141008

The

S outhern C ross

October 8 to October 14, 2014

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4894

www.scross.co.za

R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)

New church for rural KZN parish

Bene Merenti medal for Mrs “B”

Page 9

Page 3

Daniel Adongo joins the NFL

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Handing over of the Benedict Daswa cause for sainthood in 2010 by Bishop Hugh Slattery to papal nuncio Archbishop James Green. On October 9 the Congress of Theological Consultors will examine the Positio which is a summary of all the documentation of Daswa’s life.

Last push for Daswa cause

BY STAFF REPORTER

T

HEOLOGIANS will meet in Rome on October 9 to vote on the martyrdom of the late Benedict Daswa.

Tzaneen Bishop João Rodrigues, who is on pilgrimage to the Marian shrine for the cause, has asked Catholics to join him to pray for the Daswa cause from October 1-9.

“On October 9 2014, the Congress of Theological Consultors appointed by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints to examine the Positio (a book containing a summary of all documentation about Daswa’s life) will be held,” said Sr Claudette Hiosan, who is leading Daswa’s sainthood cause.

“At this meeting, the nine theologians will express their opinion on the cause for the beatification of Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa and cast their votes.”

Daswa, a devout Catholic, farmer, headmaster and father of eight children, was beaten to death by a mob in his home village in Mbahe outside of Thohoyandou on February 2, 1990 after he spoke out against a witch hunt.

If the latest outcome is positive, the Positio and recommendation of the theologians will be sent to and discussed at the meeting of the Ordinary Congress of cardinals and bishops to take place before the end of 2014.

If the result of that meeting is also positive, the cause will be given to Pope Francis for his approval. Daswa will then be given

the title Venerable Benedict Daswa.

Pope Francis will set a date for the beatification ceremony, after which Daswa will be officially recognised as Blessed Benedict Daswa.

“At the recent meeting of the Diocesan Daswa Committee it was suggested that we invite all parishioners throughout the diocese to join in a novena of prayer from October 1 to October 9 to ask God through the intercession of Benedict Daswa for a favourable outcome to this important meeting on October 9,” said Sr Hiosan.

“We invite people from other dioceses in Southern Africa to join our diocese in this novena of prayer from October 1-9.”

Sr Hiosan said prayers are “urgently requested, through the intercession of Benedict Daswa” for the blessing of God on efforts to acquire ownership of the 10 ha block of land at Tshitanini Village in the parish of Thohoyandou.

“It is essential that we secure full title deeds to this land in order to build the future shrine and pilgrimage centre in honour of the servant of God,” Sr Hiosan said.

“This important and lengthy process will not be easy as it involves dealing with a number of South African government departments.”

Hiosan said a special Mass and blessing of the plot by Bishop Rodrigues will be held on Saturday, November 1, 2014 from 9:0012:00.

The theme will be “Called to be Saints”.

Paulus Chabalala of Bloemfontein prays in front of a relic of St Anthony of Padua during a Mass in St Anthony's church in Lisbon during the Southern Cross pilgrimage to Fatima, Avila, Lourdes, Paris and other places. The pilgrimage is dedicated to the cause of Benedict Daswa. St Anthony's church marks the spot of the birth of the Franciscan saint whose remains are in Padua, which the Southern Cross/Radio Veritas Saints of Italy will visit in September 2015. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) “Meals will not be provided, so it will be important to bring provisions, especially water, as it will probably be a hot day.

“Umbrellas and hats will also be necessary to protect from the sun or possible rain.

Parishioners from all the parishes of the diocese of Tzaneen are invited to join with the bishop for this special celebration.

“We’re hoping for a large turnout of parishioners not only from Tzaneen, but from other dioceses for this significant milestone in the history of the Church in Southern Africa.” n For directions and any other information con-

Southern Cross & Radio Veritas Pilgrimage For info phone Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za fowlertours.co.za

THE SAINTS OF ITALY Led by Fr EMIL BLASER OP

Rome, Assisi, Florence, Padua, Milan, Venice and more

6 - 18 September 2015

Rome WITH PAPAL AUDIENCE | Assisi | Venice | Padua | Florence | Milan | Cascia (St Rita) | Siena (St Catherine) | Norcia (St Benedict) | Birthlace of St John XXIII

cerning the event please contact Fr Benoit Gueye MSC at the Parish of Thohoyandou on 072 325 4714 or pereben@hotmail.fr. Novena booklets and prayer cards with the Prayer to Obtain Favours are available in Venda, Tsonga, Sepedi and English from the Diocesan Office in Tzaneen. Novena Booklets are R5 each and prayer cards R3 each.

For supplies, please contact Sr Claudette at Ave Maria Pastoral Centre on 076 5708 843 or claudette.h@mweb.co.za or bendaswa@mweb.co.za. Mariannhill Press is currently printing the Novena and Prayer to obtain favours in Zulu and Southern Sotho.

2

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

LOCAL

Holy Family to celebrate 150 years

BY STAFF REPORTER

T

HE Holy Family Sisters have thanked South Africa as they prepare to celebrate 150 years of living and labouring “in God’s Vineyard”.

In a letter, the sisters said that cemeteries scattered around South Africa “speak volumes of the lives of those sisters” who sacrificed so much for the country.

“Much has been accomplished by our sisters in South Africa and for this we are truly thankful,” the congregation’s letter said.

The first presence of Holy Family Sisters in South Africa dates back to May 27, 1864, with the arrival of six French Holy Family Sisters in Durban.

“These women may be described as women of courage and determination—ready to take risks,” the sisters said.

“Their hearts were filled with

zeal and missionary dynamism.

They left all and set sail for an unknown land with one purpose in mind, ‘to bring together the scattered children of God’.”

Bishop Francois Allard OMI, who headed the vicariate of Natal from 1851-73, had invited the Holy Family Sisters to come to Basutoland (now Lesotho) to help the Oblates of Mary Immaculate work among the people on the missions they had established.

While waiting to undertake the long, arduous journey by ox wagon to Basutoland, the sisters remained in Pietermaritzburg and learnt English. Mother Mary Joseph Angot was the leader of the group.

The sisters left Pietermaritzburg with Bishop Allard on February 18, 1865.

The journey to Roma in Basutoland was filled with “many difficulties” but the sisters arrived “with great joy” in April 1865.

March 4, 1875 marked the next arrival of Holy Family Sisters in South Africa.

This group of sisters was invited

by Bishop Charles Jolivet OMI. Their mission was to attend to the education of the children of settlers in Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and later Kimberley.

“For the most part in these early years, even in the outstations where the Oblates had set up missions, the sisters busied themselves in setting up schools and clinics.

“This was the case in Jagersfontein, Fauresmith, Beaconsfield [in Kimberley], the Bluff outside Durban and the mission at Oakford, west of Verulam, later to be taken over by the Oakford Dominican Sisters.”

The year 1887 marked a turning point in the life of the Holy Family Sisters in South Africa, with Mother Marcel Mouzey being sent from France to be the provincial.

Negotiations began for sisters to

take ownership of the properties on which they lived and worked.

With the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886, four sisters went to Johannesburg to educate the children of miners.

“The ministry of the sisters extended simultaneously to that of nursing. They nursed in Johannesburg in a few tents while the General Hospital was being built,” the congregation’s letter said.

“Today, it is a historical fact that it was the tireless and courageous efforts of the Holy Family Sisters who laid the foundation for health care in the city ‘whose streets are paved with gold’.”

The Holy Family schools and hospitals grew rapidly during these early years and broadened to include all sectors of society in a land which was already both multicultural and multi-religious.

Primary and high schools were established in Pietermaritzburg,

Durban, Bloemfontein Kimberley and Johannesburg.

In 1915, the nursing sisters went to Cape Town to establish a hospital in Sea Point known as “The Monastery”.

The primary mission of the sisters nursing in The Monastery was to care for sailors who took ill while at sea.

“Inspired by the Spirit of God, we have been led to places where we would normally not dare to go,” the sisters said.

“Within the last 15 years, we have ventured into the heart of Africa—to Uganda, Rwanda and Botswana,” they said.

“As we reflect on the past 150 years of Holy Family presence in South Africa, we simply say thank you to God, the Church and to the people of our magnificent rainbow nation for the life we have lived and shared together,” the letter concluded.

Join Catholic men’s weekend at Bergkroon outside Wellington

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

T

HE archdiocese of Cape Town, through the chaplain for men’s ministries Fr Paul Taylor, will be hosting a Catholic men’s weekend away from October 31 to November 2. All men are invited to join the retreat at Bergkroon in Bain’s Kloof just outside Wellington in the Cape.

This initiative has the full backing of the archbishop and priests and presents a variety of clerical and lay speakers covering a number of relevant topics, where men will be challenged and encouraged to continue to grow in their walk of faith.

There is a dire need for men to be strong and faithful role models in this world, real men of faith.

The weekend presents an ideal opportunity to strengthen faith and friendship among brothers, to deal

with the challenges of a changing world, and encourage them to read God’s word continually as an anchor and source of growth in their faith.

The weekend begins with dinner on Friday evening with an opening address from Fr Michael van Heerden and extends through to Sunday midmorning. Mass will be celebrated on both Saturday and Sunday.

Guest speakers will address and challenge the delegates over the weekend on topics evolving from the theme “Growing in faith as fathers, brothers, servants and sons”.

This year the specific focus will be on our actions rather than words.

