150429

The

S outhern C ross

April 29 to May 5, 2015

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4922

www.scross.co.za

Pope Francis’ deep devotion to Our Lady

The Acts of the Apostles in a nutshell

Page 5

Page 10

R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Violence is the answer to our silence

Page 7

Church to govt: Show leadership

BY STUART GRAHAM & STAFF REPORTERS

T

HE bishops of Southern Africa have said that although they understand the anger of the people, attacking foreign nationals to express it is contrary to the Bible.

“Our charter, the Bible, is very clear: ‘When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don’t take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native’,” the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) said in a statement signed by its spokesman, Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria.

“We conquered apartheid with very little use of violence and a settlement was reached peacefully. The same principle of ubuntu needs to be applied in order to calm the recent spates of violence and unrest,” the SACBC said.

The bishops declared themselves available “as agents to broker peace” and committed funds to support displaced people.

“We urge the foreigners and expatriates to avoid being involved in any unfair labour and illegal business practices,” the bishops said.

“We also exhort them to expose those who are here illegally and report any criminal elements among them. This is to be expected of every responsible citizen, both foreign/expatriate and native.”

The bishops urged the government “to take leadership”.

“Leaders of this violent movement should have been identified and confronted for dialogue and accountability. Issues that provide a context for this horrible violence need to be addressed immediately,” they said.

The Jesuit Institute South Africa, in a statement signed by its director, Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, said the xenophobic violence “condemns

South Africa”.

The Jesuit Institute called on “those who make sweeping inaccurate statements about foreign nationals and their effects on local communities—for example stealing our resources—to refrain from this. The facts do not support your claims!”

It also urged government to take decisive action against xenophobia, noting that it had failed to do so after the 2008 attacks.

“The fact that these attacks have reoccurred means that government has failed to adequately address this scourge through education, dialogue, and other methods of outreach,” the statement said.

It also called on faith leaders to address “this endemic problem”.

“Faith communities have the power to influence and must use this influence to condemn this behaviour. The perpetrators of this violence are people who worship in our faith communities,” the Jesuit Institute said.

The bishops warned against the “irresponsible use of social media”.

“Many graphics and verbal postings do very little to change the situation but exacerbate the violence. Before posting, always ask yourself if it will bring any good or if it will fuel the conflict,” the SACBC advised.

Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp took to Facebook to warn users against sharing photos that falsely purport to be of the latest wave of violence.

One photo, showing a man with several hack wounds, was from Nigeria; another of a burning man dates to the 2008 xenophobic violence.

Those who post the images on social media in the knowledge that they do not refer Continued on page 2

On May 8 the world will observe the 70th anniversary of the Allies’ defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Around two years before the end of the war, in 1943, South African watchmaker Max Martin of Johannesburg created this badge, which he called “Victory with Christ”. It features the inscription “Thy Will be Done, O Lord”. During the war the devout Catholic also gave 7 000 crucifixes to South African soldiers serving in North Africa. The photo was made available to us by his son, John Martin, a Spitfire pilot in World War II. Max Martin, who was widely known as the “Timekeeper of Johannesburg” died on on March 7, 1969, at the age of 79, meriting a large obituary in The Southern Cross written by the late Fr John Brady OMI.

New associate secretary-general for bishops’ conference

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

HE newly appointed associate secretarygeneral of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference was taken by “complete surprise” when he was approached by the bishops to take over the position.

Stigmatine Father Patrick Rakeketsi, who is succeeding Fr Grant Emmanuel as of May 1, said he has “mixed emotions” about the big tasks the appointment brings, “but I am grateful for the recognition”.

“The country is so big. There are 29 dioceses, and so to be appointed is a surprise,” he told The Southern Cross.

As associate secretary-general he is the deputy to the secretary-general, Sr Hermenegild Makoro. The secretariat oversees the activities of the SACBC. Fr Rakeketsi was born in 1972 in Lesotho and joined the Stigmatines in 1990. He made his final vows in 1997 and was ordained a priest in 1998.

He was on missions in Tanzania between 1998 and 2001, obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology at the Gregorian University and is a lecturer at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria.

Fr Rakeketsi has extensive pastoral experience as a Stigmatine formator, has been a pastor in various parishes, was president of the Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life and coordinator of Marriage Preparation Ministry, and is chairman of the Board of Manage-

ment of Catholic Institutions in the Archdiocese of Pretoria.

He will replace Fr Emmanuel who is returning to parish ministry at Chatsworth, Durban.

“I feel that I can make some contribution for the local Church,” Fr Rakeketsi said.

“The pastoral approach of the bishops is very important. There are programmes of the Church that our bishops want to be in the centre of the events of the life of the people.

That is my interest,” he said.

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The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

LOCAL

Church wants action on xenophobia Continued from page 1 to the current violence “are not making the situation any better by lying and exaggerating”, Bishop Phalana said.

The Church must respond to the violence of xenophobia by promoting “togetherness and unity” in South Africa’s communities, Fr Patrick Tseko Rakeketsi, the newly appointed associate secretary-general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said.

“The Church has to be seen as promoting the occasions of unity, of African community and union and understanding. We are a multicultural society. We have to promote unity in our parishes.”

The Church should also be involved at displacement centres to provide counselling to victims, and create funds and arrange donations.

Fr Rakeketsi said all leaders who had made xenophobic remarks should withdraw them.

Nazareth House in Johannesburg’s staff members gathered for a retreat at the Lumko Institute in Benoni.

Nazareth staffers’ retreat

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

S

TAFF members from Nazareth House’s anti-retroviral therapy clinic, hospice, old-age home and HIV-support group in Johannesburg participated in a retreat at the Lumko Institute in Benoni.

The retreat was led by Fr Phina Jan Mmakola, sub-prior at St Benedict’s abbey. The theme was “Light, Creation and a Word”.

“There was a lot of group-sharing as well as individual testimony about the word of God

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touching our different tasks on a daily basis in our care for one another,” said Sr Alison Munro OP, director of the SACBC Aids Office in Pretoria.

“The teachings of Fr Mmakola were very touching, encouraging and reconciling, and provided us with a lot of strength to face the scourge of HIV/Aids.”

The retreat included topics such as forgiveness in its fullness, compassion, love and acceptance, which are things people often miss in their daily lives, Sr Munro said.

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Foster system ‘prejudicial’ to children: CPLO

BY STAFF REPORTER

S

OUTH Africa’s current foster care system is unsustainable and prejudicial to the interests of the children it intends to help, a research paper by the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) has found.

The paper, by CPLO researcher Lois Law, says that HIV/Aids and “its devastating consequences” have resulted in a huge increase in the number of vulnerable children in need of care.

It says that former social development minister Zola Skweyiya encouraging relatives caring for orphans to apply for the foster care grant, “effectively introduced an escalating number of orphans into the statutory foster care system”.

“As a result, the sheer number of cases, coupled with the lengthiness of the grant application process, has overloaded social workers and children’s courts ever since,” she said.

The SA Institute of Race Relations survey for 2012 found that 530 816 children were in court-ordered foster care, and almost 1,5 million children were living in skip-generation households—those that have two non-consecutive generations living in a household, such as grandparents and their grandchildren.

These children are being cared for by extended family, but existing childcare legislation does not make adequate provision for kinship foster care.

Consequently, a high proportion of children who are effectively living in kinship care are dealt with in the same way as children in conventional foster care.

This, Ms Law said, impacts negatively on child protection services as well as on those children in kinship foster placements whose access to social grants is compromised due to delays in children’s court hearings.

“Notwithstanding the efforts of the department and funded organisations, the foster care system experiences its own challenges, including those that have to do with institutional arrangements, challenges between sectors and lack of human resources, thus rendering this essen-

tial system inadequate and unable to fulfil its mandate to vulnerable children,” the paper said.

H

uge backlogs in the finalisation of foster care placements and the management of statutory orders lead to an increased vulnerability of children.

This situation depletes already scarce resources in the child protection system, detracts from the other work of social workers, and impacts on service delivery to other children in need, Ms Law said.

The increasing need for foster care services reflects the increasing number of abandoned babies, high levels of abuse, and the general neglect and exploitation of children.

During 2012/13 there were 48 718 crimes against children. Of these, 25 446 were sexual offences.

