150527

The

S outhern C ross

May 27 to June 2, 2015

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4926

www.scross.co.za

Gushwell Brooks sees Jo’burg CBD poverty

Page 7

R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Have a drink with the saints

Diary of an inspiring parish mission

Page 10

Page 9

Church may take govt to court over condoms in schools

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

HE Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) is seeking legal advice on whether to challenge the government over a proposed policy to distribute condoms at schools.

The institute says the new draft of a proposed policy for dealing with HIV and tuberculosis in schools is of great concern as parents are not included in the decisionmaking process.

The government has offered a revised draft policy for comment.

“While we are still in the process of analysing the differences between the two draft policies; a major change was to the clause referring to the distribution of condoms,” the CIE said.

“The new draft does not include discussion or consultation with the school community led by the school governing body, and this is of great concern as parents are not included in the decision-making process.”

The Department of Basic Education first called for comment on a proposed policy for schools dealing with HIV and TB in schools in May 2013. The CIE with the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Catholic Health Care Association made a joint submission on the policy.

The CIE said that much in the policy is positive and its implementation can lead to improved health for learners and school staff.

Its concern initially was the wording of clause 5.1.2.3 which outlines the use of condoms to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections. The policy says access to male and female condoms and information on their use will be made available to learners, educators, school support staff and officials.

The policy initially proposed that access to condoms for learners would be guided by discussions with the school community led by the governing bodies concerned. Access to condoms for educators, school support staff and officials would be in accordance with workplace policies.

“In commenting on this clause we strongly suggested that the word ‘discussion’ be removed and replaced with the word ‘consultation’ and emphasised that parents and the

For further info or to book contact Michael or Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za/ poland-2016/

school governing body be consulted on such sensitive issue as contraception,” the memorandum says.

“We drew the [department’s] attention to the fact that by itself, condom distribution will not prevent the spread of HIV or sexually transmitted infections and may in fact distort a positive message,” the CIE said.

“It was clear that the school governing bodies were considered to be part of the process and the principle of partnership would enable input at a school partnership level.”

The CIE’s sources at the department informed the organisation that the concern is that consultation with parents would take a long time. Given that 73 587 girls 18 years and younger delivered babies in 2014, prevention must be more easily and urgently available, the education department argued.

This response, the CIE said, fails to address the reasons behind young girls falling pregnant especially those in primary school.

“Young people need to be equipped to make decisions about their lives based on sound values and conscious of the rightful time and place for having children. A coherent, values-based life skills and sexuality programme as well as decision making ability is essential,” the CIE said.

“We are grateful that the principle outlined above is in the revised draft policy which continues to give us an opening to discuss this issue,” the CIE said but noted that the institute is “deeply disappointed” that the education department “did not implement this policy timeously”.

Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said that 80 000 babies a year—or 8% of the total— are born to females younger than 18 years.

The national strategic plan on HIV and sexually transmitted infections, meanwhile, estimates that 39% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 have been pregnant at least once.

If the policy is passed as it currently stands, male and female pupils from Grades 7-12 would be offered condoms. Children in Grades 4-6, aged nine to 12, would be given condoms “where required”.

In 2013 Cardinal Wilfrid Napier criticised a plan by the KwaZulu-Natal education department to distribute condoms at schools in the province as “short sighted” and “immoral”.

The staff of HOPE Cape Town with co-founder Fr Stefan Hippler (front, third from right) and German supporter Viola Klein (in the green dress) at the Aids outreach project’s annual Ball of Hope at The Westin Hotel in Cape Town. The ball was MCed by TV presenter Katlego Maboe.

R3 million funding for Hope an ‘endorsement of excellence’ STAFF REPORTER

T

HERE were gasps of amazement at a gala event as German entrepreneur and social activist Viola Klein presented Fr Stefan Hippler with a cheque to the value of almost R3 million for HOPE Cape Town.

The HIV/Aids outreach programme, which was founded by the German-speaking Catholic Community of the Cape Peninsula in 2001, was given the 217 250 euro funding over three years by the German charity Ein Herz für Kinder (A Heart for Children), a project of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.

Ms Klein told the attendees of the annual Ball of Hope at The Westin Hotel in Cape Town that the conditions for donations from Ein Herz für Kinder are extremely stringent.

The donation therefore was not only an expression of support for an important cause, but also an endorsement of what the initiator of the Hope Gala in Dresden, Germany, said was the excellent way in which the organisation is managed.

The ball, which was MCed by Katlego Maboe, presenter of SABC 3’s Expresso programme, had musical entertainment arranged by popular keyboard player Adolf Thelen. It

St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross

included a performance of the Brooklyn Holy Cross Senior School Choir.

The keynote address was delivered by Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron who urged for the continued fight against the stigmatisation of HIV/Aids.

Justice Cameron noted that the lack of openness about the disease and people’s fear of being tested for it represent a major obstacle to solving the health crisis.

Guests at the ball came from as far as the United States to attend the event. They also included high-ranking diplomatic representatives from Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

An auction of a Germany football shirt signed in Brazil last year by the World Cupwining squad brought in another R27 000.

The proceeds from the ball will help HOPE continue its various programmes, including research, toy libraries, resistance testing and 22 community health workers.

“We are thankful to all our supporters who make it possible to bring HOPE to so many.

We still have a long way to go and there is an ever increasing need to expand our services,” Fr Hippler said. n For more information on HOPE Cape Town visit www.hopecapetown.com

A journey to the places of St John Paul II’s life and devotions, led by a Bishop who knows Poland intimately.

