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The

S outhern C ross

November 26 to December 2, 2014

Daswa pilgrim centre site blessed

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Parliament’s ‘circus’ a threat to democracy

BY STUART GRAHAM

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Redemptorist Father Sean Wales lifts the cup and the host during a Mass in the chapel (or tabernacle) of Elijah in the church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Jordan and Cairo this month. The pilgrimage was of Holy Redeemer parish in Bergvliet, Cape Town, which Fr Wales is serving as parish priest before he takes up his position as newly-elected provincial of the Redemptorists. Members of the group noted that Elijah and Fr Wales sported similar beards. (Photo: Gail Fowler)

Pope confirms 2015 trip to US

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OPE Francis said he would attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September 2015, making it the first confirmed stop on what is expected to be a more extensive papal visit to North America.

The announcement had been widely ex-

pected, since Pope Benedict XVI had said before his retirement that he hoped to attend the September 22-27 Philadelphia event.

Popes typically fulfill their predecessors’ publicly known travel plans, as Pope Francis did in July 2013 when he attended World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.—CNS

HE use of a police riot squad to deal with a disagreement in Parliament is “highly problematic” and shows a deep misunderstanding of the Constitution, according to an official of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

Mike Pothier said the incident, which happened when an Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) member of parliament refused an order to leave the house after calling President Jacob Zuma a “thief”, disregarded the right of parliamentarians’ to free speech.

“Police don’t have the jurisdiction to just barge in where they like,” he said. “The respect of freedom of speech and the respect of the rights of MPs in the National Assembly is paramount,” Mr Pothier said. “You do not call in a riot squad to deal with a parliamentary issue.

This shows a deep misunderstanding of the Constitution.”

This month’s chaos followed upheaval in Parliament in August when EFF MPs heckled Mr Zuma on when he would reimburse taxpayers for upgrades to his private homestead in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal after Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found Mr Zuma had benefited unduly from the upgrades. President Zuma has not returned to the chamber since the incident.

Mr Pothier said the regular fights in the National Assembly are bad for democracy because they undermine public respect for Parliament.

“People already have a sceptical perception about how hard MPs work and how seriously they take their work,” said Mr Pothier. “This kind of spectacle doesn’t enhance that reputation of Parliament. It is not good for democracy and it risks making Parliament look like a circus.”

In this month’s incident, opposition parties shouted down National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete when she tried to prevent them from bringing motions related to the spending on security upgrades to Mr Zuma’s homestead.

Members of the riot police unit entered the Assembly when EFF MP Ngwanamakwetle Mashabela refused to obey an order for her to leave the house. Ms Mashabela, who had called Zuma a thief, was defended by opposition MPs who scuffled with the police.

Mr Pothier said much of the problem stemmed from the “problematic fact” that Ms Mbete held the position of speaker while also acting as the chairwoman of the ANC. “The speaker must be non-partisan and enjoy the respect of all MPs across the house,” said Mr Pothier.

He noted that previous speakers such as Max Sisulu and Frene Ginwala held senior positions in the ANC but still enjoyed the respect of most MPs. Neither were seen as pursuing ANC agendas as the speakers of Partliament.

“We can debate whether Baleka Mbete has used or misused her position, but the perception is there... You cannot wear both of those hats. You cannot have an office bearer pursuing interests of party. You would expect her to act even-handedly in a non-partisan way.”

Mr Pothier said the conflict in the assembly is likely to continue until Ms Mbete steps down. It would be better, he said, if she was replaced by an MP who does enjoy the confidence and respect of the house.

The EFF meanwhile, should also take a share of the blame for what has happened.

“Even if you don’t like the speaker, you cannot just ignore her rulings. The person who sits in the speaker's seat is like a judge in the court—there is a line you can’t really cross,” he said.

Mechanisms exist for parties who are unhappy with the speaker, Mr Pothier noted.

“You can stage a walkout as a sign of displeasure. An opposition party could bring the place to a halt, even though you are in the minority.

There are non-disruptive and non-disrespectful ways of registering your displeasure.”

The EFF, he said, used Parliament to whip up emotions so that they can gain headlines and exposure to “bolster their brand”.

“The EFF has crossed the line in the way they have refused to accept the rulings of the speaker. They are overly provocative and the speaker and ANC have risen to that bait.”

Mr Pothier said the police should only be called in when a situation in the house is critical.

“Parliament has a sergeant-at-arms and its own security guards. If things are heated that security staff could be brought in. The police should be involved only when all options have been exhausted and the situation is critical.”

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2

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

LOCAL

Kids clean bricks for new church

BY STUART GRAHAM

coming and going. The building site is busy the whole day,” she said.

“This church will be beautiful when it is finished.”

Sr Mchunu says she and her fellow sisters are often seconded to different parishes, such as St Anne’s, as they are needed.

“We help the sick people at home,” she said. “We give homebased care. We care for children who do not have parents and who have been thrown in the fields. But now we are here to help the people of Mpophomeni.”

Her colleague, Sr Francina Mlitwa, said when the old St Anne’s was demolished weeks ago there was great concern among the community.

“People were saying, ‘where is our church? We want our church back!’ So now it is so nice to see people coming with small hammers and cleaning the bricks.”

Sr Mlitwa said she has been contemplating the Year of Consecrated

T

CIE Thabiso Skills Institute launched the Life Skills Manual, which was developed in conjunction with the Salesian Institute. The manual is used as part of a Life Skills Programme which prepares learners for the world of work by providing them with CV writing and interview skills and develops self-esteem and self-image and gives learners skills to deal with social issues such as substance abuse, rape, and HIV/Aids. (Left) Yvonne dos Santos of CIE, Salesian Provincial Fr Francois Dufour, Fawzia Naidoo of CIE. (Right) Salesians Fr Jonathan Daniels, Br Clarence Watts and Fr Mikel Garmendia.

Umzimkulu plans for YOCL

Raffle winner sees Big Five!

STAFF REPORTER

STAFF REPORTER

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ELIGIOUS Sisters and Brothers of the Umzimkulu diocese in KwaZulu-Natal met with Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba in Harding to discuss the preparations of the launching of the Year of Consecrated Life.

Representatives of the Precious Blood Sisters, Daughters of St Francis of Assisi, Little Servants of Mary Immaculate, Koinonia John the Baptist and Order of St Paul the 1st Hermit were present.

The religious received the Consecrated Life year candle, prayer cards, a copy of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, his letter REJOICE! which was addressed to consecrated men and women, and the booklet The Rosary of Parents to promote the family prayer in their parishes.

Celebrations will take place on January 15 with the Pauline Fathers and Brothers Community and the feast of St Paul the 1st Hermit. A braai will also be held.

On February 7, a consecrated life celebration will be held with the religious of the KwaZulu-Natal region at Emaus mission.

The theme of “Wake up the world!” is inspired by Pope Francis’ call to action to men and women religious.

On February 14-15 a celebration will take place with the faithful of Umzimkulu diocese at which vocations will be promoted among youth and pilgrims.

From April 7-11 a retreat will be held with the religious sisters and brothers in Coolock House.

Fr Herman van Dijck MSC (right), friend Steven (left) and safari ranger Lorence from Viva Safaris, enjoy a refreshing beverage at Ezulwini Lodge, before heading out on a game-viewing drive. Fr van Dijck won the luxury safari raffle in aid of the Capuchin Sisters in Umzumbe. (Inset) A photograph taken by Fr Van Dijck of lions on his trip in the Kruger National Park. and sewing machines have been bought and the reception area has

been retiled. The balance will be used to maintain the property.

Edmund Rice Camps celebrates children

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BY DYLAN APPOLIS

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Hiroaki Fujiwara, minister of the embassy of Japan, unveiled a plaque at the extended day rooms of Little Eden with Maurizio Galimberti, chairman of the home’s board of governors. embassy of Japan, congratulated Little Eden on their work for people with intellectual disability.

“From the heart of the people and government of Japan, I hope the glory to be with this home,” Mr Fujiwara said.

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PRIEST who won the draw in the luxury safari raffle in support of the Capuchin Sisters in Umzumbe managed to see all of the Big Five and more in the Kruger Park.

Fr Herman van Dijck MSC of Pretoria, who was joined by Steve, the grandson of a former parish financial assistant, was hosted by Viva Safaris, who sponsored part of the prize worth R35 000.

The raffle was prominently advertised in The Southern Cross. Fr van Dijck’s winning ticket was drawn live on air on Radio Veritas in August.

The raffle raised almost R110 000 which is being used by the Capuchin Sisters to make necessary renovations to their convent in Umzumbe and to defray expenses.

Sr Maricela Morales, the convent’s superior, said that part of the money has also been spent on settling all outstanding bills, buying medicine for some of the ailing sisters, and setting up a vegetable garden.

In addition, a new kitchen stove

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

Embassy of Japan brings comfort to Little Eden ESIDENTS and staff of Little Eden joined delegates from the embassy of Japan during a small ceremony to open the recently extended day rooms at the home in Bapsfontein, Johannesburg.

Little Eden had approached the Japanese embassy for funding to extend the two day rooms for boys and girls with profound intellectual disability.