Around a decade ago, there was a proposal by the SA Law Reform Commission to separate kinship care from foster care, and in so doing reduce the burden on the child protection services by using foster care, court-ordered kinship care and informal kinship care.

This, Ms Law said, would be in line with United Nations guidelines and the African charter on the rights and welfare of the child.

There is an urgent need for sustainable alternatives to the present crisis in the foster system. Introducing a kinship care grant system is the most practicable way of doing so.

“As the national welfare, social service and development forum has noted, the national tragedy created by the death and incapacitation on a massive scale of parents of South Africa’s children is making unprecedented demands on our social welfare system,” Ms Law said.

“As currently managed, it has the potential to bring about the collapse of many essential services.

“At the same time, it poses a challenge which, if we rise to it through creative and holistic thinking, solid partnerships, and determination, could bring us into a new era.

The Brescia House School in Johannesburg’s matric class of 1975 gathered together for their 40th reunion. Of the original group of 21 matriculants, 16 attended the reunion, some flying in especially from England, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The group were surprised and impressed with all the changes to the school over the years and they fondly reminisced over their time at Brescia. The matric dance theme that year was The Age of Chivalry and tickets cost R5 per couple.

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The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

LOCAL

3

‘We are all called to be missionaries’

BY STUART GRAHAM

we act and the way we treat other people... We are all involved in the universal mission of Church,” he said.

“A good example of a missionary is Pope Francis. The small actions he performs every day speak volumes and bring good news to other people.”

The mission societies, which are charged with evangelisation and charitable works around the world, have the main aim of “promoting a universal missionary spirit in the hearts of the people of God”.

Fr Rees said he wants people to understand that their duties as missionaries reach “far further” than their parishes. Actions, he said,

A

COMBONI priest who has been appointed to lead the Church’s missionary arm for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, says each of us through baptism is called to be a missionary for Christ.

Fr Gordon Rees said one of his challenges as the head of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the region was to motivate people in the region to follow their missionary calling.

“Each of us through our baptism are called to be missionaries,” said Fr Rees.

“It is all done through the way

should speak louder than words.

“Words have to be there, but actions often speak louder than words. Actions show people that we care about them,” he said.

“There is a whole world out there. We need to open our worlds and be informed,” he added..

“We tend to receive too much.

We are not reaching out enough.

We should be reaching out to other places that still don’t have. We have to look beyond the perspective of South Africa.”

Being a missionary, he said, is a way of life.

“If we are not living the mission, there is no reason to exist spiritually. We become caught in our own

world and we forget that our calling is to be a missionary.”

People should see where there is a need and reach out, Fr Rees said.

Apart from creating a missionary mindset in the region, one of the societies’ challenges is to inform people about the role of the societies.

“Our biggest problem is with collections. We need to inform people what the collections are for. We need to be transparent and show this is what we did with the money.”

Advances in technology are making the job of informing far easier, he said.

“We can make use of the latest

technology and people can read and respond immediately. The more we understand, the better witnesses we can be.

“We need to understand what the mission is about. What is going on in the Church and in the world... There are so many good stories. So many people out there are doing good.”

Fr Rees said he would have to coordinate all of the societies’ activities in the 29 dioceses in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland.

He will lead activities around mission promotion, collections for missions, especially on Mission Sunday in October, among others.

Dominican Convent choir aims to set the UK on fire

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

T

The permanent deacons of the archdiocese of Cape Town made a recommitment to service and the archbishop at a special Mass at Good Shepherd church in Bothasig.

HE choir of Dominican Convent School in Johannesburg has departed for a tour to Britain.

“I have no doubt that the choir will captivate audiences wherever they perform and be wonderful ambassadors for Dominican Convent School and South Africa,” said Paul Horn, director of the Dominican Foundation.

Stowe School in Buckingham will for the second time host the 60-strong choir as part of the Dominican school’s tour from April

25 to May 2.

The choir will perform seven concerts—at Stowe School and then at the famous cathedral of St Alban, London, Oxford and Sherborne.

The first half of the concert at Stowe will feature performances by some of that school’s finest music scholars, accompanied by the Stowe Festival Orchestra.

“I wish the choir the best of luck with the words of St Catherine: ‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire’,” said Dominican Convent headmaster Graham Howart.

Winter Living

Theology 2015

“The Scandal of Christian Disunity - a Biblical Approach” Fr. Nicholas King, SJ

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4

The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Be careful who you choose, orders told

BY LAURA IERACI

A

FTER the sex scandals in the Church, consecrated men and women must honestly assess their attitudes towards abuse, as well as towards celibacy, said Sister Mary Lembo, a research assistant at the Centre for Child Protection at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.

Sr Lembo, a member of the Congregation of St Catherine from Tongo, was part of a panel on “Formation for Affectivity Following the Sexual Scandals” at an international congress in Rome for novice directors and others involved in formation.

It is important to begin by assessing attitudes towards celibacy and towards “the reality” of the sex abuse scandal lived in the Church, Sr Lembo said.

Consecrated life is not an obligation; it is a decision, she said. And if people decide to enter consecrated life, then they “have to live it according to Jesus,” Sr Lembo said.

Celibacy is linked to the affective dimension of a person, including one’s emotions, sexuality and ability to enter into healthy friendships, and is “very complex”, she said.

She offered several guidelines for affective formation, which she emphasised should not just be for the initial stages of consecrated life but should be lifelong.

The first step is to ensure novices are aware of the affective dimension of their personalities and their human desire to be loved and to be in relationship, said Sr Lembo. Some

Sr Mary Lembo, research assistant at the Centre for Child Protection in Rome. (Photo: Courtesy of ccpblog.unigre.it) novices and religious believe they are not supposed to feel, that they have to behave in a “holy” way, and “cancel the affective aspect” of their lives, she said.

She also urged novice directors to practise selective screening.

“We need to see who is able to live this life,” she said, adding that not every candidate should be accepted.

It is necessary for communities to understand the types of families in which novices were raised—if they lived in an abusive home or where sexuality was not discussed—and then help them grow in understanding, she said.

The fourth guideline, she said, is to build a faithful and trusting relationship with God. Novice directors also must be able

to help novices “filter bad advice” they may receive, including from parish priests, she said.

“In our place,” she said, referring to her home country of Togo, “sometimes some people say to girls who want to enter religious life, ‘You have to know a man before entering, if not you will be stupid.’...I mean, intimate relations. I don’t think it is advice that is helpful... and sometimes, unfortunately, it is coming from priests.”

The priests “can abuse them and after say, ‘OK, now you can enter,’“ she said; some priests even continue taking advantage of the girls when they return home for holidays.

“In our place, a man has more power,” Sr Lembo said, and a priest “is the most important person in the village. People believe in him because he belongs to God...so when he says something, the girls, those who are not really prepared, they believe [it].”

“This can be very damaging,” she continued. “I call this abuse of power. It can be emotional abuse. It can be sexual abuse. And there are many consequences. If the girl is pregnant or the sister is pregnant, what are we going to do about it?”

Sr Lembo said novice directors also must try to avoid the mistake of resorting to the God-can-help logic when faced with situations of affective immaturity.

“No. We need to decide what to do,” she said. “We can talk about [changing] our life for God. But (they) have to decide. Are they willing to love God and live this kind of

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A woman lights a candle at a wooden cross after a memorial concert in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Thomas Mukoya/ Reuters/CNS)

Pope: Come to your senses and seek mercy

BY CAROL GLATz

P

OPE Francis mourned the deaths of all those killed in extremist and ethnic violence in Kenya, and admonished the perpetrators to “come to their senses and seek mercy”.

Meeting the Kenyan bishops during their ad limina visits to the Vatican, the pope urged the bishops to step up efforts with other Christians and other faiths to promote peace, dialogue and justice.

“In this way you will be able to offer a more unified and courageous denunciation of all violence, especially that committed in the name of God,” he said a written message to the bishops.

The bishops’ meeting at the Vatican to report on the state of their dioceses came just two weeks after an attack by the Somalia-based alShabab militants on Garissa University College left nearly 150 people dead.

Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Alessandro of Garissa said the university is so close to the cathedral that “I could hear everything: the gunshots, the ambulances, the police, the military”.

The attack on Holy Thursday led to very few people turning up for liturgies the rest of the week.

