The Southern Cross - 130220

February 20 to February 26, 2013

Catholic reviewers award their Oscars

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The place of the Gospel in the Mass

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What happens between papacies?

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SA bishops praise Pope Benedict for courage

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

P

OPE Benedict’s sudden resignation from the papacy took even South Africa’s cardinal by surprise.

“I didn’t see it coming,” said Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban. He was not alone in his disbelief.

“The resignation of the Holy Father was unexpected and has taken us by surprise,” said Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).

Cardinal Napier had spent a considerable amount of time in Rome in October at the Synod of Bishops and the launch of the New Evangelisation. Cardinal Napier was also in Rome during January. “One could see Pope Benedict was tired, but he was always encouraging, always quick to give guidance and always very spiritual.”

The cardinal added that another reason for disbelief was the fact that Pope Benedict will not be in office over Easter—“a very special time for him, especially the Stations of the Cross [at the Colosseum in Rome] which he always has someone write for him”.

World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in July was another big event on the pope’s calendar which he will no longer attend.

“It caught me completely off-guard,” said Cardinal Napier, one of almost 120 electorcardinals who will convene to elect the new pope in March.

Pope Benedict’s decision to step down has been hailed by the country’s bishops.

“It takes a great deal of wisdom and courage to make such a momentous decision as to resign from the papacy,” said Archbishop Brislin. “I am sure that this has been a most difficult and agonising decision for His Holiness. In his statement he refers to frequently examining his conscience on the matter, but feels that both strength of mind and body are necessary for the adequate exercise of the papacy and that his health has deteriorated over recent months.”

“This decision evokes in us a certain amount of sadness, but we accept that this decision, not taken lightly, is best for both Pope Benedict and the Church,” said Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria, spokesman for the SACBC. The country’s bishops have expressed their admiration for the pontiff—both the work he has done and the decision to step down.

“We wish to assure Pope Benedict of our prayers and will commit our prayers for the Church as we discern the will of the Holy Spirit for the continuity of leadership of the Church,” said Archbishop Slattery in a statement.

Cardinal Napier said that Pope Benedict will be remembered in a similar way to how he was introduced—by the virtues of his chosen name.

“The last pope to carry the name Benedict [XV, pope from 1914-22] had worked tirelessly in justice and peace. This is true of Pope Benedict XVI. He will leave a legacy of reconciliation.”

The cardinal added that St Benedict of Nursia—the founder of the Benedictine order— was used by God to rebuild the Church. This is what Pope Benedict has tried to do with the New Evangelisation.

“Finally, he will be remembered for always encouraging that Christ be the centre of our lives,” Cardinal Napier said.

“One of the features of his life has been that of simplicity,” said Cardinal Napier. “He will now retire into a prayerful life where he will no doubt continue with his writings and

reflections and will remain an inspiration for the Church today.”

Archbishop Brislin said the pope’s legacy will be one of firm and decisive leadership to the Church.

“He has reached out to leaders of other Christian churches and to leaders of other faiths. He has sought the forgiveness of victims of clerical abuse and has on a number of occasions met with victims. He has enriched the Church with his theology and incisive mind. He has spoken on behalf of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world,” Archbishop Brislin said. n See page 8 for an analysis of Pope Benedict’s resignation.

No 4813

Don’t miss next week’s farewell souvenir supplement on Pope Benedict!

WYD organisers plan on new pope coming

BY LISE ALVES

O

RGANISERS of the World Youth Day 2013 set for July 23-28 in Rio de Janeiro said that plans will continue as scheduled even though the identity of the new pope would not be known for several weeks.

Archbishop Orani João Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro said that young people remained committed to making the six-day celebration of faith a momentous event.

“We in Rio de Janeiro hope to welcome

the new pope and hundreds of thousands of youths from around the world for this encounter with Jesus Christ.”

The archbishop said that the youths should “continue to pack up their bags and continue to prepare for the journey to Rio”.

When asked if the pope had ever signalled any intention of stepping down, Archbishop Tempesta said that the pontiff stated a few times during World Youth Day preparation meetings: “The pope will go to the event. Either I or my successor will be there.”—CNS

2

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

LOCAL

Godsell: we’re in new period B

OBBY Godsell, chairman of the board of directors of St Augustine College, South Africa’s Catholic university in Johannesburg, addressed college students at the beginning of the 2013 academic year.

He began by asking them what sort of country they wanted, saying they live in a new world, a new continent, a new South Africa and a new epoch, which means a different set of rules. This is a new period of history.

Mr Godsell said the current system began in the 17th century when technology moved from the East to the West. Explorers advanced around the world. This required new maps and led to sea power, empire, trade, a renaissance in Europe and a rediscovery of ideas from the Greek and Roman times.

The West was also influenced by Islam.

He said the industrial revolution followed, which led to England becoming important in world developments. For the next 100 years the rest of the world was influenced significantly by what happened in England. This system is coming to an end with the rise of India and China. The West is ageing. Because of the inability of the political systems in Europe and the United States to bring about the necessary change, power is shifting to the East.

There are a number of powerful groupings in the world from the G8, which expanded to the G20, and also the rise of importance of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa) countries, Mr Godsell said. South Africa now has to decide where it fits into the picture. Africa is coming of age.

Colonialism has largely become a thing of the past, but the last 15

years have not been very good for the continent of Africa. An example of this is the inability of West African states to move troops speedily and with sufficient manpower to assist in Mali.

Africa as a continent has had a better growth rate in GDP in the past 15 years than any other continent, Mr Godsell noted. In addition remittances sent home from Africans working abroad exceed foreign development aid. This is a good thing as the money is then effectively spent. There is also a gradual return to their countries of birth of Africans working abroad. This brings added skills to the continent.

There is a second transition taking place: from the past of apartheid, he said. The country now needs to decide where it needs to be. Reference should be made to the National Development Plan produced by 26 commissioners.

Many of the actions to be completed by 2030 can be implemented and should result in unemployment being reduced to 6% of the population. Economic growth needs to increase by 2% above the increase in population annually.

South Africa is looking at a growth of 4-5% annually, which is possible.

Mr Godsell then asked the question “What do we need to make South Africa successful?” He answered his question: • Competent people who have the tools to be useful. They need skills which they are able to sell to industry, manufacturing and the arts.

• Confidence. Our citizens need the confidence to project that they are successful people and have not become victims of life.

• Responsibility. One of the reasons for the demise of the West is the hyper-individualism which is prevalent with the “I” mentality

rather than the “we”.

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher maintained that “society does not exist”. This is clearly not so, Mr Godsell said. We live with other people. There are different ways of supporting each other. There is a co-responsibility for ourselves and our families, our communities. The government only provides 15% of its citizens’ needs. We as citizens have to make thingshappen. The collective values of the nation will determine the future of South Africa.

Mr Godsell ended his talk by informing students that St Augustine would be a source not only of learning but would develop their abilities to contribute to the world in an effective way.

It was up to them to make the most of the teaching and opportunities which were being offered by the university.

Queenstown Pallottine brothers ordained deacons STAFF REPORTER

T

Brothers Rodrick White Phiri, John Alois Mangwele, Jones Samson and Ignacio Chipiko were ordained deacons by Bishop Dabula Anthony Mpako of Queenstown.

HE diocese of Queenstown has welcomed four new deacons who will work in the pastoral field before their ordination to the priesthood.

The ordination was well timed as it represented 50 years that the founder of the Pallottine order, Don Vincenzo Pallotti, was canonised by Pope John XXIII during a session of the Second Vatican Council.

“The Pallottines in South Africa wanted to celebrate that golden jubilee in a dignified and joyful way in the diocese of Queenstown, which was founded and consolidated by the Pallottines, and was cordially invited to take part in,” said Fr Edward Tratsaert SAC. “Bishop Dabula Anthony Mpako of Queenstown was very happy to have the honour of ordaining four deacons for the Pallottines,” said Fr Tratsaert.

Held at St Theresa’s church, the liturgy was “simple but splendid” and enhanced by the choir of the Pallottine scholasticate of Merrivale.

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“For the local congregation, the calling up of the candidates and their prostration during the litany of all saints was extremely moving.

Here, the mystery of a vocation became visible.”

After some inspiring words, the bishop held up his hands and the brothers Rodrick White Phiri, John Alois Mangwele, Jones Samson and Ignacio Chipiko became deacons and took up immediately their task during the rest of the liturgy.

Provincial delegate Fr Hermes Paononga SAC gave the vote of thanks, mentioning also the apostolic fields in the diocese, where the new deacons will go for their first pastoral tasks and experiences.

“After their priestly ordination, three will continue to work in the diocese of Queenstown and the fourth one will go to Malawi as the first step for a new Pallottine foundation in that country,” said Fr Tratsaert, adding that many of the parishioners were so excited by the ordinations that they asked to have the priests return to work at St Theresa’s.

