The Southern Cross - 130206

www.scross.co.za

February 6 to February 12, 2013

Police honoured at national prayer day

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Reg No. 1920/002058/06

Daswa: road to sainthood Part 2

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No 4811

Books on Lent, grief and coming home Page 10

SACBC to speak up in SA

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

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HE January plenary session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has concluded and with it a new executive body comes into being, as well as a new direction for the year ahead.

Fr Grant Emmanuel, associate secretary general of the SACBC, said some of the key issues that came to the fore during the plenary session included the bishops’ intention for the Church to be a loud voice in the country, making statements, challenges and giving guidance to Catholics and nonCatholics.

“The bishops were very clear about wanting the voice of the Church to be heard—not only when it is needed to challenge something in the political world, but also that Catholic social teaching is made known, is out there as

a benchmark for South Africans to live from.”

Similarly, Archbishop William Slattery who was appointed spokesman at the plenary session, said the bishops wanted to present the spirit of the Gospel in everyday life in “a way that would be helpful to the people of God”.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town begins his tenure as president of the SACBC and with him new appointments were made for the general secretariat. New appointments include Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberly who takes over Justice&Peace; Bishop Dabula Mpako of Queenstown who takes over the running of the country’s seminaries; Bishop Jan de Groef of Bethlehem moves into Evangelisation; Bishop Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington will chair the liturgy department; and Cardinal Wilfrid Napier will chair the finance department.

Fr Emmanuel said three clear objectives from the plenary session will mark the Church’s work going forward. “The formation of new priests and the ongoing formation of established priests will be key.”

In addition, Fr Emmanuel said the bishops felt strongly about the ongoing formation of the laity— ensuring the people of the Church are well equipped to assist with the work being done and take ownership of their Church. “Family life and family ministry will also be a key theme for the bishops,” said the associate secretary general.

The January plenary session was a time of reflection for the bishops. Fr Emmanuel reported the bishops were less concerned with office reports and more focused on thinking and praying together.

Archbishop Slattery said it was a time for the bishops to strengthen each other and to share “before being redeployed to their

new departments”.

Fr Emmanuel said there was a great sense of solidarity at the meeting. “I was amazed and inspired by how many of the ‘junior bishops’ were active in the discussion.” He noted that the bishops were united in their prayers and enthusiasm to see the Church make an impact in the country.

“As this is the time of the New Evangelisation, where we need to look with new eyes, the plenary session was like a new dawn and our work will have to rise out of the spirit of Jesus,” said Archbishop Slattery.

“Talking about this ‘new dawn’ and our new direction means focusing all our work and coordinating”—a hard task as Khanya House is home to 27 offices and 30 dioceses, but one that the bishops are keen to see make a positive and noticeable mark in South Africa today.

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria is appointed as SACBC spokesman

Tweets and retweets

BY CINdY WOOdEN

I

N his first month on Twitter, Pope Benedict sent two dozen mini-messages in nine languages, generating more than 270 000 comments and responses from other Twitter users, according to a study conducted by an Italian Jesuit magazine and an Italian newmedia consulting firm.

The study said more than 200 000, about 82%, of the responses were simply retweets or “neutral” comments on what the pope tweeted, in 140 or fewer characters through his @Pontifex accounts.

The magazine reported 26 426 “positive” tweets, which the study divided into categories, such as:  26.5% were retweets of the pope’s message with a brief comment, or cited the pope’s words.  25% thanked the pope or

Palms are engulfed in flames during a palm-burning ceremony. Ashes from the fire are used in Ash Wednesday services. The penitential season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, this year on February 13. (Photo: Gregory A Shemitz, Long Island Catholic/CNS)

wished him well.  15.6% were prayers, particularly after the pope mentioned suffering in Nigeria and Syria.  12% were “welcome to Twitter” or other comments on the pope joining the social network.  7.6% asked the pope questions about meaning and life.  7% were comments defending the pope.

The analysts defined 22 542 tweets as “negative”:  26% mentioned paedophilia or the clerical sex abuse scandal.  20% were criticisms of the perceived power or wealth of the Vatican.  16% were ironic or satirical.  8.5% mentioned gay marriage.  2.5% directly criticised the faith.

An analysis of the pope’s Twitter traffic has been undertaken.

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The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

LOCAL

Two Hurley commemorations STAFF REPORTER

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ADIO Veritas is to broadcast the new biography Denis Hurley: Truth to Power from Monday, February 11, to mark the ninth anniversary of the archbishop’s death on February 13, 2004. The readings will be aired each weekday morning from 08:30 to 08:45 on Matins, the breakfast show presented

by Radio Veritas director, Fr Emil Blaser OP. The reader will be Douglas Irvine, emeritus professor of political studies at the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal). Professor Irvine chaired the Durban archdiocesan Justice & Peace commission from 1971 to 1984 during which time he got to know Archbishop Hurley well.

At present he is the founding regional coordinator of We Are All

Church South Africa, Gauteng, which has adopted Archbishop Hurley’s motto, “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”.

“Archbishop Denis Hurley’s life and work are a jewel in the crown of the Catholic Church in this country” said Olinda Orlando, deputy director of Radio Veritas, “and we are grateful for the opportunity to spread the good news about him on the airwaves! This series of readings forms a part of our special Year of Faith programming—if there ever was a person who made the faith real and alive for others it was Archbishop Hurley”.

The biography is an abridged version of Paddy Kearney’s Guardian of the Light. Copies can be ordered at the author’s discount price of R150 per copy + R25 for packaging and postage to anywhere in South Africa, from Hester Joseph 083 799 4136 or

from hester.joseph@diakonia.org.za.

CDs of the complete set of readings will be made available by Radio Veritas for use by the elderly and by Tape Aids for the Blind.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel cathedral in Durban will celebrate a special “Hurley Weekend” on February 9 and 10 as its annual commemoration of the archbishop’s death.

The guest preacher for all Masses will be Auxiliary Bishop Barry Wood on the theme “Conversion and Justice”. The Masses are at 17:30 on Saturday and 08:00, 10:30 and 13:00 on Sunday. Members of other parishes are welcome to attend.

The weekend will begin with a candlelight procession to the archbishop’s tomb with prayers and hymns.

Hymns composed by the archbishop will also be used at all the Masses and the acknowledgments

STAFF REPORTER

STAFF REPORTER

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F

Four new dominican novices at the dominican gathering at La Verna, Vanderbijlpark. ning—short term, mid-term and long term,” said Fr Emil Blaser OP. Among priorities suggested, lecturing, formation of young Dominicans, justice and peace, media, and expansion to new areas where many vocations are emerging were all highlights.

During the proceedings Fr Mike Deeb, who is the vicariate’s promoter for justice, presented a con-

cise programme for the ministry. “Justice and peace was not something different or apart from the essential mission of the Church.

Justice and peace has been the focus of the Dominicans for several decades,” he said.

“The suggested plans will be discussed and decided upon by the provincial and his council,” said Fr Blaser.

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HE Catholic Men’s Initiative is a group of men who promote various projects across the archdiocese of Cape Town that may “assist in the spiritual growth and formation of all Christian, Catholic men”.

The group, established in 2009, is open to all parishes and falls under the authority of the newly established chaplain for Men’s Ministries, Fr Paul Taylor.

Currently, the group focuses on retreat weekends away. This year’s event, inspired by the Year of Faith, saw various speakers address the delegates on relevant topics around the theme, “Growing in faith as fathers, brothers, servants and sons”.

The group’s Nigel Copley said the men are “challenged and encouraged to continue to grow in their walk of faith”.

Mr Copley said he hoped parishes would appoint representatives to deal directly with the organising committee and help encourage fathers and sons to attend future weekends.

“It is a safe environment to en-

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People wishing to make Retreats outside these dates are welcome to do so.

Professor douglas Irvine will be reading Denis Hurley: Truth to Power on Radio Veritas from February 11.

Men’s ministry promoted

New blood for Dominicans OUR young men began their novitiate and were clothed in the Dominican habit by their novicemaster, Fr Mark James, at a special gathering held at La Verna in Vanderbijlpark.

The four new novices, Moses Chanda and Fredrick Mulubwa from Zambia, Edward Murambwa from Zimbabwe and Lebogang Lentsoane from Soweto, were welcomed by 30 Dominican friars who were gathered for their annual general meeting.

In addition, three outgoing novices made their profession into the hands of their provincial, Fr Sikhosiphi Mgoza.

Brothers Wilbroad Mulenga, Evans Zulu and Mbongiseni Nyathi will now proceed to Pietermaritzburg to continue with their studies towards the priesthood.

The order has forged a path forward for the year. “The friars spent two full days intensely discussing and working towards their apostolic plan which looked at forward plan-

book which records donations made to the Denis Hurley Centre Project between 2009 and 2012 will be brought up in each offertory procession and special prayers said for all donors.

A public meeting will be held in the cathedral on the Sunday afternoon at 15:30 to report back on progress of the Denis Hurley Centre, on which construction is about to commence. During this meeting, the choir of St Augustine’s school will lead the signing; there will be a procession of organisations placing flowers on the archbishop’s tomb in the Cathedral’s lady chapel; Cardinal Wilfrid Napier will give a motivational address; and Archbishop Hurley books and memorabilia will be on sale. To conclude the afternoon, refreshments will be available in the piazza.