“Caring for our special people goes far beyond providing a meal and a bed to sleep in. We evaluate and monitor the service we provide for them daily through spiritual enrichment and the values of respect, sanctity of life and love and care to ensure that we continue to provide the residents with quality care which is important for them to reach their full potential,” said Lucy Slaviero, Little Eden’s CEO. The residents have already moved into their renovated rooms and the impact of the renovations on the residents is already visible, said Mrs Slaviero.

Hiroaki Fujiwara, minister of the

HE people of Mpophomeni, 28km north-west of Pietermaritzburg, might not have been happy when their old church was demolished, but locals are now actively involved in the construction of a new church at St Anne’s parish with even the children collecting and cleaning old bricks.

Sr Innocence Mchunu, a member of the Daughters of St Francis of Assisi order in Port Shepstone, said she and her fellow sisters arrived at St Anne’s on January 19 this year at the invitation of parish priest Fr Jude Fernando.

“We are here to be among the people, to teach catechism and to help in any way we are needed,” said Sr Mchunu.

“There are many faithful in this area and many of them have been helping to build the new church.

“Even the children are collecting and cleaning old bricks so that we can use them again. People are

Life that will start on November 29 while serving at Mpophomeni.

The year will challenge all religious to revisit their call “which is inherited from God”, she said.

“I think when we celebrate it, even the lay people will understand what a consecrated life means,” she said.

“I can see them asking: ‘what is the meaning of this life?’ The answer is: working among people; answering the call from God. The year will let people [become aware of] what religious life is.”

Sr Mlitwa said the sisters have already started workshops looking at life of St Francis of Assisi and what he tried to achieve through his spirituality.

“That love of nature that he had.

The looking at water, at trees and at human beings—because God is in them. People have forgotten that they are made by God. We are trying to awaken that in them,” she said.

DMUND Rice Camps (ERC) showed their gratitude towards sponsors by inviting them to celebrate an evening of investment.

The “evening of investment” at the Christian Brothers Centre in Stellenbosch celebrated the lives of children, youth and young adults.

Guests were greeted by ERC members and the sounds of a Marimba band, which had people dancing as soon as they entered the event.

“If we invest in the children, it will give them hope to do more in their lives and that is what ERC does for the children,” said keynote speaker James Albanie of the Western Cape government’s Social Development and Youth Programme.

ERC believes that each person has the right to be safe, to be loved, cared for and to be granted opportunities to discover and realise their full potential in life.

Denzel Swartz, who was a “buddy” and leader at the ERC said that in his 14 years with the organisation, the camps had “given me the courage to do more. They taught me that if you care for others, they will care for you. I was encouraged to think further and was given an opportunity to do what I wanted to do with my life.”

The vision of ERC offers opportunities for marganilised children, youth and young adults to experience meaningful relationships and to facilitate lifecoping skills, empowering them to become agents of change within in their communities. n For more information on how to volunteer or donate to ERC, contact Jennifer Fredricks at info@edmundrice camps.org.za or 073 404 6282, or go to www.ed mundricecamps.org.za.

Read and comment on our articles online www.scross.co.za

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

3

Bishop blesses Daswa shrine site

BY STAFF REPORTER

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ISHOP João Rodrigues of Tzaneen has blessed the land that will house the shrine and pilgrimage site for the late Benedict Daswa, who is being considered for beatification as a martyr The bishop led around 900 parishoners in the celebration at a gathering at Tshitanini Village in the parish of Thohoyandou.

During a Mass Bishop Rodrigues solemnly blessed the 10 hectare plot of land which the diocese has acquired for the future shrine and pilgrimage centre in honour of Benedict Daswa.

Twelve miraculous medals brought especially from Paris were buried at the place where the future church is to be built, said Sr Claudette Hiosan, promoter of the cause for Daswa’s sainthood.

“These twelve medals of the Mother of God symbolise the church built on the foundation of the twelve apostles.”

Before the final blessing two trees were planted, one by Bishop Rodrigues, representing the Church, and the other by the mayor of the Thulamela municipality, Grace Mahosi.

Those present at the celebration included heads of the local tribal and municipal authorities, members of the Daswa family and representatives from some other Christian churches.

Benedict Daswa, the eldest of five children was born on June 16, 1946 in the village of Mbahe near Thohoyandou. He belonged to the Bakali clan of the Lemba tribe.

A convert to Catholicism, he was

baptised on April 21, 1963, and received his first Holy Communion.

Three months later he was confirmed.

Being greatly influenced by his catechist Benedict Risimati, who later became a priest, he made his own the motto of St Benedict of Norcia: “Pray and Work”.

Daswa made no secret of his stance against the widespread practice of witchcraft, sorcery and ritual murder.

Accusations of witchcraft are frequently made out of jealousy, fear and suspicion against those who are seen to be more committed and successful in their enterprises. Daswa realised that individuals must be freed from these paralysing superstitions in order to take personal responsibility and grow into mature adults.

On February 2, 1990 he was stoned and bludgeoned to death after speaking out against a witch hunt.

Sr Hiosan said Benedict Daswa’s life and death have a very special relevance, not only for the Church, but also for the wider society.

“After his baptism, Benedict became deeply involved in various areas of the local Church,” she said.

“He had a preferential love for young people and spent many hours and weekends catechising and guiding them.”

As a teacher, he was concerned not only about giving good education but also about imparting moral values and character formation to the learners.

He was also a very conscientious school principal, moulding and motivating his staff to provide good ed-

(Left) Bishop João Rodrigues blesses the 10 hectare area of land obtained for Benedict Daswa’s shrine and pilgrimage centre at at Tshitanini Village in Thohoyandou. (Right) Children of the parish join in the celebration . ucation and also involving the parents as partners in the educative process.

“As a family man he was a genuine role-model as husband and father and totally committed to the ideal of the family as the domestic Church.”

N

ine theological consultors appointed by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints to examine the cause of Benedict Daswa unanimously voted in October that he had died a martyr.

A commission of 22 bishops and cardinals will meet in Rome on January 13 to discuss and vote on the Positio and Report of the theological consultants.

If the result of their deliberations

is also positive, a Decree of Martyrdom will be issued by the prefect of the sainthood congregation. This will be sent to the Holy Father for ratification. The pope then sets a date for the beatification.

After beatification, the Servant of God will be referred to as “Blessed Benedict Daswa”.

If approved, the beatification ceremony will likely take place in South Africa, probably in 2015.

For Benedict Daswa to be declared a “saint” a miracle attributable solely to his intercession must be formally recognised by the Church.

Mayor Mahosi said in her speech at the blessing event that Thulamela communities need moral generating role models such as Daswa.

“We need them to play roles in

outspreading the Word of God, to extract inhumanity from our people, and more importantly, to enable the government to lead law abiding and ethical citizens,” she said.

“Benedict Daswa has done what God called him to do, which is why we are here today, to celebrate his exemplary life, and also to encourage others to follow in his footsteps,” the mayor said.

Mayor Mahosi added: “He even went as far as standing up for what he believed in showing true reflections of valiance, as he strongly detested witchcraft acts, which led to his merciless death.” n For further information about the Daswa cause please contact the Sr Hiosan on 076 579 8843.

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Catholic Liturgical Arts

John Patrick Sauer, who has served on the altar in churches in Cape Town and Oudtshoorn diocese for an unbroken 50 years, is seen with Pallottine Father Cosmas Onwukwe of George. Mr Sauer, known as JP, began his long service at Our Lady Help of Christian church in Lansdowne under the instruction of the late Fr John Maggott. For 20 years he served in Our Lady Queen of Peace in Grassy Park. He also served in St Anne’s in Steenberg. While at Grassy Park his children also became altar servers. Later he served in St Theresa’s church in Knysna and now in St Vincent Pallotti church in Pacaltsdorp, George.

Mr Sauer, who celebrates his birthday on November 30, says that he has “been blessed with joyous and happy years in the altar service ministry”.

He encourages “all juniors in our Church throughout our country to take up this worthy and inspiring ministry”, saying that it can become a springboard for young men to join the priesthood.

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4

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Pope calls for revolutionaries of traditional family

BY FRANCIS X ROCCA

P

OPE Francis has called for preserving the family as an institution based on marriage between a man and a woman, which he said is not a political cause but a matter of “human ecology”, and warned that the complementarity between male and female should not insist on stereotypical gender roles.

“The complementarity of man and woman... is at the root of marriage and the family,” the pope said at the opening of a three-day interreligious conference on traditional marriage.

“Children have the right to grow up in a family with a father and mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity,” he said.

Pope Francis said that “marriage and the family are in crisis. We now live in a culture of the temporary, in which more and more people are simply giving up on marriage as a public commitment. The revolution in mores and morals has often flown the flag of freedom, but in fact it has brought spiritual and material devastation to countless human beings, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.”

According to the pope, the “crisis in the family has produced an ecological crisis, for social environments, like natural environments, need protection”.

“Although the human race has come to understand the need to address conditions that menace our natural environments, we have been slower—we have been slower in our culture, and also in our

Catholic culture—to recognise that our fragile social environments are also at risk. It is therefore essential that we foster a new human ecology.”