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

3

Right 2 Know lauds cardinal

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T

HE Right 2 Know (R2K) campaign has called on all religious bodies and leaders to take a stand against the “secrecy bill” and to ensure government is held accountable for its actions.

Eric Tate, a member of the national working committee of the R2K campaign, made the call following the “bold and refreshing comments made by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier,” which The Southern Cross reported on February 6.

“R2K is calling on all religious leaders to stand up and inform their congregations that this country is at a point of no return. People are tired of having their rights undermined and should join together to fight for them,” said Mr Tate.

In his letter to a Durban newspaper, the cardinal challenged South Africans to stand up and fight “the biggest crime against humanity in South Africa: the total and utter disregard and disrespect for each other”.

“We salute Cardinal Napier for his brave, moral stand, so reminiscent of the late Archbishop Dennis Hurley,” said Mr Tate, who is a parishioner of St Joseph’s in Durban.

Mr Tate said the current govern-

ment was more like a regime, one which “does not understand the term ‘democracy’. The regime wants to live as capitalists and proclaim to be socialists. The wrongs of the regime which include corruption, nepotism and exorbitant fees to consultants and cronies have reached an alarming rate of concern.”

The R2K campaign encourages the right to access information which would assist voters and citizens at large to stand up against wrongdoing and hold government accountable for its actions.

“The Right 2 Know campaign is at one with the cardinal in condemning the outrageous abuse of state power and funds in our country. We believe that a few should not be enriched at the expense of the many; that was never the essence of the freedom struggle.”

R2K has called on all faiths, civil society activists and leaders to condemn the socio-economic injustices in the country, and to stand up for the defence of our human rights as enshrined in our constitution.

“We agree that, for too long, a culture of silence has seen our hardfought rights being rolled back.

Crime and violence have escalated to unacceptable heights.”

Nurses’ guild revived

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

A

CALL to revive the support organisation for healthcare workers, the Catholic Nurses’ Guild (CNG), has been answered and the reestablished group is continuing to rebuild across the country.

National president Lindiwe Mhlongo said the need to revive the organisation was clear as issues facing nurses were not always conducive to Catholic social teaching—a support network was needed, she said. Over the past year, plans to jumpstart the CNG have been positive.

Today, the national office is in Durban, and the regional office for KwaZulu-Natal is in Kokstad diocese.

Despite the group’s spiritual adviser being on sabbatical in Rome, Ms Mhlongo said the CNG had encouraged activity at parish level.

The CNG president said international day of the sick was celebrated in various parishes across the country on February 11 where the sick were prayed for. “On March 9, the nurses’ day of prayer will be held at Holy Trinity parish in Matatiele,” said Ms Mhlongo, adding that such celebrations were giving healthcare workers a voice in the Church.

The CNG has also participated in international conferences—last year in Zambia and this year, the group plans to travel to Croatia to attend the conference with the Internaional Catholic Committee of Nurses and Medico Social Assistants. n Applications are still available. Those who are interested in attending should submit their names to the national office on 031 707 3031 during office hours.

Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town (right) has invited Christians to join him in a carbon fast for Lent. He is pictured with Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town. (Photo: Claire Mathieson)

Call for carbon fast for Lent A NGLICAN Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town has invited Christians around the globe to join him in a carbon fast for Lent.

“Lent is a time of repentance and fasting, of turning away from all that is counter to God’s will and purposes for his world and all who live in it”, he said. “This year, I invite Anglicans and Christians to focus their Lenten ‘acts of love and sacrifice’ on our contribution to climate change, and on those most impacted by it.”

Archbishop Makgoba chairs the Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN) and is pri-

mate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa which includes some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

The carbon fast resource suggests a specific action for each of the 40 days of Lent, raising awareness of environmental issues and guiding participants on how they can have a positive impact on creation.

Building on traditional Lenten practices where Christians give something up, such as chocolate or alcohol, the carbon fast asks participants to focus on giving up, or making changes to their lifestyles, so that they reduce their “carbon footprint”, that is, their contribu-

tion to environmentally damaging greenhouse gas emissions, usually measured in carbon dioxide equivalent.

The activities suggested for each day include cutting down on meat.

“A traditional Lenten observance is ‘fish on Fridays’. Why not also have a ‘meat-free Monday’— or some other day, if on Mondays you usually eat Sunday’s leftovers?” the archbishop said.

“Did you know that a kilogramme of steak could be responsible for as many greenhouse gases as driving a car for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home?” he asked.—CISA

4

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

A tale of two Easters

BY JuDITH SuDILOVSkY

G

HASSAN Rafidi, 53, remembers enjoying celebrating Easter twice as a child in his village of Jifna.

“We had two times to celebrate and two vacations. My father’s family gave us gifts on the Greek Orthodox date, and my mother’s family on the Catholic,” said Mr Rafidi, the son of a Catholic mother and a Greek Orthodox father.

But today the Christian community has shrunk, and it is important that the celebrations be united, he said. Employers honour holidays on only one of the celebrations, putting pressure on families to decide which to celebrate, he said.

“The Muslims always ask us how many Jesuses do we have,” he said.

There are many families like Mr Rafidi’s, both in Israel and the Palestinian territories, with members belonging to the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestant churches.

For the past 15 years, Catholic parishes throughout the Palestinian territories and many in Israel have been celebrating Easter on the Greek Orthodox date. Now, following a directive from the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, within two years all Eastern Catholics and the Latin Patriarchate in the Holy Land will officially adopt the Greek Orthodox Julian calendar date.

The Latin Patriarchate calls the move a “decisive step towards ecumenism”. The official directive will take place after completion of the decree and approval by the Vatican.

“The main reason for the unification of the Easter celebration is for members of the same family, village and parish to be able to have one celebration, and one calendar, and to show the unity and enjoy the unity. We want to give a good example of unity to our non-Christian neighbours,” said the Latin Patriarchate chancellor, Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali.

Parishes in Jerusalem, Bethlehem in the West Bank, and Tel Aviv will be exempt this year.

The Greek Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar and did not adopt the Gregorian calendar, which was implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct a miscalculation in the rotation of the earth.

A girl lights a candle during the Catholic Easter Vigil Mass in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem last year. Orthodox and Catholic Christians in the Holy Land marked the Easter feast on different days because of conflicting church calendars. (Photo: Debbie Hill, CNS)

Next year, Easter falls on the same day according to both calendars, so the change by decree will be adopted only in 2015.

T

he spirit of the holiday is lost if it is celebrated on separate dates, said Fr Raed Abusahlia of Holy Family Parish in Ramallah, West Bank.

Easter in the Eastern church is all of Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, and includes special prayers during the week, he said.

“The liturgy is very beautiful if done together as a family. It can’t be spiritual if it is only part of the family,” he said. During the week following Easter there are traditional holiday family visits as well.

Fr Ilario Antoniazzi of St Anthony parish in Rameh, Israel, has been celebrating Easter with the Greek Orthodox for 15 years; he said the date is not important. “The most important thing is to be together on the feast, to give a good example of our love and to show that we are united in our love.”

In the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, the change did not come easily for some parishioners, said Fr Agapios Abu Saada of St Elijah Melkite Catholic cathedral, who has been pivotal in pushing for unifying the celebration.

He said those initially opposed to the idea were swayed by the joint religious processions during Holy Week.

“Unifying the feast is a vivid Christian testimony in a multicultural and multireligious society,” he

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said. “Christians in the Holy Land are a minority that keeps dividing itself to inner minorities within the minority, creating diverse subcommunities...which deteriorate the goal of Christians as one unrestricted community living in a multicultural and multireligious society.”

Fr Abusahlia said some of his parishioners are “a little bit disturbed” because the Greek Orthodox Easter comes so late this year: on May 5.

“In the past years, we celebrated it together or with a difference of one week, so they didn’t feel it. Now it is very late, with a difference of 35 days. But we will celebrate together, it is good and important.”

The change also involves celebrating Lent and the period between Easter and Pentecost, said Bishop Shomali. “When we unify the calendar [on Easter] we are unifying 90 days of the year. It is important.”

He said he would be happy to see the unified celebration adopted universally by all Christians.

“The solution is to fix one Sunday in April as the date,” he said.

Bishop Shomali said although the Catholics did not ask the Greek Orthodox Church to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, he expects they will do so to unite Christians for that feast.— CNS

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ORDeR NOW

ITH the awards season in full swing, the Media Review Office of the Catholic News Service has offered its top 10 movie selections—and top 10 family films list—for 2012.

Some of these choices have been or will be saluted by secular critics and prize-givers, principally for their aesthetic qualities. Others are celebrated by the office primarily for their spiritual and moral strengths.

The Review Office selected: • the Ben Afflek thriller Argo, which “masterfully alternates between life-or-death drama and high-stakes humour”.

