The
S outher n C ross
April 24 to April 30, 2013
German bishop: We must keep funding SA Church
Page 9
www.scross.co.za
Mary: Our guide to evangelisation
R6,00 (incl VAT RSA)
Reg No. 1920/002058/06
No 4820
What it means to pray with the pope
Page 7
Pages 7 & 10
Modern slavery in the spotlight BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
W
Londiwe Jali (back), Malose Mothiba and Tshepiso Medupi were among the youngsters who dressed in clerical and religious garb at St Joseph the Worker parish in Pretoria West for Vocations Sunday. “The future of the Church’s vocation relies on the support that parents and the parish give to young people,” said parish priest Fr Mathibela Sebothoma, who took this photo. “The catechists from St Joseph the Worker parish are providing opportunities for boys and girls to realise their full potential,” he added.
Pope Francis: Don’t be hypocrites BY CINdY WOOdEN
T
HE credibility of Christianity is undermined by pastors and faithful who preach one thing and do another, Pope Francis said. “One cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life,” the pope said in a homily at Rome’s Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. Before the evening Mass, Pope Francis walked down to St Paul’s tomb under the main altar. He blessed the area with incense, and then bowed deeply in prayer for several minutes. In his homily, Pope Francis said people outside the Church “must be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips”. “Inconsistency on the part of the pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church’s credibility,” the pope said. Pope Francis said St Paul teaches Christians that following Christ requires a combination of three things: proclaiming the Gospel; bearing witness to the faith in one’s life, even to the point of martyrdom; and worshipping God with all one’s heart. The proclamation of the faith made by the apostles, he said, was not merely or primarily in words. Their lives were changed by their encounter with Christ, and it was through their actions and their words that Christianity spread. In the day’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells
Peter to feed his sheep. “These words are addressed first and foremost to those of us who are pastors: We cannot feed God’s flock unless we let ourselves be carried by God’s will, even where we would rather not go, unless we are prepared to bear witness to Christ with the gift of ourselves, unreservedly, not in a calculating way, sometimes even at the cost of our lives,” Pope Francis said. “The testimony of faith comes in very many forms,” the pope said. “In God’s great plan, every detail is important—even yours, even my humble little witness, even the hidden witness of those who live their faith with simplicity in everyday family relationships, work relationships, friendships.” While most Christians are called to the “middle class of holiness” of fidelity and witness in the normal business of everyday life, Pope Francis noted how in some parts of the world even average Christians suffer, are persecuted and even die for their faith in Christ. Looking at what it means to worship God with all one’s heart, the pope said it, too, has a very practical, concrete expression. Worshipping God is not simply a matter of prayer—although that is a big part of it—but rather it means demonstrating in one’s life that God alone is God. “This has a consequence in our lives: We have to empty ourselves of the many small or great idols that we have and in which we take refuge, on which we often seek to base our security,” he said.—CNS
E know that human trafficking is the third most lucrative criminal activity in the world, second to the drugs and arms trades, and that South Africa has been identified as the main destination point for human trafficking within the Southern African Development region. What we don’t know is the “actual extent to which human trafficking is flourishing”, said Holy Family Sister Melanie O’Connor, coordinator of Counter Trafficking in Persons Office (CTIP) of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. The CTIP held a conference on the issue to mark five years since its inception. Among the conference’s primary purposes was to bring together those who had taken part in CTIP workshops over the years so that the office and activists could be brought up to date about the current human trafficking realities and discuss a way forward for the next five years, said Sr O’Connor. The conference was also an opportunity for the participants to share on all the work they had done in the fight against human trafficking, she added. Sr O’Connor said victims from sub-Saharan Africa account for a large share of the victims detected in Western and Central Europe, but the exact extent is unknown. “We have no national statistics on the number of people being trafficked,” Sr O’Connor said, adding it is difficult to gauge how many perpetrators were involved as there is no specific legislation on human trafficking yet in South Africa. Offenders are charged under other related crimes. “Victims of trafficking have been reported to be exploited largely for domestic servitude, agriculture, prostitution and muti purposes. The globalised commercial sex industry has greatly expanded. Traffickers capitalise on the demand for a constant supply of women and children in the industry,” Sr O’Connor explained.
S
he said recent trends show that East Asian victims have been detected in relatively large numbers in South Africa, many of them Thai nationals rescued from strip clubs. “Participants reporting at the conference, especially from Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia, noted how very poor parents sell their children to traffickers thinking their children are going to be well educated and looked after,” she noted. The CTIP conference saw the launch of
the “Truckers against Human Trafficking” campaign. Sr O’Connor said she was encouraged and congratulated Fruit Spot for being the first trucking company to engage in the project. “Various speakers exposed the dangers of human trafficking, pointing out that truckers can play a significant role in safeguarding victims and potential victims in the transportation phase by reporting offenders sometimes encountered at truck stops.”
T
he conference also emphasised the role of the Church in the pastoral care of truck drivers who face long and hazardous journeys. “Benedict XVI had already pointed out that Africa has become a continent where millions of people are either willingly or unwillingly daily on the move, thus transforming African roads and streets into privileged places of evangelisation and education. Therefore our Church should be seen as the Church on the move.” Among the participants of the conference, which was held at Good Shepherd retreat centre in Hartbeespoort, Gauteng, were 15 religious sisters from South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana and Nigeria; Frs Matt Gormley and Hermes Paononga, who had conducted numerous workshops on human trafficking in the Eastern Cape; and 15 police from the Northern Cape who have done much education on human trafficking at border posts. Sr O’Connor said the presence of the police unit was “highly appreciated by all present as a source of strength in the fight against human trafficking”. She said with many of the participants coming from different African countries and representatives from as diverse agencies as the National Prosecuting Authority, the US embassy and Mariannhill Press, “it became obvious that networking is central to success in the fight against this hydra-headed evil of our time”. A Counter Trafficking Network Committee was established for easy and effective communication. In addition, each member of the conference committed to further the “Truckers against Human Trafficking” campaign in their various regions and countries. “Whether human trafficking is on the increase or whether it is only now that we are recognising it for what it is, that is difficult to determine,” said Sr O’Connor. What the conference did show, however, is how real the problem is and how it affected people in various ways.
Sudan expels Church official
S
UDAN’S security force has expelled the secretary-general of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference and two other religious brothers. Fr Santino Morokomomo Maurino told the Sudan Catholic Radio Network after arriving in Juba, South Sudan, from Khartoum that security officials ordered him to leave the country for undisclosed reasons. The priest said he was called to National Intelligence and Security Services headquarters in Khartoum where he was briefly detained and given three days to buy an airline ticket. He said he was not given a chance to defend his work at the conference.
Br Michael Fleury of France and Br Hossam, an Egyptian, both members of the De La Salle Christian Brothers living in Khartoum, were also expelled, Fr Maurino said. The two men had been working with children in the Sudanese capital. The radio network reported that the brothers had been under surveillance by the Sudanese government. The Sudanese regime of President Omar al-Bashir, who made his first official visit to newly independent South Sudan this month, has a long record of actions against non-Muslims and South Sudanese residents working and living in Sudan.—CNS