied by reflections on a Washington state referendum on legalising same-sex marriage. Voters will be asked on November 6 to accept or reject a law redefining marriage to include same-sex unions that was passed in February by the state legislature. Opponents of the measure gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot, so the law was suspended. If Referendum 74, as it is called, is approved, the same-sex marriage law will take effect on December 6. “We are facing a decision about making a major shift in an institution that serves as the foundation stone of society,” Bishop Cupich said. “I would argue that this is not about granting equality to samesex couples, but of changing the identity of marriage.” Bishop Cupich acknowledged that opinions on both sides of the issue are “deeply held and passion-

ately argued”, and people on both sides have friends and family who are gay. Proponents of the law, he said, are “often motivated by compassion” for those who feel marginalised by society because of their sexual orientation. Opponents of the law recognise the “importance of creating a supporting environment” for everyone, he said, but also have “sincere concerns” about what redefining marriage will mean for families and society as a whole. He urged “calm, civility and respect” as people discuss “this critical issue” with friends and family, neighbours and co-workers. He said public dialogue also should be marked “by civility and clarity”. Bishop Cupich said he also wanted to “be very clear that in stating our position, the Catholic Church has no tolerance for the misuse of this moment to incite hostility toward homosexual persons or promote an agenda that is hateful and disrespectful of their human dignity.” In discussing the state law, Bishop Cupich said it does not give same-sex couples any new legal rights that they do not already have under the state’s recognition of domestic partners, in place since 2007.—CNS

ATHOLIC devotion to the saints appears to be alive and well, and Pope Benedict continues to proclaim new saints at a regular pace. The official calendar of saints’ feast days will grow in October when the pope canonises seven men and women, including Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai and three laypeople: the Native American Kateri Tekakwitha, the Filipino Peter Calungsod and the German Anna Schäffer. The canonisation Mass on October 21 will be one of the first big events of Pope Benedict’s Year of Faith, which is designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and to launch a strengthened commitment to the new evangelisation. According to Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the appeal of the saints and their concrete examples of holiness give them “an undeniably positive role to play in this time of new evangelisation”, since they are living proof that the Church is holy. In a new book, currently available only in Italian, Cardinal Amato writes that it’s easy to understand how people can question the Church’s holiness when they see the sinful behaviour of some of its members. But the good, loving and charitable activities of other members are the best evidence that the Church truly is the holy body of Christ, he says.

AUL Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, is a life-long Catholic whose children attend their parish school in Wisconsin. Mr Ryan’s inclusion on the presumptive Republican ticket, with Mitt Romney as presidential candidate, marks the first time both halves of the major party contest will have Catholics seeking the vice-presidency. Vice-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is the first Catholic to hold the post. The last time the Republican nominee for vice-president was a Catholic was in 1964. Mr Ryan, 42, was born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, where he lives with his wife, Janna, and their three children. He first ran for public office in 1998, winning election to the US Congress. Mr Ryan has since been re-elected six times and will remain on the ballot for his congressional seat as he seeks the vice-presidency. Concurrent candidacy is allowed in Wisconsin. Mgr Delbert Schmelzer, a priest of the diocese of Madison who was pastor in Janesville for 12 years during Mr Ryan’s youth,

Paul Ryan (left), vice-presidential candidate on the Romney ticket, and Vice-President Joe Biden. told the Catholic Herald, the diocesan newspaper, that Mr Ryan comes from a strong Catholic family. Mgr Schmelzer said he believes Mr Ryan’s Catholic faith influences his public life. “He emphasises that our rights come from God and nature.” Mr Ryan’s great-grandfather founded Ryan Incorporated Central, a mass excavation construction business, and his grandfather served as US attorney for western Wisconsin. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Mr Ryan is the principal author of a Republican budget plan budget that delineates a decade-long plan to reduce spending on non-military

“The holiness of the Church is not the sum of the holiness of its children, but is a spiritual gift received from the spirit of the Risen Christ,” he writes. “Throughout history, the Church carries the treasure of its holiness in earthen vessels. Being aware of that, the historic Church can do nothing other than continually convert to the cross of Christ.” The saints and martyrs officially recognised by the Church are the “demonstration that the Church, even if it is not already perfect, given the misery of many of its sons and daughters, is not less holy, but continues to produce the fruits of holiness and always will”. Individual Christians and Christian communities thus have an obligation to pursue holiness “to counterbalance the humiliations” Christ’s body suffers because of the sins of its members, he writes. For Jesuit Father Paolo Molinari, who served as an expert at Vatican II and shepherded Bl Kateri’s saint-

Charter for maternal rights drafted BY ERIN MORAWETZ

ATERCARE International has drafted a “Charter of Maternal Rights” it hopes will be adopted by leaders and decision makers around the world to help stem the high number of maternal deaths. The charter was drafted with the goal of changing the neglect that mothers in much of the world experience, said Dr Robert Walley, executive director of the organisation of Catholic health professionals working with mothers and babies around the world. He said paying attention to the needs of mothers and their children has “hardly been a high priority with anybody”.

Catholic US vice-pres face-off BY PATRICIA ZAPOR

Bl Kateri Tekawitha. (Photo: Nancy Phelan Wiechec, CNS)

hood cause for 55 years, saints are not mythic heroes but real men and women who show all Christians that it’s possible to live holy lives no matter where they were born or what their state of life. It’s not a matter of demonstrating extraordinary courage in a dangerous situation, but “living an ordinary life in an extraordinary way”, a way that “comes from the spirit of Jesus poured into our hearts”, Fr Molinari said. Another great thing about the saints, Fr Molinari said, is that they are ready, willing and able today to help the Church’s members along the path of holiness. The Second Vatican Council “purified” exaggerated practices related to the veneration of the saints, for example, where the faithful would “enter into a church and go to the statue of St Anthony or St Rita and touch it, but not even think that the Lord is present in the tabernacle,” he said. But the council still emphasised the fact that those friends of God are part of the Church and will intervene on behalf of those still living on earth, he said. Veneration of the saints, the Jesuit said, is a sign of “the link between the pilgrim Church [on earth] and the ones who have gone to God”. Bl Kateri is, like all the saints, still part of the Catholic family, concerned about the needs of her kin, Fr Molinari said; and so, “being with God, she will probably whisper into the ear of God something of what we say to her”.— CNS

programmes as a step towards reducing the country’s $15 trillion deficit. Mr Ryan’s argument that the budget reflects Catholic social teaching brought criticism from some within the Church, including theologians and social ministry activists. Two bishops who head committees of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops called for a more measured approach to the budget. The congressman co-sponsored the Sanctity of Human Life Act and the Right to Life Act, which both would write into law that life begins at the moment of conception. He has voted to ban use of federal money to pay for abortion or any part of a health plan that covers abortion. He also has voted against allowing same-sex couples to adopt and opposed repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military. He also has supported immigration legislation calling for expanding the fence along the US-Mexican border and backed a 2005 bill passed by Congress that would have criminalised the act of offering basic assistance to undocumented immigrants.— CNS

The preamble to the charter makes the case that “mothers and their babies are among the poorest of the poor and are the most vulnerable physically”. “They’re marginalised,” Dr Walley said. “There’s about 330 000 mothers [who] die every year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa” from complications during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and during the six weeks following childbirth. The charter, which draws its substance from statistics as well sources including the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the documents of the Second Vatican Council, focuses on the human rights of mothers, the delivery of maternal health care and necessary

actions by obstetricians and midwives to provide adequate health care. “The causes of maternal deaths are well known, are readily preventable and can be successfully treated at comparable low cost,” the charter reads. “Proper measures, availability of skilled personnel at the time of birth and prompt emergency obstetrical care if things go wrong may save the lives of 90% of the mothers.” Walley said too many world leaders are focused on population control as opposed to making giving birth safer and healthier worldwide. He said he doubted that world leaders will hear MaterCare’s message.—CNS

