130828 by The Southern Cross

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S outher n C ross

August 28 to September 3, 2013

The decline of a service culture

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Facebook, Twitter and the Church

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No 4837

Bishops’ book, ex-actress nun’s memoirs reviewed

Page 10

Fake priest’s scheme foiled BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

Matrics at St Dominic’s Priory in Port Elizabeth celebrated their 40 Days, a tradition to mark the time before the end of their schooling, by dressing up. Even the teachers got in the spirit of things and dressed up as the matrics.

Nun returns to SA to head Catholic university STAFF REPORTER

HIGHLY-REGARDED US nun is returning to South Africa to become the new president of St Augustine College, South Afruca’s Catholic University, based in Johannesburg. Sr Madge Karecki SSJ-TOSF, who will take up her position later this year, succeeds Fr Michael van Heerden, who returns to parish ministry in Durbanville in Cape Town. Sr Karecki is St Augustine’s second women religious president; the university’s founding president was Schoenstatt Sister Edith Raidt. Sr Karecki comes to St Augustine with a wealth of experience both in the United States and from many years working and studying in South Africa. Having graduated with a BA and an MA in the United States, she came to South Africa where she earned an MTh in missiology from Unisa in 1991, and then a DTh also in Missiology in 1996. She was the first woman to receive a doctorate in missiology from a South African university. During the period when she was studying towards her doctorate she was employed in a number of positions in the archdiocese of Johannesburg, at St John Vianney National Seminary and as an adjunct associate professor at the Rhema Bible Training College. She taught at St Augustine College between 2000 and 2005, serving on the academic board and exam panel while being

Sr Madge Karecki involved in various teaching fields. At the same time she was associate professor in the Department of Missiology at the University of South Africa where she served on the university senate. One of her interests was pioneering work on courses for online teaching. On her return to the United States she contributed to the Mundelein Seminary on teaching and research interests. From 2008 she has been employed in the archdiocese of Chicago as director of the Office for Mission, Education and Animation. She has published extensively and is a member of a number of academic organisations. In 2006 she was awarded First Place for the 7th Annual Simon Scanlon Writing Award among other notable teaching awards.

HE Church is seen as a soft target and “these days people will try anything to get money”, according to a leading priest. This reality was once again made clear when a man posing as a priest in the archdiocese of Pretoria claimed he had been robbed and needed money and accommodation until he could return home. Fr Victor Phalana, vicar-general of the archdiocese of Pretoria, determined the man to be a fraud and took to social networks to warn others. “A man came here in a Roman collar claiming to be a priest from Kenya,” said Fr Phalana, who then tried to get in touch with the man’s supposed diocese in Machakos. When the man realised Fr Phalana would verify his position—or lack thereof—the man “became embarrassed and his story started to change”. The man, Fr Phalana said, started giving excuses for why he could not be verified. “I told him I will contact them too, to verify if you are truly a Catholic priest,” the vicar-general told the man who then made a hasty retreat. Fr Phalana took to social media networks to warn others of the imposter to ensure no other church or diocese fell for the scam. “It is not easy for any of us to turn people away. We will always try to help, but we have learnt not to trust all the stories we hear,” he told The Southern Cross. The bishop of Machakos confirmed in an e-mail to Fr Phalana that he did not have a priest of that name in his diocese. “I think the man had opted to collect money in this way. I worried that he would go to the next church and do the same thing,” Fr Phalana said.

ater the man, who according to Fr Phalana goes by the name Njoki Joseph Gitau, wrote an affidavit at the police station in Jeppe, Johannesburg, where he claimed to have lost his passport and other personal effects. His affidavit misspelt the words “Catholic”, “father”, and “priest”—all of which he claimed to be. This is not the first time the Church and her organisations have been attacked by scam artists. Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS, secretarygeneral of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said there were checks in place to ensure any priests transferring to a new diocese were legitimate. “There are documents that are required when priests come from overseas,” she said.

“It shouldn’t happen that a bogus priest gets very far.” Sr Makoro said she was sure the perpetrators were using the Church to get money. The issue is not exclusive to South Africa. “The Church does need to be careful. It can be seen as a soft target,” she told Fr Victor Phalana, The Southern Cross. who was alert to a Sr Makoro said there fake priest’s scam were times when verifying a priest might be overlooked. “When a priest visits a convent, for example, he might ask for a cup of coffee, claiming he is from a particular parish, only for the sister to later find out that he was bogus,” she said. “People will try their luck posing as seminarians, priests—anything to try and get something out of the Church,” said Sr Makoro. Fr Phalana said he has also encountered young men desperately seeking money to bury loved ones—only for the supposed deaths to be later confirmed as false.

n 2011 a number of Catholic institutions, including The Southern Cross, were targeted in a scam which aimed to defraud the faithbased community. Business manager Pamela Davids said the Catholic community was being targeted by scam artists. Completing business transactions on the basis of good faith was no longer an option. “From religious congregations to Catholic media houses—everyone has to be alert to the scams,” she said. In December 2012, Fr Chris Townsend of Pretoria took to social media to alert other priests of a man claiming to be in serious financial trouble and therefore unable to write his final university examination. “We hit social media. We posted his picture on Facebook and Twitter and we started getting feedback very quickly,” said Fr Townsend. “The response was high and we soon realised he had scammed a lot of people in both Pretoria and Johannesburg.” The scamster was subsequently caught. Fr Townsend said churches were seen as soft targets for scam artists. While there are genuine calls for help, Fr Townsend said there were channels available through which the legitimate destitute can be helped. “We always verify where possible,” said Fr Phalana. “Other times, we have to give, just in case it is legitimate. It’s who we are and people will try to take advantage of that.”

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The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

LOCAL

Success for N Cape pilgrimage STAFF REPORTER

Pilgrims walk the 10km route to St Joseph’s mission in Keimoes-Upington on the diocese’s first pilgrimage.

HE first diocesan pilgrimage for the Catholic Church in the Northern Cape has been hailed as a “huge success” by the organiser and plans are already underway for next year. The 10km walking pilgrimage, which was themed “Faith is a Journey—Walk in the Light”, started in Klipeiland and was completed at St Joseph’s mission in Kanoneiland, diocese of Keimoes-Upington. “Walking through vast vineyards and the typically beautiful Northern Cape grape-farm landscape, in prayer and praise, made the journey seem like nothing to the pilgrims,” said Fr Phumlani Charles Ndlovu OMI, parish priest at St Joseph’s mission. More than 240 people took part in the walk, including Bishop Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington and Sylvia Lucas, premier of the Northern Cape, who asked that the faithful “pray for and support their priests, especially young and enthusiastic priests”.

In his opening address, the bishop said that the walk was a wonderful way to remind ourselves that we, “as people on this earth, are a journeying people, a people on the move, and God is with us on this journey. The Virgin Mary walks and prays with us in a special way too,” he added. Fr Ndlovu said the bishop walked the whole stretch along with the rest of the pilgrims. Members of other faiths and denominations were also present, praying with Catholics from Kanoneiland, Pella, Kakamas, Upington and even Portugal. “Various government departments supported the walk: the traffic department, South African Police Services, the health department, the Kai !Garib Municipality and the premier’s office in Kimberley,” he said. Local companies also made generous donations towards the success of the pilgrimage, including Sandy and Louis de Jager and Charl April. “There were many prayers offered for religious and world leaders, parents and the youth during

the walk. The rosary kept pilgrims on a sure journey while contemplating the cross and honouring Our Lady Assumed into Heaven,” said Fr Ndlovu adding that messages of hope were shared between pilgrims. Fr Ndlovu is fairly new to the diocese, having been appointed parish priest in Kanoneiland in May this year, but almost immediately the young Oblate felt a call to make St Joseph’s mission a pilgrimage centre for the diocese. Bishop Risi praised the event and said “everyone really enjoyed themselves. It would be wonderful if [the pilgrimage] takes off to be an annual event.” The five-hour walk ended with a lively thanksgiving Mass and a festive lunch, the bishop told The Southern Cross. “The people dispersed looking forward to the pilgrimage next year, and promising to bring even more people with them!” Fr Ndluvo has already set a date for the next pilgrimage: August 16, 2014.