Led by Bishop Stan Dziuba 13 - 21 May 2016

Kraków | Wadowice (on St John Paul II’s birthday) | Black Madonna of Częstochowa | Niepokalanów (St Maxmilan Kolbe) | Divine Mercy Sanctuary | Warsaw | Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (with miraculous icon) | Zakopane | Wieliczka Salt Mine (with Mass!)

2

The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

LOCAL

Fatima procession exceeds expectations

BY STAFF REPORTER

Priests from across Southern Africa attended a retreat at Coolock near Port Shepstone.

Priests attend two-week retreat

BY STAFF REPORTER

stown and Fr Hugh Lagan SMA presented in the first week. Sr Bernadette Duffy HC and Fr Sylvester David OMI presented in the second week.

Fr Mosebetsi Mokoena of Bethlehem and Sr Bernadette facilitated the programme. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier and Bishop Barry Wood visited to speak to the 22 priests who attended.

They also celebrated the Eucharist and had supper together.

P

RIESTS from Southern Africa attended a two-week sabbatical programme at Coolock House retreat near Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal.

The programme is organised annually after Easter by the ongoing formation committee of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Bishop Dabula Mpako of Queen-

Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberley with the confirmation class at St Gertrude’s mission, Heunaar, in the Kalahari.

T

HE number of people participating in this year’s Fatima procession in Johannesburg exceeded the hopes of the organisers, inspiring them to repeat the Five Fatima Saturdays as of June.

“We had set a target of over 2 000 pilgrims this year, compared to 1 800 last year,” said Manny de Freitas, co-convenor for the Fatima pilgrimage. Some 2 500 pilgrims walked the pilgrimage this year.

“This is truly amazing and exciting as the messages of Fatima are spread wider,” Mr de Freitas said, adding that this pilgrimage is now the largest of its kind in South Africa.

This pilgrimage began at the Blessed Sacrament church in Malvern East and ended, after a 4km procession on foot during which the rosary was prayed, with Holy Mass at the Schoenstatt shrine in Bedfordview.

Mr de Freitas paid tribute to the role of the media in the processions growth.

“There is no doubt that the heightened media coverage of this event, not just in the Catholic media but also in the local secular media, assisted in [raising] awareness of this pilgrimage,” he said.

“It was clear that there were many first-time pilgrims this year.

The assistance and support of the Portuguese media can also not go unnoticed as they too extensively published and supplied information on the pilgrimage.”

This was the ninth successive pil-

The thousands of faithful at Mass after the pilgrimage. Mass took place at the Schoenstatt Shrine in Bedfordview. grimage. The first procession took place in 1991, with only around 50 pilgrims, led by the parish youth group at the time, Mr de Freitas recalled.

He said that as an extension and success of the pilgrimages, the Fatima Five Saturdays will return this year.

The Fatima Five Saturdays originated when one of the visionaries, Sr Lucia dos Santos, then a postulant, received a visionary visit by the Child Jesus and the Virgin Mary in her convent cell.

Showing the young nun a heart surrounded by thorns, Our Lady said: “See, my daughter, my heart surrounded by thorns which ungrateful men pierce at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude... Say to all those who, for five months, on the first Saturday, confess, receive Holy Communion, recite the rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of

the Rosary, in a spirit of reparation, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls.”

As requested by Sr Lucia, the Five Saturdays will start on the first Saturday of each month from June until October; the latter is a month devoted to Mary.

The Five Fatima Saturdays was first followed last year at Bedfordview’s Schoenstatt shrine. In each instance the chapel proved to be too small to accommodate the numbers of faithful wishing to pray the rosary.

This year the venue has been moved to Malvern’s Blessed Sacrament church at 17:00 on the Saturdays of June 6, July 4, August 1, September 5 and October 3. All are welcome, Mr de Freitas said.

“Just like the pilgrimage, we will start small but hope to grow each month as more and more people discover for themselves the power of the rosary,” he said.

Winter Living

Theology 2015

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

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WKZd >/ d, dƵĞƐ ϳ :ƵůLJ Ăƚ ϳ͘ϬϬƉŵ͗ DĂƚĞƌ Ğŝ ĂƚŚŽůŝĐ ŚƵƌĐŚ͕ ϯϯϳ ĂƉĞ ZĚ͕ EĞǁƚŽǁŶ WĂƌŬ͕ WŽƌƚ ůŝnjĂďĞƚŚ

&Žƌ ŵŽƌĞ ŝŶĨŽ ƉůĞĂƐĞ ĐŽŶƚĂĐƚ dƌĂĐLJ ŽŶ͗ Ϭϭϭ ϰϴϮ ϰϮϯϳ Žƌ ǀŝĂ ĞŵĂŝů͗ ĂĚŵŝŶΛũĞƐƵŝƟŶƐƟƚƵƚĞ͘ŽƌŐ͘njĂ

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The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

LOCAL

3

How is SA’s democracy doing?

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

T

HE Jesuit Institute South Africa teamed up with the Goedgedacht Forum for Social Reflection for a roundtable discussion on the theme of “What is the State of South Africa’s (Un)democracy?”.

Speakers included social activist Dr Dale McKinley, political commentator Justice Malala, the Daily Maverick’s Ranjeni Munusamy and Mondli Makhanya, editor-in-chief of Avusa Media newspapers.

“Most of the speakers agreed that South Africa had seen a political transformation but not an economic one, and that many of the current social challenges in South Africa stem from the huge economic disparity in the country,” Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute told The Southern Cross.

“It was asserted that most people in the country have very little knowledge of the Constitution or Bill of Rights. One of the panellists suggested that South Africa needs to recast the foundations of its democracy by putting an end to the selfish

and narrow self-interest that permeates South African society across the board,” Fr Pollitt said.

