140604 by The Southern Cross

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S outhern C ross

June 4 to June 10, 2014

Reg No. 1920/002058/06 No 4876

Children’s lives most precious

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Pope Francis in the Holy Land

To tell or not to tell: Trouble with fairy tales

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Page 10

Discreet aid for Rustenburg’s needy BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

Bishop Edward Adams, retired bishop of Oudtshoorn, celebrated his 80th birthday with his three sisters with a Mass concelebrated with Frs Dick O’Riordan and David Rowles at the church of the Holy Spirit in Koelenhof, Cape Town.

Lunch with Pope Francis! W HEN Elias Abu Mohor entered the Casa Nova convent for lunch with Pope Francis, he was surprised to realise he would be sitting at the same table with the pontiff. Five families were chosen to eat with the pope after the Mass in Bethlehem. The five— including one Muslim family—presented urgent issues facing the Palestinian community, including land confiscation, imprisonment, displacement from their homes and the situation of people trapped by the embargo of the Gaza Strip. Abu Mohor told Catholic News Service the first day he was informed his family had been chosen he was in disbelief, but he said he used the opportunity to present Pope Francis with a map showing the encroachment of lands by Israel. Speaking to the pope in Spanish, he expressed the concerns of families in the Cremisan Valley, where Israel has confiscated land for its separation barrier, sometimes splitting people’s property. Each of the families chosen told the pope about issues they faced. Most spoke in Arabic, with their concerns translated into Spanish. Shadia Sbait, 42, and her husband George, 50, travelled from the northern Galilee village of Kafar Yassif. They and their children Nicole, 15, and Caesar, 13, represented the families of Ikrit and Biram. In the late 1940s, after the creation of the Jewish state, residents of the two Catholic-Arab

George Sbait and his wife, Shadia, pose with their children, Caesar, 13, and Nicole, 15, in front of a section of the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem, West Bank. (Photo: Debbie Hill, CNS) villages were displaced with the promise that they would be permitted to return after two weeks. That never happened, and descendants of the residents, who now live in various villages and cities in northern Israel, have peacefully pursued legal recourse to be permitted to return. Before the meeting, Shadia Sbait said she would ask Pope Francis to bring up their concerns when he met the following day with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I am not a very religious person but I believe in miracles—and the power of the personality of the pope,” she said.—CNS

The

HANKS to a donation of R75 000 from the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), the diocese of Rustenburg was able to provide immediate relief to those most affected by the strike action and violence experienced on the platinum belt. However, to avoid intimidation and further violence, much of the Church’s work has had to be done discreetly and will continue to be concealed until the violence in the region dissipates. Fr S’milo Mngadi, SACBC communications officer, said the bishops made the decision to assist the diocese of Rustenburg as the Church there has been “quietly assisting the vulnerable of the situation”. The diocese of Rustenburg runs a big hospice, Tapologo, care centres for orphaned and vulnerable children, soup kitchens and clinics as well as ARV roll-out centres—all of which have been put under strain due to the strike action of 70 000 miners. The strike action, which started in January, has left miners hungry and resulted in increased levels of violence, intimidation and theft. Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg said the work being done by the diocese for the poor and vulnerable was being hindered by the violence caused by the strike. The bishop said the Church’s outreach to those affected by the strike action had taken on a low profile because of “the threat of attacks and intimidation by the striking miners, especially in the settlements near the mine shafts”. He said the carers at the clinics have found it necessary to devise new strategies of preparing small food parcels that clients can hide and take home. “This hides the food from the striking miners who have even resorted to taking food from little children to whom we have given this small help to keep them going.” Much of the money donated by the SACBC will go towards providing relief in the form of food parcels. Further donations have been received from De la Salle College in Johannesburg and Selly Park Convent in Rustenburg, which will go a long way to assisting the affected communities. Bishop Dowling said the police in the area were hesitant to intervene “because of what happened at Marikana” where police opened fire on striking miners, resulting in the death of 44 people. “They say they do not want anything like that to happen again and also because they are genuinely afraid of the striking miners because they are outnumbered.”

Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg says his diocese is assisting children and vulnerable people affected by the strikes in the area. (Photo: Washington Post) Bishop Dowling said many in the community felt the same way and acts of violence were often unreported and rarely with witnesses. He said the clinics, however, had heard many stories and were reaching out to these victims. “No one is going to take a chance with their life by coming forward as a witness to violence and intimidation.” As a result, the bishop was not willing to disclose the names of the clinics assisting those affected by the strike actions. “Given the terrible violence of the past months, and the fact that some of our carers have already been targeted, I believe I am right to be concerned for their safety.” The Church in Rustenburg has also been assisting starving miners and their family members through the eight Tapologo ARV clinic centres where patients on the clinic’s lists receive a cooked meal. Bishop Dowling said more meals were being prepared to deal with the influx of hungry mouths. Other Church organisations have also quietly been assisting where possible. Bishop Dowling said he was “deeply grateful” for the donation for the immediate relief of the most vulnerable people who had suffered from the strike. Further donations from individuals had meant the bishop was able to plan ahead as to “how best we can get the humanitarian aid, and especially food, to the most vulnerable children and people”. n To support the work being done in Rustenburg: Account: 033071675; Diocese of Rustenburg; Standard Bank, 052-646; Reference: PB Relief.

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The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

LOCAL

Candles lit for those with HIV/Aids STAFF REPORTER

ARISHIONERS of Our Lady of Loreto parish in Kempton Park, Gauteng, held a candlelight memorial in honour of those infected with and affected by HIV/Aids. According to Mpho Modisane of the parish pastoral council’s health desk, the event was in line with the annual international HIV/Aids candlelight memorial which is traditionally held on the third Sunday of the month of May. “During the memorial, prayers were said for victims of prejudice and neglect,” Ms Modisane told The Southern Cross. The parishioners prayed especially for those living with HIV. “Special prayers were also said for all those who care for the sick and for orphans left behind by those who died from Aids-related illnesses.” It is estimated that 5.7 million South Africans are infected with HIV or Aids—meaning just under

A candlelight memorial service for those affected by HIV/Aids was held at Our Lady of Loreto parish in Kempton Park in Gauteng. 12% of the population is positive, 10% of whom live in Gauteng. Ms Modisane said the memorial was also an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the Aids desk of the archdiocese of Johannesburg for their “guidance and

for providing reading materials used during the memorial”. The special service was led by Fr Peter Rebello OCD who called on parishioners to “shine our light on those infected and affected by HIV and Aids”. A youth group from Emaus, Umzimkulu diocese, has successfully raised funds to buy sports kit in order to take part in the sports activities of the diocese and deanery. According to youth coordinator Sr Sizakele Mbeje CPS (seated front), the children raised funds by selling chips and were assisted by the Precious Blood Sisters from Mariannhill and the parishioners of St Francis Xavier in the rural village of Emaus. The group participated in a local sports tournament, playing in 15 games and finishing second overall. The team won three trophies, 23 certificates and 23 medals. Sr Mbeje said sport was an avenue she used to empower the youth holistically.

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Visiting the Vatican city, Rome, san Giovanni Rotondo (Tomb of Padre Pio), loreto, and Medjugorje

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Youth pray with each other in the candlelight. Precious Blood sisters in Ixopo, Mariannhill, have decided to focus on all areas of family life in the community including working with the youth.

Ixopo CPS nuns focus on families STAFF REPORTER

HE Precious Blood Sisters of Sacred Heart Home in Ixopo, Mariannhill, have been reminded by Pope Francis during this Year of the Family to live out their mission to “bring joy and hope” to families. “Pope Francis, in line with [the order’s founder] Abbot Francis Pfanner, stresses that no human organisation is as important as families,” said Sr Margaret von Ohr CPS. “At the same time, Pope Francis draws our attention to the special family members—the marginalised, the sick, poor and especially the street children, who Sunday after Sunday remind us that they are hungry, not only for food but for love and attention too.” As such, the sisters and mission helpers have joined local parishioners in caring and supporting families and giving a Sunday meal with “a big smile, and a hug, while hoping and praying that they may also get hungry for the Lord”. The sisters offer a holistic service to the community. “On Saturdays, many attend the special lessons that are offered to help them with their school work,” said Sr von Ohr. “Here we also give them a meal, clothing, and school uniforms so that they can socially fit in with their peers and not feel ostracised because they cannot be like the other children.” The sisters are also focused on ensuring children receive from their parents “roots to know what is important in life and wings that they may grow freedom and independence to live their lives responsibly”. Accordingly, Sr Clair Wade CPS has started to prepare fathers, mothers and young people to become coworkers in this mission.

“Some of our fathers have followed a programme and committed themselves to make God the centre of their families here and now and to spread the values of Christian fatherhood,” said Sr von Ohr. “They want their families to be truly Christian and a legacy for the future.” Similarly, she said, mothers are encouraged to be co-drivers in protecting, educating and praying with the family. “Both fathers and mothers and their family members now meet bimonthly to share their experiences as Christian fathers and mothers and to encourage one another to continue in this mission.” But it’s not just parents who are getting advice. “The young people, too, are receiving help during their last school year to discern how to cooperate with God’s plan in their lives,” Sr von Ohr said. The youth group has spent time on retreat on the theme “God has a plan for your life” and another is planned for mid-June. “The young people were truly open and searching for direction and meaning in their lives,” she said. The sisters have also focused on children in the community, helping them “find their roots”. The children are fed every Sunday after Mass and partake in a short catechism class which prepares them for, or follows up, the sacrament of baptism. “We now welcome the children every Sunday for holy Mass, where they receive a special blessing from the priest and when we all pray that they may grow ‘roots and wings’ to live out their lives as true children of God,” said Sr von Ohr. “They in return are little missionaries in their homes and encourage their parents to seek spiritual nourishment.”