• the fact-based Chasing Mavericks which it said “offers viewers— particularly teens—a refreshingly positive role model in the person of a young man who inspires others with his inherent sense of goodness, perseverance, and self-discipline”; • the “lavish conclusion” to the Dark Knight Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises; • The Iron Lady, the biopic of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher; • the “vibrant, faith-driven blend of comedy, drama and music” of Joyful Noise with Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton; • the epic musical Les Misérables, which the office said features a positive portrayal of Catholicism; • the exotic fable Life of Pi in which religious themes are central; • Lincoln, with Daniel DayLewis’ “bravura performance” as the 19th-century US president;

B

ELGIUM’S Mechelen-Brussels archdiocese has become Europe’s latest to plan church closures in the face of declining Catholic participation.

An archdiocesan official told the German Catholic news agency KNA that “dozens of churches” faced closing and that the city’s largest Catholic landmark, St Catherine church, was expected to be turned

BY CINDY WOODEN

I

TALIAN Cardinal Giovanni Cheli, a long-time Vatican diplomat and retired head of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travellers, died in Rome on February 8 at the age of 94.

Born in Turin in 1918 and ordained in Assisi in 1942, he served as the first head of the Vatican’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations.

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into a fruit and vegetable market.

The planned church closures follow a fall in practising Catholics to around 1,5% of the city population, with average Sunday Mass attendance of around 100 people per parish, according to a 2010 survey.

Similar moves were announced in late 2012 by the Catholic archdioceses of Berlin and Vienna.

Italian cardinal dies at 94

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• the drama-comedy People Like Us, which “delivers a thoughtful examination of its main characters’ struggle to overcome a legacy of dysfunction”; • Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a “charming blend of comedy and drama that also promotes the value of religious faith”.

The top 10 family films are Big Miracle, Chimpanzee, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, Frankenweenie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Pirates!

Band of Misfits, Rise of the Guardians, The Secret World of Arrietty, and Wreck-It Ralph.—CNS

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Films Les Misérables (above) and Argo feature in the Catholic Media Review Office top 10 of 2012.

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He was ordained an archbishop in 1978.

In 1986, he was named pro-president of the then-Pontifical Commission for Migrants and Travellers and became president of the office when it became a council.

When he was almost 80, he was made a cardinal during a 1998 consistory and he retired less than two months later.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

5

Mali bishops: Don’t confuse ethnicity with rebellion

BY JONATHAN LuxMOORE

A Malian soldier walks past a cross from the church seen in the background in the recently liberated town of Diabaly. After French troops helped liberate Malian towns, a bishops’ conference official said people must not confuse ethnicity with rebellion.

(Photo: Eric gaillard, Reuters/CNS)

M A child dressed as a Swiss guard stands in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican (Photo: Max Rossi, Reuters/CNS)

Defence of gay rights was ‘misunderstood’

BY CINDY WOODEN

T

HE president of the Pontifical Council for the Family said his defence of the dignity of homosexual persons and their individual rights was misinterpreted, perhaps intentionally.

“It is one thing to verify whether in existing laws one can find norms that would safeguard individual rights. It’s another thing to approve certain expectations,” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia told Vatican Radio.

At a Vatican news conference earlier this month, Archbishop Paglia had insisted that only a lifelong union of a man and a woman could be termed a marriage.

The archbishop also said the Church’s affirmation of the full dignity of all human beings led him to oppose legislation that outlaw homosexuality. In addition, he said that “to promote justice and to protect the weak”, greater efforts were needed to ensure legal protection and inheritance rights for people living together, though not married. “But do not call it marriage,” he said.

His remarks from the news con-

ference were reported around the world under headlines such as “Vatican recognises the rights of gay couples”.

“Not only were my words not understood,” Archbishop Paglia said, “they were derailed, perhaps even knowingly.”

While reaffirming his opposition to “gay marriage”, he also reiterated Church teaching against unjust discrimination towards homosexual persons.

Archbishop Paglia quoted from a 1986 document on the pastoral care of homosexual persons signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger: “It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action.”

The document said: “Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs. It reveals a kind of disregard for others which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society. The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law.”—CNS

ALIAN residents liberated

by French troops must “remember not all Mali’s Tuareg and Arab citizens are insurgents and Islamists”, said the secretary-general of the country’s bishops’ conference.

“We mustn’t segment the population and confuse ethnicity with rebellion,” Fr Edmond Dembélé said.

He said residents of liberated towns felt secure but noted that rebels were still active in Mali’s northern mountains, adding that the local population would only be “definitively reassured” when rebels were “finally eradicated”.

“We know the French army plans to withdraw in March, and we hope this is just a projection,” said Fr Dembélé. “If it does move out, we’ll count on Malian and West African soldiers to continue its work. But we hope the French will stay on, given the situation here.”

In a telephone interview, Fr Dembélé said French and Malian soldiers had shown a “respectful attitude” to Catholic properties during their campaign to oust the rebels, but said he also feared “lynch law” against Islamist collaborators.

“Most Malians, Muslims included, are generally tolerant— they’re friendly to Christians and respect Catholic places of worship,” the priest said.

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state overran northern Mali alongside Islamist fighters from Ansar Edine, which is believed linked to al-Qaeda. France intervened on January 11, and French foreign minister Laurent Fabius confirmed this month that his country’s 4 000strong force would withdraw by the end of March after recapturing towns in northern Mali Fr Dembélé said Catholic churches had been desecrated and robbed in several rebel-held towns, adding that Islamist rebels had also “sacked and pillaged” a Catholic church, presbytery, convent and school in the now recaptured Gao, where several Malian soldiers were killed by separate landmine and suicide bomb attacks on February 7-8.

“It will take at least a year to repair and restore what was destroyed and replace what was taken away,”

the priest said. “But we also need justice, reconciliation and forgiveness, and I think Christians, who’ve always played a key role in Malian society, can help bring them about.”

The 200 000-member Catholic church has six dioceses and makes up around 1,3% of Mali’s population of 15,5 million, of whom 90% are Muslim.

Fr Dembélé said Archbishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako had helped mediate between rival military factions after the March coup, and was ready to work with Mali’s High Islamic Council to assist peace and reconciliation.

He added that the country’s Christian minority was well placed to “act as a bridge” between the northern Tuaregs and Arabs and the sub-Saharan population of the South.—CNS

6

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Living with an ex-pope

T

HE decision by Pope Benedict XVI to renounce the papacy has been rightly described by many as courageous and wise.

It requires great humility to acknowledge that one is no longer able to exercise the office one has been entrusted with; it takes courage to break a centuries-old custom, especially in an institution which is intrinsically suspicious of innovation, and quit the highest office any man can occupy.

It is also a pragmatic and practical decision made in the best interests of the Catholic Church by a man who always was a reluctant pope.

Predictably, the Internet was aflutter with speculations about the supposedly “real” reasons for Pope Benedict’s resignation, such as financial or sexual abuse scandals.

The eagerness with which many people engaged in conspiracy theories indicate a cheerless tendency towards interpreting the world through a cynical lens, as though there is no capacity for selflessness and goodness.

The obvious explanation, one immediately observable, relates to the octogenarian pope’s state of health, as he told us. It is deplorable that this should have been in doubt—but it also raises questions as to why there is an inclination to assume the worst of the Church and its leaders.

Pope Benedict delivered the statement of his abdication with characteristic surgical precision.

He seems to have prepared for the moment for a long time— according to some reports, ever since he returned from his taxing visit to Cuba and Mexico in March last year.

Shrewd observers interpreted November’s elevation of new cardinals, the second of the year, which topped up the number of voting-age cardinals, as a sign that a new conclave was imminent. Few would have guessed how soon this would be.

Pope Benedict leaves his office with most of his business concluded; his mission has been largely accomplished.

The New Evangelisation project has been launched, the translation of the English missal has been implemented, the boundaries for the interpretations of the Second Vatican

Council have been set, and so on.

Inevitably, there are some loose ends. The prospects of the schismatic Society of St Pius X returning to Rome, so fervently desired by the pope, have become uncertain. Pope Benedict championed talks with the society in the face of resistance from many bishops and even curia officials; now they may well be moribund.

The dominant question is how the barge of St Peter will sail into unknown territory.

Pope Benedict is the first pope to leave his office voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294, so there are no precedents to guide the Church in this time.

Celestine was encloistered after his renunciation of the papacy and died two years later.

Indications are that Pope Benedict will likewise remove himself from public life.

There can be no other way.

The new pope must be able to act—and be seen to act—without the shadow of his predecessor looming over him. As it is, any departure from the ways of his predecessors stands to be interpreted, at least by some, as a repudiation of Pope Benedict.

The new pope will not be able to exercise his Petrine function fully in the person of Christ if there is a flow of speculation, never mind leaks, of what Pope Benedict thinks about this decision or that speech.

No doubt Pope Benedict, the only man alive who truly knows the burden of being a pope, will be acutely aware of this, and support his successor in discretion and in prayer.

Living with an ex-pope will be a learning curve; perhaps one which future popes will benefit from. It is unclear, for example, what might be the consequences of a former pope making his writings publicly available. Is there any place in the public sphere for an expope?