“Another suggested that South Africans have an unrealistic and false perception of what democracy means—a feel-good paradise where we would all live happily ever after,” he added.

During the discussion, it was agreed that a number of issues need to be addressed urgently in the country, including honesty and principles, “getting out of the silos” that have been created, the formation of broad-based coalitions, confronting violence, and the need for healing in a deeply traumatised society.

There is also an urgent need to address the basic necessities of life that are absent from the daily lives of the majority of South Africans.

One panellist suggested that the middle class in the country—about four million people—have “checked out” of the country’s social challenges and democratic processes by turning to private security, private health care and private education.

“There are an estimated 8,3 mil-

Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute (left), Ranjeni Munusamy, associate editor of the Daily Maverick, and independent activist Dr Dale McKinley at roundtable talks on the state of South African society. lion South Africans who are unemployed. For many citizens the institutions of democracy haven’t helped—for many people the situation has got worse as poverty spirals

out of control,” Fr Pollitt said.

“The panel agreed that we have to create space to reinvigorate civil society and an active citizenry, which has been weakened in recent

years.”

During the discussion a number of issues were raised and debated.

These included the role of traditional leaders in the country, the massive leadership deficit the country faces across government but also in corporate and civil institutions, and how we can stimulate conversation and seek solutions to the challenges we face by reinspiring an active citizenry.

“In the final round of comments one participant warned that we should not become commodities of ourselves’,” Fr Pollitt said.

“It was striking to see how many of the issues that Pope Francis addressed in Evangeli Gaudium were picked up in the discussions—including leadership, unemployment, rampant capitalism, the commodification of the human person, corruption and an attitude of indifference.”

Fr Pollitt said that the Jesuit Institute and the Goedgedacht Forum hope to collaborate regularly, and with other organisations, “so that we can bring about a faith that does justice and work to realise a South Africa where everyone is truly free”.

Salesians call for mentors to youth

BY STAFF REPORTER

S

The Southern Cross pilgrims with Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria are seen in Turin after viewing the Holy Shroud, an experience all agreed to be particularly moving. In Turin they also visited sites associated with St Don Bosco, whose centenary is being celebrated this year. The Salesians at St Francis of Sales church, next to the saint’s Pinardi chapel, said they felt honoured that a group from South Africa would visit their church. The group, which included several people who had gone on previous Southern Cross pilgrimages, first visited the Holy Land, where they touched the rock of Calvary and visited the tomb of the Resurrection. After Turin they travelled to Florence and Rome, where they attended a papal audience. See next week’s issue for a collection of photos from this special pilgrimage.The Southern Cross will return to Italy in September for a pilgrimage in the footsteps of many saints. Next February a pilgrimage to the Holy Land will be led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin. For information on both contact Gail at 076 352-3809 or info@fowlertours.co.za.

SACBC aid for Nepal

T

HE Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has donated R119 700 to Caritas Nepal for relief work after the earthquakes in Nepal.

“Though minimal in the face of the great disaster there, it is a generous gesture from the conference that is struggling financially,” the SACBC said in a statement.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake erupted about 140km east of the capital Kathmandu on April 25, destroying half a million homes.

Three weeks later the country was struck by a 7.3 tremor near Mount Everest. n To donate to the Bishops’ Foundation contact Fr Barney McAleer on 012 323 6458 or 072 469 3710.

GABRIELLE PHILLIP

WaacSa 2015 annual Lecture Johannesburg

LITURGICAL VESTMENTS

Lessons for the Church from the Developing World

(2-3 weeks’ delivery time) Phone/Fax Maggie Pillay

FrOM SOuTH TO NOrTH

BISHOP KEVIN DOWLING Bishop of Rustenburg

Wednesday, 17 June 19:00 for 19:30

St Teresa’s High School Hall Keyes avenue, rosebank, Jhb ENTRANCE FREE Donations welcome

Booking essential by Mon, June 15 SMS 082 330-3043 or dmirvine@mweb.co.za WE ARE ALL CHURCH (SOUTH AFRICA): WAACSA is a movement of Catholics in South Africa who are committed to the renewal of the Church initiated by the Second Vatican Council. www.weareallchurch.co.za

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REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

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

For further information, please contact St Jude Society, Box 22230, Fish Hoek, 7975, Telephone (021) 551-1747, dpaarman@mweb.co.za

ALESIAN Life Choices is searching for Cape Town-based professionals to mentor participants in its programme to support young people from developing communities on the Cape Flats.

Leaders’ Quest is a three-year intervention aimed at supporting young people to have a fair chance in life. Mentors will support Grade 12s for 18 months.

The mentor should be a person who can “encourage learners to persevere and show care so they know they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges”.

Mentors should also be able to ignite hope, be positive role models and assist the young people in establishing a helpful network of contacts.

The mentor also opens doors to information by directing young people to resources.

Life Choices provides services in health, education, household stability and leadership to youth and families in their respective communities. n Contact Life Choices at 021 696 4157/67 or e-mail at info@lifechoices.co.za

Tangney

Special Interest Tours La Madonna della Speranza Pilgrimage Y D Rotondo Rome. Assisi. San Giovanni LL Monte E Cassino (Padre Pio) Lanciano.

U F OK Led by Fr Bernard Madiba O 29 June –B07 July 2015 ================

The Three Wise Men Pilgrimage

Jordan: Petra. Authentic Baptismal site.

Madaba Map. Mt Nebo. Holy Land.

Bethlehem. Galilee. 1st Century Synagogue Nazareth. Jerusalem. Cairo.