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

National youth event plan Fatima pilgrimage is largest in South Africa B ATTA MAGADLA SIBETTA

STAFF REPORTER

HIS year’s annual Fatima pilgrimage in Johannesburg has exceeded all expectations, becoming the biggest pilgrimage of its kind in South Africa. A target of 2 000 pilgrims was set for this year’s pilgrimage, but about 2 500 pilgrims walked the route. “This is truly amazing and exciting as the messages of Fatima are spread wider,” said co-convenor Manny de Freitas. “There is no doubt that the heightened media coverage of this event, not just in the Catholic media but also in the secular media, assisted in awareness of this pilgrimage,” Mr de Freitas told The Southern Cross. He said it was clear that there were many first-time pilgrims this year, which he attributed to the greater reach Radio Veritas now has, as well as the assistance and support of the local Portuguese community. The first pilgrimage took place in 1991 with only 50 pilgrims and, since 2006, the pilgrimage has been held annually with considerable growth each year. Mr de Freitas said the pilgrimage on foot, which celebrates the apparitions of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the hamlet of Fatima in Portugal in 1917, has become an important event on the Catholic calendar. “Since these apparitions, millions of people have changed their

Statue of Our Lady in the Blessed Sacrament church in Malvern East in Johannesburg before the start of the walking pilgrimage to Bedfordview. lives positively and come to practise the messages of Fatima. Because these apparitions took place in Portugal, the Portuguese have a special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. The predominantly Catholic Portuguese community is one of the largest immigrant communities in South Africa.” This pilgrimage started at the

Blessed Sacrament Catholic church, in Malvern East, and ended after a 4km walk, during which the rosary was prayed, with holy Mass at the Schoenstatt shrine in Bedfordview, Ekurhuleni. Mr de Freitas announced that owing to the success of the pilgrimages, the Fatima five Saturdays will in instituted. The Fatima five Saturdays originated when one of the visionaries, Sr Lucia dos Santos, then a postulant, received a visionary visit by the Child Jesus and the Virgin Mary in her convent cell. The devotion runs for five months. On the first Saturday of each month, devotees confess, receive Holy Communion, recite the rosary and spend 15 minutes in meditation on the 15 mysteries of the rosary. “Through the tireless efforts of Sr Lucia and others, this great, yet simple devotion has, over the last almost nine decades, spread around the world, uniting millions in a universal and continuous act of reparation that seeks to console the hearts of Jesus and Mary and to save souls everywhere,” Mr de Freitas said. He said the five Saturdays would take place on June 7, July 5, August 2, September 6 and October 4 at the Schoenstatt shrine in Bedfordview at 16:30. “Just like the pilgrimage, we will start small but hope to grow each month as more and more people discover for themselves the power of the rosary.”

Catholic Schools Board (CSB) Pretoria/Johannesburg

CO-ORDINATOR: PRETORIA OFFICE (PART-TIME POSITION)

The Board invites applications from suitably qualified and experienced individuals for the position of Coordinator in the Pretoria satellite office of the Catholic Schools Office (CSO).

The CSO is the administrative arm of the Catholic Schools Board in the Archdioceses of Pretoria and Johannesburg. The CSO provides services, support and co-ordination to the Catholic Schools in the region.

The successful candidate will have the following key qualities:  A sound understanding and commitment to the ethos and mission of Catholic Schools  Ability to work closely with Principals, RE Coordinators and Boards of Governors  Strong leadership, management, and communication skills  Strong interpersonal and team skills  At least five years experience in a senior management position, with a track record of effective application of management skills  Conflict Resolution Skills

Requirements:  Good oral and written English communication skills.  Computer skills.  Must have a car (plus appropriate licence) and be prepared to travel  Relevant educational qualiﬁcations (Teaching Diploma and Degree)

All applicants must address the key qualities listed above in their application and include a recent Curriculum Vitae (please limit your CV to two pages), certiﬁed copies of academic and professional qualiﬁcations, names and contact telephone numbers of three referees.

ARELY a year after Rio de Janeiro played host to millions of Catholic young people, South Africa is gearing up to send local Catholics to World Youth Day (WYD) 2016 in Krakow, Poland, with the view to hosting the international event on South African soil in the near future. Newly appointed archdiocesan youth chaplain for Johannesburg Fr Rodney George travelled to the Vatican on behalf of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference to attend a meeting on WYD 2013. He was joined by Neo Rakoma, Pretoria’s youth coordinator. The meeting drew representatives from 90 countries and 45 organisations, who were able to learn from the Brazilian 2013 event. Challenges facing the South American country included a short period in which to prepare—due to the forthcoming 2014 football World Cup—as well as protest action experienced in the run-up to the 2013 event. Of particular interest to the South African participants was the planning for the 2016 event, which will run under the theme “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” and the sharing of testimonies from youth around the world. Both the Johannesburg and Pretoria dioceses will be sending large groups to the WYD event in Poland, and preparation is already underway. Fr George and Ms Rakoma have returned armed with vital knowledge that may one day help South Africa in hosting WYD. Meanwhile, a national youth festival is being planned in South

Fr Rodney George OMI, youth chaplain for Johannesburg, is preparing the diocese’s youth for World Youth Day 2016 to be held in Poland. The national youth desk has also planned a large festival in South Africa to be held in 2015, and hopes one day to host WYD. Africa for December 2015. The national event, expected to take place in Bloemfontein, will be preceded by diocesan-level festivals planned for March 2015 in an effort to mobilise other youths to attend the main celebration. Bishop Xolelo Kumalo of Eshowe and Education for Life national coordinator Sr Victoria Sibisi are both leading the planning and coordinating of the national youth day project. The vision is to one day host a WYD event and the national and diocesan-level youth festivals are a means to prepare the country and organisers for such an event.

Finally, a Used Car Dealer we can Trust!

Buying or selling a used car can be a rather nerve racking experience because one can never be too sure whether the dealer that you are dealing with can be trusted. This coupled to the somewhat tarnished reputation that some dealers already have, it’s no wonder that one tends to err on the side of caution when dealing with a used car dealer when buying a used car or selling your old faithful mode of transport to them.

The good news is that we can now ease the burden of buying or selling a used car because there is a ‘new kid on the block’ and the bonus is that he is one of our own! Dominique Lejeune, a practising Roman Catholic and member of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Virginia down in Durban, has recently opened a new autolot in Durban with a promise to remove the fear of dealing with a used car dealer. When asked how he aimed to do this, Dominique’s reply was simply, “To be honest and not tarnish my own reputation!” Dominique has worked in senior positions in franchised dealerships within the motor industry for over 30 successful years – in Cape Town, Johannesburg and now in Durban. He claims that his experience over the years has taught him to know, understand and diﬀerentiate between what customers want and what they don’t want and to deliver what they want in an honest and transparent manner. As simple as this may sound, Dom claims that this mindset has been a great contributor to the recipe for his success.

Over the years, many Clerics and parishioners have purchased their cars from Dom regardless of which dealer that he was working for at the time, simply because they know that by dealing with him personally, that they are guaranteed to receive honest and good value for their money. Nothing is too much trouble, not even delivering cars in Cape Town from Durban.

So no matter where you are in South Africa, if you are in the market to buy an aﬀordable, reliable pre owned car, or planning to sell your current one without the stress – call Dom and ﬁnd out for yourself why so many customers keep coming back to deal with him.

Applications can be emailed to: info@cso.za.org or posted to: The Director, Catholic Schools Oﬃce P O Box 2635, Saxonwold, 2135.

Starting date: 2 January 2015 Closing date for applications: 26 June 2014

The selection process is limited to applicants who have had experience in a senior management position of a school. Only candidates short-listed will be contacted. The CSB reserves the right to make no appointment.

Telephone : 031 579 4257 Cell : 082 440 6185 email: dlm@saol.com Web: www.dlpreowned.co.za

The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Lusaka archbishop says Africans must protect girls BY MWANSA PINTU

L De La Salle Brother Robert Schieler has been elected superior general of the order.

New superior general for De La Salle Brothers

E La Salle Brother delegates at their recent general chapter in Rome have elected a new superior general and general council for their lnstitute. Brother Robert Schieler, who has served for the past seven years as general councillor for the Lasallian Region of North America, was elected superior general at the 45th general chapter. He is the 27th successor of St John Baptist de La Salle. A brother for 46 years he took the habit in September, 1948. He served as a teacher in his home province in the north east USA, thirteen years as a missionary in the Philippines, nine years as

provincial in his home province and has served on the general council in Rome for the past seven years. The Philadelphia native holds masters’ degrees in European history and Asian studies as well as a doctorate in educational administration. Br Schieler is assisted by a newly-elected council of six brothers from Brazil, Burkina Fasso, Mexico, Philippines, the UK and the USA. Br Schieler follows Br Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, who served as superior general for 14 years. The De La Salle Brothers run educational establishments in 83 countries.