The light of Pope Benedict’s papacy will continue to shine for a long time, and it will guide the new steward of the Church in his difficult office.

We must be grateful to Pope Benedict for his selfless service to the Church, and pray for him.

We must also pray for the cardinals as they enter conclave next month to elect one of their own as the new pope.

Plea to modernise the Church REFER to your editorial of January served over the ages, it is open to atI23. tack. Rather that, Sir, than being I never read websites so I am, I merely ignored. believe, approaching you without prejudice, as it were.

Yet I feel obliged to thank you sincerely for what I consider to be a very timely and elegantly written plea for civilised, especially Christian, attitudes when responding to criticism, whether directed at priests, churchgoers or churches, or at the way and manner in which the holy message is brought.

By the very nature of your Church, after a long period of triumph and failure as well as rapidly changing insights of the people it

Church finances

I

REFER to your excellent editorial of January 2 following the address to reporters by Cardinal Guiseppe Versaldi that the Vatican is tightening its financial controls.

However, in the 12 or so months since the leaks to the press of possible mismanagement of funds, there has been no clear, unequivocal denial of wrongdoing.

Questions remain. Why has the Vatican announced tighter financial controls if there was no “mischief”?

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference is busy raising money to fund a trust to finance the Catholic Church in Southern Africa in the future. The target is, I understand, R50 million. In the two years the campaign has been running they have raised less than R10 million.

At first sight this is a very poor response from the Catholics of South Africa. However, on further reflection, are local Catholics not concerned that given the question mark over the Vatican’s management of finances, they require clear confirmation that the Church at all levels manages its finances in an open and transparent manner?

In short, is it not time that the Catholic bishops of Southern Africa through the papal nuncio put pressure on the Vatican to make a clear statement of exactly what happened.

Was there graft and if so what have thay done to prosecute those responsible? If no graft, then say so in a clear statement. Until this is cleared up, doubts will remain.

Mervyn Pollitt, Hillcrest

Ecumenism

T

HANK you for the timely reminder about our responsibility towards ecumenism (Fr Ron Rolheiser’s column, February 6).

Vatican II said that the council “exhorts all the Catholic faithful ...

CORPUS CHRISTI CATHOLIC CHURCH, WYNBERG

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

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

This is what worries me.

I am convinced that should the Catholic Church as leader and other Christian churches of note continue bringing the unadulterated message of Jesus Christ, they will prevail.

But they must also be acceptable and socially active within society, although they need not conform to the negative.

For instance, I believe that Catholics should actively consider discarding all the vestments presently worn by the pope and to participate skilfully in ecumenism” (Decree on Ecumenism, 4).

Those of us who have been involved in ecumenism since the enthusiastic days of the late 1960s have seen the movement lose steam decade by decade, as people’s enthusiasm faded.

Vatican II also encouraged Catholics to have a positive attitude towards other Christians: “The Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers; because people who have been properly baptised are brought into a certain though imperfect communion with the Catholic Church (Ecumenism, 3).

Although in the course of history, going back to the beginning, people and groups have broken off from the Catholic Church, “the ecumenical movement tries to overcome obstacles and difficulties of doctrine and discipline” (Ecumenism, 3).

Up to this point Fr Rolheiser’s article is perfectly in order. But this is only one side of the story, so like any half truth it is misleading. Catholics do not go into ecumenical discussions as equal partners able to make concessions and change for the sake of becoming one.

Vatican II is quite clear about the fact that the Catholic Church “established by the Lord is, indeed, one and unique” (Ecumenism, 1).

“For it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone, which is the all embracing means of salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained” (Ecumenism, 3).

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

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bishops and others, clothing which appears to non-Catholics as (I’m sorry!) weird circus dress.

Why not urgently, for the love of Christ, the Church and its people, dress the pope, bishops, nuns and others in well-cut business-like suits, even sometimes in informal or sports clothes?

Why not abandon strange hand signals and overly timid voices, so that the message of Jesus Christ can be taken seriously?

Kindly accept this plea for the modernisation of the greatest Church of all time for better and more effective evangelisation so urgently needed in what is presently such a lost world!

Henri L du Plessis, Cape Town Discussion with other Christians must be conducted in complete honesty. So this Catholic understanding of the Church can in no way be glossed over or watered down.

We are dealing with a non-negotiable. My experience over nearly four decades has been that straightforwardness in ecumenical discussion is what earns Catholics the respect and trust of other Christians.

Fr Bonaventure Hinwood, OFM, Pretoria

Jesus’ life

A

T times we keep focused on our goals and plans but at other times our lives are inconvenienced, and we take our focus off our plans.

This enables us to divert our attention back on Christ’s character.

What would Jesus do?

Jesus’ life was inconvenienced when people reached out to him for help and healing. He did not cast them aside. Instead he attended to them and gave us the example of his love, patience and compassion to live by.

Jesus was on his way to heal Jairus’ daughter when a sick woman touched his robe. Jesus turned to the woman and commended her faith. She believed that Jesus would heal her and Jesus turned to face her, although his plans were to go to Jairus’ daughter.

When he heard that Jairus’ daughter had died, Jesus had faith that he could accomplish his mission and bring the girl back to life.

At various times in my life, I had my plans put on hold. God’s Spirit was greater than any plans I tried to keep for myself.

I noticed that I was able to do God’s work, tend to the needs of his people and accomplish my plans.

When we give time to God, meditate on his Word and tend to his flock, we can be assured he will give us extra time to fulfil our plans as well.

Catherine de Valence, Cape Town

PERSPECTIVES

The point of Catholic Social Teachings

T

HE social teaching of the Church— is it a Catholic ideology on social matters? Is it a political and economic system that the Church wants to impose in order to gain worldly powers?

The questions that people pose regarding the Church’s social pronouncements betray the way they view the Church.

Therefore, in this article we shall try to discover what is at the heart of the social teaching of the Church: the source, the content, for whom and for which goal?

Catholic social teaching has developed from the Church’s responses to various social issues over history. It is the fruit of reflections, illuminated by faith, on the realities surrounding the human being in society.

The yardstick is whether or not the principles of society conform or diverge from God’s plan for man. That is why we would say, the Catholic social teaching is somewhat moral principles that inform and form the conscience for social practice worthy of man, as the Compendium of Social Doctrine of the Church notes (72, 73).

The Church draws from the revealed truths in the Bible and from Tradition, enriched by lessons from her long history. While she remains faithful to this heritage, however, the Church also engages in reflections in an on-going manner.

In fact, her reflections are enriched by the dialogue between faith and reason, in other words, revelation and human nature. Hence, Catholic social teaching is not an ideology that just subjects people to a certain system of thought. Rather, believers are invited to serious reasoning, illuminated by faith, in order to see the truth about themselves and the world, which should inspire a certain manner of relating with others.

Indeed, when one uses reason sincerely, and is open to truth, then one is capable of discovering the plan of God for humanity, which is not only religious but also rational. Consequently, there should be no opposition between faith and reason.

If the social teaching draws from the human capacity to reason, enlightened by faith which is a superior level of knowledge, then it can be applied universally to all humans and “can be accepted and be shared by all” (CSDC 75).

This universal application is further confirmed by the fact that the Catholic social teaching makes use of various branches of knowledge, such as philosophy, human sciences and natural sciences. Besides, there is also dialogue with the living Church, not just from the hierarchical point of view, but also the experience of the entire people of God. In this way, it is a teaching worthy of relying on.

I

n all that, what does the Church seek to attain? To dominate the world? What is the object of her social teaching?

The social teaching addresses, as its field of operation, human life in society with the aim of protecting human dignity and to guarantee peaceful coexistence. Society exists for man, and the social teaching is there to ensure that society serves just that purpose—the promotion of the human person (CSDC 81).

There are two basic sides to this teaching: one is that of proclaiming the truths about humans and society, and secondly, to denounce any violation or deviation from the goals of human society as intended by the Creator.

The goal of this double-sided mission

I

by.

So many thoughts crowd one’s mind even in a little place like this.

My team is concerned about strengthening families. The Sekwele team has a project for schools on prevention of gender-based violence, but other Church agencies also have an interest or a potential interest here.

The Human Trafficking Office at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference is concerned about truckers and what role they play in trafficking. Justice & Peace is also present; there are development projects and evangelisation appeared on the Sekwele programme too.

So one could say the Church is present in this little town of Bethlehem. With Bethlehem’s Bishop Jan de Groef taking over the reins of the Department for Evangelisation, under which the Family Life Desk falls, it might be possible over the next few years to make this little town and its spiritual connotation a kind of hub.

I’ve been here in Bethlehem at the John Paul II Centre on a number of occasions over the past ten years, and there is something about this place that resonates with me, speaks to me, makes me feel at

576AM

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Catholic Social Teach-

ings

is to establish “new heavens and new earth” (2 Pt 3:13)—“a society reconciled in justice and love” (CSDC 82).

