141231

The

S outhern C ross

December 31, 2014 to January 6, 2015

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No 4905

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Church’s role in collapse of communism

Vatican news highlights of 2014

Page 9

Page 3

Should we call our priests “Father”?

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SA nun for papal child protection commission

BY STUART GRAHAM

P

OPE Francis has selected Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS as part of his committee to protect minors around the world.

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria said Sr Mokoro, who is the general secretary of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, was a perfect choice for the job.

“I am very happy about the news and I welcome it,” said Archbishop Slattery.

“She is well placed to be part of the council because the Church in South Africa has worked on a number of protocols to make sure child abuse is not tolerated in any form in our community and that we act immediately to protect our children.”

Sr Mokoro, the archbishop said, has wide experience behind her from her work in South Africa.

“She is at the heart at what is happening in the Church,” said Archbishop Slattery.

“Sr Hermenegild was a school teacher for many years...she also was provincial of the Precious Blood sisters for many years. Now she is the secretary general of the bishops’ conference.”

Pope Francis established The Commission for the Protection of Minors a year ago.

On December 17 he added Sr Mokoro and three women and four men from five continents to the now-17-member body.

One of the new members includes Peter Saunders, the chief executive officer of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, which he founded nearly two decades ago in the United Kingdom to help other survivors find support.

He was one of six abuse survivors who spoke with Pope Francis in a private meeting at the Vatican this year.

Also joining the commission are US-based Krysten Winter-Green, an expert in theology, human development, social work and pastoral psychology and Bill Kilgallon, the national director of the Office for Professional Standards of the Catholic Church in New Zealand.

Australian Kathleen McCormack, founder and now-retired director of CatholicCare, Sister of Charity Kayula Lesa, who works at the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection in Zambia, Filipino Gabriel Dy-Liacco, a licensed counsellor and an assistant professor at Regent University’s School of psychology and counselling in the US, Fr Luis Manuel Ali Herrera, head of the department of psy-

Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS chology and a professor of pastoral psychology at the seminary of the archdiocese of Bogota, Colombia, have also been appointed to the commission. They join with the existing six members: Catherine Bonnet, child psychiatrist from France, British psychiatrist Sheila Hollins, Italian canon lawyer Claudio Papale, Polish constitutional lawyer Hanna Suchocka, Argentinian Humberto Miguel Yáñez SJ, director of moral theology, and German Hans Zollner SJ, president of the Centre for Child Protection of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Pope Francis, who has called for zero tolerance and complete accountability for the “despicable” crime of abuse, has said he wants the commission to help the Church develop better policies and procedures for protecting minors.

The commission is also meant to lay out a pastoral approach to helping victims and prevent future abuse as well as focus on priestly formation, accountability and reaching out to survivors.

The commission is headed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley; the commission secretary is Fr Robert Oliver, a Boston priest and canon lawyer who had been serving as promoter of justice (chief Church prosecutor) at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which now also prosecutes sex crimes committed by priests and other Church personnel.

The new papal commission members join Marie Collins, an Irish survivor of clerical abuse.

The next plenary session of the commission will take place in the Vatican on February 6-8.

Women dressed as witches fulfill the role of La Befana during an Epiphany parade in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Italian legend maintains La Befana fills the stockings of good children with treats and sweets the night before Epiphany but has been known to bring coal for naughty children. In the last major ceremony of the New Year, Pope Francis will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany with a papal Mass on January 6. The traditional Epiphany parade sees people from all over the world dressed in medieval and biblical period costumes coming to St Peter’s Square. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Use your words carefully, pope tells Catholic media

BY CINdY WoodEN

I

N a world where words and images are used to manipulate or to scapegoat people, Catholic media must use them with a care that shows how powerful words can be, Pope Francis said.

“Reawaken words! This is the first task of a communicator. Every word has a spark of fire and life inside it,” he told employees of the Italian Catholic bishops’ TV 2000.

Pope Francis showed up more than half an hour late for his meeting with the employees, so he began his talk with a word of apology and an explanation that almost every meeting he had that morning went 10 minutes over the scheduled time, “so you paid the price”.

Too often communications media have been used for “propaganda, ideologies, political aims or for economic or technical control”, he said. The best way to avoid

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that is “to have the courage to speak frankly and freely”.

“If we are truly convinced of what we have to say, the words will come,” he said.

“If, on the other hand, we are preoccupied with tactical aspects, our words will be artificial and uncommunicative, insipid.”

With carefully chosen words, he said, the Catholic media must attempt to explain complicated situations without oversimplifying them.

Too often, he said, the media pretend that one person has all the answers or that one person or group of the media have become “faster and less reflective” as deadlines get tighter and people expect immediate access to the news, he said.

Audiences have a right to be treated as people with both a brain and a heart, and to receive the information they need to make judgments about what is going on in the world.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, december 31 to January 6, 2015

LOCAL

Conservationists face ‘endless’ rhino poaching

Franciscans gather from SA and Namibia STAFF REPoRTER

F

RANCISCANS from Namibia and South Africa met at La Verna retreat centre, Johannesburg, to discuss their way forward on the southern tip of South Africa.

As is normal at these regional gatherings, the following were among the subjects tabled: pastoral commitments, prayer-life, projects, welfare, mentoring of young friars, evangelisation, vocations, contracts with bishops, the Church in South Africa, missions, available manpower, ministries and of course our sustainability (financial matters).

“Intermittent loadshedding, perhaps a reality test for religious, highlighted the fact that these triennial chapters since the time of St Francis, St Dominic and most other saints have been candlelight affairs

anyway,” said Franciscan Fr Paddy Noonan.

Out of all the sometimes passionate exchanges emerged a new group of advisers to aid the provincial leader Fr David Barnard and vice-provincial, Bro Bill Lovett.

These were Frs Mawethu Potolwana, Makhomba Khanyile, Pedro Zitha, Simphiwe Kheswa and Nkosinathi Njoko.

As a backdrop to the five-day conference, focused liturgies and adorations each day accompanied the deliberations.

“All were agreed that these spiritual interventions countered successfully a plague of hornets on day two that colonised a printer manned by insect-loving International Secular Franciscan Order Council member Jenny Harrington,” Fr Noonan joked.

Little Eden gives thanks for support in ‘crisis’

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

HE Little Eden Society has thanked the public for its “incredible support” in helping it through an “ongoing” financial crisis.

The society, which provides help to 300 residents with intellectual disabilities, ran into trouble earlier this year after the Department of Health delayed paying the organisation its monthly subsidy.

“The society would like to thank The Southern Cross as well as the public for its incredible support during a time of financial crisis for the organisation, which is ongoing,” Little Eden’s chief executive Lucy Slaviero said.

“The response from individuals and companies has been overwhelming and the society is grateful to each person for the difference

they have made in the lives of the residents.”

The society said the funding crisis, which started when the Department of Health announced without warning that subsidy payments would be made one month in arrears with immediate effect, is severely detrimental to day-to-day operations.

The postal strike had also a major effect on fundraising efforts.

Moreover, the funding which the organisation used to receive from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund had been stopped too.

“Overall, many of our loyal donors have been affected by the current economic climate and this has resulted in some individuals reducing their usual donations and some have stopped giving altogether,” Ms Slaviero said.

BY STAFF REPoRTER

S

OUTH African conservationists are up against “an endless parade” of poachers and smugglers who are willing to kill rhino, according to a briefing paper by the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO).

The paper, which was compiled after a CPLO hosted a discussion by conservationists and experts on the exploitation of wildlife resources, praised South Africa’s rhino conservation efforts, but noted that the scale of foot soldiers ready to kill the creature is alarming.

“South Africa’s record is laudable, in the sense that a steadily increasing number of individuals have annually been detected and arrested through a range of law-enforcement actions,” the paper says, adding that 344 rhino poaching arrests had been made by the end of November 2014.

But, the paper says, it is clear

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and sharing intelligence information “in a timely manner” plays a pivotal role in the fight against the enforcement process, says the paper.

Receiving and acting upon intelligence information is behind at least one-quarter of the seizures made, while random routine inspections are the next most important method of detection.

Problems encountered in the quest to defend biodiversity in South Africa include porous borders and “capacity issues regarding lack of training” in the procedures to be followed when wildlife criminals are apprehended.

Speakers at the CPLO event included Magdel Boschoff, who leads the Threatened or Protected Species policy development division at the Department of Environmental Affairs; Paul Gildenhuys, the manager of Cape Nature’s biodiversity crime unit and Rynette Coetzee, who leads the law and policy project at the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

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that there is an enormous number of potential poachers “available to replace the ones arrested”.

“Identifying those who are directing the crime, not just the endless parade of foot soldiers killing the rhinos and acting as local couriers for the prohibited horn, remains a grave concern.”