Learners stand up for rhino BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

ATHOLIC South Africans and schools are concerned with declining numbers of rhino in the wild and are starting to speak up about the plight of one of the big five. Almost 80% of all rhino poaching taking place in the Kruger Park occurs in areas accessed from Mozambique. Those involved in the poaching of rhino are “regarded as heroes in their home villages in Mozambique”, said Piero Colia, general manager of Viva Safaris. “The reason for this is that the poacher shares his ill-begotten blood money with all the villagers. So when a poacher successfully kills a rhino there is great rejoicing and celebration in the local villages.” Mr Colia said he had predicted

the number of rhino deaths to reach the 1 000 mark. At the time of going to print, the number stood at 561 to 345 from the Kruger National Park alone. In 2012 only 129 arrests were made for the 668 rhino poached. “There appears to be little or no headway being made with the Asian consumers; even less progress with the Mozambican authorities and the usual ridiculous complacency by Kruger Park management who pathetically insist on telling us that the birth rate of rhinos still exceeds the poaching rate,” Mr Colia said. Talk of the South African government planning to introduce legislation to legalise the sale of stored rhino horn has raised many eyebrows. “I believe this is a monumental mistake and shows a very limited understanding on the min-

ister’s part of the greedy nature of humankind. I have no doubt whatsoever that allowing trade in rhino horn will simply exacerbate the problem and catalyse the process of extinction,” he said. During a recent safari trip, Mr Colia, a Catholic, said he was fortunate to see four white rhino close to his vehicle. “My two grandsons were with me and were absolutely thrilled to see these giants so close up. I wonder whether their grandchildren will have the opportunity to be equally thrilled one day?” Schools are also getting involved in educating learners on the importance of conservation. Rhino SA gave a talk to learners at St Catherine’s Convent in Florida, Gauteng. The learners reflected on the 668 rhino lost to poaching in 2012. “Rhino SA aims to mobilise the

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St Catherine’s learners in Florida, Gauteng, engaged with an anti-poaching NGO and committed to furthering the fight for the rhino. youth into action and instil in them the importance of preserving their natural heritage for future generations. They aim to do this by encouraging the youth to wear a rhino badge, to write to government officials, to write poems and songs, to

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The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

Nuns leave for Zambia BY FR EMIL BLASER OP

FTER 28 years in South Africa, a Dominican convent has relocated to Zambia. In 1985 seven Dominican contemplative nuns arrived in South Africa from Spain at the invitation of Bishop Hubert Bucher, then bishop of Bethlehem. They established themselves in a newly-built monastery on the property of the local parish church in Senekal. The original plan of the sisters was to earn their living, as they did in Spain, by baking special Spanish biscuits. However, they soon realised that in Africa things needed to be done differently, so they changed direction and began making rosaries and vestments. Some ten years ago the Spanish nuns returned to Spain, leaving the monastery in the hands of African nuns who had joined the community from other monasteries in Kenya, Cameroon and Rwanda. The hope had been that young women would join them from South Africa but only three sisters transferred from other congregations. One or two young women stayed for a

Catholics in Cape Town took part in the procession and celebration of the feast of Mary Assumed into Heaven at Our Lady Help of Christians church inLansdowne, led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin. (Photo: Sydney Duval)

SA’s patroness celebrated STAFF REPORTER

FTER a week when Cape Town had experienced some of the heaviest rain and worst flooding in years, the skies cleared for the annual archdiocesan celebration of South Africa’s Patroness, Mary Assumed into Heaven. This feast, transferred to Sunday, was celebrated at the Salesian church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Lansdowne with a procession within the large church grounds and ending in the church. The Knights of da Gama carried an adorned statue of Our Lady in the procession just behind the Candle of Faith which is in many churches. A crowd of nearly 600 arrived to celebrate complete with banners, flags and relevant attire. A novel feature was the hymns to South Africa’s national patroness from the Neocatechumenal way who also had a large banner. As the participants walked they prayed the rosary and sang Marian hymns.

As this is a Year of Faith, Mary is seen as the woman of faith because of her constant obedience to whatever God asked of her. “There were three stations in the procession and our patroness was petitioned for her much-needed intercession in matters such as the denial of dignity of women and men, young and old. She was also seen as a great sign of hope,” said Francis Boulle, one of the organisers. Archbishop Stephen Brislin preached and drew together the threads of these petitions in what Mr Boulle described as “a truly meaningful manner”, emphasising Mary’s role as South Africa’s patroness and our need to seek her intercession in the resolution of our nation’s many problems. This annual event, organised by the Schoenstatt community in Cape Town, concluded with Benediction, the national anthem and the hymn “Faith of Our Fathers”. n An e-mailed copy of the programme which contains the three petitions is available on request from franjuneb@isat.co.za

Assembled at the airport are (from left) Srs Bernadette, Monica, Maria Dolorosa, Lucy, Joyce Gabriel (superior), Joyce Rita and (front, in the wheelchair) Sr Visitation. short while but none remained. The sisters then investigated relocating within the diocese, closer to a more accessible town. This also did not seem feasible. They then looked outside of the country and found the diocese in Kabwe in Zambia, whose bishop was very happy to receive them. And so in August seven nuns left St Dominic’s monastery in Senekal for the last time and made for Jo-

hannesburg airport to depart for a new life in Zambia. The Church in South Africa, particularly the diocese of Bethlehem, will miss their prayerful presence in our country. The sisters left with heavy hearts, having come to love South Africa and its people, but they are also full of hope for their future in Zambia where they already have two applicants.

Community called to help build church BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T Joseph’s in Amatikwe, Inanda, north of Durban, is building its first outstation church building in Inanda and is calling on the community to get involved. Parish priest Fr Albert Sithole said St Joseph’s serves a “rural and semi-township area”. Since being

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built in 1935, the church has grown to serve more than 2 480 people in three outstations. Currently, more than 1 000 people congregate under a corrugated structure for Mass. Fr Sithole said the total cost of the new building is R1,8 million. “We are kindly appealing for any donations towards this project,” he said. Donations could include

fundraising ideas and assistance, flea market material, building materials or money. Fr Sithole said the new church would be a source of great pride and an avenue for charity in the community. n For more information contact Fr Albert Sithole on 071 119 8068 or revamsithole@gmail.com

The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

Priest: Mafia attacked my parish

PRIEST in the southern Italian Campania region, believes that local mafia members may be behind a recent attack on his parish after he preached critically about them and called them to conversion. According to the Italian daily Avvenire, a fire took place at the parish centre, which also serves as a clinic for drug rehabilitation, days after Fr Stefano Giaquinto had denounced the mafia of the region from the altar, describing them as “the cancer of our land”. “I continue on my path, I will not stop. I am just a priest, not a hero. And my doors are open to all, to them as well. But this land needs to change,” the priest posted on his Facebook page. The priest is regularly the target of threats, but has rejected bodyguards, even though mafia members have entered his church with weapons. Two months ago, intruders also set fire to some parts of the centre and damaged a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. “My social commitment is daily, it’s nothing special,” Fr Giaquinto said. “It is based on the noble Christian values instilled in me by my family. A simple family.”—CNA

INTERNATIONAL

Pope’s Mass hosts made Pope’s mini-audience by prisoners in Argentina for Japanese students

INCE July 18, Pope Francis has been celebrating Mass each day in the chapel at the St Martha’s residence in the Vatican, where he lives, with hosts made by a woman in prison in Argentina. Pope Francis sent a letter to the woman, known as “Gaby C”, thanking her for a letter she had sent him. “I thank you for confiding in me...and for the hosts,” the Holy Father wrote. “Starting tomorrow I will celebrate Mass with them and I assure you that I am moved. Your letter made me think, and it has led me to pray for you...but it gives me joy and assures me that you are praying for me.” Pope Francis told her that he keeps the photos she sent in his office. “This brings comfort not only to me but to my parents, who are believers, as well,” Gaby said. The woman began making hosts a year ago after meeting Fr Jorge Garcia Cueva, the prison chaplain, and Fr Juan Ignacio Pandolfini, a local pastor. The two priests explained that the project “brought meaning to her life in captivity” and has helped her from falling into discouragement. The Benedictine Sisters of San Isidro provided Gaby with training on how to make the hosts, and soon parishes in the diocese began

BY CINDY WOODEN

N placing orders. “Gaby and the prison ministry team were immensely thrilled upon receiving the letter written by Francis. From the Vatican to the prison!” the priests said. They noted that ever since she began serving her sentence, she has endured typical hardships of female prisoners, such as harassment and mistreatment. “There are many Gabys. Today she is the symbol of those who are incarcerated. She is the voice of all the excluded we accompany and visit in each pavilion, in each cell,” the priests said. “We have no doubt that it is the voice of Jesus in prison in each one of them, who shouts to society to be heard, accompanied and recognised. The prison brings us the mercy of God to make heard the voices of the forgotten and marginalised, those who society refuses to look at and listen to.”—CNA