Pope Francis voiced hope that young people would be “revolutionaries with the courage to seek true and lasting love, going against the current”. But he also warned against falling into the “trap of being swayed by ideological concepts”.

“We cannot speak today of the conservative family or the progressive family,” he said. “The family is the family.”

The pope also stressed that the complementarity between male and female does not necessarily entail stereotypical gender roles.

“Let us not confuse [complementarity] with the simplistic idea

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that all the roles and relations of the two sexes are fixed in a single, static pattern,” he said. “Complementarity will take many forms as each man and woman brings his or her distinctive contributions to their marriage and to the education of their children.”

Pope Francis said Christians find the meaning of complementarity in St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, “where the apostle tells us that the Spirit has endowed each of us with different gifts so that—just as the human body’s members work together for the good of the whole—everyone’s gifts can work together for the benefit of each”.

“To reflect upon complementarity is nothing less than to ponder the dynamic harmonies at the heart of all creation,” the pope said.—CNS

Pope Francis and Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Doctrine, during the interreligious conference on traditional marriage. (Photo: Chris WardeJones, courtesy Humanum.it)

Vatican puts focus on autism

BY LAURA IERACI

C

ARING for people with autism spectrum disorders is to care for families, said Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry.

“Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) affect families, not just the person who has the illness,” the archbishop told reporters at the Vatican as he introduced an interdisciplinary conference for health care workers, caregivers and ministers.

Coinciding with the conference, Pope Francis had his first official audience with people with ASD and their families.

The meeting with the pope was expected to include a moment of prayer, but also music because, organisers said, the festive spirit of the encounter would facilitate the participation of people with ASD. The disorders include autism,

Asperger’s syndrome and Rett syndrome, which create difficulties for people in the areas of social interaction and communication, though with varying degrees, ranging from mild to debilitating severity.

The Vatican conference was designed to bring together international experts in the areas of medicine, psychology, family life and pastoral care. More than 700 participants from 57 countries had registered.

The social impact of ASD is often isolation and marginalisation. But Camillian Father Augusto Chendi, undersecretary of the council, said the conference “intends to contribute to breaking the isolation and, in many cases, the stigma that weigh on people affected with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and often on their families.”

Children and adults with ASD require an enormous commitment of time, resources and care

from their families, and the Church seeks to express its care, closeness and solidarity to them, Archbishop Zimowski said.

In addition to offering a forum for an exchange of information and ideas, Archbishop Zimowski said conference organisers also wanted to offer a context in which people who live and work with ASD, even the most difficult cases, can renew their hope.

Organisers said they hoped the conference would help to raise awareness about ASD, whose incidence has increased in recent years. Worldwide, about one child in every 110 is estimated to have ASD. While a wide range of studies into the causes of ASD have turned up numerous genetic and environmental factors, none of them independently “are either necessary or sufficient in determining the pathology,” Archbishop Zimowski said.—CNS

A papal Sunday afternoon

BY CINDY WOODEN

P

OPE Francis spent a Sunday afternoon at the papal villas in Castel Gandolfo, having lunch at the papal farm and blessing two new statues by an Argentine artist.

The pope recited the Angelus with visitors in St Peter’s Square at noon, ending with a blessing and by wishing the crowd a “good lunch”.

Pope Francis had his lunch out at Castel Gandolfo’s “Frantoio”, the building named after the olive press at the papal farm.

He was joined, among others,

by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; Osvaldo Gianoli, director of the papal villas, and his family; the Argentine artist Alejandro Marmo and his family.

After lunch, Fr Lombardi said, “the pope walked to the nearby heliport where he met a group of about 40 people he

Pope Francis prays in front of two new statues by Argentine artist Alejandro Marmo at the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo. The pope blessed the statues, which are iron sculptures of the crucified Christ and Our Lady of Lujan. (Photo: L’Osservatore Romano/CNS) knew from Argentina, and he proceeded to bless the two works of art”—iron sculptures of

the crucified Christ and of Our Lady of Lujan—created by Marmo.—CNS

Eastern Catholic priests’ marriages OK

BY LAURA IERACI

T

HE Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories.

Pope Francis approved lifting the ban, also doing away with the provision that, in exceptional cases, Eastern Catholic bishops in the diaspora could receive Vatican approval to ordain

married men. In recent years, however, some Eastern Catholic bishops went ahead with such ordinations discreetly without Vatican approval.

The new law says the pope concedes to Eastern Catholic bishops outside their traditional territory the faculties to “allow pastoral service of Eastern married clergy” and “to ordain Eastern married candidates” in their eparchies or dioceses, although they must inform the local Latin-

rite bishop in writing “in order to have his opinion and any relevant information.”

The new legislation puts into universal law the possibility of Eastern Catholic married men being ordained throughout the world.

Among the Orthodox, the ban had created a sense that their tradition would not be respected in the event of full communion between the two churches, experts said.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

Seal of the confessional absolute, even after death T

BY CINDY WOODEN

HE secrecy of a confession is maintained so seriously and completely by the Catholic Church that a priest would be excommunicated for revealing the contents of a confession when ordered to testify by a court or even after the penitent dies, Vatican officials have said.

“No confessor can be dispensed from it, even if he would want to reveal the contents of a confession in order to prevent a serious and imminent evil,” said Mgr Krzysztof Nykiel, regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with matters of conscience.

The penitentiary sponsored a conference at the Vatican on “the confessional seal and pastoral privacy”.

According to the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, conference participants heard

that since the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 spelled out the penalties in Church law for violating the secret of the confessional, “the discipline of the Church in this matter has remained substantially the same”, with the exception of additional protections.

One of those additions, the newspaper said, was a 1988 Church law explicitly stating that using an “electronic apparatus” to record, broadcast or otherwise share the contents of a confession also is an excommunicable offence.

Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, told conference participants it is important “to remove any suspicion” that the Church’s commitment to the confessional seal “is designed to cover intrigues, plots or mysteries as people sometimes naively believe or, more easily, are led to believe”.

The seal, he said, is intended to protect the most intimate part of the human person, “that is, to safeguard the presence of God within each man”. The effect of the secret, he said, is that it also protects a person’s reputation and right to privacy.

The confessional seal, Mgr Nykiel said, “is binding not only on the confessor, but also on the interpreter, if present, and anyone who in any way, even casually, comes to know of the sins confessed”.

The Church, he said, takes the seal so seriously that it forbids, on the pain of excommunication, a priest from testifying in court about what he heard in the confessional, “even if the penitent requests” he testify.

Not even the death of the penitent can absolve the confessor from the obligation to maintain the secret, Mgr Nykiel said.—CNS

Shower facilities built for the homeless on Vatican streets

BY CINDY WOODEN

A homeless person sleeps outside the Vatican press office near St Peter’s Square. Public restrooms in St Peter’s Square will be renovated to include showers so the homeless can wash. Dozens of homeless people live within sight of the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) just behind the Vatican post office.

The archbishop told Vatican Insider that in early October he was talking to a homeless man near the Vatican and discovered it was the man’s 50th birthday.

He invited the man to a restaurant for dinner, but the man declined, saying a restaurant would not let him in because of his odour.

Sitting on the steps of the Vatican press office, Barbara and Stefano were discussing the plans with a small group of Polish friends—and expressing some doubts about it to reporters.

The Rome diocesan Caritas, the Community of Sant’Egidio

and other organisations offer shower facilities to the homeless in Rome, Barbara said, “but there are so many things you have to do. You have to get there at 4 in the morning to sign in. Then only 15 people get in each day.”

Archbishop Krajewski told Vatican Insider that he is visiting parishes in areas where homeless people gather and is encouraging them to install public showers if they have not already. His office will help fund the building, he said.

“It is not simple,” he said. “It is easier to prepare sandwiches than to run a shower service— you need volunteers, towels, clean underwear.”—CNS

Ugandan priest in Mexican massacre grave

BY DAVID AGREN

T

HE remains of a Ugandan missionary priest missing for months were recovered from a mass grave in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, adding to the horror of the crimes and killings in a region now notorious for the disappearance and possible deaths of 43 teacher trainees.

Comboni Father John Ssenyondo was found in a grave with six other bodies in the Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, according to a source quoted by Reuters. The source said Fr Ssenyondo had refused to baptise

5

Demons: incubi and succubi go to Google: sine-glossa.blogspot.com

Y

Is the Holy Land safe for pilgrims?

es, it is! Images on the TV news might create an idea that the Holy Land is dangerous for vistors. But where pilgrims go, life goes on as it always does.

So we can be sure that pilgrims are safe in the Holy Land?

Yes, we can. Our guides and drivers know the region intimately, and they know exactly where possible troublespots might be – should there be any, they will be easily bypassed. Working within a network, our guides and drivers of the Holy Land are experts in keeping pilgrims well out of harm’s way.

But is there a possibility that things go wrong for pilgrims?

Even in past times of unrest, not a single pilgrim among millions ever came to harm. The Holy Land is always absolutely safe for pilgrims.

And you can guarantee that?

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T

HE archbishop who distributes charity on behalf of Pope Francis has announced that the public restrooms in St Peter’s Square will include showers where the homeless can wash.