Preached Retreats March 11 to 20 Fr Cyril S Malinga Theme Commitment to Jesus Christ To my Faith and my Vocation June 30 to July 9 Fr John Lewis Dimba CSSP Theme Finding Freedom from my Five Worst Enemies

gage with other men facing similar difficult issues to yours, to know you are not alone, and to help pave the way to being able to share those burdens with others in our own families.”

Mr Copley added that it was also a good opportunity to meet with brothers in faith from across the archdiocese to share programmes, ideas and initiatives.

Interested parties are invited to join the group on Saturday, February 23, at Lansdowne Hall at Our Lady Help of Christians from 09:0011:00 for a morning devoted to testimonies from the weekend, outlining the next weekend and some of the initiatives the men will be looking at this year.

In addition, priests, PPC chairs and the families of all the men who attended the weekend are invited to come along and find out why the group believes the focus on being men of faith is so important. n For more information on the group or to find out about future weekend retreats, contact info@catholicmen.com or Shawn Diab on 082 7829 967.

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The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

LOCAL

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Mass support for police Cardinal: It’s

BY MATHIBELA SEBOTHOMA

time to change

T

HOUSANDS of Catholics throughout Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland gathered to pray for officials responsible for safeguarding citizens’ lives on National Prayer Day for Police—a day to honour the heroic actions of the police and to pray for decline in the “unacceptable rate of crime in the country”.

At the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the police turned to God to assist them in their fight against crime in the presence of Archbishop William Slattery, National Police Commissioner Ria Phiyega and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

As a papal-appointed military bishop to the South African National Defence Force, Archbishop Slattery is automatically responsible for the wellbeing of the Catholic members of the police, army and correctional services in Southern Africa.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) approved that the last Sunday of January be commemorated as National Prayer Day for Police. Since 2005, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has dedicated January 27 as a day to honour heroic police and remember police who died on duty.

The dedicated day remembers the sacrifices that “the men and women in blue” have made and continue to make as they provide safety for all who live in South Africa.

According to Fr Mike Deeb of the SACBC Justice & Peace department “the Church must be much more involved and proactive in the fight against crime”.

Various events took place around

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

‘I

Colonel Maokeng Makhafola (SAPS) and Captain Esther Etsane (SANdF) leading the liturgical procession to pray for the police. Out of uniform Makhafola is the chairperson of the maintenance committee and Etsane is the coordinator of catechists in Saint Joseph the Worker parish, Pretoria West. the country. In Embalenhle parish, diocese of Dundee, Fr Solly Mokoena invited the police to address the congregation on crime prevention.

Members of the Justice & Peace Commission in the diocese of Mariannhill met with representatives of police stations in their region.

The police displayed posters and distributed pamphlets to the parishioners.

According to Fr S’milo Mngadi, the coordinator of the Justice & Peace Commission in the diocese of Mariannhill, parishioners were moved when Constable Nxumalo and Warrant Officer Sibiya testified about their difficulties, pains and struggles as members of the SAPS. Fr Mngadi appealed to the community “to unite in the fight against crime”. He said to be a po-

lice offficer is a vocation from God. Fr Bernard Seane of Kimberley diocese warned South Africans about cultural crimes committed against women and girls especially in rural communities. “The way men treat women is unfair. The police must arrest such men to give them a lesson that women are also made in the image and likeness of God.” Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberly told the congregation of St George, Saulsville, to support the police.

“The police were enemies during the apartheid regime. But now they are our sisters and brothers. Let us pray for them.”

Prison chaplain at Leeukop in Johannesburg, Fr Jordan Ngondo, prays that “Catholics appreciate the role of security officials in the community. These guys protect our lives 24/7” he said.

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A group of readers is preparing audio tapes of excerpts from The Southern Cross, including editorials, selected articles, and regular features, as well current affairs in the Church. Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this service, available for an annual subscription fee of only R50, is invited to contact Mr len Pothier, 8 The spinney Retirement Village, Main Rd, Hout bay, 7806 or phone 021-790 1317.

The Post Office will deliver and return tapes without charge. Should you know of any interested blind person, please inform them of this service.

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F I were a true Christian my answer to the question: What is wrong with South Africa, would be: I am. Yes, I am what is wrong with South Africa because I have not always thought, said or done what was needed, when it was needed, and the way it was needed,” were the opening lines of a strongly worded letter from Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, printed in the Sunday Independent.

“I am what is wrong because I have not challenged those in leadership when they’ve behaved like rulers who decide for the people what is good for them, rather than like governors who do all they can to implement what the people say they need to live a decent human life…and, I am what is wrong because I have not taken the opportunity to stand up for the truth, when it was being abused and violated.”

The cardinal said there were too many areas where South Africans had not acted for change. “Unpresidential behaviour” of the country’s leadership had left many disillusioned and downright ashamed. “We are uncertain if being president of his party, of his tribal group, of his family, comes before being president of all South Africans regardless of race, colour, creed or social class, including the poor.”

Cardinal Napier said it was clear that after two decades of experience, a more democratic way of electing the leader was needed. “It is neither just nor fair to have an

elite group of a couple of hundred members of parliament elect one who ought to represent the whole population of 50 million.”

In his letter, Cardinal Napier said he is one of many that are upset about being victims of a new race classification which is passed off and applied as “justifiable discrimination because it is meant to benefit the previously disadvantaged”. It is a moot question whether discrimination can ever be justified, he said, “whether it is white discrimination or black discrimination, it remains discrimination”.

But the biggest crime against humanity in South Africa is the total and utter disregard and disrespect for each other.

“Nothing has brought this to the fore more graphically than the stark contrast between South Africa’s muted reaction to crime and violence, and the furore in India over the assault, rape and murder of a student. There, ordinary people rose in protest. Oh, if only we would imitate the Indians.”

The cardinal said it was time God was returned to his proper place in public life as acknowledged in our constitution.

“My dream and prayer is that during this year God will bless every South African with the wisdom, compassion, justice and love that will enable us to come together to consider the changes needed to give our country the best chance of being the winning nation in Africa, and indeed in the world.”

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The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

Pro-life crowds brave bitter cold

BY CAROL zIMMERMANN

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A man and woman become emotional during a wake for victims of a fire at Boate Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil. The blaze raced through the crowded club in southern Brazil, killing more than 230 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked partygoers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. (Photo: Ricardo Moraes, CNS, Reuters)

Pope’s busy Holy Week and Easter schedule

BY CAROL GLATz

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OPE Benedict XVI will lead a full slate of Holy Week and Easter liturgies in Rome and at the Vatican, keeping pace with a usually busy papal schedule.

Publishing the pope’s schedule, the Vatican said his Holy Week activities will begin with a procession and Mass in St Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday, March 24.

Pope Benedict will celebrate a morning chrism Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday and that evening will preside over the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in Rome’s Basilica of St John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome.

On Good Friday, he will celebrate the liturgy of the Lord’s Passion in St Peter’s Basilica in the late afternoon, and then will lead a night time Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum.

As a way to recall his 2012 visit to

Lebanon and invite the whole Church to pray for the Middle East— its tensions and its beleaguered Christian community—the meditations read during the Way of the Cross will be written by two young Lebanese. Each year, the pope asks a different person to write the meditations, and this year he asked Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai to choose the youths and guide their preparation of the texts.

ARTICIPANTS at the annual March for Life in Washington demonstrated just how determined they are not only by showing up in such large numbers on a bitter cold day but by continuing a 40-year tradition of protesting the US Supreme Court’s decision legalising abortion.

“Forty years ago, people thought opposition” [to the Supreme Court’s decision] “would eventually disappear,” Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley told the crowd assembled on the National Mall for a rally prior to the march along Constitution Avenue to the front of the US Supreme Court.

He noted that Nellie Gray, founder of the annual march who died last year, “was not going to allow that to happen” nor was the pro-life movement.

“The march grows stronger every year,” said the cardinal, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

Various media outlets put the estimate for this year’s March for Life crowd at between 500 000 and 650 000. An official crowd estimate has not been provided by police since about 1995.

A March for Life spokeswoman told Catholic News Service that the organisation did not have an official number for the crowd but said there were “hundreds of thousands” of participants. A separate “virtual” March for Life sponsored

by Americans United for Life Action for those unable to travel to Washington drew 70 000 participants.

Many speakers praised the resilience of the crowd, braving a cloudy -6˚ day and standing on snow-dusted ground, but they also spoke of the pro-life movement getting re-energised by young people who are becoming the movement’s new torchbearers.

This year’s march and rally took

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March for Life participants make their way up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building. The pro-life demonstration marks the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion in the United States. (Photo: Bob Roller, CNS)

place three days after the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision to better accommodate participants, since the official anniversary was the day after public ceremonies for the presidential inauguration.

Hundreds of high school and college groups were scattered throughout the rally crowd; their members, often in matching hats, were texting, taking pictures and creatively protesting by wearing pro-life stickers on their faces and carrying placards in the backs of their jackets.

Their placards did not have jarring images or messages but predominantly took a gentler tone such as: “Abolish Abortion Courageously” or “I am the pro-life generation.”

Jeanne Monahan, new president of the March for Life Education & Defense Fund, is 40—just as old as the 1973 Supreme Court decision and the movement protesting it.