OT wanting to disappoint 200 Japanese junior high school students, Pope Francis held a special audience in the San Damaso courtyard of the apostolic palace. The students from Seibu Gakuen Bunri Junior High School in Tokyo had planned their trip to Rome and the Vatican long before the Vatican announced that Pope Francis would not hold his weekly general audiences in August. The pope told the students that travelling, getting to know people who are different from themselves, learning about other cultures and religions “is good for you, it helps you grow”. Growth, he said, is impossible if a person stays closed in on himself. “If we go out to encounter other people, other cultures, other religions, we grow and we begin that beautiful adventure called dialogue,” he told the students. “Dialogue is what brings peace,” the pope told the group, which included Christians and Buddhists. “Peace is impossible without dialogue. All wars, conflicts and troubles we encounter with each

other are because of a lack of dialogue,” he said. Pope Francis said there is always a danger that two people with firm identities and an inability to be open to the other will fight instead of dialogue. “We dialogue to meet each other, not to fight,” he said. Dialogue involves asking the other, “Why do you think this?” or “Why is that culture this way?” then listening to the response, he said. “First listen, then talk—that’s meekness.” “If you don’t think like I do ... and you can’t convince me to think like you do, that’s OK. We can still be friends,” he said. After the students sang for him, Pope Francis told them that giveand-take is important in dialogue, but he was very sorry that he couldn’t reciprocate with a song of his own. “I don’t know how to sing; I can’t,” he explained. A young girl, in correct but halting Italian, thanked the pope for giving the students some of his precious time, and she promised they would try to follow his advice. “Are you from Naples?” the pope asked her. “Your Italian is so good.”—CNS

Nuns’ CDs battle it out for #1 on charts BY MARK PATTISON

T’S not exactly The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones, but just as those two bands shook up the pop charts nearly a half-century ago, two convents’ CDs are vying for a spot atop the Billboard classical music charts. The defending champion, for 13 weeks straight, is Angels and Saints at Ephesus, performed by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles,

a cloistered convent in Missouri. Their streak marks the first time since 2006 that a CD has stayed at the top of Billboard magazine’s classical traditional music chart. So far, it has kept its competition at arms’ length, including a new CD by Andrea Bocelli and soundtracks based on the TV series Downton Abbey and the fiction best-seller Fifty Shades of Grey. But now come the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eu-

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charist, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, whose first CD, Mater Eucharistiae, was released in August. “We heard it was No 8 on the classical charts, and that was just in pre-sales,” said Sr Joseph Andrew, vicaress-general of the order. Both CDs are using the same public relations firm to tout the releases. Both CDs are on the same label: De Montfort, a classical imprint of Decca, itself part of the gigantic Universal Music Group. Monica Fitzgibbons, De Montfort co-founder, couldn’t be more pleased. In a statement about the Benedictines’ CD she said: “To have this accomplishment come from a group of monastic sisters is simply miraculous. The collection of music is soothing hearts and enabling contemplative moments. Simply a joy and

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honour to behold!” Ms Fitzgibbons also doubles as talent scout. The Dominicans conduct public vespers on Sunday afternoons wherever their sisters are stationed, explained S Joseph Andrew. “Monica and (husband) Kevin went to our vespers in Phoenix one time. They heard our prayers and they became very interested in pursuing the possibility of making this [CD]. We prayed over this and we decided that we would do it.” Recording the 15 tracks took just three days in March at the motherhouse. “And on the second day, the middle day, the Holy Spirit ordained that Pope Francis would be elected,” Sr Joseph Andrew recalled. “We were...recording the Te Deum when someone said, ‘White smoke!’, and we went off running. It was an interesting three days.” The Dominicans are raising funds to build a priory in Austin, Texas, to house 100 women.

MICASA TOURS

Pilgrimage to Poland & Medjugorje led by Fr Victor Phalana 4-18 May 2014 Pilgrimage of Grace to Israel and Italy 30 Aug-12 Sep 2014 Pilgrimage to Poland led by Fr Stanislaw Jagodzinski 3-17 June 2014 Pilgrimage to Israel led by Fr Jerome Nyathi 29 June-9 July 2014 Pilgrimage to Italy & Medjugorje led by Fr Sammy Mabusela 31 Aug-13 Sep 2014 Pilgrimage of Thanksgiving to Italy & Medjugorje led by Fr Maselwane 7-20 Sep 2014 Pilgrimage to Medjugorje led by Fr Donovan Wheatley 21 Sep-9 Oct 2014 Pilgrimage to Fatima, Santiago de Compostela and Lourdes, Paris & Nevers 28 Sep-11 Oct 2014 Pilgrimage of Healing to Lourdes for Disabled pilgrims and families led by Fr Emil Blaser 11-19 Oct 2014 Contact: Tel: 012 342 0179/072637 0508 (Michelle) E-Mail: info@micasatours.co.za

The cover of a newly released CD titled Mater Eucharistiae, recorded by Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Michigan. CD royalties will go towards the building campaign, Sr Joseph Andrew said. And as for some competition with the Missouri Benedictines, “It’s really not competition,” Sr Joseph Andrew said. “It’s just trying to get Christ into homes.”—CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

Bishop: There will be no civil war in Egypt A

COPTIC Catholic bishop who served as a member of the assembly that drafted Egypt’s 2012 constitution said his country will not have a civil war, and foreign powers—including the United Nations—should not interfere. In a wide-ranging interview with Arab West Report, Bishop Youhanna Golta of Alexandria, Egypt, also said people must view Egypt as a whole and not just be concerned about Coptic Christians. He discussed the history of Islam and asked for patience for Egyptian democracy, reminding people that European democracy took four centuries to evolve, and Egyptians have only had two or three years. “Civil war is when a part of the country turns against the other part. This is not the case in Egypt,” the bishop said. Recent attacks on Christian churches and institutions in Egypt appeared to be the result of Islamist extremists’ anger over what they perceived as Christian support for the ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi. After the mid-August military crackdown, angry extremists throughout Egypt seemed to target Christians and police, although moderate places of Islam also were targets. Some Egyptian media published a list of all the Christian buildings and residences that had been burned in recent months. “This is a problem not just for Christians but also for moderate Muslims. We are facing a group of terrorists who seek to set the whole country ablaze, and we have to cooperate together against this,” said Fr Hani Bakhoum Kiroulos, a spokesman for the Catholic Coptic Church. He told Catholic News Service that Western media had falsified the situation in Egypt by portraying the conflict as political when it mostly concerned violent acts by a small minority of Egypt’s 85 million inhabitants.

The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

Popes’ canonisation date in 2014 to be announced in late September BY CINDY WOODEN

An altar girl receives Communion from Mgr Philip Najim during Mass at the Chaldean Catholic basilica Our Lady of Fatima in Cairo in August. Christians, making up 10% of Egypt's 85 million people, have coexisted with the majority Sunni Muslims for centuries. (Photo: Amr Abdallah Dalsh, Reuters/CNS) Coptic Catholic Bishop Kyrillos William of Assiut told Vatican Radio that the government action and the reaction of the Muslim Brotherhood were not unexpected “because Egypt won’t accept an Islamic state.” The majority, he said, “wants to separate religion from the state.”

n el-Qusiya, Bishop William said, the demonstrators started going toward a convent of nuns, “but then some wise people, including Muslims—said to them, ‘What have they done wrong? They’ve been doing good here for 70 years.’ And they chased them off.” Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, president of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Egypt, thanked “our honourable Muslim compatriots who have stood by our side, as far as they could, in defending our churches and our institutions”. Bishop Golta called discrimination against Christians an “ideological and strategic mistake by

extremist groups”. “There is no street or alley in Egypt that does not have both Muslims and Christians living together,” he said. “It is impossible that Egypt gets divided. Egyptians are indivisible.” He said that, historically, Islam was “the only religion that did not plan on eliminating other people”. “Occupiers usually requested the occupied people convert their religions to those of their occupiers,” he said. “Muslims did not do that. They [extremists] are deleting this icon in Islamic history.” Responding to a question about whether a third party should facilitate dialogue among Egyptians, Bishop Golta responded: “Never!” “The EU and the US only care about their interests. We are an impoverished, humiliated, ignorant, marginalised, beastly people in their views. No third party should intervene. If we didn’t know how to resolve our issues on our own, then we should not deserve to live,” the bishop said.—CNS

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Popes John Paul II and John XXIII, who will be canonised in 2014, possibly on April 27. that the canonisation of Bl John should go forward even without a second miracle attributed to his intercession. Before declaring new saints, the pope consults with cardinals around the world and calls a consistory—a gathering attended by any cardinal who wants and is able to attend—where those present voice their support for the pope’s decision. A date for a canonisation ceremony is announced formally only during or immediately after the consistory. Except in the case of martyrdom, Vatican rules require one miracle for a candidate’s beatification and a second for his or her canonisation as confirmations that the candidate really is in heaven with God.—CNS n The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas are jointly co-hosting a pilgrimage to the canonisation. In honour of Pope Francis, the programme also includes a visit to Assisi and other places associated with St Francis, after whom the Holy Father has named himself. The pilgrimage, which will be led by Fr Emil Blaser OP, also includes a Wednesday papal audience, visits to Rome’s four major basilicas, the catacombs and the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel, and an excursion to the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. Bookings are open (deposits are refundable if the announced date is unsuitable) and can be made by contacting Gail at info@fowler tours.co.za or calling 076 352-3809.