This teaching is intended first for the members of the Church because of their obligation, by baptism, to announce and witness justice and charity in society.

It is a special ministry of the lay people who are invited to influence the structures of human society through their daily work.

Nevertheless, the Catholic social teaching appeals also to other Christians, persons from other religions and all people of good ill.

Its universal appeal lies in that the values expressed in the teaching refer “to the universal values drawn from revelation and human nature” (CSDC 85), thus, it is capable of illuminating and forming the conscience of all people in society beyond any particular culture, ideology or opinions.

Besides, in its capacity of continuity and renewal the Church is attentive to the evolutions in society by which she dares to face new developments.

This commitment in the world has nothing to do with gaining worldly power since the social teaching is essentially “of the religious and moral order” (Gaudium et Spes, 25), hence, there is no reason whatsoever to be suspicious of the Church as being inspired by political ambitions.

One may be tempted by history to think in terms of political power but that epoch is well gone. However, this does not prevent lay Catholics from engaging themselves in politics. In fact, they are encouraged to do so. It is their vocation.

Inspired by faith in God, the Church puts herself at work at ensuring a just society that remains at the service of humanity. By her social teaching, the Church acts like a beacon in guiding humanity in all its diversity in this process of creating a genuinely human society founded on God’s plan for his creation.

Toni Rowland

O little town of Bethlehem N the last month I did a lot of travelling around the country for all kinds of projects to promote family life.

One particular project, called Family Preservation, for which we had to do a number of research projects, took us to Bethlehem and the Sekwele Centre for Social Reflection based at the John Paul II Centre.

There we met with a very mixed group of people from the region to reflect and discuss this perspective of keeping families together, strengthening relationships, avoiding breakdowns and removal of family members for their safety from possible harm.

It was heart-warming to see the commitment of the participants to their different projects and how they showed interest in this vision which is at the heart of the government’s White Paper on Families which will most likely shortly become the national policy for family life.

There are many places called Bethlehem all over the world; South Africa’s version is a smallish town on the main road from Harrismith to Bloemfontein. While we sat in a restaurant one late afternoon, it seemed as if a thousand trucks passed

Evans K Chama M.Afr

Family Friendly

home. Is it the religious connotation or the geological area of the Eastern Free State?

When I had occasion to visit the Holy Land in 2005, Bethlehem and its church of the Nativity were one of my most moving places. I was overcome with a motherly concern for that infant Jesus.

Thinking about all this I shared with a priest friend that I have come to the conclusion that I pray as a mother. My form of prayer is as a mother.

That really brings to life for me the Year of Faith theme—“Family Moments & Faith Moments”—and the close link between faith and life. All kinds of family experiences can and should be faith moments and vice versa.

As we journey through Lent, the reflections in the little Family Moments and Faith Moments booklet try to develop that link right into the Holy Week reflections on the theme “Love one another as I have loved you”.

Continued on page 11

Holy land • Rome jOuRNeyS OF • Assisi • cairo A liFetime!

with Fr Sean Wales cSsR (Redemptorist speaker and author)

5 - 19 October 2013

See all the great sites of the Holy land, meet and pray with local Contact gail at christians! then fly to Rome, with 076 352 3809 or papal audience, and visit Assisi, the 021 551 3923 place of St Francis. PluS: cairo with the Pyramids, Sphinx, Nile cruise info@fowlertours.co.za

www.fowlertours.co.za

facebook.com/FowlerToursSa

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Leaving footprints General Intention: That respect for nature may grow with the awareness that all creation is God’s work entrusted to human responsibility.

W

HAT’S the carbon footprint of my house?

How many food-miles are covered to bring imported fruit and veg to my table?

Is this flight to Cape Town really necessary? How large a car should I buy? Should I install a heat pump and/or solar panels? Are large flat TV screens bad for the environment?

These are the questions that we’re increasingly faced with in a time of extreme sensitivity to our impact on the natural world of which we are part and without which we would die.

Christians and Jews are often put on the back foot on this issue because of Genesis 1:28—“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Happily Catholics are not fundamentalists, but the text does remind us that, whether we like it or not, we‘re the most powerful species on the planet and in fact we do dominate it. We do this simply because, unlike other species, we’re capable of developing nature-altering technology.

The power that this gives us is what calls forth the responsibility that we are asked to pray for. It’s a responsibility that falls on us all but particularly on the members of technologically powerful nations, whose impact is already affecting the lives of millions of people in the developing world, particularly in Africa. The recent drought-induced food spikes, almost certainly exacerbated by human-induced climate change, are a recent case in point.

If the 21st century doesn’t become the century of stewardship of the biosphere, the 21st may see us severely culled by famine, disease and war, surely not something that God would want. We pray for the collective wisdom to make the necessary radical and wide-ranging changes in our economy and our lifestyle.

Service by the tired Missionary Intention: That bishops, priests, and deacons may be tireless messengers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

‘T

O toil and not to seek for rest’. St Francis Xavier, one of the great exemplars of tireless missionary zeal, certainly lived out this phrase of St Ignatius’ famous prayer.

And he took literally the Gospel’s injunction to go “to the ends of the earth” as he constantly strove to widen the vast geographic scope of his evangelising mission.

Few of us, whether we are bishops, priests, deacons or laypersons, will be able to give of our lives in such a short and sustained burst of apostolic energy. St Francis Xavier’s missionary work only lasted ten years.

Of course when we use the word “tireless” we don’t mean that Xavier never felt weary. Clearly St Francis xavier his ceaseless activity wore him out and contributed to an early death. I suppose what we do mean is that he kept going even when he was tired and weary.

Hence we can take comfort in the fact that we all have to do this at times. It’s not the sole prerogative of the super-saint: it’s a normal human experience.

Parents cannot stop caring for a sick child because they’re tired and nor can they always take time off their jobs when their energy ebbs. The deacon will still take Communion to the sick if he’s promised them to come, even if he’s feeling a little weary.

The priest cannot cancel Sunday Mass simply because he slept poorly on Saturday night. The bishop whose schedule has been busy and his energy is low will still come and do the confirmations as promised.

When we’re tired and somehow we find the extra energy to carry on, let us thank the Lord for that motivating grace that keeps us going, and pray that it will neither fail us nor our very busy shepherds.

8

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

CHURCH

Behind Pope Benedict’s resignation Where will Pope Benedict go after he has left the papacy at 20:00 Rome time on February 28? CINDY WOODEN and CAROL GLATZ explain.

A Pope Benedict places a white stole on the remains of 13th-century Pope St Celestine V during his 2009 visit to the earthquake-damaged basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila, Italy. Pope Benedict said he would resign at the end of the month because he no longer has the energy to exercise his ministry over the universal Church. St Celestine V, a hermit who was elected at the age of 80 and became overwhelmed by the office, was the last pope freely to resign from the papacy. (Photo: L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters/CNS)

FRANCISCAN NARDINI SISTERS

FTER Pope Benedict steps down, he will first move to the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome. He will stay there until the renovation is completed of a cloister, set up

by Pope John Paul II, which is located inside the Vatican Gardens.

The pope will then live in the cloister, called the Mater Ecclesia monastery, and will dedicate his time to prayer and reflection, according to the Vatican’ spokesman, Fr Federico Lombadi SJ. It is likely that Pope Benedict will keep writing, Fr Lombardi said, since the pope had mentioned many times that he has wanted to spend more time dedicated to study and prayer.

When asked if there would be any confusion over leadership or a schism were a possibility, Fr Lombardi said he believes the pope “had no fear of this” happening because he clearly demonstrated his desire to step down and no longer be pope or retain any papal authority.

“I think in no way is there any risk of confusion or division” in this respect, he said.

The pope, who is past the age allowed a cardinal to vote for a new pope, will obviously not be part of the conclave that will convene to elect his successor, he added.

He is not likely to play any role in the interregnum—time between popes—because “there is no role for a predecessor pope” during this period, Fr Lombardi said.

The Jesuit priest said a sede vacante usually lasts less than a month, and that it was more than likely a new pope would be elected in time to lead the full schedule of Holy Week and

Easter liturgies.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals who was one of the many cardinals present during the pope’s announcement, addressed the pope, telling him the news left them with “a sense of loss, almost completely incredulous”.

However, it was obvious that his decision was based on a “great affection” for the wellbeing of the Church, the cardinal said.

Fr Lombardi said being a pope today is “much more fastmoving, more demanding” than it was in the past with an almost non-stop full schedule of public and private events and liturgical celebrations.

When asked why the pope chose the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, as the day to announce his stepping down, Fr Lombardi said most likely the date was a coincidence, and that the pope instead chose an event—the ordinary public consistory—where a large number of cardinals would be present.

“The pope chose this significant occasion with the gathered cardinals” as the best moment to announce his plans, the Vatican spokesman said.