The service will require volunteers and donations of soap, towels and clean underwear, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, said. “We have to be evangelical, but intelligent, too.”

Several people living on the streets of Rome or in tents say it is not difficult to find a parish or charity that will give them something to eat, but finding a place to wash is much more difficult.

Barbara, a Polish woman who lives in a tent with her teenage son and a companion, said showers in the Vatican’s public restrooms “would be good. We’d thank them if it works.”

Her companion, who calls himself Stefano, said: “I’m a mason without work. I’ll help them build it. No problem.”

The news site Vatican Insider first reported the news that Archbishop Krajewski had asked the office governing Vatican City State to include showers in an already-approved project to remodel the public restrooms in St Peter’s Square.

The remodelling work and installation of the showers began in mid-November. The archbishop said the three shower stalls would be located in the public restrooms a few steps north of Bernini’s colonnade,

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

the child of an alleged gangster.

Fr Ssenyondo was abducted by armed assailants after celebrating a wedding on April 30. His remains were identified using dental records.

Fr Ssenyondo had been working in a small parish near the city of Chilapa, 160km north of Acapulco, since 2010. He reportedly had refused to pay extortion, which was demanded because he was believed to be receiving foreign funds.

The death again demonstrated the risks run by priests working in regions rife with organised-crime activities. The Centro Catolico

Multimedial reports seven priests were murdered over the past two years. Another two priests are missing.

Investigators and private search parties have uncovered unmarked graves across Guerrero state, where organised crime and drug cartels are accused of operating with impunity and infiltrating municipal governments.

Recently 43 teacher trainees in Guerrero state went missing. Federal officials say police detained them and handed them over to gang members, who confessed to burning the bodies in a garbage dump. —CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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.

We all need to be listened to E all need to play our part in stance abuse. When we see them The woman priest debate Wreaching out and evangelis- in our homes and wonder how we ing. But how is this done? can bring them back to the Editor: Günther Simmermacher

T

HE recent ordination in South Africa of a woman, Dr Mary Ryan, to the Catholic priesthood—an illicit and invalid act in Church law—has inevitably revived a long-running debate.

Catholics will know that the question of the ordination of women to the priesthood is an ultra-sensitive subject in the Church.

Pope John Paul II in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis ruled that the Church does not have the authority to ordain women to the priesthood, and advised that his document was to be seen as closing the debate on the subject. Further he said that “this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful”.

Ordinatio Sacerdotalis evidently did not end the debate among the faithful, and not all of the Church’s faithful seem to hold its judgment to be final, or consider themselves bound in conscience by the pope’s judgment that they should.

In that way, John Paul’s apparent attempt to forestall division and disunity by closing the debate might have failed to achieve its objective.

The bishops of Southern Africa in their pastoral statement this month on the subject point out that it is “contrary to the spirit of the Catholic Church to be involved in the promotion of women in the priestly ministry” and warn that Catholics must avoid participating in invalid celebrations of the Eucharist by illicitly ordained women.

The pastoral statement also called on the faithful to “give ‘a religious submission of mind’ to the definitive teaching of the supreme pontiff” and pointed out that in his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis reiterated that the female priesthood is not up for discussion.

Whether this will close the debate on the theory of the ordination of women remains to be seen.

At the same time as the bishops’ pastoral statement was released, a Spanish priest who serves as a consultor to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture said quite unambiguously that he was “absolutely” in favour of opening the priesthood to women.

This is not insignificant. Fr Pablo d’Ors is advising the Vatican on a report for its plenary assembly on “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference”, and therefore must be considered as a

priest who has the confidence of at least some in the Vatican, and whose views therefore cannot be dismissed simply as those of a renegade.

The views of Fr d’Ors will not change the Church’s teachings, of course, but they might serve as an early signal that the proscriptions on the discussion of women priests may loosen, at least informally.

The sincere study into the permissibility of women in holy orders, and into alternatives such as opening the permanent diaconate to women, might well benefit from this. But if so, then the debate must be invested with certain ground rules.

For one, it should be fully understood that the present teaching on the ordination of women is valid and, indeed, prudent. The Church cannot change its ancient tradition unless it is perfectly certain that it in fact does have the authority to admit women to the priesthood. In light of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, this would require more than the arguments presently put forward.

The discourse cannot be predicated on the realities of social change. The teaching is not intrinsically sexist or misogynistic— though it is presented by some in just such unwelcome ways. At the same time, the history of gender politics is not irrelevant to the study of the position of women in the early Church.

If there is to be a debate, it must be on the terms of the Church’s position: that Scripture records Christ as “choosing his Apostles only from among men”; that it is “the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men”; and that it is the Church’s “living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church”.

There is nothing to lose for the Church in allowing further theological inquest in the matter. If the teaching is absolutely solid, as Ordinatio Sacerdotalis presents it to be, then no amount of study and argument can weaken it. And if it isn’t, then truth demands further study.

The question of women priests is an emotive issue, and positions on it tend to be expressed with an antagonism and mistrust that sometimes exhibits little Christian charity. There must be a middle-ground that, even in strong disagreement, can bridge division and heal disunity.

It starts at Mass. We are unaware of the problems facing the regulars at Sunday Mass. Week after week we attend Mass and are there with our own silent problems. We pray over problems at home and for our families.

Within our families there are those who have made their first and last confession, received their first and last Holy Communion, or were confirmed as Catholics and then disappeared.

Some are caught up in sub-

God’s eye poked

M

ARY Ryan poked her finger in Gods eye!

In the Eucharist only a male priest can preside at the altar in persona Christi and utter the words: “This is my body, this is my blood”.

If a female should utter these words, she will have to distance herself from Christ and act as a narrator, thereby distorting Scripture and reduce the Eucharist to a cultic practice.

It seems that the feminists are arrogant and will not humble themselves before God. They refuse reality for some distorted “calling”. The Catholic Church did not invent the male priesthood. God designed this sacrament. Our permission was not asked for, neither did he ask our permission to create us male and female—he just did it!

There is no evidence of priestesses in the history of the Church or in the Scriptures. The writer GK Chesterton said: “If we don’t understand the reason for some ancient tradition, rule or institution, that should not be a reason for abolishing it until we do understand it”.

The Church knows the reason, the feminists don’t.

Colin Donovan, vice-president for theology at EWTN, has explained: “Femininity reflects the receptive character of the soul. Mary is the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son and the spouse of the Holy Spirit as in the incarnation.

The Church is his bride. God transcends creation and all his missions is reflected in masculinity.”

Henry Sylvester, Cape Town

The alternatives

M

ARY Ryan should not be excommunicated from the Church, but she should have been told that in order to serve the Almighty God and the community, that there are lots of things that she can do: Become a nun, do charity work or go to a place where people need to be inspired by the Holy

Church. We pray and we pray and we pray, but time goes on. They heed other calls.

But they need us. They are on the wrong side and need to be brought back. We are too silent praying. Prayer and action is the required combination.

Here is my proposal, making use of the vast resource of talent and holiness in our retired priests and nuns who would, I am sure, avail themselves in sharing in this project.

Spirit. By doing all these things, like a priest, she will be serving God. Why does she insist on becoming a priest? This is beyond me. Some things, like this matter, are left deliberately unanswered by the Lord for a reason.

Sylvia Weelson, Port Elizabeth

Beware: Dynamite

I

AM neither for nor against the possible future ordination of female priests. I leave it to those much wiser than me to weigh up the pros and cons of the issue.

Sincerely, I respect the views of the many signatories to the letter “Excommunicating Dr Mary Ryan”, and I commend the approach of “a door is still a door and not a concrete barrier wall, which can be slowly pushed open, with a little rubbing of the hinges with holy oil”.

My idea of “holy oil” would be to put one’s view forward in a reasoned manner supported by constant prayer. The signatories’ way forward is akin to using dynamite, the consequences of which are unpredictable.

Paddy Ross, Cape Town

Carmelite prayer

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N his article “Our journey with three great saints” (November 5), Günther Simmemacher states that the Carmelite Order places the rosary at the centre of its prayer life.

St Teresa certainly valued vocal prayer and she encouraged meditation on the life and mysteries of Christ, but as far as I am aware, she does not mention the recitation of the rosary when writing for her sisters. In her well-known definition of prayer she says: “Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.”

It is this being alone in God’ presence, in a loving and silent attentiveness to him, which is at the heart

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The way it might work: People with problems write their troubles on a piece of paper with their name and telephone or cellphone numbers and place these with a donation, for example R10 or R20, in a box at the back of the church.

These are collected and sent to the retired priests and nuns, the “Listeners”.

These “Listeners” would then call the people who wrote the notes, and listen to their problems.

No criticising, no condemning, no complaining. Just offering a Christ-like open ear.

Maybe we all need a “Listener”.

I know do.

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of Carmelite prayer.

Sr Marie Therese Kelly OCD, Benoni

Islam: No defence

R

EGARDING Gushwell Brookes’ article in defence of Islam (November 5), it must be pointed out that besides the more than 36 worldwide Islamic terrorist organisations, there are many Islamic governments or states that persecute, discriminate and harass Christians.