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OPE Francis will host a meeting of cardinals on September 30 to formally approve the canonisation of Blesseds John Paul II and John XXIII; the date for the canonisation will be announced at that time, said Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. The cardinal told Vatican Radio that only Pope Francis knows for sure the date he will proclaim the two popes saints, although he already implied that it is likely to be in 2014. Speaking to reporters travelling with him from Brazil to Rome on July 28, Pope Francis said he had been considering December 8, but the possibility of icy roads could make it difficult for Polish pilgrims who would travel by bus to Rome for the ceremony. Another option, he said, would be April 27, which is the Sunday after Easter and the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, a celebration instituted worldwide by Pope John Paul. Asked to describe the two late popes, Pope Francis said Bl John XXIII was “a bit of the ‘country priest’, a priest who loves each of the faithful and knows how to care for them; he did this as a bishop and as a nuncio”. He was holy, patient, had a good sense of humour and, especially by calling the Second Vatican Council, was a man of courage, Pope Francis said. “He was a man who let himself be guided by the Lord.” As for Bl John Paul II, he told the reporters on the plane: “I think of him as ‘the great missionary of the Church”, because he was “a man who proclaimed the Gospel everywhere”. Pope Francis signed a decree recognising the miracle needed for Bl John Paul’s canonisation on July 5; the same day, the Vatican announced that the pope had agreed with the cardinal members of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes

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The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Today’s public square

N ancient times public exchange of information and discourse would take place in communal areas: the market square, the university and other places of assembly. The Greeks called these places of meeting minds the agora, which literally means “gathering place”. As Pope Benedict XVI rightly pointed out in this year’s message for World Communications Day—which on September 1 is observed as Social Communications Sunday in Southern Africa—the network of social media is an agora of our age. For Pope Benedict, the various social media—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, interactive websites, discussion forums and so on—are not inconsequential pursuits, even as trivial diversion forms a significant part of the experience, but are an integral element of modern life. “The digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is part of the daily experience of many people,” he wrote. For the Church it is important to be where the people are, especially those who need to hear the Gospel message, or to be nourished by it. The Internet, in its many manifestations, has increasingly become a mission field, in particular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. It certainly is not a waste of a priest’s time to be on social networks. Indeed, by being a regular participant on sites such as Facebook, a priest can be available to many more people at once than is possible in the “real world”. More than that, by being visible, a priest has the option to pass on the Good News even to people who otherwise might be indifferent or even closed to it. But, as Pope Benedict points out, those who work it must know their mission field. “Social networks are the result of human interaction, but for their part they also reshape the dynamics of communication which builds relationships: a considered understanding of this environment is therefore the prerequisite for a significant presence there.” Catholics are called to evangelise, and one of the most effective ways of evangelisation is by peers. Pope Benedict’s advice on fruitful conduct on the social networks is aimed at all users, but

might have special application for young Catholics. “In social networks, believers show their authenticity by sharing the profound source of their hope and joy: faith in the merciful and loving God revealed in Christ Jesus. “This sharing consists not only in the explicit expression of their faith, but also in their witness, in the way in which they communicate choices, preferences and judgments that are fully consistent with the Gospel, even when it is not spoken of specifically,” Pope Benedict wrote. “A particularly significant way of offering such witness will be through a willingness to give oneself to others by patiently and respectfully engaging their questions and their doubts as they advance in their search for the truth and the meaning of human existence.” Pope Francis has made it a point to amplify both of these elements: to share the joy of our faith by our witness, and to engage those with whom we disagree—be they atheists, other believers or fellow Catholics—not with hostility and anger, but with respect and patience. In other words, on the Internet, as elsewhere, Catholics are asked to project a positive image of the Church and the faith she teaches, and not to bring the Church into disrepute by behaviour that conveys anger, arrogance and hardness of heart. At the same time, Catholics must beware of sentiments on these networks that are incompatible with the Catholic faith, or hostile to it. Because social networks such as Facebook or Twitter are not forums that easily facilitate detail and nuance in discourse, it is easy to be seduced by the Internet equivalent of the soundbite. More than that, the culture of social media elevates the primacy of unvetted opinion above fact or truth. The effect of both can be a dumbing down of people, of social dialogue and even of the way in which the Catholic faith is communicated. We must be alert to that. In using the social media, Catholics have a great opportunity to evangelise and be evangelised. These opportunities must be used—but not at the cost of correct and thorough information.

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.

Shroud of Turin truly authentic HE Shroud of Turin, even with The outline of a coin of the peT modern scientific technology, riod with the name of Emperor continues to baffle researchers. Tiberius partially visible can even be There is a wealth of evidence supporting the Shroud’s authenticity. For example, the weaving technique of the fabric is consistent with that of first century Palestine. The fabric contains cotton, and not wool, which was forbidden by Jewish law. Greek Orthodox icons have a “frown” in the area between the eyes, and the nose is clearly broken (see Mt 26:67). The “frown” could very well have been a phylactery worn by rabbis and others.

Imagining God

T certainly is sad news if we cannot imagine God, as Fr Ron Rolheiser suggests in his article “We cannot imagine God” (July 24). How did our faith journey begin and how do we relate to the unseen God today? Billions of years ago when no one existed, certainly we could not imagine God. But God was there before time began when the earth was a formless void. Earth is only a speck in the scheme of things in this great galaxy and God controls and oversees all. So who are we, puny mites? And yet we are told we are like God, made in the image of God himself. For those who love God passionately we must imagine God for our own sanity. To visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to commune with our Blessed Lord in the stillness of our hearts, and to experience the Holy Spirit where Jesus comes alive in a personal way is a revelation and a joy forever. “With me in them and you in me, may they be so completely one that the world will realise that it was you who sent me and that I have loved them as you loved me” (Jn 17:23). “I have made my name known to them, and so that I may be in them” (Jn 17:26). “Truly we can walk with Jesus and to have seen the Son is to see the Father” (Jn 14:9). Gilbert MacDonald, Johannesburg

Face real issues

HAVE followed with interest the responses of all parties since the release of the bishops’ book God: Love, Life and Sex. Having read and pondered the book, I find large parts of it questionable. I wonder how extensive the bishops’ research was. Is the issue they raise as the “most urgent pastoral priority for the Church in Southern Africa” really the most urgent? With many families struggling to barely survive the day, sex is frankly one of the last things on their minds.

seen covering one of the eyes, a custom prevalent for keeping the eyes of a corpse closed. The Shroud also seems to have a kind of X-ray quality, for teeth can partially be seen showing through the slightly open lips. Less delicately, below the joined hands, the penis tip of one who had been circumcised is visible. In the foot area a dirt sample contains a rare form of calcium carbonate, which closely matches that found in Jerusalem. Also, pastorally the book lacks real substance. In the chapter on rape, for example, how would the advice given there help a woman overcome or deal with her horrendous ordeal? My non-Catholic spouse read it and found the section on women condescending. I think it is high time bishops as a whole sit and listen to the real issues we face as laity. After all, are we not all equally the Church, with no one above anyone else? I am always struck in the Gospels with how Christ sits and listens with people. Gerald Maidens, Johannesburg

An engaged laity

IKE Tony Meehan (August14) I am at present not a member of the We Are All Church SA (WAACSA) movement. In your front page article “How Pope Francis builds a rapport with the world” (August 7) you report that the pope continues to call for social justice, a more humble and empathetic Church, and “a more active and engaged laity”. Mr Meehan’s excellent letter, together with the comments of Pope Francis, are indeed very thought-provoking. I sincerely hope the bishops of this country are considering the profound messages they convey. The hierarchy of this country can no longer ignore the views of the laity. I hope that the promised dialogue with WAACSA will continue and that the views of the laity will be listened to and conveyed to the Vatican. Mervyn Pollitt, Waterfall, KZN 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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It also contains pollen grains from plants found in Palestine in soils with high salt content, such as the Dead Sea region. Imprints seen under magnification on the Shroud reveal those of flowers and spices used in the Jewish burial procedure. If the Shroud is a forgery, its forger went against tradition, showing the nails through the wrists instead of the palms, and a cap instead of a circlet of thorns. The Shroud is a document that precisely coincides with the Gospel acccounts of what our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, underwent for our salvation. John Lee, Johannesburg

Race relations

N Patricia Zapor’s report on US race relations and the Trayvon Martin case (August 21), the Church is asked to speak out about race relations in America and stress that each person is made in the image and likeness of a merciful God who desires their salvation. Here, in South Africa, we have racism by blacks against whites, coloureds and Indians, in that order. Our youngest son has left South Africa because he is “not black enough” to obtain employment in his field. We have the Pearl of Great Price, our Catholic faith, something that the huge majority do not have. Injustices, perceived or real, will not overcome us. During my long years as a member of St Vincent de Paul I experienced complete harmony among our multi-racial members. We do not want racism, but we do want our own culture. Franko Sokolic, Cape Town