H

e said he was not aware of any medical illness that would have caused the pope to step down, rather it was due to a “normal” deterioration of physical and mental strength that comes with old age.

The pope has increasingly had trouble walking in the past year, often using a cane and always being assisted getting up and down steps. However, the Vatican has never released medical information that would make it appear the pope suffers from anything other than joint pain connected to his age.

The option of a pope to resign is explicitly written into the Code of Canon Law. It says a pope may step down, but stipulates that the decision must be made freely and “duly manifested”. No one needs to formally accept a pope’s resignation for it to be valid.

Pope Benedict had long said

it would be appropriate for a pope to resign for the good of the Church if the pontiff felt he were unable to physically bear the burden of the papacy.

In his book-length interview, The Light of the World, with German journalist Peter Seewald, the pope said: “If a pope clearly realises that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.”

The pope told the author that it was important, however, that the pope “must not run away” and “must stand fast and endure” any difficult situations that are facing the Church. For that reason, he was not thinking of resigning in 2010—the year the interviews were conducted.

“One can resign at a peaceful moment or when one simply cannot go on,” the pope had said.

Before ending his remarks during the consistory, Pope Benedict told the cardinals: “I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the holy Church to the care of our supreme pastor, our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the cardinal fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new supreme pontiff.”

The pope said: “I wish to also devotedly serve the holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.”

Fr Lombardi said he felt “great admiration” for the pope’s “great courage” and “freedom of spirit” in making this decision. The spokesman said it shows the pope is not only fully aware of the great responsibilities involved in leading the universal Church, but he hopes that “the ministry of the Church be carried out the best way” possible.—CNS

The pope and his health

BY CINDY WOODEN

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ROM the moment he was elected pope at the age of 78 in 2005, Pope Benedict has kept a schedule that appeared light compared to that of Blessed John Paul II, but busy for a man who had wanted to retire to study, write and pray when he turned 75.

Announcing that he would resign at the end of the month, Pope Benedict said: “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”

Fr Lombardi confirmed that Pope Benedict had gone to a private health clinic in Rome about three months ago to have the batteries changed on his pacemaker. It was a simple, routine procedure and had no influence on the pope’s decision to resign.

A Vatican reporter, who had followed the career of the thenCardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said the pacemaker was put in the 1990s at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

Pope Benedict often has seemed tired, with large, dark circles under his eyes during especially busy periods of public liturgies and audiences.

In October 2011, Pope Benedict began riding a mobile plat-

Pope Benedict is shown in side-by-side images from 2005 and 2013.

(Photos: Nancy Phelan Wiechec and Paul Haring, CNS). form in liturgical processions.

Just a few months later, the pope began using a cane to walk, although it often looks like he is carrying it, not relying on it, for support.

However, just in the past few months when celebrating Mass in St Peter’s basilica, the pope no longer walks all the way around the altar when using incense at the beginning of Mass; instead he raises the thurible only from the back of the altar. And at the end of a Mass on February 2, the pope lost his grip on his crosier; as it fell, Mgr Guido Marini, the papal master of liturgical ceremonies, caught it.

When he was elected in 2005, the pope was said to have told his fellow cardinals that his would not be a long papacy like that of his predecessor, who held the office for more than 26 years.

While no pope has resigned since Pope Gregory XII in 1415, even as a cardinal Pope Benedict did not rule out the possibility.

Even before Bl John Paul II’s health became critical, reporters asked the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger whether he thought Pope John Paul could resign. “If he were to see that he absolutely could not [continue], then he certainly would resign,” he said.—CNS

CHURCH

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

9

Interregnum: What happens between popes W

HILE the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a first for the Church in centuries, it also leads to a complicated period of transition that ends in the election of a new pope.

Regulated by ancient traditions and recent rules, the period between popes—known by the Latin term interregnum—will begin exactly at 20:00 Rome time on February 28, a date and time Pope Benedict stipulated in a declaration he made for when the See of Rome and the See of St Peter will be vacant.

Normally the interregnum begins with a pope’s death and is followed by a period of mourning.

This time the pope will resign from his ministry and spend a short period of prayer and reflection at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, before moving to a monastery at the Vatican.

The rules governing the interregnum are matters of Church law, not dogma.

The apostolic constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis” confirms that as long as the Holy See is vacant, the universal Church is governed by the College of Cardinals, which cannot, however, make decisions normally reserved to the pope. Such matters must be postponed until the new pope is elected.

Until there is a pope, the Roman curia—the Vatican’s network of administrative offices—loses most of its cardinal supervisors and cannot handle any new business.

The College of Cardinals is to deal solely with “ordinary business and matters which cannot be postponed.” At present, there are 209 cardinals, and all of them are asked to meet in Rome to help administer the transition period.

The College of Cardinals does this through two structures: a general congregation, in which all the cardinals are to meet daily; and a particular four-member congregation, consisting of the chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and a rotating team of three cardinal assistants.

Only those cardinals under age 80 will be eligible to vote in the com-

A policeman holds a copy of L’Osservatore Romano newspaper in Rome.

Pope Benedict announced that day that he will resign at the end of the month. (Photo: giampiero Sposito, Reuters, CNS) ing conclave. Cardinals who are age 80 or over by the time the conclave starts are excluded from the closeddoor proceedings. There will be 117 cardinal-electors when the sede vacante begins on February 28.

A

s chamberlain, Cardinal Bertone is to administer the goods and temporal rights of the Holy See until the election of a new pope.

Meanwhile, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, is charged with making preparations for a conclave to elect a new pope, and the cardinals must set the time for the conclave to start.

The word conclave comes from Latin, meaning literally “with key”, and reflects the previous tradition of

locking the cardinals in an area where they would spend day and night until the new pope’s election.

On the day set for entry into the conclave, the cardinal-electors assemble in St Peter’s basilica to attend morning Mass. In the afternoon, they walk in procession to the Sistine chapel, located just to the north of St Peter’s.

The voting may begin that afternoon with one ballot; on following days, normally two ballots are held in the morning and two in the afternoon.

A pope is elected when he obtains a twothirds majority, reflecting a change Pope Benedict established in 2007 that effectively undid a more flexible procedure introduced by Pope John

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals. He has the responsibility to make preparations for the papal conclave that will be held to elect Pope Benedict’s successor. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) Below left: The cover of a cardinal’s prayer book from the last papal transition is imprinted with the Vatican insignia representing a vacant Holy See. (Photo: Nancy Phelan Wiechec, CNS) Paul II. According to the new rule, the two-thirds-majority rule cannot be set aside even when cardinal-electors are at an impasse.

If the cardinals are deadlocked after 13 days, the cardinals pause for a day of prayer, reflection and dialogue, then move to run-off ballots between the two leading candidates.

A papal election will continue to require a majority of two-thirds of the voting cardinals.

All voting is secret, in writing, on paper ballots, which are deposited in a receptacle by each elector, then counted. Ballots are taken to any cardinals residing at the Domus Sanctae Marthae but who are too sick to come to the Sistine chapel.

After each morning and afternoon round of voting, the ballots are burned.

By tradition but not by rule, they are burned with special chemicals to produce the black smoke signifying an inconclusive vote, or white smoke if a new pope was elected.

Due to confusion in the past as peo-

ple in St Peter’s Square tried to determine what colour smoke was coming out of the Sistine chapel smokestack, the basilica’s bell is also rung to confirm a successful election.

Once a new pope has been elected, he is asked if he accepts the office—he is encouraged but not bound to do so by the current rules—and is asked to choose a name.

Traditionally, the senior member of the cardinal deacons—currently Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, 69—announces the successful election results from the central balcony of St Peter’s basilica. After the new pope has donned papal robes, he proceeds to the balcony, where he greets the public and offers his first blessing.

At a time designated by the pope, usually a few days later, he officially opens his ministry with an investiture Mass at St Peter’s. The new pope is no longer crowned with a papal tiara, but receives a pallium, or stole, in recognition of his authority.— CNS

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10

The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

LITURGY

The place of the Book of the Gospels in the Mass The new Book of the Gospels will arrive in the Southern Africa region next month. In the first of two articles, CHRIS BUSSCHAU looks at the history of the Book of the Gospels and its place in the liturgy.

A

S strange as it may seem to us today, the earliest Christians could not have read from the Gospels (or other New Testament books) when they gathered to celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus—simply because the Gospels had not yet been written!

When the Gospels were written some years later, in the second half of the first century, and the Church began to evaluate and eventually accept the four canonical Gospels, so they began to be read and eventually to be incorporated in their community worship, what we today know as the Mass.

The name Gospel is derived from the Old English god-spell (meaning “good words” or “good message”), which is a direct translation from the ancient Greek euangelios (eu = good, angelios = message). This Good Message was the description of the saving role of Jesus. You will see that this has a slightly different ring to it compared to our commonly used translation, “Good News”.

Four Gospels were eventually recognised by the Church as representing the full scope of Jesus’ life, teaching, death and resurrection.

