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August 29 to September 4, 2012

Durban’s farewell to old school

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Brislin: Silence ‘an accomplice in corruption’ BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

‘S

Jodie Moment and Catherine Roland are leading the cheering at Catholicare’s stall, “Pirates & Treasure”, at the 32nd annual One to One Fun Day for cognitively challenged children and adults at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town. Catholicare is an initiative of the Milnerton/Brooklyn parish of the Assumption. (Photo: Lucy Walsh)

Nuncio to future priests: Witness the Gospel BY MATHIBELA SEBOTHOMA

O be agents of change, “you must be like St John Vianney who was a great witness of fidelity to the Gospel and Christ and shining example of priestly life”, Archbishop Mario Roberto Cassari, apostolic nuncio to Southern Africa, told seminarians. In his first visit to St John Vianney National Seminary in Pretoria, Archbishop Cassari pledged to the seminarians that he will be “closer to you because of the service entrusted to me by Pope Benedict XVI”. “You know the love and the affection of the Holy Father for all seminarians. He is following your progress and places his deep trust in you.” He revealed that in his private audience with the pope, “he asked me to convey to you his greetings and blessings”, adding that the pope “is well acquainted with the situation of this major seminary”. Archbishop Cassari reminded the future priests not to be limited by their diocese or religious order but to remember they are members of the universal Church. Being a priest always involves sacrifice and renunciation, he said. “Expect moments of darkness and inner difficulty. That is why you must ‘turn your gaze to Christ’.” He encouraged the seminarians “to maintain a personal relationship with Jesus”, and to start a life of holiness now, and not when they are priests. “Do not seek public applause,” he advised, and challenged the students to prioritise the sacrament of confession. Giving testimony about his own life, he said confession “teaches me to see myself as God sees me, and it forces me to be honest with myself. It leads me to humility. By letting myself be forgiven, I learn to forgive others. In recognising my own weakness, I grow more tolerant and understanding of

ILENCE is an accomplice in corruption,” and corruption is a “symptom of a lack of ethics and morality”, said Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town. He spoke at the launch of the Call to End Corruption campaign, an initiative of religious leaders to take on the issue which has “horrific consequences on society”. “Silence is not the solution,” said Archbishop Brislin. “We need to call on leaders on all levels to be accountable and to see the importance of values. As church leaders we must take to this practice of good governance.” The archbishop said the sense of cynicism will only increase if the religious leaders themselves don’t keep their “own houses in order”. The campaign was launched in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where five faith leaders and many more representatives of faith communities pledged to stand up and speak out against corruption. This followed the first Religious Leaders Anti-Corruption Summit held in June, when the faith leaders heard testimonies from community witnesses, social justice activists, and the Public Protector CEO on the mounting cost of corruption, and pledged to join the fight against corruption on behalf of all South Africans. “What struck me in particular was what corruption does to the very social fabric in our lives. There is an underlying unhealthy attitude in our lives,” said Archbishop Brislin following the summit. He said the recent events at the Lonmin mine in Marikana were “symptomatic of what is happening in our country. There is an anger which bursts out in cases of road rage and protests. The country is in need of healing.”

A Papal nuncio Archbishop Mario Cassari receives the offertory from Napo Swayi of Kokstad during a Mass at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma) the failings of my neighbours.” The nuncio said the future pastors must have maturity in sexuality. Referring to the sex abuse scandal in the Church, he said: “Instead of guiding people to great human maturity and setting them an example, [guilty priests’] abusive behaviour caused great damage for which we feel profound shame and regret”. In the world dominated by the rat race and individualism, Archbishop Cassari insisted that seminarians must learn to live with other people, even if that is difficult. “You should learn generosity and tolerance, not only bearing with, but also enriching one another. This school of tolerance— indeed, of mutual acceptance and mutual understanding in the unity of Christ’s Body—is an important part of your years in the seminary.” Fr Molewe Machingoane, rector of the seminary, thanked the archbishop for emphasising the message that seminarians must “learn to live in constant intimacy with God”.

rchbishop Brislin said corruption is a selfish act because “whether one is paying or receiving the bribe, it is about ‘me’—you are not concerned about others”. He said this is the underlying uncaring attitude and a lack of compassion that a corrupt society is breeding, and an “uncompassionate attitude breaks down trust”. “Corruption breaks down trust. With no faith in leadership, people start to perceive that the only way to survive is to be corrupt themselves,” the archbishop said. The campaign will culminate in a national “preach and teach” against corruption on International Anti-Corruption Day, December 9, when all places of worship will focus on educating and encouraging their communities to act against corruption. “We call upon ourselves and society to speak up and engender a sense of morality, listening to those who have been left out. If we don’t, the underlying anger and violence seen in the country today will only increase,” the archbishop told the crowd at Lookout Hill in South Africa’s second largest township—a place which bears the brunt of corruption, the crowd heard. Also present at the campaign launch was Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein who referred to the Bible where “the moral foundation of society has to be firm if that society is going to succeed”. “As South Africans we need to confront corruption” with moral and practical reason, the chief rabbi said. “Morally we cannot live in a corrupt soci-

Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop Stephen Brislin and Guru Krishna. (Photo: Claire Mathieson) ety, and practically a corrupt society is an unsustainable one because corruption eats away at everything,” he said. “We need to embrace the fundamental moral principles which are universal: do not steal, do not murder—these are the bedrock of society,” Chief Rabbi Goldstein said.

e proposed two practical ways forward. Firstly, to encourage the learning of the Bill of Responsibilities, a document compiled by the Department of Education, with the backing of government and religious organisations and based on universal morals which “could transform society”. Secondly, he encouraged the religious leaders to use the Corruption Watch SMS line. Corrupt incidences can be reported to the number 45142. “Religion is one of the most powerful forces in this country. The silent majority is not corrupt,” but in order to beat corruption, the majority must not be silent, he said. Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said that because corruption is damaging at every level in society, the burden of its effects is vast. “We need to say ‘no’ to corruption at every level, call on ourselves and every South African to pledge to being part of the solution. Corruption in whatever form is wrong.” South Africa has too much potential and promise to let corruption take over, he said. The religious leaders have committed themselves to encouraging education in their respective communities and will lead from the front through advocacy work and taking joint responsibility for the malaise of society, said Imam Rashied Omar. This, he said, is an important act if the faith leaders are to have any credibility in their actions. “We need to constantly remind ourselves of the systematic nature of corruption. We need to turn greed to altruism or else our bill of rights will be an unrealised dream,” said Imam Omar. While the campaign was launched by the Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum, the leaders all agreed that the initiative needs to be taken up by all provinces. Archbishop Brislin said the August plenary session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference saw the bishops reflecting on the state of the country. Corruption “is something we will deal with, but it shouldn’t stop at the Catholic Church—this is something for everyone to take on,” the archbishop told The Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

LOCAL

Resurrection exhibition for Cape Town castle T BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

HE Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town will play host to an art exhibition in October on the theme of the Resurrection. Christian artists, musicians and performers from all denominations across the archdiocese will collaborate to create the exhibition which will declare that the “resurrection power of Jesus Christ is at work in our city and our lives”. “The theme of the resurrec-

tion of Jesus Christ is relevant to all practising Christians irrespective of denomination. Belief in the resurrection…is the core belief underpinning all followers of Jesus Christ,” said Catherine van Schoor, the creative director at the Educational Support Services Trust which is organising the event. Ms van Schoor, who was raised Catholic, said people of all ages are invited to view the exhibition and performances and listen to the musicians over the three-day exhibition which will

run from October 5-7. “The Resurrection: An Exhibition” will be a local first of its kind, said Ms van Schoor. “It’s a celebration of life through artistic expression. This exhibition involves artists from over twenty different churches and denominations in Cape Town, and South Africa who are creating art that celebrates the Resurrection in their lives,” she said. n For more information contact 072 767 1115 or e-mail Catherine@esst.org.za

New church for Vergenoeg, Kimberley The church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Lansdowne, Cape Town, hosted the diamond jubilee of the proclamation of Mary Assumed into Heaven as the patroness of South Africa, Sr Glynis Kirchhoffer reports. Archbishop Stephen Brislin and retired Archbishop Lawrence Henry presided over the multi-cultural celebration which began with the Litany of Loreto prayed in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa by young men discerning their vocation to the priesthood. Our Lady’s statue was borne into the church by six Knights of Da Gama. In his homily Archbishop Brislin emphasised the importance of celebrating the patronal feast of South Africa, a country which, since our democracy, has experienced so many blessings of freedom. Yet corruption, poverty and other deeply disturbing aspects are also evident. He encouraged an imitation of Mary in her virtues, particularly in the practice of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. Beautifully robed liturgical dancers (pictured) provided a dance of light, pointing to Christ as the Light. That “Light” was then exposed in the Blessed Sacrament, first of all adored in silence, in common prayer and then extended into Benediction. Before the final blessing, Archbishop Brislin expressed his thanks to all who had contributed to the beauty of the celebration, including the members of the Schoenstatt family who initiated it ten years ago and continue to honour the patronal feast every year. (Photo: Keith Stober)