“All in the archdiocese are welcome. The cost is R450 and includes accommodation and all meals throughout the weekend. There is an option for those interested in

Kolping Guest House & Conference facility

Situated in a tranquil garden in the centre of Durbanville, Cape Town, with pool and braai facilities, we offer both tastefully decorated B&B and S/C as well as a full English breakfast and dinner by arrangement. Conference and wheelchair facilities available, within walking distance of shops, restaurants, banks and close proximity to Catholic church, tennis courts, golf course and wine routes.

7 Biccard Street, Durbanville, 7550 Tel: +27 21 970 2900 Fax: +27 21 976 9839 info@kolpingguesthouse.co.za www.kolpingguesthouse.co.za

camping,” Nigel Copley of Catholic Men’s Initiative said.

Numbers are limited to no more than 250 and the Men’s Initiative encourages fathers and sons to make the trip together.

“We do, however, advise that attendees should be at least 14 and older.

“We suggest that those parishes interested in sending a group to the weekend appoint a representative to co-ordinate their involvement,” Mr Copley added.

This is the perfect opportunity to meet with brothers in faith from across the archdiocese to share programmes, ideas and initiatives. n Anyone interested can contact the Catholic Men’s Initiative. For registration forms and any other details, contact Wayne de Villiers on 079 940 1853 or Vic Barra on 083 308 4014 or e-mail info@catholicmen.com

NEW FOR 2015

27 MAR TO 6 APR 2015

EASTER IN THE HOLYLAND

We are 5mins from Howick Falls, 10min from Midmar Dam, 20 mins from Pietermaritzburg.

Contact Veronica 083 784 7455, Email redacres@omi.org.za Regrettable due to stolen telephone cables, we do not have a landline anymore.

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Holy Childhood of Jesus

Pilgrimage to the Christian sites in Israel at this special time where Jesus was born, walked, preached, taught, was crucified. Join the crowds on Palm Sunday as you take the route He took on the colt.

Organised by Jacinta and Victor David, accompanied by Fr Nkululeko Meyiwa Cost from R29729 Tel: (031) 266 7702 Fax: (031) 266 8982 Email: judyeichhorst@telkomsa.net

ON TAPE

We accommodate small Conferences, Retreats and workshops

The Mariannhill province of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood has a new leadership team. (Front row from left) Sr Claret Magaba, Sr Immaculate Ndlovu (provincial superior), Sr Helen Gumede. (Back row from left) Sr Gerald Frye, Sr Mary Bernadette Ncube (representative of provincial superior)

A group of readers is preparing audio tapes of excerpts from The Southern Cross for interested people who are blind, sight-impaired, unable to hold a newspaper or illiterate.

Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this service, available for an annual subscription fee of only R50, may contact Mr Len Pothier, 8 The Spinney Retirement Village, Main Rd, Hout Bay, 7806 or phone 021-790 1317.

The Post Office will deliver and return tapes without charge. Should you know of any interested blind or otherwise reading-impaired person, please inform them of this service.

Are you called to join us to love God, in praising Him in Prayer and serving Him, as we care for people in need, especially children?

Write, phone or visit us

Holy Childhood Sisters P.Bag 553 Eshowe, 3815

Sr. Teressa Zungu Phone: 035 -4744242 Cell: 082-0932002 E-mail: awerresh@netactive.co.za

Mbongolwane Convent P.Bag 506 Eshowe, 3815 Sr. Bongiwe Xulu Phone: 035-4766262 Cell: 076-3064446

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

LOCAL

3

St Mary’s puts the focus on family Bene Merenti for

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

S

T Mary’s church in Pietermaritzburg has developed an inspiring liturgy to be practised by families in their homes.

Motivated by Pope Francis’ call for us to focus on families as the centre of catechism, parish priest Fr Neil Frank OMI suggested that an icon of the Holy Family be passed on from family to family to be the focus of their prayers for a week at a time.

Two Holy Family Sisters, Sr Marie and Sr Meryl, developed a liturgy to be used by the families on each day of the week. A booklet of family prayer, in English or Zulu, accompanies the icon. The format remains the same for each day, though the scripture readings, responses and prayers of intercession change.

Beginning with the lighting of a candle in front of the icon, the family gathers for prayer. On the first day, the focus is on their own family.

Over the next six days the focus shifts to praying for different kinds of families: extended, single-parent,

Mrs Martina Nkabinda with grandson Siyanda and niece Nkule after they had received the icon for a week of family devotions. migrant, those with adopted or foster children, child-headed and separated families.

“Families who wish to participate are invited to enter their names on lists that have been prepared for each of the five Masses celebrated at St Mary’s over weekends,” Linelle Irvine of St Mary’s said.

“Each Mass has a copy of the

icon available for circulation. With the blessings of the presiding priest at the end of Mass, the family who has had the icon for the past week passes it on to the next family,” Ms Irvine added.

Having now run for a few weeks, it has been spiritually enriching.

Various kinds of family units have participated, ranging from a single person (say, a widow) to two-person and larger families.

Fr Frank told The Southern Cross that all parishioners have commented on the meaningfulness of the short, daily liturgy, which promoted a deeper sense of togetherness among the members of the family.

“One mother and daughter unit who have members of their family in different parts of the world reported that praying together over the seven days made them aware of the strength of family bonds despite distances separating them. It gave them “comfort and insight into the notion of family in the multi-cultural, post-modern, secular world in which we live,” he added.

Rivonia CWL celebrates food fair

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

I

MMEDIATELY after Mass recently, the Rivonia parish Catholic Women’s League hosted its annual international food fair.

This year’s theme was “Unity in Diversity”, to raise funds for their charitable projects.

The CWL started off proceedings by celebrating a heritage Mass, where bidding prayers were said in 10 different languages from all over the world.

The children carried flags from different countries during the offertory procession.

Parishioners feasted on cuisine and dishes from different countries, to support the food fair as well as “cook and showcase” their countries’ exotic foods.

“The children enjoyed games and a jumping castle. Music and dance from different countries was enjoyed by all,” Gugu Sekonya from the Catholic Women’s League said.

“Later we had a fashion show for children and adults. The first two best dressed in both categories won fabulous prizes,” she added.

The money raised from the fair will go towards the new building project in the Rivonia parish and other charities supported by the CWL. “The CWL is very grateful for the support from all parishioners and donors. May God bless them all,” Ms Sekonya said.

seminary stalwart

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

U

RSULA Boden was presented with the Bene Merenti medal by the SACBC president, Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, at St Francis Xavier Seminary in the city.

“Mrs B”, as she was affectionately called by generations of seminarians, received the papal acknowledgement for having served as an indefatigable and highly efficient housekeeper for many years in the seminary system, at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria, the Cape Town Diocesan Seminary, St Kizito in Port Elizabeth and St Francis Xavier in Cape Town.

Guests at the presentation included former rector of St John Vianney Seminary Bishop Graham Rose of Dundee, and Bishop Frank de Gouveia of Oudtshoorn, representing the Department of Seminaries. Fr David Rowan, Jesuit regional superior and former rector of St Francis Xavier, was also present.

A number of Mrs B’s friends and colleagues from her long association with the different seminaries also came to the celebration.

The occasion was an opportunity to remember with gratitude that on Mrs B’s watch, seminarians and staff could always be confident of a spotlessly clean seminary and delicious, well-balanced and nourishing meals.

A nurse by profession, Mrs B also cared for the health of students and staff and as a practical, mother of many parts, she served them in varied and useful ways, for example as a skilled seamstress and precise bookkeeper.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin prays over Ursula Boden as she receives the Bene Merenti medal.

At the liturgy the rector, Fr Thomas Plastow SJ, presented the “candidate” for the award to the archbishop, along with a history of her long service to the local Church.

Seminarians Lungile Sibiya of Witbank and Byron Bowers of Port Elizabeth read an account of the history behind the custom of awarding the medal and led the bidding prayers. The student body served and sang hymns. The presentation was followed by a celebratory lunch.

Mrs Boden now lives in very active retirement with her family in Johannesburg.

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The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Vatican addresses the UN on terrorism T HE UN’s framework provides the “only viable way” of dealing with the global nature of modern terrorism “which knows no borders”, the Vatican’s secretary of state told the UN General Assembly.

“This reality requires a renewed United Nations that undertakes to foster and preserve peace,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, emphasising that recent terrorist activity is “criminal behaviour that is not envisaged by the juridical configuration of the United Nations charter”.

He stressed that this policing role should be taken up by the UN Security Council since there is no “juridical norm which justifies unilateral policing actions beyond one's own borders”.

New forms of terrorism engage in military actions on a vast scale and are “not able to be contained by any one state,” the cardinal said in his address.

He said terrorist activities in northern Iraq and in some parts of Syria are part of a “new phenomenon” threatening all states by “vow-

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, addresses the 69th UN General Assembly in New York. (Photo: Mike Segar, Reuters/CNS) ing to dissolve them and replace them with a pseudo-religious world government”.

Their actions, he said, should “compel the international community to promote a unified response,” which should address the “cultural and political origins of contemporary challenges” and consider the “effectiveness of interna-

tional law today” particularly how it is used by the UN to prevent war, stop aggressors, protect populations and help victims.

Cardinal Parolin noted that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many people oversimplified what happened by blaming the attack on a “clash of civilisations,” which he said ignored the “long-standing and pro-

found experiences of good relations between cultures, ethnic groups and religions”.

He also said the “attempts to find so-called legal remedies to counter and prevent the surge of this new form of terrorism” have not always “respected the established order or particular cultural circumstances of peoples who often found themselves unwillingly at the centre of this new form of global conflict”.