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

A return to civility

HE Catholic Church around the world is evidently becoming fed up with a lack of civility in public discourse. In the robust world of democratic politics, character assassination, hysterical exaggeration and outright lies are common electoral tools, especially in the United States. In South Africa, too, the style of politics that draws from the poisoned well of calumny and odium is becoming increasingly dominant, to the detriment of sound democratic progress. Those who five years ago were ready to “kill for Zuma” now describe their erstwhile hero in the same terms which once provoked them to the point of threatening violence. The demonisation of political opponents has widely displaced vigorous debate. In the age of the soundbite and the angry tweet, misrepresentation and prejudice and smear and slur are increasingly accepted as valid forms of political expression, especially during electoral campaigning. Both in South Africa and in the United States these intellectually and ethically corrupt genres of politics will take centre stage over the next few months, as the African National Congress prepares to install its (and, by extension, the country’s) new leadership, and American voters go to the polls to elect their president. In politics the expression of opinions can become overheated. It is therefore welcome that the Knights of Columbus—the US counterpart of our Knights of Da Gama—have drafted a petition “to give voice to Americans’ desire for civility in public discourse”, responding to a recent survey which found that nearly 80% of Americans are “frustrated with the tone of politics today”. Alas, many Catholics are guilty of excessive polemic themselves. For Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York this came to a head when some Catholics angrily demanded that President Barack Obama be barred from a traditional Catholic fundraising dinner involving the leading presidential candidates, because they believe that some of the president’s policies are incompatible with Church doctrines. Responding to these calls, Cardinal Dolan wrote that “the

teaching of the Church, so radiant in the Second Vatican Council, is that the posture of the Church towards culture, society, and government is that of engagement and dialogue”. He added: “I’m encouraged by the example of Jesus, who was blistered by his critics for dining with those some considered sinners; and by the recognition that, if I only sat down with people who agreed with me, and I with them, or with those who were saints, I’d be taking all my meals alone.” Cardinal Dolan, a severe critic of some of Mr Obama’s policies, is providing a most admirable example of graciousness in the public square. Likewise, Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, must be commended for the sensible way in which he set out the Church’s opposition to the legalisation of gay marriage. Instead of ascribing a sinister agenda to proponents of gay marriage, he described them as being “often motivated by compassion”. While fundamentally disagreeing with them, he asked that public dialogue on the issue be marked “by civility and clarity”. Moreover, he emphasised that “the Catholic Church has no tolerance for the misuse of this moment to incite hostility toward homosexual persons or promote an agenda that is hateful and disrespectful of their human dignity”. This is an important statement which must be applied to other arenas of debate: any method of argumentation that is “hateful and disrespectful of human dignity” cannot be tolerable to the Catholic Church. Indeed, the French bishops have become so concerned by the way in which some Catholics enter into public debate that they felt compelled to issue a countrywide prayer not only for issues of general Catholic concerns—such as euthanasia and same sex marriage—but also that Christian values might find expression without, as the French bishops’ spokesman put it, “being trampled by Catholic fundamentalist groups [who] have taken radical positions, making the Catholic community a caricature and damaging its position”. The increasing calls for civility and respect merit amplification.

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.

Let the story be the lesson

S I pondered and reflected on the question: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” (Mt 13:10), I see it as the stories Jesus equips us with in our daily walk with him, as his witnesses. Our life’s testimonies could be a parable—something one can relate to in one’s own life. This parable can be comparable to someone, through their life’s experiences. Whenever I experienced a story, through a lesson learnt in my life, I see it as a parable to share with others. These stories, parables, are a way of getting a message through to someone, to warn,

Differing views on creation

N his views on evolution, Franko Sokolic mentions, among many things, the Church’s dogmatic teaching against evolution as decreed by the Lateran Council IV of 1215. This same “dogmatic teaching” led to the burning at the stake of Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar, who quite correctly concurred with Copernicus’ heliocentric theory, namely that the sun is a stationary object with the planets in orbit around it. Incidentally, Copernicus’s book, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, was released for publication only a week before he died. One can guess that this was planned to avoid the fate that befell Bruno. In this never-ending debate, the critics of evolution believe a lion was created exactly as we see a lion today. Naturalists such as Darwin, Wallace and Lamarck would have realised a modern lion’s ancestors were once upon a time sabretoothed lions. With God there is no time. Therefore, to the Creator, creation is instantaneous. But from our human viewpoint, life (as we know it) began a long long time ago. Minute fossilised organisms are found in 3,8 billion-year-old rocks in Barberton, South Africa, and in the Pilbara region of Australia, which once upon a time formed the ancient continent of Ur. Patrick Dacey, Johannesburg

Can’t afford church

ANY years ago a colleague of mine told me that he could not afford to belong to his church because the dominee demanded 10% of his income to belong to it. Now that I am a pensioner I can fully appreciate his sentiments. Unfortunately a similar thing is

ROMAN UNION OF THE ORDER OF ST URSULA

St Angela Merici founded the Ursulines in the 16th century, naming them after St Ursula, leader of a company of 4th century virgin martyrs.

instruct, guide and teach others about something relevant in their lives. This subtle approach does not come across as condemning or judgmental, but as an open door for one to find true self in their situation. It’s simply a story told, with the expectation that God’s Holy Spirit will reveal the true meaning to those willing to listen, hear, see and understand. An example of this is when I was asked to share a testimony to a group of people, on several occasions. I was open to God’s Spirit to speak in and through me. After the

happening in our church. Just about every Sunday there is a request for a special collection or a debit order for a good cause. I now know exactly what my collegue meant because I too am beginning to feel that I cannot afford to belong to my church any more. If life is becoming difficult for various institutions, it is also becoming extremely difficult for some of us pensioners to keep our heads above the water. The Church needs to be very careful when making these requests that it is not discouraging and pushing its members away. We were supposed to have one collection a year to cover the many extra collections but this is not happening. On at least three out of four Sundays there is a special collection—it is extremely disheartening for us as we would love to be able to be generous but it is just not possible and we feel that we are not participating in the body of the Church by not committing ourselves to the various charities. We cannot even afford the new missal, so, like my colleague, could leaving the Church be a financial solution? Name withheld, Durban

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knowing them by name not only at church but also when passing each other at the shopping mall or wherever. Cecil Roberts, Cape Town

St Anthony of Padua: preacher

ITH reference to Margaret Mollet’s article “Are sermons really important?” (July 4), sermons are indeed extremely important in the life of the Church. St Anthony of Padua, “The Hammer of Heresy”, preached the “simple truth of the Gospel”. The wonder worker said “in sermons the seed is sown, in confession the fruit is gathered”. His life was an example of what sermons should be. He followed Christ’s example, the greatest preacher of all time. St Anthony moved mountains of manmade iniquity with his sermons. He fought for freedom from political oppression and the dogged chains of poverty, gluttony and lust by advocating that austerity, penance and purity be practised by all. The hellfire and brimstone preacher is the one worthy of Christ behind him saying: “Whoever hears you, hears me.” The simple truth for all from 3-103 years of age. St Anthony is not only the patron saint of lost items but also a helper in domestic difficulties in the household of every nation. He is a saint for all the world. Sheila Curror, Witbank