BY VUSI TUKAKHOMO

ORK on the first phase of St Peter’s new church in Galeshewe officially began on August 20. The church will be situated between Malebye and Mathanzima Streets in Vergenoeg, Kimberley. Parish priest Fr Andrew Nnyanzi said the realisation to erect a new church building began five years ago. The current St Peter’s church was built in 1966. Fr Nnyanzi said the new 10 000m2 church should hold a congregation of 1 250. He expressed the parish’s gratitude to “everybody whose faithful efforts contributed towards the current project, including the parish council,

Fr Andrew Nnyanzi performs a sod-turning ceremony at the commencement of work on the new church building in Vergenoeg, Kimberley. the congregation, people of goodwill and all well-wishers”. At a ceremony marking the event, more than 1 000 members of the Catholic Women’s

Pray that AFRICA may draw closer to the HEART OF CHRIST 2 Chron 7:14 Matthew 7:7-12

League renewed their vows, eight CWL aspirants and more than 50 members of St Veronica’s sodality were blessed. After a Mass in the current church, Fr Nnyanzi conducted the long-awaited sod-turning in the presence of members of other Kimberley parishes who participated in a lively rendition of hymns, canticles and choruses. The foundational phase of the construction includes the removal of all soil and compacting of the gravel, said finance committee member Obakeng Francis London. The second phase of the project is scheduled to begin on September 21. The third phase is expected to be completed around June next year.

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The Catholic Theological Society of Southern Africa Annual Conference And General Meeting

THE COUNCIL’S LEGACY

Presenters

September 10-12, 2012 Venue: Koinonia, Johannesburg

Denis Hurley & Keeping Alive the Dream of Vatican II • Mr Paddy Kearney Catholic Social Thought on Two Inseparable Rights: Life and Private Property • Prof Mogabe Ben Ramose Women, they too have their story: Women's Role in the Church. • Ms Puleng Segalo A Protestant Perspective on Vatican II + 50 years: An engagement with Dissent • Prof Graham Duncan Climate Justice for All • Ms. Elizabeth Mokotong The Challenges and Contributions of Black Theology • Mr Itumeleng Mothoagae Challenges for the Church Today: a South African Reformed Perspective • Dr. Jaco Kruger Conference Fee: The Church: A Safety net? • Dr Anselm Prior OFM • Two days R325 Interpreting the Council • One day R200 • Dr. Judy Coyle For cost of meals, accomodation etc contact: Fr Anselm : 073 220 0234, email:prior.laurence@gmail.com or Nicky Luyckx on Tel/Fax (011) 463 9093 or e-mail nluyckx@icon.co.za

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

Farewell to old school building

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

HE final thanksgiving Mass has been said for the old St Augustine’s school which served the archdiocese of Durban at Emmanuel cathedral from 1906-56. It will now make way for the construction of the Denis Hurley Centre. More than 200 past pupils attended the Mass. Among them were Holy Family Sisters Joy Money and Myrtle Beaunoir, and Oblate Fathers Albert Danker and Joe Money, all past pupils of the school. Paddy Kearney, coordinator of the Denis Hurley Centre, was delighted with the turn-out, “given that we are talking about a school which moved in 1956!” Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban was also in attendance at the Mass which featured the choir from the new St Augustine’s school, singing two hymns composed by Archbishop Hurley. “The past pupils were delighted to meet up with many old friends and classmates whom they hadn’t seen in years. There were many exchanges of stories about their teachers and much laughter about the pranks they played when they were in this school. But it was very striking to hear how grateful they all were for the education they had received and the wonderful dedication of the Holy Family Sisters,” said Mr Kearney. In his homily, Fr Danker said that while there was a measure of sadness in the destruction of the old school, the spirit lives on both in the new school in Sydenham Road

Fr Albert Danker OMI, 83, receives a certificate from Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, indicating that he was the oldest past pupil of the Old St Augustine’s School who took part in the farewell Mass for the soon-to-be-demolished building held at Emmanuel cathedral, Durban. Photo: Dan’s Studio and in the future building. “[The spirit] will rise again with new vigour and new, exciting apostolic endeavours at the service of the wider community and also to our delight a new and treasured name,” he said. “The truth is that our religion is much more than buildings, however necessary they are.” Nevertheless, Fr Danker said the new centre will continue the never-ending work of building God’s kingdom. “It will play an essential part in the task of forming selfless leaders known for their exemplary life-style and their dedication to the building of a new God-fearing nation.” Fr Danker said the school played a large role in shaping the man he is today. “The primary education we

received was saturated by the spirit of Christ. It was second to none and went far beyond the classroom. Even in those playful and youthful years we were encouraged to think and reflect. Dedicated lay teachers and Holy Family Sisters inspired by deep faith and unconcerned about the colour of our skin, helped us along as we grew, feeding us with knowledge and driving us towards the future. We are so grateful to them and they deserve profound recognition for the effect they had on our young lives.” At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Napier gave a special blessing to all the Holy Family Sisters who were present. The past pupils were also treated to an exhibition put together by old

Fr Kris Aneke of the diocese of Kroonstad’s Development Agency and Fr Modise led a two-day retreat for 85 caregivers from St Augustine’s, Virginia and St Peter Claver parishes in Kroonstad around the theme of Service and Healing in Caring for the Sick. The group reflected on various services they render as caregivers and the healing they bring, and shared in groups on their experiences and challenges. Some of the ongoing challenges they face are discrimination among patients and caregivers, the rejection of family members and the community of children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/Aids, poverty in families, being looked down upon because of the work they do, and the difficulties around accessing birth certificates and identity documents for their patients.

boy Ben Pottier. “It aroused much interest and brought back many memories. It is hoped that parts of this will be used in the museum section of the new Denis Hurley Centre,” Mr Kearney told The Southern Cross. At the end of the gathering, a presentation was made about the new Denis Hurley Centre and a committee was established to fundraise for the building from past pupils. Meanwhile, the centre continues to receive support both locally and internationally. The Afrisun Community Development Trust committed R2 million for the centre’s clinic and Operation Jumpstart donated an unallocated amount of R500 000. International funding has also been secured from the Italian

Catholic Bishops’ Conference for the job-related training facilities in the centre through an application supported by Cardinal Napier and Fr Giorgio Ferretti of the Community of Sant’Egidio who negotiated directly with the office of the Italian bishops to secure the grant. Irish Aid has also committed to raising R500 000 for the R29 million centre which will start building once 80% of the target funds have been secured. Fr Ferretti has also established a Sant’Egidio group at Emmanuel cathedral, which reaches out to poor and vulnerable people living on the streets near the cathedral. He was a good friend of Archbishop Hurley whom he was asked to look after on the archbishop’s regular visits to the community during the last few years of his life.

The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

Pope: Everything in life is calling people to a relationship with God BY CINDY WOODEN

VERYTHING that happens in life, whether it first appears good or bad, is a reminder that human beings do not have absolute control over their own destinies but were made to be in a relationship with God, according to Pope Benedict. “Each thing, each relationship, each joy, like each difficulty, finds its ultimate meaning in being an occasion for a relationship with the Infinite, the voice of God who continually calls us and invites us to raise our sights and to discover in him the fullness of our humanity,” the pope said in a message to participants in an annual meeting of the Communion and Liberation movement. The meeting in Rimini, Italy, focused on people’s relationship with the infinite. In his message, Pope Benedict said the natural human yearning for infinity or eternity is, at its foundation, recognition that

human beings are creatures. “This word—creature—seems to be old-fashioned. People prefer to think of themselves as selfmade and artisans of their own destiny. Considering the person a creature can be uncomfortable because it implies an essential reference to something other or better,” he said. In fact, however, whether they believe in God or not, human beings have that inkling that they are not in complete control and that they were made for eternity. Recognising God as creator and entering into a relationship with him “does not hide or diminish, but brilliantly reveals the greatest and supreme dignity of man, who is called to life in order to have a relationship with life itself, with God,” the pope wrote. Some people ask how it is possible for a finite creature like a human being to have a real relationship with the infinite God, he said. For Christians, the

answer is that God assumed a finite form in Jesus Christ. “From the Incarnation, the moment in which the Word was made flesh, the unbridgeable distance between the finite and infinite was erased,” Pope Benedict wrote. Reciting the Angelus with visitors in the courtyard of the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict said that by taking on human form, Jesus was able to suffer and die for the redemption of all humanity. “We need to accept him with faith, not be scandalised by his humanity,” the pope said. Jesus continues giving himself to his followers in the Eucharist, his body and blood, he said. “Let us rediscover the beauty of the sacrament of the Eucharist, which expresses all the humility and holiness of God: his making himself small, a fragment of the universe to reconcile it completely in his love,” the pope said.— CNS