“These mistakes, and the fact that they were at least tacitly approved, should lead us to a serious and profound examination of conscience,” the cardinal said, adding that the challenges posed by new forms of terrorism “should not make us succumb to exaggerated views and cultural extrapolations” but instead should “spur a renewed call for religious and intercultural dialogue and for new developments in international law, to promote just and courageous peace initiatives”.

He said the UN must promote di-

alogue and understanding among cultures and remember that it is not the role of international organisations or states “to invent culture, nor is it possible to do so”.

Instead, the cardinal stressed that international organisations and states must promote and support “in a decisive way, and with the necessary financial means, those initiatives and movements which promote dialogue and understanding among cultures, religions and peoples.”

“Peace, after all, is not the fruit of a balance of powers, but rather the result of justice at every level, and most importantly, the shared responsibility of individuals, civil institutions and governments,” he said, adding that this means “understanding one another and valuing the other’s culture and circumstances. It also entails having concern for each other by sharing spiritual and cultural patrimonies and offering opportunities for human enrichment.”—CNS

Syrian refugees’ reactions to airstrikes against ISIS

BY DALE GAVLAk

A

SK Syrian refugees sheltering in neighbouring Jordan about the advent of US-led strikes against Islamic State militants in their homeland, and the reactions will be mixed.

Some welcome the surprise military intervention, saying it could lead to ending the nearly four-yearold war in Syria and diminish the power of Islamic State fighters and other terrorist groups operating in the country.

“We guarantee that the war will come to a close in Syria with such involvement led by the American military,” said a Syrian refugee woman, Maysoon, while cradling her twoyear-old daughter. The toddler was born in the Jordanian capital soon after she and her family fled the spiralling violence in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Maysoon and some other refugees, all of whom asked to be identified without their full names, blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad for turning a “blind eye” to infiltration over the border by foreign militants who make up some of the membership of Islamic State and other extremists. The Islamists have clashed with both secular opposition

fighters seeking to topple Assad as well as regime troops loyal to Assad.

“Assad was behind terrorists coming into Syria,” Maysoon alleged.

“He opened the borders and allowed these extremists to bring death and destruction into our country.”

“Our hearts are burning for what has happened to our beloved Syria,” she added, her eyes welling with tears.

Although Abu Reda, a Catholic refugee from Damascus, does not blame Assad for enabling Islamic State terrorists to gain wide control over wide swathes of Syria, particularly in the country’s north, he welcomed US and Arab military intervention to rid the country of what he called “the militant cancer”.

“It’s excellent that the US-led coalition has finally bombed Islamic State targets in Syria,” said the former businessman, who is not permitted to work in Jordan due to his refugee status.

“I only wish that the airstrikes happened sooner. They are what is needed to destroy the extremists that have taken over parts of our country,” said the father of two.

Abu Reda and his family were forced to flee to Jordan about two years ago after he was threatened by

MICASA TOURS

Pilgrimage to Lourdes and Nevers Led by Father Allan Moss OMI 01-09 April 2015

Pilgrimage to Fatima, Garabandal, Lourdes, Dozulè, Liseux and Paris Led by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale OMI 10-23 May 2015

Pilgrimage to Italy-Shroud of Turin, Passion Play in Sordevolo, Milan, Rome, Verona, Venice Led by Father Victor Phalana 09-21 June 2015

Holy Land Pilgrimage

Led by Father Christopher Townsend 31 August -09 September 2015

Pilgrimage to Fatima, Lourdes , Rome and Assisi Led by Father Robert Mphiwe 07-19 September 2015

Contact: Tel: 012 342 7917/072 637 0508 (Michelle) E-Mail: info@micasatours.co.za

Some Syrian refugees in Jordan say they welcome the military intervention to diminish Islamic State power, while others blame Syrian President Bashar Assad for turning a “blind eye” to infiltration by foreign militants. (Photo: Sedat Suna, EPA/CNS) Muslim militants with death and his father was kidnapped by the same militants.

“Islamic State and other extremists have systematically targeted Christians and other minorities in Syria, threatening our lives and seeking to forcibly convert us to Islam,” he said.

However, a Sunni Muslim woman, Samar, and other refugees expressed concerns that the US-led intervention could “further complicate Syria’s bloody civil war and lead

to more chaos”.

“We are also concerned that innocent civilians will once again become victims as a result of the airstrikes,” said her friend, Sawsan.

“The injustice of the Assad regime helped to give birth to extremism and this has, in turn, weakened the country’s moderate voice, making ordinary Syrians the losers,” Samar said, shaking her head.

Yet, other refugees, half-jokingly, urged the planes bombing Islamic State to attack Assad, too.

Syria’s civil war has no end in sight. It has created more than 3 million refugees sheltering in neighbouring countries, such as Jordan, and displaced more than 6,5 million within Syria.

More staggering, according to the United Nations, is the number of deaths resulting from the grinding conflict.

In August, the UN human rights office confirmed more than 191 000 deaths of the more than 300 000 reported in Syria since the beginning of the war in March 2011. It said about 100 000 people had been killed in the previous 14 months alone.

However, Armenian Catholic Archbishop Boutros Marayati of Aleppo said he believes that Christians inside Syria mainly think that the raids “will not solve the problems, and may even increase them”.

“The uncertainty that everyone lives every day increases even more,” he said of the airstrikes in a interview with Fides, news agency of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

“People here do not have a clear view of what is going on,” Archbishop Marayati said. “But certainly they do not see the perpetrators of the bombings as ‘liberators.’”—CNS

Strange tale of generous ‘Jesuit’ art forger

BY MARk PATTISON

I

F you are of the mind that it is better to give than to receive, then this story is for you.

It has to do with Mark Landis. He has spent much of his adult life as an art forger.

And he was a good one, as he bounced around easily among different periods and styles in his forgeries.

One thing that was different about Landis was that he gave away his forgeries.

That would have put the recipients of his generosity in a pickle, thinking they owned the genuine article only to be rudely surprised should they try to cash in on their good, er, fortune.

Such a scam cannot last forever, and Landis, thinking that the police might be on to him, started donning disguises and taking on various false identities to give away his art.

One of his last aliases was that of a Jesuit priest.

Sam Cullman, one of the co-directors of “Art and Craft”, a documentary feature that looks into Landis’ art and life, said Landis was “inspired” to become a Jesuit priest.

The source of that inspiration? Look no further than your television, for the “Father Brown” mysteries from England.

“As Mark would say, everything you need to know about being a good priest is in the ‘Father Brown’ series,” Cullman said.

Co-director Jennifer Grausman, who has an art background, said she had read

Mark Landis is shown at home and at work on a “Picasso” in a scene from the documentary “Art and Craft”. (Photo: Sam Cullman, Oscilloscope Laboratories/CNS) an article on Landis in 2011 that appeared in The New York Times. “I read the article, tore it out, put it away and couldn't stop thinking about it,” she added.

Her next step was talking to Cullman.

Then Grausman got in touch with Matthew Leininger, who had been duped

by Landis and was intent on exposing him to the art world. Leininger, she said, “was very interested in telling his story”.

Landis had been suffering from mental illness, and after his father died, he concentrated on his work with even greater intensity, according to Cullman.

Unlike others in Landis’ line of work, he never got paid for his art. But to Cullman, he is a forger all the same: “Of course. He makes copies of other people’s work,” he said.

But since he was exposed, he has gone legit. And his mental illness has abated. He even has a website to market his own paintings. “He can reach his public and his public can reach him,” Cullman said.

Landis’own style is a bit of an enigma, according to Cullman. “There aren’t too many Mark Landis originals in the world,” he said. “He’s done a portrait of his mother as Joan of Arc, derived from a photograph or some sort of other painting. He’s referring to other works and deriving new works out of them.”

“As far as we know, he’s stopped forging and as a byproduct of earlier encounters, he’s done some commissions—a fake Monet for someone’s living room,” Grausman said. “He was also included in an exhibition about forgery. —CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

5

Church media to modernise

BY LAUREN DUGAN

A

Pope Francis greets Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI during an encounter for the elderly in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Pope warns of ‘hidden euthanasia’

BY CAROL GLATz

P

OPE Francis warned against the abandonment and neglect of the elderly, calling it a “hidden euthanasia” rooted in today’s “poisonous” culture of disposal and an economic system of greed.

In the presence of his predecessor, Pope Francis also thanked retired Pope Benedict XVI for staying to live at the Vatican and being like “a wise grandfather at home”.

“A people who don’t take care of their grandparents and don’t treat them well is a people with no future.

Why no future? Because they lose the memory (of the past) and they sever their own roots,” he said.

The pope’s comments came during a special encounter and Mass for older people in St Peter’s square.

Some 40 000 grandparents, retired men and women, and their families attended “The Blessing for a Long Life” event, organised by the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Pope Francis specifically invited Pope Benedict to attend the event, making it the third time since his retirement in 2013 that the German pontiff has made a rare appearance in public with his successor.

Carrying a cane and looking strong, the 87-year-old pope arrived about one hour into the event, which featured music and testimonies from families. About 10 minutes later, while the famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Con te partiro (“I’ll Go With You”), Pope Francis made his entrance with a small group of families. He immediately went to greet and embrace Pope Benedict, who only stayed for the next hour, leaving before the start of Mass.