Peace be with who?

ver since the greeting “Peace be with you”, whereby we turn to one another and greet each other with these words in Holy Mass, I felt the warmth of my fellow Catholics. Then much later, it dawned on me that I did not really know my fellow parishoners. When passing that person, whom I had greeted with the words “Peace be with you” at Mass, outside the church, I did not know that person’s name. Would it be wrong to greet that person with the words “Peace be with you, my name is Cecil”? Possibly by doing so, we could be more aware of our fellow Catholics,

Fr Mari Joe would like to thank the community of St Matthew’s Bonteheuwel for raising R14 000 in their recent Food Fair fund raising event on the 09/08/2012. Thank You and may God continue to bless you

ST GERARD’S HOLY TOURS

PILGRIMAGE TO PORTUGAL, SPAIN & FRANCE JULY 2013 “Let Jesus Christ be your one and only treasure – For there also will be love!” (St Angela – 5th Counsel)

talk I had some people share their experiences of how the Holy Spirit spoke to them through what I’d said. There were different things that touched them, but one and the same Spirit revealed the story to them. Praise and glory be to God! In meditating on the parables, we can better hear the message of God. In being attentive and seeking God more, we begin to see the full meaning and understanding of the purpose God has for our lives. Some will understand and some won’t. This depends on how open we are to the Spirit of God, and on how much we allow him access to our heart, mind and soul. Catherine de Valence, Cape Town

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Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

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PERSPECTIVES

How to communicate well

OMETIMES it seems that we never forgave Gutenberg for inventing his printing press! Though the Church has engaged with various forms of public media from the beginning, we have a long way to go. Despite having been in the “communication business” since 33 AD, we are simply at sea when it comes to handling mass communication. In the information economy this is deadly serious. First, let us consider how we react to the media. In 2000 the Boston Globe newspaper published a series of reports implicating the archdiocese of Boston in covering up cases of priests sexually abusing children. The archdiocese responded by accusing the newspaper of all kinds of anti-clericalism, hostility to religion, and rumour-mongering. Unfortunately subsequent police investigations confirmed the Globe’s stories. Alternatively, another scenario: a prominent theologian is censured by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for writing something deemed to be unorthodox. The secular press, radio and television come to her defence, arguing that the Church’s move is reactionary, violates freedom of thought and lacking in charity. The stock response: “You don’t understand, you are anti-Church, mind your own business!” What went wrong? Though the Church commendably defends freedom of the press, there remains a mentality that objects to being the subject of investigation or of criticism. The assumption, often rooted in a Perfect Society model of Church, is that we are above examination or criticism. Unfortunately this does not work in democratic societies. That the media may indeed be hostile to religion or the Church is neither here nor there; the media exists and sees its job as reporting and commenting upon what is happening in the world. And the Church is part of that world.

ow might we respond? We need to respond honestly, in good faith (presuming good intention on the part of the media). Where necessary we need to explain our position clearly, simply and concisely. (Sadly this is the age of 30-second sound-bytes). At times, when we have indeed made mistakes, we need to apologise.

Secondly, how do we use the media? This is by far the more important question, because it cuts through to the crux of our reason for existence: proclaiming the Gospel. We have a Message, indeed as one disciple said “the message of eternal life”. But as it is proclaimed it is but one message among many on the information super-highway. Obviously we need to master all the technologies of communication. But technological wizardry is not enough if we are to get the message across effectively. It’s how we package and market it that makes the difference, as well as knowing the intended audience’s way of receiving information. A 500-page book will, sadly, not attract as many readers as a journal article, let alone a concisely written newspaper article. A disembodied radio voice droning on or a television “talking head” may draw some, but put others to sleep. Catholic media, like all religious media, runs the risk of becoming parochial. This may satisfy the faithful and keep the guardians of orthodoxy happy, but will it really draw in the rest? Free speech, controversy and debate makes media interesting. At times it even facilitates deeper insight into truth. While all media has interests behind it, has political and social agendas, good media transcends agendas. Though broadly Muslim and Arab in outlook, the TV news channel Al Jazeera

A woman displays the e-book version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on an iPad. To communicate effectively, the Church must make good use of all media, traditional and new. (Photo: Nancy Phelan Wiechec, CNS)

Anthony Egan SJ

A Church of Hope and Joy

promotes free speech, controversy and debate by appealing beyond its roots. I heartily agree with my confrere Fr Chris Chatteris’ suggestion, stated in his excellent book The Church and Media, that we need desperately a Catholic Al Jazeera. reativity is essential if we are to communicate effectively. Jesus taught in parables; great moral insights are often expressed in novels, plays, film and television. If you want to hook the unconvinced don’t start off with lots of dogma and piety—tell a story. Let the Godgiven imagination and conscience do the rest. “Preach always and use words if you have to,” said Francis of Assisi—an insightful fellow. Finally, we need to understand consuming media. We consume all kinds of media all the time and we are influenced consciously or subconsciously by it. In the same way we need literacy to function in society, we need media literacy. Media literacy calls on us to ask questions. What is the media saying? What is left unsaid? Whose interests are served and whose are not? What values are explicit, what implicit? Does this accord with my understanding of myself, my neighbour, my God? Censorship is a practice and a mentality that many people seem to have. A generous interpretation of it suggests that it’s rooted in genuine concern to protect the spiritual and moral values of people from harm. From history, including South Africa’s, it is true too that it can be a means of social control serving the interests of the powerful. I believe it is unhealthy and based on the assumption that people are too weak, too stupid, to make up their own minds. Training in media literacy, on the other hand, gives people the tools to make prudent judgments about what they read, see and hear. You may be asking: What has this article to do with Vatican II? Two words: Inter Mirifica (1963). That was the decree on Social Communication promulgated by the Council addresses many of the issues I have raised. Go and read it—for the new media junkies you can find it online at www.vatican.va

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

Reflection on the Apostles Creed – Pt 8

A man walks out of his house dressed as a devil before taking part in a parade in Ocumare, Venezuela, for a festival that commemorates the triumph of good over evil. In his eighth article on the Apostles’ Creed, Mphuthumi Ntabeni discusses the reality of hell. (Photo: Jorge Silva, Reuters/CNS) the New Agers, and the Mormons—all have rejected or modified the doctrine of hell so radically that it is no longer considered a serious threat. In recent decades, this decay has even invaded mainstream Evangelicalism which preaches that there is no eternal hell— the wicked will simply be annihilated.

n his 1994 book Crossing the Threshold of Hope—one of the seminal books in my conversion to Catholicism—Pope John Paul II wrote that too often “preachers, catechists, teachers...no longer have the courage to preach the threat of hell” (p 183). But Jesus has no such qualms. In Mark’s gospel when he warns: “It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Ethical politicians! General Intention: That politicians may always act with honesty, integrity, and love for the truth.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead IOLOGICALLY, living is the condition of being alive, the ability for an organism to get and organise autonomously the energy from the environment for the reproduction of its cells. When it can no longer do this it dies, disintegrates into basic chemical elements. But this is not the living and the dead our creed says will be judged by Christ. Christ is going to judge the living condition of the soul. What is the soul then? Many philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists and theologians have tried to answer this question. It’d be foolish for a layman to try and give a conclusive definition. But I like this almost flippant description: “A soul is ‘the self’, the ‘I’ that inhabits the body and acts through it. Without the soul, the body is like a light bulb without electricity, a computer without the software.” St Thomas Aquinas attributed the “soul” (anima) to all organisms, but taught that only human souls are immortal, and that only immortal souls are capable of union with the divine. When Christ ascended to heaven, as we observed in our last discussion, he opened a way for us to share in the divine nature. Christ is the one who will determine whether our lives have been lived in a matter befitting our sharing the nature of God or not. John 14:6 and Matthew 28:18 emphasise this point. What about the dead? The doctrine of hell is so frightening that numerous people end up denying the reality of an eternal hell. The Unitarian-Universalists, the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Christadelphians, the Christian Scientists, the Religious Scientists,

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (9:47-48). And in Revelation, we read: “And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshippers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name” (14:11). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, “eternal fire”. The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs” (1035). Concerning the reality of hell, Pope John Paul said: “In point of fact, the ancient councils rejected the theory...according to which the world would be regenerated after destruction, and every creature would be saved; a theory which abolished hell... “The words of Christ are unequivocal. In Matthew’s gospel he speaks clearly of those who will go to eternal punishment (cf. Mt 25:46). [But] who will these be?” The pope answered the question: “The Church has never made any pronouncement in this regard.” And what does that mean for you and for me?