Led by Fr Michael van Heerden 22 November – 05 December 2015 ================

Stellenbosch Pilgrimage

Holy Land: Bethlehem. Galilee. Special Magdala visit. Nazareth. Jerusalem. Cairo Led by Fr Wim Lindeque 29 January – 8 February 2016 ================

Our Lord & St Paul Pilgrimage

Greece: Athens. Corinth. Thessaloniki.

Holy Land: Bethlehem. Galilee. Nazareth.

Magdala. Jerusalem. Cairo.

Led by Fr David Evans 28 March – 11 April 2016.

Tel: (021) 683 0300 Fax: 086 691 9308 P O Box 273, Rondebosch, 7701 Email: karis@tangneytours.co.za

4

The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Bl Mother Teresa canonisation in 2016?

BY LAURA IERACI

D

Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was elected president of Caritas Internationalis, the confederation of 165 international Catholic charities. He replaces Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga and is the first president to be elected from Asia. (Photo: Ed Pfueller, The Catholic University of America/CNS)

Southern Cross BOOKS

ESPITE reports in the Italian press that Bl Teresa of Kolkata’s canonisation has been set for September 4, 2016, a Vatican spokesman says the date is only hypothetical and cannot be confirmed.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi issued a statement in response to media reports that the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, who worked among the poorest of the poor, would be canonised before the end of the upcoming Holy Year of Mercy.

“It is a working hypothesis, therefore there is no official confirmation to be given,” said Fr Lombardi. “The cause for Mother Teresa is still underway and it is therefore premature to speak of an already established date for the canonisation.”

But Italian media have reported that Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisa-

Günther Simmermacher

THE HOLY LAND TREK:

A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Holy Land

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Chris Moerdyk

MOERDYK FILES

A collection of the best Southern Cross columns by one of South Africa’s most popular writers. Read about the day Nelson Mandela was sentenced, what the great thurible swinger did at Mass, why a 400km detour was made to save the parents’ blushes, and much more... Only R150 (plus p&p)

Owen Williams

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

An anthology of the best columns written by the late Owen Williams, The Southern Cross’ long-time contributor. First published in 2004, Any Given Sunday is a wonderful way to spend time with a first-class raconteur and man of deep faith. Only R80 (plus p&p)

Order from books@scross.co.za or www.books.scross.co.za or call 021 465-5007 or buy at 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town

tion, told Rome’s municipal officials that Mother Teresa’s canonisation has been set for September 4, 2016. Archbishop Fisichella’s office is organising the Holy Year of Mercy, which will begin on December 8, 2015.

According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the archbishop also told city officials that the relics of St Padre Pio, a Capuchin priest who bore the stigmata of Jesus, will be brought to Rome from southern Italy for veneration by the faithful. The date for the translation of the relics has not yet been set.

With large crowds expected for both events and throughout the Holy Year, Archbishop Fisichella reportedly asked on behalf of the Vatican that city officials guarantee all pilgrims health care during the Holy Year. The Italian newspaper also reported that the archbishop asked the municipality to clear out the street vendors around St Peter’s Square, who tend to gouge pilgrims with overpriced goods.

Less than two weeks earlier, at a

news conference at the Vatican, Archbishop Fisichella did not confirm a canonisation date for Mother Teresa, saying only that the canonisation was hoped for.

Officially, a second miracle still must be approved to open the way for Mother Teresa’s canonisation.

However, Pope Francis has previously waived steps required for sainthood for other holy men and women.

Canonisations that are approved without meeting all of the requirements set by Church norms are called equivalent or equipollent canonisations. Pope Francis has approved at least seven equivalent canonisations during his two-year pontificate: Angela Foligno, Peter Faber, Jose de Anchieta, Marie of the Incarnation, Francois de Laval, Joseph Vaz and Junipero Serra.

Pope John Paul II had already made an exception to the rules in Mother Teresa’s case by allowing her cause for beatification to be opened without waiting the usual five years after a candidate’s death.—CNS

Pope’s visit to divided nation of Bosnia

BY CAROL GLATz

P

OPE Francis’ concern for those suffering on the margins and for small Catholic communities that have kept the faith alive through war or repression will take him to BosniaHerzegovina in early June.

By making a one-day trip on June 6 to Sarajevo, he said he hoped he could “be an encouragement for the Catholic faithful, give rise to the development of the good and contribute to strengthening fraternity, peace, interreligious dialogue and friendship”.

The trip comes just a month before the 20th anniversary of the genocide in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and six months before the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II. More than 100 000 people died and millions more were displaced during the 1992-95 conflict, which saw a Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims after the mostly Muslim Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1992.

“Pope Francis is the pope of the poor and the forgotten, of those like us who live on the

outer reaches” in a nation where peace is still fragile, and justice, especially for the Catholic minority, is a long way off, Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo said in March.

The post-war Balkan nation is now largely divided along ethnic lines. Bosniaks, or ethnic Bosnians, make up 48% of the country’s nearly 4 million people, while Serbs make up 37% and Croats 14%. About 40% of all citizens are Muslim, 31% Orthodox and 15% Catholic.

For example, in Mostar in the south, “there are Catholic youth who have grown up never having stepped foot” on the city’s famous 16th-century Ottoman Old Bridge “because it is in the Muslim part of town”, said Marc D’Silva, Catholic Relief Services’ Bosnia-Herzegovina country representative.

Pope Francis is expected to urge the minority Catholics to “go out”, cross cultural bridges and be a force for reconciliation and cooperation.

People of all faiths in Bosnia “are excited” the pope is coming and know he is coming to support reconciliation, Mr D’Silva said.

While the war drove many— including half of the country’s Catholics—out of Bosnia, today the lack of opportunities, a trou-

bled economy and a sense of political inaction have triggered another exodus, especially among the young.