Addressing him as “Your Holiness”, Pope Francis thanked the retired pontiff for his presence, telling the crowd, “I really like having him living here in the Vatican, because it’s like having a wise grandfather at home.”

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The wisdom and love of older people are instrumental for building the future, and they can even cheer up grumpy teenagers, the pope said.

“It’s very good for you to go visit an older person. Look at our kids.

Sometimes we see them being listless and sad; (if) they go visit an older person, they become happy,” he said.

“Older people, grandparents, have an ability to understand very difficult situations, a great talent.

And when they pray about these situations, their prayers are strong and powerful.”

But there are many who instead prey on their fragilities, and the pope warned against the “inhuman” violence being waged against the elderly and children in areas of conflict.

Harm can also be waged quietly, he said, through many forms of neglect and abandonment, which “are a real and true hidden euthanasia”.

People need to fight against “this poisonous throwaway culture,” which targets children, young people and the elderly, on “the pretext of keeping the economic system ‘balanced’, where the focus is not on the human being but on the god of money”.

While residential care facilities are important for those who don’t have a family who can care for them, it’s important these institutions be “truly like homes, not prisons”, the pope said, and that their placement there is in the best interest of the older person, “not someone else”.

These retirement homes should be like “sanctuaries” that breathe life into a community whose members are drawn to visit and look after the residents like they would an older sibling, he said.

Pope Francis then concelebrated Mass with 100 elderly priests from around the world.—CNS

NEW papal commission is looking at how Vatican media outlets can better communicate the Church’s message “of healing, of love, of hope, and of generosity of spirit”, said the panel’s leader.

The group is drawing up “proposals that will recognise the particular importance of what the Church is communicating and the way in which it can best communicate that message in the 21st century,” said British Lord Chris Patten, commission president.

Patten, who formerly served as chairman of the BBC Trust, chancellor at the University of Oxford and governor of Hong Kong, spoke to Vatican Radio about the commission’s first meeting at the Vatican since it was established

by Pope Francis in July.

Composed of 11 media experts from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Vatican offices, the commission’s aim is to propose how the Vatican’s numerous media outlets can work more efficiently and closely together.

Mastering newer technologies and making sure different institutions work together is a challenge, Lord Patten said.

"We have to make sure that the wonderful message the Catholic Church has to offer is offered in ways which get through to the young, to the poor, and to other groups in the most effective ways,” he said.

Using the Church’s financial resources more effectively is also

A papal commission led by British Lord Chris Patten, and composed of 11 international media experts, aims to expand modern and efficient communication by the Church. (Photo: Sebastiao Moreira, EPA/CNS) a goal of the committee, but not at the cost of diminishing outreach, Lord Patten said.

He called Pope Francis an “extraordinary communicator”, who “makes us realise how much the rest of us have to do—to use a sporting phrase—to up our game!”

The Vatican has nearly a dozen separate communication outlets and offices, many of which operate independently of one another.

They include the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Radio, the Vatican television production studio, CTV, the Vatican Information Service, the Vatican press office, the Fides missionary news agency, the main Vatican website, the news.va news aggregator, the Vatican publishing

house LEV, and the Vatican printing press.

A reorganisation of the media structures has been a long time in coming. A papal commission kick-started the process in December 2013 when it hired the US-based global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company to provide recommendations for making the Holy See’s communications’ outlets more “efficient and modern”.

Lord Patten said the commission wants to hear from everyone, including the Vatican’s own media operations, as well as bishops’ conferences and outside journalists who cover the Vatican.

He said he hoped the commission would have proposals ready by early April to give to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and the Secretariat of the Economy.—CNS

6

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We can all offer prayers for peace

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Guest editorial: Michael Shackleton

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The Innocents of war

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ATTLEFIELDS and graveyards mark the historical evidence of war in all parts of the world, our own among them. They are grim monuments to man’s inhumanity to man and the subsequent impact on political and social change over the centuries.

The global centenary of the start of World War I, observed last month, has stimulated our recognition of the sacrifice of the young lives cruelly stamped out in that battle and all battles since. This newspaper, like many others that then reflected on the horror of armed conflict, considered how the Church’s attitude to the concept of a just war is losing ground.

Battlefields and graveyards do not sufficiently cause us to grasp the reality of the countless unarmed civilians who were slaughtered in what is cynically referred to as collateral damage.

This reality is now being highlighted by the modern Church.

Going to war implies involvement in what St John Paul II called the culture of death.

He contrasted this with the accentuation of the gospel of life, which carries with it the upholding of life in the womb and even in terminal sickness.

While world leaders wrangle over a lasting peace in the Middle East and a military way of combating the barbaric terrorism of the Islamic State, Christians have no choice but to stick to the principle of making and preserving peace.

John Paul II, we are told, angrily warned British prime minister Tony Blair not to join with the United States in invading Iraq in 2003. He indicated the consequences which had not been adequately analysed or appreciated. He wanted negotiations, not acts of aggression.

These consequences were not only geopolitical. The pope was thinking of the civilians who would be killed, injured and displaced.

As innocent non-combatants, their plight appeared to be secondary or unconsidered by the potentates of military might. No plans were made to rehabilitate them.

Since then the Church’s concern for civilians in war-torn regions has grown. The sheer injustice that rips families apart

and destroys their homes and livelihoods is something that must attract our attention today.

Pope Francis has entreated world leaders to prefer dialogue and reconciliation to the call to arms. He has pointedly told them that they should think of the sorrow that their children will suffer from warfare.

Hardness of heart and insensitivity to those hundreds of thousands of refugees who traipse forlornly from the security of their homes into the unknown, ill becomes the Christian conscience.

There are numerous organisations, Christian and otherwise, that are ready to ease the pain and to search for new homes for the victims of war.

However, justice would seem to demand that the nations that caused the innocent to endure such hardships should contribute to a programme of rehabilitation and recovery.

Unfortunately, that is hardly likely when the innocent are considered to be the enemy.

The Church attempts to rationalise warfare as a consequence of our human condition, our fallen nature in need of redemption. Vatican II provided this insight: “Insofar as men are sinful, the threat of war hangs over them, and hang over them it will until the return of Christ” (Gaudium et spes, 78).

Yet we as followers of the Prince of Peace have to demonstrate to those in power that they should extend themselves to exercise restraint when the threat of war hangs over them.

Peace-making is far more difficult than warmongering. It takes courage and steadfastness to turn from violence when confronted with looming bloodshed.

In the words of Pope Paul VI when addressing the United Nations General Assembly in 1965: “Peace expresses itself only in peace, a peace which is not separate from the demands of justice but which is fostered by personal sacrifice, clemency, mercy and love”.

Self-interest hardens hearts.

Compassion for others softens hearts and flows towards a peaceful order among peoples and families everywhere.

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Personal and Dignified 24-hour service 469 Voortrekker Rd, Maitland Tel: 021 593 8820 48 Main Rd, Muizenberg Tel: 021 788 3728 Member of the NFDA

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

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

ATRIACH Fouad Twal of Jerusalem speaks of the “three Ps”: prayer, pilgrimage and projects (The Southern Cross, July 30). “We still belive in the power of prayer, the most important P,” he said.

Henri Nouwen wrote (1997): “We must find not some but all of our strength, hope, courage and confidence in God.” Francis Correia, Jesuit Institute of SA, tells of Archbishop Tutu who, when asked what people could do to help, replied: “Have you tried praying?”

Everyone is very concerned about the various Islamic terrorist groups. However, Pope Francis writes that “our respect for the true followers of Islam should lead us to avoid hateful generalisations”.

Jesus on the cross

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N his informative letter (September 17), Kevin Andersson asks us to look deeper at the necessity of Jesus dying on the cross.

The biblical story of “Adam” concerns the evolution of mankind from primitive hunter/gatherers to the inception of agriculture and the domestication of animals, which led to more complex societies and the birth of city states. Hence, the “Garden of Eden” was no more.

From the time mankind was “cast out of Eden”, evil has stalked the earth and is still very much prevalent to this day. And it is quite evident that this evil lurks in the minds of humans and plays itself out in differing ideologies.

In recent times there have been leaders like Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot; we’ve witnessed Tsutsis murdered in Rwanda, likewise Ndebele in Zimbabwe at the hands of Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade and now IS and Boko Haram are sowing terror.

A few decades before the birth of Jesus, 800 Jewish “rebels” were coerced into surrendering and then treacherously crucified by the Hasmonean king, Alexander Janneus, their wives and children mercilessly being killed before them as they hung on the crosses.

Surely Jesus on the cross epitomises the slaughter of the innocents and signifies cruelty being perpetuated by psychopathic leaders and their followers. Is not Christianity an antidote to this culture of killing?

Patrick Dacey, Johannesburg

Women’s role at Last Supper?

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OUR correspondent Tony Meehan (August 27), assumes that women and children were present at the Last Supper.

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J Rebelo adds: “It is not possible to judge an entire faith by the acts of a few or even many of its believers—our own religion’s past is full of deadly wars...and violence promoters are still among us.”

We need God’s help to observe his commandents “love one another” (John 13:34) and “love your enemy” (Luke 6:35).

Worrying about the overseas conflicts, we tend to forget that Africans have also fought since time immemorial—social traditions often limit ubuntu to one’s own family, clan or ethnic group. There was no culture of equal human rights, and leaders were (and still are) not held accountable.

When St Augustine was born in North Africa in 354, it was a

That is a possibility. But no more. There is no proof. Pope Francis has called for a “theology of women”. You cannot build a “theology of women” on mere assumptions which may or may not be true. Merely hypothetical women won’t do.