The Qu’ran does advocate beheading (sura 47:4) and crucifixion (sura 5:33) and in sura 9:29, Muslims are told to fight the Jews and Christians “until they pay the Jizyah (Poll Tax) with willing submission and feel themselves subdued”. One could give many other similar quotations.

In such critical time Christians need to be supported, not Islam defended, especially not in a Catholic newspaper. And please, Mr Brookes, read the Qu’ran, the Hadith, the Sharia and the life of Muhammad before writing such an article.

Dom Nardini, Knysna

Books needed

T

he motive for my letter is to ask for a donation of books for spiritual reading.

Books are a strong motivation in my spiritual life in the situation in which I find myself. If you can provide me with books by Henri Nouwen especially, I would most appreciate it.

My address is Tswelopele Correctional Centre, Private Bag X 6008, Kimberley.

Luzuko Justice Cekiso, Kimberley

Sandwich centre

D

URBAN’S new Denis Hurley Centre (pictured on November 5) is an excruciatingly ugly building.

It looks like a parking garage. With its sandwich shape, it will probably be dubbed “The Sandwich”.

Adrian Kettle, Cape Town

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PERSPECTIVES Raymond Perrier

Remembering our dead N OVEMBER has been a month of remembrance. For Catholics, the “remembering” is tied to the feast of All Souls and a whole month of praying for those who have died.

We might recall deceased loved ones on their birthdays or death anniversaries, but November provides a useful month to bring to mind all we miss, and to remember people we have perhaps forgotten. It is a defining characteristic of Catholic Christians that we do this; through candles, flowers, Mass offerings and prayer cards we have formal visible rituals for showing our remembrance.

Grief is so complex and subtle that such simple gestures can help with the process.

When I was working in a refugee camp, we created an easy ritual that we could take from chapel to chapel: people would write the names of loved ones who had died each on a small heart, and we would pin the hearts to a beautiful Kitenge cloth.

People often only heard about deaths many months after the event, and had little chance of attending a funeral or visiting a grave, so something practical like this became a way of focusing the prayer.

We were soon asked though about that phrase “the faithful departed”: should we be praying only for Catholics who have died?

The idea of “praying for the dead” is a bit hard to get our heads round. We are certainly not praying that God will change his mind and re-assign someone from one form of after-life to a nicer one. Rather we are hopeful that our prayers will “speed” the soul’s journey to heaven, even if we are not sure what “speed” could mean in the dimension of eternity. But whatever our understanding of the value of praying for the dead, it is one that would have value for all the departed: Catholics, other Christians, followers of other faiths, and

people of no formal faith. So we did not require baptismal certificates before we allowed names to be added to our cloth of remembrance.

As someone who usually says, “I’ll pray for him/her”, when told a person has died, I used to be at a loss about what to say to the relative of a non-Catholic who had died. But over the years, I have said to the mourners: “In our tradition we offer prayers for those who have died, so I hope that you find some comfort if I say that I will pray for your loved one”. I have never had anything other than a positive response.

A

nother form of remembrance associated with November—especially in Britain and former countries of the British Empire—is remembering all those who have died in warfare. The reason for this commemoration is that the “Armistice agreement” that ended the First World War was on signed on November 11 (poetically at the 11th hour of the 11th day

Visitors look at the Tower of London’s poppy installation this month. The ceramic poppies commemorated the end of World War I. (Photo: Hannah McKay, EPA/CNS)

tioned in the Thoughts for the Day booklet’s introduction to the month, there is a quality of permanence about family life but along with that there is the reality of change. There is birth, there is life and there is death. There are gains and losses to be worked through and accepted. Solidarity helps members to stand together as they move from level to level. Conscious preparation and openness to change make the transition smoother.

On a more literal level, the end of the year for thousands of school learners and other students is very much about moving to the next level too. Exam time has been stressful and awaiting results, especially for matrics, may be even more so. Let us hope family solidarity assisted there and we offer our prayers for positive results. hose who have been taught well and prepared well deserve to move to the next level. The plight of those who have not had the support needs to be addressed with more than talk and empty phrases about levelling the playing field.

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Pray with the Pope

A Christmas prayer General Intention: That the birth of the Redeemer may bring peace and hope to all people of good will.

I

SN’T it fascinating that the pope has placed this intention under the “universal” heading?

I imagine this is because de facto Christmas is an event celebrated in some way or other all over the world.

In Japan for, where only 1% of the people are Christian, Christmas is celebrated as a secular feast. There is an obvious commercial side to this: Christmas is a time for giving gifts and someone has to produce the gifts for it, and so encouraging non-Christians to celebrate this feast is rather astute marketing.

Christmas dinner often comprises fast-food chicken (a substitute for turkey, which is simply too expensive) and sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries. Streets and homes are decorated with Christmas lights, gifts are given to children and people wish each other “Meri Kurisumasu”.

What we are praying for is that, perhaps through the good example of their Christian neighbours, non-Christians might be drawn to enquire more deeply about the original significance of what they are celebrating, and from this deeper understanding they may receive the graces of the feast, particularly peace and hope.

We should not be unhappy to share our feasts.

After all, other faiths are often very hospitable to us with theirs. A priest who studied in Egypt recently described how he and his colleagues used to tuck into the street-feasts put on by wealthy Muslims at Eid after the end of Ramadan.

That we can share in each others’ feasts is itself a sign of hope and a gesture of peace in a fractured world.

Family Friendly

The cliché “taking it to the next level” can have many applications. (Photo: morguefile.com)

T

of the 11th month). So that date and time have been used to mark the dead of all wars, combatants and non-combatants.

Just as Catholics use candles and Mass cards as physical symbols of the remembering, the tradition has built up in Britain—and I saw some in South Africa— of wearing an artificial poppy, a simple bright red flower recollecting the red flowers that bloomed in the fields between France and Germany and symbolic of the red blood that was shed there.

This year has seen the 100th anniversary of the start of that “war to end all wars”. I was impressed to hear that almost everyone in Britain—including young people usually with no interest in history—was wearing a poppy to show solidarity with the dead of 100 years ago and with those in the armed forces still sacrificing their lives today.

A commemoration that really caught people’s imagination was the moat around the Tower of London being filled with 888 246 ceramic poppies. Each was about 60cm high and represented a WW1 military casualty from Britain or the Commonwealth. What was striking was not just the hundreds of thousands of poppies, but the tens of thousands of volunteers who helped make each one by hand, and the millions of people who travelled to see them personally as an act of remembrance.

But one of the most powerful acts of remembrance is also the most simple: a moment of silence. In fact the traditional Armistice two minutes of silence—one minute for those who died and the other for those who survived—was proposed to King George V by a South African, Percy Continued on Page 11

7

Toni Rowland

Going to the next level G OING to the next level: does that phrase irritate anyone else as much as it irritates me? It gets under your skin and yet has an impact, like that other irritant about levelling the playing field.

I remember seeing it at the Post Office (remember them?), in an advertisement for responsible sexual behaviour. The couple is seeing a health professional to get advice before taking their relationship “to the next level”, which does not appear to be marriage.

While they are irritating, these phrases do have something to teach us by way of becoming more and more family-friendly.

Yes, teenage boys and girls or those preparing for marriage should be doing serious consulting before they consider going to any kind of next level.

There was a time when the levels possibly started at a different point, but maybe there are still those wonderful innocent times when young “lovers” move from holding hands to kissing? What worried us? Was kissing a sin, or how far you can go before it is a sin? What does that all mean in today’s world, and is sin any kind of deterrent?

Relationships don’t remain on any one level throughout life. One writer on marriage describes something like seven or eleven different marriages to the same person over a lifetime, which in essence means continually moving to the next level.

Greater closeness, deeper intimacy, wider acceptance, stronger commitment through all of life’s changes are levels that can be seen as incremental. As we grow older, sometimes the next level is downhill, decreasing health and energy, sometimes a body wasting away over time.

We are still in November and as is men-

Faith and Society

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

Togetherness was the theme for the year 2014, and certainly going to the next level is best done together—but at times it involves being alone.

I came across a poster while waiting to be attended to in a company’s reception area, a place where one does come across these relationship nuggets too. “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success. “ To continue the analogy, one could say that the feast of Christ the King celebrates Jesus’ moving to the next level—new glorified life for all eternity, which is the final destination we all hope for and which we have dwelt on during November.

December’s family theme, “Healthy Families, Hope for the Future”, brings the togetherness theme to a close. Advent and Christmas are not only holiday time but also a time for spiritual awareness of the coming of Jesus and possibly doing some special Advent activities while also being conscious of the needs of others.

Relationship growth and a call for responsible behaviour are important or else the next level may be unexpected and traumatic.

May this be a time of togetherness and celebration, safety and harmony at home and wherever families and their members are.

Finally it is appropriate to introduce the 2015 family theme: “Marriage and Family, Committed to Love and Life”. From togetherness to commitment is also a form of moving to the next level. Commitment takes effort, sacrifices and determination to meet the challenges faced. May God be with families as we set out to do so.