“But on Easter Sunday, it was a surprise even for me because the

cathedral was full,” he said, with many parents bringing their babies and other children for baptism.

The ceremony of joy and rebirth after so much suffering and death was a fitting parallel to Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, he said.

The Kenyan bishops have launched a project of face-to-face discussions with influential Muslim and Christian religious leaders to share insights and find solutions when trouble seemed to be brewing, Bishop Alessandro said.

Christian and Muslim women also have come together, he said, and, in one instance, successfully kept government officials accountable.

The women found out “there was going to be a clash between two clans”, he said, and they “went to the governor and the council office telling them what was being planned and they kept them responsible if something happened”.

The government officials called in the clan leaders and “managed to calm down the situation” before anything happened.

Interfaith projects for youth have begun, the bishop said, so the Church is helping the community’s youngest generations “realise that there is not so much difference humanly speaking between Muslims and Christians”.—CNS

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, dies at 78

C

ARDINAL Francis George, the retired archbishop of Chicago who was the first native Chicagoan to head the archdiocese, died on April 17 at his residence after nearly ten years battling cancer.

His successor in Chicago, Archbishop Blase Cupich singled out Cardinal George for overcoming many obstacles to become a priest.

A childhood bout with polio had left the prelate with a weakened leg and a pronounced limp throughout his life.

Cardinal George was a philosophy professor and regional provincial then vicar general of his religious order, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, before being named a bishop in 1990.

He was named bishop of Yakima, Washington, in 1990, then was appointed archbishop of Portland, Oregon, in April 1996.

Less than a year later, Pope Cardinal Francis John Paul II George named him to fill the position in Chicago in November 1996.

In 1998 he was made a cardinal.

Archbishop Cupich observed that Cardinal George had offered his counsel and support to three popes, serving the worldwide Church in his lifetime. —CNS

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The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

5

Mother and son: The Pope’s devotion to Mary F

BY CINDY WOODEN

Rabbi Elio Toaff, Rome’s chief rabbi from 1951-2000, died on April 19 at age 99. Rabbi Toaff, seen here with Pope John Paul II in 1986, is credited with an invaluable contribution to fostering mutual understanding and friendship between Jews and Catholics. (Photo: Arturo Mari, L’Osservatore Romano/CNS)

When humiliation comes, react like Jesus C

BY CINDY WOODEN

HRISTIANS are not masochists who go looking for martyrdom—but when faced with persecution, humiliation or even just the daily annoyance of a person who makes them angry, what they must seek is to react like Jesus would, Pope Francis has said.

Celebrating Mass in the chapel where he lives, Pope Francis said the grace of imitating Christ has been given to modern martyrs, as well as to “many men and women who suffer humiliation every day”, but for the good of their families “they close their mouths, they don’t speak, they endure it for love of Jesus”.

Humiliation is not something one seeks, because “that would be masochism”, he said. Holiness lies in accepting humiliation as an occasion “to imitate Jesus”.

When someone does you wrong, he said, there are two possible paths: “that of closing down, which leads to hatred, anger and wanting to kill the other; or openness to God on the path of Jesus,

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which makes you take humiliation —even strong humiliation—with interior joy because you are certain you are on Jesus’ path”.

With the little daily humiliations of people being annoying, Pope Francis said, “give time to time. We need this when we think ill of others, when we have bad feelings, dislike them, hate them.

Don’t let that grow. Stop yourself.

Give time some time”.

“Time puts things in harmony and helps us see clearly,” he said.

“If you react immediately in the heat of the moment, it is certain you will be wrong. You will be unjust. And you will also harm yourself,” he said.

“The same thing happens to me. When there is something I don’t like, my first feeling isn’t from God—it’s bad. Always,” he said. “So this is some advice: time, time at the moment of temptation.”

Being faithful to God means trying to react like he would, Pope Francis said. “God loves others, loves harmony, loves love, loves dialogue and loves walking together.”—CNS

ROM Easter to Pentecost—and especially during the Marian month of May—Catholics recite the Regina Coeli prayer “with the emotion of children who are happy because their mother is happy” that Jesus has risen from the dead, Pope Francis said.

Although his devotion to the Mother of God is profound, it is simple in many ways: Mary is a mother to every believer; Jesus would not leave his followers orphans.

While his connection to Mary clearly is a matter of heart and mind, it is also physical. Whenever Pope Francis passes a statue or icon of Mary, he kisses it or allows his hand to rest tenderly upon it.

Honouring the Mother of God, of course, is a solid part of Catholic tradition and a mainstay in the devotion and teaching of the popes. St John Paul II’s motto, Totus Tuus (“All yours”), and the large M on his coat of arms were just the most graphic elements of a devotion that led to a whole body of teaching about Mary, her role in Catholics’ faith life and the importance of praying the rosary.

Pope Francis would not have an argument with any of St John Paul’s Marian piety or discourse.

But there are differences.

“The sense of Pope Francis’ devotion to Mary is a little more personal, more intimate” than St John Paul’s was, said Redemptorist Father Sabatino Majorano, a professor at Rome’s Alphonsianum Institute.

Pope Francis expresses “that feeling

A sign in Italian reads “The Pope of Mary” as Pope Francis’ Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer is delivered from the window of the papal studio overlooking St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) that exists between a son and his mother, where I think Pope John Paul’s was more that of a subject and his queen”.

The difference, he believes, comes from their roots: Pope Francis’ Latin roots—not just in Argentina, but also from his Italian family—and St John Paul’s Slavic, Polish culture.

Pope Francis’ habit of touching images of Mary is a typical Latin American gesture, one Fr Majorano said he saw repeated thousands of times at Brazil’s Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, which is staffed by his brother Redemptorists. “The tactile experience is part of praying. It’s a spirituality that takes flesh, becomes concrete; it is not just an idea or

a theory.”

At Mass and other formal liturgical services, Pope Francis uses incense to bless the Marian images. He notices the images and often comments on them.

In his official proclamation of the 2015-16 Year of Mercy, Pope Francis wrote: “Mary attests that the mercy of the son of God knows no bounds and extends to everyone, without exception. Let us address her in the words of the Salve Regina, ‘Hail Holy Queen’ a prayer ever ancient and new, so that she may never tire of turning her merciful eyes toward us, and make us worthy to contemplate the face of mercy, her son Jesus.”— CNS

6

The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Don’t just nod at the God who made us

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial by Fr David Holdcroft SJ

Catholics and xenophobia

I

T is now three months since a wave of looting of migrantrun shops began in Snake Park and other parts of the country, spreading to Durban where attacks left several people dead, many more injured and an estimated 2 500 people displaced, reliant on churches, mosques and the city for their survival.

Public denial, even tacit support, of some political and civil leaders belies the background efforts of many to try to find solutions to this complex issue.

One such initiative, by minister for small business, Lindiwe Zulu, is the creation of a task team to try and come up with solutions for the issues raised in the Soweto looting.

Additionally there have been a number of “roundtables” where shop-owners of all backgrounds, refugee and local, actively participated.

It is important not to underestimate the role that small spaza shops play as a source of employment in poorer communities. In this context, some refugee and migrant groups have created a successful business model which has enabled them to hold their own in the face of market encroachment by the big shopping chains and malls.

It is hardly surprising to hear a clear undercurrent from locals that government isn’t protecting South African interests enough.

At the same time, there is great reluctance to use the Xword.

Xenophobia is a first cousin of racism. In a way it doesn’t matter what label one uses but it is important to name the phenomenon for what it is, that is, attacks aimed exclusively at migrant-owned shops.

At the same time, however, there is also a recognition that these issues are complex and have their genesis not in racial hatred per se, but elsewhere—in poverty, poor education and lack of opportunity and feelings of disenfranchisement among local populations.

It is here that the Catholic community and its Catholic Social Teaching have an important and particular contribution to make.

Firstly, Catholicism’s primary impulse is to be inclusive—in recognising all people created in God’s image, it welcomes all, no matter what their national or

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.

ethnic origins. The fundamental disposition, which has its source in scripture, is that the foreigner is to be welcomed (for example Deut 10:19, Lev 19:34, Mt 25:35, Heb 13:1, Rom 12:13).

But it is insufficient merely to extend a one-off welcome.

Church teaching sees the human person as answering God’s call in relation to others.