USAKA’S Catholic archbishop said African nations should do more to protect girls from oppression and harassment. Laws need to be put in place to ensure that African girls are safeguarded from useless, abusive and oppressive traditional practices, Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu said in late May at a Mass for the Little Servants of Mary Immaculate. “As a Church, we want to see the African girl child well-protected and respected right from the word go,” the archbishop said. He said African Catholic leaders would intensify a campaign to ensure girls also have the same opportunity as boys to safely grow up and realise their full potential. He noted that women stood with Jesus at the time of his death even after most male apostles ran away. The archbishop’s call came in the wake of the April kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls. In addition, many African nations have traditions of families offering underage girls for marriage, although in most countries the law stipulates girls must be 16. He said gender violence should be outlawed. “The police also need to do more to protect the girl child, and to punish the offenders,” he said, noting that many law enforcement officials

Nigerians take part in a protest for the release of abducted Nigerian schoolgirls. Scores of girls have been taken from their homes in addition to the recent kidnapping of close to 300 children from a school. (Photo: Akintunde Akinleye, Reuters, CNS) will not deal with gender-based violence on the basis that they are domestic matters. Meanwhile churches in Sudan, including the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, have condemned the death sentence handed to a Christian woman who refused to renounce her faith. In a joint statement, the Sudanese churches said the charges against Meriam Ibrahim are false. They appealed to the Sudanese government to free her from prison, according to the social communications department of AMECEA, the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, based in Nairobi,

Kenya. Sudan’s penal code criminalises the conversion of Muslims to other religions, which is punishable by death. AMECEA’s statement said the husband of Meriam Ibrahim claims his wife is Catholic, but the association could not confirm this. In a letter to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the World Council of Churches called the ruling an “egregiously unjust punishment” that violates the fundamental principle of international human rights law “embodied in Sudan’s own constitutional guarantees to all of its citizens”.—CNS

‘We are Church’ Austria members excommunicated Death penalty opponents: T Don’t help in excecutions HE head of the Austrian bishops’ conference backed the excommunication of members of the dissident “We Are Church” movement for “celebrating” Masses without a priest. “If someone takes a clear stand against something as central for our Church as the Eucharist and propagates an idea far beyond our faith, this is a serious step outside the Church’s fellowship,” said Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schonborn. “But we are all under one common roof, and the door is always open to the return of those affected.” The cardinal spoke after the excommunication latae sententiae (automatically) of Martha Heizer, We Are Church’s chairwoman, and her husband, Gert Heizer. Bishop Manfred Scheuer of Innsbruck announced the excommunication. Cardinal Schonborn told Austria’s Kathpress news agency that he believed Bishop Scheuer had been “mild and circumspect” in handling the case and had “tried everything” to dissuade the Heizers from their actions. The Heizers said they were shocked to be placed in the same category as violators of confessional secrecy and sexual abusers.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) “We have a law, and according to the law, we must be held accountable,” the Heizers said in a statement. “But we have never accepted this process of nonjudicial criminal proceedings and do not consequently accept this verdict. We will continue to work with great energy for reform in the Catholic Church, especially when this procedure shows how much renovation is needed.” Formed in 1995, We Are Church is linked to similar lay-led groups in other countries, including Germany, Ireland and the United States. Its website calls for a “frater-

nal church” and “full equality of women,” as well as a “free choice of celibate or noncelibate lifestyle” and “positive evaluation of sexuality”. The group is one of several demanding change in the Austrian Church, where a “Priests’ Initiative,” which claims several hundred clergy members, issued a call for disobedience in July 2011. In a statement, Bishop Scheuer said he had felt compelled to act because the Heizers had been holding “private celebrations of the Eucharist without priests”. He added that he believed the couple understood the consequences of their actions and would have 10 days to create conditions to have the automatic penalty of excommunication suspended. “In its very nature, the Eucharist is a celebration by the whole Church, so there can be no such thing as a ‘private celebration of the Eucharist,’” Bishop Scheuer said. “I consider it a defeat that we have not succeeded in persuading the Heizers to rethink and avoid this procedure. An excommunication is not a victory, but always a defeat for the Church.”—CNS

Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary WISH TO SHINE YOUR LIGHT FOR GOD’S CHILDREN! Then as a Daughter of the Immacualte Heart of Mary this is your chance to rekindle the light of LOVE and of the GOOD NEWS to the: n Youth and Children

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OZENS of Catholic organisations have joined in calling on a national pharmacists organisation to bar its members from assisting in state-sponsored executions. “As Catholic people of faith, we ask that you not only consider the ethical codes breached when pharmacists use their training and tools to facilitate state-sponsored killings, but also consider the profound moral codes that call upon all of us to respect the sacred dignity of every God-given human life,” said the letter, organised by the Catholic Mobilising Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty. It was sent to the American Pharmacists Association. The issue arises as various states have been forced to suspend scheduled executions by lethal injection because of difficulties associated with getting the drugs that have been used. As explained in the letter: “All producers of the primary drugs necessary for state-sponsored killings have banned their products from use in executions. States intent on carrying out executions have now turned to compounding pharmacists to obtain drugs that have and will, painfully or slowly, cause the death of the recipient.” The letter noted that not only Catholic leaders, but the “larger medical pharmaceutical community” has criticised the practice of lethal injection. The American Medical Association, the American Board of Anaesthesiology and the Society of Correctional Physicians have banned their members from participating in executions, it said. In one case being widely cited in criticism of execution protocols, an Oklahoma execution using a new combination of drugs failed, leaving con-

victed killer Clayton Lockett showing signs of pain before the procedure was halted. Lockett later died of a heart attack. The US Supreme Court postponed a Missouri execution and told lower courts to sort out the legal issues of death-row inmate Russell Bucklew. His attorneys say he has a disease called cavernous haemangioma, which creates a “substantial likelihood” that he would have haemorrhaging, choking, obstruction of airways and suffocation if given the lethal drugs. The appeal argues that “lethal injection of any sort will likely violate Mr Bucklew’s rights under the Eighth Amendment,” prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. The letter from the Catholic organisation asked the pharmacists to respect that as Catholics “we believe the true measure of every institution in society is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person. This includes our criminal justice system.” It concluded by saying that the signers understand that pharmacists are free to form their own opinions, but that nevertheless, the organisation ban members from participating in executions because “they have a sworn oath to put the ‘wellbeing of the patient at the centre of professional practice.’” Signers of the letter included several theologians and ethics professors as well as representatives of: the Conference of Major Superiors of Men; Pax Christi USA; the Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University New Orleans; Community of Sant’Egidio USA; theology and ethics professors; sisters from numerous religious orders; and Glenmary and Comboni missionaries.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

Pope reaches out to Muslims and Jews BY FRANCIS X. ROCCA

OPE Francis spent the last morning of his three-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land meeting with Muslims and Jews and calling for closer relations among the three major monotheistic religions as the basis for peace in the region. At his first appearance, Pope Francis toured the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, sacred to Muslims as the place from which Mohammed ascended to heaven, and spoke to Muslim leaders. Addressing his listeners as “brothers”—rather than “friends”, as indicated in his prepared text— the pope pointed to Abraham as a common model for Muslims, Jews and Christians, since he was a pilgrim who left “his own people and his own house in order to embark on that spiritual journey to which God called him”. “We must constantly be prepared to go out from ourselves, docile to God's call,” especially “his summons to work for peace and justice, to implore these gifts in prayer and to learn from on high mercy, magnanimity and compassion,” the pope said. In his remarks to the pope, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, accused Israel of impeding Muslims’ access to Jerusalem’s holy sites. Pope Francis then visited the Western Wall, the only standing part of the foundation of the Second Temple, destroyed in 70AD. The pope stood for more than a minute and a half with his right hand against the wall, most of the time in silent prayer, before reciting the Our Father. Then he followed custom by leaving a written message inside a crack between two blocks. Rabbi Abraham Skorka, a longtime friend of the pope from Buenos Aires and an official member of the papal entourage, said the pope’s message contained the text of the Our Father and of the 122nd Psalm, traditionally prayed by Jewish pilgrims who travel to Jerusalem. Stepping away from the wall, the pope simultaneously embraced Rabbi Skorka and Omar Abboud, a Muslim leader from Buenos Aires and a member of the papal entourage. “We did it,” Rabbi Skorka said he told the pope and Mr Abboud. The pope also visited a memorial to victims of terrorism, a stop that

had not appeared on his original itinerary. It was added at the request of Israeli authorities, in reaction to his spontaneous decision the previous day to pray at Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank. The separation wall, which Israel says it needs to protect itself from terrorism, has been a target of Palestinian protests and international condemnation. At the terrorism memorial, the pope prayed with his hand against the stone, the same gesture he used at the separation wall and at the Western Wall. Following a brief wreath-laying at the grave of Theodor Herzl, father of the Zionist movement that led to Israel’s founding, Pope Francis visited the Yad Vashem Memorial to victims of the Holocaust. There he greeted half a dozen survivors of the Nazi genocide, kissing their hands in honour. “He took my hand in his two hands and kissed my hand. I was dumbfounded. I never had a rabbi do that,” Joe Gottdenker of Toronto told Catholic News Service. Gottdenker, who was rescued as a baby by a Polish Catholic couple, said he “was moved much more than I had even anticipated”. In his remarks at Yad Vashem, the pope echoed and elaborated on God’s words to Adam after the fall, asking: “Who convinced you that you were god? Not only did you torture and kill your brothers and sisters, but you sacrificed them to yourself, because you made yourself a god.” “Grant us the grace to be ashamed of what we men have done,” the pope prayed, “to be ashamed of this massive idolatry, of having despised and destroyed our own flesh which you formed from the earth, to which you gave life with your own breath of life.” Pope Francis’ next stop was a visit to the two chief rabbis of Israel, leaders of the country’s Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities. The pope told them that relations between Jews and Catholics had progressed greatly in the half century since the Second Vatican Council, which declared that Jews were not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus and that God’s covenant with them had never been abrogated. Pope Francis called on Christians and Jews to develop greater appreciation for their common “spiritual heritage”, through deeper knowledge of each other's faith, especially among the young. Even by the standard of his