Churches of Russia, Poland make peace

N a historic visit, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the president of the Polish Catholic bishops’ conference signed a joint message urging Poles and Russians to set aside centuries of anger and prejudice and work together to maintain their countries’ Christian identities. The signing of the reconciliation “Message to the Nations of Poland and Russia” was the key moment of the first-ever visit of a Russian Orthodox patriarch to modern Poland. “We enter a path of honest dialogue in the hope that it will heal the wounds of the past, facilitate our overcoming mutual prejudice and misunderstanding and strengthen us in our pursuit of reconciliation,” said the message

signed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl, president of the Polish bishops’ conference. The signing ceremony was broadcast live on Polish television. Polish Catholic and Russian Orthodox officials had been preparing the statement for more than two years in an effort to overcome historical grudges between the two nations and long-standing tensions between the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Polish Catholic Church. A long history of battles over territory became more complicated during World War II when Poland was invaded by both Germany and Russia. After the war, Poland came under the influence of the Soviet Union. Under communism, the

Catholic and Orthodox churches were subject to government pressure, with the minority Orthodox in Poland and minority Catholics in Russia suffering particularly harsh treatment. With the religious and political freedom that came with the fall of communism in the early 1990s, Patriarch Kirill and Archbishop Michalik said, the churches set out on a path of renewal, but still must face the effects of decades of official atheism and the growing secularism of modern societies. Christianity “exerted a decisive impact on the identity, spirituality and culture of our peoples and of the entire Europe,” the two leaders said, maintaining that the Christian faith is essential for the countries’ future.—CNS

St Joseph’s Theological Institute

(Association Incorporated Under Section 21) Registered with the Department of Education as a Private Higher Education Institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997. Registration Certificate Number 2003/HE08/003

Private Bag 6004Hilton 3245 KwaZulu-Natal Republic of South Africa

Telephone:+27(33)3433293 Fax:+27(33)3435948 website:www.sjti.ac.za

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES DEPARTMENT

The Development Studies Department through its two academic programmes: Higher Certificate in Human and Social Development and Advanced Certificate in Human and Social Development seeks to provide a service to the Church and Society in general through the formation and training of leaders guided by a Christian ethos. The Two Academic Programmes aim at: (a) Providing students with the basic understanding of the main concepts and theories of human and social development, (b) Empowering students with the basic understanding of how societies develop and function, and (c) Providing the basic knowledge to enable students to continue with further studies in the areas of human and social development. Two Key Areas of Focus (a) Formation: the Department helps train men and women capable of working in Religious and Priestly formation programmes, and (b) Leadership in Social development: the department provides training to men and women, religious and lay capable of working in organisations and agencies that deal with issues of social development and advocacy. Admission Criteria (a) Students registering for the Higher Certificate in Human and Social Development must have a National Senior Certificate (NSC) or its equivalent, (b) Students registering for the Advanced Certificate in Human and Social Development must have a minimum of a Higher Certificate in Human and Social Development or its equivalent, (c) Both programmes require proficiency in English as this is the language of instruction at the Institute. Registration Registration for the academic year 2013 is open from July to December 2012. For more information contact: Academic Dean, e-mail: dean@sjti.ac.za

People wait at the gates of the Capuchin monastery for St Anthony’s Bread in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The monks of the Capuchin order distribute around 400 free bags of food donations for people in need every day. (Photo: Enrique Calvo, Reuters, CNS)

Nuncio: Syrian spring got out of hand BY CINDY WOODEN

EOPLE in Syria are “stunned and deeply saddened and worried for the future,” Archbishop Mario Zenari, the Vatican nuncio to Syria, has told Vatican Radio He said the withdrawal of UN forces in late August was “a sad blow”. “Three or four months ago, there was a good bit of hope for their mission, and now their departure plunges us back into this reality. The international community must not give up, it must keep trying,” he said. UN military observers left Syria after it was clear the ceasefire they were meant to monitor did not exist. Archbishop Zenari declined to comment on US President Barack Obama’s warning there would be “enormous consequences” for Syria if it began moving or using its stockpile of chemical weapons.

However, the nuncio said, “at this moment we must require all sides in the conflict to rigorously respect international humanitarian law which, as we’ve seen, has gone to pieces because of the actions of both sides”. While the 17-month-old conflict began as part of the prodemocracy Arab Spring movement, Archbishop Zenari said:“Unfortunately, now there’s the impression and the general fear that things have got out of hand.” While the international community can and must help, he said, Syrians are the ones who must ultimately decide to lay down their weapons and start negotiating. “Finding a path to peace is a very difficult thing that will entail sacrifices; it’s painful, but it’s something that no one can do for the Syrians. We really need to encourage all ethnic and religious groups to find the path to peace together,” he said.—CNS

SPRINGFIELD CONVENT SENIOR SCHOOL

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.

NEW FOR 2013 13 TO 25 APRIL EAST LONDON DEANERY PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND AND EGYPT Visiting Mt Sinai, St Catherine’s Monastery, Bethany, Plains of Armageddon, Jerusalem, Bethlehem Nazareth, Mt Tabor, Sea of Galilee, Mt Beatitudes, Tiberias and many more Christian sites where Jesus walked, preached and taught.

Organised and led by Rev Fr Christopher Slater Cost from R22020 Tel: (031) 266 7702 Fax: (031) 266 8982 Email: judyeichhorst@telkomsa.net

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NOVEMBER 9 - 11 Search for Life by Fr Pierre Lavoipierre NOVEMBER 23 - 25 Mary, the Mother, has the message by Deacon Tony de Freitas

DECEMBER 7 - 16 8-Day directed retreats by Fr Urs Fischer and Br Crispin Graham DECEMBER 24 - JANUARY 1, 2013

A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY: Praying constantly, bring your faith to life by Fr Urs Fischer

Personally guided retreats may be arranged at any time throughout the year to suit individual need.

Reception: Fr Urs Fischer Fax

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031 700 2155 031 700 2890 031 700 2738

Fr Urs Fischer Bro Crispin Mrs N Qupa

INTERNATIONAL

Diocese inherits Gone With The Wind author’s heritage BY GRETCHEN KEISER

HE US archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia, has received a substantial gift from the estate of Margaret Mitchell’s nephew, Joseph, including a 50% share of the trademark and literary rights to the famous novel Gone With the Wind. The estate of Joseph Mitchell included a multimillion-dollar bequest to the archdiocese and the donation of his home in Atlanta. One of two sons of Margaret Mitchell’s brother, Stephens, Joseph Mitchell died in October 2011. He was a member of the cathedral of Christ the King and asked that, if possible, his donation assist the cathedral in a particular way. “It is a magnificent gift,” said Deacon Steve Swope, who has been overseeing the transition of the bequest on behalf of Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory. The inheritance passed on to the archdiocese includes a collection of signed Gone With the Wind first editions published in various languages in countries around the world and an unpublished history of the Mitchell family, handwritten by Margaret’s father, Eugene Muse Mitchell. Some of Margaret Mitchell’s personal effects, including her wallet with her press card and library card, and furniture from her apartment have been given to the archdiocese. A library of books includes histories and signed first editions of the late Catholic author Flannery

International editions of Gone With The Wind are part of a multimilliondollar bequest made to the archdiocese of Atlanta by Joseph Mitchell, author Margaret Mitchell’s nephew. He died last October. (Photo courtesy of Atlanta archdiocese) O’Connor’s novels and short stories. Joseph Mitchell, who died at 76, was the last direct descendant of the Mitchell family. His brother Eugene died in 2007. Eugene’s widow, Virginia, is still living. The two brothers had each inherited a trust with a half share of the literary and trademark rights to the celebrated novel written by their late aunt. The movie rights were sold immediately after Gone With the Wind was published in 1936 to instantaneous success. Two million copies of the novel had been sold by 1939. The work was quickly translated into Arabic, Asian and eastern and western European languages. Mitchell was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her work, and, according to Publishers Weekly, the novel continues to sell in the United States at a rate of about 75 000 copies a year. The archdiocese of Atlanta has created a corporation with the

Eugene Mitchell trust to manage the literary inheritance. The Catholic roots of the Mitchell family come through Margaret and Stephens’ mother, Maybelle. In Finis Farr’s biography of Margaret Mitchell, Stephens Mitchell said their mother was educated in a convent school in Quebec, Canada, and was so concerned with teaching and defending the Catholic faith she helped found the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, made up of prominent lay Catholics who wrote and spoke to explain Catholic beliefs and defend the Church against antiCatholicism.—CNS

INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC GIRLS’ SCHOOL GRADE 000 – GRADE 12

The following post has become available from 15 January 2013

The successful applicant should: • Be a practicing Catholic with a commitment to his/her own spiritual and personal growth • Have a good understanding of the Catholic Ethos and an ability to promote this ethos within our school • Be willing to develop the Holy Family Spirituality within our school community • Have a sound knowledge of Catholic teaching and Scripture • Have an ability to plan and facilitate our school liturgies, retreats and days of reflection • Be respectful of other denominations and faiths and encourage a spirit of ecumenism • Have a good knowledge of the RE Curriculum promoted by the Catholic Institute of Education • Be willing to assist with the leadership of the school’s Community Outreach Programme • Be able to teach Religion to Grades 8 to 12 Interested persons are invited to obtain an application form from the school at 558 Stephen Dlamini Road (Essenwood Road), Durban or from the website www.marisstella.co.za.