Monahan described abortion as “human rights abuse” but she also said there were signs the tide was changing as more anti-abortion measures have been introduced in state legislatures and public opinions are changing. As she put it to the cheering crowd: “Being pro-life is considered the new normal.”

Pope Benedict sent a message of support to the rally: “I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life.”—CNS

Pope marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

BY CINdY WOOdEN

P

OPE Benedict said the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day calls humanity to work to overcome all forms of hatred and racism and to respect the dignity of each human person.

Praying the Angelus with visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square, the pope called attention to the international day for remembering the victims of the Nazis.

“The memory of this immense tragedy, which so harshly struck the Jewish people most of all, must represent for everyone a constant warning so that the horrors of the past are not repeated, all forms of hatred and racism are overcome and respect for the dignity of the human person is promoted,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict later invoked the intercession of Ss Damien de Veuster and Marianne Cope of Molokai, Hawaii, as he also marked World Leprosy Day. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, said the fact that some 220 000 men, women and children contracted Hansen’s disease in 2011 demonstrates that too many people do not have adequate access to health education and basic health care and that a strong stigma is still attached to

the disease, which prevents people from seeking a diagnosis and treatment.

For the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Benedict was joined by a boy and a girl representing some 3 000 members of the children's section of Catholic Action Rome. An annual meeting with the pope marks the end of the youngsters’ “Caravan of Peace”, a project that raises awareness and money to help other children living in situations of tension and conflict.

In parishes throughout Rome, the children raised money this year for the Jesuit-run “Art and Life” project that benefits street children in Alexandria, Egypt.

Keeping an annual tradition, the pope told the children, “Now, let’s release the doves, symbols of the Spirit of God who gives peace to those who welcome his love.”

The pope and the children released two doves from the window of the pope’s apartment overlooking St Peter’s Square.

Unusually this year, neither of the birds flew back into the papal apartment, prompting the pope to say, “That was successful.”

However, a few minutes later, a large seagull swooped down on one of the doves. The dove did manage to escape.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

5

Church seeks more funds as Syrians flood Jordan BY dALE GAVLAK

A

S frightened Syrian refugees flood into Jordan and other nearby countries, UN officials at a donor conference in Kuwait appealed to the international community for desperately needed funding for victims of the 22-month crisis.

The UN said a December request for $1,5 million to aid displaced Syrians received less than 3% in pledges, hardly enough to handle the spiralling numbers. In Kuwait, media reported, the agency received about $1 million in pledges.

Caritas, the Catholic Church’s humanitarian agency, is aiding about one-quarter of the Syrians seeking shelter in Jordan, said Omar Abawi of the group’s emergency response unit.

Each day in the last week of January, 3 000 Syrian refugees flooded into Jordan—about 5 times above the previous average of 700 per day.

Jordan hosts some 320 000 displaced Syrians, almost half of the 700 000 housed in the region. About 2,5 million Syrians are displaced within their own country.

While the UN and a Jordanian aid organisation are responsible for about 83 000 refugees in Jordan’s sole Zaatari refugee camp, Caritas and others assist the larger bulk found in communities along the border and farther afield.

Caritas has distributed food coupons, medical aid and heaters during this abnormally cold winter, which has included rain, snow and

temperatures below freezing.

“Although we’ve nearly reached our own appeal for $1,7 million, we expect the numbers will need to be revised again, because Syrian refugee numbers could top 500 000 here even before April,” Abawi said.

Besides supplying practical items, Caritas is working with refugees on peace-building and social integration efforts in preparation for future reconciliation among Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities split apart by the civil war.

In Zaatari camp, recent arrivals stood along a metal fence to register.

One 70-year-old man, whose eyes were red from crying, would identify himself only by his nickname, Abu Mohamed, for fear of reprisals against family members still in Syria.

“I came with 24 members of my family after my son was shot by government snipers” as he stopped to buy bread on the way home from work.

“Nobody helped to bring him to a hospital, and he bled to death,” Abu Mohamed said, as tears streamed down his face.

Ra’ed Bahou of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association said aid agencies and Jordanian officials “are doing our best, but it’s not enough.”

He said CNEWA also was helping 2 000 Iraqis who once lived in Syria and have been displaced for a second time to Jordan by providing food coupons, hygiene supplies and heaters. It also pays for education in the kingdom’s Catholic schools.

“It’s impossible to cope with

3 000–4 000 Syrians arriving a day, and we don’t know what future donations will be available to Jordan,” Bahou said.

Addressing the gathering in Kuwait, Jordan’s ruler said his kingdom cannot cope with a steep spike in Syrians fleeing intensified fighting.

“We have reached the end of the line. We have exhausted our resources,” King Abdullah II told participants from nearly 60 nations, including Russia and Iran, key allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.

The kingdom’s economic council announced that the cost of hosting Syrian refugees for 18 months ending in November was more than $833 million or about 3% of the country’s gross domestic product.

The figure does not include funds spent on this latest wave of refugees.

Inside the dusty Zaatari camp, refugee children run along without socks and sometimes without shoes in the cold. Most Syrians arrive with just the clothes on their backs.

Some who were flooded out of their tents in the fierce winter storm earlier in January are living in the camp’s school because alternative housing has not yet been provided.

“My family is sharing a classroom with about 24 others,” said a 35-yearold businessman named Abu Mohamed from Damascus. “Only desks are partitioning the families from each other. This is no way to live,” he said, the frustration rising in his voice.

The sick, their caregivers can gain indulgences on World Day of Sick

BY CINdY WOOdEN

T

HE sick, their caregivers and any Catholic who prays for or lovingly assists someone who is ill can gain an indulgence with prayers and service on or around the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, which the Catholic Church marks as World Day of the Sick.

A special Mass and services marking the February 11 day of prayer for the sick will be celebrated at the shrine of Our Lady of Altotting in Germany. Catholic faithful can receive one indulgence each day from February 7-11 by joining observances at Altotting or at any church or shrine designated by their local bishop, according to the Vatican decree announcing the indulgence.

Catholic health care professionals, volunteers and family members of the sick who cannot attend a special World Day of the Sick service “can obtain the same gift of a plenary indulgence if, during those days, they

generously offer at least a few hours of loving assistance (to the sick) as if they were offering it to Christ the Lord himself,” and fulfil the prayer requirements in a timely manner.

The sick and the aged who cannot attend special services can obtain the indulgence by “spiritually participating” in them, particularly if the Mass in Altotting or a local World Day of the Sick Mass is being broadcast on a local television or radio station.

An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven.

The faithful can claim it for themselves or offer it on behalf of someone who has died, the decree said.

Those wishing to obtain an indulgence must pray for the sick, recite the Lord's Prayer, the Creed and invoke the intercession of Mary.

In addition, they must fulfil the normal conditions for obtaining an indulgence: sacramental confession, Communion and praying for the intentions of the pope.—CNS

Young Syrian refugees stand outside their tents after heavy rain at the zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian border town of Mafraq. Snow, driving rain and howling winds in early January compounded the already desperate situation for Syrians caught up in 22 months of civil war seeking to oust President Bashar Assad. (Photo: Muhammad Hamed, CNS, Reuters) “There are no heaters and we have no idea when we can receive either a tent or a trailer to live in,” he said, expressing fear for more heavy rain predicted.

As a result of the new appeal, the US has pledged an additional $155 million in humanitarian assistance for Syrian refugees in the region, while Britain has promised nearly $79 million in new support. Gulf Arab countries have also put forward $900 million.

The International Rescue Committee says donor countries must immediately address funding gaps in key areas, including assistance for “urban refugee” populations and the communities hosting them; targeted services for vulnerable women and girls, including survivors of sexual violence; and psychosocial and education support for displaced children.

Most refugees say that they just want the nightmare to end and to return home.—CNS

Pope: Lack of faith can hurt marriage, may affect validity

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Sr dorothy dickson, centre, a member of Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, attends to a boy suffering from malaria in South Sudan. The sick, their caregivers and any Catholic who prays for or lovingly assists someone who is ill can gain an indulgence with prayers and service on World day of the Sick, February 11. (Photo: Paul Jeffrey, CNS)

LACK of faith in God can damage marriage, even to the point of affecting its validity, Pope Benedict said.

“Faith in God, sustained by divine grace, is therefore a very important element for living in mutual dedication and conjugal fidelity,” he said.

The pope said he was not suggesting there was a simple, automatic link “between the lack of faith and the invalidity of marriage”.

Rather, he hoped “to draw attention to how such a lack may, although not necessarily, also hurt the goods of marriage,” given that referring to God's plan “is inherent in the covenant of marriage”.

The pope made his comments during a meeting with members of the Roman Rota, a Vatican-based tribunal that

deals mainly with marriage cases.

The current crisis of faith has brought with it a state of crisis for the Christian vision of marriage as an indissoluble bond between a man and a woman, the pope said.

“The indissoluble covenant between man and woman does not require, for the purpose of sacramentality, the personal faith of those to be married,” he said. “What is required, as the minimum condition, is the intention of doing what the Church does” when it declares a marriage is a sacrament.

While the question of intent should not be confused with the question of the individuals’ personal faith, “it is not always possible to completely separate them,” he said.—CNS

Let’s Go Vatican!