(Left) Pope Francis greets Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. The pope told Mr Peres that he wanted to ‘invent a new beatitude, which I apply to myself, ‘Blessed is the one welcomed into the home of a wise and good man.’ (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov, EPA, CNS) (Centre) Pope Francis embraces Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the start of an arrival ceremony at the presidential palace in Bethlehem, West Bank. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) (Right) Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople venerate the Stone of Unction in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The two leaders marked the 50th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras. (Photo: Grzegorz Galazka, pool, CNS)

(Left) The pope stops in front of the Israeli security wall in Bethlehem, West Bank. ((Photo: L'Osservatore Romano, pool, CNS) (Centre) Pope Francis reaches into a pool of water before blessing himself as he visits Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism, south west of Amman in Jordan. (Photo: L'Osservatore Romano, pool, CNS) (Right) Pope Francis places a note in the Western Wall in Jerusalem following the custom of leaving a written message inside a crack between two blocks.The pope’s message contained the text of the Our Father and of the 122nd Psalm, traditionally prayed by Jewish pilgrims who travel to Jerusalem. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) densely packed Holy Land trip, the pope’s morning was especially busy, and he soon fell behind schedule. Many other Jerusalem residents found themselves in the same situation, as streets cleared to facilitate the pope’s movements caused traffic jams across the city. His public appearances for the morning ended with a visit to President Shimon Peres at his official residence, where the pope greeted and blessed a group of children with cancer and planted an olive tree in the garden as a symbol of peace. The pope told Mr Peres that he wanted to “invent a new beatitude, which I apply to myself, ‘Blessed is

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the one welcomed into the home of a wise and good man’.” It was only the latest sign of the pope’s friendship with Mr Peres, who invited him to Israel shortly after the start of his pontificate. At Yad Vashem, the pope greeted other dignitaries with a handshake but gave the president a warm embrace. In his address at the presidential palace, Pope Francis praised Mr Peres as a “man of peace and a peacemaker”, and, as the pope had done the previous day to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, asked that “all parties avoid initiatives and actions which contradict their stated determination” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

MICASA TOURS

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The pope also stressed the “universal and cultural significance” of Jerusalem, and its importance to Christians, Muslims and Jews. “How good it is when pilgrims and residents enjoy free access to the holy places and can freely take part in religious celebrations,” he said. As in his speeches to Mr Abbas and to the king of Jordan over the previous two days, Pope Francis also spoke up for the local Christian community, telling Mr Peres its members wished to “contribute to the common good and the growth of peace” and thus deserved to be “full-fledged citizens” of Israel.— CNS

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The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Celibacy not cause of priest shortage

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial: Michael Shackleton

Value of human life

N October, 2010, a South African doctor, Sean Davison, was arrested in New Zealand on a charge of attempted murder for assisting his mother to die. He was able to return to his home in the Cape when the charge was reduced to one of counselling and procuring attempted suicide. There was sympathy for his action. Many medical professionals hailed his courage in a case in which he and his mother agreed that her quality of life was so irretrievably devastated that she freely chose to die in dignity. Many would concur with this common-sense approach. Why let someone you love, or anyone for that matter, hopelessly endure excruciating pain and discomfort when mercy killing is the answer? It is an either/or situation: to suffer unnecessarily or to receive help in ending the suffering once and for all. The idea that the lack of the quality of life is of more consideration in terminally ill patients than their dignity of life, is something the Church simply cannot countenance. The Church’s attitude to this is plain. It rests on the divine commandment: You shall not kill. Moral theology recognises that each of the Ten Commandments has a corollary. The prohibition of murder carries with it the complementary exhortation to protect and preserve life. Pope St John Paul II led the way in directing the Church to a fresh appreciation of this exhortation. In his 1995 encyclical Evangelii vitae (the Gospel of Life), he strongly reasserted that the fulness of human life far exceeds the dimensions of earthly existence because it consists in sharing the very life of God. He went further. In using the term Gospel of Life he intended the Church to appreciate ever more profoundly that it must preach the sacredness of the life and the dignity of every human being, just as insistently as it preaches the very Gospel of Christ to the world. A terminally ill patient’s life has to be deemed sacred and

not open to the option of ending it voluntarily. Research in palliative medicine for terminal illness has improved. Techniques are available to significantly alleviate horrific symptoms. The Church, obviously, supports such techniques. It cannot support solving problems by putting people out of their misery permanently, sooner rather than later. Legislation passed in the Netherlands and Belgium giving the right to little children to choose voluntary euthanasia, must surely make one think twice. Although it has been said that this right may be exercised only in the rarest of cases, there is the frightening prospect that it is too soon for a mature medical diagnosis concerning infants who are emotionally unable to make a free choice. It makes one think of Mr Bumble’s remark in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist: “If the law supposes that, the law is an ass.” Very often, it is more likely that it is not the ailing and vulnerable person who would prefer a dignified death but others who cannot cope with the situation. Managing a terminally ill person can be exhaustingly debilitating. The article on page 9 by Sr Margaret Craig in this week’s issue is a powerful exposure of how effective the loving provision of safe, secure and compassionate care for perilously sick children can be as part of a rehabilitation process that will never consider active killing for the sake of death with dignity. This is a reinforcing lesson of how the virtue of love for one’s neighbour encompasses especially those who have scant hope of a long and meaningful life. Caring for them at whatever age they may be, is a response to the duty to defend and promote the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end. Sr Margaret sums it up: “The fact that we have the knowledge and capacity to end life artificially, to kill, does not make it right”.

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AM submitting this letter in response to “Married priests is the solution” (May 25). According to Catholic teaching, marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman, when they promise the total gift of one to the other till death; a husband is called to give of himself “as Christ lay down his life for his bride”. A priest too, is called to “lay down his life” for his “bride”, the Church. Whenever I hear the call for retraction of the celibacy of priests, I imagine the practicalities of my own father being a priest: six children to love, parent and educate; a wife who would have had to “play second fiddle” to the needs of his parish. As it

Eucharist in the hand: disrespect

RESUMING that the Blessed Eucharist is at the heart and very centre of our Catholic faith, I cannot help feeling that the permission granted to receive the sacred host in the hand has led to untold disrespect and frightful abuses. Over my many years of ministry covering large areas of South Africa, I have witnessed a beautiful, respectful and deeply reverent approach to the Holy Eucharist: people of all ages kneeling in adoration before receiving on the tongue, the meaningful genuflection, the regular visits throughout the day, the silent thanksgiving, the evening Benediction service with the sacrament exposed, the monthly holy hour for the parish. In those days one felt proud to be a Catholic, with such a living faith in the sacred presence. However, that is not the case today! There is no doubt that the practice of receiving the true body and blood of Jesus Christ in the hand—and often with a “don’t care” attitude—has hurt the reverent celebration of the sacred liturgy. Many priests and laity may deny this; yet both Pope St John Paul II and Paul VI publicly expressed their disapproval of this “profanation and adulteration of this august sacrament”. Even Mother Teresa made it known that she was deeply saddened when “watching people receive Holy Communion in the hand”. Fr John Hardon SJ testifies that “behind this practice is a conscious and deliberate weakening of faith in the real presence”. And one reads of many other prominent churchmen and laity speaking out on this abuse and the “desacralisation of the Church”. Many see this trend as being diabolical—destroy faith in the holy Mass and the Eucharist and what do we have left? Our critics tell us that our behaviour and our lack of rever-

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is, I recall the tension caused by my father’s frequent business trips when mom had to hold the fort with six children under the age of 10! Would the parish have supported the education of six children? Where would his loyalty lie if he were called out to a dying parishioner on the occasion of one of his children’s milestone achievements? Or worse, while his own wife/child should be dying? Then the nemesis of Catholic teaching on marriage: contraception. Regarded as sinful yet disregarded by the majority of Catholics, would married priests be exemplars? Personally, I think this call for married priests is an emotional one

ence towards this sacrament in no way supports our professed belief. Fr Bernard P Brown, Cape Town

Sign of the Cross

HAT reader Adrian Kettle wrote (May 14) is indeed so true: it is such a good old Catholic practice to start and end a sermon with the sign of the Cross. I think the faithful should not be shy and should ask their priests to do so. And keep asking gently and regularly! After all, what we want is tried and tested Catholic practices, habits, customs, which took centuries to be acquired. These cannot be jettisoned just like that. I know, it demands a small effort, as my mother used to say. Come on Fathers, you will be surprised of the results! PR Margeot, Durban

Climate group

READ the article on climate change in your online newsletter (May 22) with much interest as I have recently come back from training provided by Al Gore in Johannesburg. The training is specific to climate reality and the impacts of climate change. I am based in rural Eastern Cape and would like to know if there are any initiatives driven by the Church locally. My diocese is Kokstad and my parish is Holy Spirit in Flagstaff. I would like to drive an initiative that focuses on food security and 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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and that it’s nothing more than a call to let “priests have sex”. It’s sad that today’s culture deems that anyone not experiencing sex is missing out. If we see marriage as an outlet for lust or sexual tension, we’re bound to think of celibacy as sexual repression. Both the married person and the celibate should have dominion over his/her lust. Only when people are in control of their sexuality, are they capable of making gifts of themselves. Another thought: What about marriage for the priest who has same-sex attraction? Shortage of priests is not because of celibacy but rather a “deafness” to God’s call to the vocation of love. Marie-Anne te Brake, Johannesburg renewable energy, hoping I can meet other groups focusing on these or similar. I am a climate reality leader at www.climaterealityproject.org Khaya Mposula, Flagstaff, Eastern Cape