Let It Be choice

ARY Ann Murray in her letter about the secular song “Let It Be” (August 14) writes that “when I heard the sermon I knew how appropriate the song ‘Let It Be’ would be on this day” of particular significance to Our Lady. The song was written by Paul McCartney of The Beatles about his deceased mother, Mary; she was assuring him among the turmoil of The Beatles’ slow breakup that everything would be alright. Our Blessed Lady’s response to the Angel Gabriel, “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), does not have the same meaning as the songwriter intended. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: “The texts intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine. Indeed they should be drawn chiefly from the sacred Scripture and from liturgical sources” (1158). Dominic Sam, Port Elizabeth

PERSPECTIVES

‘Your call is important to us…’ O Raymond Perrier NE of the ironies of modern life is that, as companies spend more words talking about customer service and more time training people in customer service, the actual experience of customer service seems to spiral downwards. It is perhaps too easy to bemoan the surly, spotty teenager or long-nailed primped dame serving me at the supermarket or the café or the petrol station: as they sit plugged into an iPod, chatting to colleagues or filing into the middle distance, I pray that actually serving might go higher in their list of priorities. But then if I had to do a dull repetitive job like that, for minimum wage, anti-social hours, and in the face of belligerent customers, I suspect I might also lose the will to serve (if not the will to live). Dealing with human beings whom we can see is hard enough: both for the customer and for the customer service operator. But when you cannot see the other person, the level of alienation increases exponentially. Call centres are a classic example of this phenomenon. I remember a time when, if I had a problem with an organisation, I would be able to go into a building and see a human being—with a name and a face, possibly someone I even recognised from being there before. I would explain my problem and the person would apologise, and either fix it there and then or let me know that if I popped in next Tuesday it would all be sorted and she would call me if there was a delay. There are actually a few organisations left who operate in this way—by and large, retailers operating in competitive environments rather than banks or phone companies with captive customers or government departments with monopolies. But most organisations will now send you out of

the building and tell you to call a customer service number. So—from your phone, at your expense, and possibly at a premium rate—you get the thrill of calling someone who possibly does not live in the same country to explain to them (and the six other people you have to contact subsequently) the nature of your problem. To add insult to injury—just when there is a glimmer of hope—they put you on hold (still at your expense) and tell you that you are held in a queue, but not to worry because “your call is important to us”. How would your wife feel if every time she called you, she was put on hold and told by a disembodied voice not to be concerned because “your love is important to me”?

have been reflecting on this because I have had to deal with two large organisations recently, Vodacom and British Airways. Interestingly, both were situations in which the company had created a problem and then compounded it by failing to employ the basic courtesy of calling me to explain what was happening. Instead, the problem they created was treated as my problem which I had to put effort into solving. Companies seem to set up customer service systems without much care for whether they are actually for the benefit of the customer. Instead, they are clearly all about minimising effort on the part of the company, reducing their costs, out-sourcing as much responsibility as possible, and making sure there is no real contact with the customer. They try to bore or intimidate you into submission so that you give up before your problem is solved; they can then pat themselves on the back because the

Faith and Society

customer must have been happy after all. Modern customer service fails because it has become alienated from human beings: the customer is not a human but an entry in a database; the person on the phone is not a human being but an out-sourced operator who can be hired and fired with ease; the problem is not an error by a human being who can apologise and learn for next time but an “incident” with a “code” and “set of strategies” to minimise accepting responsibility or paying compensation. How far removed this is from the Christian model of service, in which each person’s unique dignity is recognised and respected. The Jesuit saint Br Alphonsus Rodriguez, whose job was to be the community receptionist, used to rush to the door when he heard a knock (day or night) saying to himself: “Just a moment, Jesus, I’m coming.” But every now and then a human being can work with a bad system and deliver a good result. On both sides of the equation there is an opportunity to be human, to listen to the situation and how the person is feeling, to treat others how you would like be treated yourself: in other words to respond humanly. Yunus, the owner of Vodacom in Melville in Johannesburg did just that. This resulted in a solution to the problem which brought out the best in his staff and in me—and was actually less expensive for everyone concerned; what business people call a “win-win”. I am waiting to see if the Byzantine customer service system of BA—or any of the other faceless organisations with which we have to deal—will allow a human being in that labyrinth to do what we are designed to do: to act humanly.

Treat hurtful people for how they should be Judith Turner

HE German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said: “If you treat people as they are , they will remain how they are. But if you treat them as if they were what they ought to be and could be, they will become what they ought to be and could be.” Nearly everyone has been hurt by the actions or words of another. Perhaps your mother criticised your parenting skills, your colleague sabotaged a project or your partner had an affair. These wounds can leave us with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness or even vengeance. Our human and immediate reaction is to treat these people in the same hurtful way as they have treated us. We reason that it’s is what they did and therefore that is how they deserve to be treated. Goethe challenges us to treat people, even our enemies, not as they are, but how they ought to be and could be—that is, in the special way God created them. How can we even start to do what really goes against all our natural impulses to take revenge? Fr Henri Nouwen wrote that we should pray for our enemies; this is the first step towards treating people as if they are what they ought to be, because they are created in the image and likeness of God. Praying for them, presenting them to their creator, is treating them with that understanding of who they really are. Fr Nouwen said: “This is certainly not easy. It requires discipline to allow those who hate us or those toward whom we have hostile feelings to come into the intimate

Faith and Life

Von Goethe and Fr Nouwen centre of our hearts. “People who make our lives difficult and cause us frustration, pain, or even harm are least likely to receive a place in our hearts. Yet every time we overcome this impatience with our opponents and are willing to listen to the cry of those who persecute us, we will recognise them as brothers and sisters too. “It is impossible to lift our enemies up in the presence of God and at the same time continue to hate them. Prayer converts the enemy into a friend and is thus the beginning of a new relationship.” Spiritual writers such as Fr Nouwen make difficult things sound easy to do. But in reality we make one poor attempt at praying for our enemies and then give up because we cannot feel anything…that is, immediately. But with each attempt at prayer—real prayers for our enemies—we will notice that our heart is changing towards that person. There are so many benefits for us, our families and our communities in treating

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people as if they were what they ought to be and could be. Just think how healthy all our relationships would be if we did this. We would never have to write people off. We would have families and communities where there are greater spiritual and psychological wellbeing. Less anxiety, stress and hostility, lower blood pressure, fewer symptoms of depression and A lower risk of alcohol and substance abuse. Yes, this is not just about warm and fuzzy satisfaction that we have prayed for people, but these are the real tangible signs of the results of treating people as if they were what they ought to be and could be. In the workplace, for example, if managers listened to staff—this is how staff ought to be treated—they can change the way that they feel about what they do, and by changing the way they feel about what they do they could change the way they perform. Treat people as if they are valuable and that is what they will become. A child who gets treated as a naughty child will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, but a child who grows up receiving all the love, attention, stimulation and support it deserves, will grow and develop into who it was created to be.

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The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Must we abstain from meat on Fridays? As far as I remember, Friday abstinence, apart from Fridays in Lent (and Ash Wednesday), was suspended a few years back. This was done to help the poor cope with their inability to feed themselves adequately. I don’t recall this having been changed but some say Friday abstinence still applies. What is the position? P de Villiers

LTHOUGH the Church is called to holiness, it knows that its members can and do sin. Matthew 13:24-30 shows that Jesus knew that the kingdom of heaven on earth would contain bad seed until the final harvest. This is why the Church urges us to do voluntary penance for our sins. Sin is the contradiction of holiness and every member of the Church has to guard against sin and immediately repent and do acts of repentance for personal sins. To regularise the required acts of penance, the Church for centuries has observed Fridays as days of penance. The faithful were forbidden to eat flesh meat or any soups or by-products of meat. What was not sufficiently emphasised in this rather ritualistic weekly habit was the motive for abstinence, that is, the necessity of making reparation to God for sin, not only our own personal sins but for the sins of others too. By giving up eating meat on a Friday, people were expected to feel the inconvenience and deprivation of what was their normal daily food. Some obviously did. Others, maybe not. In 1966 Pope Paul VI issued his apostolic constitution Paenitemini. Among other things, he authorised bishops’ conferences to modify the laws of fasting and abstinence in order to suit modern conditions and to provide some means of penitential expression other than fasting and abstinence, such as prayer and works of piety and charity. Canon law still prohibits eating meat on Fridays but permits bishops’ conferences to prescribe other ways of doing penance. It adds that the law of abstinence binds those who have completed their fourteenth year (cc1251-1253). Our bishops have decided that in place of avoiding meat, we may abstain from alcohol or luxury foods or perform other forms of penance, especially acts of charity or exercises of piety. So, on Fridays you may abstain from meat if you prefer, or you can voluntarily do something special such as attend Mass, say part of the rosary or visit or telephone the sick and lonely. It is up to you but your motive must spring from sorrow for sin and the conscious desire and effort to make reparation to God for all evil and sinfulness among the People of God.

