The
S outhern C ross
March 25 to March 31, 2015
Reg No. 1920/002058/06
Why does God ‘allow suffering’?
Page 10
No 4917
www.scross.co.za
SA Catholics remember St John Paul II
R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)
Je suis Christian!
Pages 8-9
Page 10
Year of Mercy challenge to SA Catholics BY STUART GRAHAM
P
OPE Francis’ declaration of 2016 as a Holy Year dedicated to mercy should challenge the way South Africa’s Catholics look at the world, a spokesman for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said. Fr S’milo Mngadi said mercy is linked to wide spectrums of principles such as tolerance and forgiveness and should be held in the hearts of South Africans at all times. “Mercy cannot be placed only on issues of extreme morality like homosexuality and divorce,” he said. “Mercy is not only confined to that. Mercy goes across the spectrum. It challenges how we look at things.” The extraordinary Jubilee dedicated to mercy will begin on December 8 and close on November 20, 2016. A jubilee is called a holy year because it aims to encourage holiness, strengthen faith in Christ and inspire greater communion within the Church and society. Holy years feature special celebrations and pilgrimages, strong calls for conversion and repentance, and the offer of special opportunities to experience God’s grace through the sacraments, especially confession. Traditionally, popes proclaim a holy year every 25 years. The last ordinary Holy Year was called in 2000. Extraordinary holy years, like the Holy Year of Mercy, are less frequent, but offer the same opportunities for spiritual growth. The pope said the Holy Year will highlight the Catholic Church’s “mission to be a witness of mercy”, adding that “no one can be excluded from God’s mercy”, the pope said. “I am convinced that the whole Church will be able to find in this Jubilee the joy of rediscovering and making fruitful the mercy of God, with which we are all called to give consolation to every man and every woman of our time,” Pope Francis said. The biblical passage for the Holy Year’s theme is from Luke 6:36, in which Jesus tells his disciples, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful”— an admonition that applies “especially to confessors”, the pope said.
The 2015 season of The Durban Passion Play gets underway on Wednesday of Holy Week, April 1. Denzil Deane, 26, (above) will again play Jesus. He is seen here with Eve Howard as Veronica. The members of the Durban Catholic Players’ Guild, who take an annual vow to stage the Passion Play every five years, believe in the play as a powerful means of evangelisation, each performing without financial reward “for the greater glory of God”. Tickets for this year’s 24 performances from April 1-19 at Durban’s Playhouse Drama Theatre are available from Computicket at R40, R60 and R80. Block bookings are available. (See next week’s Easter issue for a feature on the Play’s cast)
Candles broken due to overflow of Catholic men STAFF REPORTER
Pope Francis goes to confession during a Lenten penance service in St Peter’s basilica. The pope has announced an extraordinary jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy, to be celebrated from December 8, 2015, until November 20, 2016. (Photo: Stefano Spaziani/CNS) Fr Mngadi said the Church could take many lessons from the Year of Mercy. The African Catholic Church, for example, has practices which are not merciful, he said. “An example is a practice among African Catholics that when a girl has a child before marriage out, she has to do some kind of penance. That is very rooted in African Catholicism. Mercy will challenge all of those things.” Mercy, said Fr Mngadi, should even extend Continued on page 11
T
HE bishop of Swaziland and his altar servers had to cut candles in half at a church service earlier in March after more than 100 men arrived to join the Swaziland Council of Catholic Men (SCCM). Bishop José Luís Ponce de León of Manzini said the newly-launched organisation aims at encouraging Catholic men in Swaziland to play a strong role in the Church. “The celebration had not yet started and I realised there were more than 100 men,” the bishop said. “I told them at the beginning of the Mass, ‘I am not used to seeing so many men in Church and to have you sitting in the first rows’. They normally sit at the back.” It took half an hour to give a candle to each one of them. The altar servers had to cut candles in half to accommodate the high turnout—and still it was not enough. The bishop said that other men who were at Mass decided they also wanted to join the council. “It was a very important moment in the
The Southern Cross & Radio Veritas present
THE SAINTS OF ITALY PILGRIMAGE Led by Fr EMIL BLASER OP
See the places of Saints Francis, Anthony of Padua, Catherine of Siena, John XXIII, John Paul II, Rita of Cascia, Pius X, Benedict, Charles Borromeo, Augustine, Peter the Apostle and many more...
PLUS PAPAL AUDIENCE!
For more info or to book phone Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 or e-mail info@fowlertours.co.za or visit www.fowlertours.co.za/saints-of-italy-2015/
Bishop José Luís Ponce de León hands a candle to a congregant at the launch of the Swaziland Council of Catholic Men.
life of the diocese, and they wanted to be part of it.” The council aims to encourage a maturation of the stewardship and evangelisation role of the adult male laity in the diocese of Manzini, to promote the spiritual growth and formation of the men, and to encourage members to get their own families, relatives and acquaintances to receive the sacraments. The council members should also visit lapsed or lukewarm Catholics to encourage them to return to the Church.
Rome, Assisi, Florence, Siena, Padua, Milan, Venice and more 6 - 18 September 2015