Parochial view

HE recent discussion about the attendance at Archbishop Lawrence Henry's funeral (including May 14) refers. A contributing factor may be that many Catholics generally do not attend deanery and diocesan events. Reasons put forward are mainly logistical: long distances, uncomfortable venues, lengthy services, language use, and so on. The question is whether these logistical challenges surpass the celebration of ecclesial communion especially around the bishop? In some parishes, the visit of the bishop is limited to the administration of the sacrament of confirmation. Other Sunday Masses continue as usual led by the parish clergy. Surely, parishioners can do with some discomfort and inconvenience to celebrate the parish's communion with the rest of the Church through the person of the bishop. After all, he officially comes once a year or so. A good number of Catholics do not even know the name of their bishop, let alone his person. They also hardly know what their deanery is. Besides a few priest-friends and former parish priests, their parish priest is the only priest they know in the diocese. I am observing a gradual move from being Catholic to being congregational; from being episcopal to being presbyteral. My concern is whether we are resolved to move this way or we are just moving. I am the SACBC communications officer, but am writing in my personal capacity. Fr S’milo Mngadi, Pretoria

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PERSPECTIVES

Building the civilisation of love Evans K W Chama M.Afr E conclude this series of 15 articles, which I hope gave us a bird’s eye view on the Church’s social teaching, with the notion of a “civilisation of love”. By her social teaching, the Church aims at incarnating the Gospel in the lives of people as a way of witnessing God’s Kingdom on earth. The Good News is that God loves us, and we too, ought to love others as God loves us. This is the civilisation of love. But then, what is civilisation, and what is love? Civilisation has been defined and understood in varied ways. In one view, it is the social process whereby societies achieve an advanced stage of development and organisation, regarding especially the means of livelihood. The word civilisation is also used to contrast city life and rural life to the point that urban people with their access to modern facilities, like computers, consider those in villages as uncivilised. Such a vision of civilisation is narrow and materialistic. That is why I appreciate Albert Schweitzer’s perspective of civilisation as “the sum total of all progress made by man in every sphere of action and from every point of view in so far as the progress helps towards the spiritual perfecting of individuals as the progress of all progress”. Indeed, if civilisation is only about manipulating materials and improving our tools while we do nothing to perfect our ways of being, it is lamentably deficient. It would not be a “human civilisation”, but a “material civilisation”. That is why Cardinal Sean O’Malley asserted, in his homily at last year’s funeral Mass for the Boston Marathon victims: “We must build a civilisation of love, or there will be no civilisation at all.” True human civilisation ought to improve the quality of being and relations between persons. And the meaning of love in this civilisation of love is the Christian love, agape— which is charitable, selfless, and unconditional.

It is the gratuitous love of God for humanity that should exist also among Christians. Where there is love, well-being for all is guaranteed. The civilisation of love is a culture that makes “society more human, more worthy of the human person” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church [CSDC] 582).

he civilisation of love counteracts the current society—a civilisation of violence, injustice and death—which is characterised by lack of respect for human dignity, which is manifested in the reduction of a human person to an instrument of production, to be disposed of when no longer usable, daily killings in war and in terrorism, shameless discrimination and exclusion among different peoples, and material, scientific and technological advancement that is destructive to human beings. The Christian life is a call to radical personal and social renewal, to recover the moral sense at the heart of human culture. Thus, the Church strives to create a better world worthy of the human person. Christians, particularly the laity, are urged to act in such a way that “the power of the Gospel might shine forth in their daily social and family life” (CSDC 579). Be-

Transitional shelters are built for those left homeless in Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. Sometimes disaster can lay the foundation for a “Civilisation of Love” (Photo: Bob Roller/CNS)

Take time to contemplate T ODAY we live in a world that can’t stop talking. Everywhere, every single day, we are bombarded by advertisements, invitations, messages and attractions of all kinds. In the privacy of our homes we have radios and televisions with channels of entertainment, sport and information 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It never stops. In our rooms, studies and offices we have computers and access to the internet with amounts of information that we, in our entire lifetime, would never ever be able to absorb. It never stops. Open your Facebook page and besides posting your own status for the day, you will be able to see whose birthdays it is, what your friends have been up to, where to find a partners for over fifties, groups you can join, invitations to events, music videos you can listen to, recipes you can try, and it goes on and on. While on the one hand information is important, the rate with which it comes at us today is distracting and it forces us to engage with it at the expense of the benefits of being quiet within ourselves. At the expense of being able to contemplate. At the expense of being able to “be still and know that I am God”. We have to be still to be able to ground ourselves. The increasing complexity, speed, and demands of our lives have become too much. It seems ever-more important to slow down, step back and open ourselves to see and hear from a more centred space. We are also living in a time of conflict-

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With our lives so busy, we need to stop and contemplate ourselves and our world. (Photo: Tom Lorsung/CNS) ing understandings and interpretations of what the gospel demands of us in response to the signs of the times. How do we know what we have to do? There are differences of worldview, of values, and doctrinal understandings. There is for all of us, a clear call to integrity, authenticity, and conversion of mind and heart. The way ahead is not clear, and it is not possible to engage the demands of this time from a “business as usual stance”. We have to take another stance—what Sr Catherine Bertrand SSND in her reflection calls a contemplative stance. When we, in our church groups and organisations, engage with others from a contemplative stance, we centre all that we are, and all we desire to be, on the movement of God and God’s spirit. It enables the

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Catholic Social Teachings

cause of such hope, even the most desperate situations, such as disasters or acts of violence, can be used as the building stones for a civilisation of love. In the midst of suffering, solidity becomes natural; people ignore their differences and hurry to the aid of the other, as in the story of the Good Samaritan. And here is the condition: “It is the relationship man has with God that determines his relationship with his fellow men and with his environments. This is why Christian culture has always recognised the creatures that surround man as also gifts of God to be nurtured and safeguarded with a sense of gratitude to the creator” (CSDC 464). Again, in his homily, Cardinal O’Malley illustrated the civilisation of love: “The parable of the Good Samaritan is the story about helping one’s neighbour when that neighbour was from an enemy tribe, a foreign religion, a hostile group. The Samaritan cuts through centuries of antipathy by seeing in the Jewish man who had been beaten and left for dead not a stranger or an enemy, but a fellow human being who has a claim to his humanity and compassion.” This civilisation of love has to be cultivated at a tender age, in a family, in school and at play. It falls on parents, teachers and coaches to shape the conscience of the young in the ways of love. I conclude this series with an exhortation by a spiritual master, Thomas Merton: “Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God.” n This concludes Fr Chama’s series on the Church’s Social Teachings. Past articles in the series are at www.scross.co.za/category/ perspectives/chama/

Judith Turner

Faith and Life

group conversation to become a spiritual experience rather than just a business meeting. Being still engages our minds and hearts in movement towards a new consciousness—a new way of seeing, a new way of being. It opens us individually and collectively to ongoing conversion of mind and heart and enables us to move from “I” to “we”. Being still in a group suspends debate and mere problem solving, allowing for creative possibilities, emerging options, and peaceful resolution. Being still in a group supports a “flexible shaping” and integration of prayer, reflection, and conversation in addressing any variety of topics, concerns, or questions, from finance, HR and operations to production and implementation of programmes and activities. As leaders we are called to ground our leadership ministry in a contemplative stance. This is not just a fad or a thing of the moment, something we do “for a while,” the latest technique of effective leadership. Rather, it is a way of seeing, being, doing in the world, a way of opening ourselves individually and collectively to the action of God in our lives. It is a way of being true to our deepest vocation, a way of allowing Holy Mystery to use us, individually and collectively, to bless the world, in order for us to “be still and know that I am God”.