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Parenting: Like fishing Missionary Intention: That parents may be true evangelisers, passing on to their children the precious gift of faith. s a priest, one often hears parents’ anguished accounts of how their children have strayed from the faith.

They may not feel like it but these good people are the “true evangelisers” of this intention.

The fact that they suffer in this way indicates that they have tried their utmost to pass on the “precious gift of faith”, and that their efforts, for some reason, seem to have failed.

If they did not feel this pain that would indicate indifference. But in their sad stories one hears an echo of the words of Peter: “Master, we have laboured all night and caught nothing.”

They know, of course, that they are dealing with the mystery of human freedom and that in the end their children have to decide for themselves whether they believe or not and whether they practise or not.

Even the Lord had his disappointments, not just with those who actively opposed his mission but even with his own disciples. Peter himself, the prince of the apostles, frequently misunderstood him, and at the moment Jesus most needed his support, Peter let him down horribly.

‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Jesus asked three times. This is one of the most moving scenes in the gospel and it reminds us that if people let us down, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have ceased to love us.

Nor does it mean that we cease to love them.

On the contrary, when a person fails us through human weakness we can sometimes be moved to love them even more deeply, knowing that we too have had our falls and failures and that our own faith has had its wobbles.

And so, being an evangelist, like fishing, is about patient perseverance. It is also about frequently remembering that the Lord is with us, in the same boat, and that he knows exactly how we feel.

A

8

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

COMMUNITY

Deacons Andrew Small, Charlie Parker and Peter Landsberg were ordained at Christ the King parish in Wentworth, Durban.

The youth of Maria Regina parish in Lyttelton, Pretoria, were confirmed by Archbishop William Slattery at Mass concelebrated with parish priest Fr Karabo Baloyi.

A pilgrimage group of Our Lady of the Wayside parish in Maryvale, Johannesburg visited the Holy Land led by Fr Petrus Shiya.

St Joseph the Worker parish in Pretoria West welcomed its new parish priest, Fr Boitumelo Simon Molefe. Fr Molefe is pictured with the altar servers who assisted him at Mass.

Alyssa Ashleigh Barth was baptised at St Mary’s cathedral in De Aar. Parents Ashley and Lanesse Barth and grandparents are pictured with Fr Douglas Sumali.

Holy Rosary High Schoolin Edenvale, Johannesburg, held its decades’ reunions for its past matric pupils of 1974, 1984, 1994 and 2004. Class of 1984 members Anne Williamson, Tracy Fraser, Marisa Scott, Alex Richmond, Colleen Moura, Lynn Anne Fuchsloch, Anita Verhoogt, Rosslyn Orr, Lee-Anne Pursall and Anne Biccard, are pictured with former teacher Sr Brendan Rusell.

The extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion of St Anthony's parish in Sedgefield, Oudtshoorn diocese, attended a retreat given by Bishop Frank de Gouveia and Fr David Dettmer at Don Bosco Youth Camp in Dysselsdorp. (From left) Bernard Sheridan, Paddy Sheridan, Bishop de Gouveia, Bobbi Morgan-Smith, Joan de Jager, Dawn McMaster and Fr Dettmer.

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Everybody is called to live life to the fullest (John 10.10) St Dominic’s Priory in Port Elizabeth announced its head students for 2015. (From left) Lizo Vuke (head boy), Marcella Bekker (head girl), Amber Jones (deputy head girl) and Sivuyile Mamanzi (deputy head boy).

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Accept yourself Be sure God loves you unconditionally Care for your body and your soul Do know that there is a future for you

St Thomas parish in Mossel Bay, diocese of Oudtshoorn, unveiled and blessed a new noticeboard donated by parishioner Stacey McGuinness and her late husband Dennis. Mrs McGuinness is pictured with parish priest Fr Edward Alkaster.

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WORLD AIDS DAY

The Southern Cross,November 26 to December 2, 2014

9

As Aids crisis eases, new problems arise The Aids pandemic may be easing, but even that creates new challenges, as STUART GRAHAM found at an Aids care centre in Gauteng.

I

N 1992, Franciscan Father Stan Brennan, who had dedicated his life to helping the poor in the east of Johannesburg, was confronted with the most devastating illness he had ever seen.

Information about HIV/Aids was still sketchy at the time, but Fr Brennan knew that something had to be done to help the thousands who were falling ill in his community in and around Reiger Park in Boksburg.

He got to work and raised the money to start a place of care for people who had been infected with the disease. It was named the St Francis Care Centre. In the coming years, as the government stalled on rolling out an HIV/Aids treatment programme, it would be a place where the sick could seek refuge.

In 2004, when the government began to roll out its HIV/Aids treatment plan, the situation started to ease. The roll-out of the programme was a success, and by the time Fr Brennan died in 2012, the majority of those with the disease were receiving treatment through the government’s antiretroviral (ARV) programme .

St Francis Care Centre continues the work started by Fr Brennan, but the success of the government programme has presented it with new challenges.

“When Fr Brennan started the centre he focused on HIV/Aids, but things have changed a lot with ARVs,” said Tilly Brouwer, the manager of the centre.

“ARVs rescued thousands of people. I have been here for more than ten years. When I arrived in 2004 no medication was available yet and there were around 35 to 40

Aids-related deaths a month at the centre,” she recalled.

Today there are around five deaths in a month. The arrival of ARVs has been life-saving.

“But,” Ms Brouwer noted, “you sort out one problem and the next pops up.”

The current and most serious challenge, she said, is that many people are defaulting on their ARV medication.

“People take the medicine, and after some time they feel better and stop taking it. This, the in field of HIV/Aids, is the biggest challenge. People who have been on medication for a long time simply do not feel the need to take it anymore,” Ms Brouwer explained.

“It is a huge challenge for the professional to keep motivating them. People have to understand that when you have HIV/Aids you have to make a life-long commitment to take your medication every day.”

A devastating consequence of this is that often defaulters develop tuberculosis, “so we are finding many TB/HIV co-infected patients,” said Ms Brouwer.

“Some have developed a multi drug-resistant strain of TB. This is an enormous threat not only for us, but for the entire country.”

The youth often go into rebellion when they reach their teens and stop taking their medication, Ms Brouwer noted.

“When children reach puberty, the often go into rebellion. They have to start understanding why they are taking ARVs on a daily basis,” she said.

“Counsellors have a challenge to motivate teenagers to not default on treatment. That is when questions come from the youngsters. They want to know why they have to take medication and how.

It’s a difficult topic to explain to a young teenager.”

Ms Brouwer said St Francis Care Centre has moved its focus from HIV/Aids to palliative care for all illnesses that are life-threatening from TB to cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

The St Francis Care Centre in Boksburg, Johannesburg archdiocese was started by Fr Stan Brennan OFM for people debilitated by HIV/Aids. The centre has now broadened its mission to care for those suffering from all chronic diseases. (Top left) The new wing and gate of the St Francis Care Centre. (Right) Orphans at the Rainbow Cottage of the Care Centre enjoying a party. (Bottom left) Staff on duty at the Care Centre.

“Over the years St Francis was requested by the community to provide care for these conditions,” she said.

“People have negative perceptions about hospices. They associate a hospice with a place where they are going to die. We are trying to move from that and promote the concept of palliative care, which means we care for chronic illness. When you reach hospice there is pain control management.

You are treated with compassion.

Your medical, emotional and spiritual needs are taken care of,” she explained.

The centre does home-based care work in communities, with 35

World AIDS Day 2014

Theme: An HIV-free generation isn’t just a dream.

Let’s make it a reality.

“The Church in Africa is Always Full of Hope”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Faith,

We Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops of Africa and Madagascar greet you in faith and with warm affection. We are close to you who are living with HIV and those affected by it.

1. We are in solidarity: “for just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ”. (1Cor12:12) 2. Let us be true to ourselves: As heads of our Christian communities, we commit ourselves to making available our Church’s resources, be they educational and healthcare institutions or social services. In God’s name we seek to respect and affirm human life which gets its value and dignity from the fact that it is the inviolable gift from our Father who calls us to fullness of life.

3. Let us change behaviour: We want to educate appropriately and promote those changes in attitude and behaviour which value abstinence and self-control before marriage and fidelity within marriage. Such education also contributes to promoting healthy and stable families, and these are the best prevention against AIDS. 4. Let us be responsible: Solidarity binds us to joint responsibility in the tackling of global and complex challenges facing us: wars, conflicts, violence that is physically destructive through HIV/AIDS! “Let all parts of the one body feel the same concern for one another.” (1Cor 12:25).

Taken from the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), 1 December 2003.

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workers who visit families at home in Vosloorus and Katlehong towards Germiston.

“They do wonderful work. They are the eyes, ears and mouth of community. They do door-to-door campaigns where they help people [and] identify people who may be sick.”

Ms Brouwer said the workers will often pick up on someone who is coughing and will immediately motivate them to test for TB and HIV/Aids.

“They will motivate those who are on medication to adhere to medication. They will also make sure that all people who have contact with TB patients are screened themselves. This is important in preventing the spread of the disease.”

The children’s section of St Francis Care Centre, the Rainbow Cottage, is registered to care for 30 children.