It therefore looks to the unique contribution that one can make to the community.

If someone is legitimately in that community, as refugees are, then the community has an obligation to ensure that all, including the refugee, can properly contribute.

It is clear that many people of refugee background living in South Africa bring skills and values that enable their businesses to prosper in an environment of ever-increasing competition.

Would it not be better if these could be shared and that business groups would have the humility to embrace people of different cultures, who may bring different approaches to common issues?

In the Old Testament, Abraham sees the three mysterious visitors near Mamre not as competition or a threat, but as an opportunity. Despite the risk, he welcomes them to his tent and asks Sarah to cook for them.

We never see or hear precisely who these strangers are, but it is through them that Abraham receives news that Sarah will conceive and have descendants. It was through Abraham’s initial hospitality that the religious and political identity of the tribes of Israel formed.

It may be that South Africa faces a similar situation—an opportunity to elicit the foreigners in its midst to contribute to solving some of the problems the country faces.

But it needs committed Catholics to help those around them both work through the legitimate issues that all face and call them constantly to the bigger picture of nation building that our faith provides.

In this manner we can help each other answer the deep call to hospitality, confident that in so doing we are indeed recovering the blessing to which God calls South Africa as a nation. n Fr David Holdcroft SJ is the regional director of Jesuit Refugee Service Southern Africa.

I

T seems to be an in-thing in the Catholic Church to nod at the Body of Christ in the Eucharist or the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle rather than to genuflect or kneel before it.

Fr Richard Rohr OFM in a recent article on reconstruction wrote: “I do not want to live in a world where there is No One to adore. It is a lonely and laboured world if I am its centre".

I do not want to belong to a re-

Good response to offensive cartoon

W

ITH reference to your editorial on Zapiro’s cartoon (April 15), I applaud you and the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference for exercising restraint in response to what is clearly a profane attempt at contemporary satirical humour.

The timing of the cartoon’s publication, on Good Friday, clearly indicates either a particular ignorance and misunderstanding of the Christian faith, or worse, a total insensitivity towards and disregard of the centrality of the crucifixion to Christian belief.

In the norm I find Zapiro to be incisive and witty, but here I believe a line was crossed. It is hoped that the Mail & Guardian might acknowledge this, for Christians, like their Abrahamic cousins, can also be offended.

Tony Sturges, Johannesburg

Look to laity for financial expertise

T

HE Vatican’s televised daily newsletter of April 2 included a item headed, “No more economic scandals”. It gave details of a press conference addressed by Australian Cardinal George Pell whom Pope Francis last year appointed to head the new Secretariat for the Economy. The 15-member executive of this body is made up of seven high powered lay persons and eight senior clergy, currently all cardinals, including Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban.

Speaking in Latin, Cardinal Pell stated that he is “looking forward to the expertise of the laity in money management” and that the laity “have expertise that cannot be ignored”.

He said that in the archdiocese of Sydney, which he had headed, “lay people as financial experts working with clergy manage the financial affairs of the archdiocese and parishes”. He further stated

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ligion which cannot kneel.

Fr Teilhard de Chardin SJ said that “we reach moral adulthood on the day when we realise that we have but one choice on this earth, to genuflect to something beyond and above us or to begin to self-destruct”.

It is more acceptable in some instances to bow before the Body of Christ than it is to nod at it, but it should never take the place of genuflecting or kneeling.

that the secretariat is “looking at the possibility of opening a centre in Rome so that dioceses can learn more about money management”.

This poses the question, which I have raised in the past: What are the bishops of this country doing to utilise the expertise of lay Catholics to assist in matters financial?

What is needed to assist with the management of Church finance is lay experts in this field.

Once again I give the example of the Bishops’ Trust. This was established in early 2011 with a target to raise R50 million to be invested to fund the Church going forward.

Four years later the fund has not yet raised one third of the target.

Why? The trustees of the fund are the five metropolitan archbishops, but there are no lay trustees. Why not, when Pope Francis has urged that the laity must play a bigger role in Church affairs?

Now we have Cardinal Pell spelling out very clearly that the laity on the new secretariat have a major role to play.

I urge the bishops of Southern Africa to relaunch the Trust. They then need to appoint lay people with marketing and financial expertise as trustees.

The two centres of investment in South Africa are Cape Town and Johannesburg. I am sure that lay Catholics with knowledge and experience in these fields could be found in these two archdioceses.

Mervyn Pollitt, Waterfall, KZN

The face of Christ?

I

N his article on looking for the face of Jesus on shrouds, frescos, mosaics and paintings (April 15), Günther Simmermacher doesn’t mention the face of Jesus on the Veil of Veronica.

This face is supposed to be the real one, because Veronica means true image. This image of the holy face is housed in the Santo Volto (Holy Face) church in Manopello, Italy, which Pope Benedict visited in 2006.

J H Goossens, Dundee

OR FOR D

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I have noticed that this nodding is catching on fast. It is quick, convenient (and perfect for the lazy), and the young people especially seem to prefer it.

I am orthodox in my thinking, but it breaks my heart when I see young people giving a perfunctory nod or quick bow of the shoulders to acknowledge and adore their God. There are few gestures as powerful as that of bending the knee before the God who made us.

Kneeling is to have power.

I Wakefield, Cape Town

Beautiful Jesus

T

HE Shroud of Turin reflects the image of a Man, perfect in proportion, majestic in death, even after most cruel sufferings and abuse.

But how did he look? The gospel gives us no clue as to his handsomeness, which since he was the Son of God and the Son of Mary, the Immaculate One, must have been striking.

Quoting Ss Jerome, Ambrose, and John Chrysostom, Shroud specialist Dr R Hynek writes: “A soul such as Christ had, the most beautiful of all souls, was reasonably owed the most handsome body.”

What the ancients thought of Jesus’ handsomeness is shown in the apocryphal letter which is known as “Pilate’s Letter to Emperor Tiberius”: “A man of great power has appeared in our time and is called Jesus Christ. He raises the dead and heals the sick of every kind. He calls himself prophet of the truth and has disciples who say he is the Son of God. He is a man of really handsome and admirable looks and inspires awe and love in all who meet him.

“His hair is the colour of ripe hazelnuts; it is parted on the forehead, according to the Nazarenes’ custom, held back as far as the ear, and then it hangs beautiful, shiny, and free down to the shoulders.

His face is without blemish or wrinkle, rosy and handsome to behold; his nose and mouth have no defects. His eyes are sometimes sky blue, sometimes almost green and stands out against the white of the eye.

“He has a short, thick beard, the same colour as his hair and parted in the middle. His hands and feet are well-formed. When he rebukes, he inspires fear, but he is good and gentle, though serious. No one has seen him laugh, but he was often seen weeping. He is a man of few words and reserved in his speech.

“He is full of charm among the sons of men.”

John Lee, Johannesburg

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The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

PERSPECTIVES

Violence is the answer to our silence Mphuthumi L Ntabeni ET us not take the easy option in the discourse on the wave of xenophobic attacks.

Yes, King Goodwill Zwelithini poured petrol on a volatile situation with his speech about foreign nationals.

Yes, the colonial and apartheid systems vandalised our minds and damaged our national psyche.

Yes, the conditions in which our poor live under are appalling, and our middle and upper classes are hypocritical for not being outraged by these conditions.

Yes, our government is corruptible, incompetent and is fast dragging us into becoming a police state where brute force of the security forces will be the only right.

What then?

How are we to heal the vandalised psyche of our people? What authority do we have to shout “peace, peace” when clearly there’s no peace around?

Have we earned the trust of the poor by sharing their suffering and plight, as the watchful Church is called to be a sentinel

by Christ? Do they see us as part of the problem or solution? Do we stand with the poor in the trenches, or do we prefer a gospel of false accommodation to the sin of corporate greed and the neoliberal market system that is vanquishing the hopes of the majority for the creation of the elite, silently oppressive few?

The sacrifice of Christ with his blood was the price for our reconciliation with God. The gospel calls us to stand with the poor against injustice. What price have we paid for the authentic reconciliation of our country?

Or do we expect the poor, who paid the price of oppression under apartheid, to again pay the price for its reconciliation while we cry “peace, peace”, when there’s no peace in their oppressed lives?

What are we bringing to the table of sacrifice as the price of healing the psyche

of our nation?