Christians from the earliest centuries professed that these four accounts were the true word of God,

expressed through the experiences and teachings of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

As a result, the documented records of these were given the highest honour as being a tangible manifestation of the Word of God. In the early years of Christianity, when most documents were in the form of either layered scrolls or separate sheets of parchment or skin, people recognised the sacredness of the Gospels by binding them into volumes that were essentially the first books. These were typically kept separate from the scrolls of the Old Testament that were also used in community worship.

This is the high point of the first part of the Mass, called the “Liturgy of the Word”, just as the consecration and the reception of the Lord in Holy Communion are the high point of the second part of the Mass, called the “Liturgy of the Eucharist”.

We should experience a change of focus, a new rhythm, an air of excitement at the time of these two direct and personal encounters with God—the first with him in his Good Word and the second with his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity the Eucharist (ancient Greek for “thanksgiving”).

The Gospels and the monks

The ceremonial use of the Book of the Gospels helps to create this enhanced focus on the Word of God. Members of parish liturgy committees are encouraged to apply their minds to incorporating these elements into the Liturgy of the Word.

Some parishes began to use a Book of the Gospels in addition to the lectionary shortly after the Second Vatican Council. However, even today this very meaningful symbol is hardly even noticed by many Catholics, let alone understood.

The purpose of this article (and a second article next week covering rituals surrounding the Book of the Gospels) is to prepare the People of God in South Africa for the imminent arrival of the new Book of the Gospels, using the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (second Catholic edition), the translation being used since last year. n Chris Busschau is a member of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Committee for Liturgy and the English Missal Implementation Committee. Part 2 next week.

As we know, the collapse of the Roman empire was followed by the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, when the vast resource of learning, religion, philosophy, art and culture that had evolved in Greece and Rome largely disappeared and what was left was retained and protected in the monasteries. Christianity was kept alive in those great monastic reservoirs and liturgy began to evolve into a clearer structure.

It was during those years that monks who were artistically gifted began the practice of creating glorious, illuminated Books of the Gospels which were used at Mass.

Not only were the pages, and even individual letters on the pages, shaped into iconic artworks that were detailed catechetical lessons, but the covers of the books became dramatically wonderful. Embedded with gold and jewels, these books were the absolute evidence of Christian veneration of the Word of God as revealed in the Gospels.

Today A liturgical dancer carries the Book of the gospels. The Southern African region will receive the new Book of the gospels in March. In two articles, Chris Busschau explains the history of the Book of the gospels, its place in the Mass and the liturgical rituals. (Photo: CNS) The Word of God was recognised as the presence of the Lord among us, and the book used for this had to be of acceptable beauty and grandeur, both out of a need to worship and also to emphasise to people that this was not an ordinary book.

These Books of the Gospels were carefully stored and brought to the altar in procession at the beginning of all public services. The precious books were then “enthroned” on the altar, reverenced as the living Word of God. They were then carried in solemn procession to the place from which the Gospel was to be proclaimed—typically a pulpit or ambo.

In more recent times Sadly, this practice gradually disappeared over the centuries and in many countries (including South

Africa) the Book of the Gospels was only used in seminaries during the Liturgy of Ordination.

Some of the liturgists of the Second Vatican Council were very conscious of this ancient custom and persuaded their confreres that its reintroduction would bring a new awareness of and reverence for the “Good Word”.

This was further emphasised when the lectionary was separated from the missal, clearly underlining this part of the Mass.

In its fullest form this has led to a full resuscitation of the ceremonial entry of the Book of the Gospels with the entrance procession, its enthronement on or near the altar, and a short procession to transfer it from the altar to the ambo where the Gospel will be proclaimed.

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The Southern Cross, February 20 to February 26, 2013

Fr Gerard Diedericks Bam

F

ATHER Gerard Diedericks Bam, who died on December 14 is believed to have been born on May 19, 1943. His blood family was not known until his death.

His mother or someone else left him at the door of the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco in Polokwane diocese. He was brought up at Subiaco by the late Fr Victorinus Laenens.

In his childhood, he became close to the Mkhabela family and was regarded as the first born of the family. Later in his life he was coadopted as family by Bahlaloga ba ga Moloto and ba ga Mokoka and Rose Howard.

He was also looked after by the Dominican sisters.

He attended primary school at Subiaco until Grade 7. The following year he completed Grade 8 at Pax Primary school and in 1959, enrolled at Christ the Priest Minor Seminary in Luckau, diocese of Lydenburg-Witbank.

In 1964 he joined St Peter’s Seminary in Hammanskraal for his philosophy and theology studies. He was ordained in June 1970.

From 1971 to 1990 he served at the Doornspoort mission.

From 1991 until his retirement in 2009 he worked in the following parishes: Fatima Mission, Ss Peter and Paul (Seshego), and St Benedict in Lebowakgomo.

Family friendly in Lent Continued from page 7 The reflections can be used by individuals but ideally they are for making time to share family and faith moments with those close and dear to us.

We can make many Lenten sacrifices, give up things or take up extra spiritual activities, or pray the MARFAM Stations of the Cross for Families at home in one of a number of different languages.

It is my hope and prayer that this Lenten season is a momentous one for you and your families, growing closer to God and to one another.

To download some of the mini-reflections visit www.marfam.org.za/blog

Liturgical Calendar Year C Weekdays Cycle Year 1

Sunday, February 24, 2nd Sunday of Lent Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18, Psalm 27:1, 7-9, 13-14, Philippians 3:17, 4:1 or 3:20, 4:1, Luke 9:28-36 Monday, February 25 Daniel 9:4-10, Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13, Luke 6:36-38 Tuesday, February 26 Isaiah 1:10, 16-20, Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23, Matthew 23:1-12 Wednesday, February 27 Jeremiah 18:18-20, Psalm 31:5-6, 14-16, Matthew 20:17-28 Thursday, February 28 Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1:1-4, 6, Luke 16:19-31 Friday, March 1 Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28, Psalm 105:16-21, Mathew 21:33-43, 45-46 Saturday, March 2 Micah 7:14-15, 18-20, Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Sunday, March 3, 3rd Sunday of Lent Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15, Psalm 103:1-4, 6-8, 11, 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 1012, Luke 13:1-9

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

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

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The people of Polokwane will remember him as a good singer, an inspirational preacher, and a supportive priest.

Apartheid authorities refused to give him an identity document under the name Laenens, his Benedictine adopted father’s name, who was white. He used the name Bam. Though he looked coloured he was classified as African.

Remembering Fr Bam’s support, Fr Clement Selemela is grateful that Fr Bam encouraged him to be a priest in the 1970s. Even when Fr Selemela was threatened with dismissal from the seminary for his political involvement, he was assured of Fr Bam’s unconditional support. Fr Bam pledged: “If they don’t ordain you, I will leave the priesthood.”

His Requiem Mass was conducted by his friend, colleague and football mate Bishop Patrick Mvemve of Klerksdorp.

By Mathibela Sebothoma

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.

Southern CrossWord solutions

SOLUTIONS TO 538. ACROSS: 5 Seth, 7 Omnipotent, 8 Sufi, 10 Reverent, 11 Cattle, 12 Doodle, 14 Starve, 16 Guests, 17 Scorpion, 19 Less, 21 Immaterial, 22 Aden. DOWN: 1 Cows, 2 Minister, 3 Soiree, 4 Fervid, 5 Star, 6 Translates, 13 Overlord, 15 Enigma, 16 Gone to, 18 Ruin, 20 Solo.

IN MEMorIAM

JoSEPHS—Constance.

23/10/1937–21/02/2010.

Connie, it’s three years since you have been recalled into eternity. Your treasured memories will always be with the family forever. You will always be in our prayers. We love you and still miss you, may your soul rest in peace. Sadly missed by your husband Thomas, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. oVIS—John David.

Passed away February 25, 2009. In loving memory. Rest in peace. Always remembered by your wife Theresa, children, grandchildren, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law and all the families. Psalm 23.

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PrAYErS

HoLY St Jude, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen.

For prayers answered.

our MoST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, Fruit of the vine splendour of heaven. Blessed Mother of the Son of god.

Immaculate Virgin assist me in my necessity. O star of the sea help and show me herein you are my mother, O holy Mary, mother, Queen of Heaven and earth. I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to secure me in my necessity. There

are none that can withstand thy power, O show me where you are my mother. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (3x). Thank you for your mercy towards me and mine. Amen. Say this prayer 3 days and then publish. Special thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Ss Jude and Daniel for prayers answered.

HAVE MErCY on me, O god, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:112.

For You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my

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unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139.

THANKS

IN THANKSgIVINg for prayers answered, to Infant Jesus of Prague, Our lady of Perpetual help and St Anthony. TD. THANK You god our Father, Holy Spirit, Mother Mary, St Joseph, St Jude and Sacred heart of Jesus for Blessings received.

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3rd Sunday in Lent: March 3 Readings: Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15, Psalm 103 1-4, 6-8, 11, 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12, Luke 13:1-9

Pay attention to God!