T

HE official Vatican City travel guide was released, aimed at making life easier for pilgrims and tourists, and offering accurate and exhaustive details for scholars and historians.

The “General Guide to Vatican City” says it’s trying to fill the gap created over the 80 years since the Vatican published its first official guide one year after the city-state was established in 1929.

Even though there are many other travel guides out there, “what was still missing was an essential, rigorous work that illustrates” every aspect of Vatican City, the guide’s introduction says.

The dark blue paperback was published in English, Spanish, French and Italian in a joint venture by Jaca Book—a Milanese publishing company—the Vatican Museums and the Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

In 447 pages, the 2012 guide packs in colourful photos, maps, contact information and extensive details about the artistic, archaeological, architectural and historical patrimony housed on Vatican City State’s 109 acres.

The smallest country in the world also has “one of the highest concentrations of art works in the world,” the guide says.

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6

The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Guest editor: Michael Shackleton

Fruit of the womb

S

IXTEEN years ago, the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed by the South African parliament, legitimising the practice of direct abortion under certain conditions. Legal challenges against the Act were dismissed by the Pretoria High Court in the following year.

In spite of continued protests by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and challenges in the courts, the Act was finally amended in 2008 to facilitate access to abortion to an even broader extent, and this promptly came into force.

Around the country Catholics especially, and also others, gathered earlier this month to keep the anniversary of the passing of the Act, praying for a change of heart on the part of those who see no reason to accept an unborn embryo or foetus as possessing the dignity of human personhood.

In the United States last month, the annual pro-life movement’s March for Life took place in Washington, marking the 40th anniversary of the day in 1973 when the Supreme Court, in deciding the Roe v Wade case, ruled in favour of the right to have an abortion.

This decision became federal law but each of the nation’s individual states still possessed its own jurisdiction to determine who may undergo abortions and under what circumstances.

A report in the January 14, 2013 issue of Time indicates that the number of states that permit abortion is less than before, and some states are restricting admission to abortion clinics.

A survey last year established that 75% of Americans believe abortion should be legal yet only 41% identified themselves as pro-choice in the matter. In addition, there is a

smaller number of doctors now willing to perform abortions, and this could have impacted on the drop in the abortion rate.

This could be a reflection of how people cannot but be aware of the moral value of terminating a pregnancy.

Some may have no misgivings about getting rid of the fruit of the womb for selfish reasons, but one may suppose that many others are dubious or ambivalent about it, even beyond the United States.

The Church’s stance in this matter hardly needs explanation. It proscribes abortion because it regards it as a grave sin under God and against every individual’s right to life from the moment of conception until natural death.

Theologians in the past may have argued about at what point in time God infuses an immortal soul into the embryo, but the Church has with firmness maintained that life in the womb is ever sacred and no one has the right to end it.

The common view among pro-choice apologists in South Africa is that a decision to proceed with an abortion emphasises the woman’s right to the control of her own body.

Such a right is not in question. What concerns the Church is that the fruit of her womb is not her own body but that of an independent human person who, in order to develop naturally and become viable, instinctively clings to the mother’s body for nurturance and protection.

Without scruple even Catholics may agree with a shrug that if the law permits abortion, let the law take its course without hindrance or protest. This response scorns the Church’s strong and categorical teaching that what is legally passed into civil law is not inevitably passed into morally acceptable conduct.

Browse the editorial archive online at www.scross.co.za/ category/editorials/

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion.

Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Combox needed for true debate HREE things have occurred in ther and we Catholics do not. my life that, taken together, spur T An article on the net, after enume into putting my thoughts on merating some reasons why the paper.

Firstly, in October an Italian court sentenced six seismologists and a politician to six years in prison for manslaughter, based on what turned out to be false assurances about an earthquake that left over 300 people dead in L’Aquilla. The opinion was based on the best evidence available, that an earthquake was highly improbable. The lesson: “present the data, but let people draw their own conclusions”.

Secondly, I needed to know something on the “doxology” that the Anglicans tag onto the Our Fa-

Combox sadness

I

N most families members quarrel but there is never a question of love being absent. We have let the side down, to say the least; failed Christ by failing to at least try to be truly Christian; failed the larger family; failed each other and, last but not least, failed The Southern Cross with the closing of the combox blog. It is sad.

I believe the failure is both individual and collective.

Can we learn from this failure? If so, what? For me, it is impossible to love as Jesus loved unless I am open to “see” or sense that the other is another Christ, and this is not readily achieved. I conclude that I have to work at getting my ego out of the way. It is possible but only with the discipline of prayer/meditation and repeatedly reading about what Jesus said and did.

In the combox, there were individuals who did respond in a way which clearly indicated that the “other” mattered. It was also easy to recognise those with a “right vs wrong” attitude—the ancient dualistic mindset always seeking “who is right and who is wrong, who is in and who should be out”, an attitude which presents an impenetrable fortress.

Many avoided the combox because of their unwillingness to interact with fundamentalists where there is never (or hardly ever) a “win-win” situation, which causes despair. The following was such a person’s comments: “It is a truism that accusations always stick in people's minds as having some validity, whether true or false. The more you [try to] discuss [an issue] with these unprincipled and radical Catholics, the more opportunity you give them to make these outrageous accusations—and that is what will stick in the minds of many people who read the blog.

Progressive thinking about Catholic doctrine and practice can-

doxology is not included in the Our Father, ends with “The Bible came from the Church. The Church did not come from the Bible. The Church knows what words were included in the prayer and what words were not, because She, the Church, was there”.

All I can say is, how autocratic can you get?

Thirdly, there was Günther Simmermacher’s editorial in The Southern Cross (January 23) explaining why the paper had closed down the combox on its website because things were getting too acrimonot easily be safely conveyed to “unbelievers”. We will be branded as dissidents, as is happening already on the blog—and that will stick in people's minds. It is much better to leave these kinds of vitriolic blog comments unanswered.

All mature Catholics understand that the People of God are a spectrum of diverse opinions.

The solution would be to change our focus to Jesus, the Christ. He has to be King of our hearts for us to grow into a healthy Body of Christ.

It is the only way to become “a light to the world”.

Rosemary Gravenor, Durban

Convictions held

W

ITH reference to your editorial in The Southern Cross (January 23), it’s brilliant, well done, sir, and it’s such a pleasure to have a man as editor of The Southern Cross who has the courage of his convictions and is not afraid to speak out. Enough of this constant appeasement.

The French have a saying, “the more things change the more they stay the same”.

For example, in a reading from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and I quote as follows: “I appeal to you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree and that there be no dissension among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and in the same judgment”.

Our Lord gave us the gift of love, the most wonderful gift we could 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.

Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

Holy land • Rome JoURNeYs oF a lIFeTIMe! • assisi • cairo

with Fr sean Wales cssR

nious. I can well imagine. I too have expressed my criticism of the Church’s point of view in this newspaper and have inevitably come up against the “fidei defensor” arrogance of those who answer.

I just want to say that it is time that the Church, of which we are all part, when faced with a criticism, should accept the bona fides of the criticiser, lay out the Church’s reasons for its point of view and in compliance with Vatican II leave it to the conscience of the enquirer as to what he or she does about it.

That way I doubt that there would be reason for heated or acrimonious arguments.

Defenders of the Faith need to be humble and learned, not arrogant and autocratic!

Bernard Cole, Krugersdorp ever have been given, and told us to love others as he loved us, and if we want to be Christians and his followers, we should obey him.

Roy Glover, Tzaneen

Varied viewpoints

C

ONGRATULATIONS on the editorial (January 23), a balanced commentary showing much of the tolerance advocated by the editor. It is a great pity that the sharing and discussion of different viewpoints will no longer be allowed.

Is there a possibility that, your point having been made, a second chance could be made available, or that some form of editing be introduced which could intercept “hatespeech”, if that is the right word.

The discussions have been enlightening and are most valuable, I believe, in furthering the dissemination of faith knowledge which is not always what it should be in these times.

Cecil Cullen, Alberton

Contraception

W

ITH regard to Damian McLeish’s reply (January 9) to my letter of December 26, he is correct , but as I queried in my letter, if a just contraception is not the answer to the problem, what is?

Do people who have also commented on the problems with abortion honestly believe that in this world, despite all the efforts to reduce the need for human intervention, there will still be jobs for a growing population? On top of that we know that we are invading ecosystems at will—is that acceptable to a creator who put us in charge of the world we live in?

Also, have they noticed that families in the West are tending towards one child, because they cannot afford to raise and educate more children?

Deryk Bayman, Durban

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PERSPECTIVES

Where are the apologists?

W

HY are there no longer popular Christian apologists, such as C S Lewis or G K Chesterton in our modern public spaces?

Is it because Christians have retreated from talking about their religion in public? If so, why? Or is it because the public space is hostile to the Christian religion?

The fact is, the public space has always been hostile to religion, except perhaps for the period between the Constantine age and the end of the Middle Ages when medieval thinking in general was mostly religious. So hostility cannot be the reason.

Have the believers become timid? St Paul and St Augustine wrote in times when the public forum was mostly antiChristian, yet they prevailed against the cacophony of voices of their era.

Are Christians losing the ability to communicate with the world outside their religion, especially with the secular world?