According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, 1 020 rhinos were killed for their horns from January 1 to November 20.

The largest number was in the Kruger National Park where 673 rhinos were poached.

The paper says that South Africa is making progress curbing wildlife exploitation, but the country is one of the top three biodiversity targets for environmental lawbreakers.

“This has resulted in species such as the pangolin not only having the distinction of being the world’s only scaly mammal, but also the most smuggled mammal,” it says.

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The Southern Cross, december 31 to January 6, 2015

LOCAL Cathedral thanks traders for patience

F

OR the past 18 months, construction of the Denis Hurley Centre in downtown Durban has caused a major disruption for taxi drivers and informal traders.

They had to temporarily relocate from their usual spots in Denis Hurley (Queen) Street, and in Cathedral Mall, while part of the street was cordoned off.

“We usually hear negative things about taxi drivers”, said Fr Stephen Tully, administrator of the cathedral, “but they have been incredibly cooperative during the construction and so we have had a good experience. It was important that we all talked things through and understood each other during the process. The Hurley Centre is for the community, so we didn’t want to cause problems for anyone during its construction.”

Non-governmental organisation Asiye eTafuleni (“come to the table”) came on board with the community. The NGO’s Patrick Ndlovu said everyone worked well together. “In this space, we treat each other like family.

“The cathedral even offered the use of its property for the taxis to park, but the drivers said they were fine with a nearby alternative spot.

We worked well together because we were open and expressed our concerns.”

John Nkomo, a leader among the street traders, agreed that by talking through concerns and issues, any problems that arose had been sorted out.

On December 11, the cathedral held a braai for taxi drivers and traders, as a celebratory thank you, for putting up with the construction work which had affected their trade.

The Denis Hurley Centre will provide services such as a primary health care clinic, a feeding scheme, a job resources centre, and assistance to refugees.

While the centre is now in operation, the official opening will only take place on November 9, 2015, to coincide with Denis Hurley’s 100th birthday. n For further information or for bookings of the centre, phone 031 301 2240 or e-mail admin@denishurleycentre.org

3

‘Make 2015 year of encounters’

BY STUART GRAHAM

E

ASE off social media and make 2015 a year of personal encounters, Archbishop William Slattery OFM of Pretoria said in a New Year message to the Church.

There has been “much harping” on the negatives of social media in the past year, with the media sensationalising of events, and this had left many feeling alone and afraid, Archbishop Slattery said.

“Communicating in this way, while useful for knowledge, leaves one alone with personal fear. We need immediate, personal, and not media-fed contact, with reality,” he told The Southern Cross.

“Real joy comes with encounters from real people.”

The past year had been difficult for many people.

“We have seen many international atrocities and a continual growth in the inequality of poor and wealthy,” the archbishop said.

“South Africa has had its moments, with murder and court trials dominating much of our news. We have been witnesses to shenanigans in parliament. And more than ever, we are aware of corruption in our country.

“The message of Christmas is that God has invested in us. He has not lost hope in us. At Christmas, we remember he remains among us,” he said.

Christmas has shown that “things were always precarious”.

“There was no room in the inn for God’s son... efforts were made to eliminate and kill him. His parents became refugees. It was not a promising beginning for Jesus.”

Archbishop Slattery said he was exhausted but exhilarated at the end of the year. “I am surrounded by so many real and generous people. Thank you, God, for the generosity of Jesus.

“The dedication of fidelities and desire for God exists in so many in-

dividual hearts.”

The new year invites people to see the world in a broader context, said Archbishop Slattery.

“It is a world inhabited by God himself. Sure there is sorrow, but life is a journey and journeys involve leaving and arriving.”

Archbishop Slattery quoted Pope Francis’ Joy of the Gospel in which he says: “How good it is to stand before a crucifix, or on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament, and simply be in his presence.”

The archbishop added: “What then happens is that we speak of what we have seen and heard.

“This new year, it is my wish to allow ourselves to see what is taking place. To encounter the real Jesus.

“Our Church is truly a family.

Let us reach out to each other, including white people, who must do a little more to reach out to the whole population and to become part of the whole of South Africa.”

Archbishop William Slattery

Catholic skaters head to world champs BY dYLAN APPoLIS

T

(From left) Antonia Melim of St Joseph’s parish in Goodwood, Talia-Ché Maggott of our Lady Help of Christians in Lansdowne, and Keisha Kannemeyer of Holy Trinity in Elsies River will be representing South Africa and Catholics alike when they head to the World Junior Synchronised Skating Championships in Croatia during March 2015.

HREE Catholic Girls from Junior Team Rainbow—Antonia Melim, Talia-Ché Maggott and Keisha Kannemeyer— will be heading to the World Junior Synchronised Skating Championships in Croatia in March 2015 to represent South Africa.

Junior Team Rainbow has been training intensely in preparation for its second world junior champs.

Shireen Maggott, one of the parents, spoke to The Southern Cross and said: “After their training session at 18:00 on Sundays, they make time to attend Mass at their respective parishes. These three girls share almost 20 years of club skating, solo skating and synchronised skating.

“Their dedication and commitment to their sport and team is highly commendable and teaches them life lessons that will stand them in good stead in their future careers and relationships,” she added.

Junior Team Rainbow is based in Cape Town and trains at the Ice Station in Goodwood. This diverse team, many from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, has developed in leaps and bounds and their

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hard work has paid dividends on receiving the international selection.

“Unfortunately the team does not have a main sponsor and the financial burden of competition and travel weighs heavily on the skaters’ families,” Mrs Maggott said.

“As Catholic parents, my husband (David Maggott) and I are also concerned about travelling abroad but we are also comforted in knowing that God is in control of our lives.

“We know she keeps (and will keep) God close to her. She was taught from a young age to do everything in prayer and she prefers to travel with her rosary at all times and to use the rosary to its fullest and not just as an ornament,” she added.

The team has been granted permission to raise funds for its quest to represent South Africa at this prestigious international event, and any donations or sponsorships would be most welcome. n For further information regarding the skaters and their team, you are welcome to contact either Shireen Maggott on 082 605 2068 or team manager Michelle Cilliers on 083 281 0206.

4

The Southern Cross, december 31, 2014 to January 6, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Pope Francis credited for US-Cuban reconciliation BY dENNIS SAdoWSKI

P

OPE Francis personally appealed to President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro this year to normalise diplomatic relations, a senior Obama administration official said.

Speaking on the background, the official told reporters that the pope followed up the personal appeals with letters to the US and Cuban leaders, encouraging them to move forward on efforts to improve relations between the two countries.

The pope’s actions were part of a major diplomatic effort by the Vatican, which hosted direct talks between American and Cuban officials, the administration official said.

“That (letter) gave greater impetus and momentum for us to move forward,” the administration official said.

Presidents Castro and Obama acknowledged in simultaneous addresses to their respective nations the role Pope Francis played in the talks.

Pope Francis congratulated both governments for agreeing to establish diplomatic relations “with the aim of overcoming, in the interest of the citizens of both countries, the difficulties which have marked their recent history”.

In a statement released after the announcement was made simulta-

neously by President Obama in Washington and President Castro in Havana, the Vatican confirmed the pope’s role in negotiations between the two countries.

The Vatican said it had invited Presidents Obama and Castro to “resolve humanitarian questions of common interest, including the situation of certain prisoners, in order to initiate a new phase in relations between the two parties”.

“The Holy See will continue to assure its support for initiatives which both nations will undertake to strengthen their bilateral relations and promote the wellbeing of their respective citizens,” the statement said.

The pope had appealed to both countries for the release of Alan Gross, an American contractor for the US Agency for International Development, who had been held in a Cuban prison for five years. Mr Gross was released on December 17, hours before President Obama announced the change in US policy toward Cuba.

The administration official also said that a US “intelligence asset” was being released after being held for 20 years in Cuba in exchange for three members of the Cuban Five, or Miami Five as they are also known.

The official declined to identify the US spy.

The administration official told reporters that with the changes,

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the US would continue to pursue efforts to promote democracy and strengthen human rights in Cuba.

President Obama said in a noontime address that the US and Cuba would begin talks to normalise relations and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than 50 years. Diplomatic relations between the two countries ended in 1961.

The Vatican’s role in the process is linked to President Obama’s visit to the Vatican in March. In a meeting with the pope, the administration official said, Cuba was “a topic of discussion that got as much attention as anything they discussed”.

“President Obama has enormous respect for Pope Francis and his personal engagement is important to us,” the official added.

Senior Vatican officials later received US and Cuban officials together in October. The meeting gave representatives of both countries the opportunity to review details of their negotiations and formalise the exchange and transfer of the prisoners.