Completed application forms together with a CV must be returned to the school on, or before Wednesday 07 September 2012 for the attention of: The Principal Maris Stella School 558 Essenwood Road (Stephen Dlamini Road) Durban 4001 OR e-mail: jreddy@marisstella.co.za

If you have not been contacted within 21 days after the closing date of this advertisement please accept that your application has been unsuccessful.

Maris Stella reserves the right not to proceed with filling the post. An application in itself will not entitle the applicant to an interview or appointment and failure to meet the minimum requirements of the advertised post will result in applicants automatically disqualifying themselves from consideration.

Taiwan cardinal dies at 88

ARDINAL Paul Shan Kuo-hsi (pictured), the retired bishop of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, died on August 22 at the age of 88. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2006, about eight months after retiring. A native of Puyang on the Chinese mainland, he joined the Jesuits in Beijing in 1946, then left the mainland to study for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest in the Philippines in 1955. After working at a school and at a Jesuit novitiate in the Philippines, he was sent to Taiwan as novice master, a position he held from 1963 to 1970. Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Hualien in 1979, transferred him to Kaohsiung in 1991 and made him a cardinal in 1998. Cardinal Shan served as the papally appointed recording secre-

tary for the special Synod of Bishops for Asia in 1998. He said the Catholic faith will not be intelligible or attractive to the peoples of Asia if it continues to be a carbon copy of the Catholic Church in the West. The Church’s mission of love and service must begin with “a genuine regard and respect for all the peoples of Asia, their religions and cultures.” The cardinal also said the Catholic Church’s belief that the Spirit of God is at work in the world must translate into recognition of the “truth and grace” present in other religions while it witnesses to “the fullness of revelation in Jesus Christ.”—CNS

Lagos archbishop slams govt over security BY PETER AJAYI DADA

RCHBISHOP Alfred Adewale Martins of Lagos has criticised the Nigerian government for its handling of the nation’s security challenges and warned against allowing an extremist sect to destabilise the country. The archbishop cautioned Christians against participating in violence but expressed his support for the call by the Christian Association of Nigeria that Christians should defend themselves whenever they come under any attack. “The human life is sacred and must be regarded as such by anybody,’’ he told journalists at a

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The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

briefing. The Islamist militant group Boko Haram has taken credit for a series of attacks on places of worship in northern and central Nigeria; in some cases, Christians have retaliated. Since 2010, Boko Haram has been blamed for more than 1 400 deaths. Archbishop Martins told journalists the government must deal quickly and decisively with any acts of aggression against Nigerians. He also said he supported dialogue, if necessary, between warring parties. “War has never brought about lasting peace in the history of humanity,” he said.

The archbishop, who served as bishop of Abeokuta until being installed to head the Lagos archdiocese on August 4, also criticised the government for “not doing enough to deal with corruption”. “I can immediately refer to the corruption in the oil sector of the economy, where certain individuals were indicted, taken to court and suddenly we begin to hear that the cases were not properly investigated by the security agencies before the suspects were taken to court,’’ he said. The agencies fighting corruption should be strengthened to fight the war on corruption, he added.—CNS

LEADER PAGE

The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Speaking with silence

HEN we speak of communications, it seems counter-intuitive to counsel the virtues of silence, as Pope Benedict does this year in his message on social communications. But as we observe Social Communications Sunday, in Southern Africa on September 2, we ought to find the time to stop conversing with others and find silence, that stillness when we can be alone with ourselves and with God, through whom we should always strive to do our communicating. Silence can, of course, be a form of communication itself. It can convey a dignified response to a slander, for example, or a less decorous evasion of legitimate questions. Silence can also be an act of hostility, especially in interpersonal relations, as the spouses or parents of non-communicative family members will know well. The trained broadcaster knows the value of a well-placed silence: to emphasise a point, to allow listeners absorb what they have heard, or as an interviewing technique. Pope Benedict seems to have an appreciation for the latter when he writes: “By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself.” Communication is not only about asserting our own voices, be it the interviewer on the radio, public debate or private conversation. In our era of diffuse media, we need silence to filter and process all the information we receive—the useful and useless, the edifying and the harmful, the truthful and the mendacious. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of what is important. The Internet is also a powerful tool of education. It brings together people who share information in an instant which just two decades ago would have required extensive study. Pope Benedict welcomes this: “In our time, the Internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers.” And he advises: “If we are to recognise and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive.” The pope observes that often

these questions relate to the meaning of our lives. As a theologian Pope Benedict obviously encourages “profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange”. But this is not enough. The answers to our existential questions can be found in “silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts”. Silence—the lack of distraction by the constant din of information and opinion—can indeed bring us closer to God. In the words of Pope Benedict: “If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God.” Silence is also good advice for people who might do damage when they use words. We see this especially on Facebook, Twitter and blogs, when deficiently developed opinions and untruths are spread—and, alas, often accepted—without the aid of an editorial filter. In many ways the absence of external censorship is a welcome development, even if it has come at the price of creating a society that is less appreciative of good writing, in style and content, than previous generations were. Often, however, there is a need for more robust self-censorship—an acknowledgement of the importance of silence before making pronouncements. We can observe that lack of editorial self-control even on some Catholic blogs where proclamations are posted with an aggression and an intolerance for dissenting viewpoints that contributes little to the chief objective of the Church’s social communications mandate: to evangelise. Pope Benedict’s wise counsel therefore merits due contemplation: “Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak. This is especially important for those engaged in the task of evangelisation: both silence and word are essential elements, integral to the Church’s work of communication for the sake of a renewed proclamation of Christ in today’s world.”

Seeking the truth F RANKO Sokolic (August 8) and I do agree on one point: the Father is creator of all heaven and earth. It is how this came about which always invites so much controversy and rightly so, for who knows the mind of God? “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord,” says Isaiah. Mr Sokolic expressed shock that Cardinal George Pell of Sydney supports the principle of evolution; how could our Lord have descended from simian ancestry? Apparently Mr Sokolic does not understand Jesus’ hypostatic nature; so when referring to evolutionary progress, it means evolution within creation: referring to his humanity not his divinity. Relying on a literalistic interpretation of the Bible and on the teachings of distant councils, without contextualising, Mr Sokolic makes the mistake of placing ancient narrative into modern understanding—oil and water so to speak. Applying modern mores and conceptions to material

Evolution, a part of God’s power

REFER to the letter by Franko Sokolic, in which he maintains that belief in evolution (at least as it applies to humans) is contrary to the teaching of the Church. I think that Cardinal Pell of Sydney is far more likely than Mr Sokolic to have a clear understanding of the Church’s current teaching in this matter. Documents dating back to the 13th and 19th century cannot be regarded as authoritative at this stage, and the references given by Mr Sokolic in the Catechism of the Catholic Church cannot clearly be construed as a condemnation of the theory of evolution. The evolution of creatures is a matter that concerns science and not religion, and just as scientists have no right to make judgements in matters of religion the Church has no business making pronouncements on scientific matters. As Church we must respect the general consensus of the scientific community in areas that they appear to agree. Mr Sokolic’s view that there is no clear scientific evidence to support the theory of human evolution is highly questionable. I fear he has been attaching too much credibility to the writings of dissident members of the scientific

perspective. This is the foundation of Darwinism, a rationalistic pseudo-faith which proposes chance over cause, thus excluding any role for a creator. This view is obviously at odds with Catholic thinking. However, the Church only ever seeks the truth, being founded by Truth itself. So too does science seek the truth, for empirically proven theses are the truth. So from this perspective, how can the Church have a problem with what is the truth? We cannot know the mind of the Creator nor how he achieves his creation (for it is on-going). Patently science has proven that the earth is not as young as the creationist view would have us believe, nor is creation the result of some chance mixing of chemical compounds as a Darwinist would have you believe. The continual chance-based building of ever more complex systems is at odds with the thermodynamic principle, which sees entropy as the final outcome over time I would propose that not only is Mr Sokolic’s viewpoint irrational, but it is counter to the truth. Anthony Sturges, Johannesburg

intended for an ancient audience is a mistake, which leads to false perspectives, no matter how relevant the message might be. To understand the stance of the Catholic Church, we need to clarify what is meant by evolution. The word has two properties which are of specific interest to this discussion. Firstly, evolution can be understood in the scientific sense as change over time and biologically as the change to living organisms over time; both underscored by empirical proof. Secondly, and more pertinent, there is the philosophical sense which refers broadly to the motive behind the evolutionary process; it is this aspect of evolution to which Mr Sokolic refers—confounding and fusing both definitions of evolution into one combined and mistaken viewpoint. Evolutionism, which flows from the second property of evolution mentioned above, is broadly speaking a worldview which seeks to explain the origin or existence of all things from a materialistic

