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Pretoria square is Mission Central STAFF REPORTER
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ED by Archbishop William Slattery, Catholics of Pretoria took the Word of God into Church Square. Oom Paul gazed down upon the Roomse gevaar as they sang and danced and proclaimed God's Word from the Bible. Thus Church Square has become the scene of a mission that is taking place in more than 10 000 squares throughout the world. The Mission in the Squares is intended to bring the Good News to the public through singing, dancing and many signs of hope and joy that invite passers-by to stop and listen. Pretoria’s “Mission in the Square” will be held every Saturday morning until the first week of June. The project will be followed in Cape Town. Both Archbishops Slattery and Stephen Brislin of Cape Town are supportive of the project, said Dino Furgione, who is responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in Southern Africa, which organised the event. “This is part of the contribution that the Neocatechumenal Way is giving to the Church for the Year of Faith,” Mr Furgione said. “This same mission is being carried out in more than 10 000 squares all over the world, to bring to those who are far away a testimony that the Catholic Church is alive, and reaching out to them.” Pope Francis, then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, welcomed the mission in his archdiocese just before leaving for the conclave. After becoming pope, he spoke about the mission on April 7 when he invited the Neocatechumenal communities and all faithful of the diocese of Rome gathered in St Peter’s “to bring the Good News in every environment of life, with sweetness and respect! Go into the squares and announce Jesus Christ, our Saviour!” “Pope Francis is truly the great inspirer of this mission,” said Fr Lorenzo Ricci, missionary priest in South Africa for the Neocatechumenal Way.
Bishops take to Twitter
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ISHOPS from the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) have taken to the social networking medium Twitter to spread the word of peace ahead of Zimbabwe’s elections planned for later this year. In a two-day “Get Media-Wise” workshop in Johannesburg, the bishops learnt, among other media tools, how to use Twitter as a means of communicating their messages. ”This is a brilliant opportunity for the bishops to take the good news of peace and reconciliation beyond the pulpit and into people’s lives and homes,” said IMBISA director Fr Richard Menatsi. Bishops attending the workshops agreed that all too often the Church can seem out of touch. Learning the new communication skills brings them up to date and enables them to bring their messages to the faithful, the South African priest said. “We draw inspiration from Pope Francis’ commitment to the poor and to peace,” Fr Menatsi said. “In collaboration and in solidarity we will look to use the media more widely in urging our messages of peace.” IMBISA is made up of bishops from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tomé e Principe, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Follow IMBISA at @imbisa; Bishop Giuseppe Sandri at @sandrijoe, Bishop José Luis Ponce de León at @bpbhubesi
A group of dancers from Hamanskraal spontaneously joined the “Mission in the Square” in Pretoria’s Church Square. Right: Archbishop Slattery addresses the crowd in Church Square. Pope Francis has been “inviting us continuously to go out, to seek new methods of evangelisation, because, he says, the Church needs to come out of herself, to reach out to the outskirts of existence”, Fr Ricci said. “We cannot wait for the people who are out there suffering because they never heard of the love of Christ to come to us. We have to go out and bring the risen Christ to them”. On the first Mission in the Square event, Archbishop Slattery commented on the
gospel reading of the blind man of Jericho: “Are we like this man? Are we saying to Jesus: ‘Son of David, have mercy upon me?’ We
should ask the Lord for the grace to fall in love with him!” The mission has an archdiocesan imprint, Mr Furgione said. All the faithful have been invited throughout all parishes, and a “sending” celebration was held in the cathedral, led by Archbishop Slattery. “Preach, and if necessary, use words,” the Franciscan archbishop said, quoting St Francis. “Pope Francis by word and example has urged the Church to speak up in the world. Many people no longer enter churches, but they need to hear God's word,” Archbishop Slattery said. The archbishop pointed to the historic site of the gathering and invited all Catholics to be in no way defensive but to speak their truth with joy and hope. “May the proclamation of God’s Word in this historic place ignite a new spirit in the corridors of power around Pretoria and reach out to every village and humble home in South Africa,” the archbishop told the crowd. “Calls to faith are not just the words of those giving a catechesis to the crowd gathered in the square, but especially the presence of all the joyful youth, singing and dancing to testify their joy at having met the Risen Christ in their lives,” Mr Furgione said. Gigy, a Congolese woman in the Church Square crowd, said: “I came from a troubled family, my parents were always fighting. I couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to commit suicide. I told myself that I would never get married because of what I saw in my parent’s marriage. “One day after the funeral of my younger sister, one of my aunties saw that I was struggling and told me that I would one day get married to a wonderful man and I would be very happy in my marriage. God has fulfilled that promise that he made through my aunt. I am married to a wonderful man and God has blessed us with a lovely daughter”. The mission in Pretoria will be in Church Square on Saturday mornings at 11am, ending on June 1.