“The children have all been infected with or are affected by HIV and Aids,” Ms Brouwer said. “Either their parents are HIV-positive or they have been orphaned and abandoned in hospital after birth.”

Ms Brouwer said she is “allergic” to children being in institutions, so she and her team work hard to make sure children are either reunified with their families

or are taken into a good family.

The poverty which Fr Brennan fought against for so many years remains as harsh as ever in the area.

“We have picked up where Fr Brennan left off. Nothing goes by the wayside. We work even harder.

But the hardship remains,” Ms Brouwer said.

“We have support groups going out to do skills development and to grow vegetable gardens. There are also sewing groups and people are given good quality secondhand clothes to sell. But you do one good thing and the next challenge arises. With the gardens, for example, you’ll find rats chewing through the vegetables.”

A lack of money remains the centre’s biggest challenge. Foreign donors no longer see HIV/Aids as a major problem in South Africa and have moved their funds elsewhere.

The Department of Social Development subsidises the centre’s home-based care services in Vosloorus and gives each child at the home a subsidy of around R73 a day. The amount has to cover clothing, staff costs, transport to hospitals for medical treatment and therapy.

“We have to do ongoing fund raising,” said Ms Brouwer. “We have to make up the short-falls.”

NAZARETH HOUSE Johannesburg

The Sisters and staff of Nazareth House express our deep gratitude and appreciation to all our generous friends, benefactors and anonymous donors for assisting us in our ministry of care and support for our children and adults who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. We ask our Heavenly Father: • To look on those whose lives are touched by AIDS • To enlighten those who try to find a cure • To bring strength and courage to those who are infected • To be with doctors and nurses caring for them • To give their families loving acceptance • And to give us hearts of mercy, to do what we can to show your compassion and love. Amen Tel: 011 648 1002, Cell: 084 838 3495 fundraiser@nazarethhousejohannesburg.org www.nazarethhousejohannesburg.org

10

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

CHURCH

What is the Consecrated Life?

Advent Sunday begins the Church’s year. This Advent it also marks the start of the “Year of Consecrated Life”.

BONAVENTURE HINWOOD OFM looks at what the Church means by the “consecrated life”.

T

HE “consecrated life” may for some people be an unfamiliar, fancy term. People are more used to talking of nuns, brothers and certain priests who belong to orders and congregations as “religious”, and their life as “religious life”.

So this “Year of Consecrated Life”, which Pope Francis has called from November 30 this year to February 2, 2016, is set aside for us to think about and pray for those Catholics who live under vows and promises as their particular way to live out Jesus’ call to all of us to imitate him and be holy as our heavenly Father is holy. This means to live a life of love under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

But it is a way of life in complete contradiction to what for many people in our society is “normal”.

This can be easily seen if we just take the three vows or promises of poverty, chastity and obedience which “religious” men and women make.

Poverty means that you personally own nothing. Anything you may have when you come to the religious institute you are joining, immediately belongs to that institute and you have no control over it. The same is true of anything you may earn by your work, any gifts you receive, anything people may leave you in their wills.

You have the use of anything your superior considers you need, not necessarily everything you would like to have. What you require is provided: board and lodging, clothes, transport, recreation, holidays.

Control is one of the most basic

human drives; by the vow/promise of poverty you give up control over your physical environment.

This is taking at face value Jesus’ sayings like “None of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns” (Lk 14:31); “eat what is set before you” (Lk 10:8); “So do not worry; do not say: ‘What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?’

Your heavenly Father knows you need them all” (Mt 6:31-32).

Chastity means that the love of the love community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit becomes the sole centre of your emotional life’ to which all other relationships are subordinate.

This vow/promise is the undertaking to love the Trinity “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30) directly, and not partly mediated through the love of spouse and children. It includes total continence—not to share in physical sex.

Again it is taking at face value words of Jesus like “some are born eunuchs, some are made eunuchs by people, and some make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12); and his promise to those who give up family and property for his sake (Mt 19:29; Lk 10:29; 14:26).

O

bedience means to give entirely to the Trinity that which makes you the person that you are, namely, your freedom.

You hand over as a gift of love that which is most precious to you: control over your life. From now on religious superiors decide—not without consultation however—where and how you are to live, where and when you go, and what you do. Such obedience is possible only if you believe that you know God’s will for you through the decisions of your superiors.

Obedience, doing God’s will, is the gift of yourself at the deepest core of your personality. This is why Jesus’ whole life was doing the Father’s will: “My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to complete his work” (Jn

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4:34). Jesus was “obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).

It is not by his physical suffering and mental torture on the cross that we are saved, but by the total giving of himself in love to

the Father to fulfil his will in a sinful world opposed to God, which crucified him. We are saved by Jesus’ loving surrender to the Father’s will (Rm 5:19).

From all this it is easy to see how this way of life is the opposite

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of attitudes in the society in which we live. For many people life is about making money and spending it on yourself and your family.

Sexual indulgence is quite acceptable in much of our permissive society. Doing “you own thing” is many people’s norm of behaviour.

Then why do some people enter “religious life”?

The basic reason is that they experience God wanting a special love relationship with them. This is often by an appeal made through the God-man, Jesus.

But it is also a call to freedom, freedom from preoccupation with self and self-centred relationships, in order to love, without special ties and without limit. As Jesus taught us: to love God is also to love people, whom God loves. To love God means also to want other people to love God too.

To use one of Pope Francis’ favourite words, it is being available for “mission”: to be sent to bring the love community of the Trinity to other people. The purpose is that people should respond to the divine love which is offered to everyone.

So, like Jesus, “religious” sisters, brothers and priests should be a “sign of contradiction” (Lk 2:34) to the world around them, a world so often ruled by self-centredness, selfishness, self-interest, and selfindulgence.

This is the special role of followers of the “consecrated life” in the community of the Church.

Hence, like many other Church documents, those of Vatican II speak of the three components of the Catholic community: lay people, priests and deacons, and religious.

We have had a Year of the Priest, we have just finished the Year of the Family, and now we have a year to pray especially for the members of religious orders and congregations, as well as for an increase of vocations to the “consecrated life” for the enriching of the Church.

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CLASSIFIEDS

Remembering our dead Continued from Page 7 FitzPatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld.

I heard this silence in two different contexts recently in Durban. The first was the traditional setting of the war memorial and it was preceded by a lone bugler sounding the “Last Post”. Formal and exact and very British.

The second was more moving because it was so unexpected. It was at the magnificent Moses Mabhida Stadium and the crowd was noisy and excited before an important football international.

But this was also the first national game since the tragic killing of Senzo Meyiwa, the captain of Bafana Bafana.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 630. ACROSS: : 3 Affiliate, 8 Rain, 9 Honeycomb, 10 Gospel, 11 Stamp, 14 Abler, 15 Earl, 16 Draws, 18 Cute, 20 Water, 21 Exude, 24 Freely, 25 Starboard, 26 Toga, 27 Mythology. DOWN: 1 Pregnancy, 2 Dissolute, 4 Fool, 5 Inert, 6 Income, 7 Tomb, 9 Heard, 11 Stake, 12 Parthenon, 17 Sword, 19 Exarch, 22 Droll, 23 Stay, 24 Frog.

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: Helpers of God’s Precious Infants meet the last Saturday of the month, starting with Mass at 9:30 at the Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Mass followed by a vigil at Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree Street.

Contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP on 078 739 2988.

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. 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.

Word of the Week

Titular sees: Dioceses where the Church once flourished but which later died out. Bishops without a territorial or residential diocese of their own, for example, auxiliary bishops, are given titular sees.

IHS: In Greek, the first three letters of the name of Jesus.

Intercommunion: The agreement or practice of two ecclesial communities by which each admits members of the other communion to its sacraments.

Silence was requested as a mark of respect. Initially it was ignored, but then, little by little, the shouting and the singing and even the vuvuzelas died down.

And 30 000 people showed their need to remember in the simple act of spending one minute thinking not of themselves but of someone else.

Liturgical Calendar Year A Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday, November 30, First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7, Psalms 80:2-3, 1516, 18-19, Mark 13:33-37, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Monday December 1 Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalms 122:1-9, Matthew 8:5-11 Tuesday December 2 Isaiah 11:1-10,Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Luke 10:21-24 Wednesday December 3, St Francis Xavier Isaiah 25:6-10, Psalms 23:1-6, Matthew 15:2937 Thursday December 4 Isaiah 26:1-6, Psalms 118:1, 8-9, 19-21, 25-27, Matthew 7:21, 24-27 Friday December 5 Isaiah 29:17-24, Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14, Matthew 9:27-31 Saturday December 6, St Nicholas of Beri Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26, Psalms 147:1-6, Matthew 9:35--10:1, 5, 6-8 Sunday December 7, Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, Psalms 85:9-14, 2 Peter 3:814

The Southern Cross, November 26 to December 2, 2014

CLASSIFIEDS

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.

IN MEMORIAM

LEBONA—Aaron David. In loving memory of my husband “AD”, our father and grandfather who passed away November 24, 2003.

You will always be lovingly remembered and greatly missed by your wife Evelyn (55 years altogether), children, sons and daughtersin-law and grandchildren.