community, such as those who deny that the world is threatened by climate change or deny the existence of the Aids virus. I think that in general we must accept what the scientific community says in matters in which it has authority to speak. If we do not we will place the Church in the situation in which it is seen as denying scientific discoveries for religious reasons that have nothing to do with science. We should see evolution as one of the most important ways in which God’s power acts in the world to enable creatures to better adapt to changing conditions and better reflect the wonder and complexity of their being the one who causes them to exist. Far from being a blind force, I believe, following the views of many modern scientists, that evolution has nothing to do with chance but one of the greatest manifestations of the creative and sustaining power of God. Frank Bompas, Johannesburg

more so to be judgmental and critical of others. Sadly, it is that sort of attitude which puts people off our religion. Worse, anyone taking the trouble to look into the etymology of the English word God (capitalised only because of who it refers to) would understand that it is the best we could do to put a label on the One Living Elohim of the Hebrew Scriptures. Yes, Mr Schell, even if I say, “Oh My God”, I would not be taking any name of God in vain. The closest the God-of-Moses came to answering the question is the Hebrew for “I AM” or “I AM WHO AM”. Our ancestors in faith did turn this into a sacred name for “God” and forbade anyone to speak it—they wrote it as YHWH. Until such time as we understand that the word used for “name” in the Hebrew Scriptures incorporated the very personhood of the “be-ing”, many will go on making the same mistake. Rosemary Gravenor, Durban

Name of God?

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.

HE Southern Cross of August 1, was a bumper issue and there is much I would like to respond to. The editor’s clarification of the use of the song title “OMG” in response to Edwin Schell’s letter must show that it is not a good idea to jump to conclusions—and

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PERSPECTIVES

Behind a good homily T O what extent listeners positively respond to a homily is not readily noticed by the preacher—at the most there might be few vigorous nods, an enlightened expression or eyes tightly closed, indicating intense concentration. For the rest, the seeds sown will hopefully germinate in time. After all, the homily is a short, low-key, reflection which, because of its three readings, is wider in its scope of application than the sermon, which being a longer, more focused high-key discourse is more likely to evoke an immediate response. If the homily is sacramental, as pointed out in the first article of this series (available on The Southern Cross website), then it too has its material elements: these being acoustics, diction, form, language and style. These are positioned on a horizontal axis which must intersect with the vertical axis of divine inspiration, contemplation, prayer and study for the communication event to take place. The most sublime and inspired homilies, even if not high-key sermons, still have to be clearly heard, understood and inwardly responded to or else the preaching event was a failure. St Augustine understood this all too well, and he leaned on Aristotle’s logos, pathos and ethos construct. Logos: is the message so constructed that its purpose is clear and logical? Pathos: does the message really move the hearts of the hearers? Ethos: does the message match with the personal witness and reputation of the preacher? Although these proofs were already evident in John Chrysostom’s preaching, it was Augustine who elaborated on them in

manuals for use by preachers and catechists. Augustine bolstered the three proofs by discerning different kinds of audiences and occasions and proposed a preaching style for each—the subdued, the ornamented and the majestic. Whichever of these three forms the preacher uses, and whatever style he may adopt, his aim is to speak persuasively—unless he succeeds in persuading, his eloquence has not received its object (On Christian Doctrine 4.25:58). The crowds freely expressed their approval of Augustine’s sermons with loud acclamations: “Thanks be to God!” or “Praised be Christ!” Fr Hugh Pope OP remarks that Augustine always seems to know what they are thinking and even “catches the murmur of those who recognise a passage from the Bible”. “As we read these sermons—even at a distance in time, they seem almost like a dialogue between preacher and the peo-

Dignity for all of God’s people

ARY Assumed into Heaven is the patronal feast of South Africa. The archdiocese of Cape Town recently celebrated 60 years since our patroness was declared with the theme “Safeguarding the Dignity of All”. Catholic Social Teachings, based on the Gospel and written in response to what’s happening in the world, guides us as Christians on how to respond to the poverty we see around us and how to actively work to change the causes of poverty, of all sorts. Responding to poverty is restoring the dignity of people. The dignity of the human race is one of the underlying principles of the Catholic Social Teachings. The principle of dignity is underpinned by the knowledge that God made everyone in this world, so whenever we look at another person we are seeing a creation of God. Yet God did not just create people, God created people in the image and likeness of himself. This means that people are very special. So all people, as beings created in the likeness of God, have human dignity and the right to be

treated with dignity. The human dignity of all people can only be recognised and protected in a community. This is the teaching of the dignity of the human race. All people must be treated with dignity and respect because they are creations of God and are created in God’s image. Everyone is entitled to their basic human rights. The teaching of the dignity of the human race teaches us to treat each person with dignity and to protect the human rights of all people. As a child, I was very fortunate to have parents who understood what this principle of dignity means. My father instilled in us, during the height of apartheid, that we were not less, lower or anything smaller than anyone else. This has stood me in good stead throughout my life, because I never felt that I was stripped of my dignity, even though the political system was designed to do just that. To safeguard someone’s dignity is to make sure that we do not take away what is due to them as a creature of God. Although unjust regimes and political systems, like apartheid, are guilty of

Margaret Mollett

Point of Preaching

ple,” Fr Pope writes. “He sways with them so that we almost picture them rocking to and fro as he makes point after point. He is not content to think for them, but contrives somehow to think with them.” Even when catechising! Augustine was always at the giving end, but the responses of his hearers, the handclapping, the tears and the groans put him at the receiving end. More tolerant than Chrysostom in the matter of boisterous feedback, Augustine would say: “For so great is the power of a sympathetic disposition of mind, that, as they are affected while we are speaking, and we are affected while they are learning, we have our dwelling in each other; and thus, at one and the same time, they as it were in us speak what they hear, and we in them learn after a certain fashion what we teach” (Instructing the Unlearned 12:17). Augustine’s preaching, impressive as it was, can never be cloned, but it is a good starting point for the renewal of preaching in any age. One rule in any artistic endeavour is that one must first master the rules before creatively playing around with them. Although many successive preachers have had the same persuasive abilities as Augustine, it was Archbishop François Fénélon who best understood the nature and application of logos, pathos and ethos, though he never named them as such. We will see next month how Archbishop Fénelon reached for the natural and tasteful. n For the previous two articles in this six-part series, go to www.scross.co.za/category/ mollett/

Judith Turner

On Faith and Life

human rights abuses on a large scale, we, as individuals, can very easily do this to others, by ourselves. We are all in relationships of many kinds, and this is where we have our experiences of dignity. When we treat a person unjustly, we are not safeguarding that person’s dignity. A boss can quite easily do this to an employee, a colleague can do it just as easily to another colleague, friend to friend, parent to child, child to parent, sibling to sibling, lover to lover, spouse to spouse and neighbour to neighbour. We have to remember, always, that we as well as every single other person are created in the image of God. The mandate given to us in the gospel of Luke is to go out and bring dignity to all people. As lay people we are in the position of being “out there”, in the world where we can truly bring dignity to all: in organisations, factories, schools, hospitals, businesses, shopping malls, social groups, sports clubs, and so on.

The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Should the unborn be baptised? When my granddaughter died in the womb at full term, my priest would not baptise her. He buried her, making it clear her soul had returned to God. He would not do the ritual of baptism, as she had never drawn breath, so was never alive. Either life begins at conception, not the potential for life, or it does not. Can you explain this? It is a hurtful point to me and the family. Name withheld

UMAN life, indeed, begins in the womb at conception, which is why the Church condemns abortion as a grave evil. It is very difficult, therefore, for any of us to accept that human life can also tragically and spontaneously end in the womb. The sorrow that the child’s mother and family have to endure is a deep-felt grief that only they can experience, although others will profoundly empathise with them. It is one of the most distressing events that can happen in family life. Catholics can find some solace at times like this in the rites and prayers of the Church. It is quite understandable then that you wanted not only a funeral service for the child but also the comfort of knowing that she had been baptised like the rest of her family. When the priest explained that baptism was not possible, who can blame you for feeling that the Church had simply added more hurt to that which was already depressing you in your feelings of loss and sorrow? Because baptism is intended to introduce a living person into the company of the People of God here on earth, it has no spiritual benefit for a recipient who is no longer alive. You and your family can’t help feeling a sense of being cheated out of this beautiful sacrament, but your priest is right. God is the beginning and the end of all creation, and he will not have refused the little girl to come home to him. He has his own way of saving us all, and it has not been clearly revealed to us how this is done in the case of non-baptised infants. The Catechism (1261) quotes Jesus’ words, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them” (Mk 10:14), and explains that this allows us to “hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism”.

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

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COMMUNICATION

Called to communicate – and doing it well A bishop has told Catholic communicators that they serve Church as faithful prophets. MARY ANN GARBER and SEAN GALLAGHER report.