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town,

8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

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The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

Twitter, blogs and the Church On September 1 the Church in Southern Africa observes Social Communications Sunday. In his final annual message for the day, Pope Benedict XVI urged us to take the new social media very seriously, as Pauline Sister CRISTINA BEFFA discusses.

N the light of Benedict XVI’s resignation as pope, his message for World Communications Day 2013—which in Southern Africa is observed as Social Communications Sunday, on September 1 this year— entitled, “Social Networks: Portals of Truth and Faith; New Spaces for Evangelisation”, takes on new significance, in particular the word “portals”. In fact, the word acquires a loftier meaning than that intended in the message and becomes a symbol of discontinuity, a doorway to “somewhere beyond”, giving access to a higher relationship. At first reading, the primary content of the message is the pope’s invitation to take on the challenge posed by the social networks to the Church and her mission—an invitation in continuity with his previous messages. Benedict XVI offers us a positive approach to the new communications technologies, focusing on social networks in particular since they are making a strong impact on people’s perceptions of themselves, of reality and of relationships. He says that relationships in the

A young woman tweets on her cellphone. Pope Benedict urged the Church to get on to social media platforms, because these are “part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young”. (Photo: Paul Jeffrey/CNS) digital world are not only virtual but also real, because social networks are “part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young”. They are an environment in which people must “make an effort to be authentic” because “what we

ultimately share is our very selves”. Benedict invites us to appreciate the potential of social networks to promote human development and solidarity. At the same time, he urges us to improve our “ability to employ the new languages, not just to keep up

with the times, but in order to communicate effectively”, combining the written word, images and sound to involve people emotionally and intellectually, keeping in mind the value of dialogue, reasoned debate, logical argumentation and nonaggressive persuasion.

The

If in the digital environment “it is easy for heated and divisive voices to be raised”, believers should recall that “Elijah recognised God in a still, small voice”, not in the great and strong wind of sensationalism. Although this year’s message takes a step forward with respect to the previous World Communications Day messages, it remains in continuity with them. In fact, Pope Benedict’s earlier messages acknowledged the new technologies as “a gift for humanity” (2009) and “an indispensable instrument” (2010) even though they “are changing not only the way we communicate, but communication itself” (2011). Moreover, “social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the Internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers” (2012). And in this year’s message, his last, Pope Benedict notes that the social network culture is generated by its users and that an exchange of information can become communication, friendship, connection and communion. The World Wide Web, Twitter, Facebook, blogs—all these words have become a part of our everyday vocabulary because we cannot do without these resources in carrying out the social communications apostolate. They are not simply a trend: they are new ways of being with others, of sharing ideas, of living authentically, of building communion.

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The Southern Cross, August 28 to September 3, 2013

BOOK REVIEWS

Bishops on faith, family and sex GOD, LOVE, LIFE AND SEX: Guide and Resource for Christian Living, Marriage and Family. Published by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (2013). 233pp. R40 Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher T a time when Catholics are subject to the ever-more pervasive influence of secular values which stand in contradiction to those taught by the Catholic Church, an accessible compendium of Catholic teachings

on family life and sexual morality is essential in filling a void. No doubt, God, Love, Life and Sex—nominally written by South Africa’s five metropolitan bishops but actually a broader collective effort—is accessible. It is written in simple language, and at the heavily subsidised price of R40 it is affordable to most Catholics. With their book, the bishops explicitly invite those Catholics who have reservations about some Church teachings—whom they frequently describe as “confused”—to

be open to persuasion, by appeal to obedience and to reason. Some chapters are very good. The bishops take some time to discuss the clerical abuse scandal with commendable candour, and their condemnation of the exploitation and abuse of women merits amplification, especially when they say that cultural excuses for dominating women are incompatible with the faith. They also acknowledge quite forthrightly that in this regard the Catholic Church’s history is not at all unblemished. The bishops are advocating what they term a “Christian feminism” that draws from the philosophy of complementarity, These books sell for R30,00 each but order all three for which they explain in some detail. R70,00. Special valid until the end of October 2013. The chapters on abuse, rape, human trafficking and pornography and on To order call abortion especially are Innocent on quite excellent. What a pity, then, that 082 667 3857 or the book holds up St Maria orders@rpp.org.za Goretti as a model for chastity because she was mortally wounded in fighting off a rapist. In a country such as South Africa, where rape is so common, this archaic view sends an appalling, even if unintended, message that a rape victim has somehow failed in her call to chastity by being subjected to sexual assault. The section on homosexuality is inevitably bound to be sensitive, but whatever one’s views on LBGT issues are, the bishops are unequivocal in saying that the discrimina-

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tion and hatred of gay people has no place in Christian life.

he section on euthanasia would have been better served had it not been coupled with suicide, which the bishops then entirely neglect to discuss. This is an opportunity missed, since suicide affects many families and is still poorly understood, even among some priests. Moreover, to link it with euthanasia serves to exacerbate the stigma attached to those cases in which mental health led to suicide. One may hope that a future edition of the book will note that there is a big difference between elective euthanasia and suicide: whereas the former is a conscious, deliberate act to end one’s life— and therefore is putatively a sinful act—the latter most often is the consequence of mental disease, and therefore not necessarily chosen consciously and deliberately. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. Although the book is extensively footnoted, some arguments offered in support of Church teachings are unattributed or cite outdated scholarship. For example, the condom is described as inherently unsafe in preventing the transmission of HIV on the basis of one study from 1987. The current position of the USbased Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is that “condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV”. There is no agenda in this. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the bishops are at one in saying that the only safe

way of prevention HIV-infection is “to abstain from sexual activity or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship [the Church would limit that to marriage] with an uninfected partner”. Some readers will be left searching for something more solid than is offered in these 233 pages, but most readers will be grateful for a book which affirms them in living, or trying to live, a life that accords with the teachings of the Church. On a minor point of editing, it seems unfortunate that references to “our present Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI” were not redacted before publication, almost half a year after the pope announced his retirement. The bishops were brave to tackle a series of controversial issues in one digestible volume, and they must be commended for deciding to do so. The book will probably sell out. If it does, the bishops may be well served by issuing a revised second edition which finetunes some areas of content.

Nun’s journey: From movie stardom to the monastery THE EAR OF THE HEART: An Actress' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows, by Mother Dolores Hart OSB and Richard DeNeut. Ignatius Press (2013). 539pp Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher S a young actress, Dolores Hart appeared in films with the likes of Elvis Presley and Montgomery Clift—and then suddenly abandoned her career to enter the religious life. Half a century later, Benedictine Mother Dolores Hart recounts her life with the help of an old friend, Richard DeNeut, in a book whose title refers to a quote by St Benedict. Mother Dolores certainly has lived an astonishing life. Her childhood was marked by turmoil, with an absent father and an alcoholic mother. Attending a Catholic school in Chicago—although her aunt was a nun, it was purely for convenience—Dolores converted to Catholicism when she was ten, based on a misunderstanding! Chance encounters and circumstances continued to shape Dolores’ life, which led her to Hollywood, where she built a promising movie career. In her account of that period in her life we encounter a succession of movie stars from the late 1950s and early ’60s, including Gary Cooper, Anthony Quinn, Karl Malden, Myrna Loy, George Peppard, Tab Hunter and Peter Sellers, directors such as George Cukor and Michael Curtiz (“a bully”), and producer Hal Wallis, at whose urging she changed her surname from Hicks to Hart. She gave Presley his first screen kiss. Inevitably Elvis asked her out. She turned him down. It was during a one-year run in a Broadway show that Dolores began a relationship with the Benedictine Regina Laudis monastery in Connecticut, that over a few years grew into her joining the order there. Her call to a religious vocation, instead of married life with fiancée Don Robinson, received a

boost when she met Pope John XXIII while playing St Clare in a film on St Francis of Assisi. The process leading up to following the call to the religious life, with all tensions and fears and hopes and inexorableness this involved, is described in some candid detail, as are her experiences of the novitiate, during which she cried herself to sleep every night for years because of “a terrifying experience of aloneness”. Over the years at Regina Laudis, Mother Dolores would assume positions of leadership, being part of a group that modernised the self-sufficient community in which nuns have been known to drive tractors and fell trees. Her contacts, which she managed to maintain despite living in an encloistered community, have helped what is now an abbey to build and maintain an amateur theatre. The glimpses into the religious life which the book provides are gratifying, and in some ways quite unexpected. Mother Dolores’ openness in this regard especially is a gift. The Ear of the Heart adopts an unusual narrative style over its excessive length of 539 pages, which would have been well-served by some ruthless editing. DeNeut is the lead voice, narrating Mother Dolores’ life with sometimes intrusive personal interjections. This is interspersed by paragraphs in Mother Dolores’ voice (in italics), and, randomly, unnecessary interview-style exchanges. That structure doesn’t work well; though one is never left in doubt about who is speaking, it is distracting. A more traditional structure might have been painful to negotiate, but it would have produced a better book. Nonetheless, the book succeeds in telling the extraordinary story of a nun whose honesty, spirituality, humour, courage and generosity are thoroughly appealing and frequently inspiring.