But we do not need those assumptions without evidence. With Jesus we stand on firm ground.

Jesus loved and deeply respected women, he defended them against Pharisees and gave them due honour when they were shown contempt, thus contradicting the patriarchy of the times.

Jesus did this as a Jew of the first century, not as a feminist of the 21st.

St Luke’s gospel is the gospel of women and more especially of Mary the mother of Jesus, to name just one part of scripture where it is not true that “that the male writers failed to give women their rightful place”.

The Church moving through the ages was affected again and again by anti-woman ideologies.

But she did not betray Jesus in his respect for women altogether.

Against much male resistance the Church insisted on monogamy.

Only marriage of one man and one woman witnesses silently, but clearly, to the equality of man and woman. It is no coincidence that the women’s movement has its beginnings in Christian Europe where woman’s dignity has its deepest roots.

And the Church will protect women against new ideologies which deny the special feminine gifts women have and want to masculinise her.

Fr Oskar Wermter, SJ, pastoral department, Imbisa, Harare

Modern world and brotherhood

I

N the modern world, societies have concluded that to solve the problems they face, they must reexamine ways to improve their approaches to education and knowledge.

In so doing, the real problem, which is that technology is daily finding ways of avoiding the need for human endeavour in the workplace, is often overlooked.

Cities of the world are a good example of this. Residents in cities need to import all their foodstuff, water and energy, so they must be able to provide a service to the city community in order to pay for life’s necessities.

It therefore becomes obvious that uncontrolled migration to cities can only lead to disaster.

Ultimately we now belong to a global village where we become simply people of the world with the job of looking after our earth and its environment.

In this connection Pope Francis has raised some critical points that we would do well to recognise.

Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. It is not by proselytising

province of Rome, and he died there as a bishop in 430, while Vandal barbarians from Europe slew his parishioners.

Two centuries later, North Africa became part of the great Muslim empire, which the terrorists are now trying to re-establish.

The African Union was warned recently in Nairobi of the urgent need for an African response to terrorism. In addition, we have crime, corruption, poverty, refugee problems, Aids, Ebola...

Few of us can go on pilgrimages, so while we pray about overseas problems, let us join in a project, “Pray for Africa”, not just for peace and justice but with faith hope and love for God and neighbours in our land. n For a free prayer leaflet, SMS your name and address to 083 544 8449.

Athaly Jenkinson, East London that the Church grows, but “by attraction”.

We “cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings”. We need to move “from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry”.

Excessive centralisation, rather than proving helpful, complicates the Church’s life and her missionary outreach.

“I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelisation in their respective communities. A proposal of goals without an adequate communal search for the means of achieving them will inevitably prove illusory,” Pope Francis wrote in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

“The important thing is to not walk alone, but to rely on each other as brothers and sisters, and especially under the leadership of the bishops, in a wise and realistic pastoral discernment.”

Deryk Bayman, Durban

Pray for bishops

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AM responding to B Jones’s letter (September 3) criticising two bishops.

Our Holy Mother told the children of Medjugorje not to judge her priests, but to pray for them as they represent her Son here on earth.

Yvonne Savy, Durban

Website help

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ANY thanks for making available on your website back copies of The Southern Cross. Owing to the postal strike in our area, I haven’t received my copy of the SC since the beginning of August.

Fr Kevin Reynolds, Pretoria

Music video shock

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HAVE recently read about the beautiful history of Regina Mundi parish, and was incredibly shocked to see that a music video, Run Jozi,

by AKA, was partially shot in this church that is basically considered a shrine.

I can’t understand how this could be, as we consider all our parishes sacred and never fail to acknowledge the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in church. How could this be? Is it even true that the Church would have allowed this, or that it was really one of our churches that was used for this video?

Melissa Belcher, Eshowe, KZN Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

PERSPECTIVES

Not for God to fix your mess, Mr Zuma I Gushwell Brooks REMEMBER my first request for divine intervention. I was three or four years old and like any toddler, especially as one of the male variety, I was a little too rambunctious at Bible study one night.

My mother darted “that look” at me and I knew that I would suffer the discomfort of a fiery posterior by bedtime—spare the rod, spoil the child, was the order of the day then.

As we reached home, I fell to my knees, clasped my palms together and implored God to spare me from a thrashing. Divine intervention had the desired effect, the rod was spared that night.

The intervention may have occurred because I simply melted my mother’s heart— only a heartless fiend would administer punishment of a corporal nature on a praying toddler—or perhaps the intervention was indeed divine.

Nonetheless, my entreaty came as a result of helplessness and hopelessness. I had already apologised, I had already promised to never misbehave again, but none of these attempts at appeasement satisfied my mother, so I asked for God’s intervention as I had my back to the wall.

Request for divine intervention is not only unique to toddlers who find themselves falling foul of their parents, but much rather a testament to something innately human: we ask for God’s intervention when we see no way out.

This condition, it seems, does not only affect you and I as average people with jobs and bills to pay, it seems to affect those at the pinnacle of power, most notably the president of the Republic, Jacob Zuma.

On Spring Day, City Press ran a report

which quoted the president as saying: “I know they say Jesus will return to fetch us.

But I don’t know how many will stay behind. Maybe the majority […] but this time not to fetch us, but just to come and cleanse us of our sins, because we have caused more damage than before.”

Some might say, “About time!” at Mr Zuma’s religious insights. I say: “What a cop-out!”

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any have called for a return to Godliness, where religion takes a more prominent position and informs us in our day-to-day dealings. Some have argued that the increased secularisation of society has led to increased social ills, corruption and a lack for human regard when providing basic services.

I believe that South Africa, as a secular state, fosters a very fertile environment where one can personally practise and

President Jacob zuma, whose call for divine intervention is a cop-out, as Gushwell Brooks writes. (Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko, Reuters/CNS)

The curse of anonymity T HIS month I’m writing from Portbou, a little Spanish coastal village with a population of 1 300 on the French border. For most of its history, it has been an anonymous little place tucked away in the Pyrenees.

Its claim to fame is its easy access between France and Spain, making it a place for desperate men.

In the 1930s rebels fighting against the Spanish dictator, General Franco, would go over the border for supplies and to escape Franco’s army. A decade later, Jews fleeing the advance of Hitler’s invading forces came over the border into Portbou, hoping for safe passage through Spain, into Portugal and onto a ship bound for the Americas.

From being a sleepy border town, Portbou became a place of possible salvation in a desert of hopelessness. For one man, however, it was to become the end of all hope.

With the Nazis closing in and rumours that Spain would send the Jewish refugees back into France, Walter Benjamin, a philosopher whose work helped to lay the terrain for post-modernist thought, died of an overdose of prescription drugs. The day after his death, the group he was travelling with was given safe passage to Portugal.

What a waste of such great human intellect! He still had so much to contribute in helping to decipher and give a voice to this new world of human progress and the loss of comfortable centuries-old certainties.

Fortunately, his friends did not allow Benjamin to be forgotten. They transformed this nondescript village into a living memorial for him. They had his remains placed in what must be the most beautiful cemetery I have ever seen, overlooking the Mediterranean. They delivered Benjamin (and Portbou) from what many of us fear most: anonymity.

In his famous work, Passages, Benjamin writes: “It is more difficult to honour the memory of the anonymous than that of the renowned. Historical construction is de-

The Spanish village of Portbou, from where this column was written. The photo shows the graveyard overlooking the Mediterranean. (Photo: Sarah-Leah Pimentel) voted to the memory of the anonymous.”

Benjamin was trying to express something that we, as Christians, take for granted and is expressed in many different ways in the Scriptures: “Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19), or, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me” (Mt 25:40).

T

he Eucharist is more than remembering a unique moment in history when Christ offered himself for the salvation of our souls. In each Eucharist, Jesus once again gives himself for us. But in this giving, Jesus also commissions us. Do this in memory of me. Do as I have done. Follow my example. As I have given myself for you, give yourself for others. Reach out to the anonymous people in your midst. By your actions, they shall be remembered and in remembering them, the world remembers me too.

Jesus’ favourite terrain of action was precisely in the service of the anonymous—the Samaritan woman at the well, Galilean fishermen, a woman accused of having committed adultery, a man possessed by demons. All of these would have been forgotten in the annals of history, except for one thing: Jesus took time to hear their story and offer them a new way to live.

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Talking about Faith

have a rich religious life, but that is a debate for another time. The point that stands out for me, the elephant in the room which the president failed to acknowledge, is the fact that the damage that has been caused, has been caused by those in power—people like him.

Leaders in business, politics and society are placed in positions of power to lead society in a way that is beneficial. So whether it be the economy, safety and security, a society free of corruption and scandal, or a sustainable environment, we expect them to lead by example and foster conditions that ensure that society is the greatest beneficiary.

It is clear that leadership—and many would argue the president himself—has fallen far short of our expectations in terms of giving solid, credible direction. They, in essence, created the mess and thus they are the best-placed people to fix the mess.

The president’s call for God to intervene, in my opinion, is not a sign of religious devotion or belief, but much rather a sign of unwillingness to fix what you have done in perpetuating wrongs plaguing the world and implying that it is God’s responsibility to fix your blunders.

Simply put, it is poor leadership, a lack of accountability for fixing what is in your power to fix—a sad state of affairs indeed.

Sarah-Leah Pimentel

The Mustard Seeds

We, too, are called to seek out the anonymous of our world today, listen to their story with compassion and respond in love.