ATHOLIC communicators who are filled with faith can serve as prophets by their commitment to spread the good news of Christ to the world, according to a US bishop. Explaining that prophets speak to “the truth of things,” Bishop Christopher Coyne, apostolic administrator of Indianapolis, reminded journalists and communicators at a Catholic Media Conference that the faithful are “called by name, from within the community, and imbued with the Spirit to speak to the truth of Jesus Christ”. “The call to be heralds and prophets of the kingdom of God is one that is shared by virtue of our common baptism,” he said. “Today, as in the past, our community needs to hear that message of truth loud and clear,” he said. “Through the various means of communications, we join in the prophetic act of speaking to the truth of Christ’s salvific mission to all men and women.” Citing his former position as spokesman for the archdiocese of Boston and current role as bishop, Bishop Coyne offered four pieces of advice to the communicators. First, “always take the high road” to effectively fulfil the prophetic role of being a good Catholic communicator. “By this, I mean: always be polite, never respond in kind, do not make any more enemies than one already has in these matters and, most importantly, don’t send an angry e-mail written completely in capital letters until you’ve slept on it overnight,” he said. Second, effective communication requires staying on topic, he said, whether answering

Bishop Christopher Coyne questions from the media or “in the greater scheme of life”. “In the grand scheme of things as Catholic communicators, isn’t the overall topic the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and what that means for the world?” he asked. “Staying on this topic really does allow us to keep our actions and words directed toward him.” Third, in the midst of any task, he suggested that individuals pause and ask: “Is what I am doing building up or tearing down?” “In asking this question, I think of St Paul’s admonition in the Ephesians to say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really help them,” he said.

uch an approach does not mean ignoring wrongdoing, the bishop said, because Jesus was outspoken in his challenges to hypocrisy and sin. “In that sense, we are building up by tearing down when we tear down evil and replace it with the good,” Bishop Coyne explained. “But my admonition is more to avoid at all times the ‘attack ad’ mentality that sadly permeates much of our public discourse today. One way in which this plays out positively is trying to communicate as much as we can what it is we

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are ‘for’ rather than what we are ‘against’.” Finally, he said, the life and teachings of St Thérèse of Lisieux and her philosophy of the “little way” offer a way to keep focused. He suggested that she become the patron saint of the rapidly advancing field of social communications. “In her little way, she tells us to first live out our days with confidence in God’s love and to recognise that each day is a gift in which one’s life can make a difference by the way [we] choose to live it,” he said. “Out of this comes the admonition to see every little task or moment in life as an opportunity to make concrete the love of God. Think about that in terms of what we do. Every news story, every video, every blog post, every tweet or e-mail or response to comment boxes can become an opportunity to manifest God’s love if we commit ourselves to loving,” Bishop Coyne said. Bishop Coyne, a frequent user of Twitter, said that while not all bloggers are official Church representatives, the relatively new but quickly growing form of communication has influenced how the Church spreads its message. He sees himself as a missionary on the Internet. “I approach the new social media both as a means of evangelisation and I’m also trying in my own way to evangelise the new social media, to make it more of Christ, more of God, more of the good.” Although he frequently posted to his blog (thoughtsofa catholicbishop.blogspot.com), as a priest and early on after his episcopal ordination, he said he posts items less frequently in part because blogging is more of a passive medium that people must choose to visit. “In terms of Facebook and Twitter, it’s going out,” Bishop Coyne said. “Now, granted, people have to follow you. But there is more movement [going] out there, which I think is more in keeping with [Christ’s command to] go out to all the world and spread the good news. It’s more directive, from me.”—CNS

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The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

Communicating where the people are I

N a world increasingly dominated by media and communications, the Church is called to join in. If that means meeting her people online, on air, in print, through cellular phones and in messages 140 characters long, then that is where she must be. “The general function of the Church is religious communication. This applies to the ministry within the Church and to her ministry to the outside world. Communication happens by the means that are available and used by people,” says Bishop Michael Wüstenberg of Aliwal North. This means, that if the Church wants to relay a message, it must do so through the media of the people. A public address or a sermon, for example, normally does not reach those in hospitals or prisons, and a church bulletin does not reach those who are not in churches. One has to look for other means of communication, the bishop said. “Websites or pages are a complementary means of presenting the work of a parish or diocese. It gives easy access and facilitates the search for information. A user has the chance to just look around or also to get into contact. This is what we do in our diocese. Links offered on such sites give a further indication about what is important for the owner of the homepage,” the bishop says. “I think the media plays a very important role in the Church. Media and technology is what young people can relate to, so if we want them to understand our Church and be interested, why not link it to media,” says Nonjabulo Mlotshwa, a youth leader and catechist from St Joseph Howick, KwaZuluNatal. Ms Mlotshwa does not limit her message and interaction to the classroom. She is particularly active on the Catholic Youth Dundee Diocese Facebook page where she posts motivational comments and engages in discussions with other group members. In addition, Ms Mlotshwa says the Catholic Youth SA Facebook page has more than 3 500 young members from all over the country. The page is a place “where they communicate, share concerns, ask questions, and that grows our Catholic faith”. These communication hubs are not just the domain of the country’s youth, but are also frequented by priests, religious sisters and Church workers. For many, pastoral work is no longer performed exclusively in person. However, Bishop Wüstenberg warns that the new technologies must not replace personal contacts or social gatherings, “but it

Claire Mathieson

A Church of Hope and Joy

can support them and keep contacts alive”. The bishop says he hopes ministries in his diocese will make more intensive use of keeping contact via cellphones, adding that even biblical ministry can be done, in some form, through that medium. This can already be seen in various Church organisations that send out daily reflections to cellphones, newsletters via email or even present the Stations of the Cross on your smart phone, or make available your favourite newspaper on your tablet—the Church is meeting her people where they are, and often it’s on the move.

t’s not only the laity that are on the move, but also Church leaders. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, who was interviewed while on his way to Rome, says everyone in the Church should be making use of communication tools around us. From newspapers, to radio or Internet, “it is not only individual priests or deacons, or for that matter catechists and catechism teachers, who should be using the social media. It is getting clearer by the day that everyone who has had genuine and true experiences of Christ in their lives should be passing on the Good News in every way possible.” Cardinal Napier says the benefit of using media is that it relays information, but it also reaches far more people than one-on-one communication. “Catholic media exists to promote the mission of the Church, namely to preach the Gospel, teach what Christ commissioned his Church to say and do in his name, assist his disciples to live the Gospel as truly and effectively and fruitfully as possible,” he says.

For Lehlohonolo Mahogen from St Martin de Porres in Kanana Orkney, Klerksdorp diocese, the Church’s presence in the media is a means of seeing the Church in action. “I think it’s important that the Church maintain a visible media presence as now people are going visual all over the world. You have a high number of teens, youth and young adults who are not regular churchgoers, but they frequent Facebook and other sites on the net. So what better way to get their attention than the Church going visual or online?” Howick’s Ms Mlotshwa says

that while most dioceses and large organisations have online portals, many more do not. This limits their communication potential. Having an online presence “is convenient and affordable”, she says. While it is not suitable for everyone, Ms Mlotshwa believes the Church should at least be trying. “[The Internet] is so much easier than any other ways of communication. Imagine if we didn't have websites and Facebook, how much would the Church be spending in posting the information people need? Now you can just go to the different websites and download the information you need.” However, not all South Africans have the benefit of the new media. Bucy Ntsuntswana from Lady Frere parish in Queenstown says many people in her diocese don’t have access to media or the Internet. Despite this she believes that the Church needs to be present in all forms of media because there are many who do have access. As Education for Life facilitator, Ms Ntsuntswana communicates online and in person—she says she meets the youth where they are, adding that more and more Queenstown youth are getting online. Similarly, the diocese of Polokwane covers a large rural area where many do not have access to Church media, but the youth are finding ways to communicate—and there is room for the Church to join in, says Fr Bernard Madiba. “The Internet is very helpful. You just need to look at the youngsters, the majority of whom are computer literate— they use it and so should we.” Bishop Wüstenberg says increasingly “our youth in the rural areas use cellphones and sites that are accessible”. He says that when they share photos online, young Catholics especially show that they belong, that they were present at a Church event and are even proud of this. That, the bishop says, is something unique and exciting about social media. Fr Anthony Cloete , vicar-general of the mostly rural KeimoesUpington diocese, says many of the priests are active online. “Our bishop [Edward Risi OMI] is on Facebook and he communicates with many there. Many of our priests and lay leaders are also online,” Fr Cloete says. Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba of Umzimkulu is the apostolic administrator of Kokstad. As a bishop overseeing two dioceses, he uses online communication to interact with others—especially those with whom he cannot have regular direct contact. Continued on page 11

The Facebook page of the archdiocese of Pretoria

A young woman tweets during a church event. Many laity, clergy and bishops acknowledge that the new media is a new field of ministry and that the Church has to engage with it.