Word of the Week

SACRAMENTAL GRACE The grace conferred by the valid and fruitful reception of the sacraments. It may be one or more of several kinds: 1. sanctifying grace is communicated in baptism, penance and in anointing of the sick when needed; 2. sanctifying grace is always increased when a sacrament is received in the state of grace; 3. actual grace is given by all the sacraments, either actually at the time of reception or also by title as a person needs divine help; 4. the sacramental character is indelibly imprinted on the soul in baptism, confirmation, and in ordination to the priesthood; and 5. a distinctive sacramental grace is imparted by each of the seven sacraments, corresponding to their respective purpose in the supernatural life of the soul. - Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr John Hardon SJ

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: August 30: Bishop Graham Rose of Dundee on the 5th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

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) Mass at 9:30 am at the SaCAPE TOWN: cred Heart church in SomerMimosa Shrine, Bellville set Road, Cape Town. Mass (Place of pilgrimage for the is followed by a vigil and Year of Faith) Tel: 076 323 procession to Marie Stopes 8043. September 12: Most abortion clinic in Bree Holy Name of Mary, 7:00pm Street. For information conRosary, 7:30pm Mass. Septact Colette Thomas on 083 tember 14: Exaltation of the 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 Holy Cross, 9:00-10:00am or Br Daniel Manuel on 083 Holy hour and Benediction, 544 3375. confession available. September 26: 7:30pm Rosary. St Paul’s in Somerset West October 10: 7:00pm are holding a music and flower festival on SeptemRosary, .7:30pm Holy Mass, ber 29 at 14:00. Proceeds October 12: 9:00-10:00am go to Archbishop’s building Holy Hour and Benediction, fund. confessions available, October 24: 7:30pm Rosary DURBAN: Padre Pio: Holy Hour 15:30 Couples For Christ invites pm every 3rd Sunday of the all women to a “all for love” month at Holy Redeemer women’s conference 20-22 parish in Bergvliet. September at Holy Family Helpers of God’s Precious College, Durban, R180 inInfants meet the last Saturcludes a t-shirt and all day of the month except in meals, contact the mission December, starting with office – 031 207 1843.

The Southern Cross, August 28 to Seotember 3, 2013

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Subscribers, advertisers and other clients based in Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries are advised that The Southern Cross can no longer accept cheques and drafts from those countries, even if they are made out in rands, in according to new banking rules. This affects also residents of the Common Monetary Area: Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. The changes came into effect as of July 22, according to the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA). Payments can be made by Internet transfers or by electronic transfers made by banks on behalf of their clients. For more information contact Ms Davids at admin@scross.co.za or 021 465 5007

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 565. ACROSS: 1 Dice, 3 Perfects, 9 Ambrose, 10 Urban, 11 Only-begotten, 13 Accent, 15 Raiser, 17 Glitteringly, 20 Amigo, 21 Bandana, 22 Desisted, 23 Pair. DOWN: 1 Diaconal, 2 Cabal, 4 Emerge, 5 Frustrations, 6 Cobbers, 7 Sand, 8 Combinations, 12 Grey hair, 14 Celsius, 16 Pebble, 18 Ghana, 19 Maid.

Liturgical Calendar Year C Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday, September 1, 22nd Sunday Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29, Psalm 68:4-7, 10-11, Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24, Luke 14:1, 7-14 Monday, September 2 Genesis 2:4-9, 15, Psalm 90:2-5, 12-14, 16, Matthew 6:31-34 Tuesday, September 3, St Gregory the Great 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11, Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14, Luke 4:31-37 Wednesday, September 4 Colossians 1:1-8, Psalm 52:10-11, Luke 4:38-44 Thursday, September 5 Colossians 1:9-14, Psalm 98:2-6, Luke 5:1-11 St Gregory the Great Friday, September 6, Mass of the Sacred Heart Colossians 1:15-20, Psalm 100:2-5, Luke 5:33-39 Saturday, September 7, Memorial of the BVM Colossians 1:21-23, Psalm 54:3-4, 6, 8, Luke 6:1-5 Sunday, September 8, 23rd Sunday Wisdom 9:13-18, Psalm 90:3-6, 12-13, 14-17, Philemon 1:9-10, 12-17, Luke 14:25-33

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IN MEMORIAM

HOUGHTON—Bill. Passed away on August 29, 1990. Lovingly and always remembered by his wife, Agnes, daughters, Mary, Margaret, Bridget and Barbara, sons-in-law, Walter, Derick and Ben, grandchildren, Stephen, Jean nine, Ryan, Lauren, Catherine, Elizabeth, Susan, their spouses and great-grandchildren. May his dear soul rest in peace. HOUGHTON—Bill. Fondly remembered by The Southern Cross team. JONES—In loving memory of Llew, who passed away peacefully on September 3, 2012. You will always be greatly missed and fondly remembered by your loving wife Pat and all your family.

PERSONAL

ABORTION is murder— Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow! Avoid ‘Pro-abortion’ politicians. CAMPS BAY Catholic Church requires an Organist for the 9 am Mass. Please contact Seumas Reynolds on 021 510 5078 O\H 083 269 4278. I OFFER English /Afrikaans translation Services. Contact Cobus on 071 158 8678 or cobusdutoit@hot mail.com NOTHING is politically right if it is morally wrong. Abortion is evil. Value life! THE CATHOLIC Chaplaincy of The University of Cape Town, Kolbe House, consists of a CATHOLIC CENTRE where students may gather for Mass on Sundays, various other spiritual and social events and choir practice. The Chaplain also provides counseling from his office there. It also consists of a RESIDENCE for students, consisting of 19 rooms, 17 of which are singles and two doubles. The doubles have en-suite ablution and toilet facilities. Rooms are cleaned weekly and toilets daily. Students cater for themselves in a well equipped kitchen and shops are no more than 150 metres away. The CHAPLAINCY is set in a garden environment within walking distance of the main university campuses and of the shuttle service to Medical School. It has a perimeter fence and each room has its own security arrangements, mainly burglar bars and trellidors. Prices for single rooms are R37 000 per annum and doubles 80% of this amount per person. Qualified and experienced Wardens live on the property.Contact: Email contact is preferred, otherwise speak to or SMS Jock at 082 308 0080 or Karen at 082 773 2484. TAXATION SERVICES—Tax & Vat

Returns prepared and e-filed by SARS Registered Tax Practitioner (45 years SARS experience now on your side) Contact Mike 082 929 9874/ 033 396 5471, mikewhite1@telkomsa.net

PRAYERS

O MOST Holy Virgin Mary, who chose to appear on the Sierra de Aire, in the Cova de Iria, to three young shepherds to reveal the treasures of grace held in the recitation of the rosary, impress upon our souls a fervent love for this devotion. By meditating on the mysteries of our redemption, may we learn how to use the teachings which lie therein and obtain the graces we ask in this prayer. For the Glory of God and the redeeming of our souls. Amen. www.santuario-fatima.pt HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. RCP. ST MICHAEL the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen. 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 51:1-12.

night R300, twin R480. Self-catering, busses and underground nearby. Phone Peter 021 851 5200. BALLITO: Up-market penthouse on beach, self-catering, 084 790 6562. CAPE TOWN: Fully equipped self-catering, 2 bedroom apartment with parking, in Strandfontein R400 or R480 (low/high season) (4 persons p/night) Paul 021 393 2503, 083 553 9856, vivilla@telkom sa.net FISH HOEK: Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4. Secure parking. Tel: 021 785 1247. KNYSNA: Self-catering accommodation for 2 in Old Belvidere with wonderful lagoon views. 044 387 1052. MARIANELLA: Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views. Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Tel: Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675 or mjsalida@gmail.com SEDGEFIELD: Beautiful self-catering garden holiday flat, sleeps four, two bedrooms, open-plan lounge, kitchen, fully equipped. 5 min walk to lagoon. Out of season specials. Contact Les or Bernadette 044 343 3242, 082 900 6282. STELLENBOSCH: Christian Brothers Centre. 14 suites (double/twin beds), some with fridge & microwave, others beside kitchenette & lounge, eco-spirituality library. Countryside vineyard/forest/mountain views/walks; beach 20 minute drive. Affordable. 021 880 0242. www.cbcentre.co.za Email: cbc stel@gmail.com STRAND: Beachfront flat to let. Stunning views, fully equipped. One bedroom, sleeps 3. Seasonal rates. From R600 p/night for 2 people—low season. Garage. Ph Brenda 082 822 0607.