The administration official stressed that Gross’ release was a humanitarian gesture by the Cuban government and was not tied to the prisoner exchange.

The official said the Vatican was the only government directly involved in talks between the two countries.—CNS

Couples dance the tango in celebration of Pope Francis’ 78th birthday outside St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Several hundred people gathered after the pope’s general audience to dance the tango in an informal event organised on social media.The pope had stated in one of his interviews that the Tango was his favourite dance. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Middle East: Year of upheaval leaves millions suffering

T

HE story of the Middle East in 2014 is one of war and displacement, broken families and tireless aid workers, and the rise of a new group one scholar referred to as “al-Qaida on steroids”.

It’s a story of populations stretched to the limit, but still welcoming more refugees as neighbours. And it’s a tale of religious leaders calling for prayer, meeting for dialogue and urging an end to the violence. The continuing civil war in Syria created what Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, called “the defining humanitarian challenge of our times”.

His agency estimated in December that more than 3,3 million Syrian refugees lived in the neighbouring countries of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. UNHCR also estimated that, within Syria, 12,2 million people were in need—including 7,6 million people displaced from their homes. Of those displaced, half were children.

Amid the migration of Syrians to neighbouring countries, a group calling itself the Islamic State began driving Christians, Yezidis and even Muslim minorities from parts of Syria and Iraq.

The minorities told stories of the Islamic State group cutting off electricity for weeks ahead of the main troops’ arrival. When the militants arrived, minorities were told to convert to Islam, pay a protection tax or be killed.

Mary Habeck, associate professor in strategic studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, described the Islamic State, and its parent group, al-Qaida, as “merchants of violence” trying to “use Islam for their own purposes”. The groups are “a very tiny group of extremists that have decided that they understand what Islam is, and they are going to force the rest of the Muslim-majority world in their direction”.

The mass migration of Syrians and Iraqis—combined with Palestinians left homeless after a 50-day Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, created a huge challenge for international aid organisations, including those run by the Catholic Church. Most refugees in the Middle East do not live in camps, but in local communities. This has placed a strain on the host countries.

Church agencies have focused on helping those communities. For instance, between August and early November, Caritas Jordan registered 4,000 Iraqis; the agency helped more who did not register.

Pope Francis has made repeated calls for peace throughout the year and travelled to the Holy Land to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He has said the Middle East was experiencing “terrorism of previously unimaginable proportions” in which the perpetrators seem to have absolutely no regard for the value of human life.—CNS

Kerry asks Vatican for help in closing Guantanamo

BY FRANCIS X RoCCA

U

S SECRETARY of State John Kerry met with his Vatican counterpart and asked him to support the Obama administration’s efforts to close the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, met with Kerry for an hour, according to Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.

Ken Hackett, the US ambassador to the Holy See, was also present at the meeting.

Kerry underscored the “commitment of the United States to close the Guantanamo prison and the desire for the Holy See’s support in the search for appropriate humanitarian solutions for the current detainees”, Fr Lombardi said.

The main topic of Kerry’s discussion with Cardinal Parolin was the “situation in the Middle East, and the commitment of the United States to avoid a worsening of tensions and an outbreak of violence, as well as the commitment to promoting a resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians”, Fr Lombardi told reporters.

Kerry was in Rome as one stop of a European tour dedicated largely to reviving peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He was scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Rome later the same day.

Fr Lombardi said the two secretaries of state also touched briefly on other subjects, including the civil war in Eastern Ukraine and the ebola epidemic.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, december 31, 2014 to January 6, 2014

5

Vatican news highlights of 2014

BY FRANCIS X RoCCA

C

ONTROVERSY over family issues and the ongoing search for peace in the Middle East dominated Vatican news in 2014. Here are the highlights at a glance: Jan 16: Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican observer to UN agencies in Geneva, testifies before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child about the church’s record on clerical sex abuse.

February 20: German Cardinal Walter Kasper addresses a gathering of the world’s cardinals, proposing that some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics could be admitted to Communion even without annulments of their first, sacramental marriages.

February 22: Pope Francis creates 19 new cardinals, including 16 under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.

February 24: The Vatican announces that Pope Francis has established a Council for the Economy, with both clerical and lay members, to oversee Vatican finances, and a Secretariat for the Economy, to be headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell, which will implement the Council’s policies.

March 21: Surrounded by survivors of innocent people killed by the Mafia, Pope Francis warns Italian gangsters that “there is still time not to end up in hell, which awaits you if you continue on this road”.

March 27: Pope Francis and US President Barack Obama meet at the Vatican; their discussion touches on several areas of tension between the Catholic Church and the White House, including religious freedom and medical ethics.

March 28: During a penitential service in St Peter’s basilica, Pope Francis unexpectedly goes to confession before hearing the confessions of some of the faithful.

April 27: Pope Francis, in the presence of retired Pope Benedict XVI, canonises Ss John XXIII and John Paul II. May 25: During a visit to the Holy Land, Pope Francis makes an unscheduled stop to pray for peace before a controversial separation wall built by Israel over Palestinian protests on West Bank land. Later the same day, in Jerusalem, the pope meets with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, considered first among equals

by Orthodox bishops, half a century after a historic encounter there between their predecessors.

June 8: At an interreligious ceremony in the Vatican Gardens, Pope Francis prays for peace in the Holy Land alongside Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

June 21: Celebrating Mass in a crime-ridden region of southern Italy, Pope Francis says members of the Mafia have excommunicated themselves from the Church.

June 27: The Vatican announces it laicised a former papal ambassador, Jozef Wesolowski, and announces a Vatican criminal investigation against him on charges that he sexually abused minors in the Dominican Republic.

July 7: Pope Francis meets for the first time with survivors of clerical sexual abuse, spending more than three hours in private with them.

July 9: The Vatican announces formation of a committee to look for ways to increase collaboration and cut costs within the Vatican’s communications apparatus.

August 18: Pope Francis tells reporters on his return flight from

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South Korea that the use of force by a multinational coalition could be justified to stop “unjust aggressors” such as Islamic State militants in north eastern Iraq. He also says he would be willing to travel to the war zone if necessary to stop the violence.

September 14: Pope Francis presides over the wedding of 20 couples, including some who have already had children or have lived together before marriage.

September 20: The Vatican announces the formation of a special commission to streamline the process of granting marriage annulments.

September 21: At a prayer service in Tirana, Albania, Pope Francis weeps at the testimony of victims of the country’s former communist regime.

September 23: Pope Francis names five women, a record number, to the International Theological Commission.

September 25: Pope Francis removes the bishop of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, for what the Vatican calls “serious pastoral reasons” including extended friction with his fellow Paraguayan bishops.

October 6: Opening the first working session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family, Pope Francis urges participants to speak fearlessly and listen humbly during their discussions on the “pastoral challenges of the family”.

October 13: The synod’s midterm report stirs controversy with remarkably conciliatory language toward people with ways of life contrary to Catholic teaching, including the divorced and civilly remarried, and those in same-sex unions and other non marital relationships.

October 18: The family synod approves a final report emphasising traditional Catholic teaching, but fails to reach consensus on especially controversial questions of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried and the pastoral care of homosexual Catholics.

October 19: Pope Francis beatifies Pope Paul VI, praising him as the “great helmsman” of the Second Vatican Council.

October 23: Pope Francis calls for an end to life imprisonment, which he calls a “hidden death penalty”.

November 8: Pope Francis removes US Cardinal Raymond Burke, 66, as head of the Vatican’s highest court and names him to a largely ceremonial post for a chivalric religious order.

November 17: Pope Francis tells an interreligious conference on traditional marriage that he will attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September. In the same speech, he says preserving the family as an institution based on marriage between a man and a woman is not a political cause but a matter of “human ecology”.

November 25: Addressing European institutions in Strasbourg, France, Pope Francis says Europe has become a “grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant” but “elderly and haggard”, and he urges the continent to rediscover its religious roots.

November 29: During a visit to Turkey, which includes meetings with Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Francis prays alongside a senior Muslim cleric inside Istanbul’s most famous mosque.

December 11: The Vatican announces that Pope Francis will create an unspecified number of new cardinals on February 14, 2015.

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

Israeli President Shimon Peres, Pope Francis and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend an invocation for peace in the Vatican Gardens.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI greets Pope Francis at the conclusion of a consistory at which Pope Francis created 19 new cardinals in St Peter’s basilica at the Vatican. Pope Benedict’s unexpected presence at the ceremony marked the first time he had joined Pope Francis for a public liturgy.

Pope Francis kisses the relic of St John Paul II, presented by Floribeth Mora and Edwin diaz during the canonisation Mass of Ss John XXIII and John Paul II in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Floribeth Mora diaz’s cure from an aneurysm in 2011 was the second miracle in the sainthood cause of St John Paul.