HAT politicians should always act with honesty, integrity, and love for the truth would seem to be a very big request that we’re making of the Lord! The more cynical among us would probably be happy to settle for politicians who sometimes acted with just a bit more honesty, integrity and truthfulness. The reality is that the art of politics is the art of compromise, and this unfortunately often includes moral compromises. The politician who always tries to do the good without moral compromise is a rare bird, because such a person will struggle to survive in their political party. In South Africa the political system of party lists has the effect of making MPs represent the party, rather than the voters. In the United States and parts of Europe, lobbying by powerful corporate interests is so intense and backed by so much money, that politicians end up representing the wealthy rather than the ordinary voters. Not surprisingly, therefore, the world is crying out for honest leadership. When we read of leaders like President Joyce Banda of Malawi, who has sold the presidential jet, we regain some hope. We pray for politicians who are honest and who live frugal lives in solidarity with the ordinary people. We pray for newly elected leaders who are yet to face the temptations of office. We pray for electorates that they may cease to fear politicians and see them as what they are—servants of the people whose salaries are paid by the people.

Mission to the poor Missionary Intention: That Christian communities may have a growing willingness to send missionaries, priests, and lay people, along with concrete resources, to the poorest churches.

OUR-HUNDRED-MILLION Euros. That was the shortfall of European funding expected this year among NGOs. That is a lot of “concrete resources” and no doubt missionary churches (such as the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference) are feeling the same pinch, caused by the economic slump in the European Union. As for human resources, Europe is no longer the source of priests and religious that it used to be, although European lay volunteers are more plentiful than in previous times. But for now, missionary territories must look more to Asia for help with priests and religious—India, the Philippines, Korea—countries which one always thought of as being missionary themselves. Among the missionary congregations one finds many young Africans these days. Often these are sent to other African countries, but sometimes they go on mission outside the African continent. Former South African religious students of mine have ended up a very long way from home. The vital ingredient in all this is generosity. One can always make a case that there are greater needs at home. However, the deep conviction at the heart of missionary work is that by being generous to missionary churches, the Lord will eventually bless generously the Church which has made such a sacrifice. We pray for greater missionary generosity, especially in a time of scarcity of resources. Remember them this month.

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Pilgrimage to The Tabernacle Most High Marian Shrine at Ngome, Northern KZN. Depart From East London Wednesday 31st October 2012 @ 6.00 am via Mariannhill Monastery to Inkamana Abbey to Ngome. Return Sunday 4th November 2012

For more information contact Graham Jekels @0826625331

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

COMMUNITY

St Pius X parish in Plumstead, Cape Town, enjoyed a bus trip to Kalk Bay to eat fish and chips. (Front) Bev Edwards and Joan and Stan Eddy.

The children of Queen of Peace church in Grassy Park, Cape Town made their First Holy Communion. Pictured with them are (back) catechist Lesley-Ann Alexander, parish priest Fr Joseph Puliyilakat MSFS, catechist Ryan Ravells and Deacon John Sheraton.

A celebration Mass for diamond jubilarian Holy Cross Sisters Anne Bernadette Thommes, Mary Majella Gilleece and Mother Mary Martin took place in Aliwal North. Mass was celebrated by Bishop Michael Wüstenberg. Sr Mary Alacoque Lang also celebrated her crystal jubilee. Sr Lang passed away on August 4.

Education for Life diocesan coordinators met at Mariannhill to rearrange the Education for Life manual. Apart from working together and sharing ideas, coordinators also visited one of the homes in Durban at Shallcross, giving food and parcels to the elderly and orphans.

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The newly-commissioned catechists at Holy Name parish in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. (From left) K Motloareng, X Ngeni, T Gugushe, A Vandala and N Perera. They were commissioned at a Mass celebrated by Fr Luvuyo Madikane.

The parish of St Mary’s in Kimberley started LifeTeen with great success, growing from about 30 children the first week to between 70 and 80 children attending weekly. Pictured are youth receiving the 1+1+1=1 (the Trinity) lesson.

The RCIA group from St Augustine’s Parish in Germiston, Johannesburg pictured with their certificates of initiation.

CHURCH

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

Regina Mundi: ‘Cathedral of the Nation’ turns 50 The parish of Regina Mundi is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month. CLAIRE MATHIESON looks at the history of South Africa’s most famous parish and its church, the country’s biggest.

EW would have guessed that a Sunday gathering under a tree on land donated by a local farmer before there were houses in the area would grow to become the country’s biggest and most famous Catholic church. In its 50 year history, the parish of Regina Mundi in Moroka, Soweto, has served as the home of the country’s struggle for human rights and against apartheid. It has been described by struggle leaders as being both a battlefield and a sanctuary. The church, which was inaugurated two years after the parish was founded, was the scene of the extended violence of the 1976 uprisings as students fled to Regina Mundi. The violence followed the students into the sacred space. The police stormed the church, firing ammunition and releasing tear gas, leaving many injured and furniture, decorations and religious symbols damaged. Both the interior and the external walls of the church still bear the signs of the shootings. “Regina Mundi is a church but it also became something else”, said Susan Manyoni, a member of the church’s history committee. “It is not just a holy place and it is not just a place to serve. This was a place where the people could be served,” Ms Manyoni told The Southern Cross. Archbishop Buti Tlhgale of Johannesburg was once based at the church, a place he calls a shrine of pilgrimage today. “Regina Mundi increasingly became a citadel, a spiritual stronghold of the people of Soweto at a time when resistance to the apartheid regime was at its height,” he said in an article post-

Right: The Southern Cross of August 8, 1962 reports on Cardinal Giovanni Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, laying the foundation stone for Regina Mundi church in Moroka, Soweto. Above: Regina Mundi’s altar, with posters marking the parish’s 50th anniversary, and stained glass windows. Left: The “Madonna and Child of Soweto”, painted by artist Larry Scully (1922-2002). ed on the website of the archdiocese of Johannesburg (www. catholic-johannesburg.org.za). The archbishop said the 1976 uprisings marked the point of no return in the fight for freedom. “Student organisations were banned, one after another. Many fled into exile. The townships became ungovernable. Communities joined the resistance by refusing to pay for electricity and rent. Suspected informers were harassed or necklaced. Houses of police and local council members were set alight. Delivery vans, buses and trains were torched,” he recalled. “It was against this background that Regina Mundi became the site of pilgrimage.” The church was one of the first to open its doors to victims of the struggle. As political gatherings could only take place indoors, the sheer size of the church meant it was a suitable venue. Regina Mundi can accommodate 7 000 people. Even funerals often turned into political meetings. “These funerals, like night vigils,

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he late Dr Nthato Motlana, one of Soweto’s great community leaders, once described Regina Mundi as “not just a church—it is the people’s church, the church of the nation”. The church, as it is today, was built in 1964, moving from tree to

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were radically transformed from pious, religious gatherings into intense, political platforms of resistance,”, said Archbishop Tlhgale. “Undoubtedly it was a great strain on the parish community. Pews were broken, doors battered, the fence broken, canisters thrown into the church by the police and the resident clergy harassed. Virtually at the end of each commemorative service, the police broke up the gatherings and chased people with sjamboks.” “This country had reached a state of no return. Regina Mundi offered the people a sanctuary and a political platform. These gatherings, like other gatherings throughout the country, kept the struggle alive,” said Archbishop Tlhagale.