THANKS

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

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23rd Sunday: September 8 Readings: Wisdom 9:13-19, Psalm 90: 3-6, 12-14, 17, Philemon 9-10, 12-17, Luke 24:25-33

E are not God; we need to say that a thousand times a day. That means that if we accept God’s invitation to follow as disciples, it is God, and not we, who is in charge. That is the message coming to us from the readings for next Sunday. The first reading is from the Book of Wisdom, and the author emphasises to his Jewish-Egyptian compatriots that “no human being shall know God’s plan, or think what is God’s will”; and there is a reason for this: “Human thoughts are fearful, and our plans are insecure.” Like a good Greek philosopher, he suggests that this is because of the body: “The mortal body weighs down the soul, and the earthly tent slows down the multi-tasking mind.” The result is that it is difficult enough to “make a guess at the things of the earth and what we find close to hand is difficult to find —who can track down the things of heaven?” Then he addresses God: “Who has known your will, unless you gave them wisdom, and sent the Holy Spirit from on high?” It is all about God, you see; and the reading concludes, in robust vein: “And so the paths of those on earth are made straight, and human beings have been taught what pleases

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Embrace God-driven discipleship Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

you, and have been made safe by wisdom.” The psalm for next Sunday is all too aware of the frailty of humanity before God: “You turn human beings into dust, and say: ‘Turn back, sons of men’. You sweep them away— they are a dream.” Mercilessly, the singer explores the illusion of human success: “In the morning it flourishes, in the evening it withers and fades,” and then asks: “In the counting of our days, give us knowledge, and put a heart of wisdom inside us.” But he is also aware that God does not operate quickly, “Come back, Lord, how long...? Have pity on your servants.” All that we can ask for is some share of God’s love, “fill us with your love in the morning, and we shall rejoice and be glad, all our days”. The second reading is one of our very rare

liturgical encounters with the enchanting letter to Philemon, in which Paul is trying to persuade his old friend to treat a runaway slave as a fellow-human. Our excerpt from the letter begins with Paul making a bid for sympathy: “I, Paul, being as I am, an old man now, and a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” Then he gets down to business: “I am asking you about my child, to whom I gave birth in prison—Onesimus”; and Philemon is now in a very difficult situation, because if he treats this fugitive in the way that he deserves, then he is going to be visiting savage sanctions on one whom Paul regards as “my own innards”, whom Paul had wanted to keep by him, “so that on your behalf he might serve me, in my gospel-imprisonment”. And he wants Philemon to accept him “no longer as a slave, but as something better than a slave, a beloved fellow-Christian, beloved especially to me, but how much more to you, in the flesh and in the Lord”. And, just in case Philemon was going to turn awkward, he ends: “If you regard me as your partner, welcome him as though it were me.”

Using Jesus to sow anger ‘I

HAVE come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing. Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three,” Luke 12:49. This saying of Jesus is one of the most misunderstood teachings in all of Scripture and, because of this, from the time of Jesus’ birth until this very day, we have been able to cloak a lot of our lack of charity, lack of respect, bitterness, and hatred inside the mantle of prophecy, claiming that the divisions we cause are the divisions to which Jesus is referring when he said he is bringing fire to the earth. But we are wrong. Why? First, the fire that Jesus passionately longs to bring to this earth is not the fire of division and polarisation, but the fire of the Holy Spirit, the fire of Pentecost, namely, the fire of charity, joy, peace, goodness, understanding, and forgiveness. And this fire unites rather than divides. Moreover, in answer to his question, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth?”, the answer is: absolutely, without doubt. Jesus came precisely to bring peace to this earth, as the angels proclaim at his birth, as his entire ministry attests to, and as he powerfully witnesses to in his death. Jesus came to bring peace to the world; no one may doubt that. Then how does division enter? And

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Final Reflection

why does Jesus tell us that his person and teaching will bring about polarisation, hatred, and division? If the fire that Jesus brings to this earth is meant to unite us, why does it so often divide us? It is not Jesus’ message that divides; it is how we react to that message that divides. We see this already at the time of his birth. Jesus is born, and some react with understanding and joy, while others react with misunderstanding and hatred. That dynamic has continued down through the centuries to this very day when Jesus is not only misunderstood and seen as a threat by many non-Christians, but especially when his person and message are used to justify bitter and hate-filled divisions among Christians and to justify the bitterness that invariably characterises our public debates on religious and moral issues. Jesus still divides, not because his person and message are one-sided, divisive, or hate-filled, but because we too often use them in that way. In effect, from the time of his birth

until today, we have perennially used Jesus’ to rationalise our own anger and fears. We all do it, and the effects of this are seen everywhere: from the bitter polarisation within our politics, to the bitter misunderstandings between our churches, to the hate-filled rhetoric of our radio and television talk-shows, to the editorials and blogs that demonise everyone who does not agree with them, to the judgmental way we talk about each other inside our coffee circles. We are all venting, mostly unhealthily, but forever under the guise of bringing the fire of love and truth to the planet. However, if the truth be told, more often than not, the fire we are bringing is more the fire of Babel than of Pentecost. Our moral fevers invariably bring about more division than unity. Several years ago, for example, I was at a clergy meeting at which each of the priests present was asked to state publicly what he felt was the salient gift that he brought to his ministry. One of the priests, who had a long history of being a problem-child to both his bishop and his parishioners, self-confidently described himself in this way: “My gift is that I’m an agitator! I stir things up! I don’t let people get comfortable. I bring Christ’s fire! I’m prophetic!” He was certainly right about the agitation, the discomfort, and the fire. His bishop had no end of phone calls attesting to that. But there was a lot of scepticism as to his being a prophet. His approach to things and his rhetoric resembled that of an ideologically-driven talk-show host who divides the world up too neatly between angels and demons, absolute right and absolute wrong, and has a too-facile division as to who is on God’s side and who is on the devil’s side. That kind of talk is mostly bitter, hatefilled, one-sided, and highly divisive, but it justifies itself under the banner of truth and love, self-proclaiming itself as prophetic. Fr Daniel Berrigan rightly suggests that a real prophet makes a vow of love, not of alienation. It is easy to get this in reverse, and we frequently do. Granted, there is a fire that divides, even while remaining the fire of love and Pentecost. But it is a fire that is always and everywhere respectful, charitable, and inclusive, never enflaming us with bitterness, as does so much of our contemporary religious and moral rhetoric.

What Philemon thought of this is not told, but we still have the letter, so presumably he did not tear it up, but acted upon it, and learnt to treat this ex-slave as an equal. We are not God, and have no right to treat others as inferiors. The gospel has Jesus telling the journeying crowds what it means to be a disciple; you have to “hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even your own life”. Or, to put it another way, you have to “take up your own cross and come after” Jesus, if we are to be a disciple. Then he uses two fairly mundane comparisons; the first is about someone building a tower, but checking first to see if they have the resources to complete it. The second is about a ruler going to war, and his obvious need to calculate his military resources before he does so. Likewise, Jesus says, “any of you who does not say farewell to those who are his own cannot be my disciple”. The fact is that we are not God, and if we are involved in discipleship, it has to be God who is in charge.

Southern Crossword #565

ACROSS 1. Medic easily shakes them inside (4) 3. Consummates (8) 9. So Amber turns to a saint (7) 10. Pope who lived in city limits (5) 11. The Son of God the Father (4-8) 13. Stress the foreign pronunciation (6) 15. One who lifts the curtain (6) 17. In a sparkling way (12) 20. French friend will leave for Spanish friend (5) 21. Head handkerchief (7) 22. Left off Ed’s diets (8) 23. Couple (4)

DOWN 1. Old Cain, I find, refers to an ordained minister (8) 2. Conspiracy discovered in Mecca balm (5) 4. Come out (6) 5. Start of ruins leads to setbacks (12) 6. Australian clergy’s friends (7) 7. Not the place on which to build a house (Mt 7) (4) 8. Find amalgamations in moist bacon (12) 12. With age it comes to a head (4,4) 14. A degree of warmth (6) 16. Small stone (6) 18. Rough analysis reveals an African country (5) 19. Sweet Mother, sweet ... (Hymn) (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

NABLE to attend the funeral after his father died, a son who lived far away called his brother and told him: “Do something nice for Dad and send me the bill.” Later, he got a bill for R200,00 which he paid. The next month, he got another bill for R200,00 which he also paid, figuring it was some incidental expense. Bills for R200,00 kept arriving every month, and finally the man called his brother again to find out what was going on. “Well,” said the brother, “you said to do something nice for Dad. So I rented him a tuxedo.” Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.