Newly married couples Marco Purcaro and Laura Capurso, centre, and Fiorenzo Genito and Lidia Tortora, right, react after exchanging vows as Pope Francis celebrates the marriage rite for 20 couples in St Peter’s basilica at the Vatican. (All Photos: Paul Haring/CNS)

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6

The Southern Cross, december 31 to January 6, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Build an Epiphany crib for the Holy Family

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Acting editor: Fr Chris Chatteris SJ

A prosperous New Year?

T

HERE’S definitely more and more of them about—books on the end of economic growth are now coming at us thick and fast, books like The End of Growth, by Richard Heinberg. Is this a genuine sign of the times? As we move into 2015 with the price of oil almost half of what it was last year, partly due to sluggish economies, what do we, as Christians, make of it all?

The unassailable point of all these books is that nothing grows forever: the supply of natural resources upon which the economy ultimately feeds, is finite. Heinberg calls it “peak everything”. He thinks this crisis calls not only for a new economics but a new vision of the good life, one in which happiness is sought not through more consumables, but rather in family and community relations, cultural activities and active concern for human wellbeing.

These authors all maintain that the inevitable painful economic slowdown is happening now and is evidenced by the banking crash of 2008, the slow European economy and the crash of the oil price.

The slowdown is not smooth, but actually feels like the juddering motion of a car driven by a newcomer to the clutch.

It’s all very alarming, especially to politicians whose kneejerk response is to “kickstart the economy”. Of course economies haven’t actually stopped, but their growth is certainly faltering, even in China.

One can really understand our leaders’ desire to stoke economic growth, especially in the developing world. In a poor country with a growing population, the laudable aim of economic growth is to expand the cake and enable more people to partake of it. China, growing at almost 10% per year for several decades, has lifted millions of people out of poverty.

In Western countries the routine political promise is steadily growing consumerism. Many Westerners realise this is no longer sustainable. However, they also note that the investment bankers whose recklessness triggered the 2008 collapse have been bailed out. Hence, the call on the streets of the West is to redistribute the wealth of the super-rich 1% through increased taxation.

The received wisdom of the

last quarter of the 20th century is that wide wage differentials are essential to motivate people to work hard. But a point comes when a person gives up in despair and resentment. That point has surely been well passed when bosses earn as much in one day as the employees see in a year.

High inequality is also being challenged in a book with an intriguing title, The Spirit Level, by British health researchers Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. They claim that high inequality is actually bad for us. Comparing a number of developed countries, they found that the more unequal they were, the worse the rates of infant mortality, educational failure, life expectancy, violence, suicide, imprisonment and physical and mental health. And the reverse correlation is also true—more equality means better scores on all social indicators.

Why is this? They suggest that there is a psychological reason. If inequality seems unbridgeable to those at the bottom, then many will simply give up the struggle to improve their lot. When people give up, they often turn to drink, drugs, gambling, promiscuity and other risky forms of behaviour to drown their despair.

On the other hand, if inequality is moderate, those at the bottom will be motivated to attempt the climb.

T

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.

here’s a sense in which the Church’s social teaching on the common good and documents from Rerum Novarum to Caritas in Veritate already address this situation. However, one wonders whether—like the politicians and economists—we Catholics are a little intellectually stunned by the prospect of the end of growth. We do rather like to see our congregations and collections steadily increasing.

We should certainly always be concerned about spreading the message of the Gospel more widely. “Go out into the whole world and proclaim the good news”, is Jesus’ command to us.

When it comes to economics, however, a sign of the times which indicates the need for a radical re-think about sharing of the world’s wealth may worry politicians and economists but it should surely not scare Christ’s followers.

A

S far as we know, when St Francis of Assisi set up the first Christmas crib at Greccio, it did not include wise men.

In the course of time the practice has developed in some places of including the wise men (usually kings) in the stable from the beginning, but more usually they are added at the Epiphany to the shepherds and animals.

The Magnificat of the Church’s official evening prayer for the Epiphany speaks of them in the stable, as do some of the hymns that are sung at Christmas and Epiphany.

Yet, if we look at St Matthew’s gospel, which is our only source in the Bible for these wise men, it is reasonably clear that they could not have come to the stable.

The fact that King Herod had all male children of two years and under slaughtered suggests that Jesus would, according to the information he got from the wise men, have been nearly two years old.

The Holy Family would certainly not have continued living in a stable for all that length of time. They would obviously have moved into a house.

The fact that the wise men found the child, not baby, with Mary his mother, no mention being made of St Joseph, suggests that he was away from home, probably at work.

I would like to make the sugges-

End the circus in parliament

S

TUART Graham’s report headed “Parliament’s ‘circus’ a threat to democracy” (November 26) is hitting the nail on the head. However, it would be important to look at some of the responsibilities and accountabilities that have failed the people of South Africa.

Mike Pothier of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office is completely correct when he says that “the speaker must be non-partisan and enjoy the respect of all MPs across the house”.

The speaker is the custodian of the will of the South African people.

When the speaker sides with the executive, especially the president, by protecting their accountability to parliament and the people of South Africa, then the speaker wilfully denies the South African people responsible and accountable governance.

With this in mind the speaker is then failing in his/her duty, the Constitution and the people.

The speaker, together with all MPs, holds the responsibility of

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A Nativity scene from Innsbruck, Austria, is displayed in Greccio, Italy, where St Francis created the first Christmas crib. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) tion that the Christmas stable crib be replaced at the Epiphany by a house crib, without shepherds and animals, and probably better without St Joseph.

This house crib could be left up for a week or ten days.

Just a postscript: pictures of the flight into Egypt, and some sermons which mention it, have Jesus being carried in Mary’s arms wrapped in a blanket—not likely for

a two-year-old boy. If the family was walking, Jesus would most likely have been carried on his mother’s back. If Mary was riding on a donkey, he would have been sitting in front of her on the donkey.

The wise men at the stable crib might be a pretty and pious thought, but God is worshipped by truth, not by sentiment.

Fr Bonaventure Hinwood OFM, Pretoria

monitoring service delivery matters for the people of South Africa.

When services are not rendered, within the executive, presidency and administration, it is the MPs together with the speaker and structures of parliament that should hold the executive, presidency and administration accountable.

The speaker is one of the most important and powerful positions next to the South African president.

When the speaker and president become too cosy and forget the will of the South African people, neither executive, presidency nor administration will be held accountable for service delivery failures and poor employment of taxpayers’ monies.

When this happens and the executive, presidency or administration is protected, then the opposition parties have no choice but to raise their concerns and request accountability, transparency and responsibility for service delivery to the people of South Africa.

South African society needs to understand why the “circus” is currently taking place in parliament.

Mr Pothier is correct when he says that “conflict in the assembly is likely to continue” until the current speaker, Baleka Mbete, steps down.

Allan Sauls, Johannesburg

vide? This issue cannot be seen as closed as long as it causes hostility to prevail between committed Catholics.

Though ill equipped to involve myself in any way in the women priests debate, I shall pray for a positive Christian dialogue towards a possible rapprochement between the Church and the women priests who have sprung from her cradle.

If we treat people of other faiths with charity and humility, we owe the same courtesy to our own. For they still belong to us—even when we believe that their choice should not be ours.

Luky Whittle, Kroonstad

Dialogue needed on women priests

L

IKE Kit McLoughlin of Johannesburg (December 10), I noticed the juxtaposition of the headlines “Bishops: Accept teaching on women priests” and “Pope: Clergy don’t know everything” on the front page of The Southern Cross (November 19).

I couldn’t help wondering about the reaction of Archbishop Stephen Brislin, whose irreverent sense of humour blends so unexpectedly with his aura of humble dignity. I suspect he too had a chuckle.

I recommend Mr McLoughlin’s prayerful and uncondemnatory consideration of the actual issue of women priests which is rending the Church asunder, and wish to add my own question.

Under the leadership of our pope and clergy, we conduct religious dialogue with clerics of other persuasions. Could we not likewise embark on some kind of dialogue with clerics of the opposite gender on our own side of the religious di-

Let’s establish a new prayerline

I

WANTED some intercessory prayer and while watching Faith TV on DStv saw their prayerline and phoned them.

I spoke to a lady who prayed with me and then asked which Church I belong to. When I said Catholic, she politely told me that certain things were “not right with it” (such as praying for the dead) and that I should move to a “Holy Spirit-moved/driven church”.

I thanked her for my prayer and told her also that I disagreed with her and soon after, ended the call.

Apparently this prayerline is based in East London.

I searched the web for a Catholic prayerline in South Africa and found none.

According to Radio Veritas there are about 4 million Catholics in South Africa. I feel we are a substantial number, and we need our own prayerline.

