The
S outhern C ross
March 18 to March 24, 2015
Reg No. 1920/002058/06
Xenophilia: The call to be friends to strangers
No 4916
www.scross.co.za
St Teresa of Avila at 500: Why she matters
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Page 9
R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)
Pope on assassin fears: Just don’t let it hurt
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Priests called to help police BY STUART GRAHAM
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HE police, prisons and military are traumatised from violence in South Africa and are desperate for chaplains and support from the Church, according to Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria. He spoke to The Southern Cross after a meeting of the Security Services Christian Advisory Board. The archbishop, who represents the Church on the board, said there are not enough Catholic priests involved with the country's security services which, he said, are crying out for spiritual help. “This is where our society is broken. This is where people are suffering. This is where men are burdened with heavy responsibilities. This is where the Church is supposed to be,” the archbishop said. “Church pastors can no longer remain sitting at home behind a desk, filling in baptismal certificates. They have to join our security personnel in healing, protecting and giving hope,” he said. Archbishop Slattery said that Lent, which runs until April 2, is an ideal time for priests and their parishes to help lift the burden off the police, prisons and military. He urged priests to visit and pray with their local police, to help them deal with trauma and show that God is behind them and wants to help. “In light of the fact that police are under such pressure and facing traumas in their work, in home life and in society, I encourage parish priests to make contact with their local police stations and to offer to share prayers with them. “Members of security services place great value on visits from spiritual workers.... they really do.” Priests, he said, should involve their parishes in supporting and providing intelligence to law enforcers.
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massive scourge of the highly addictive nyope drug is placing the police under enormous pressure, said Archbishop Slattery. Nyope is a mixture of heroin and marijuana, sometimes laced with a cocktail including antiretroviral drugs, milk powder, rat poison, bicarbonate of soda or pool cleaner. Users report feeling euphoric and a wonderful sense of relaxation. Police report that gangs have been robbing antiretroviral clinics in order to get ingredients to make the drug. People are stealing everything from taps to
For further info or to book contact Michael or Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za/ poland-2016/
crucifixes to pay for the drug, said Archbishop Slattery. Absent fathers, dysfunctional families, gang cultures and broken schools are fuelling crime and placing the police under enormous pressure. Prisons are also desperate for help, the archbishop said. Statistics released at the Security Services Christian Advisory Board—which is held three times a year and includes church leaders and chaplains general of the military, correctional services and police—showed that 91 000 inmates out of 160 000 in South Africa’s 240 prisons attended spiritual counselling programmes. “The role of spiritual care in prisons is to assist offenders to adopt a positive lifestyle and to restore relationships between offenders and families, victims and communities,” Archbishop Slattery said. “A great suffering for many prisoners is knowledge that families totally reject them. For example, one family whose son is in jail for a serious crime told a visitor, ‘We have no son; he is dead’.”
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he majority of inmates in prisons are men between 18 and 27, who grew up in dysfunctional families and found friendships in gangs, with their culture of drug abuse and abuse of women, said the archbishop, who serves as a prison chaplain. “Another feature of the lives of offenders is that until they come to prison they do not reflect on the injury they have caused to their victims. Part of the prison spiritual care is to sensitise them to the trouble they have caused.” Despite the need for spiritual help in jails, the Church had only one permanent, fulltime Catholic correctional services chaplain in all of South Africa, Fr Jordan Ngondo. It would also be “a good idea” if Catholic priests volunteered to become reserve chaplains in the military, he said. “Those army chaplains who have travelled out of South Africa with our soldiers have really experienced a very close and spiritual relationship with the soldiers. The soldiers, who are going out on patrol or into violent situations, continually ask for prayers.” South Africa has more than 600 000 army veterans, many of whom suffer post-traumatic stress, “which requires counselling”, Archbishop Slattery said
Fr Karabo Baloyi of Pretoria washes the feet of a woman at an ecumenical Women’s World Day of Prayer service at Regina Mundi Catholic church in Moroka, Soweto. Women who presented themselves for the feet-washing held signs representing different social issues affecting women; after the washing they held signs suggesting healing outcomes to these. (Photo: Akani Malobola)
Priest washed feet at women’s prayer service STAFF REPORTER
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WASHING-OF-THE-FEET ceremony performed by a Catholic priest was at the centre of an ecumenical service to mark the Women’s World Day of Prayer. The service at Regina Mundi Catholic church in Moroka, Soweto, was hosted by The Friends of Radio Veritas in association with the Women’s World Day of Prayer committee of South Africa. Some 450 women of many different denominations witnessed Fr Karabo Baloyi of Pretoria, who led the service, washing the feet of several women. As they presented themselves, they carried signs representing different social issues such as corruption, domestic violence, teenage parenthood and HIV/Aids. After Fr Baloyi washed their feet they carried signs
St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross
that now represented words such as “integrity”, “accepted, never alone” and “included”. Anglican Reverend Dorcas Baleni of Christ the King Church in Sophiatown delivered the sermon. “Jesus stooped down so low, we were meant to worship him but he didn’t care for it or want that status,” she told the congregation. The theme for this year’s worldwide prayer event, was written by the women of the Bahamas, was “Jesus said to them: Do you know what I have done for you?”, from John 13:12. It was held in more than 170 countries, with services worldwide expected to have exceeded 18 000. n For more information on the event contact Mahadi Buthelezi at 011 663 4700.
A journey to the places of St John Paul II’s life and devotions, led by a Bishop who knows Poland intimately.
Led by Bishop Stan Dziuba 13 - 21 May 2016
Kraków | Wadowice (on St John Paul II’s birthday) | Black Madonna of Częstochowa | Niepokalanów (St Maxmilan Kolbe) | Divine Mercy Sanctuary | Warsaw | Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (with miraculous icon) | Zakopane | Wieliczka Salt Mine (with Mass!)