Catholics are especially enticed to leave, Mr D’Silva said, because nearby Croatia guarantees emigrating ethnic Croats “automatic citizenship”, which carries with it European Union citizenship, too. Many Catholics from outside Bosnia are expected to attend the pope’s Mass at Sarajevo’s Kosevo stadium.

Darija Sesar, a 23-year-old Catholic law student in Mostar said that she and her Orthodox and Muslim friends see the pope’s visit as “a light for better times for Bosnia”.

“Pope Francis is teaching us to open ourselves up to new energy and new ways,” too.

She said his presence will help Bosnians see beyond their ethnic-religious identities and become an encounter between “he and we”—a Bosnia as one united nation. The pope’s visit is “a big step, but I don’t want it to be everything. After he comes we have to work even harder” to try to build the country together, which is “one of the reasons why I think he chose Bosnia”, Ms Sesar said.

“He will break the borders within us,” she said.—CNS

Syrian nun: ‘Pray for Aleppo’

BY SIMON CALDWELL

A

RELIGIOUS sister in Syria described how the members of one Christian family were blown to bits during a bombardment of the northern city of Aleppo.

Sr Annie Demerjian, an Armenian Catholic member of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, described how shells fired by either Islamic State or Nusra Front rebels killed two adult sons and their mother.

“The force of the explosion flung one of the sons out of the house, leaving him dead, hanging on the power cables,” she told the UK branch of Aid to the

Church in Need, a Catholic charity serving persecuted Christians around the world.

“His mother and brother were blown to bits by the bombs,” she said. “Their relatives are still finding parts of the bodies among the rubble and burying them.”

The son blasted onto the power cables was identified only as Michel, 18, and the second son killed by the explosion was named as Annor, in his early 20s.

The family lived in a Christian area of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria that has been the focus of months of heavy fighting between the forces of President Bashar Assad and the Islamist factions opposed to him.

The Christian quarter of the city has “noticeably emptied out”, she said, with many residents grabbing whatever possessions they could carry and fleeing to the comparatively safer coastal regions or to predominantly Christian areas around Homs.

“Pray for Aleppo. People are fearful as never before,” said Sr Annie. “Thousands have already left the city, both Christian and Muslim. We are preparing for the worst.”

She added: “May God enlighten the hearts of those in power so that they can find a way to peace. Otherwise, I do not know how long the people can continue to endure it all.”—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, May 20 to May 26, 2015

5

Pax Christi: Glaring Pope accuser was a inequality in West Bank regime collaborator

BY JUDITH SUDILOVSKY

T

I

T took only a slight turn of an eye to see the glaring difference in levels of water availability and consumption between the Israeli agricultural settlement of Petza’el and the three neighbouring dusty Palestinian villages just outside Jericho.

Up on the hill next to the settlement stood a gleaming white water tower for the use of the Israeli settlement, while in the village cluster, an old well built by Jordan prior to the 1967 war sat, neglected and locked, and an old agricultural aqueduct was dry.

Some participants in Pax Christi International’s “Pilgrims on the Path to Peace” 70th anniversary conference, taking place in Bethlehem and attended by Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, gathered in the village to see different realities of Palestinian life. Some 150 delegates from 30 countries participated in the fiveday conference.

The three Palestinian villages are located in Area C, which covers 60% of the West Bank. Israel retains control of its security and civil landmanagement, practically prohibiting any Palestinian construction and development. Many of the water sources in the area are largely put to service for the approximate 10 000 Israeli settlers living in the area.

The 60 000 Palestinians of the Jordan Valley, as seen in the three villages, are denied access to much of the areas’ water sources and are forced to purchase water at a high price over the summer months when their winter reserves run out.

In this region, Israeli civilians consume about 300m3 of water per day while Palestinians consume 70 m3.

An ecological pilgrimage to witness the disparities and one-sided use of the area’s natural resources is an essential part of understanding this reality, said Ann Farr, a member of the board of Pax Christi International.

“There can be no peace without justice, which is about the denial of basic human rights such as shelter, water and land,” she said. “It is important for people to actually see for themselves the reality of people in Palestine, including the people in this area who are denied use of water.”

According to the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea make up approximately 30% of the West Bank and are the most significant Palestinian land reserves.

But, says the Israeli group, since 1967, Israel has pursued various measures to annex this territory, including the prevention of development of Palestinian communities, systematically destroying homes in Palestinian Bedouin communities, denying access to water and strictly

Loai Abu Eid, 17, looks out over watered fields as he stands on his family's parched property near a barbed wire fence separating Ma’aleh Gilboa, Israel, from the West Bank village of Faqua. In Faqua there is no running water. The price of well water makes water unattainable for many residents. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS) limiting Palestinians’ freedom of movement. At the same time, they charge, Israel has exploited the resources of the area for its own needs and allocated generous tracts of land and water resources to Israeli settlements.

“Armed conflicts and irresponsible natural resource extraction have a significantly negative impact on the way communities interact with their environment— and affects us all,” Pax Christi said. “[Our] vision of peace, based on the Gospel, is one in which the dignity of every person is unconditionally respected and their human rights fully guaranteed.”

Other conference pilgrimages touched upon the issues of justice and reconciliation, human rights, demilitarisation and disarmament, peace education and women as peacemakers, with participants visiting different areas of the West Bank.

F

asayel, one of the three Palestinian villages in the Jordan Valley, is a perfect example of the consequences of Israel’s policies with the area’s natural resources, said Rashed Khaled Swafty, coordinator of the popular committee for protecting the Jordan Valley.