Or do we say that it isn’t our business, that the government must deal with them—after all, the poor are the ones who keep voting the failing ruling party.

Or we are content with looking on from our air-conditioned offices and gated communities, with disgust, dusting off our emigration plans with plane tickets and dual passport, ready to bail?

U

nderstanding the causes—if we do indeed—of the barbaric acts of xenophobia does not mean one excuses the behaviour. It means one is starting with the man in the mirror—the mote in one’s eye before seeing the plank in another (Mt 7:5)—to try and understand what brought us here, and where one is complicit in the whole business.

For instance, the call by Pope Francis for the economic systems of the world to share resources with the poor has necessitated a backlash for the Church to begin with its own wealth.

The Church in Southern Africa does well in looking after the needs of immigrants and the displaced—rightly so, since our religion is more or less one of wanderers. It knows how it feels to be foreigner

Looters run with items from a shop in Soweto during xenophobic violence.

(Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko, Reuters/CNS)

Pushing the Boundaries

since the days of Egypt, and even since Abram answered God’s call to leave his hometown of Ur for the Promised Land.

But the incidents of xenophobia challenge the Church, in a glaring manner, whether the Church knows what it is, or how it feels to be a foreigner in your own country, to be marginalised from active participation in the economy of your own country and be robbed of your basic human dignity.

Pope John Paul II classified work to provide for your family to be an essential right. That is what our poor are asking of us, and have been doing so since the hopes of 1994 were betrayed.

The wallpaper over the cracks of our socio-economic problems is now being torn off. We have been deaf to the cries of the poor. And like all silently ignored and oppressed people, the poor have now chosen the language of violence, one which no one can ignore, to bring their plight to the fore.

And like all oppressed people, they first go for soft targets, in this case, the foreign nationals. Perhaps when they still feel neglected they shall march to our gated communities and disturb our merriment around the braai fire. What then? Will we cash in our tickets and leave the country?

Martin Luther King Jr said we must learn to live with each other (fairly) as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools. Our government is obviously floundering.

What have we been doing, what are we doing, and what will we be doing?

Time to reclaim our agency A GENCY, that human trait that does not leave your belief and ability to influence your fate in the universe to the hands of God alone, but the belief and ability that you have in determining at least part of the direction your life, seems to be missing in the lives of many South Africans.

Recent events seem to point to a collective abandoning of our agency where the other has been vilified and pinned as the source of all our woes.

Politicians have caught on to this trend very well, and like a shoal of piranhas to a bleeding toe, they have circled and are tearing at wounds their failures have not healed.

King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu started something when he said: “We are requesting those who come from outside to please go back to their countries.” And then he blamed the media: “You journalists are causing chaos… The way you report in your newspapers … you misinterpret and distort my words to sell your newspapers.”

But how is the media to blame when one of the victims of the xenophobic attacks, Daniel Dunia, who runs a computer repair and sales shop in Isipingo, claims that locals warned: “We’re going to hit you on Monday. The king says you kwekweres [foreigners] must go?”

Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba issued a statement which could only have been directed at the king and those of his ilk: “Leaders in our country have a responsibility to use their words to build and not

Gushwell Brooks

Talking about Faith

A woman salutes before a portrait of Nelson Mandela. The broken promise of 1994 is now haunting South Africa.

(Photo: Yannis Behrakis, Reuters/CNS). to destroy. We need to take a very firm view about uttering statements which could result in violence, physical attacks on others and a loss of life or damage to property.”

It is not the media’s fault but much rather the utterances of antiquated traditional leaders that hold great sway over their subjects—so much so that they have become a power base for the rulers, and so much so that ministers veil their criticisms in generalities rather than specifics and are rumoured to have apologised for raising these criticisms.

What this demonstrates is that a system of patronage, where traditional leaders rule in a semi-autonomous manner within a constitutional democracy, hold the key to peoples’ votes. And to access these votes, the very constitutional and democratic principles which politicians are supposed

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to protect and uphold are sacrificed.

If government, the custodians of power, has sacrificed at least a portion of its authority and responsibility to uphold constitutionality, and thereby sacrificed some of its agency, what about us as ordinary citizens?

A collective lack of agency has left the citizenry angry and lashing out. As factually incorrect as many of the myths pertaining to the economic impact of foreign nationals are, at the heart of the anger of the poor is their own poor economic advancements.

The recent resurgence of the race debate, the ever-looming land issue—as well as land invasions by communities and political parties—and even the anger at historical symbols, point to a collective anger at not getting all that was promised in the 1994 deal.

We handed over agency to our political leaders and ordinarily, in a constitutional democracy based on human rights, handing over some of your agency should be perfectly acceptable.

Rights to basic education, quality healthcare, safety and security are governmental responsibilities and in light of government’s momentous task of facilitating Continued on page 11

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Open Door

Is the crozier a pagan symbol?

Some friends insist that the pastoral staff or crozier symbolising a bishop’s authority had its origin in the wands that pagan Roman soothsayers used superstitiously to point out the flights of birds in the sky, and so foretell the future. Can you comment on its accuracy?

Pen Evans ISTORICAL evidence of the use of the pastoral staff by a bishop emerges from the 5th century.

In his will, St Remigius, who was archbishop of Rheims from 461 to 533, bequeathed his crozier to the local church. It was described as carved of wood and covered with gold. St Patrick of Ireland is said to have been given his staff by Pope Celestine when he was consecrated bishop of Armagh around 422.

There is the possibility that the crozier did in fact develop from the Roman lituus, a rod that the augurs employed when they pointed to the heavens to predict the future. A frieze in Rome’s temple of Jupiter depicts the lituus being used by Romulus when he founded the city of Rome and divided it up into districts in 753 BC. What is fascinating here is that this instrument had a curve at the top exactly like the bishop’s crozier. So there could have been some conventional influence there that gave the crozier a similar shape.

Another possibility is that the crozier was at first a walking stick to support the bishop during long and exhausting liturgical rituals.

Perhaps we cannot say for sure how the crozier as we know it became the prerogative of the bishop but literature and art assure us that the crozier has been the bishop’s definitive badge of office for centuries. Shaped like a shepherd’s crook, it proclaims that he is the pastor of the particular flock under his spiritual care.

Ancient writings offer the explanation that the top of the crozier is curved so that, like a good shepherd, the bishop can collect sheep who have wandered from the fold; the middle part is straight and strong to give him courage to strengthen the weak, stubborn and disobedient; and the lower part is slightly pointed at the end to let him prod the slothful into action.

Depending on times and places, the crozier took on an assortment of varying designs and ornamentations. Double-headed croziers were also used, with two curved tops pointing in opposite directions. At one stage, popes, archbishops and bishops had their own individual staffs according to rank.

A bishop receives his pastoral staff at his ordination to the episcopal office. The ordaining bishop admonishes him in these words: “Take this staff as a sign of your pastoral office: keep watch over the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you to shepherd the Church of God.”

H

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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The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

“The Christian Virtue of Hope” “Hope in a Secularizing World” “The Eucharist: Celebration of the Paschal Mystery” “The Eucharist makes the Church, Church makes the Eucharist” “The Eucharist as Mission, Mission as Dialogue” “The Eucharist and the Dialogue with Cultures” “The Eucharist and Mary”

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PERSONALITY Yena Khuboni, one of 30 young South Africans who hope to represent their country at the Miss Commonwealth pageant, says she was inspired to enter the contest after the life-changing experience of World Youth Day.

The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

9

How World Youth Day inspired entry into Miss Commonwealth SA contest Taking part in World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011 inspired a Durban Catholic to enter the Miss Commonwealth contest to spread the spirit of ubuntu, as STUART GRAHAM reports.

B

EFORE returning to the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg after the holidays, Miss Commonwealth SA contestant Yena Khuboni always had to remember to do one thing: if she didn’t pack all her clothes, they would be gone by the time she came home for the next holidays.

“My parents were givers in so many senses,” recalls Ms Khuboni, a 27-yearold auditor in training from Hammarsdale, near Durban, and now a member of St John’s parish in Sundowner, Johannesburg “If I left any clothes at home and went back to university, by the time I came back my mother would have given them away. She would tell me, ‘I thought you weren’t using them so I gave them to someone who needed them’,” she recalls.