If we continue on this path our religion will soon be like a sandbar, cut off from the shore by the incoming tides. In time it will become submerged, inaccessible to most except only as a beacon of nostalgia.

I have seen the beginning of this in European countries where church buildings are fast turning into nightclubs, bookshops, pre-schools and so on; where they are seen as being interesting only for their architectural value and as historical reminders of humanity's most spiritual times.

There is no denying that in our era religion is in a spiritual crisis, or rather in the spiritual doldrums, if not tilting towards metastasis. The spiritual quest defines all great religions. And that is most lacking today, at a time when faith is regarded more as a ritual than the pull of conscience that draws us higher through the spiritual quest.

Sneering at religion has always been the symptom of ages beset with spiritual metastasis, and it is usually the result of a stunted imagination. Our era falls into

this category of cynical posturing, when big ideas have made way for spiritual bankruptcy.

But the Church has always been in the world but not of it, even if at times she came precariously close.

She has always been a beacon of hope during trying times of intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy and opened her fountains of inherited spiritual wealth to counteract the metastasis.

But now the Church in us seems to have lost its confidence to speak to the outside world. When the Church's fountains do not flow to irrigate the drying creative runnels of the world, making everything new, then the world has restricted access to the spiritual wealth of all ages.

C

an we, in all honesty, say the public space is hostile to religion in our times? Our era does have a penchant for celebrating charlatans, indeed the non-believers have more appeal to our media than those who have faith. But why is this?

Is it enough to say that the modern media is hostile to religion? Or can it be that believers, unlike non-believers, have not managed to harness the language of our times. This is the trick non-believers, people such as the late Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Dawkins and their like, have learned very well: to speak with the language of the media and thereby make their message more accessible.

Before he became famous and celebrated for his atheism and attack on religion, Mr Hitchens, for instance, was known for his journalism in the field of foreign correspondence where he learned the art of making the Western world listen to other people’s problems.

Although Christian thinkers and scholars have, now and then, exposed the shortcomings in Mr Hitchens’ arguments against religion— and they were extensive—he made a late career out of criticising and ridiculing religion. And

Lenten care for our Earth

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LONG time ago, there lived a very rich king in Africa who took his son on a tour to a very poor country to show him how poor people could be.

They stayed with a certain humble family for two weeks and when they went back home, the father asked his son what he thought about the poor country.

His son thought the trip was surprisingly nice. His dad said, “Did you notice how poor they were?” There was silence as his son thought deeply.

His son said, “These people are rich. I learned that their country is greener, while our country is full of built structures everywhere. They drink from any stream while our water from taps must be treated before we drink. They eat “fresh-from-the-garden stuff” while we eat food that is several weeks old in market stalls. They eat organic food which has never been poisoned by fertilisers and pesticides while we eat poisoned stuff.

“They hear and see all types of birds singing while we hear engines and factory noise instead that fills air with smoke.

They breathe fresh and clean air while ours is heavy to breathe. Their children sprawl on refreshing grass and climb trees while our children play on artificial grass in the house and see artificial trees that have lamps on them.”

His father was speechless. The son said, “Thanks, father, for this awesome tour that helped me to see how poor we really are.”

Catholic nuns plant trees in a field, during a programme marking World Environment day (Photo: CNS/Romeo Ranoco, Reuters) We are poor when we don’t breathe clean air because of heavy pollution. We are poor when we don’t have clean water.

Man’s greed is to blame for all this.

We will never know the value of clean air until we breathe dirty and smoky air, and we will never know the worth of having clean water until our streams go dry.

Having water and air is a basic right of everyone. When we pollute our rivers, air and soil with our lifestyles, our right to have a healthy environment is tampered with.

Every single Christian should check on their carbon footprint. Today, whenever we travel from one place to another, we have to make sure that we have a few coins to buy water, lest we risk drinking sewage.

A few weeks ago, the media showed

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

Pushing the Boundaries

sometimes he even got things right, especially when he pointed to the false pretensions of religion.

But there never emerged a consistent Christian apologist voice in the vein of the debates between G K Chesterton against George Bernard Shaw to counteract and correct some of the false impressions and pretensions perpetrated by Mr Hitchens and his ilk (and, of course, Hitchens was no Shaw, by any means).

This leads me back to my original question: where are the reasonable public Christian apologists for our era?

It’s certainly not from a lack of competent Christian thinkers. There are plenty of them, but they tend to preach to the converted, staying within their fold rather than facing up to the supposedly hostile public platform. Why have Christians become timid in the face of public discourse?

Why is there this apparent inability to communicate and transmit the wealth of faith we have inherited in a manner that makes the spirits of our contemporaries, and the next generation, soar?

Religion, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, is never more than one generation away from extinction.

We don’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be taught in fresh ways that are pertinent to the times, protected and handed on to the next generation for them to do the same. This is what makes the Church eternal even on this side of heaven.

Luckily, in Benedict XVI, we have a vicar of Christ who has woken up to the weaknesses of our times and the flickering flame of our spiritual quest.We need to follow him in venturing to the deep.

Do not be afraid, little flock, your master and the source of your existence has prayed and formed this rock never to fall from the foundations of time.

Anthony Gathambiri IMC

Point of Reflection

people in China with masks because of the air pollution. Before the Beijing Olympics, billions of dollars had to be pumped into cleaning the air. Africa is going there too if we don’t check on our carbon footprints.

This could lead to its countries spending hefty money just to clean air or water.

A sage once said, “Do you want to see an endangered species? Wake up and go to your mirror.” We are sitting on a timebomb, and so we urgently need to drop habits that harm our ecosystem.

This will be possible if we reflect on how poor we are when we entertain wasteful attitudes. We are wasteful when we leave lights on while we don’t need them. We are wasteful when we leave geysers on when we don’t need hot water or when we are not around. We are wasteful when we fill our dustbins with leftovers.

Parents have a big role here. They have to train their children not to waste food, water or power. Blessed John Paul II said that society would have no solution to ecological problem unless it took a serious look at its lifestyle.

In few days’ time, we start a journey with Jesus in the desert. It is not an easy one, especially for those of us for whom meat is our favourite meal.

Continued on page 11

The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

7

Tony Magliano

Point of Social Justice

Why Jesus calls us to be peacemakers

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N his message for the World Day of Peace, which we observed on New Year’s Day and which is intended to guide us throughout 2013, Pope Benedict laid out for us the foundation upon which the Church’s ministry for world peace must be built.

Using a challenging proclamation from the Second Vatican Council, the pope wrote that Christians must be committed “to sharing humanity’s joys and hopes, grief and anguish”.

The Holy Father reminded us that God’s peace is much more than the absence of war—it is the universal experience of justice and love.

We not permitted to sit on the comfortable sidelines of life, safely viewing from afar humanity’s problems. Rather, we must put ourselves into the muck and mire of this world.

“Peace is an order enlivened and integrated by love, in such a way that we feel the needs of others as our own, share our goods with others and work throughout the world for greater communion in spiritual values,” Pope Benedict wrote.

The pope also confronted the personal and structural evils of greed, inequality and violence: “It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism.”

In a documentary for US television, Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream, Alex Gibney stated that while income disparity has always existed in the United States, it has accelerated sharply over the last 40 years. As of 2010, the 400 richest Americans controlled more wealth than the bottom 50% of the US population. Just think about it, 400 people control more wealth than 150 million Americans combined.

And the disparity in South Africa is even greater.

Pope Benedict laments that the predominant economic model of recent decades calls for seeking maximum profit and consumption—based on an individualistic and self-centred mentality—while considering human beings as mere tools in economic competitiveness.

Unbridled capitalism cannot be trusted to work for the common good of humanity. It must legislatively be forced to do so. But instead, the political and economic system is being rigged to outrageously favour the wealthy over the middle-class and the poor.

And for those struggling to survive in extreme poverty throughout the world—1,4 billion human beings—the inequality between them and the rich is tragically unjust.

In the face of “unregulated financial capitalism” the pope is calling us to build “a new economic model” for the sake of the common good—providing full dignified employment, food security for every person, and peaceful coexistence with all creation.

The Holy Father maintains that the path to “peace is above all that of respect for human life in all its many aspects…True peacemakers, then, are those who love, defend and promote human life in all its dimensions … Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.”

It’s morally wrong and intellectually dishonest to claim oneself a peacemaker while permitting abortion—brutal warfare against the unborn.

Following the example of Jesus, peacemakers cannot accept any form of violence. Instead, in the words of Pope Benedict, we must be committed to the truth that “evil is in fact overcome by good”.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9).

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The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

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The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

FOCUS

9

Sainthood route for Daswa While many in South Africa recognise Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa as a martyr, his story travels a long and costly road to the Vatican where the Holy Father will approve and set the date for his beatification. CLAIRE MATHIESON finds out what is involved in the process of making a saint.

‘A

LREADY at Benedict Daswa’s funeral there was a sense that this man was a martyr for the faith. This was the conviction of the priests who celebrated his funeral Mass wearing red vestments,” said Sr Claudette Hiosan FDNSC, diocesan promoter of the Cause.

In the years following his gruesome ending, local people kept his memory alive by coming together to pray at his grave on the anniversary of his death. “In the year 2000 they approached the local priest to say a special Mass on Benedict’s anniversary and visited the site where he was attacked by the mob that killed him. His widow placed a flower on this spot.”