Like a homeless man named Peter from Germany whom I met at the train station in Portbou. He told me about the child he hasn’t seen in a long time, the fight that landed him in hospital, and the bandage on his leg.

Or Lily, who like millions of single mothers in South Africa, bears the burden of working several jobs to raise and educate her children in the hope that they will have a better life.

Sometimes, we can respond and offer practical help. Our office collected money to help Lily build a small home for herself and her children, a place where she can put down roots, and accord her the dignity of being a homeowner.

Other times, as in the case of Peter, there is nothing we can do to help, except listen and share some biscuits while waiting for the train.

These actions, no matter how small, help to erase the anonymity that Walter Benjamin speaks of. It is a validation of the human person.

Something as small as looking someone in the eye and acknowledging their existence, saying to them: I see you, I hear your sorrows. I don’t know if I can give you what you need, but I’ll give you what I have right now. Because you matter. You have value.

Your life has a purpose.

If Walter Benjamin had encountered a hope bearer in his flight across Europe, perhaps his story may have had a different ending.

But Benjamin’s death also stands as a reminder for us—reach out to the anonymous. May we be instruments through which we can transmit the “blessed hope of the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ”.

JOURNEyS OF A LIFETIME! Go with Bishop Zolile Mpambani

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

Emmanuel Ngara

Christian Leadership

Teaching Christian leadership

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N an earlier article I narrated how my wife and I developed an academy called the Lead and Inspire School of Leadership. We managed to get two qualifications accredited by the Council on Higher Education—a diploma in generic leadership (leadership for government, companies, educational institutions and so on) and a diploma in Christian leadership. In 2010 we managed to enrol 12 “disciples”.

These were people from different denominations—Methodist superintendents, Catholic sisters, Pentecostal pastors and one or two lay people. My focus in this column is on Christian leadership. How did we get these leaders from different denominations to work together on the subject of Christian leadership and to accept the leadership of two lay Catholics?

The first thing was to help each student realise that leadership begins with him or her. In other words, leadership is about you and other people.

Whether you are a leader in government, in the Church, in a company or a school, you are dealing with people who have different roles to play and different needs and expectations.

Leadership is therefore about serving these people, about your relationship with them collectively and individually, and about how you can help them to share a common vision and to serve the organisation more efficiently and effectively, and to grow the organisation to higher levels.

The next important principle was to get an understanding and appreciation of the biblical approach to leadership. We looked at the Old Testament and the New Testament. We examined role models like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Ruth, Mary the Mother of Jesus, the Apostle Paul and so on.

How did God call these servants? How did each one of them respond? What qualities, strengths and weaknesses did each have? What gifts did God give to each of these and how did they use the gifts?

Did each of these leaders finish well or not?

What can today’s leaders learn from these servants of God? Is there a difference between the way God called his servants in the Old Testament and how he calls leaders in our time?

A great focus was placed on Jesus as teacher and role model.

What did Jesus teach about leadership? Which passages in the Bible are key to an understanding of Jesus’ teaching on leadership? In what ways was his leadership style and concept of leadership different from that of the teachers of the law and that of secular leaders of his time?

How did Jesus relate to his followers and to his Father? Is the Church today practising leadership as Jesus taught it? In what ways is Christian leadership as taught by Jesus different from generic leadership as we know it today?

With this common background we were then able to study Christian role models in the history of the Church, identifying some figures from different epochs and denominations: St Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, John Wesley, St Ignatius of Loyola, Mother Teresa.

Together we were able to distil something of the essence of Christian leadership from the examples of these personalities from different denominational backgrounds. Together we were in a position to develop an appreciation of Catholic spirituality and to learn useful lessons about Methodist, Pentecostal and Anglican spirituality.

The diploma in Christian leadership was composed of many other modules, but the elements I have highlighted here were among those that enabled this group from diverse Christian backgrounds to see that there is so much we have in common; so much that all denominations are not doing right; and so much that the followers of Jesus can do together to improve the quality of leadership in our world.

There is such poor leadership in the world. Can Christians stand together and truly become the light of the world and the salt of the earth?

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8

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

COMMUNITY

Holy Rosary High School in Johannesburg announced its leaders for next year. (From left) Roberta Scognamiglio (head of Fatima House), kathryn Brandt (head of Shanahan House), Shaan Forster (deputy headgirl sport), Odirile Motsepe (deputy headgirl culture), Alexia D’Alessio (headgirl), Theané Dietrich (deputy headgirl outreach), Danielle Fletcher (deputy headgirl religion), Veronica Gordon (head of Rosary House) and Tayla Blewitt (head of Lourdes House).

Justice and Peace committee members from Sacred Heart parish, Qoqodala, Queenstown diocese, after their monthly training. (From left) Nophetile Soko Matiyse, Nosiseko Nomana Jojweni, Nozuko Magodongo, parish priest Fr Matthias Nsamba, Mr Matyobe and Pawulos Mongezi Cenya. Andrea Damane and Francis Mththuzeli Sosanti are not pictured.

Four Dominican sisters celebrated their diamond and golden jubilees at Emmaus Convent in East London. (From left front) Sr Agatha, 60 years and Srs Hildegard, Gemma and Hildegund, 50 years. Pictured with them are (from left) Frs Robert kamangu, Peter Whitehead, Billy Barnes, Varghese kannanaikkal CMI, Lubabalo Mguda, John Pullokkaran CMI and Jose Chereath CMI.

Members of the Catholic Women’s League of St Francis Xavier parish in Durban renewed their commitment to the league while wearing something pink for Women’s Month. They are pictured with Fr Derrick Butt OMI.

Christ the king of Peace parish in Richmond, De Aar, celebrated the church’s 20year aniversary and Mr Charra’s 100th birthday.

Mr Charra helped build the church after he walked from Malawi to South Africa in 1964 and began working for the Richmond municipality. Mr Charra is pictured with Bishop Adam Musialek SCJ.

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NOAH OLD AGE HOMES

We can use your old clothing, bric-a-brac, furniture and books for our 2nd hand shop.

Help us to create an avenue to generate much needed funds for our work with the elderly.

Contact Ian Veary on 021 447 6334 www.noah.org.za

Denzil and Bernice Smerdon of Durbanville parish in Cape Town celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The Mass was presided over by Fr Michael van Heerden together with Fr Diddy McGrath who originally married the couple.

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

CHURCH

9

New church for growing rural KZN parish The foundation for a new church at St Anne's in the township of Mpophomeni outside of Howick in KwaZulu-Natal has been blessed as the parish prepares to cater for its rapidly growing congregation. STUART GRAHAM spoke to Bishop Barry Wood about the project

B

ISHOP Barry Wood, who blessed the foundation of the new church, says the numbers attending the previous church were simply “too big”.

“The previous church was more of a hall than a church and the numbers were simply getting too big,” says Bishop Wood.

“It is wonderful moment for St Anne’s, which was a beacon of hope for so many people in the area during apartheid.”

Mpophomeni, which means the place of the waterfall in isiZulu, was built on open field by the government in 1968 to relocate the black population living in Howick.

Violence hit the area in 1985 when the management of the South African Rubber Manufacturing Company fired a thousand striking workers, many of them Mpophomeni residents.

More than 100 people were killed in the years ahead as mainly ANCsupporting residents of Mpophomeni clashed with Inkatha Freedom Party members in the rural areas of Kwa Shifu, Haza and Mahlangeni.

The area was in a state of “civil war” between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the ANC in the apartheid years, Bishop Wood recalls.

“When the factory in Howick dismissed workers there was a revolt and many of the workers were persecuted and killed. It was like a civil war at the time. It was terrible.”

St Anne's, he says, was opened to people running all sorts of movements.

“When there was trouble here in KwaZulu-Natal, especially in the Howick area, the church was the meeting place for activists to meet and feel safe.

“They knew the police would not attack when they were in here and so St Anne's became a beacon of hope.

“When Father Jude (Fr Jude Fer-

nando, St Anne’s parish priest) asked me to come and bless the cornerstone, I was very happy and proud to do it.”

Bishop Wood says the challenges in Mpophomeni now are “like problems all over the country”.

The church, he says, is playing an important role in helping struggling communities overcome these challenges.

“Unemployment is one of the biggest problems,” he says.

“There is nothing for the young when they leave school.

“HIV and Aids is also still strong here and the delivery of basic services to people is another problem.”

Thandi Sosibo, the deputy chairwoman of St Anne’s, says the church has saved R700 000 since 2001.

Much of the money, she says, will be used to build the new church.

“When Fr Jude started here, we had no funds and so we started small activities to raise money.

“It was important for us to put up a new church because our community is getting bigger and our numbers are increasing.”

She says when St Anne’s started trying to raise funds for the community it was met with a skeptical response.

“When we started trying to raise funds for the church people did not buy into the idea,” she says.

“In 2001, we started selling flowers and handwork to the community.

“We also started raising funds through concerts at church.”

“Our parish priest, Fr Jude, is very good at raising funds. Some time ago he came across second-hand clothing. We sold all those clothes to raise funds.”

The attitude of the community towards St Anne’s fund-raising efforts has slowly changed.

“The parishioners are motivated now. They know that for us to achieve something, we need to put our hands and minds together.”

Ms Sosibo says the church is widely used by the community for Mass and funerals. The new structure will be able to provide catechism classes for its growing number of Catholics.

“People are joining the church because they believe in our Catholic teachings,” she says.