Thank you for the gift of your love. Always in our thoughts and prayers. Eternally 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. Riccarda

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REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

“It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins” (II Macc XII,46) Holy Mass is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month in the All Souls’ chapel, Maitland, Cape Town at 2:30pm for all souls in purgatory and for all those buried in the Woltemade cemetery.

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Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, News Editor: Stuart Graham (s.graham@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za) Advertising: Elizabeth Hutton (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Avril Hanslo (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Dispatch: Joan King (dispatch@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za).

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2nd Sunday of Advent: December 7 Readings: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, Psalm 85: 914, 2 Peter 3:8-14, Mark 1:1-8

We are called to listen carefully

N

Nicholas King SJ

EXT Sunday, we continue our Advent journey with a lovely invitation from the Lord; but can we hear God’s voice? That may be our challenge during this season of waiting for the coming.

The lovely invitation in the opening first reading is of the message to the Israelite exiles in Babylon, that they are to go home at last: “Be comforted, be comforted, my people…speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her that her service is filled up.”

Then we are invited to listen to the Lord’s voice, “crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert, a highway for our God’.”

There are various building-constructions to take place, but the great thing is that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed”; and we must learn to see God in a different way: “Like a shepherd he is going to feed his flock, gather the lambs in his arm.” And we must listen.

That is how our psalm for next Sunday starts: “I shall listen to what the Lord God is saying; for he will speak peace to his people” (so there is no reason for us to be fearful).

And God expresses himself in “steadfast love and integrity”. In a lovely image, the poet sees that “integrity will spring up from the earth…righteousness shall make a path for his steps”. But we must learn to listen.

Sunday Reflections

The second reading is a lovely passage from 2 Peter, in particular reminding us to keep listening, for “one day for the Lord is like a thousand years…the Lord of the promise is not slow”.

We have to keep our attention firmly on the Lord: “waiting and eager for the coming of the Day of the Lord”; this coming will have a remarkable effect: “Let us wait for new heavens and new earth in accordance with his promise.”

And we have to encourage one another to keep listening: “As you wait for these things, be eager to be found spotless and stainless in peace in his presence.”

The gospel for next Sunday is likewise an invitation to listen, for it is the remarkable opening of the first of all the gospels, that of Mark, which we shall be following throughout the coming year.

It starts with that solemn opening, echoing the very first words of the Bible: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Mes-

The Jordan River, site of next week’s gospel (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) siah”, followed (in some manuscripts) by “Son of God”, which is certainly what Mark meant, even if he did not write it here.

Then comes an oddity, which should certainly have us listening carefully, for Mark says, “as it is written in Isaiah the prophet”, and then gives us a quotation from either Malachi or Exodus: “Look! I am sending my messenger before your face.”

Only after that does he get back to Isaiah, citing the opening verses of our first reading. So we should be paying attention, and hoping to hear something about Jesus. Not a bit of it, however, for instead we get: “John

Why people stop going to church I

T’S no secret that today there’s been a massive drop-off in church attendance in many parts of the world.

Moreover, that drop-off in churchgoing is not paralleled by the same widespread growth in atheism and agnosticism. Rather, more and more people are claiming to be “spiritual but not religious”, faith-filled but not churchgoers. Why this exodus from our churches?

The temptation inside religious circles is to blame what’s happening on secularity. Secular culture, many people argue, is perhaps the most powerful narcotic ever perpetrated on this planet, both for good and for bad. It swallows most of us whole with its seductive promises of heaven on this side of eternity.

Within our secularised world, the pursuit of the good life simply squeezes out almost all deeper religious desire. Interestingly, this is also the major criticism that Islamic extremists make of Western culture. For them it’s a drug which, once ingested, has no cure. That’s why they want to block their youth from Western influences.

But is this true? Is secular culture the enemy? Are we, church-goers, the last true remnant of God and truth left standing, prophetic and marginalised in a society that’s shallow, irreligious and godless?

Many, including myself, would argue that this conclusion is far, far too simple.

Secular society can be shallow, irreligious, and godless, there’s more than sufficient evidence for that; but, beneath its shallowness and its congenital allergy to our churches, real religious desire still burns.

The churches must ask themselves: l Why aren’t more people turning to us to deal with their religious desires?

Classic Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

l Why are so many people who are seeking spirituality not interested in looking at what the Church offers? l Why, instead, are they turning to everything except the Church? l Why, indeed, do so many people have the attitude: “The Church has nothing to offer me: I find it boring, irrelevant, caught up inside its own petty issues, hopelessly out of step with my life.”

Secularity is, no doubt, partly to blame, but so too are the churches themselves. There’s an axiom that says: “Atheism is invariably a parasite that feeds off bad theism.” That logic also holds regarding attitudes towards the Church: Bad attitudes towards the Church feed off bad Church practices.

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he great Jewish scholar Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-72) would agree. In his book, God In Search of Man, he wrote: “It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society.

It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid.

“When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored

because of the splendour of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than the voice of compassion—its message becomes meaningless.”

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson—who has both a deep sympathy for and a commitment to the Church—echoes Rabbi Heschel.

For her, as churches today, we are not radiating the immensity of God and the larger mystery of Christ. Rather, despite our good will, we are too much subordinating the mystery of Christ to tribalism, resentment, fear and self-protection.

This is one of the major reasons for our marginalisation. Christianity, Robinson submits, “is too great a narrative to be reduced to serving any parochial interest or to be underwritten by any lesser tale”.

It is our narrow attitudes, she believes, that denigrate the Christian message and leave the churches, for good reason, marginalised: “Undignified, obscurantist and xenophobic Christianity closes the path for many” to enter the Church.”

Blaming the world for our problems, she argues, does nothing to enhance the respect the world has for religion or for Christianity. The drop-off in church attendance is very much our own fault because far too often we are not radiating a Church with a compassionate embrace, and we are not in fact addressing the real energies that are burning inside people.

For Robinson, the secular world isn’t, per se, irreligious. Rather it sees our churches as self-absorbed, non-understanding and non-empathetic to its desires, its wounds, and its needs.

And so her challenge to us, churchgoers, is this: “It behooves anyone who calls himself or herself a Christian, any institution that calls itself a church, to bring credit to the faith, at very least not to embarrass or disgrace it. Making God a tribal deity, our local Baal, is embarrassing and disgraceful.”

Some years ago, I heard an Evangelical minister state the problem this way: “As Christian churches we have the living water, the water Christ promised would quench all fires and all thirsts. But, this is the problem—we aren’t getting the living water to where the fires are! Instead we are spraying water everywhere, except where it’s burning!”

He’s right. The answer to the mass exodus from our churches is not to blame the culture; it’s to make better churches!

appeared, baptising in the desert, and proclaiming a baptism of conversion for the forgiveness of sins.”

We listen, therefore, all the more attentively; and we watch as “the whole Judean region and all the Jerusalemites went out to him, and they were being baptised by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”

Then we get John’s attire (“clothed in camel-hair”) and his unattractive diet (“he was eating grasshoppers and wild honey”).

And we ask if Mark is ever going to mention Jesus; but then we get a hint: “He was proclaiming, saying, ‘The-Stronger-One-ThanMe is coming after me; I am not worthy to bend down and undo the thong of his sandals’.”

Whoever it is, we are clearly intended to realise that the person far outweighs the Baptist in importance: “I baptised you people with water—but he is going to baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

And that is the end of the gospel for next Sunday; at that point you will say (if you are paying attention): “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.” And you might ask yourself why you are doing that; it is not good enough to say: “Well, everyone else is doing it.”

We are invited to listen very attentively indeed to the voice of God in this coming week.

Southern Crossword #630

ACROSS 3. A fat life I enjoy with associate (9) 8. Drops from heaven (4) 9. God’s words are sweeter than this (Ps 19) (9) 10. Truth found in the New Testament (6) 11. Put your foot down at the post office (5) 14. More competent (5) 15. Nobleman (4) 16. Attracts around the wards (5) 18. Pretty shrewd (4) 20. I leave waiter a glass of it (5) 21. Ooze out (5) 24. How marital consent must be given (6) 25. The Magi’s side of the ship (9) 26. Plato gave some away for a Roman robe (4) 27. Got my holy move to folklore (9)

DOWN 1. Indication that the infant is due (9) 2. Ted’s soul I can see is intemperate (9) 4. He says there is no God (Ps 14) (4) 5. Inactive (5) 6. Kind of tax entry? (6) 7. Jesus left it empty (4) 9. Pricked up your ears (5) 11. Another steak for burning (5) 12. Athenians look up to it (9) 13. He’s taken orders (9) 17. It was drawn by Jesus’ follower (Mt 26) (5) 19. Bishop in the Orthodox Church (6) 22. Quaintly amusing (5) 23. Don’t move! (4) 24. One in the second plague (Ex 8) (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

he priest at a harvest festival had aranged all the vegetables in front of the altar.

He asked the children if they could name them.

The replies were: potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beans broccoli, cauliflower...

So he asked if they could use one word to cover them all. A little boy held his hand up and replied: “Gravy!”

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