After Benedict’s death, Bishop Hugh Slattery, retired of Tzaneen diocese, decided to look into this matter with the local parish pastoral council to consider the possibility that Benedict might be a true martyr for the faith.

“At the meeting, several people shared their memories of Benedict and the events around his death. It was very evident that he was an exemplary Christian throughout his life. The decision was taken to conduct a preliminary investigation into the life and death of the servant of God,” said Sr Hiosan.

T

raditionally this investigation begins no sooner than five years after the death being investigated.

The only time this can been waived is when the pope himself decides to open the process, as was the case for Mother Teresa by Pope John Paul II, and for John Paul II by Pope Benedict.

Following the investigation, the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference was informed and their approval for a proper canonical investigation was granted.

“The bishops were happy and enthusiastic about the diocese of Tzaneen going ahead with a full

Even at his funeral, the priests wore red vestments as they considered Benedict daswa a martyr for his faith, and inset, Benedict daswa. canonical inquiry,” said Sr Hiosan.

As the investigation into his life is a formal inquiry, the process is lengthy and costly. It is an exhaustive search of the candidate’s writings, speeches, and work. A detailed biography is written and eyewitness accounts are gathered. When sufficient information has been gathered, the investigation of the candidate, who is called “Servant of God”, is presented by the local bishop to the Roman Curia—in particular, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints—where it is assigned a postulator, whose task is to gather further information about the life of the Servant of God. The investigation was completed in 2010 and all the official documents sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. The congregation examined these documents and gave the decree of validity.

“Those associated with the Cause in Rome are confident that the Church will soon recognise the Servant of God as a true martyr for the faith through his beatification,” said Sr Hiosan.

The Positio, which is really a book on the life of Benedict, was written by Fr Lucio Di Stefano MSC, a member of the Italian Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Rome and official postulator of

the Cause.

“He has been working under the direction of the Relator appointed by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Fr Lucio’s part of the work has already been completed and is in the process of being published at the Vatican. It only awaits the introduction, being prepared by the Relator, to complete the publication,” said Sr Hiosan.

The promoter for the Cause said the Positio was a crucial document, based on the testimonies of the witnesses given at the diocesan canonical enquiry. “It sets out to prove that Benedict was a true martyr for the faith.”

A

fter publication, the Positio will be very closely examined by a panel set up by the Sacred Congregation, comprising Church historians, moral theologians and canon lawyers.

“Their judgment will then be presented to the Cardinal Prefect and other archbishops and bishops of the Sacred Congregation for their approval. If that is received, it will then be given to the Holy Father for the seal of his approval and the setting of a date for the beatification.”

Sr Hiosan said not only was the diocese hopeful but so was Fr Di Stefano as the postulator for the Cause in Rome. “When in Rome last June,

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Bishop Slattery met with Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for Saints, and with the secretary of the Congregation, and told me that both had expressed deep interest in the Cause as being most relevant to the Church’s work of evangelisation in the contemporary world, and particularly in Africa.”

But having Benedict canonised would not only benefit South Africa. Sr Hiosan has already noted growing interest in countries as far away as Italy, the United States, the Philippines, Indonesia, Poland, Slovakia, Australia, Kiribati and nations in West Africa to which prayer cards, leaflets, novena booklets and the DVD on the Servant of God have been sent.

But truly, the greatest impact Benedict’s beatification would make would be in South Africa, especially his home diocese of Tzaneen. His story has been embraced and retold.

“A youth group from one of our parishes produced and staged a drama on Benedict’s life and death which was presented during the diocesan pilgrimage and all-night vigil at Ave Maria pastoral centre last August, as well as in other areas of the diocese. It has been a source of real inspiration to many people,” said Sr Hiosan.

“In promoting the Cause of

Benedict Daswa as both a courageous witness to the faith and an apostle of life, we see him as relevant to the wider world, while having a particular relevance to Africa.

When he became a Catholic he soon realised that there were issues in African culture that he could no longer accept, such as the widespread practice of witchcraft, sorcery and ritual murder. His principled and public stand against these deep and dark issues in his culture, eventually led him to pay the ultimate price—martyrdom.”

Sr Hiosan said because Benedict lived his Christian calling with zest and enthusiasm, yet at the same time, with modesty and humility— which was evident through all parts of his life—Benedict is “truly an authentic role model for the young churches of Africa. His brutal death through stoning and bludgeoning make him a local hero for Christian communities struggling to break free from the enslavement of the world of witchcraft.”

The diocese of Tzaneen is working hard to promote the Cause by encouraging people to pray for the graces and favours they need through his intercession, particularly by using the novena.

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here are also big plans for the diocese. A large plot of land near Benedict’s home has been purchased. “The plan is to develop this area as a pilgrimage centre in the coming years,” said Sr Hiosan.

However, such projects involve considerable expense for the poor, rural diocese. Sr Hiosan said the diocese has initial plans for the construction of a church, priests’ house, hostel accommodation for pilgrims and a small clinic, hoping that later a convent and Catholic school can be added.

“Naturally, all these developments will be affected by how the Cause in Rome progresses,” said Sr Hiosan. In addition, the plans are dependent on the financial assistance the diocese receives.

“Nevertheless, the diocese of Tzaneen is committed to doing its utmost to ensure that if it is God’s will, the Servant of God, Benedict Daswa, will be beatified in the nottoo-distant future.” n For more information contact Sr Claudette Hiosan on 015 307 5244 or email bendaswa@mweb.co.za. If you are able to contribute to the cause, deposits can be made to account name: Diocese of Tzaneen: Benedict Daswa Cause, Standard Bank, account 330911538, branch 052749.

Ursulines Ursulines of of the theBlessed Blessed Virgin Virgin Mary Mary We VirginMary, Mary, Weare arethe theUrsulines Ursulines of of the the Blessed Blessed Virgin called througheducation educationofofgirls, girls, calledto toserve serveChrist Christ through women and servants, pastoral and social work. women and servants, pastoral and social work.

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Po box 212 libode, 5160, e cape Tel 047 555 0018 cell: 072 437 4244 or 078 354 2440

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The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

BOOK REVIEWS

Catholic’s return from the evangelical pop church FROM WILLOW CREEK TO SACRED HEART: Rekindling My Love for Catholicism, by Chris Haw. Ave Maria Press (2012).

236pp. ISBN: 978-1594712920 Reviewed by Graham Yearley HE conversion experience or return to Catholicism autobiography is a well-known subcategory of Catholic non-fiction.

Cardinal John Henry Newman’s Apologia Pro Sua Vita and Trappist Father Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain are two of the most famous works of this genre that bring together autobiography with theology. Chris Haw’s From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart adds its own twist to the genre.

Haw was baptised a Catholic, became an evangelical Protestant with his family and eventually returned to the Catholic Church.

But, like those earlier works, Haw interweaves an apologia, a defence of the Church through his personal experience.

The Willow Creek of the title is Willow Creek Community Church

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in South Barrington, Illinois, which the Haw family joined when Chris was a teenager. Haw and his family drifted away from Catholicism by the time he was in primary school and the family moved to the Chicago area.

A sprawling mega-church in the suburbs of Chicago, Willow Creek attracts thousands each weekend to its lively, rock-concert-like services. Haw, who loved punk rock before he came to Willow Creek, was initially hesitant to embrace the easy Christian pop music that is so central to the worship of the community.

But he was drawn towards the thousand-strong young people’s group and their commitment to social justice issues and the enlivening, celebratory worship of Willow Creek. In time, he even came to enjoy the tamer rock music.

In 1999, Haw went to the Philadelphia area to attend college at Eastern University, a Christian college. He was immediately attracted to a student group that

worked with homeless people by getting to know them individually and sharing their experience of sleeping in doorways and eating in

community kitchens.

The events of 9/11 had a personal impact on Haw as his father was an American Airlines pilot who flew regularly into the Boston and New York airports but was at home that day. But Haw’s opposition to the ensuing invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq increasingly alienated him from his friends at Willow Creek, who fervently supported the American presence in the Middle East.

In 2003, Haw went to Belize to study with the Creation Care Study Program, which encouraged holistic thinking on the relationship between our beliefs in God and the growing global ecological crisis. When he returned to the United States, his concerns about homelessness, ecology and social justice led him to move to Camden, New Jersey, one of most polluted and crime-ridden cities in America.

He attended a community church but occasionally worshipped at Sacred Heart, a Catholic church across the street from the

house he was renovating. He felt drawn to the extended Good Friday liturgy, realising that the rituals which Willow Creek eschewed because they were supposedly based on pagan rites, held a strong attraction for him.

The second half of From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart is a series of defences against the charges made by evangelical churches against Catholicism: the dividing up of Christianity into denominations, the upholding of tradition with Scripture, the emphasis on ritual, the position of priest and laity, and the Catholic perspective on the material and sensual as good and not evil.

While Haw offers nothing theological that is revolutionary, his renewed love for the Catholic Church seems earnest and thoughtful without being blind to wrongs committed by the Church.

It is a perspective, I think, that many lifelong Catholics will find counters the common view of new Catholics as zealots uncritically embracing the Church.—CNS

An excellent guide on the journey of grief WHY DO YOU WEEP: Finding Consolation and Peace in Times of Grief, by Larry Kaufmann CCsR, Sean Wales CSsR and Russell Pollitt SJ. Liguori Publications (2012). 80pp.