Since I am unemployed I would like to help in any way that I can to have such a line/group/web forum.

I can be contacted via the editor.

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

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

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

PERSPECTIVES

The Southern Cross, december 31, 2014 to January 6, 2015

Keep on the lights of hope in 2015 Sarah-Leah L Pimentel OAD SHEDDING has had us all pulling our hair out over the last few weeks. The recurring power outages have disrupted our lives in one way or another.

The planned power outages in my area, for instance, are set from 20:00-22:30—exactly that time of day when I’ve just come home from work and am planning to have something warm for dinner. Instead, I’ve found myself eating cheese sandwiches and cold salads far more regularly than I’d planned.

One Friday I had some friends over for dinner, and instead of one of my famous quiches, I resorted to an assortment of biscuits, dips, cheese, cold meats and a salad.

I’m sure there isn’t a single reader who hasn’t had lots to say about our power situation—a crisis that is far more serious and extends far beyond the small inconveniences to our personal lives. But perhaps, despite the frustration of having our lights turned off, we can find some mustard seeds in Eskom’s crisis as we step into this new year.

In his homily at the start of Advent, our parish priest told us how someone had come to him and said that the load shedding had improved the quality of his family life. The distractions of television, the Internet and computer games, which normally kept the various family members ensconced in different rooms of the house, suddenly fell away.

Having nothing to do, the family gathered in the lounge—by candlelight—and spent time together. They talked. They played games. They experienced the togetherness of family.

A few days later, my boss made the

same comment. He said that he’d spent more time with his teenage children in a month of power outages than in the whole year prior to that.

This got me thinking. What are the distractions in my life that keep me from doing the things that are truly important?

Perhaps there are some bad habits I can cull in 2015, or find better ways of spending quality time with the people who are most important to me.

O

r perhaps the real challenge for the New Year is to look at things in a different light. Just as my boss saw the Eskom load shedding as an opportunity for family time, perhaps there are other so-called negatives in our lives that can become a positive if we see them with the eyes of practical faith. Here are some examples: If I am unemployed: How about using some of the free time in between job hunting to help out at my local church or community projects, instead of lying at home feeling increasingly desperate about my situation.

Load shedding is bringing us down—but it also has an upside. (Photo: morguefile)

The Mustard Seeds

If I am ill and bed-ridden: We spend our youth wishing we had more time to pray for others, to deepen our relationship with God. Instead of succumbing to the bitterness of no longer being independent, perhaps this is a unique opportunity to become a force of prayer for healing and peace for the many who ask for our prayers.

If I am overwhelmed by rampant corruption in South Africa: Instead of only criticising and complaining about those at the top who misuse public money, let me become a good custodian of the resources that are entrusted to me—starting with the communal coffee and sugar in our office, but also making a concerted effort to work hard during the hours my employer pays me to work, by doing each task, no matter how small, to the best of my ability.

We’ll still have load shedding in 2015.

Similarly, our personal situations may not change. But the attitude with which we encounter the negative, painful and frustrating circumstances in our lives will, at the very least, reduce our stress levels.

Better yet, our new attitude will show others that we are children of light, the light of hope that came into the world at Christmas and which we take into the New Year.

I wish all Southern Cross readers a truly blessed 2015!

What is God’s purpose for you?

Emmanuel Ngara N O one is a mistake. This is a great truth. Each and every one of us is on earth for a purpose. God created each and every one of us to fulfil his purpose on earth, to make a contribution in the service of God and humanity.

This is why from a very early age we feel we want to be something in life, something noticeable, recognisable and significant.

If you ask a young child, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, you will get answers such as “I want to be a pilot”, or “I want to be an air hostess”, or “I want to be an astronaut”, or “I want to be a nurse”. We all want to be something that satisfies our aspiration of what it means to live a meaningful and worthwhile life as a human being. We want to have a sense of self-actualisation.

This sense of wanting to be something can grow into a vocation, a sense of calling. As we grow up we may realise we have a special inclination to follow a certain career in life. It may be teaching, working as an academic, a journalist, a religious sister or a computer scientist. For some, the dreams of early childhood may continue into adulthood and shape the careers they are going to follow.

On the other hand, as some grow older they may discover professions that are quite different from the aspirations of their early childhood dreams.

But before we proceed, let us be clear about our concepts here: A vocation is not necessarily identical to one’s individual calling.

For example, many young people are called to religious life. Some of these may feel they are called to the priesthood; but some may become more than just priests—some may become bishops, some cardinals and very few may end up as popes. Thus the vocation to the priesthood is transformed into a higher calling.

Christian Leadership

Not all of us are called to become bishops, but we all have a purpose, Emmanuel Ngara writes. (Photo: Nancy Phelan Wiechec/CNS) God called Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the priesthood; but he was not to be just a priest, but also an archbishop, a cardinal and finally the first Jesuit pope. And as pope, he has a special calling that distinguishes his calling from that of, say Pope Benedict XVI or that of St John the XXIII.

N

ot all of us are called to high offices like that of a bishop or pope, but each has a calling to make a special contribution. This calling, this sense of purpose, is what makes life worthwhile.

One’s sense of wanting to be something significant can turn into a preoccupation with my sense of self. This is not bad in itself, but it turns into something not so good when my concern is no longer about the welfare of others or about what my Creator expects from me;

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but about “me, myself and I”. This may translate into selfish ambition: for wealth, power, authority and other “good things” of life.

These things, these feelings, these aspirations, may militate against a positive sense of calling and self-actualisation. You may ask how.

A calling basically has to do with two things: fulfilling the purpose of the One who called me; and doing good for others, serving fellow human beings. Once the sense of self-actualisation goes beyond concern for others and submission to the One who called me, and I become the centre of everything, preoccupied only with my ego, or with “me, myself and I”, then the sense of self-actualisation has crossed the boundaries of a positive sense of purpose.

When the sense of self-actualisation has gone beyond what is an appropriate purpose, evils like greed, pride, exploitation of others to satisfy my own needs and desires, authoritarianism and even murder begin to dominate my life. My sense of purpose is no longer in tune with God’s purpose and will for me.

Self-actualisation has become a negative force that dominates my thinking, my decisions, my actions and my life.

In the next series of articles we will explore how different figures in the history of salvation either succeeded or failed to reconcile the sense of self-actualisation with God’s purpose for them. We shall begin next month with our First Parents, Adam and Eve.

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7

Michael Shackleton

open door

Should we call our priests ‘Father’?

I have a Protestant friend who addresses a Catholic priest as “mister” and “sir”, in the belief that Christ commanded us not to call “any man father, for you have one Father in heaven” (Mt 23:9). He is a stickler for obeying the Word of God, and although he is fond of our parish priest, he cannot bring himself to address him in the Catholic way. Did Jesus mean us to take this literally?

D P Baxter

W

EARING my Marist school blazer many decades ago, I was stopped by a boy from a nearby school who asked me the same question. I replied that he and I also referred to our dads as “father”, so I could not see the problem. I mention this to illustrate just how time-worn the question is.

I have had a couple of similar queries about the titles we give to our pastors, so I hope this response will address them as well.

Take a close look at the whole of Matthew 23.

Jesus has been observing how the scribes and Pharisees put on a show of holiness when they appear in the market place in their grand religious regalia. They want people to admire them and call them rabbi, teacher, father and master. Jesus is sickened and warns his listeners not to put on such a scandalously empty show of righteousness.

Jesus likened these sanctimonious men to white-washed tombs, outwardly beautiful but full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

With this in mind we can grasp how Jesus despised hypocrites, and why he did not want us to call one another rabbi, teacher, father and master unless we were sincere about it.

In addressing our priests as “Father”, we are sincerely expressing our respect for them as our spiritual fathers. They are the ministers of the sacraments we celebrate and receive. They guide our minds and hearts in serving Christ faithfully.

With pastoral and paternal care they teach and bless us and forgive our sins in his name.

The titles given to our clergy have varied over time and place. Senior clergy have been called pope, patriarch, abbot. All are forms of the word father. Other clergy, especially in English-speaking lands, preserve the word father for priests. The practice is similar in the Orthodox Churches.

Now that there are men and women bishops and priests in the Anglican Communion, they are often addressed as Father and Mother, though there are exceptions according to custom.

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

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

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ON TAPE

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

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

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

8

The Southern Cross, december 31, 2014 to January 6, 2015

COMMUNITY

Children of Holy Cross Sisters’ school in Bellville, Cape Town, celebrated their first Holy Communion. Mass was held at our Lady of Fatima church in Bellville by Fr Bogdan Buksa. Grade 4 teachers P de Nobrega and L van Neel are pictured with the children.

Seven babies were baptised at St Theresa’s parish in Hornlee, Knysna.