The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

COMMUNICATIONS

Apologetics: Fun, but flawed HERESY: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity, by Michael Coren. Signal, 2012. 256pp. ISBN 978-0771023156 Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher ANADIAN media personality and author Michael Coren has built a career on being provocative. A social conservative, he has had an onoff relationship with the Catholic Church. At present, he is batting zealously for Rome. His new book of apologetics, Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity, reflects much of that Catholic grounding, though it is clearly intended to appeal to all Christians. And the enemy, the ”they” of the subtitle, is the atheist who tells lies about Christians. And therein resides the first problem with Heresy: just as Coren lumps together all Christians—from Catholics to those who hate Catholics—so does he treat all atheists as some vague but monolithic entity, thereby perpetuating the same error he accuses atheists of making. With so broad a target, he can’t fail to hit a few bullseyes. He shoots down several strawmen along the way, but does anybody really need to be persuaded that The Da Vinci Code is a load of hokum? And does the historically so self-evidently mistaken idea that Hitler and the Nazis were Christians have any traction outside the lunatic fringe? Still, that discussion brings up one of the best points Coren makes in his book: “Evil has

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Communicators of the Gospel 46th World Communication Day 2012 Guided by the spirit world is a ofThe the Digital New Evangelization “Silent Revolution” that and in communion is changing the world. with all the ministries The Church in the Church, asks all Christian we spreadcommunicators the to in this Word be Of present God world and to witness to through the Media the humanity of the of Communications. Gospel’s vision of life.

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been committed in the name of Christianity, just as it has in the name of non-Christianity or anti-Christianity. Evil is committed in the name of pretty much everything. It demonstrates the fallen nature of humanity, and precisely why we need Christ.” If only the book was as good as that throughout. A few pages later Coren admiringly quotes Rabbi David Dalin’s absurd statement that all those liberal Catholics—the enemy within, apparently—pursue the libel of Pope Pius XII as an anti-Semite as a device to “smash traditional Catholic teaching”. It’s not the only time that Coren glances with angry suspicion at fellow Catholics. Coren is very good in his discourses on questions such as the existence of God and on life issues, especially the moral problems with euthanasia. It will not persuade many atheists, but it might convince the undecided whom the likes of Richard Dawkins are so actively courting. However, Coren misses several opportunities to suitably confront intellectually dishonest canards, such as the notion that religious faith is irrational and inane, that it is anti-science or that it is anti-progress. Instead of engaging with these statements, which is not terribly difficult to do, he offers a

roll-call of very clever Christian writers, scientists and pioneers of social progress. That line, however, is not going to win any arguments. Here one presumes that Coren is aiming to provide Christians with ammunition in their debates with atheists, or those who are attracted by the atheist philosophy. If so, then the absence of an index is an inexcusable omission. In apologetics, the defender of the Church ought to be crystal clear in proposing tight counter-arguments, and absolutely not include easily disputed error. Coren occasionally fails in that requirement. In his first chapter he demolishes the already feeble case that Jesus didn’t exist and that the Church is a later invention. He refers to all the right extrabiblical sources—and then quotes the discredited quote attributed to Josephus Flavius that describes Jesus as the Christ, a passage generally accepted, even by Church historians, to be a later addition by an overzealous Christian scribe. Coren tends to distort and generalise atheists’ arguments against Christianity much in the same way as he accuses atheists of distorting and generalising Christianity. As an entertaining pointscoring polemic that dispenses with accuracy when that gets in the way, Heresy is great fun. As a serious contribution to the body of apologetics, however, the book is sadly limited.

A timely primer for religious vocations WHAT DO YOU WANT OF ME LORD? by Sr Joyce Gabriel OP. Mariannhill Mission Press, 2012. 93pp. Reviewed by Thandi Bosman N her timely book What Do You Want Of Me, Lord?, Dominican Sister Joyce Gabriel covers issues of vocations, vows, religious life as well as examples of priests and religious sisters in this book. This book can help prepare young people who are hearing a call to the religious life. Sr Gabriel, of the Religious Vocation Promotion Team in the diocese of Bethlehem, frames her text in a South African context, writing about the role the Church played in apartheid. She then moves towards vocations and, indirectly, to how religious can

help today’s society. Sr Gabriel also interviews several S o u t h African religious about how they discerned their vocation and why they dedicated their life to the Church. Some of their stories are written in a narrative while others follow a dialogue format. In this way, the book can help young people be open to hearing God’s call and understand the meaning of vocation. The subtitle, “You are young – This is for you”, confirms that Sr Gabriel is addressing young people, challenging them to lis-

ten and to respond. This easy-to-read book includes a helpful questionanswer format. The questions came from young people whom Sr Gabriel has encountered through her work. She addresses these questions with explanations, bible verses and illustrations of saints’ lives, as an example of people following a vocation and striving for holiness. Sr Gabriel discusses missionaries in South Africa, and offers a chapter on prayer. The questions for reflections at the end of some chapters can aid daily reflection or group reflection. The book could have done with stricter editing, but this is an informative, simple and helpful contribution to understanding religious life.

576 AM

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The Southern Cross, August 29 to September 4, 2012

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Year 2

Sunday, September 2, 22nd Sunday 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 Monday, September 3, St Gregory the Great 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Psalm 119: 97-102, Luke 4:16-30 Tuesday, September 4, feria 1 Corinthians 2:10-16, Psalm 145: 8-14, Luke 4:31-37 Wednesday, September 5, feria 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Psalm 33: 12-15,20-21, Luke 4:38-44 Thursday, September 6, feria 1 Corinthians 3:18-23, Psalm 24: 1-6, Luke 5:1-11 Friday, September 7, feria 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Psalm 37: 3-6, 27-28, 39-40 Luke 5:33-39 Saturday, September 8, Birthday of Our Lady Micah 5: 1-4 or Romans 8: 28-30, Psalm 13: 6-7, Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23 Sunday, September 9, 23rd Sunday Isaiah 35:4-7, Psalm 146: 7-10, James 2:1-5, Mark 7:31-37

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Communicating where the people are

continued from page 9 “Wisely used it could become the forum of discussion and sharing on the issues of faith, guidance of young people, as well as to reach those who are ordinarily not coming to the church—those who are searching for the meaning in their life and values on which they could built up their future,” Bishop Dziuba says of the Internet. This is the space which the Church should be occupying—even when the media can sometimes be daunting, challenging or simply incorrect. “Some might have reservations about the free flow of personal opinions through social media. Of course they became magnified and globally accessible in this virtual space. But still they remain what they are, as they do in normal conversations,” says Bishop Wüstenberg. Cardinal Napier says that although the Church has had some negative interactions in both social and traditional media, it is important that it is not “afraid of the media; even after bad experiences, keep coming back”. “I learned that establishing a relationship of truth and honesty with the media goes a long way towards getting them to work with you rather than against you. Be straight and honest at all times, but say what you want to say,” the cardinal advises. Bishop Wüstenberg says being interviewed in traditional media is another way of communicating. “Petrol attendants approach me sometimes when they heard something I said on the radio.” And while newspapers are “rather scarce in our area” and have only a few subscribers, readers “normally share their copy with a number of other people”, meaning the message is spread even where an official circulation is not large. “We need to be present there to contribute our view on the broader discussion,” Bishop Wüstenberg says. Either way, from traditional media to social media, the Church must be present. From the farmer listening to Radio Veritas on his portable radio, to the teenager tweeting her priest, to academics discussing the rosary in online forums—the Church is accessible. And where she is not, she must strive to be.

Southern CrossWord solutions

SOLUTIONS TO 513. ACROSS: 1 Bishop, 4 Gabble, 9 Clerical dress, 10 Loiters, 11 Nasty, 12 Plate, 14 Beads, 18 Syrup, 19 Brigand, 21 Enclosed order, 22 Noster, 23 Askers. DOWN: 1 Buckle, 2 Special graces,3 Olive, 5 Andante, 6 Blessed candle, 7 Essays, 8. Marsh, 13 Topcoat, 15 Astern, 16 Abbey, 17 Adores, 20 Irons.

Pray that AFRICA may draw closer to the HEART OF CHRIST 2 Chron 7:14 Matthew 7:7-12

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

IN MEMORIAM

BLAIS—Andrê Joseph. Very Rev Father OMI, died August 7, 1992. In loving memory of our beloved Father and founder of The Servants and Handmaids of Christ the Priest. Your example of holiness, love, kindness and compassion will always be our inspiration. Much loved, never forgotten. May you continue to watch over your sons and daughters. Forever in our daily prayers and Holy Mass. Rest in peace Father, pray for us and make powerful intercession for us before the throne of God. From your beloved Servants and Handmaids of Christ the Priest. FERNANDES—Narcizo. The light from our family went out on 6/09/2002. The voice we loved is still, a place is vacant in our home which no one can fill. For his life Lord, we thank you. An amazing warm, loving and giving husband, father and grandfather. You gave us your all and never counted the costs. Your memory will live in our hearts forever, until we meet again. Your ever loving wife Maureen, children and grandchildren. SETSUBI—Monica Maleshwane. Recalled into eternity on Assumption Eve (Sunday Morning) 1994 after farewell to parents, youngest brother and your youngest brother enroute home to visit. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken. Blessed be His name. May perpetual light shine on our darling Shwane. Your family.