Hope&Joy to send out millionth SMS BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
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N May 16, the millionth Hope&Joy SMS will be sent to one of the thousands of subscribers to the service. Over the past two years, Catholics have been receiving messages filled with “nuggets of hope and joy” from Vatican II documents, papal documents, and this year messages of inspiration from the catechism, Raymond Perrier, director of the Jesuit Institute South Africa, told The Southern Cross. The SMS project was initiated as part of Hope&Joy campaign. Mr Perrier, the project’s convenor, said it was a way to spread the inspiration and wisdom of Vatican II in a way that responded to the documents of the council. “We noted that e-mail and Facebook had limited penetration, but almost everybody in South Africa has access to cellphones. There are more cellphones than people in this country,” he said. Using new media to evangelise was a response to the Vatican II document, Inter Mirifica, the council’s decree on the media of social communications, he said. “We realised that most Catholics will never read the documents of Vatican II. This service teaches them the key points in bite-size chunks, so the demand is definitely there.” The SMS campaign ran alongside various
other Hope&Joy projects, including a series of articles in The Southern Cross and in the Redemptorists’ Catholic Link. “I didn’t think it would last as long as it did,” said Mr Perrier. A total of 5 452 people signed up for the service over the two-year timeframe. “The service definitely went through peaks and troughs, but there has been a solid base all the way through. [But] throughout the service we have had positive feedback. People have responded positively and have been happy receiving Church teachings in 160 characters,” Mr Perrier said. Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria said the one millionth SMS is a “very notable achievement”. The messages “have enriched the lives of many people. The SMSs have been spread like seeds to germinate in the good ground of people’s hearts. Your achievement is something our Church in South Africa is proud of”. National youth chaplain Fr Sammy Mabusela CSS said he was “very impressed” with the service. “I love it to bits because it reaches so many in such a short space of time. This is precisely the language that the youth of today are familiar with and respond promptly to.” Fr Emil Blaser OP, director of Radio Veritas,
described the SMS service as “a bright jewel in the crown of the Hope&Joy project”. “This series has been an informative, inspiring and innovative idea which has brought the depths of the Church’s teaching, not only of Vatican II, to ordinary people,” the Dominican priest said. Mr Perrier said the supply aspect of the campaign was “surprisingly easy”. Between Mr Perrier, Frances Correa and Fr Peter Knox SJ of the Jesuit Institute, plenty of helpful and insightful content was found and condensed for the campaign, which has sent 691 messages since its inception. “And when we had to abbreviate anything in the message, we always put the content on our website (www.jesuitinstitute.org.za) so that people could see the meaning was not changed.” The SMS campaign is set to continue in its current capacity until the end of November; the end of the Year of Faith. Mr Perrier said it would continue thereafter with new themes. To acknowledge the achievement, subscribers will receive one week of SMSs free of charge. Any new subscribers who sign up between May 19-25 will also receive the service free for one week. To sign up, send “JOY” to 31222. The service costs R4 per week thereafter.