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The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

David Brattston

Learning from the Church Fathers

Biblical slaughter can teach us

ASS slaughter of the enemies of God’s elect is commanded time and again throughout the Old Testament. God both ordered and approved putting the populations of whole cities and nations to death. How do we reconcile such merciless bloodlust with the message of the meek and compassionate Jesus who preached that the Holy One of Israel is a god of love and mercy? One example of wanton bloodshed is Deuteronomy, which prescribes the way the Israelites were to treat the people living in the land of Canaan: “But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord, your God, is giving you as a heritage, you shall not leave a single soul alive. You must put them all under the ban—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—just as the Lord, your God, has commanded you” (20:16-17). After Joshua had led the Israelites into the Promised Land, “they put to the sword all living creatures in the city: men and women, young and old, as well as oxen, sheep and donkeys” (Joshua 6:21). In Joshua 8:24-28: “When Israel finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open, who had pursued them into the wilderness, and all of them to the last man fell by the sword, then all Israel returned and put to the sword those inside the city. There fell that day a total of twelve thousand men and women, the entire population of Ai. Joshua kept the javelin in his hand stretched out until he had carried out the ban on all the inhabitants of Ai. “However, the Israelites took for themselves as plunder the livestock and the spoil of that city, according to the command of the Lord issued to Joshua. Then Joshua destroyed Ai by fire, reducing it to an everlasting mound of ruins, as it remains today.” In Joshua 11:11-12: “He also struck down with the sword every person there, carrying out the ban, till none was left alive. Hazor itself he burned. All the cities of those kings, and the kings themselves, Joshua captured and put to the sword, carrying out the ban on them, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded.” According to 1 Samuel 15, the divinely ordained mayhem continued in the era of Samuel and King Saul: “Go, now, attack Amalek, and put under the ban everything he has. Do not spare him; kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys” (15:3). These Bible passages and many more like them are wildly at odds with the time-honoured conception of Christianity as a religion of peace and mercy. Can we reconcile God’s command that Israelites put their enemies to death on a wholesale scale with the same God’s blessing the merciful, who shall obtain mercy? The same questions occurred to Origen, who was the foremost Bible scholar and teacher of the first half of the third century AD. His writing and preaching influenced the Church for centuries after his own time. In his Homilies on Joshua 8.7 (AD 249/250) he preached the wars and massacres in the historical books of the Old Testament were not meant to be applied literally as a precedent for how Christians ought to treat other people. Rather, they were symbols or examples or teaching aids to instruct Christians to war against and totally destroy in our own lives not only every kind of sin but also every temptation and near occasion to sin. With the same thoroughness that the Israelites comprehensively obliterated their enemies, preached Origen, so should believers just as completely eradicate their own enemies: sin and everything that leads to sin. The thoroughness of the Old Testament exterminations, Origen said, is to teach Christians not to be content with avoiding mortal sins like fornication, malice, and lusts. Nor is it enough to refrain from all sins. We must exert our souls, he preached, to root out as spiritual enemies all wicked thoughts, distorted desires, and other enticements and inclination to sin with the same diligence and perseverance as an exterminating army acting under God’s orders.

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COMMUNITY

Youth at St Joseph's parish in Mbongolwane, KwaZulu-Natal, were confirmed by BishopThaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe.

Gilbert and Maureen MacDonald of St Ignatius parish in Cape Town celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary. They were blessed by parish priest Fr Christopher Clohessy.

Five people made their temporary commitment to the Christian Life Community at a Mass celebrated by Fr Graham Pugin SJ at Kolbe House in Rondebosch, Cape Town. (From left) Sonia Ramautar, Narrisa Philander, Brendon Nayanah, Tarisayi Mutongo and Bupe Mwangalawa.

The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus parish in East London held their annual paschal meal in the church hall. It followed the traditional format of Bible readings and eating between the readings using similar food from biblical times.

Matthew Nel-Jackson, the junior school winner of the Easter raffle held at CBC St John’s Parklands, in Cape Town, won the 3,3 kg chocolate bunny called Hugo. On his own he decided that he wanted to donate his prize to the Table View Home of Hope so those less fortunate could also share in the joy of Easter.

Diana Melis of Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School in Durban North was named the top academic achiever of the school and was placed in the top five of the diocese. She has been awarded monies from the Delalle Bursary Fund towards her university education by the archdiocese of Durban.

St Catherine of Sienna parish in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, held their Easter Vigil concelebrated by Oblate Fathers Paul Beukes (parish priest) and assistant priest Thabang Nkadimeng where RCIA candidates were accepted into the Church.

Grade 7 Trinity Davids of CBC St John’s Parklands in Cape Town is pictured holding her diorama (a three-dimentional model) of the 13th Station of Cross.

John Morgan, a parishioner of San Francesco church in Charlo, Port Elizabeth, took a picture of a rainbow which came to rest on the bell tower of the church.

Pontsho Ndaba, a pilgrim on a thanksgiving pilgrimage to Rome and Medjugorje, is pictured in St Peter’s square in Rome.

The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

FAITH

Children’s lives most precious The law in Belgium and Holland that enables a person to choose voluntary euthanasia in the case of terminal diseases has now been extended to include children as young as three. Sister of Nazareth MARGARET CRAIG shares her deep concern and her experiences of dealing with the death of children.

ARLIER this year I was stunned to hear the morning news on the radio: Belgium would become the second country after The Netherlands to pass a law legalising euthanasia for children. Suddenly the faces of all the babies and children who had died in my care crowded into my mind. Their pain and suffering, yes, but also their determination and longing for life, encouraged by the love and care we were committed to give them. I recalled my numerous encounters with doctors and their varied prognoses for many of the children: “This child will never walk or talk”; “He is blind and deaf”; “Just give terminal care, she won’t last more than a month”; “No point in speech therapy, he won’t last long anyway”; “With a heart condition like this, she will die before she is 10”; “The tumour is inoperable, no point in sending her back to school;” “He only sits and smiles, it would be kinder to let him die”. After several years all but one of these children are still alive, enjoying a good quality of life and have defied all the predictions of the medical experts. Had these children been living today in The Netherlands or Belgium instead of South Africa, would they still be alive? Would they be allowed to live? Some have confounded us all. I remember asking a particular doctor to let us take a little boy of 4 years home from hospital so that he could die in peace and comfort with us.

He had been slipping in and out of consciousness for two weeks, was continually losing blood and was wasting away with a weight below 9kg. After much discussion, we eventually agreed for the doctors to try one more treatment as a very last resort. If this did not help, then we were free to take him home. Today this same child is a happy healthy teenager, reunited with his family and has every opportunity of a full life ahead of him. A little later in the day I attended a school children’s Mass. As I sat at the back of the church, still somewhat heavy-hearted, preoccupied with the news of the morning, I reflected on these children in front of me all looking so energetic and healthy. What if one of them was to suffer a serious injury, become blind, lose a limb or suffer a stroke? Would they or their parents choose to—or be encouraged to—actively assist in their death? Indeed, they could well be in a position to legally make that decision in a few years from now. No matter how difficult some of the deaths of those children whom I have had the privilege of caring for have been, never once have I felt that I had the right or the duty or the desire to end that life before the time that only God had measured for them. Who are we to judge, to decide? Being involved in child care and social work over many years, I have assisted many mothers, fathers and grandparents, while they have battled to accept and understand that their child has been born with serious mental or physical disabilities, genetic disorders, or have later developed a terminal illness or are going through the final stages of Aids. Wherever there is life there is hope, and when that life is finally ready to move on into eternity, then we need to let God take over so that He can receive His child home, graciously and with peace, dignity and love. I have been present at the deaths of over 80 children and babies. I have sat with them, comforted them and held them on their final journey. Thankfully, great advances have been made in the area of pain con-

A Daughter of Charity is pictured caring for a child with severe disabilities in Haifa, Israel. Sr Margaret Craig of Nazareth House has witnessed many children’s deaths over the years and states that euthanasia can never be justified. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS) trol and relief, making it more effective than ever before. Each child, ranging in ages from 17 days to 16 years, has been profoundly different and special. For me it has always been such a privilege and a grace-filled moment to be close to the child and to the Lord as they meet each other. It is vital to help the child feel safe, secure and comfortable with themselves, and as far as possible to ensure that the person closest to them is there to be with them. The child’s particular needs must come first; we cannot choose that time to feel guilty or to decide we cannot cope. We must do our very

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WARDEN

CATHOLIC CHAPLAINCY AT UCT

Applications are invited for the post of Warden at Kolbe House, the home of the UCT Catholic Chaplaincy.

The Warden is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the self-catering student residence at Kolbe House in Rondebosch, Cape Town. He or she attends to the well-being of the approximately 20 students in residence, and to the management of the historical property. The role complements the life and work of the vibrant university Chaplaincy. The Warden must be available at reasonable times to attend to the needs of residents and the duties of the position. To that end, he or she resides free of charge in a cottage on the property. The post also carries a modest stipend.

The ideal candidate will hold strong Catholic values and have good management and inter-personal skills, enabling him or her to work closely with the Chaplain, the Kolbe Trust (which owns the House), staff, students and residents. The appointment will be on a fixed-term basis, preferably from September/October 2014. The duration is negotiable. Please submit a CV, letter of motivation and two contactable references to donovan.muller@accenture.com by 30 June 2014.

Enquiries may be directed to Donovan Muller (Chair of Trustees) at donovan.muller@accenture.com or on 083 408 6592.

best for the child, and grieve later. hild euthanasia is linked to the adult’s feelings. The idea of euthanasia tries to encourage the adult to feel better, to feel that they can control the situation for the child and that they have the “right” to bring to an end the life that they themselves have created. But who are we to have that “right” and to exercise that power? The fact that we have the knowledge and capacity to end life artificially, to kill; does not make it right. What of future interpretations of this law? We already have legal abortions for gender selection and genetic defects of unborn babies. Will

the time come when parents have no say if they do not want their child to be euthanased? Will future law courts overrule the wishes of parents or even children who do not want their life to be ended in this way? If a child loses limbs, becomes blind, paralysed, or in some way incapacitated through accident or illness, will this automatically “qualify” him or her for euthanasia? Not yet of course, but what about the future? History shows that this is not an exaggerated concern. Severely disabled cerebral palsied children? Will they count at all? So many are trapped in a dysfunctional body while their minds are alert and eager—their responses of smiles, laughter and understanding are so obvious. I personally have known and experienced the joy and pleasure on the faces of such children, from the effects of a walk in the garden, a magic show, a funny DVD, occupational therapy, puzzles, singing, music and touch. Do we have the right to make a decision on the life or death of that child because he or she is not like you and me? Is not perfect or normal according to our standards? Those of us who have dealt with such children have been blessed by their positive response (however slight) to a tender touch, a gentle word, and their own determination to cling to life. In turn, they themselves are the channels through which we learn to become more compassionate, caring and gentle. As Pope Francis told us: “Those who help the needy touch the flesh of Christ.”