EXPERIENCED RELIGIOUS EDUCATION TEACHER GR 8 – 12 Springfield requires the services of a suitably qualified Religious Education teacher (3-year degree +1 year teacher’s diploma or 4 year teacher’s diploma) to commence 1 October 2012. Please apply in writing, giving details of qualifications, experience and the names of three contactable referees, including your Parish Priest to: The Principal, Springfield Convent Senior School, St John’s Road, Wynberg, 7800 Email: postmaster@sfc.wcape.school.za Closing Date: Monday 10th September Please note that no faxed applications will be considered and only those applicants who are invited for an interview will be contacted.

For more information contact: The Vocations Directors:

Fatima Convent P O Box 7 GLEN COWIE, 1061 Cell: 076 923 8319 Tel: 013 298 1006

P.O Box 17204 WITBANK, 1035 Tel: 013 656 3708 Cell: 082 838 5428 lekgala.m@gmail.com

local classroom during the late 1940s and early1950s. Its foundation stone was laid by Cardinal Giovanni Montini during his visit to South Africa in August 1962. Less than a year later, Cardinal Montini became Pope Paul VI. Today, it plays host to a large parish, world leaders and thousands of tourists who flock to the national landmark. Most notably, Bill and Hilary Clinton visited in 1998—controversially receiving Holy Communion—and Michelle Obama visited last year to address the Young African Women Leaders Forum. The church’s stained glass windows, with scenes from the Blessed Virgin’s life, were donated by Poland in 1998, and a park was built in front of the church by the City of Johannesburg, with a fountain, lawns and benches. Memorial stones, including a “peace pole” donated by Japanese Christians, can also be found on the grounds. “Regina Mundi is worldwide place. It is of interest to many because of its rich history and the

importance of its role during the struggle,” said Ms Manyoni. Inside the church a painting by Larry Scully titled “Madonna and Child of Soweto”, often called “The Black Madonna”, depicts a black Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus. The painting was created in 1973, as a part of a campaign to raise funds for the education of black South Africans. But it is not just a historical service that the church provided. True to its purpose, the parish continues to serve the community today, but in a slightly different manner. “We have very active sodalities at Regina Mundi. Our groups serve the poor and help the priest,” said Ms Manyoni. “Everybody in the congregation is encouraged to serve, support and help others,” she said, adding that the church’s soup kitchen serves to many their only decent meal of the week. “Everybody does their bit to help the community,” Ms Manyoni said. She said this has always been the attitude at Regina Mundi, from the earliest days where the struggle was prominent to the issues facing the community today. “Whenever there has been a problem, you bring it to the church. You come to the church and you pray. It is here that we learn to understand not only our own problems but also each others’. By coming together in the church, we are able to make a difference.” On November 30, 1997, Nelson Mandela paid tribute to the church during a ceremony marking its restoration. “Graduates of Regina Mundi are making important contributions to the reconstruction and development of our country. Such was the role of this church in the lives of many of us; such was the esteem with which it was held, that it popularly became known as the people’s cathedral,” he said. Today the people’s cathedral operates in the same way: it doesn’t shy away from the problems of our time. With a colourful and active first 50 years, Regina Mundi shows no sign of slowing with age, but rather continuing to make an impact on different frontiers.

FAITH

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

Inside the Fifth Gospel The Holy Land is the setting for almost all of the Bible. Being in the Holy Land, then, is to be immersed in Scripture. GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER explains the Fifth Gospel.

HE Holy Land, scene of most great events in the Bible, is sometimes referred to as the “Fifth Gospel”. It is a most evocative term, with the obvious caveat that one does not need to know this supplementary gospel to know, understand,love and live the other four. Jesus the Redeemer and his apostles, and before them the prophets and kings of the Old Testament, walked on the soil of the Holy Land, breathed its air, ate its fruits. When the visitor to the Sea of Galilee—which is not a sea but a fairly compact lake—takes the opportunity to eat the tilapia zilli (or St Peter’s) fish, they are eating what Jesus ate, and what in his famous miracle he multiplied to feed the multitudes. The Fifth Gospel is a wonderful guide to what we read in Matthew,

Mark, Luke and John, in the Acts, and in the Old Testament. Knowing the context in which the events in the gospels took place brings them alive in a very special way. As we look in the faces of the local Palestinians, we can in our mind cast the characters in the gospels. The old man drinking his Turkish coffee in Nazareth could be Joseph. The young teenage girl hawking souvenirs in Cana could be Mary. The group of thirtysomethings who animatedly discuss the latest news in Bethlehem could be the disciples. And Jesus? Well, he certainly was not the northern European fellow with blow-dried blond hair of some depictions! When the gospels report about Jesus coming to the town of Capernaum, they do not give us much information about the place. The Fifth Gospel—being in the Holy Land or reading about it— fills in the gaps. Capernaum was a fishing town of some wealth, thanks to its location on the strategically important Via Maris trade route, which stretched from Egypt to Damascus. Capernaum and other towns in the vicinity, such as Magdala, made brisk trade in exporting fish

products to the rest of the Roman Empire. So, the Fifth Gospel teaches us that when Jesus invited Simon Peter and his fellow fishermen to join him, he wasn’t picking up some chancers from the boondocks, but selected quite successful business people in what was an important town in Galilee. In Capernaum, as in many places in the Holy Land, we can make a physical connection with Jesus. Archaeologists have found what they are certain is Peter’s house. This is not the stuff of gullible pious legend, but the fruit of serious academic inquest. The same archaeologists have also identified the first-century foundation of what probably was Capernaum’s only synagogue. In both places we can locate the historical, physical Jesus. The Fifth Gospel also communicates how small the area of Jesus’ ministry really was. Most of it took place in an area that is smaller than northern Johannesburg.