“Sharing was the principle I grew up with. If we were about to eat supper at home and someone came to visit, my mom would tell them to join us. We would share our food. I have carried those lessons into my adulthood,” Ms Khuboni says.

The daughter of parents who both worked in education, she grew up with her elder brother and two sisters as part of the Umndeni Oyingcwele parish in Hammarsdale.

One of her memories is of helping

her mother, a member of the Catholic Women’s League, serve at an orphanage in Mpumalanga township.

They would say the rosary with orphans and share the food they collected.

“My mother taught me to follow the example of Mother Mary. She was compassionate and cared for others,” Ms Khuboni says.

“Those lessons become part of you.

Whatever I do in life, I want to do with that spirit of ubuntu in me. I want to give back to my community. That is how I find joy.”

Ms Khuboni was given a bursary to study at Wits after she found that she was “good at numbers” at high school.

“I got an A in accounting. I knew I loved the commerce subjects. I think at heart I am a business person,” she says.

“I remember when cellphones came in, we didn’t get all those luxuries, but I wanted a cellphone badly. My father said I could have one when I matriculated. But I wanted one sooner and so I sold biscuits at school.

“It was quite a controversy because Hillcrest High School was a multiracial model C school for better off families.

Selling biscuits wasn’t the kind of thing you did. But I went ahead and I made enough money to buy a cellphone,” she recalls.

S

he also designed cards and sold them to raise money. “By the time I reached matric I knew how to do business. My dad was always there to guide us.”

Ms Khuboni, who graduated from Wits with a degree in information systems, internal auditing, finance and management accounting, now works in the auditor general’s office.

It was a trip to World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid that gave her a new perspec-

tive on how she wants to contribute to the world.

World Youth Day “gave me the opportunity to interact and engage with other active youths from all over the world. We shared our ideas on how to encourage and motivate our peers. It was an opportunity to broaden my horizons, particularly in the area of empowering the youth of the Church”, she says.

Her father died two weeks after her return, but she remembers his joy after her return.

“My father was my number one supporter. He helped to raise the money for me to go to Spain,” she says.

It was World Youth Day that inspired her to enter Miss Commonwealth. She is one of 30 young women who have been selected to compete. If she makes it through to the final round, she’ll have a stage from which to share the message of ubuntu that is so close to her heart.

“I feel the spirit of ubuntu has been lost in our communities. I want to be a role model for people and I want to use Miss Commonwealth as a platform to share that spirit.”

The competition takes place at the Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City later this year. The winner will represent South Africa at the international pageant in London.

All 53 Commonwealth member states are invited to send their representatives to compete for the title.

“I find joy and complete happiness in knowing that I have contributed to someone’s life being better or them having a smile,” says Ms Khuboni “I am a child of God and love Jesus Christ. I am passionate about my faith.

When I say I’m proudly Catholic, I mean it in every essence.”

10

The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

BIBLE

New TV series sheds light on Acts of Apostles Currently being broadcast on DStv, the series A.D.:The Bible Continues dramatises the activities of the Church after the Resurrection.

DAVID GIBSON explains the Acts of the Apostles.

The Acts in a nutshell H

ERE is a look at some of the themes and events described in the Acts of the Apostles: l The Spirit’s coming: The Holy Spirit’s role in the early Christian mission is a theme in the Acts. Benedictine Father Dale Launderville, a Scripture scholar, says that Acts shows “remarkable growth in the Church due to the Spirit-guided proclamation” of Christ’s death and resurrection. l Rapid growth: In Acts the Christian community grows amazingly. Acts repeatedly reminds readers that “the number of disciples continued to grow” (6:1), that one day some 3 000 “were added” (2:41) or that “many of those who heard the word came to believe” (4:4). l Persecution: Its presence is sensed throughout Acts. St Stephen’s stoning death is followed immediately by “severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem” (8:1). Signs of persecution appear in the arrests and imprisonments of Peter and Paul. Acts 16:23-24 describes Paul and Silas getting flogged and thrown into prison. l Council of Jerusalem: This central event of Acts took place when some Jewish Christians urged that gentile Christians be circumcised and keep the law of Moses’ dietary precepts. But the council decided that “we ought to stop troubling the gentiles who turn to God”, only telling them “to avoid pollution from idols, unlawful marriage, the

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HERE were Jews from many nations, speaking a wide array of languages, staying in Jerusalem at the time after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension when a powerful wind swept in upon a house where his apostles and some others, including his mother, were meeting.

Hearing the wind and curious to know what was happening, these people soon came upon a bewildering scene. They found Jesus’ closest followers speaking about God in languages that all in their diverse crowd could understand.

How could this be?

Some laughed, assuming the apostles were intoxicated.

These details of the first Christian Pentecost are found in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the biblical book located immediately after St John’s gospel.

Acts introduces readers to people and events in Christianity’s earliest history.

In Acts we witness the stoning of St Stephen, remembered as Christianity’s first martyr (7:5460). We learn the early Christians shared everything they had; none were needy (4:32-35). And Acts memorably leads us into the Athens Areopagus where St Paul boldly informs citizens that, without their knowing it, their “unknown God” is the God he proclaims, who “gives to everyone life and breath” (17:23-25).

A 12-part TV series titled A.D.: The Bible Continues—a sequel to last year’s popular The Bible series, it’s currently airing Monday evenings at 20:55 on DStv’s BET channel—draws upon Acts’ fascinating chapters.

The Bible indeed continues after Christ’s ascension. The Gospel spreads. The Christian community grows amazingly.

Compelling as events in Acts are, however, the book represents more than a collection of historical stories. An underlying purpose binds its many parts together.

Thus, no detail of the first Pentecost is unimportant. Particularly noteworthy is that when the wind swept in, “tongues as of fire” appeared and rested on the apostles and those with them; they began speaking “different tongues”.

St Peter set the record straight.

“These people are not drunk,” he told the crowd. Rather, exalted at

Standing in a crowd just behind a child with a raised fist are John (Babou Ceesay), Mary the mother of God (Greta Scacchi) and Mary Magdalene (Chipo Chung) in a scene from the 12-part series A.D.: The Bible Continues, which is currently running on DStv’s BET channel. (Photo courtesy Arenas Group) God’s right hand, Jesus “received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth”. The crowd was witnessing this outpouring.

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he gift of speech that enabled people speaking many languages to understand these followers of Jesus foreshadowed a major development in the early Christian community’s mission. Jesus’ followers will be called to make Christ known in many nations and cultures.

But agreeing to all that this involved was no small accomplishment for early Christian leaders.

After all, proclaiming Christ far and wide meant proclaiming him to gentiles, who were not Jewish.

The ancient Christians’ questions about this sound odd today.

So it is essential to remember they were Jewish Christians and followed the law of Moses. Would gentile Christians, too, need to follow this law fully?

The process of clarifying that issue underlies the remarkable telling by Acts of the baptism of the Roman centurion Cornelius (10:1-49).

Cornelius was sympathetic towards the Jewish faith but was an uncircumcised gentile. In a vision, however, an angel instructed Cornelius to invite Peter to his home.

Peter made a startling announcement in Cornelius’ home.

He now realised, he said, “that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him”.

Acts notes that “the circumcised

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believers” accompanying Peter were astounded to see that day that God’s Spirit “poured out on the gentiles also”.

The author of Acts makes his underlying purpose clear from the start by recalling Jesus saying to the apostles at his ascension, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem ... and to the ends of the earth” (1:8).

Introducing himself, our author reveals that Acts is not his first writing. Earlier he “dealt with all that Jesus did and taught” (1:1).

Who is he?

“It is well accepted that St Luke authored the two-volume work of the gospel of Luke and Acts,” according to Benedictine Father Dale Launderville, a Scripture professor at Benedictine-run St John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Dr Hellen Mardaga, who teaches Scripture at The Catholic University of America in Washington, agrees. “What Luke has in mind in his double work is to write a salvation history,” she said. Acts treats salvation history “after Jesus’ return to the Father”—it treats “the founding of the early churches”.

Father Launderville commented that “in some ways the narrative line” running through Acts is about how “the Church spread from Jerusalem to Rome”, from one end of the earth to another in the thinking of the times.