The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

FOCUS

Fairy tales: To tell or not to tell The old fairy tales don’t give a picture of strong women. How does the modern parent impart empowering values to young girls without ditching the great world of fantasy? Prof JULIANA CLAASSENS looks for answers.

HE other day when my feminist friend and I met for a much-needed coffee break, the conversation turned to my two-year-old daughter’s love for books. “So what are you doing with all those fairy tales that have been shown by feminist writers to inscribe harmful gender dynamics?” my friend asks. What indeed to do? My mind goes to all those female characters who cannot save themselves and who are passively waiting for Prince Charming. Or being a very dedicated stepmother, I have always been bothered by all those wicked stepmothers, who as one author rightly puts it, get those lousy roles to play. Not to talk about the saccharine sweet Princess Bible I stumbled across the other day with its depiction of the female biblical characters in terms of Disney’s fascination with princesses. Bound in pink, this bible sets out to teach little girls what it means to be a princess—God’s princess. Inadvertently, though, it instils values of women being demure, obedient and obsessed with their

outer appearance. I certainly want to raise my daughter to be able to freely choose how she clothes her own gender identity—even if she decides to wear neon pink because she looks fabulous in it! But certainly I want to raise her that she continues her love for learning and exploring which is exemplified in her love for her (my) iPad. Most importantly, I wish for her to grow up in the knowledge that she can be anything she wants to be, not being trapped in gendered stereotypes but rather embracing values such as strength, assertiveness, passion, kindness and compassion. But what to do with all those fairy tales that look so innocent but might be corrupting my little girl’s mind? I realised that as a feminist biblical interpreter, I am used to dealing with texts that grew out of a patriarchal context, which if applied literally can be harmful indeed. I am constantly teaching my students skills of dealing with these problematic aspects of the biblical text that not only fail to consider women to be subjects in their own right, but also normalise sexual violence in what have been called “texts of terror”. So I highlight the importance of deconstructing harmful interpretations of these biblical texts, which is accompanied with a second task of reconstructing visions of God and the world that may have a transformative effect on the individual as well as his/her relationship to others.

The Princess Bible presents women as demure, obedient and obsessed with outer appearance, Juliana Claassens writes. With regard to the classical fairy tales which I have started to read to my daughter, I hope to follow a similar approach. I do not want to give up on the power of fantasy to shape her imagination; the wonderful world of stories that draws one in and casts its magic spell over you.

herefore, before deconstructing these stories in the many conversations I know we will have on every topic under the sun, including the importance of feminism, my hope is that she will fall in love with books and reading and be hooked on the incredible power of

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the imagination. I also hope to tell her some of the fruits of the feminist revisions of these stories, which by means of creative engagement with the classic stories imagine the female lead characters to be strong, assertive, accomplished, talented, and not obsessed with beauty or outer appearance. I have come across two interesting stories that do exactly this. For instance in Cinder Edna, by Ellen Jackson & Kevin O’Malley (illus. Harper Collins, 1994) , Cinderella’s story is contrasted with that of Cinder Edna who, unlike Cinderella, does not wait for the Fairy

Godmother to give her a beautiful dress but rather puts it on laybye and works hard to pay for it herself. And instead of wearing uncomfortable glass slippers to the ball, she puts on her comfortable loafers which allow her to have a ball on the dance floor. And in The Fourth Little Pig by Teresa Celsi and Doug Cushma (illus. Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1992) we read the story of the three little pigs after they’ve escaped from the wolf. Their sister enters the story, telling her brothers that fear will paralyse them, and encourage them once again to go out into the world, for as “she knows there are worlds to explore...” These feminist revisionings present girls as capable and independent, and in the case of Cinder Edna celebrate the value of hard work. One should keep in mind though, as one author rightly points out, that what is needed is not simply role reversals that have the danger of creating “fractured fairy tales”, but rather fairy tales in which the main characters are empowered regardless of gender, and where empowering values and themes are central to the story. So even though I hope to read in future some creative feminist fairy tales to my daughter that are in conversation with the traditional oeuvre (and I challenge my feminist friends to write some as well), I am quite certain that I am not reading the Princess Bible to her! n Juliana Claassens is associate professor of Old Testament at Stellenbosch University.

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ST. KIZITO CHILDREN’S PROGRAMME St. Kizito Children’s Programme (SKCP) is a community-based response to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children, established through the Good Hope Development Fund in 2004 in response to the Church’s call to reach out to those in need. Operating as a movement within the Archdiocese of Cape Town, SKCP empowers volunteers from the target communities to respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) living in their areas. The SKCP volunteers belong to Parish Groups that are established at Parishes in target communities. Through the St. Kizito Movement, the physical, intellectual, emotional and psycho-social needs of OVCs are met in an holistic way. Parish Groups provide children and families with a variety of essential services, while the SKCP office provides the groups with comprehensive training and on-going support. In order to continue its work, SKCP requires on-going support from generous donors. Funds are needed to cover costs such as volunteer training and support, emergency relief, school uniforms and children’s excursions. Grants and donations of any size are always appreciated. We are also grateful to receive donations of toys, clothes and blankets that can be distributed to needy children and families.

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The Southern Cross, June 4 to June 10, 2014

CLASSIFIEDS Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: June 7: Bishop Frank Nabuasah of Francistown, Botswana, on his 65th birthday. June 7: Bishop Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe on the sixth anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

community calendar

Word of the Week Aspergillum: A vessel or device used for sprinkling holy water. The ordinary type is a metallic rod with a bulbous tip which absorbs the water and discharges it at the motion of the user's hand. Liturgical colours: Colours used in vestments and altar coverings to denote special times in the Church. Green is used in ordinary times, red denotes feasts of martyrs or the Holy Spirit, purple denotes penitential times and white is used for joyful occasions including Christmas, Easter and some saints' days.

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

Good shepherd, Bothasig. Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in the chapel. All hours. All welcome.

helpers of God’s Precious Infants meet the last Saturday of the month except in December, starting with Mass at 9:30 at the Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Mass is followed by a vigil and procession to Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree Street. For information contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel Manuel on 083 544 3375. Padre Pio: Holy Hour 15:30 every 3rd Sunday of the month at Holy Redeemer

parish in Bergvliet. nelsPRUIT: adoration of the blessed sacrament at St Peter’s parish. Every Tuesday from 8am to 4:45pm followed by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 5:30pm. JOhannesBURG: The Culture of LIfe Apostolate presents a golf day fundraiser, at the Parkview, golf club, on Friday, June 20. Halfway House voucher and dinner included in cost to register. Please contact Marilyn Cheketri by email at mari lyncheketri@gmail.com or on: 084-461-2592 for information.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 605. ACROSS: 5 Back, 7 Altarpiece, 8 Echo, 10 Ignominy, 11 Uplift, 12 Sacked, 14 Steeps, 16 Coptic, 17 Albanian, 19 Corn, 21 Archpriest, 22 Imam. DOWN: 1 Name, 2 Canonise, 3 Spoilt, 5 Beam, 6 Chandelier, 9 Capitalism, 13 Capuchin, 15 Stitch, 16 Canopy, 18 Adam, 20 Nets.

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Liturgical Calendar Year A Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday, June 8, Pentecost Sunday Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34, 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13, John 20:19-23 Monday, June 9 1 Kings 17:1-6, Psalm 121:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12 Tuesday, June 10 1 Kings 17:7-16, Psalm 4:2-5, 7-8, Matthew 5:1316 Wednesday, June 11, St Barnabas Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3, Psalm 98:1-6, Matthew 10:7-13 Thursday, June 12 1 Kings 18:41-46, Psalm 65:10-13, Matthew 5:2026 Friday, June 13, St Anthony of Padua, OFM Wisdom 7:7-14 or Ephesians 4:7, 11-15, Psalm 40:3-4, 10-11, 17, Mark 16:15-20 Saturday, June 14, Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary 1 Kings 19:19-21, Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-10, Matthew 5:33-37 Sunday, June 15, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9, Daniel 3:52-55, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, John 3:16-18

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DeaTh

aGneW—Paulene Tersia. Passed away May 18, 2014. A loving sister, aunt and friend. Thank you for what you have done for family and friends and so dedicated to your church duties. Rest in peace, your friend Mary da Silva, Brenda and families.

In MeMORIaM

MFV sUDURhaVID—In memory of the following crew members of the motor fishing vessel “Sudurhavid” of Cape Town, which was lost in extreme weather off South Georgia Island in the Southern Ocean on June 6, 1998. Holy Mass will be celebrated in their memory at St Anthony’s Catholic Church, St Andrew’s Road, Hout Bay at 10:00 on Sunday, June 8. Brian Kuttel, Gerald McDonach, Albert Baron, Alfred Clark, Melvil Marais, Joao Carlos Mangos Santos, Grant Forbes, Joshua Penge, Kenneth Adams, Jeremia Kashingola, Trevor Fell, David Knowles, Kanime Vahogaifa, Obitor Shinana, Joachim Texeira, Anthony Kelobi, Mattheus Haimbodi. Always remembered by Peter and Joy Kuttel. May their divine souls rest in peace.