ISBN: 978-0764820779 Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher N his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that those who mourn are blessed because they will experience comfort (Mt 5:4).

There is indeed something salutary in experiencing the comfort of God and of fellow human beings in our darkest hours.

In the revised, international edition of a book published in

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South Africa in 2010, Redemptorist Fathers Larry Kaufmann and Sean Wales with Jesuit Father Russell Pollitt hope to bring the mourner “in contact with the compassion of Jesus”.

Their compact book is intended to help guide the mourner through the process of grief by offering reflections, prayers and some insights from experiences. In this, the authors are akin to spiritual directors on the pilgrim journey towards healing from bereavement. They don’t pretend to have all the answers, but they are firm in their faith that we can find the answers in God. When we grieve, they write, we

“find ourselves in the dark silent tomb of Holy Saturday”, and that is a necessary place to be for a while. But the tomb is empty: those whom we have lost are in the loving embrace of God, and it is there where we must seek them.

Why Do You Weep is not a selfhelp book that promises instant relief. Still, in one chapter Fr Wales proposes a spiritual four-step programme for mourning. It comprises the act of accepting mourning, rituals, scriptural reflection and prayer. Fr Kaufmann fleshes this out with an emphatic reminder of God’s infinite love.

In just 80 pages the book covers all sorts of situations of bereave-

ment, including that which follows crime and suicide. It offers advice on letting children grieve— a dimension to bereavement that is often neglected and rarely understood—and how to reconcile with an estranged family member or friend after their death.

The concepts of Why Do You Weep are grounded in profound theology and pastoral experience.

The authors communicate these in immediately accessible terms.

Appropriately they do so gently and with compassion, and thereby qualify as excellent companions on the road of grief.

A welcome Lenten companion

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THE MIRACLES OF JESUS: Meditations and Prayers for Lent, by Wessel Bentley. Upper Room Books (2013).

112pp.

ISBN: 9780835811132 Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher UR Lenten journey should accomplish more than to test our endurance in successfully completing our annual sacrifice. It is intended to help us purify ourselves spiritually in anticipation of the Risen Christ.

For those who take the Lenten road in that spirit, there is a wealth of books that seek to guide the reader on the way to the Resurrection. The Miracles of Jesus adds to that library, and a welcome addition it is, too.

Written by the Rev Wessel Bentley, a Pretoriabased Methodist minister and chief researcher at the Research Institute of Theology at the University of South Africa, The Miracles of Jesus encourages scriptural reflection, contemplation, meditation and prayer.

The book offers a meditation for every weekday of Lent (plus Holy Saturday), each covering the scriptural account of a miracle performed

by Jesus. These very accessible meditations are all followed by a point of reflection (which the author implores his readers to take seriously and answer honestly), a focus for contemplation and a prayer.

The scripture readings are only referenced, so it is good to have a Bible at hand, even if most of the miracles are familiar.

Bentley challenges us, gently and sensitively, to confront the “demons” in our lives, with a view of driving them out (much as Jesus

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drove the demons called Legion out of the man on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee).

We might not readily recognise these demons, so Bentley, through the Scriptures, points them out to us: deficient faith, prejudice, pride, arrogance, intolerance, greed powerlessness, feelings of unworthiness, love of the law over Jesus, exclusion of Jesus in our lives, past hurts that linger, and so on.

The purpose in pointing out these weaknesses obviously is not to humiliate us, but to identify and then heal them through Christ. So Bentley also speaks of surrender, of healing and growth in faith, of God’s power in our lives, of courage and peace through Christ, of the sometimes unexpected power of prayer, of redemption, and of the Lord’s constant presence.

Bentley wants to turn our eyes on God so that we can let go of our preoccupations in daily life—which is precisely what we are called to do in the season of Lent.

An epilogue provides a structure which prayer groups can use in conjunction with the book.

Bentley may be a Protestant, but the book’s spiritual focus and language is entirely in tune with the Catholic faith.

The author has a good way of presenting his profound thoughts with simplicity, warmth and great faith— and admirable brevity. The Miracles of Christ is a welcome companion on the Lenten journey. n To order The Miracles of Christ, contact 072 200-2741 or nherron @aurm.co.za (in Johannesburg) or 084 258 2793 or gillianlow@mweb. co.za (in Cape Town).

The Southern Cross, February 6 to February 12, 2013

Lenten care for our Earth From page 7 It’s a journey of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Needless to say, the three acts should improve our relation with God, our neighbours, ourselves and our environment. When we work on our relation with ourselves, we will be able to love our neighbours, our God and our environment.

Lent could be a good moment to work on our habits that impoverish our beautiful Mother Earth.

It is a time to see how poor we are when we don’t live simple lives that are ecofriendly.

Nature is hitting back violently more than ever, as it tries to readjust itself. Our lifestyles are to blame for robbing nature of her beauty and wealth.

Last week I saw on TV a programme on a town near Lake Victoria in East Africa, which was complaining that crocodiles were eating people and livestock.

Liturgical Calendar Year C Weekdays Cycle Year 1

Sunday, February 10, 5th Sunday Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8, Psalm 138:1-5, 7-8, 1 Corinthians 15:111 or 15:3-8, 11, Luke 5:1-11 Monday, February 11, Our Lady of Lourdes Genesis 1:1-19, Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 24, 35, Mark 6:53-56 Tuesday, February 12 Genesis 1:20 2:4, Psalm 8:4-9, Mark 7:1-13 Wednesday, February 13, Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18, Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17, 2 Corinthians 5:20 6:2, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Thursday, February 14, Ss Cyril, Monk and Methodius Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Psalm 1:4, 6, Luke 9:22-25 Friday, February 15 Isaiah 58:1-9, Psalm 51:3-6, 18-19, Matthew 9:1415 Saturday, February 16 Isaiah 58:9-14, Psalm 86:1-6, Luke 5:27-32 Sunday, February 17, First Sunday of Lent Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Psalm 91:1-2, 10-15, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13

An environmentalist was there doing his investigation on the crocodiles’ behavioural changes.

When the scientist was asked why the crocodiles had started hunting people and their livestock, he responded that people had overfished the lake.

All this is because of our greed.

Our greed ought to be tamed, if we want to be in harmony with the ecosystem.

Community Calendar

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

CAPE TOWN: Mimosa Shrine, Bellville (Place of pilgrimage for the Year of Faith): February 21: 7.30pm Rosary. March 7: 7pm Rosary, 7.30pm Holy Mass. March 9: 9.00am10am holy hour and Benediction, confession available during holy hour.

March 21: 7.30pm Rosary.

Tel: 076 323 8043 Padre Pio: Holy hour 3.30 pm every 3rd Sunday of the month at Holy Redeemer parish in Bergvliet.

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants meet the last Saturday of the month except in december, start-

ing with Mass at 9:30 am at the Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Mass is followed by a vigil and procession to Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree Street. For information contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br daniel Manuel on 083 544 3375 NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the blessed sacrament at St Peter’s parish. Every Tuesday from 8am to 4:45pm followed by Rosary divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 5:30pm.

CLASSIFIEDS

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,25 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

BIRTH

SAMUEL—Kelvin and Bianca (née Brown) welcome Ross and Scott (Twins) on 25/01/2013. deo Gratias. All well.

DEATH

MOORE—Sr Louis Carmel. Holy Cross Sister, Sr Louis Carmel, aged 100, passed away at Holy Cross Home, Pretoria, on 28 January 2013. Lovingly remembered by the Holy Cross Sisters, her friends and former students. May she rest in peace!

IN MEMORIAM

BOONZAAIER—In loving memory of Michael who passed away February 6, 2008. Fondly remembered by Mary da Silva, the parishioners of Holy Family and Our Lady of Fatima parish, Bellville.

RIP.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 536. ACROSS: 3 Bethsaida, 8 Adit, 9 Custodian, 10 Ballad, 11 Flaws, 14 Rogue, 15 Nail, 16 Bliss, 18 Abet, 20 Aaron, 21 Shirt, 24 Hassle, 25 Saint Joan, 26 Fate, 27 Pre-school. DOWN: 1 Barbarian, 2 Dialogues, 4 Ehud, 5 Hotel, 6 At dawn, 7 Deal, 9 Caleb, 11 Foist, 12 Sacristan, 13 Slanderer, 17 Satan, 19 Thanks, 22 Rajah, 23 Hair, 24 Halo.

Word of the Week

Transverberate: The piercing of the heart. It describes a mystical experience which could come in the form of mystical vision and a physical wounding of the heart by a dart or a flame of God’s love..

The most well-known is the experience of St Teresa of Avila, whose heart after her death still bore the mark of the piercing.

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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. In thanks for prayers answered.

Pat. HOLY SPIRIT, you who make me see everything and who shows me the way to reach my ideal.

You have given me the divine gift to forgive and forget all that is done to me, and you are in all the instincts of my life with me.

I want to thank you for everything and confirm once more that I never want to be separated from you, no matter how great the material desire may be. I want to be with you and my loved ones in your perpetual glory.