He said more than 100 families had left the area because there was no work or water for their agriculture fields and animals.

“When Israel demolishes a tent or confiscates a water tank, they are not only doing it because it is in Area C or because of security, they do it just because they want to break the Palestinians’ will—but this is one thing they cannot touch, and this is where hope comes from,” Mr Swafty said.

One example is teaching the villagers how to build from easily and cheaply produced mud bricks which, if demolished by Israeli order, can be swiftly rebuilt at almost no

Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, thereby facilitating their abduction and torture in May 1976.

Subsequent evidence has shown that Fr Bergoglio in fact worked successfully to secure the priests’ release.

He also intervened in other cases of abduction and torture, and aided opponents of the regime in danger of detention.

Mr Verbitsky repeated his accusations after Cardinal Bergoglio’s election as Pope Francis in March 2013.

Argentinean human rights activists, including Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel, publicly and unambiguously rejected the charges.

At the time US journalist Martin Andersen, a former friend of Mr Verbitsky, first reported that Mr Verbitsky had collaborated with the military regime.

The now 73-year-old Mr Verbitsky is currently head of the Centre for Legal and Social Studies, a humanrights organisation, and also writes for the Pagina 12 newspaper, which is widely regarded as the mouthpiece of the government of Cristina Fernandez.

According to Mr Levinas, one of the investigative journalists, Mr Verbitsky declined to be interviewed for a response to the evidence.

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cost, he said.

Farmers have had to change the crops they grow and reduce the amount of land they farm, which means they end up leaving tracts of land fallow, vulnerable to state-supported confiscation. The land then gets taken over by Israeli settlements.

Sami Dawod of the Palestinian Hydrology Group noted that his group was working to help the people stay on their lands by building water cisterns, giving water tanks and laying irrigation pipes.

Ferdinand Djayerombe Vaweka of Development and Peace and Pax Christi Montreal, noted the complexity of the situation.

“Israel claims the whole of the land while Palestinians claim the exact same thing,” he said. “And from what I have seen Palestinians are caught and imprisoned in their own land with their freedom of movement being curtailed. Yet, it is absolutely important to hear both sides of the story.”

He said it was vital to encourage continued dialogue between the two parties even “when they don’t feel like they are being heard”.—CNS n The Southern Cross is organising a Pilgrimage of the Peacemakers from February 13-26, 2016, combining visits to the holy sites of the region with encounters with those working for peace. It will be led

by Archbishop Stephen Thursday 4th June (7.00pm) Theme: “Call of God” Brislin of Cape Town and also includes a visit to Cairo to give solidarity with the Christian minorFriday 5th June (7.00pm) Theme: “Consecrated Life” ity there. See www.fowlertours.co.za/peacemakers/ for more information

Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary n Sick n Aged n Outcast and Neglected

HE man who accused the future Pope Francis of collaborating with Argentina’s military regime was actually on the dictatorship’s payroll, according to investigative reporters.

Horacio Verbitsky accused Jorge Mario Bergoglio of complicity with the brutal regime when the future pope was provincial of the Jesuits in the second half of the 1970s Investigative reporters Gabriel Levinas and Sergio Serrichio spent more than 14 months researching the claim for a forthcoming book, America magazine reported.

In an article on the www.plazade mayo blog they showed that Mr Verbitsky, a former member of the leftwing Monteneros guerilla group, was a speechwriter for one of the heads of the country’s military junta, Brigadier Omar Graffigna.

Contracts signed by Mr Verbitsky and manuscripts in his handwriting, confirmed by calligraphy experts, prove his employment by the junta between 1978 to 1982.

According to three independent witnesses, Mr Verbitsky received protection from a junta leader, Commodore Juan José Guiraldes, soon after the 1976 coup Mr Verbitsky ended his collaboration with the armed forces following the Falklands/Malvinas war in 1982.

He then became a journalist and in the 1990s gained a public profile for his vocal denunciations of human rights crimes committed by the military junta, as well as by criticising corruption in the government of President Carlos Menem.

In his 2003 book El Silencio on the conduct of the Catholic Church in Argentina during the military rule, he accused then Cardinal Bergoglio of complicity with the junta while he was Jesuit provincial of the Jesuits, a charge the cardinal rejected as “slander”.

He specifically accused the future pope of having withheld his order’s protection from two Jesuit priests,

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6

The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Answering God

T

HE central objective of our faith is the hope of salvation at the hour of our death; and our chief reason for living with Christ, more than any of our earthly needs, is to prepare us well for the eternal life in the presence of our loving Father.

This faith in our salvation is our great comfort, but it also has an implication which runs counter to our innate human impulses: anybody can be redeemed at any time. Redemption is available even to the most objectionable sinners, in the final moments of their dissolute lives.

The parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1-16) demonstrates the unfairness,. as we perceive it, of this. The labourers who had toiled faithfully throughout the day were given no more than the latecomers, who had invested much less sweat into their reward.

The lessons of the parable are many. One of them is Jesus’ admonition that it is not for us to calculate fair rewards on behalf of God, but to toil faithfully in his vineyard regardless of what others do.

Another lesson is that God rewards all sinners who come to him: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

It is a disturbing thought that even somebody like Joseph Stalin, an epitome of evil, might have gained the mercy of salvation if he sincerely repented and sought it in the moments before his death.

The idea of it is disconcerting, yet it gives us hope, for our own salvation and that of those whom we love.

The parable’s lesson that we ought to look at our own lives before we judge those of others finds a regular echo in Pope Francis’ teachings.

Reflecting on various types of farewells, the pope in a recent homily addressed the most important of them: “the final leavetaking, which everyone will face, when the Lord calls us to the other side—our own deaths”.