Eight children received their first Holy Communion on the feast of Christ the King at St Patrick’s parish in Grahamstown. (From left) Natasha Alfonso, Carma Müller, dominique Erasmus, Alythea Porter, Catherine Williamson, Isabella domingo, Michael van Staden and Keanu Stock are pictured with parish priest Fr Peter Wilson oFM.

Grassy Park parish in Cape Town marked the end of the Year of deacons with a Mass and social for the deacons serving the parish. (From left) deacons Piet Philander, Patrick Jacobs, John Sheraton, Michael Ramages, George Paynter and Norman Schloss are pictured with parish priest Fr Baiju Mundackal MSFS (centre).

Thirty-two pilgrims from Regina Coeli parish in Belgravia, Cape Town, and Namibia went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Egypt.

The Grade R class of Holy Rosary Convent in Johannesburg were visited by Father Christmas.

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HISTORY

The Southern Cross, december 31, 2014 to January 6, 2015

9

The Church’s role in the collapse of communism It is 25 years since a wave of revolutions swept away the communist regimes of Eastern Europe—but often the Church’s contribution to the collapse of communism is ignored, as JoNATHAN LUXMooRE argues.

A

LTHOUGH the part played by the Catholic Church in the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 1991 has been detailed by countless books and studies, some Western commentators and historians appear unwilling to acknowledge it.

“We know a great deal now about how the Church, led by Pope John Paul II, helped disseminate a doctrine of human and civil rights when Marxism was losing its attractiveness,” said Jan Zaryn, a Polish historian who specialises in Church history.

“But interpretations of this period still seem heavily coloured by ideological preferences,” he added.

“Quite apart from its factual inaccuracy, this suggests a primitive understanding of recent history.”

Cardinal Dominik Duka of Prague, who as a Dominican priest in the 1980s spent 15 months in prison with dissidents from Czechoslovakia’s human rights movement, said St John Paul had joined US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in

resisting “totalitarian lies” and creating a “spiritual and political engine of democratisation”.

He added that many Czechs, Catholic clergy included, had already paid heavily for resistance since the 1948 communist takeover.

“These events didn’t fall from the sky or happen by themselves,” Cardinal Duka said at a Mass in Prague in November to mark the 25th anniversary of the “Velvet Revolution” there.

“Our devotion and loyalty must turn to those who fought and died for our country’s freedom—including the generation who, 25 years ago, with youthful hope in the future, risked death by raising our flag,” the cardinal told the congregation.

He had good reason to pay tribute to Catholics.

In what was then Czechoslovakia, the Church spawned a network of underground groups that became a mass opposition movement in the 1980s with the explicit backing of then-Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek.

Practising Catholics such as Vaclav Benda and Dana Nemcova played key roles in the Charter 77 human rights movement and helped forge common values and aims with liberal and ex-Marxist dissidents. So did influential priests such as Jesuit Fathers Josef Zverina and Frantisek Lizna.

Vaclav Maly, now auxiliary bishop of Prague, was jailed and beaten as a dissident. In the final talks with the communist regime

Pope John Paul II greets throngs of Poles waiting for a glimpse of their native son at the monastery of Jasna Gora in Czestochowa during his 1979 trip to Poland. Although the part played by the Catholic Church in the overthrow of communism has been detailed by countless books and studies, some Western commentators and historians appear unwilling to acknowledge it. (Photo: Chris Niedenthal/CNS)

he sat at the side of Vaclav Havel, the country’s first post-communism president .

The Catholic Church played a major role elsewhere, too.

In communist-ruled East Germany, the Church never adjusted its diocesan boundaries to the new state’s borders and consistently boycotted state ceremonies. In Hungary, Catholic base communities formed a key element of a nascent civil society emerging in the 1980s.

In Romania, where the 1989 “Winter Revolution” was sparked by the arrest of a Calvinist pastor, Laszlo Tokes, much-persecuted Eastern Catholic priests and laity had been active underground for decades.

They were also prominent in neighbouring Ukraine, where the Ukrainian Catholic Church, outlawed and officially suppressed by Soviet rulers in 1946, revived in the 1980s with hundreds of secret priests and nuns and became a rallying point for pro-democracy campaigners.

In Lithuania, where the Chronicle of the Catholic Church, edited by clergy, became the Soviet Union’s longest-running underground journal, Church leaders provided key moral support for the Sajudis democracy movement.

I

t was in Poland that the Church’s contribution proved most decisive, in helping sustain pressure for human rights and legality when the Solidarity trade union was crushed under martial law in December 1981.

As the only independent nationwide organisation, the Church offered sanctuary to a host of groups, publications and initiatives.

In 1989, it was represented in all key negotiations, mediating at the request of both sides. Analysts say the year’s Round Table accords, which paved the way for a peaceful transition to democracy, might still have happened without the Church, but they would have proved more difficult without the Church’s authority.

The influence of St John Paul outstripped that of any secular figure in his homeland and also triggered powerful spiritual and social impulses in neighbouring countries.

The pope brought millions into the streets during his three communist-era Polish pilgrimages and set out the parameters of a reunited Europe, “breathing with both lungs”.

His groundbreaking 1979

Passengers of the Freedom Express, initiated by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the collapse of communism in East Central Europe, sit next to a Soviet war memorial in Memento Park, an open air museum of street statues and monuments of the communist era in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo: Laszlo Beliczay, EPA/CNS) Poland visit, with its famous appeal, “Do not be afraid”, is generally acknowledged to have set the scene for Solidarity’s emergence a year later.

In a 2000 survey by Warsaw’s Public Opinion Research Centre, 58% said the pope’s October 1978 election had been the century’s “most important event”, while three-quarters believed his “influence on the world’s fate” had been greater than that of any other modern-day figure.

Archival research has since revealed that the Catholic Church, even in Poland, was heavily infiltrated by communist informers, and many priests and bishops were compromised by collaboration.

However, Church historian Mr Zaryn said he thinks secret police penetration cannot detract from the Church’s wider role as a promoter of freedom.

“There’s no doubt a decisive majority of clergy resisted the pressure and stood up for a very different idea of Poland than the communist regime’s,” he said. “They represented historical continuity against the temporariness of post-war communism and succeeded in defending Church and faith when all the state’s resources were deployed against them.”

Today, Russianists stress the role of Soviet ruler Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika, US enthusiasts highlight the contribution of Presidents Reagan and George H W

Bush, while supporters of the European Union emphasise the part played by the continent’s institutions.

The religious contribution may have been better recognised by communists themselves, who appeared well aware at the time of the dangers posed to their rule by an assertive Polish pope and new-born Catholic militancy.

In Catholic News Service interviews, Poland’s communist strongman, Wojciech Jaruzelski, recorded how the pope’s teachings had “reawakened hopes and expectations of change”. Mr Gorbachev spoke of how Pope John Paul had helped his own “understanding of communism” and acknowledged that the end of communist rule would have been “impossible” without him.

“Much of this is still being misunderstood in Western media and academic circles, where the Catholic Church is seen as an oppressive institution, not as a protector of human rights,” Mr Zaryn said.

“Communist rule was brought down, first and foremost, by global forces, including loss of the arms race and failure to compete with the Western free market. But the pope and Church helped demonstrate that communism was unworkable and ensured that those responsible for this criminal system were treated mercifully,” he said.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, december 31, 2014 to January 6, 2015

BOOK REVIEWS

Two local books on consecrated life RELIGIOUS AND PRIESTLY ONGOING FORMATION WITH CHRIST YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW, by Fr Innocent Mabheka SCJ. Xlibris Publishers, 2014. 124pp.

AND THE EYES OF ALL LOOKED INTENTLY AT HIM: Understanding the Mystery of the Ministry of Permanent Diaconate, by Sipihiwe Felix M Mkhize. Mariannhill Mission Press, 2014.

204pp.

Reviewed by Michael Shackleton HE atmosphere of worldliness that surrounds us means that fewer individuals are moved towards the spiritual realm of serving one another for the sake of Christ and his Church.

Authorities have to screen candidates ever more thoroughly to satisfy themselves that, given recent scandals, they can identify genuine vocations.

Two recent local publications have courageously faced this quandary, one examining the religious life in an African setting, and the other the calling to be a permanent deacon.

Fr Innocent Mabheka SCJ in Religious and Priestly Ongoing Formation with Christ Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow notes that the religious life is not attracting many vocations at present, and with that in mind offers a reassessment of the consecrated calling.

He approaches this as an African who unpacks the beauty of the African idea of ubuntu among those who take religious vows.

Ubuntu, he explains, is difficult to define but it is essentially the spirit of being human and of recognising oneself and all others as such. It is the response to God’s will when he created humankind male

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and female.