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PRAYERS

HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who

invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. RCP O HOLY ST JUDE, apostle

and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke your special patronage in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power, come to my assistance. Help me in my present urgent petition. In return I promise to make your name known and cause for you to be invoked. St Jude pray for us and all who invoke your aid. Amen. Three Our Fathers, three Hail Mary and three Glory be. Thank you St Jude for prayers answered. RM.

THANKS

GRATEFUL thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Mother Mary and Ss Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Martin de Porres for prayers answered. RCP

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23rd Sunday: September 9 Readings: Isaiah 35:4-7, Psalm 146:7-10, James 2:1-5, Mark 7:31-37

HAT difference does God make? This is a question that our allegedly secular society may well propose to us today; and they can reasonably expect us to offer a response. Next Sunday’s readings offer us some possible answers. In the first reading , there is a joyful vision of the return of Israel from Exile. Remember that for those 6th-century BC Israelites, the Exile apparently proclaimed the failure of all God’s promises; for it meant the end of the Temple, of the Holy City, and of the Davidic monarchy, all of which had seemed to be guaranteed by God; and in that case, what were God’s promises worth? To his compatriots who longed to continue to find meaning in God’s word, the unnamed prophet has a message aimed at the “fearful of heart”: “Be strong—don’t be afraid.” And why are they not to be afraid? Because “Look! Your God of vindication is coming.” Then he offers a series of visions of what the presence of God will look like: “The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unblocked, the lame shall leap like a gazelle, the tongue of the dumb shall

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What a difference God makes

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

exult for joy.” After that, some lovely desert metaphors complete the picture: “Waters shall burst forth in the desert, and wadis in the wilderness”—those of you who live in dry country are well-fitted to feel the power of this image. So God is one who achieves things that we cannot even imagine. This is the God who is hailed in the psalm for next Sunday, which is the first of the Halleluiah songs that end the Psalter; we listen as the poet sings about what God is like: “The One who keeps integrity forever, who does justice for the oppressed, gives bread to the hungry, the Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord raises up those who are bowed down.” Five times the singer mentions God’s sacred and unpronounceable name, linked

with a host of activities on behalf of those who are in the greatest possible trouble, including “the orphan and the widow”, and the psalm concludes with an immense shout of praise: “The Lord shall reign forever, your God, O Sion, from generation to generation. Halleluiah!” We need to make this exuberant praise our own, this week, and live it out. In the se c o n d re ad in g , the letter of James warns that one important difference is that God is not a snob, and that if you want to have “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ of glory” then we are not to behave in the way that he amusingly depicts, of welcoming the man in a smart suit, and being rude to the poor person who comes into our church. “God”, he reminds us, “chose the poor of this world, wealthy in faith, and heirs to the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him.” This is a very different God. The g ospel for next Sunday starts with deliberate oddity: “From the regions of Tyre, he came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of the boundaries of the Decapolis” (look at a map to see just how

Big riches: What would Jesus say? T HE rich are getting richer, and we are almost beyond surprise at how rich that is. Every day, our newspapers, our televisions, and the Internet report financial compensations that, even just a generation ago, were unimaginable. Corporate executives receiving a hundred million dollar bonuses, an athlete signing a contract for a hundred million dollars, entertainers signing contracts for tens of millions, people in information technology earning billions, and ordinary folks everywhere are joining the millionaire club. And what’s our reaction? Difficult to judge. We express indignation and protest that this is out of proportion, even as we nurse a not-so-secret envy: I wish it was me! We adore the rich and famous, pure and simple, and in the end, despite our envy, we grant them their due: Good for them! They worked for it. They have the talent. They deserve all they get! But how should we view being rich from a faith perspective? Jesus warned that riches are dangerous, dangerous to the soul and dangerous to society. So what should be our attitude towards having wealth, both as this pertains to the very rich and as it pertains to us? First, it is good to avoid a number of things. To begin with, we must never idealise poverty and see wealth as a bad thing in itself. God is rich, not poor, and heaven will not be a place of poverty. Poverty is something to be overcome, eradicated. The poor don’t enjoy being poor.

Conrad

083 640 5848

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

Next, we must avoid too-quickly politicising both poverty and wealth. Our lens must always be moral rather than political, though obviously both wealth and poverty have huge political implications. Finally, before attacking the possession of wealth, we must ensure that we are free from embittered moralising which, whatever its moral guise, is little more than envy. What principles should guide us in terms of an attitude towards wealth? Underlying everything else, we must always keep in mind Jesus’ warning that the possession of wealth is dangerous, that it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Moreover that warning should be a huge aid in helping us to accept some other principles: The possession of wealth is not a bad thing of itself; it is how we use it and what it can do to our hearts that can be bad. Jesus makes a distinction between the generous rich and the miserly rich. The former are good because they imitate God, the latter are bad. When we are generous, particularly in a very prodigious way, riches won’t close our hearts. But the reverse is also true. All miserli-

ness, all stinginess, all lack of generosity closes our hearts in ways that make it hard to enter the kingdom of heaven, or genuine human community to put in purely human terms. And so the challenge for all of us who are rich in any way is to continually give our wealth away. We need to do this, not because the poor need what we give them, though they do; we need to do this so that we can remain healthy. Philanthropy, of every kind, is more about the health of the one giving than the health of the one receiving. The generous rich can inherit the kingdom, the miserly rich cannot. The poor are everyone’s ticket into heaven—and to human health. Finally, this too must always be kept in mind as we view wealth, both our own and that of the very rich. What we have is not our own, it’s given to us in trust. God is the sole owner of all that is and the world properly belongs to everyone. What we claim as our own, private property, is what has been given to us in trust, to steward for the good of everyone. It’s not really ours. Further still, we need to remember that it wasn’t just our own ingenuity and hard work that gave us what we view as our own. The fruits of our labour are also the fruits of other peoples’ labour. We too easily lose sight of that. Here’s how Bill Gates Sr puts it: “Society has an enormous claim upon the fortunes of the wealthy. This is rooted not only in most religious traditions, but also in an honest accounting of society’s substantial investment in creating fertile ground for wealth-creation. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all affirm the right of individual ownership and private property, but there are moral limits imposed on absolute private ownership of wealth and property. Each tradition affirms that we are not individuals alone but exist in community—a community that makes claims on us. “The notion that ‘it is all mine’ is a violation of these teachings and traditions. Society’s claim on individual accumulated wealth is...rooted in the recognition of society’s direct and indirect investment in the individual’s success. In other words, we didn’t get there on our own.” (Sojourners, January-February, 2003) Indeed, none of us did! If we remember that we will more easily be generous.

odd this is), possibly indicating, daringly, that God is a God also of non-Jews. Certainly, as in the first reading, the God whom Jesus represents is on the side of those whom society excludes: “One who is deaf and with difficulty in speaking.” Now watch what happens; Jesus is asked to touch this person, and so contract whatever impurity they might be carrying. Then he takes him away in private (giving him a very superior status), and performs a series of remarkably intimate acts: “He thrust his fingers into his ears, and spat and touched his tongue”. Then he prays (“looked up to Heaven and groaned”), and Mark accurately cites Jesus’ Galilean Aramaic: “Ephphatha— be opened”. We wait agog to see what will happen, and are unsurprised to find that “his hearings were opened and the chain of his tongue was untied”. The gospel ends with universal acclaim: “He has done everything well,” meaning, presumably, that Jesus matches the vision of our first reading. Certainly for all these readings, the difference that God makes is immense.

Southern Crossword #513

ACROSS

1. See to this senior cleric (6) 4. Fast-talking preacher may do it (6) 9. Ecclesiastical garb (8,5) 10. Mooches around as Les is involved in riot (7) 11. Sat around in New York. Not pleasant (5) 12. Dish for vehicle's registration number (5) 14. Rosary counters (5) 18. Sticky liquid from the maple (5) 19. Descriptive of Barabbas (Jn 18) (7) 21. Religious society that never goes outside? (8,5) 22. It prayerfully follows Pater (6) 23. They make requests (6)

DOWN

1. It could be on belt or shoe (6) 2. Particular favours from God (7,6) 3. Fruit of peace? (5) 5. Date Ann at a slow tempo (7) 6. Easter Vigil’s holy light (7,6) 7. Yes, ass may compose them (6) 8. Waterlogged area (5) 13. Outer application of paint above the rest? (7) 15. St Rena at the back of the ship (6) 16. Home of monks or nuns (5) 17. Worships as so dear (6) 20. Smooth vestments using these (5) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

ELINDA asked her catechism class to draw pictures of their favourite Bible stories. She was puzzled by Mitchell’s picture, which showed four people on an aeroplane, so she asked him which story it was meant to represent. “The flight to Egypt,” said Mitchell. “I see...and that must be Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus,” Melinda said, “but who’s the fourth person?” “Oh, that’s Pontius-the Pilot.” Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.