The pope urged his congregation—and all of us—to reflect on where we might be at that moment, which could come at any time.

According to Pope Francis, we should ask ourselves: “Am I pre-

pared…to entrust myself to God?” Since death can strike at any time, we must have made things right with God at all times, repenting for our sins of commission and omission.

To be prepared requires a thorough introspection, one that goes much deeper even than that which we undertake in preparation for the sacrament of confession.

These questions go beyond acts that are proscribed by the Catechism, though these obviously require reflection too.

Some of the questions of conscience we might ask ourselves might include: Have I encouraged or tolerated acts of violence against minorities because of prejudice?

Have I created conflict or hurt by my words or actions?

Have I closed my eyes to the poor? Have I been party to the suffering of the poor by exploiting their labour, or by fixing the prices of basic commodities?

Have I justified policies which impoverish the poor further because the alternative would mean increased taxes?

Has the inconvenience of loadshedding caused me greater anger than the suffering of the poor? Has inconsiderate driving caused me greater distress than seeing the rags on the beggar at the traffic lights?

Have I joined the rest of the world in being indifferent to the drowning of 700 African people in search for a better life?

Have I encouraged social discord by sharing divisive, wounding or spiteful material on social media? Have I gossiped about others or spread lies about them because of spite, envy or pride?

Have I held others to higher standards than I hold myself?

Have I been unjust or uncharitable in my criticism of others?

Have I invoked God’s wrath when it was not my place to do so? Have I told somebody that they will go to hell, not as a warning but as a threat (or a wish)? Have I distorted or corrupted God’s Word to suit my own opinions?

None of us will have a clear account on all of these questions, and the many more one might add.

How would we answer God if he asked us today?

Tune into the arts for true meaning

H

AVE you ever asked why…art?

What is its purpose? What is its underlying attraction?

Why does the Sistine Chapel have the ability to draw more than 5 million visitors per year? How can a film such as Avatar gross $2,7 billion and a musical like The Phantom of the Opera run for over 25 years, performing to over 140 million?

Is this mere coincidence or does it point to some deep human desire?

St John Paul II once stated that through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image” of God. The late pope had a love for poetry and literature, and as a young man was an actor.

His passion for the arts was fully expressed when in 1999 he delivered a “Letter to Artists”, aimed at recon-

Bring outreach to all Churches

I

REFER to Fr Ron Rolheiser’s “Open letter to bishops” (May 6).

Well said, Fr Ron! I admire your thoughts (and courage!) in expressing this plea to bishops.

Your suggested ecumenical outreach could well assist in resolving what Pope Francis terms “spiritual ailments” (“being indifferent to others”) in that our brothers of other faiths are “not welcome at our Eucharistic table”.

And, while on the subject, spare a thought for the many estranged Catholics who are also left out in the cold because they have transgressed canon law, which rules supreme over the love and compassion advocated by Christ.

My wife and I participate in a regular weekly Bible study group consisting of members of the Methodist, Dutch Reformed, interdenominational and Anglican Churches, and even one member with a Seventh Day Adventist background—and, of course, we Catholics.

And what fun we have along with the serious in-depth studies of the Lord’s Word.

There are times we “agree to disagree without being disagreeable”, but what a learning curve for us as Catholics to whom the Bible was all but verboten for so many, many years!

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

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necting the Church and the arts.

The radio series “ART: A Revelation of Truth” is based on this very letter. Over a period of seven weeks a panel of young artists, touched by this saintly pope, will explore the topics: “The Artist: Image of God the Creator”, “Redefining Beauty”, “Celebrity and Uncovering your Gifts”, “Art and the Mystery of the Word made Flesh”, “The Illuminated Artist”, “The Creator Spirit” and “The Artist’s Mission”.

St John Paul had an enormous heart for the arts and his letter uplifts the dignity and the need for artists to arise and to live out their true vocation—yes, it is a calling.

“Not all are called to be artists.

Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task

And, possibly just as important as the knowledge and spiritual growth, is the ecumenical goodwill generated along with the deeper understanding and appreciation of our Christian faith, personally and in the eyes of other participants.

Seemingly blessed by the Holy Spirit, we pray, sing, study and learn together in wonderful harmony.

And out of this united harmony grows Love—as was directed by our Lord over 2 000 years ago. And Fr Ron is correct, “together we make a family”.

Thank you for a great suggestion, Fr Ron! Now let’s await our bishops reaction.

Geoff Harris, Rooiels, Western Cape

Let us pray for all Christians

I

vations cannot be faulted, and I have no doubt that Papa Francesco would heartily approve. What a masterly stroke of ecumenism it would be!

I support Fr Rolheiser’s position all the way. We have been calling ourselves Catholic, meaning universal, as well as Christian.

Then surely, as he has so clearly pointed out, we need to acknowledge and embrace all Christians in our prayers?

I would make bold to say that Fr Rolheiser will have the support of almost all laity and clergy.

Antonio G Tonin, East London

Christian unity

W

ALWAYS enjoy Fr Ron Rolheiser’s articles in The Southern Cross, but his open letter to the bishops (May 6) I read with a shout of joy. It is brilliant!

I repeat the first two paragraphs: “Dear Bishops, I write to you as a loyal son of the Catholic Church, with a particular request: Could you make an addition to our present Eucharistic prayers to include an explicit invocation for other Christian Churches and for those who lead them?

“For example, could the prayer for the Church and its leadership in our various Eucharistic canons have these additions: ‘Remember, Lord, your entire Church, spread throughout the world, and bring her to the fullness of charity,together with [name] our pope and [name] our bishop, and together with all who help lead other Christian Churches, and all the clergy’.”