Dr Mardaga noted that Acts’ first nine chapters focus on “proclaiming God’s word in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria”. The “major characters” are Peter and the Twelve. But with the conversion in

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Chapter 9 of Saul, henceforth known as Paul, Acts is about to shift focus to a larger world.

I

nterestingly, Saul’s conversion also highlights the suffering the first Christians endured. Before Saul’s conversion he breathed “murderous threats against” Jesus’ disciples, Luke writes (9:1).

Saul’s transforming encounter with the risen Lord occurred in a flash of light as he travelled toward Damascus, intent on seizing Christians. The Lord asked: “Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Now, as Paul, he will carry the Gospel to far distant places.

Luke, it appears, was often Paul’s travelling companion. Even if this cannot be proved, “it is clear that the narrative in Acts presents him this way”, Fr Launderville said.

Luke makes his presence alongside Paul known numerous times in Acts’ so-called “we passages”.

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meat of strangled animals and blood” (15:19-20). l Paul is baptised: Acts tells three times how Paul became Jesus’ follower. In the second telling, as he travelled to Damascus “a great light” appeared. He was blinded temporarily. A voice said: “I am Jesus the Nazarean whom you are persecuting.”

Later in Damascus “a certain Ananias” told Paul that God “designated you” to “be his witness before all... Get up and have yourself baptised” (22:6-16). l Silversmiths’ riot: “A serious disturbance” erupted in Ephesus, in today’s Turkey, when silversmiths making “miniature silver shrines” of the goddess Artemis protested against Paul’s statement “that gods made by hands are not gods at all”. Chaos prevailed after the silversmiths predicted respect for the goddess’ temple would diminish due to Paul. But finally the “town clerk” calmed the disturbance (19:23-40). l Preaching: Acts casts light on the preaching of Peter and Paul, who testified to Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. In the Roman centurion Cornelius’ home, Peter said: “They put [Jesus] to death by hanging him on a tree,” but God raised him.

Jesus commissioned those “who ate and drank with him after he rose” to make known that “everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins” (10:34-42).—CNS

Near the book’s conclusion, for example, Luke mentions the decision that “we” should sail to Italy (27:1).

The voyage then undertaken was Paul’s fourth missionary journey. It followed a lengthy detention in Caesarea after some Asian Jews objected to his preaching and ministry. Paul appealed to Rome, and a centurion named Julius had custody of him during the voyage.

Sailing towards Italy, Luke describes a violent storm and tells how, once “we” reached safety on an island after suffering shipwreck, “we” learned it was called Malta (27:6-28:1).

Finally, Luke writes about the ultimate moment when “we” arrived in Rome (28:14).

In Rome, a first-century centre of power and influence, Paul made it emphatically clear that gentiles would not be excluded from receiving his proclamation of Christ (28:29).—CNS

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The Southern Cross, April 29 to May 5, 2015

CLASSIFIEDS

Time for voters to reclaim their agency Continued from page 7 equity, our leaders have a greater responsibility than most in comparison, globally.

Whether it be Eskom and the load-shedding mess, or the fact that poverty persists unabated and education fails to be an equaliser and cure for our socioeconomic disparities, government

has underperformed at their end of the bargain, at the very least.

Therefore much of the anger is righteously justified.

However, if we truly had agency, we would hold our leaders to account and demand delivery at their end of the bargain. Our mass action would have yielded results, our votes would come at

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

CAPE TOWN: Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Followed by vigil at Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree Street.

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

DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9am. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy

Devotion at 17:30pm on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9am. 031 309 3496 Overport rosary group.

At Emakhosini Hotel, 73 East Street every Wednesday at 6.30 pm.

Contact Keith at 083 372 9018 or 031 209 2536.

NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to 16:45, followed by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30pm.

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: May 3: Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha on the 9th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

May 8: Bishop José Ponce de León of Manzini on his 54th birthday.

May 9: Bishop Adam Musialek of De Aar on his 58th birthday.

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the premium of minimum expectations, prompting our leaders to earn these, rather than communicating our anger through violence, looting and damage to property.

In the economic journey out of poverty, we should be partners rather than passive passengers.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 652. ACROSS: 1 Home, 3 Viaticum, 9 Lingers, 10 Elite, 11 Charterhouse, 13 Timers, 15 Tanner, 17 Interpolated, 20 Virgo, 21 Arraign, 22 Resident, 23 Fete. DOWN: 1 Holy City, 2 Manna, 4 Insert, 5 Teetotallers, 6 Crimson, 7 Meet, 8 Centuries old, 12 Prudence, 14 Mantras, 16 Sprain, 18 Tribe, 19 Ever.

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday, May 3, 5th Sunday of Easter Acts 9:26-31, Psalms 22:26-28, 1 John 3:18-24, John 15:1-8 Monday, May 4 Acts 14:5-18, Psalms 115:1-4, 15-16, John 14:21-26 Tuesday, May 5 Acts 14:19-28, Psalms 145:10-13, 21, John 14:27-31 Wednesday, May 6 Acts 15:1-6, Psalms 122:1-5, John 15:1-8 Thursday, May 7 Acts 15:7-21, Psalms 96:1-3, 10, John 15:9-11 Friday, May 8 Acts 15:22-31, Psalms 57:8-10, 12, John 15:1217 Saturday, May 9 Acts 16:1-10, Psalms 100:1-3, 5, John 15:18-21 Sunday, May 10, 6th Sunday of Easter Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48, Psalms 98:1-4, 1 John 4:7-10, John 15:9-17

Word of the Week

Immaculate conception: Catholic dogma concerning Mary and the name of a feast in her honour celebrated on December 8.

It refers to the Catholic belief that Mary was without sin from the moment she was conceived.

Do you feel called to the Franciscan way of life?

CLASSIFIEDS

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

IN MEMORIAM

LINDSELL—Patricia. Died May 5, 2012. My dear wife and our mother will always be remembered in our prayers. Rest in peace.

John and family.

SMITH—Bro Gert CBSF de Sales. Passed away May 4, 2009. Always remembered by the Oblates of St Francis de Sales—Keimoes, Namaqualand and all other parishes, your godchild Mary da Silva (Pillay) and your family.

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. 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.

Riccarda.

PRAYER FOR CONSECRATED LIFE. “Loving Creator, we thank you for the gift that religious life has been within our church and society. Help us to

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nurture this gift so that the Congregations may continue to be a healing presence in our world. May we all respond to the realities of our present times, in ways that promote your reign now and in the future. May your kingdom come, may your will be done. Amen”

PRAYERS

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LORD, teach me to be generous; to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek to rest; to labour and not to ask for no reward save that of knowing I do your will. Amen. St Ignatius.

ALMIGHTY eternal God, source of all compassion, the promise of your mercy and saving help fills our hearts with hope. Hear the cries of the people of Syria; bring healing to those suffering from the violence, and comfort to those mourning the dead. Empower and encourage Syria’s neighbours in their care and welcome for refugees. Convert the hearts of those who have taken up arms, and strengthen the resolve of those committed to peace.

O God of hope and Father of mercy, your Holy Spirit inspires us to look beyond ourselves and our own needs. Inspire leaders to choose peace over violence and to seek reconciliation with enemies. Inspire the Church around the world with compassion for the people of Syria, and fill us with hope for a future of peace built on justice for all.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and Light of the World, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen. Prayer courtesy of the USCCB. HAVE mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judg-

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11

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ment. Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51

THANKS

GRATEFUL thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Mother Mary and Ss Rita, Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Martin de Porres for prayers answered. Riccarda.

PERSONAL

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

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

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Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

the

6th Sunday of Easter: May 10 Readings: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48, Psalm 98:1-4, 1 John 4:7-10, John 15:9-17

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T sometimes happens in our journey with and to the Lord that rather shocking and unexpected events take place, which turn out to be just the right thing, and to represent the vision that we are supposed to take out into the world.

Something of this sort takes place in the readings for next Sunday. The first reading marks a real turning-point; to grasp its importance, we have to recall that those first Christians were all Jews, and assumed that Jesus’ message was not intended for Gentiles. But we watch in astonishment as Peter, who was rather inclined towards conservatism in these matters, goes into the house of a Gentile centurion, Cornelius.

The centurion has to be persuaded not to treat him like a “god”; but the Holy Spirit is at work here, because both Peter and the Roman soldier have been given divine instructions, and that is why what now takes place feels so absolutely right.