“Most of us here have been born Catholic. Us Catholics support each other. We work as a family. Members of the community look at that and they look at our teachings.

“They look at what has been done by Catholics. Every year there are new candidates.”

St Anne’s in Mpophomeni, Durban, has been hard at work collecting funds for its new church extension. (Top left) parish priest Fr Jude Fernando paints decorated plates for an arts and craft market (bottom right) to raise funds. (Top right) Cardinal Wilfrid Napier is presented with a Tau cross created by Fr Fernando as part of the fund’s drive. (Bottom left) Franciscan sisters Innocentia Mchunu (superior), Francina Mlitwa and Helen Cele are welcomed to the mission where they now work.

“They come and they approach the sisters and other members of the parish to say they want to be Catholic.”

Fr Jude says he looks forward to

the completion of the church, which is expected in February next year, so that there will be more place for the children of Mpophomeni at Mass.

“Many people have been coming

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Pilgrimage Highlights HOLY LAND: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Jordan River and much more...

ROME: Papal Audience, Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Catacombs, Major Basilicas, Ancient and Baroque Rome...

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and often there is no place for the children who want to attend Mass,” he says.

“When we have the new church there will be place for everyone.”

10

The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

PERSONALITY

Catholic’s journey from SA rugby to American football Until recently, Daniel Adongo played in South Africa in the Super Rugby competition. Now the Catholic sportsman is playing American football in the NFL. SEAN GALLAGHER spoke to him.

I

N the past year, Daniel Adongo’s world has been turned upside down—twice.

Adongo, 24, is a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts. But the lifelong Catholic and native of Kenya had never played American football and knew little of the game before the Colts signed him to a contract in July 2013.

At the time, he was a professional rugby player in South Africa, playing for the Kings in the 2013 Super Rugby season as a lock or flanker. Before that he represented the Bulls and the Sharks.

So his world was turned upside down when he took a leap of faith and went halfway around the world to play a sport—at the highest level—that was entirely new to him.

Adongo spent much of the 2013 season on the Colts’ practice squad, learning the basics of the game. He played in a few games at the end of the season and showed promise for the future.

Coming into the 2014 season, NFL analysts wondered what would become of this newcomer to the game who had extraordinary athletic abilities.

Those questions remain unanswered. In the Colts’ first pre-season

game against the New York Jets, Adongo sustained a season-ending bicep injury on his first play.

Adongo’s world was turned upside down again.

Through the challenges, it has been Adongo’s Catholic faith that has kept his feet firmly planted on the ground.

“My faith is not going to waver just because I got injured,” Adongo told The Criterion, newspaper of the Indianapolis archdiocese. “It’s part of the game. I’m not going to wallow in disappointment. Absolutely not. I’m looking forward to redefining myself, finding myself in this challenging time and looking for a better way to do things and come back even stronger.”

Adongo’s foundation of faith was laid by his family and school community in Nairobi, Kenya.

For eight years, he was a student at Strathmore School there.

Founded in 1961, Strathmore provides a strong education and spiritual formation for students.

Adongo’s formation contributed to his desire to excel in athletics.

“They really [emphasise] that God has given everybody talents and gifts,” he said. “And developing those talents and gifts is a way of glorifying what God has given you and saying ‘Thank you’ for the gifts he has given you.”

Honing one’s gifts, though, often requires sacrifice. Adongo did just that at Strathmore, said principal John Muthiora, who taught English to the promising young athlete. Mr Muthiora saw that commitment during class when he noticed that Adongo’s ankles were bulging.

“After the lesson, I asked him

what was wrong with his legs, and he explained that he had weights strapped around his ankles for fitness,” Mr Muthiora said in an email interview.

“I found it hard to believe that an 18-year-old would be walking around with weights strapped around his ankles the whole day. It goes to show the level of commitment he had.”

Mr Muthiora also knew that Adongo’s faith fuelled his willingness to make sacrifices. Each day when he came to school Adongo first stopped in the chapel to pray, a practice that he and other students often repeated after lunch. He regularly attended Mass and received guidance from the school’s priest chaplain.

“When one puts one’s soul in order, other things fall into place,” Mr Muthiora said.

A

dongo’s rugby career began while still at Strathmore. He played on national youth teams in Kenya and later professionally in New Zealand, for Counties Manukau, and in South Africa.

A successful career in rugby seemed to be the course God set for him. Then Adongo received a phone call from the Colts, presenting what he called “a God-given opportunity”.

“I hadn’t looked for the opportunity,” Adongo said. “So that points to one thing—and one thing only from my point of view. Despite my being a good athlete, what were the chances of getting the call from the Indianapolis Colts?”

Once he signed with the Colts, he dedicated himself to learning

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Daniel Adongo stretches before a game for the Indianapolis Colts. The linebacker previously played rugby in South Africa for the Bulls, Sharks and kings before switiching to American football. (Photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Colts) how to play American football.

Adongo approached the steep learning curve not simply from intellectual and physical perspectives, but from a spiritual one also. He has sought to offer as a sacrifice to God all of his work on the field, in the weight room and in team meetings.

Now his work with the Colts is the daily grind of rehabilitation.

While the dream of starring on the field may be delayed, Adongo does not ignore the opportunity set before him as a way to glorify God, even in the hard, hidden work of rehab.

“In anything that I do, I’ll offer it up as a sacrifice,” he said. “I do it for myself, and I do it for God.” Since arriving in the US, Adongo also has had the opportunity to put his faith into action through community service projects that the Colts sponsor in central Indiana.

“Giving back to the community is giving back, regardless of where it is, whether it’s in Indianapolis, my hometown of Nairobi or in South Africa,” he said. “It doesn’t change

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if I’m in a different country. My faith is my faith. It stays the same.”

What has also stayed the same in Kenya and Indianapolis for Adongo is living among people of diverse backgrounds.

That began for him at Strathmore.

“There were people there who were [Protestant] Christians, who were Muslim, who were Hindu— people from all walks of life,” Adongo said. “It basically told us about respecting other religions, respecting other people’s choices.

That interaction and that social setting early [in life] allowed me to be more adaptable in whatever environment that I’m put in.”

Adongo returned to Kenya for the first time since joining the Colts earlier this year. He visited Strathmore and encouraged students to develop their talents like he did.

“It was emotional,” he said. “It was great to go back and speak to the kids, because I sat in those same seats and had the same dreams.”— CNS

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The Southern Cross, October 8 to October 14, 2014

CLASSIFIEDS

Emmanuel cathedral: Heritage Day

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

T

HE diverse community of Emmanuel cathedral in Durban gathered to celebrate Heritage Day together.

This was the second of two major annual events at the cathedral which stress the unity of the whole parish community, the other being the Feast of Corpus Christi.

As the mother church of the archdiocese of Durban, Emmanuel cathedral has a diverse congregation—people of all races and from

many parts of Africa.

“This year’s event was very special as we also celebrated Fr Stephen Tully’s 54th birthday and 20th anniversary of priestly ordination,” Sabelo Puando Mthembu of Emmanuel said.

“He served his first six years as a priest at St Peter’s, Montebello, and has had 14 years as administrator of Emmanuel cathedral.

“He is admired by all parishioners for his excellent work in helping people from different cultures work together and care for

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Community Calendar To place your event, call Mary Leveson at 021 465 5007 or e-mail m.leveson@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

CAPE TOWN: Padre Pio: Holy Hour 15:30 every 3rd Sunday of the month at Holy Redeemer parish in Bergvliet.

Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration at Good Shepherd parish, Bothasig, in the chapel. All hours. All welcome.

DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9am. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30pm on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9am. Phone 031 309 3496.

NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the blessed sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to

16:45, followed by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30pm.

JOHANNESBURG:

Life in the Spirit seminar, September 4 to October 30 presented by Charismatic Renewal at cathedral of Christ the king.

Contact Joseph Uga at 083 237 3745 or Boni Gumede at 072 274 3901.

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the poor,” Mr Mthembu added.

Fr Tully is responsible for the birth of the new Denis Hurley Centre which is currently nearing completion, providing for the pastoral needs of the parish community and care for the poor in the inner city of Durban.

Emmanuel cathedral’s mission is to be “a welcoming community rooted in the word of God, celebrating our diversity as a spirit-filled family of God, committed to loving God and our neighbour”.

Our bishops’ anniversaries

This week we congratulate: October 13: Bishop Mlungisi Pius Dlungwane of Mariannhill on his 67th birthday.

October 14: Bishop Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington on the 14th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

Liturgical Calendar Year A Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday, October 12, 28th Sunday Isaiah 25:6-10, Psalm 23:1-6, Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20, Matthew 22:1-14 or Matthew 22:1-10 Monday, October 13 Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1, Psalm 113:17, Luke 11:29-32 Tuesday, October 14 Galatians 5:1-6, Psalm 119:41, 43, 45, 47-48, Luke 11:37-41 Wednesday, October 15, St Teresa of Jesus Galatians 5:18-25, Psalm 1:1-4, 6, Luke 11:4246 Thursday, October 16, St Margaret Mary Alacoque Ephesians 1:1-10, Psalm 98:1-6, Luke 11:4754 Friday, October 17, St Ignatius of Antioch Ephesians 1:11-14, Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 12-13, Luke 12:1-7 Saturday, October 18, St Luke 2 Timothy 4:10-17, Psalm 145:10-13, 17-18, Luke 10:1-9 Sunday, October 19, 29th Sunday Isaiah 45:1, 4-6, Psalm 96:1, 3-5, 7-10, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, Matthew 22:15-21

CLASSIFIEDS

11

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,37 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

DEATH

BISHOP—Mary. After 92 years on earth, our very special mother left us on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 for the place prepared for her by Our Lord.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place all our trust in you. Margaret, Peter, Joan, Vincent, Clare, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

MANWHARING—Queenie. Died peacefully on September 24, 2014. A very special mother will always be remembered by your children, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, the Legion of Mary group, the Rosary group and parishioners of Bellville. Thank you for your faithful Legionary work—Mary da Silva.