O

Nicholas King SJ

NE of the graces that we should ask for during Lent is that of attentiveness to what the Lord is doing in our lives, and there is something of this in the readings for next Sunday.

The first reading is the extraordinary story of Moses’ vocation (and it may help to remember that he is a murderer on the run, and has found himself married, as a result of being kind to some ladies at a desert well).

God draws his attention by way of a burning bush, which is not consumed by the fire, and we overhear Moses saying to himself, “let me go and see this great sight”.

Then, however, he has to learn that merely having his attention drawn is not enough; he has to realise what is going on: “Don’t come any nearer; take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then God identifies himself: “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

It does not stop there, however, for Moses has a job to do, since God “has come down to rescue them from Egypt”. Moses now asks, “Who are you?” (not an unreasonable request, you may think, to a passing bush, since Moses was not brought up as an Israelite, and does not know God’s name). So God reveals

Sunday Reflections

to him his sacred name: “I AM has sent me to you...This is my name for ever”. So Moses starts on a long and weary journey that will bring the people out of Egypt, and Moses to within sight of the Holy Land, and all because he paid attention to God’s signal.

The psalm for next Sunday is all attention: “Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name.” And why is the psalmist to bless God? Because he pays attention to what God is like: “God pardons all your sins, who heals all your diseases, delivers your life from the pit, surrounds you with steadfast love and mercy, the Lord who performs works of justice, brings justice to all the oppressed,” and, in a reference back to our first reading, “he made known his ways to Moses.”

Finally, in a wonderful image, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so God’s

love is higher than those who fear him.”

Paying attention to God means that we must be prepared to be surprised.

In the second reading, Paul, who is trying to sort out a difficult pastoral problem in Corinth, about whether you can eat food that has been offered to idols, mentions Moses’ experience in the desert, and the way God drew the ancestors’ attention to what he wanted them to do: “Some of them were laid low in the desert”, because they had desired evil things, and because they had been complaining. “So, those who think they are on a firm footing have to watch out; otherwise they may fall.”

In the gospel, we listen to Jesus, faced with a query about some Galileans (who were therefore compatriots of Jesus) whom Pilate has blasphemously butchered, presumably when they came up to offer sacrifice in the Temple.

Jesus wants them to pay attention, so he challenges their presupposition that these Galileans deserved what had happened to them (“they were asking for it”), and insists that they are not to “suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered in this way”.

Indeed, he turns on his questioners in a char-

What are we focused on?

S

OME years ago, I was at a religious conference where one of the speakers, widely known and respected for her work among the poor, made this comment: “I’m not a theologian, so I don’t know how this plays out theologically; but here’s the base from which I’m operating: I work with the poor.”

She continued: “Partly I do this out of my humanity, out of natural compassion; but ultimately my motivation is Christ. I work with the poor because I’m a Christian. However, I can go for two or three years on the streets and never mention Christ’s name because I believe that God is mature enough that he doesn’t demand to always be the centre of our conscious attention.”

God doesn’t demand to always be the centre of our conscious attention! Is that true?

Clearly the statement needs some clarification and nuance. On the one hand, there’s a certain freeing-up inside of us that comes from hearing this said, given that most of the time God is not in fact the centre or our conscious attention and, this side of eternity, will most likely never be.

But, on the other hand, the consolation we feel in hearing this flies strongly in the face of the clear challenge that comes to us from scripture, our churches, and spiritual writers warning us against losing ourselves in the ambitions, projects, anxieties, pleas-

Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

ures, and distractions of this world, of letting our focus on this life eclipse the wider horizon, God and eternity.

Countless spiritual writers warn us that it’s dangerous to be so immersed in this world so as to lose sight of anything beyond.

Jesus too warns us of this danger.

And yet all of us know a lot of people who seem so immersed in this life, in their marriages, their families, their jobs, in entertainment, in sports, and in their daily concerns that they don’t seem at all to have God as centre of their conscious attention for any significant portion of their daily lives.

Indeed, sometimes these people do not even attend church and often have very little in terms of a formal or private prayer in their lives.

But, and this is the seeming-anomaly, they’re good people, people whose lives radiate a basic (and sometimes very generous degree) of honesty, generosity, goodness, warmth, and healthy concern for others.

Moreover, they are often robust and witty, the ones you want to be next to at the dinner table, even as they seem to be living and dying merely as devoted children of this earth, not much given to abstraction or religion.

A good family gathering, a win by the home team, a good meal or drink with a friend, and a healthy day spent working, are contemplation enough. Their default consciousness focuses on the things of this world, its joys and its sorrows.

A shift in consciousness would need to occur for any explicit notion of God to enter their lives. For these people, good people for the most part, ordinary consciousness is mostly agnostic.

How bad is this? Does this dangerously shrink one’s horizons? How badly does a one-sided focus on the things of this life choke out the word of God or render it shallow and extraneous? Are we going to hell in droves because we can’t give God more of our conscious attention and because we can’t be more explicitly religious?

“By their fruits you will know them!”

Jesus said that, and it must be our criterion here: If people are living inside an honesty, generosity, goodness, warmth, health, solicitousness, intelligence, and wit that is lifegiving, can they be much out of harmony with God? Moreover, we need to ask ourselves: If we are born into this world with such a powerful, innate gravitation towards the things of this earth, if our natural (default) consciousness wants to fix itself more upon matter than spirit, and this seems to be the case for most people, how then do we read the mind of our Creator? What divine intelligence is manifest within the natural instinct to give ourselves over to this life, even as we carry a faith that gives us a vision beyond this world?

Perhaps God is mature enough to not ask for, or want, our conscious attention most of the time. Perhaps God wants us to enjoy our time here, to enjoy the experience of love and friendship, of family and friends, of eating and drinking, and of (at least occasionally) seeing our favourite teams win a championship.

Perhaps God wants us, in the famed words of Yogi Berra, to sometimes just sit back and enjoy the game!

Perhaps God is like a blessing old grandparent; perhaps we pray in an inchoate way when we healthily enjoy the gift of this life; and perhaps there are less-conscious ways in which we can be aware of God. Like the woman whom I quote above, I also don’t know how this all plays out theologically, but it needs to be said.

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acteristically direct manner which will certainly have grabbed their attention: “No, I’m telling you; unless you all repent, you’re going to die in just the same way.”

Then he picks another example from the day’s newspaper: “What about the eighteen people on whom the tower fell at Siloam: do you think that they had more chalked up against them than all the other inhabitants of Jerusalem?”

Jesus will not allow any lazy thinking here, and repeats the menacing saying about the urgency of repentance. Then he has them all (and ourselves, if we have ears) listening very attentively indeed as he tells the parable of the fig-tree planted in the vineyard, and the owner getting fed up with coming year after year and failing to find fruit on it.

Now Jesus’ hearers knew very well that the fig-tree is an image for Israel, and they will have paid very careful attention as he continued with the owner’s instructions to “cut it down—why should it block up the land?”, and with even more attention to the gardener’s (Jesus?) response: “Lord—leave it for this year, and I’ll dig round it and put in manure, and see if it produces fruit in the future.

Otherwise, cut it down.”

What Jesus does is to let us know what God is up to, and what time it is, and since God is always paying careful attention to us, it is only proper that during Lent we should be doing the same.

Southern Crossword #538

ACROSS 5. Son of Adam and Eve (Gn 4) (4) 7. All-powerful (10) 8. Muslim ascetic, initially serene under further investigation (4) 10. Showing reverence (8) 11. Beasts that drank from Jacob’s well (Jn 4) (6) 12. Scribble absent-mindedly (6) 14. Have no food (6) 16. There are invitees (6) 17. Creature that no father would hand to his son (Lk 11) (8) 19. Not as much (4) 21. What’s spiritual is of no relevance (10) 22. Port found in decadent condition (4)

DOWN 1. They are found among 11 ac (4) 2. Deacon in the Cabinet? (8) 3. See Rio in musical evening at home (6) 4. Over-enthusiastic about Five Rd (6) 5. Heavenly leading actress (4) 6. Provides English version of Latin (10) 9. Loose, and having no lover (10) 13. Ruler in feudal times (8) 15. Gain me a riddle (6) 16. Has set out for a place (4,2) 18. Bankruptcy of the Colosseum (4) 20. One voice (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

PRIEST giving his homily one Sunday, observed that many of his congregation were falling asleep. Suddenly, he paused, and in a loud voice, said: “I was once driving along a country road and I came to a farmer’s house, and halted to observe one of the most remarkable sights I have ever seen. There was a sow with a litter of ten little pigs. This sow and each of her offspring had a long curved horn growing out of the forehead between the ears.”

The priest paused and ran his eye over the congregation. Everybody was now wide-awake.

“How strange! A few minutes ago, when I was telling you the truth, you went to sleep. But now when you have heard a whopping lie, you are all wide-awake!”

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