In seven illuminating chapters Fr Mabheka examines the modern consumer society that dominates young people, making them individualistic, materialistic and hedonistic. “Having” rather than “being” leaves them unconcerned about others and rejecting spiritual and religious values.

He develops this theme in his treatment of the three religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as directly opposed to materialism, sexual promiscuity and individualism. He goes on to throw some much- needed light on the repercussions of religious vows in practice on the family of the one who is now a religious.

Village life in Africa is the experience of commonality and affiliation. It is so strong that it takes the whole village to raise the child and, as such, a person gets firmly bonded to the people of the whole village.

When individuals with this powerful cultural link to the clan enter the religious life and are cut off physically from their people, emotional ties of kinship are sure to remain.

Fr Mabheka illustrates this in the example of an African religious sister in Europe who loses a family member at home. It is an obligation to be with one’s kinsfolk and to mourn with them and cover the deceased’s grave with stones in order to bid a fitting goodbye. Religious superiors may not appreciate this cultural imperative for the sister to be with the whole family in a common expression of mourning.

The necessity of inculturation is unmistakable in situations such as this. As the author develops his highly readable and reasonable thesis, he presents the beauty of the religious life among African people

who have tremendous respect for spiritual tradition and the influence of the elders. Christ is the divine elder and centre of the consecrated life, and no ancestor in African culture can be compared to him.

The author, a member of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is manifestly dedicated to Christ and the religious life on this continent, and his sympathetic discussion about the ongoing formation of this life is informative and stimulating.

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o the surprise of many, Vatican II recommended that the ministry of the deacon should be restored to the Church on a permanent basis.

The path was cleared for married men to enter the clerical state while maintaining their family life, homes and jobs. Cynics protested that laymen were already able to do what a deacon does, so what was the point?

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The point is clarified in the incisive, well-researched analysis by Siphiwe Mkhize, in And the Eyes of All Looked Intently at Him: Understanding the Mystery of the Ministry of Permanent Diaconate.

It emerges historically from Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical letter Mystici Corporis in which he foreshadowed the modern Church’s shift from the counter-Reformation period of the 16th century into 20th century reality.

Pope Pius in a sense opened dimmed eyes to see that the ecclesiastical hierarchy alone is not the Church. The Church is all the baptised, called to holiness and inspired by the Holy Spirit. The laity share in the Church’s mission and life and their vocation complements the vocation of the ordained.

Almost in an evolutionary manner, the permanent deacon’s distinctive type of modern-day ministry came to be accepted as necessary rather than as useful. It

enabled devout and competent laymen to enter and exercise a committed, clerical ministry in parishes and pastoral areas, bringing an official and sacramental presence into secular life.

Mkhize demonstrates that from the beginning, the deacon’s role was not only liturgical but also one of stewardship of the Church’s material goods in respect of the poor, the homeless and the sick.

Today this remains his witness to Christ in works of charity that assume different kinds, depending on what responsibilities the bishop assigns to him.

A man wanting to be a permanent deacon needs formation as aspirant, candidate and ordained minister. At each stage of this progression his human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral needs must be nurtured and provided for, for the maturity of the whole person.

Mkhize discusses these matters thoroughly with copious quotes from official sources, notably Vatican II and papal documents.

This is a superb handbook for prospective and ordained deacons.

There is a series of appendices that provides practical guidance on such matters as the spiritual faculties the deacon can exercise and the importance of being subject to the jurisdiction of a particular bishop, known as incardination into a diocese.

The diaconate has had an honourable history in the Church from the days of the Apostles. Its ministry fell into abeyance in the late medieval years, but Mkhize does not provide a historical discussion on why this happened. To know why would have enhanced the argument for bringing deacons back into in the parishes and chaplaincies of the post-conciliar Church.

Herod: Not a mass-murderer?

THE TRUE HEROD by Geza Vermes. Bloomsbury Publishing, New York. 2014. 181 pp.

Reviewed by Eugene J Fisher JEWISH scholar, Geza Vermes put out a pioneering study of Jesus the Jew in 1973 and significant work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Jewish history in the time of Christ.

Published posthumously, in The True Herod Vermes revises the traditionally negative views of Herod of both Christian and Jewish history.

The book is illustrated with photographs of pertinent archaeological discoveries, maps and historical charts. These help to visualise the complex history of Herod’s family and its relations with Hellenism and later Roman rule.

Vermes begins with a summary of biblical history from King David through the Maccabean period, setting up the life and times of Herod, king of the Jews, from 73 BCE to four years after the birth of Christ. We learn why Greek was the language of the New Testament, and Aramaic the language spoken in Judea and Samaria, the language Jesus himself most likely spoke.

Herod is described as being virtually schizophrenic. On the one hand, he could be ruthless when seeking to gain and consolidate power, even murdering

A

members of his own family. On the other, he was an astute politician, carefully siding with the winning figures in the internal battles within the Roman empire of the time, thus preserving and indeed increasing the size and influence of the Jewish state within the empire.

Vermes, citing the works of ancient historians such as Josephus and available archaeological evidence, portrays a king who personally observed Jewish law, the commandments described in the Pentateuch, and encouraged their observance by the Jewish people in his realm.

He was thus greatly favoured by the Pharisees, who taught, as did Jesus, that the Jews, as a people in covenant with the one God

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of Israel, should respect and obey the law of God given to them as interpreted by the Hebrew prophets. He emphasised, as did the prophets, caring for those in need, feeding the poor, as well as observing the ritual laws required of those who would offer sacrifice in the Temple.

Herod was also a great builder, using wealth gained from taxing the rich to rebuild and enlarge the Jerusalem Temple, and to build a fortress city on Masada, a great seaport at Caesarea, and a new city, Herodium, south of Bethlehem. This employed many workers, spreading prosperity throughout the land. He even endowed the Olympic games of the time, enabling them to continue until 385 AD. Herod is vilified in Christian tradition, based on the account in Matthew, for murdering innocent children upon hearing the prophecies of the Magi. This, Vermes convincingly argues, is historically unlikely.

It reflects rather Matthew’s theology, understanding the life of Jesus as recapitulating the exile and enslavement of the Jews in Egypt and their exodus to Sinai and the Holy Land, seeing Jesus as the new Moses leading the people to freedom.

Christian readers will find here new understandings of the Scriptures, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.—CNS

CLASSIFIEDS Sr Brigitte-Sophie of Jesus LSJ

S

ISTER Brigitte-Sophie of Jesus of the Little Sisters of Jesus, who died two weeks short of her 76th birthday on November 13, was born in Germany in 1938, and came down to South Africa in 1964.

Just recently she adopted South African citizenship.

She spent some time in Johannesburg and Cape Town where she worked in a factory, but for 40 years she lived in KwaZulu-Natal.

For 20 years she lived in Bergville in the small village of Rookdale and for 20 years in Machibisa, Pietermaritzburg. She could speak Zulu fluently.

All those years she didn’t spare

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Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: 6: Bishop Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington on his 65th birthday.

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any efforts to be part of people’s lives in the difficult years of apartheid and afterwards, sharing their pains and joys. Many friendships came out of her total dedication.

Sr Brigitte lived her life with great enthusiasm and passion, and even in the last months of her illness she showed a wonderful courage and trust in God. She had a great sense of beauty and discovered it in people, in nature, and in her work. She mounted icons with a lot of love and hard work; everything needed to be perfect.

This year, she celebrated her golden jubilee as a religious.

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday January 4, Epiphany of the Lord Philippians 2:5-11, Psalms 113:1-8, Matthew 1:18-23 Monday January 5 1 John 3:22--4:6, Psalms 2:7-8, 10-12, Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 Tuesday January 6 1 John 4:7-10, Psalms 72:1-4, 7-8, Mark 6:3444 Wednesday January 7, St Raymond 1 John 4:11-18, Psalms 72:1-2, 10, 12-13, Mark 6:45-52 Thursday January 8 1 John 4:19--5:4, Psalms 72:2, 14-15, 17, Luke 4:14-22 Friday January 9, St Adrian 1 John 5:5-13, Psalms 147:12-15, 19-20, Luke 5:12-16 Saturday January 10 1 John 5:14-21, Psalms 149:1-6, 9, John 3:2230 Sunday, January 11, Baptism of the Lord Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7, Psalms 29:1-4, 3, 9-10, Acts 10:34-38

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DEATH

MURRAY—Peter. Passed away december 3, 2014. our sympathies to his family. Loyal Cardinal owen McCann Associate of The Southern Cross.

IN MEMORIAM

HARKER—Reynold. January 4, 2009. Those we love do not go away, they walk beside us every day.