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PRaYeR

alMIGhTY eternal God, source of all compassion, the promise of your mercy and saving help fills our hearts with hope. Hear the cries of the people of Syria; bring healing to those suffering from the violence, and comfort to those mourning the dead. Empower and encourage Syria’s neighbours in their care and welcome for refugees. Convert the hearts of those who have taken up arms, and strengthen the resolve of those committed to peace. O God of hope and Father of mercy, your Holy Spirit inspires us to look beyond ourselves and our own needs. Inspire leaders to choose peace over violence and to seek reconciliation with enemies. Inspire the Church around the world with compassion for the people of Syria, and fill us with hope for a future of peace built on justice for all. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and Light of the World, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. Prayer courtesy of the USCCB.

Thanks

PeRsOnal

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GRaTeFUl thanks to our Blessed Mother Mary, Ss Jude, Theresa and Martha for prayers answered. PHD.

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the catholic newspaper & Publishing company ltd. Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), advisory editor: Michael Shackleton, news editor: Claire Mathieson (c.mathieson@scross.co.za), editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za) advertising: Elizabeth Hutton (advertising@scross.co.za), subscriptions: Avril Hanslo (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Dispatch: Joan King (dispatch@scross.co.za), accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za). Directors: C Moerdyk (Chairman), Archbishop S Brislin, P Davids*, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, M Salida, G Simmermacher*, Z Tom

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Trinity Sunday: June 15 Readings: Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9, Daniel 3:5256, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, John 3:16-18

EXT Sunday is, as always after Pentecost, the solemnity of the Holy Trinity. Now very often we scratch our heads at this feast and fear that it may be a matter of impossible mathematics (3=1!). Try instead thinking of God as a love-story, and the story of God as the desire to spread love outwards. So the one God is not an isolated monad living in remote and indifferent splendour, but (in the Christian view) a vibrant community of love. This comes out in the first reading for next Sunday, where Moses has destroyed the tablets of God (on which the Ten Commandments were written) in a rage at the idolatrous behaviour of the people of God, and now (in God’s love) is summoned back with two more stone tablets. And, such is God’s forgiving love, the Almighty “descended in a cloud…and called out his Name…‘the Lord, the Lord, a God of mercy and graciousness, slow to anger and rich in love and integrity’ ”. At this point, Moses finds himself able to ask God to “come into our presence, for they are a stiff-necked people—so pardon our iniquity and sins”. This is not yet a theology of the Trinity, but it shows how the vibrant community that is the love of God can deal

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Moving towards the Trinity Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

with human beings and their sinfulness, and not withdraw into indignant isolation. The psalm for next Sunday is the song placed on the lips of the three young men who had been put into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar because of their refusal to worship his golden statue. The fire has no effect on them, and instead we hear them singing this lovely song to the “Lord God of our ancestors”. They address him as “Blessed in the Temple of your holy glory, and to be hymned and glorified forever; blessed are you on the Throne of your kingdom; blessed are you who gaze into the depths, you who sit on the cherubim and are to be praised and glorified forever”. Once again, we are not yet embarked on a Trinitarian understanding of God; but we can

see how the God of the Hebrew Scriptures is involved in the affairs of the human race, working to make things better, and that is what becomes clearer and more possible when you understand the richness of the community that is God’s love. Paul has a grasp of that truth; it is not that he has reached what the Church would ultimately formulate as the doctrine of the Trinity, but rather that his understanding of God as meaning primarily the Father, but also Jesus and the Spirit, led inevitably in that direction. Once again we see that he is having to deal with human sinfulness; the Corinthians (as always) have been fighting, and these are Paul’s last surviving words to that troublesome church, as he begs them to “think the same thoughts and be at peace—and the God of love and peace will be with you”. Then, as at the end of almost all of his letters, he passes on greetings, inviting them to “greet one another with a holy kiss”, and tells them that “the saints all greet you” (the story of God’s love always reaches outwards, you see). Then he ends with a greeting that you know by heart, which hints at the threeness

Our gaze upon the city I

T seems Jesus had mixed feelings towards the world. He loved the world, laid down his life for it, and challenged us to love the world, even as he criticised it harshly and stated clearly that it was opposed to him. So what’s to be our attitude? How are we to see the world? Is our gaze to be one of judgment or sympathy? Do we weep over the world in sympathy as Jesus wept over Jerusalem or do we strive to keep ourselves separate from a world that habitually scapegoats its God and crucifies its Christ? Are we too soft or too hard on our world? Maybe we need first to ask: What exactly constitutes the world? Is it that part of the world that opposes the churches: strident secularism, militant atheism, and the mass exodus in some parts of the world of people from the churches? Or, is it that part of our world that seems indifferent to the churches: pop culture, the entertainment industry, the sports industry, mainstream academia, the editorials in most of our major newspapers? Or, given the fact that it was religiouslyminded people who orchestrated the crucifixion, might the world that opposes Christ be huge parts of religion itself: Christian fundamentalism, extreme Islam, misguided faith of all kinds? The question isn’t easy. The world that

Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

opposes Christ, I suspect, is made up of all of these, the strident, the indifferent, and the misguided. All are interwoven in our present world and help constitute a darkness that the Word is trying to penetrate. But that darkness has its own ambivalence. Inside that stridency, seeming indifference, and misguided religion, we see all kinds of light as well. Darkness, itself, is not pure, and this can leave us in a quandary as to how we should, ideally, gaze upon our world. Scripture assures us that God is the author of all that is good. Hence everything in our world that radiates life, goodness, health, generosity, faith, intelligence, colour, and wit comes from God, irrespective of where it is embedded. Hence when we look at our world we may not superficially and easily divide it into two parts, one good and the other bad. When we do that, we end up often putting God in opposition to God and creating the very thing off which atheism can

feed. Atheism, as Michael Buckley so astutely asserts, is always a parasite that feeds off bad religion. Seeing the God’s presence in the world as either black or white is bad religion. So how should we view our world, how might we gaze upon the city within which we live? We need to gaze upon our city in the same way as Jesus gazed upon his city, Jerusalem, when he wept over it with equal parts of sympathy and judgment. What do I see when I look upon the city I presently live in and upon the different cities within which I have lived? First of all, I see everyone I have ever loved living there. Neither the city nor the world is an abstract concept. To speak of either is to speak of our loved ones and that healthily complicates both our sympathy and our judgment. If I believe the world to be a bad place, what am I saying about my loved ones? And what sets me apart? Still, a certain judgment still needs to be made. Is our world good or bad? On the one hand, when I look at our world today, I see, in many places, a lot of good, a world bursting with energy, colour, zest, and with a healthy thirst for life and the transcendent. I see that the majority of people are good-hearted, honest, generous, and desirous of peace. I see wonderful intelligence and wit. I see a healthy pride and a healthy (if at times, overdone) emphasis on the physical and on bodily health. Very importantly too, I see a world that, in most places, is growing in tolerance in terms of racism, sexism, and religion. On the other hand, I also see a world that is often shallow, self-absorbed, and not given over much to sacrifice. I see a world within which the rich do not care enough about the poor. I see a world that is far too irresponsible in its sexual ethos. I see a world that is becoming addicted to information technology without any critical reaction. I see a world that is unhealthily prone to ideology, hype, and fad, that lives too much in the moment rather than in hope, that finds it difficult to grow up, that finds it difficult to accept ageing and death, and that has not moved beyond an adolescent grandiosity in terms of appropriating its own faith heritage. So what do our cities look like? Are they good or bad? Our own cities, I suspect, look a lot like Jerusalem looked to Jesus as he gazed upon it—mostly good, honest folk, struggling because we won’t let God help us.

of God, but also reproaches them for their failure to recognise God’s free gift or love or fellowship: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the solidarity of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” We are talking here of a love-story, and our human resistance to that love. And the love-story is there also in the gospel for next Sunday, perhaps the most famous text in Scripture: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him might not be destroyed, but have eternal life.” Once again, we are dealing with love, and with God’s self-surrender, by which God is involved in human existence, longing to make things better. “For God did not send the Son into the world in order that he might judge the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Once again, we see that the nature of God is that of love; and love finds its way throughout the whole of creation, to put right what we have got wrong. That mysterious love is the heart of the doctrine of the Trinity of God that we shall be celebrating next week.

Southern Crossword #605

ACROSS 5. Kind of ground at the rear (4) 7. Placate ire about sanctuary artwork 8. Reflected sound (4) 10. Initially, I get none of mine in New York. A disgrace! (8) 11. Raise your spirits in the elevator? (6) 12. Put in the bag and fired (6) 14. Immerses (6) 16. Name of Egyptian Church (6) 17. Mother Teresa’s nationality (8) 19. Ruth gleaned in this kind of field (4) 21. Reap Christ around high churchman (10) 22. He’s a Muslim. I’m amazed, a bit (4)

DOWN 1. Title (4) 2. Announce a saint (8) 3. Pilots can become ruined (6) 4. Begins to be creatures (6) 5. Shaft of light (4) 6. Her candle I find lighting above (10) 9. A plastic I’m involved in economically (10) 13. Franciscan friar (8) 15. You need one in time for knitting (6) 16. Article in copy covers the high altar (6) 18. The first man to show us a water barrier (4) 20. St Peter’s traps?

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

HE pope’s personal secretary runs up to the pope. “Your Holiness,” he gasps, “I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” The pope, being a glass-half-full kind of guy, asks for the good news first. “The good news, Your Holiness, is that Our Lord Himself is calling you on the overseas telephone!” “That is very good news indeed,” the pontiff replies. “What could possibly be the bad news?” “Your Holiness, He is calling from Canterbury.”