ccasionally Jesus and his disciples would move further away. One such key excursion was to a place called Caesarea Philippi, along the Golan Heights in the north of Israel, about 40km from the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus revealed to the disciples his mission. He asked them who the public thought he was— the public was hopelessly off the mark—and then he asked: ‘But you, who do you say I am?’ Peter got it right: ‘The Christ of God’ (Lk 9:18-27). What the gospels don’t tell us, perhaps because the original audience knew it, is that at Caesarea Philippi there was a huge pagan temple dedicated to the god Pan. In fact, Jesus might have known the place as Caesarea Paneas, which is how the first-century Jewish historian Josephus Flavius referred to it. When we know about the temple to Pan at Caesarea Philippi, the setting of Jesus’ big revelation assumes a new symbolism. Pan, god of nature and of shepherds, is now obsolete, because there is a Pilgrims pray on the Rock of the Agony in the church of All Nations, on which greater shepherd who by rising Jesus is said to have prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. again will show himself to be the Master of all nature. The symbolism doesn’t end there: Paneas is also the region of the two largest springs of the Jordan, the Banias and Dan Read The Southern Cross on-line or on your iPad, springs. So it is at the exactly as it appears in print. springs of the life-giving Only R312 a year! river, the one in which he was baptised by his cousin SPECIAL GIFT FOR DIGITAL SUBSCRIBERS: John, that Jesus reveals his FREE EBOOK (PDF or ePub) of Any Given Sunday, mission as the spring of Owen Williams’ anthology of Southern Cross columns the new life. Receive the print edition in the post every week When we read about in SA for only R416 a year the pregnant Mary and Joseph travelling from www.scross.co.za/subscribe or e-mail subscriptions@scross.co.za Nazareth to Bethlehem, or about Jesus going from Galilee to Jerusalem, the gospels tell us very little about the conditions, distance and terrain. The Fifth Gospel reveals that such journeys must have been unpleasant and dangerous. The terrain is mainly desert—not sandy like the

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A Palestinian girl sells postcards to pilgrims in Cana, site of Jesus’ first public miracle. The appearance of local Palestinians in the Holy Land gives us an idea how Jesus and his family and disciples might have looked. Maybe the Blessed Virgin looked like this girl as a child. (Photos: Günther Simmermacher) Sahara, but rocky and mountainous. Because it was so desolate, it was brimming with bandits, especially during the pilgrimage seasons, when Jews were required to come to the Temple in Jerusalem. When Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, he refers to a specific route: the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. This is wilderness territory. The day before he was murdered on April 4, 1968, the Rev Martin Luther King Jr “read” from the Fifth Gospel in his famous “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech: “I remember when Mrs King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road I said to my wife: ‘I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable.’ It’s a winding, meandering road. It’s really conducive for ambushing. “In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the ‘Bloody Pass’. And, you know, it’s possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it’s possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking, and he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. “And so the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But then the Good Samaritan came by, and he reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’” Seeing the actual terrain deepened Dr King’s understanding of the parable which he already knew so well.

nowing the Fifth Gospel is particularly helpful in making sense of the narratives set in Jerusalem. Unlike Galilee, Jesus would not recognise Jerusalem today, though he would know some structures that have been preserved intact from his time, such as the Tomb of Hezekiah at the foot of the Mount of Olives, to the east of the OId City. He might not care to remember a flight of steps on Mount Zion, to the south of the OId City, which still exists. But there is no doubt that Jesus walked on these actual

steps, which are adjacent to the church of St Peter in Gallicantu, which stands on what might have been the palace of the high priest Josephus Caiaphas. Jesus would have taken these steps on his way to and from the Last Supper and on other visits to Mount Zion. And he would have been led up these steps in captivity, after his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the foot of the Mount of OIives. Of course, Our Lady and the apostles would have walked on these same steps. And that is the tantalising beauty of the Fifth Gospel: finding that physical connection with Jesus, with Mary, with the apostles. Seeing the house where Peter lived, the place where Mary drew water in Nazareth’s only well, the waters of the lake on which so much happened, or touching the place where Jesus was crucified—not as randomly appointed sites of irrational piety, but as places which historical and archaeological inquest confirms as almost definitely accurate. The historical accuracy of many other places in the Holy Land remains subject to examination, and a few are doubtless randomly chosen. But even that does not matter much, because a pilgrimage is firstly a journey of faith. Next to the Garden of Gethsemane—in Jesus’ time an expansive olive grove, but now a small garden with a few olive trees that have regenerated over 2 300 years—is the church of All Nations, a striking structure built from 1919-24. Inside the church, below the altar, is the white Rock of the Agony that is reputed to be the stone on which Jesus sat as he prayed the desperate plea to be spared his dreadful fate. It is not important whether this is the actual rock. Even it isn’t, Our Lord bared his soul, with all its human fear, on a rock like it at a nearby spot. More than in any other place in the Holy Land—or, perhaps, anywhere in the world— it is here that Christians connect with their own torments and fears, and those of loved ones. In places like the church of All Nations, the Fifth Gospel becomes an inextricable part of the pilgrim’s faith life, in ways even the four traditional gospels do not. n Günther Simmermacher’s book The Holy Land Trek is expected to be published in October.

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

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

Left: The wilderness in which Jesus spent 40 days and nights after his baptism. Jesus and the apostles traversed this kind of terrain when travelling to Jerusalem. Right: The remains of a fourth-century synagogue in Capernaum built on the black basalt foundations of the synagogue in which Jesus most probably preached and healed (Jn 6:30-59).

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Year 2

Word of the Week

Sunday, August 26, 21st Sunday Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18, Psalm 34:2-3, 16-21, Ephesians 5:21-32 or 5:2, 25-32 John 6:60-69 Monday, August 27, St Monica 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12, Psalm 96:1-5, Matthew 23:13-22 Tuesday, August 28, St Augustine 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-17, Psalm 96:10-13, Matthew 23:23-26 Wednesday, August 29, The Passion of St John the Baptist Jeremiah 1:17-19, Psalm 71:1-6, 15, 17, Mark 6:17-29 Thursday, August 30, feria 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, Psalm 145:2-7, Matthew 24:42-51 Friday, August 31, feria 1 Corinthians 1:17-25, Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11, Matthew 25:1-13 Saturday, September 1, Mass of Our Lady 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Psalm 33: 12-13, 18-21, Matthew 25: 14-30 Sunday, September 2, 22nd Sunday Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-8, Psalm 15: 2-5, Jas 1:1718,21-22,27, Mark 7:1-8,14-15, 21-23

INDULGENCE: The remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sin whose guilt has already been forgiven. A properly disposed member of the Christian faithful can obtain an indulgence under prescribed conditions through the help of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. An indulgence is partial if it removes part of the temporal punishment due to sin, or plenary if it removes all punishment (CCC 1471).

A JOuRNEy OF A LIFETIME!

Community Calendar

Join our pilgrimage to

Holy Land • Rome • Assisi • Cairo with Fr Tom Tshabalala OFM (former Holy Land tour guide)

3 August to 14 September 2013

See all the great sites of the Holy Land, then fly to Rome, with papal audience, and visit Assisi, the place of St Francis and St Clare. PLUS: Cairo’s Pyramids, Sphinx, Nile Cruise

Contact Gail at 076 352 3809 or info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za or facebook.com/FowlerToursSa

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

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

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

576 AM in Jo’burg & beyond also on DStv audio channel 170

and streamed live on radioveritas.ndstream.net

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 512. ACROSS: 5 Tome, 7 Sacramento, 8 Yell, 10 Skullcap, 11 Prated, 12 Let out, 14 Chisel, 16 Mellow, 17 Conjured, 19 Rest, 21 Insulating, 22 Idol. DOWN: 1 Espy, 2 Prelates, 3 Amused, 4 Annual, 5 Toll, 6 Miraculous, 9 Earthbound, 13 Tolerate, 15 Lyrist, 16 Medals, 18 Jail, 20 Toga.

To place your event, call Claire Allen at 021 465 5007 or e-mail c.allen@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

CAPE TOWN: Padre Pio: Holy hour 3pm every Sunday of the month at Holy Redeemer parish in Bergvleit. Helpers of God’s Precious Infants meet every last Saturday of the month except in December, starting with Mass at 9:30 am at the Salesians Institue Community Chapel in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Mass will be followed by a vigil and procession to Marie Stopes abortion clinic in

Bree Street. For further information contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel Manuel on 083 544 3375

NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the blessed sacrament at St Peter’s parish. Every Tuesday from 8am to 4:45pm followed by Rosary Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 5:30pm.