IN MEMORIAM

TUCK—Maureen. In loving memory of my wife/our mother who died on October 13, 2009. Fondly remembered by John (husband) and children John, Mary, Bernard and Margaret. May she rest in peace.

PRAYERS

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

RC. ST MICHAEL the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection

against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.

Amen.

THANKS be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me, For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, May I know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, And follow thee more nearly, For ever and ever.

PERSONAL

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29th Sunday: October 19, Mission Sunday Readings: Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6, Psalm 96: 1, 3, 4-5, 7-10, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, Matthew 22:14-21

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Giving to Caesar and to God Fr Nicholas King SJ

N

EXT Sunday is Mission Sunday; and it is worth remembering that our mission may turn out to be slightly less comfortable than we might have supposed.

It is hard to know, in the first reading, what Cyrus might have thought on being addressed as God’s “Messiah”. He was not a Jew, although he was tolerantly disposed towards his Jewish subjects. He might also have been a bit puzzled, not to say miffed, at the idea that the God of Israel might be responsible for his military successes, when God speaks of him as the one “whom I have grasped by the right hand to subdue gentiles before him…to open doors before him, so that gates may not be closed”.

It then turns out that God’s only interest in Cyrus is “for the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen one”, and that any power Cyrus may think that he possesses comes from God. Cyrus’s mission is not for himself, but “so that they may know, from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is none beside me: I am the Lord, and there is no other”. That is our mission, as well as that of Cyrus, and it may not be all that comfortable.

The psalm for next Sunday is well aware of its mission: it is to call “all the nations” to “sing

Sunday Reflections

a new song to the Lord”. Many of us are inclined to pretend we have not heard or to mutter “Not just now, Lord”, but the simple fact is that “it was the Lord who made the heavens”, and this is a message that has to be conveyed to the “families of peoples”, who are invited to “ascribe to the Lord his glory”, and to “say among the gentiles, ‘the Lord reigns…he will judge the peoples with justice’.”

The second reading is the opening lines of what is almost certainly Paul’s first letter, so we should read it with careful attention, since it will have much to tell us about Paul’s view of our mission.

The mission is not just Paul’s, we gather; for he is joined by Silvanus and Timothy (though they do not really feature in the rest

of the letter). And we should certainly notice that it is written “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”, without whom Christian mission is simply not mission.

Not only that, but the mission is to be done in “grace” (God’s unconditional love) and “peace” (the world looking as God wishes it to look). We notice that the mission is one marked by Paul’s famous “triad” of “faith… love… and the endurance of hope”. It is also to be carried out (and we have to remind ourselves of this) by those who are “sisters and brothers beloved by God”. And Paul congratulates the Thessalonians that his mission to them “was not just a matter of talk, but of power and the Holy Spirit, and much fulfilment”. This should encourage us.

The gospel reading underlines some of the difficulty of our missionary vocation, for it comes just at that part of Matthew’s gospel when Jesus’ opponents are out to get him.

An unholy alliance of “Pharisees” and “Herodians” make an odiously sycophantic appeal to him, concealing their real aim: “We are well aware that you are true, and you teach God’s way in truth, and you don’t care about anybody. For you are not a snob.” After that in-

Aids to self-understanding A

LTHOUGH I grew up in a loving, safe, and nurturing family and community, one of the dominant memories of my childhood and teenage years is that of being restless and somehow discontent. My life always seemed too small, too confined, a life away from what was important in the world. I was forever longing to be more connected to life and I feared that other people didn’t feel that way and that I was somehow singular and unhealthy in my restlessness.

I entered the Oblate seminary immediately after high school and carried that restlessness with me, except that now, entering religious life, I felt even more worry and shame in carrying this disquiet.

However, midway through that first year of training, a year which religious congregations call novitiate, we received a visit from an extraordinary Oblate missionary named Noah Warnke, a man who had received numerous civic and church awards for his achievements and who was widely respected.

He began his address to us, the novices, by asking us these questions: “Are you restless? Feeling isolated in this religious house? Feeling lonely and cut off from the world?” We all nodded, yes, he’d clearly struck a live chord. “Good,” he replied, “you should be feeling restless. My God, you should be jumping out of your skins,

Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

you’ve all that red-blood, and fire, and energy and you’re holed-up here away from everything! But that’s good, that restlessness is a good feeling, you’re healthy!

Tough it out with the restlessness, it’ll be worth it in the long run!” It was the first time in my life that someone had legitimatised how I was feeling. I felt like I had just been introduced to myself: “Are you jumping out of your skin? Good, you’re healthy!”

I

mmediately after that novitiate year, I began my theological training and one of the persons we studied in depth was Thomas Aquinas.

He was the second person who helped introduce me to myself. I was nineteen years old when I first met his thought and, although some of his insights were a bit beyond my young mind, I understood enough to find in him not just some legitimisation for how I was feeling but also, more importantly, a meta-narrative within

which to understand why I was feeling the way I did. Aquinas asks: “What is the adequate object of the human mind and heart?” In other words, what would we have to experience in order to be fully satisfied? His answer: All being, everything!

What would we have to experience to be fully satisfied is everything. We would have to know everything and be known by everybody, a human impossibility in this life, and so it shouldn’t be a mystery as to why we live in perpetual disquiet and why, as Pascal says, all the miseries of the human being come from the fact that we can’t sit still in a room for one hour.

The third person that helped introduce me to myself was Sidney Callahan. Reading her book on sexuality as a young seminarian, I was struck by how she linked sex to soul, and how desire, not least sexual desire, has deep roots in the soul.

At one point she makes this simple statement. I don’t have the exact quote, but it is words to this effect: If you look at yourself and your insatiability and worry that you are too-restless, oversexed, and somehow pathological in your dissatisfactions, it doesn’t mean that you are sick, it just means that you are healthy and not in need of any hormone shots! These were liberating words for a restless, over-sensitive 20-year-old.

A couple of years later, I was introduced to the writings of Henri Nouwen and he, perhaps more than anyone else, gave me permission to feel what I feel. Nouwen, as we know, was such a powerful writer because he was so honest in sharing his own neediness, restlessness, and disquiet. He had a singular talent for tracing out the restless movements within our souls. For instance, in describing his own struggles, he writes: “I want to be a saint, but I also want to experience all the sensations that sinners experience. Small wonder, that life is a struggle.”

Finally, of course, there’s St Augustine and his famed opening to the Confessions wherein he summarises his lifelong struggle in the words: “You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” We carry infinity inside us and thus should not be surprised that we will never find full consummation and peace within the finite. Augustine also gave us that wonderful rationalisation that we all use to put off into the indefinite future some of the things that we need to do now: Lord, make me a chaste Christian, but not yet!

Some people talk about the five people they would like to meet in heaven. These are the five who have helped me understand what it means to walk on this earth.

troduction, we know that they are out to get him. They present what sounds like an innocent question, but is in fact a lethal trap: “Is it permitted to give census-tax to Caesar or not?”

Whatever Jesus answers could be fatal for his mission. If he says, “Yes, pay the tax”, then he has lost all credibility with fellowJewish nationalists. If on the other hand he refuses to admit the possibility, then the whisper will go to the state police, and he will be arrested for subversion.

Jesus does not waste time with their empty politeness but cuts right through: “Recognising their wickedness, he said, ‘Why do you tempt me, you fakes? Show me the coin’.”

Then they put themselves in the wrong by having (against all biblical teaching) a coin in their possession with Caesar’s likeness engraved on it, whereupon Jesus asks them, “Whose likeness and inscription?” When they shamefacedly admit that it is Caesar’s, he makes the simple answer: “So—give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” Then follows the devastating second shot: “and what belongs to God—to God”.

That is the motto for our mission, this coming week.

Southern Crossword #623

ACROSS 5. Mario takes very little in (4) 7. Patterns to form a reformer (10) 8. Vested (4) 10. Religiously dependable (8) 11. Seminary (6) 12. Chops for the nitwits (6) 14. Fabric that about suits Easter’s beginning (6) 16. Diana’s short month will alarm (6) 17. Runaway slave Paul wrote to Philemon about (8) 19. Flamboyant among the party (4) 21. Earns quiet horse show (10) 22. Colourful person who provides colours? (4)

DOWN 1. Heroic story partly about mixed spice (4) 2. Diligent (8) 3. Advantageous (6) 4. This one is crazy (6) 5. Have a touchy desire? (4) 6. Victorious Church? (10) 9. Holy book of lessons (10) 13. Where the God-Man is found above? (8) 15. The road to here is where Jesus revealed himself (Lk 24) (6) 16. Abstain from (6) 18. Prophet who’s a good looker? (4) 20. Suddenly pull out the American (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

FTER the baptism of his baby brother in church, a four-year-old boy sobbed all the way home in the backseat of the car.

His mother and father asked him three times what was wrong, getting no reply, only more sobbing.

Finally, the boy replied: “The priest said he wanted us to be brought up in a Catholic home, but I wanted to stay with you guys!”

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