Prayerfully remembered by your loving Mommy Shirley and sister Sharlene and dominic, nieces Lauren and Megan (Australia) and Aunty Suzanne, relatives and friends. RIP. RADEMEYER—Freddy.

Three years ago today, January 6, you made a huge difference in our lives. Your voice became silent, your chair empty.

We pray that you are happy in God’s kingdom.

Sadly missed by Neavera, Celeste, Erik, Bradley, Vanessa, Aidan, Noël, Irma, Heine, Laura and six grandchildren.

PRAYERS

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.

Pat. 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.

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

RC.

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

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O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. o Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother, o Holy Mary Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to secure me in my necessity. There are none who can withstand your power, o show me that you are my mother. o Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Thank you for your mercy towards me and mine. Amen.

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The Baptism of the Lord: January 11 Readings: Isaiah 55:1-11, Isaiah 12:2-6, 1 John 5:1-9, Mark 1:7-11

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EXT Sunday we bring Christmas to an end (though the purists will say that it goes on right up to the feast of the Presentation, on February 2) with our launch into the new year, in the form of the baptism of Jesus, as he plunges into the waters.

On that day he will start anew the journey to the cross, on which we shall follow him, not only during Lent, but also in the whole of the liturgical year until November; and during the year we shall be reading to ourselves the stark and strange gospel of Mark.

Each of the readings for the day mentions water, appropriately enough. The first reading, from almost the very end of the prophecy of Isaiah of Babylon, is an invitation, enormously attractive in a dry climate, to “come to the water”, and it is uttered to “all you who are thirsty”, and to “those who have no money”.

On the other hand, we need to know that plunging into these attractive waters brings with it a challenge, for we have to change our lives: “Let the wicked person forsake their way, and the man of iniquity their thoughts; let them return to the Lord that he may have

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Enter the cool waters of baptism Fr Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

mercy on them.” So the waters of baptism are not just agreeably cool; they also ask something of us.

The psalm for next Sunday also comes from Isaiah, unusually enough, and it is a song of thanksgiving, such as we might imagine on Jesus’ lips on this day.

Naturally it mentions water: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

It addresses God as “the God of my salvation; I shall trust in him and not be afraid, for the Lord is the Lord of my salvation”.

As always in the psalms, the tone is one of immense gratitude, and so the poet sings an

invitation to us: “give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name”.

Zion is to sing in gratitude because “great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel”. So we are invited here to think of what God has done for us, and to respond, as Jesus has done.

The second reading is from the first letter of John, of which we heard a good deal over the Christmas period.

Three times the water is mentioned, but with a subtle difference: for it speaks of “Jesus Christ, the one who came through water and blood, not just in water, but in water and blood”. This may well carry an invitation for us on this day to look at the whole stretch of Jesus’ life as Mark’s gospel tells it, from his baptism to his appalling death.

And we should notice the important remark that “it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth”. It is this same Spirit that will guide us along Jesus’ journey throughout the year.

The gospel is, of course, Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism. We hear first the voice of John

The Visitation: Revisited!

W

E are all familiar with the biblical story of the Visitation. It happens at the beginning of Luke’s gospel. Mary and her cousin, Elizabeth, both pregnant, meet. One is carrying Jesus and the other is carrying John the Baptist.

The Gospels want us to recognise that both these pregnancies are biologically impossible; one is a virginal conception and the other is a conception that occurs far beyond someone’s childbearing years.

So there is clearly something of the divine in each.

In simple language, each woman is carrying a special gift from heaven and each is carrying a part of the divine promise that will one day establish God’s peace on this earth.

But neither Mary nor Elizabeth, much less anyone around them, consciously recognises the divine connection between the two children they are carrying.

The Gospels present them to us as “cousins”, both the children and their mothers; but the Gospels want us to think deeper than biology.

They are cousins in the same way that Christ, and those things that are also of the divine, are cousins. This, among other things, is what is contained in the concept of the Visitation.

Mary and Elizabeth meet, both are pregnant with the divine. Each is carrying a child from heaven, one is carrying Christ

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Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

and the other is carrying a unique prophet, the “cousin” of the Christ. And a curious thing happens when they meet.

Christ’s cousin, inside his mother, without explicit consciousness, leaps for joy in the presence of Christ and that reaction releases the Magnificat inside of the one carrying Christ.

C

hristian de Chergé, the Trappist abbott who was martyred in Algeria in 1996, suggests that, among other things, this image is the key to how we, as Christians, are meant to meet other religions in the world. He sees the image as illustrating this paradigm: Christianity is carrying Christ and other religions are also carrying something divine, a divine “cousin”, one who points to Christ.

But all of this is unconscious; we do not really grasp the bond, the connection, between what we are carrying and what the other is carrying. But we will recognise

their kinship, however unconsciously, when we stand before another who does not share our Christian faith but is sincere and true to his or her own faith.

In that encounter we will sense the connection: What we are carrying will make something leap for joy inside the other and that reaction will help draw the Magnificat out of us and, like Mary, we will want to stay with that other for mutual support.

And we need that support, as does the other. As De Chergé puts it: “We know that those whom we have come to meet are like Elizabeth: they are bearers of a message that comes from God. Our Church does not tell us and does not know what the exact bond is between the Good News we bear and the message that gives life to the other...We may never know exactly what that bond is, but we do know that the other is also a bearer of a message that comes from God. “So what should we do? What does witness consist in?

What about mission?...See, when Mary arrives, it is Elizabeth who speaks first. Or did she?...For most certainly Mary would have said: ‘Peace, peace be with you.’ And this simple greeting made something vibrate, someone, inside of Elizabeth. And in this vibration, something was said... Which is the Good News, not the whole of the Good News, but what can be glimpsed of it in the moment.”

De Chergé then adds this comment: “In the end, if we are attentive, if we situate our encounter with the other in the attention and the desire to meet the other, and in our need for the other and what they have to say to us, it is likely that the other is going to say something to us that will connect with what we are carrying, something that will reveal complicity with us ... allowing us to broaden our Eucharist.”

We need each other, everyone on this planet, Christians and non-Christians, Jews and Muslims, Protestants and Roman Catholics, Evangelicals and Unitarians, sincere agnostics and atheists; we need each other to understand God’s revelation. Nobody understands fully without the other.

Thus our interrelations with each other should not be born only out of enthusiasm for the truth we have been given, but it should issue forth too from our lack of the other.

Without the other, without recognising that the other too is carrying the divine, we will, as De Chergé asserts, be unable to truly release our own Magnificat.

Without each other, none of us will ever be able to pray the Eucharist “for the many”.

the Baptist: “There is coming the One Stronger than I, after me.” Then he speaks to insist on Jesus’ superiority: “I am not fit to bend down and untie the thong of his sandals.” Then he speaks of baptism, again in a way that stresses Jesus’ superiority: “I baptised you people with water; but he is going to baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

With that startling prologue, we are ready for Jesus’ appearance, but we are also a bit surprised when we hear that “in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptised into the Jordan by John”.

What happened, we ask, to Jesus’ superiority? Then, however, we are in the presence of God: “Immediately coming up out of the waters he saw the heavens being split open [by God, of course], and the Spirit coming down into him like a dove.”

Finally, we get God’s comment on the scene, which we shall do well to repeat to ourselves throughout the coming year: “You are my Son, the Beloved; in you I am well pleased.”

Southern Crossword #635

ACROSS 3. They don’t marry once (9) 8. The unconcerned flyer won’t give it (4) 9. Campanile (4-5) 10. I ended with a word of emphasis (6) 11. Like a candle before Mass (5) 14. Implied, not stated (5) 15. Island for young animal with a following (4) 16. Not the Bethlehem Inn (5) 18. Once more (4) 20. Directed at various media (5) 21. Postpone and submit (5) 24. A good meal about history?

(6) 25. The gospel’s mass murderer (4,5) 26. Slightly singe the cleaner (4) 27. Toes start wriggling for the willing (9)

DOWN 1. The December birthday (9) 2. What the usher did for the choirmaster (9) 4. As cold as a Christmas cake? (4) 5. Everybody has arrived exhausted (3,2) 6. Conventional, like a Byzantine painting (6) 7. Its fruit was attractive to Eve (4) 9. The sound of Nativity Wharf (5) 11. Say something absolute (5) 12. My chum ate and got a pain (5-4) 13. To Mary, and required by law (9) 17. With alcohol added (5) 19. From what you hear, delay gravity (6) 22. Pick the successful candidate (5) 23. Kind of sentence of vitality (4) 24. Deep cry of pride (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

drunken man gets on the bus, staggers up the aisle, and sits next to an elderly woman. She looks the man up and down and says: “I’ve got news for you—you're going straight to hell!”

The man jumps up out of his seat and shouts: “Good heavens, I’m on the wrong bus!”

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