Amen. Say this prayer for three consecutive days and without continuing to ask; no matter how difficult it may be and you promise to publish this dialogue as soon as your favour has been granted. d.S. O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me where you are, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth I humbly beseech

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. For prayers answered. Gilly and Nelly HOLY St Jude, apostle

you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. There is none who can withstand your power, O Mary conceived without sin, pray

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for us who have recourse to thee. Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands.

Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then publish. M.V.

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1st Sunday in Lent: February 17 Readings: Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Psalm 91: 1-2, 10-15, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13

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EXT Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, the start of our long journey towards Easter; and as always the gospel for that first Sunday is the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. At the heart of the temptationnarrative is the tendency that we all have, to forget all that God has given us, and to put anything but God at the centre of our lives.

The setting of the first reading is an act of worship, to be performed when Israel gets into the Promised Land, which consists in offering to God a tiny portion of what God has given to them, and (here’s the thing) a remembering of what God has done for them.

It starts with the alliterative prayer “a wandering Aramean was my father” (well, alliterative in Hebrew, anyway), and tells a short version of the nation’s history, and how, when the Egyptians oppressed them “we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our afflictions and our labour and our oppression”, and then how “the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand”, and how “the Lord brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey”.

So all that Israel has to do is to give the offering of first fruits as a sign of gratitude, not because God will sulk if they don’t, but because the minute we fail to recognise that absolutely everything is God’s gift to us, our lives

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Put the Lord at the heart of your life Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

go horribly wrong; it may be that this is what we are called to recognise during the Lenten season which is now starting.

The psalm for next Sunday has no problem at all in recognising what God has done, or in his stout-hearted belief that God will protect him in difficulty. Paradoxically, the Devil is able to quote this psalm in the final temptation in the gospel for Sunday, “he has commanded his angels to guard you in all your ways...with their hands they shall lift you up”, so that the person who believes in God will be able to deal with the hostile attentions of all kinds of wild animals: “They shall call, and I will answer them.” What the psalmist recognises is that God is in charge.

The second reading for next Sunday is a part of Paul’s careful working out of the place of Israel in God’s plan, given that the message about Jesus has gone out to the Gentiles.

The point here is to recognise what God has done in Jesus; and the temptation is to regard the message as something utterly remote, be-

yond our experience. On the contrary, Paul argues: “The word is near, on your mouth and in your heart.” And to resist the temptation we have to make a double confession, first, that “Jesus is Lord”, and second that “God raised him from the dead”.

The consequence of this is that there is “no distinction between Jew and non-Jew, for the same [God] is Lord of all, rich to all those who call upon him”, and then ending with the triumphant conclusion that “everyone who calls on the Lord’s name will be saved”.

That calling on the Lord’s name is our task, and that is how we are to resist the temptations that beset us, especially our main temptation, which is to forget all that God has done for us.

In the gospel, Luke, unlike Mark, sets out three temptations, presumably to give us an indication of the kind of temptations that might afflict us, as they afflicted Jesus.

It is typical of Luke that he starts by describing Jesus as “full of the Holy Spirit”; you will say:“Of course he is”, but it is important to Luke, as is the next assertion, that “he was led in the Spirit in the desert”.

That underlines how Jesus is fundamentally centred on God (as we too can learn to be, during this Lenten season); and the three temptations are of course an invitation to put

Ecumenism: Our neglected mandate

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HILE saying farewell the night before he died, Jesus told those with him that he “had other sheep that are not of this fold” and that those with him at that particular moment were not his only followers. Very importantly, he also said that he longed for unity with those others just as urgently and deeply as he longed for unity with those in the room with him.

Among other things, this means that no matter what our particular Christian denomination, we are not Christ’s only followers and that we have no more right to his love than those millions of others who are not of our own kind.

Moreover, to be a disciple of Jesus means that we, like him, also have to hunger and pray for unity with those who are separated from us. Indeed the divisions among us as Christians, the fact that we are divided into more than a hundred separate denominations and the fact that, within these denominations, we are further bitterly divided by ideologies and live in distrust of each other, constitutes perhaps the biggest of all scandals that Christianity has given and continues to give to the world.

For the most part, despite considerable goodwill and genuine effort in recent years, we are still not praying for each other and reaching out to each other with any real heart. The relationship between Christian denominations today, and often inside those denominations themselves, is characterised more by re-entrenchment than by openness, distrust than by trust,

Conrad

083 640 5848

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

disrespect than by respect, demonisation than by empathy, and lack of charity than by courtesy and graciousness. Sadly, too, more so than by ecumenical hunger and openness, our churches are characterised too much by a self-sufficiency and smugness that says: “We have the truth. We have no need of you!”

But who are our real brothers and sisters as Christians? Is it those within our own particular denomination? Perhaps, though perhaps not! Several times during his ministry while Jesus was talking to a group of people, someone approached him and told him that his mother and his family were outside the circle of this particular group, wanting to talk to him.

Jesus’ reply is far-reaching: In each case, he responds with a question: “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers and sisters?” And he answers his own question by saying: “Those who hear and keep the word of God are mother, and brother, and sister to me.”

In a society where blood relationship meant everything, this statement is a stunning one. Blood may be thicker than water but, Jesus asserts, faith is thicker than blood. Faith is the real basis for family. It trumps biology. Moreover, without

straining the logic, implied in this too is that faith also trumps denomination.

Who is your real brother or sister as a Christian? Your fellow Catholic? Your fellow Presbyterian? Your fellow Lutheran?

Your fellow Baptist? Your fellow Evangelical? Your fellow Methodist? Your fellow Anglican or Episcopalian?

Clearly, for Jesus, it is the person who most deeply hears the word of God and keeps it, irrespective of denomination.

Christian discipleship is defined more by the heart than by a particular church membership card.

This makes for a non-negotiable mandate within our Christian discipleship: We need to radiate Jesus’ hunger for intimacy with all people of sincere faith and, to that end, our actions towards those outside our own religious circle must always be marked by respect, graciousness, and charity—and a genuine signal that we hunger for unity with them.

Genuine respect, graciousness, and charity can only be predicated on a humility that believes that our own church, whatever our denomination, does not have the whole truth, that we are not free of error, that we are not free of sin, and that we are not fully faithful to the gospel.

All of us, all Christian churches, are journeying towards fullness, towards a full understanding of the truth, and towards a more radical and honest fidelity to what Jesus asks of us. None of us has arrived. All of us are journeying still towards where we are called.

Thus, our real ecumenical task, no matter our denomination, is not that of trying to win over converts or convince others that we are more right than they are.

Our primary task is inner conversion within our own denomination. Our primary task is to try, as individuals and as churches, to be more faithful to the gospel. If we do that we will eventually come together, as one church, under Christ because as we all go deeper into the mystery of Christ and grow more deeply in our own intimacy with Jesus, we will (in the beautiful phrase of Avery Dulles) “progressively converge”, eventually meet around one centre and one person, Jesus Christ.

Kenneth Cragg, after spending years as a Christian missionary to Islam, suggested it will take all the Christian churches to give full expression to the full Christ.

Clearly all of us still need to stretch our hearts.

anything else but God at the centre of his life.

The first temptation is a good one to offer to someone who is hungry, that he should do a magic trick and turn a stone into food. Jesus effortlessly resists that by quoting Deuteronomy: “Human beings shall not live on food alone.”

The second temptation is the invitation to take a short cut in his ministry (“I shall give you all this authority, and all their glory”) by bowing down and worshipping the Devil; once again Jesus can quote Deuteronomy: “The Lord your God shall you worship, and him alone shall you adore.”

The final temptation is set in Jerusalem (where Luke’s gospel begins and ends), apparently up on the roof, and the invitation is: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,” and the temptation is reinforced by the Devil quoting Scripture (from our psalm for today).

This final temptation is, once more, dismissed by way of a quotation from Deuteronomy: “You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.”

Contemplate these three temptations, during your Lenten journey, and see which of them is most likely to attract you; and continue to put God ever more closely at the heart of your life.

Southern Crossword #536

ACROSS 3. Town of Philip, Andrew and Peter (Jn 1) (9) 8. Access passage found in some traditions (4) 9. Guardian (9) 10. Song that can be all bad (6) 11. Defects (5) 14. Type of destructive elephant (5) 15. Spike on hand? (4) 16. Heavenly happiness (5) 18. A wager to help the wrongdoer (4) 20. The first high priest (Ex 29) (5) 21. See 23 24. Les has a way to pester you (6) 25. France’s heroine (5,4) 26. Destiny (4) 27. Children go here before entering classrooms (3-6)

DOWN 1. After two pubs Ian is uncivilised (9) 2. Plato’s famous conversational book? (9) 4. He was left-handed (Jg 3) (4) 5. Accommodating place to stop (5) 6. When the sun rises (2,4) 7. Trade wood (4) 9. Son of Jephunneh (Nm 13) (5) 11. Soft I may force upon you (5) 12. Cain stars as the sexton (9) 13. He lies to destroy your name (9) 17. The Tempter (5) 19. You may give this after your meal (6) 22. Indian prince (5) 23 and 21. Penitential clothing (4,5) 24. Saintly circle (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE: “Doctor, I have an ear ache.”

2000 BC—“Here, eat this root.”

1000 BC—“That root is heathen, say this prayer.”

1850 AD—“That prayer is superstition, drink this potion.”

1940 AD—“That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill.”

1985 AD—“That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic.”

2000 AD—“That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!”

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