Tony Wyllie & Co. Catholic Funeral Home

Personal and Dignified 24-hour service 469 Voortrekker Rd, Maitland Tel: 021 593 8820 48 Main Rd, Muizenberg Tel: 021 788 3728 Member of the NFDA

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2012

CLASSIFIEDS

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.

BIRTHDAY

DENNIS—Liesl. Many happy returns on your birthday August 30. I bless you with God’s favour resting on you. From Mom and all family members.

DEATH

BRÖHL— Sr Walburgis. Holy Cross Sister, Sr Walburgis, aged 88, passed away at Holy Cross Convent, Fatima House Retirement Home, Aliwal North, on July 29, 2012. Lovingly remembered by her family circle in Germany and the Holy Cross Sisters. May she rest in peace! GREGORY—William Robert (Bob) past pupil of Marist Brothers College— Observatory Johannesburg 22-3-1948 –12-72012. Bob considered it an honour and privilege to be an altar boy/server at The Holy Angels Parish in Bez Valley Johannesburg, assisting the late Fr Peter and Fr Killoran during the celebration of Holy Mass. The legacy Bob leaves behind is a devout Catholic family. Bob will be remembered with much love by his sister Cynthia and her children Colleen, Patricia, Marc and Ian. LANG—Sr M Alacoque. Holy Cross Sister, Sr M Alacoque, aged 97, passed away at Holy Cross Convent, Fatima House Retirement Home, Aliwal North, on August 4. Lovingly remembered by her family circle in Germany and the Holy Cross Sisters. May she rest in peace!

IN MEMORIAM

DENNIS—Marina. Passed away August 29, 2005. Mom you are always in our hearts and prayers. Love you and miss you. From Brian, brother and sister and my wife Liesl and our children Lauren and Tristan. HERHOLDT—Berty. Passed away 22/08/2005. Lovingly remembered by his wife Lorna, sons Albert and family, Harry and family, Gary and family, Paul and family. RIP. HOUGHTON— Bill passed away on August 29, 1990. Lovingly and always remembered by his wife, Agnes, daughters, Mary, Margaret, Bridget and Barbara, sons-in-law, Walter, Derek and Ben, grandchildren, Stephen, Jeannine, Ryan, Lauren, Catherine, Elizabeth and great-grandchildren. RIP. MOMENT—Margaret (Baka). Died August 8, 2000. In loving memory of my late Mom, our grandma and greatgrandma, You are in our prayers. Sadly missed with loving thoughts, from Vicky and children. NARAINSAMY—Mitchell. In memory of Mitchell, on his first anniversary. Everything his Mom did, she did out of love. He will always be remem-

bered by his brother, sister, nephew and his Mom and Dad. May he rest in peace. YOUNG—Berry. Your infectious smile and bubbling personality will always be remembered by all who love you, and still miss you after three years. Ramona, Virginia, and Carlotta.

PERSONAL

CATHOLIC lady, 57 years old of Zulu origin is looking for a trustworthy Catholic male partner or companion. Text or call 072 497 3128. HOUSE-SITTER/AUPAIR COMPANION: Based at Benoni Parish/will travel/with references. Ph Therèse 076 206 0627. NOTHING is politically right if it is morally wrong. Abortion is evil. Value life!

THANKS

GRATEFUL thanks to the Infant Jesus of Prague, Our Mother Mary and St Anthony for prayers answered. T.D.

PRAYERS

HAIL, HOLY Queen, Mother of Mercy! our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

ACCOMMODATION

CAPE TOWN: Cape Peninsula Beautiful homes to buy or rent. Maggi-Mae 082 892 4502, AIDA Cape Lifestyle Homes, 021 782 9263 maggimae@ aidacapelifestyle.co.za

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

LONDON: Protea House: Single per night R300, twin R480. Self-catering, busses and underground nearby. Phone Peter 0044 208 7484834. BALLITO: Up-market penthouse on beach, selfcatering. 084 790 6562. BETTY'S BAY: (Western Cape) Holiday home sleeps six, three bathrooms, close to beach, R800/night. 021 794 4293 marialouise@ mweb.co.za CAPE TOWN: Fully equipped self-catering, 2 bedroom apartment with

parking, in Strandfontein R400 or R480 (low/high season) (4 persons per night) Paul 021 393 2503, 083 553 9856, vivilla@telkomsa.net FISH HOEK: Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4. Secure parking. Tel: 021 785 1247. GORDON’S BAY: Beautiful en-suite rooms available at reasonable rates. Magnificent views, breakfast on request. Tel: 082 774 7140. bzhive@telkomsa.net KNYSNA: Self-catering accommodation for 2 in Old Belvidere with wonderful Lagoon views. 044 387 1052. MARIANELLA: Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views. Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Tel: Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675 or mjsalida@mweb.co.za SEDGEFIELD: Beautiful self-catering garden flat sleeps four, two bedrooms, open-plan lounge, kitchen, fully equipped. 5min walk to lagoon. Contact 082 900 6282. STELLENBOSCH: Five simple private suites (2 beds, fridge, micro-wave). Countryside vineyard/forest/mountain walks; beach 20 minute drive. Affordable. Christian Brothers Tel 021 880 0242, cbcs tel@gmail.com STRAND: Beachfront flat to let. Stunning views, fully equipped. Garage, one bedroom, sleeps 3-4. R450 p/night for 2 peoplelow season. Phone Brenda 082 822 0607

RETREATS

PLETTENBERG BAY: Sat Chit Anand Interfaith Spiritual Retreat Centre. Make space in your life for Spirit. Enjoy a peaceful holiday with optional meditation, Mass, theology classes, yoga. Interfaith chapel, library, and healing centre. Selfcatering cottages. Priests stay free. See www. satchitanand.co.za for more info, Phone 044 533 0453 or email satchitanand@global.co.za

The Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa. Printed by Paarl Coldset (Pty) Ltd, 10 Freedom Way, Milnerton. Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, News Editor: Claire Mathieson (c.mathieson@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Advertising: Elizabeth Hutton (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Avril Hanslo (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Dispatch: Joan King (dispatch@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za). Directors: C Moerdyk (Chairman), C Brooke, P Davids, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, M Lack (UK), Sr H Makoro CPS, M Salida, G Simmermacher, Archbishop B Tlhagale OMI, Z Tom

Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

NOAH OLD AGE HOMES

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Help is as near as your telephone

Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000 • 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001

079 742 8861 031 2015471 www.birthright.co.za Donations and volunteers and prayers always welcome

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22nd Sunday: September 2 Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8, Psalm 15: 2-5, James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

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AW is a tricky business to handle; sometimes we can find ourselves irritably complaining about Those People who refuse to obey it, while at other times we can find perfectly clear rationalisations for not obeying (“it does not apply to me”). The Bible offers us both views of the Law, that on the one hand it is a gift from God, helping us to find our way in a confusing world, while on the other if we put the Law where God belongs, then we are committing idolatry, and not giving life (which is what God always seeks to do for us). So the first reading for next Sunday has Moses presenting Israel with God’s law, ostensibly just before they enter the Land, so that they know how to survive in the Land, and how to preserve it as the inheritance that God has given them. And notice how the Law is presented, not like school rules to make an adolescent’s heart sink in gloom or seethe in fury, but as God’s gift: “You are to keep them and perform them,” but notice the reason that is given: “For this is your wisdom and insight in the eyes of the peoples, that you keep all these command-