Peter finds himself saying, possibly to his own astonishment, that “God is no snob”; and the consequence of that is the absolutely shattering discovery, utterly revolutionary in its time, though it seems absolutely right to

S outher n C ross

us today, that Jesus’ way was open also to Gentiles, that “everyone in every race who fears God, and who acts morally, is acceptable to God”.

It was that insight that made it possible for most of the people who read this text to join the Jesus movement. That is then dramatically confirmed by the powerful onrush of the Holy Spirit, which “fell upon all those who heard the message”.

After that, the Jews who had come with Peter confirm this insight, and recognise that “the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out even upon the Gentiles”, so that they “spoke in tongues” and “magnified God”.

On the basis of that, Peter, against all his training, and against all that the Bible seemed to teach, insisted on these non-Jews getting baptised: “He ordered them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.” And the Church has never looked back from that moment.

There is nothing shocking, by contrast, in the psalm, which in the poet’s accustomed manner, is a cheerful song of praise: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has performed marvels…the Lord has made known his sal-

vation in the eyes of all the peoples.”

The singer knows that he can trust the Lord’s unfailing qualities: “Remember his love and his integrity for the house of Israel,” and so there is every reason to praise God, no matter what unexpected events may afflict us.

In the second reading, John is encouraging us to “love one another” (when does he do anything else?, you may ask). The point he makes is the simple one, that “God is love”; and that may well have unexpected effects including the difficult business of being asked to love brothers and sisters.

But it goes a little bit deeper, and there is something else that we should notice: “This is how the love of God made its appearance among us, that God sent his only son into the world, that we might live through him.”

What the author does not say is, of course, what happened to Jesus: he died that we might live. That may be a sign of the unexpected effects that may be visited upon us.

And in the gospel for next Sunday, Jesus takes up that theme with his puzzled disciples, who are huddled together against the dark, and explains to them that the name of

Who am I to judge?

P

God judges no one. We judge ourselves.

Hence we can also say that God condemns no one, though we can choose to condemn ourselves. And God punishes no one, but we can choose to punish ourselves.

Negative moral judgment is self-inflicted.

Perhaps this seems abstract, but it is not. We know this existentially, we feel the brand of our own actions inside us. To use just one example: How we judge ourselves by the Holy Spirit.

God’s spirit, the Holy Spirit, is not something so abstract and slippery that it cannot be pinned down. St Paul, in the epistle to the Galatians, describes the Holy Spirit in terms so clear that they can only be rendered abstract and ambiguous by some selfserving rationalisation. How does he describe and define the Holy Spirit?

To make things clear Paul sets up a contrast by first telling us what the Holy Spirit is not. The spirit of God, he tells us, is not the spirit of self-indulgence, sexual vice, jealousy, rivalry, antagonism, bad temper, quarrels, drunkenness or factionalism.

A

nytime we are cultivating these qualities inside of our lives, we should not delude ourselves into thinking we are living in God’s spirit, no matter how frequent, sincere or pious is our religious practice.

The Holy Spirit, Paul tells us, is the spirit of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and chastity. Only when we are living inside of these virtues are we living inside God’s spirit.

Classic Conrad

ERHAPS the single, most-often quoted line from Pope Francis is his response to a question he was asked vis-à-vis the morality of a particularly dicey issue. His, infamous-famous reply was: “Who am I to judge?”

Although this remark is often assumed to be flighty and less-than-serious, it is, in fact, on pretty safe ground. Jesus, it seems, says basically the same thing.

For example, in his conversation with Nicodemus in John’s gospel, he in essence says: “I judge no one.” If the gospel of John is to be believed, then Jesus judges no one.

God judges no one.

But that needs to be put into context. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t any moral judgments and that our actions are indifferent to moral scrutiny. There is judgment; except it doesn’t work the way it is fantasised inside the popular mind.

According to what Jesus tells us in John’s gospel, judgment works this way: God’s light, God’s truth and God’s spirit come into the world. We then judge ourselves according to how we live in the face of them—God’s light has come into the world, but we can choose to live in darkness.

That’s our decision, our judgment.

God’s truth has been revealed, but we can choose to live in falsehood, in lies. That’s our decision, our judgment to make.

And God’s spirit has come into the world, but we can prefer to live outside that spirit, in another spirit. That too is our decision, our judgment.

Nicholas King SJ

Jesus chose you

“I’m just worried that the dog might catch it.”

the game is precisely “love”.

That is not, however, to be misread as a kind of easy option, for Jesus is on the point of a lonely death, abandoned by those whom he is now addressing.

That is the context in which we are to read the exhortations to “remain in my love…that your joy may be complete”. For this is a seriously uncomfortable love: “No one has greater love than to lay down their life for their friends”; and the disciples (that is we, of course) have it made clear to them that they are “not slaves, but friends”.

But this friendship can be uncomfortable, because it means that they may have to go the way that Jesus went. You see, “it was not you that chose me, but I that chose you…that your fruit should abide”. So the gospel ends joyfully but not entirely comfortably: “This is my command to you, that you love each other.”

May this be a week of unexpected Easter joy for you.

Southern Crossword #652

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

So then, this is how judgment happens: God’s spirit (charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and chastity) has been revealed.

We can choose to live inside the virtues of that spirit or we can choose to live instead inside their opposites (self-indulgence, sexual vice, rivalry, antagonism, bad temper, quarrels, drunkenness and factionalism).

One choice leads to a life with God, the other leads away from God. And that choice is ours to make; it doesn’t come from the outside. We judge ourselves. God judges no one. God doesn’t need to.

When we view things inside this perspective it also clarifies a number of misunderstandings that cause confusion in the minds of believers as well as in the minds of their critics.

How often, for instance, do we hear this criticism: If God is all-good, all-loving, and all-merciful, how can God condemn someone to hell for all eternity?

A valid question, though not a particularly reflective one. Why? Because God judges no one; God punishes no one. God condemns no one to hell. We do these things to ourselves: We judge ourselves, we punish ourselves, and we put ourselves in various forms of hell whenever we do choose not to live in the light, the truth, and inside God’s spirit. And that judgment is self-inflicted, that punishment is self-inflicted, and those fires of hell are self-inflicted.

There are a number of lessons in this.

First, as we have just seen, the fact that God judges no one, helps clarify our theodicy, that is, it helps deflate all those misunderstandings surrounding God’s mercy and the accusation that an all-merciful God can condemn someone to eternal hellfire.

Beyond this, it is a strong challenge to us to be less judgmental in our lives, to let the wheat and the darnel sort themselves out over time, to let light itself judge darkness, to let truth itself judge falsehood, and to, like Pope Francis, be less quick to offer judgments in God’s name and more prone to say: “Who am I to judge?”

The Southern Cross & Radio Veritas present

ACROSS 1. Place for the house-bound (4) 3. Last Holy Communion? (8) 9. Is slow to go (7) 10. Eli tells he holds the best (5) 11. Search out her Carthusian monastery (12) 13. Watches mitres (6) 15. Simon’s occupation (Ac 9) (6) 17. Altered point and added to the text (12) 20. Our Lady’s constellation?

(5) 21. Ran a rig to call before the court (7) 22. Kind of bishop found at 1 across (8) 23. French feast to raise parish funds (4)

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...

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/

DOWN

1. Jerusalem (4,4) 2. The bread from heaven (5) 4. Put in the loose page in the newspaper (6) 5. Abstainers (12) 6. Cardinal’s sanguinary hue (7) 7. Fitting encounter (4) 8. Led countries to be ancient (9,3) 12. This girl will act with discretion (8) 14. Words repeated in meditation (7) 16. Damage your ankle right in Spain (6) 18. One of Israel’s dozen (5) 19. Always (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

MAN and his young son were on a trip far from home. They decided to attend the Sunday Mass in a village church.

The father had forgotten to bring his cash but found a R1 coin in his pocket which he gave to his son to drop in the collection box.

After Mass the father complained: “The Mass was too long, the sermon was boring, the choir was off key.”

The boy disagreed: “Dad, I thought it was pretty good for a rand.”

THE SAINTS OF ITALY PILGRIMAGE PLUS PAPAL AUDIENCE!

Sunday Reflections

Rome, Assisi, Florence, Siena, Padua, Milan, Venice and more 6 - 18 September 2015