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God’s laws are gifts to us

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

ments.” So non-Jews are going to admire God’s People for the way they keep God’s Law (and indeed that is what has happened down the ages), and say “this great nation is a wise and insightful people”, and the real reason, one that we should hold firm, is what God has done, “the Lord our God is close to all who call upon him”, and his laws are the best ever. The psalm is thought to have been originally a song sung as the procession entered the Temple, and it asks who is permitted to go in there. The answer is: “The one who walks in perfection and does what is right.” Our God is one who demands integrity of us, not just sacrifices and appeasement, so those who join the procession must be

those “who do not slander a neighbour or defame a friend” and who “honour those who fear the Lord”. Such people, the singer concludes, “shall not be shaken forever”. That is what Law, properly understood, can do for us. In the second reading for next Sunday we start a month of readings from the Letter of James, which many scholars see as a homily preached in an early Jewish-Christian synagogue. What he emphasises in this first chapter is the generosity of God, speaking of gifts (including Law, of course) which “come down from the Father of lights”, and warning us to “accept the implanted word that can save your souls”. And it is clearly the Jewish Law that the author has in mind as this “implanted word” as he refers to “first-fruits”, and tells his audience to be “doers of the word and not just hearers of it”, and insists on the characteristic Old Testament virtue of “visiting orphans and widows in their affliction”. Now the g o sp e l has “Pharisees and some of the scribes” gathering round Jesus, so we know that there is going to be trouble. And the trouble is precisely concern-

How to respond to violence I N 2010 a French movie entitled Of Gods and Men was released. It was described by the New York Times as “perhaps the best movie on Christian commitment ever made”. Based on a true story it tells how, in 1996, an Islamic terrorist group kidnapped a small community of Trappist monks from their remote monastery in northern Algeria, held them, and eventually killed them. But the movie is about something deeper than these bare facts. It focuses on how each of the monks, ordinary men with no ambitions for martyrdom, had to accept possible martyrdom. Each had his own struggle, and for several of them it was a mammoth one. The film climaxes with a “Last Supper” scene where the camera locks in on the face of each monk. Each face manifests both joy and agony in that man’s unconscious realisation that he is soon to die and yet how, because of what he has already worked through and accepted within his soul, that death will be a triumph. At one point in the story, just as it was becoming clear to the monks that the political and military violence surrounding them would at some point invade their monastic enclosure, the movie presents us with a very poignant scene. Military helicopters hover over their little village and their monastery, with their propellers sounding ominously like wardrums. As this war-beat drowns out almost every sound, the monks respond by going to their chapel, putting on their monastic

Conrad

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Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

robes, linking arms and chanting gentle songs of trust and praise to God. We are left staring at the contrast: gentle songs of trust in the face of hovering military hardware. Which of these is more powerful? That scene is paralleled in the Gospels when they describe the birth of Jesus: A world filled with violence, under the hard military fist of the Roman Empire, is looking for an answer from above. And what is God’s response? A helpless baby asleep in the straw. How will this baby ultimately triumph? How do gentleness and meekness inherit the earth? This may strain the logic somewhat, but Jesus hints at an answer to that question in his response to his disciples when they ask why they do not have the power to cast out certain demons, when Jesus can cast them out. Jesus’ answer is metaphorical but deep. He replies, in essence, that “demons” are cast out not through a superior cultic power, but through a superior moral power, namely by the power that is created inside someone when he or she sufficiently nurtures a deep private integrity, graciousness, love, innocence, and gentleness, and holds these in fidelity in the face

The People's Church is more than just bricks and mortar!

of all temptation, including violence. Nurturing these things inside oneself connects a person to the ultimate source of all Being, the Ultimate Power, the power that Jesus called his “Father”. This power, and this power alone, ultimately stands; everything else, including the most sophisticated military hardware eventually gives way to age, rust, obsolescence, and death. The helicopters that hovered above those chanting monks now lie in junkyards, but the monks’ chant goes on. That isn’t easy to accept. The perennial temptation is to try to defeat violence with a morally superior violence, the kind we see at the end of a cathartic movie where the hero outguns the bad guys by displaying more muscle, firepower, and accuracy than they did. The demon is then cast out by a superior violence. But that is not the way of Jesus or of the Gospel; nor was it the way of those martyred Trappist monks in Algeria. In the face of impending violence, our first action should not be an attempt to marshal a superior violence. No. Like those martyred monks, we are meant to link arms and sing songs of love and trust. Or, to vary the image, like the three young men in the Book of Daniel, we are meant to sing sacred songs, even as we are walking amid flames seven times hotter than usual. To accept this response to violence does not, in itself, rule out the possibility of morally justified self-defence or the possibility of a just-war. The world is complex, morality is complex, and we are not always at the same place within our lives, within our faith, and within our trust in God. One size doesn’t fit all. And, in Of Gods and Men, each monk had to make his own agonising decision apposite to meeting violence. So it is too for each of us. This is not a criterion for all moral decisions about self-defence and war (though, irrespective of circumstance, we should ever live with the maxim that violence always begets more violence) but an invitation; an invitation to begin more to cultivate within ourselves the kind of “prayer and fasting” that casts out all demons, including violence. The invitation is to begin to nurture within a deep private integrity, graciousness, love, innocence, and gentleness, and hold these in fidelity in the face of all temptation, including violence.

ing the Law. Those wretched disciples have been eating “with unwashed hands”, which is probably not a good idea, even if it had not been prescribed by Law. Now Jesus’ opponents interrogate him about this lack of due observance (for anything that his disciples do, or fail to do, clearly reflects on Jesus himself). Then he tells them what Law is really about: “It is not what comes into a person from outside that can make the person unclean; it is the things that come from the person that causes uncleanness.” So rather than insisting on precise legal observation, as we are sometimes inclined to do (“just look at what those people are doing!”), Jesus insists on what the Law is really about: What comes out of a person is what makes the person unclean. Then he gives examples of what makes us unclean: “Sexual immorality, theft and murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, treachery, indecency, the evil eye, blasphemy, arrogance and stupidity.” It is obvious once you see it; so let us remember this week that God’s law is a great gift to us.

Southern Crossword #512

ACROSS

5. Scholarly book (4) 7. American city where nothing is added to the Eucharist (10) 8. Loud cry from cowardly colour (4) 10. Zucchetto for the pope (8) 11. Preached tediously (6) 12. Set free and tell the truth (3,3) 14. Does the sculptor use it to swindle? (6) 16. Ripe (6) 17. Used magic ritual on cured Jon (8) 19. The remainder of the peaceful dead (4) 21. Sung Latin I find covering live wire (10) 22. False worship thing (4)

DOWN

1. Catch sight of (4) 2. Restaple for the senior clerics (8) 3. What Queen Victoria was not! (6) 4. Year Book (6) 5. Road user’s fee paid to the sound of church bell (4) 6 and 16. St Catherine Laboure wanted us to wear them (10, 6) 9. Our condition while there’s life? (10) 13. To relate: “Put up with” (8) 15. Player of stringed instrument (6) 16. See 6 18. Another spell for gaol (4) 20. Roman citizen’s garment (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

WO bachelors sat talking, their conversation drifting from politics to cooking. “I was given a cookbook once,” said one, “but I could never do anything with it”. “Too much fancy work in it, eh?” asked the other. “You said it. Every one of the recipes began the same way:‘Take a clean dish...’.” Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.