Might our Eucharistic prayers have this kind of inclusivity?

Fr Rolheiser’s reasons and moti-

Fr Cyril Axelrod was born deaf in Johannesburg into a Jewish family. He converted to Catholicism at 23 and became a priest in 1970. As an adult he also lost his sight. He is now a worldwide activist for the deaf, author and missioner living on his own in London. Fr Larry recently published the book ‘Perhaps God’ on his friendship with Fr Cyril.

of crafting their own life: they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece,” St John Paul said.

The Church desperately needs artists to rediscover the true meaning of art so that they will use it to reveal what is true, good and beautiful.

I appeal to all artists, “closet creatives” and anyone interested in the arts to listen to “ART: A Revelation of Truth”, which airs weekly from Sunday, June 7 at 18:00 (after the Angelus) on Radio Veritas 576AM (also on DStv’s audio channel 870 or streamed on the Internet at www.radioveritas.co.za).

We need to create a community of artists and supportive patrons who are willing to reclaim the true meaning of art, those who are willing to reveal the invisible God to a world so desperately in need of seeing him.

Mila Szczecina, Johannesburg

OW! Fr Ron, you nailed it.

Your plea to the bishops ties in so well with the interview with Fr Nicholas King SJ on Christian unity in the same issue.

We pray that the bishops agree to your request.

Hanusia Annandale, Johannesburg

Tale of two Johns

I

WAS astonished to read in Michael Shackleton’s reply to the question “What happened to the apostles?” that he has combined John the Evangelist, author of the fourth gospel, with the John the Seer, who wrote the Apocalypse.

These authors have been distinguished for the last 50 years, at least due to the use of textual criticism.

The Greek in which each work was written is very different and cannot be by the same author.

The monumental Catholic Bible commentary, published in the 1960s and entitled “Jerome”, makes this quite clear. It was what I was taught by my Jesuit Scripture professors in the mid-1960s.

Fr Michael Austin SJ, Johannesburg

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PERSPECTIVES

Jo’burg: A tale of two cities

A

SK Gauteng premier David Makhura or Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau, and they will speak of “a world-class African city”. And it makes sense—with all due respect to Abuja and Lagos, Johannesburg is where the heart of the African economy beats.

Any Jo’burger would easily tell you which neighbourhoods to avoid. However, sheltered naivety ignores a fundamental truth: poverty and crime is no longer only associated with certain suburbs; it has spread and sits on the doorstep of wealth.

It was time that I stared into the abyss.

First National Bank’s headquarters, Bank City, in the Johannesburg CBD, is the home of multibillion-rand wealth. Within a few paces is South Africa’s second-oldest insurance company, Mutual and Federal.

Wedged between these Leviathans of corporate wealth towers is a building where no window seems to be intact.

As you walk into this building, past the piercing glances of the security guard posted behind the heavy security gates, and as you ascend the dark stairwell, a stark realisation hits you between the eyes: in the shadow of Bank City is a completely different and alien world.

From the second floor wrap-around balcony, overlooking the apartment building’s courtyard, you are greeted with the sound of an open tap and water hitting the hollow interior of a large plastic container, the smell of old sewage, refuse and the sight of a queue of people waiting for their 25-litre plastic containers to be filled.

My guide through this maze of abandoned buildings in Johannesburg’s CBD is Sam Ncube. He confirms that up to 2 000 people live in this building alone, where each unit or flat has many individuals and/or families sharing the space.

“You don’t rent a flat, you rent a room here,” he tells me.

Rose (not her real name) has been living in the building for 30 years. Like Sam, Rose confirms that the trouble started in 2005 when the erstwhile owners started charging electricity separately from the monthly rental.

“I used to pay R1 800 a month for rent and electricity was included in the

amount. In about 2005 they started charging for electricity separately and then we were charged between R700-800 a month for electricity. The people revolted, stopped paying and the owners disappeared,” Sam recounts.

Soon after the water supply was also cut. It was reconnected so that one single tap worked throughout the building.

B

y March 2006, an unnamed white man, spoken of as though he is a phantom of sorts—Rose calls him Van Der Boss— flanked by burly Nigerians, told the residents of the building that they were looking after the interests of the owners and that they would now collect rent.

Clement Nduku, another of the building’s residents, explains how rent is collected: “They come late at night. They lock the security gate downstairs and then the Nigerian security guards knock on each flat door to collect rent, in cash, R500 per room.”

It is dark, with no electricity in the en-

Sam Ncube in front of the second building we visited as part of our investigation into abandoned buildings in Johannesburg.

Gushwell Brooks

Talking about Faith

tire building; the courtyard is covered in sewage and rubble, one tap supplies water to the entire building and the toilets do not flush—and yet these people have to pay R500 a month. Per room!

It’s either this, or living on the streets.

Sam takes me to another building, less than a kilometre away from artistic centre of the city, the Maboneng precinct. Here the building has been stripped of all its doorframes, windows and is now a hollow, dark shell of brick and mortar.

I follow him into the building. A cold chill runs through me as I realise that the four scruffy looking informal recyclers he introduces me to all have needles sticking from their arms. It hits me: this is actually very dangerous!

Themba (not his real name) has lived like this for almost two years.

“We recycle cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and plastic for money,” he tells me as I fail to move my gaze from his arm, with the needle sticking out of it. I ask him what he is injecting into his arm. With no change in tone, he replies: “Oh, it’s heroin.”

“A hit costs R20, I spend R200-300 day on heroin,” he tells me. That’s up to R9000 a month—twice the amount the Economic Freedom Fighters have suggested as a monthly national minimum wage.

I wanted to ask so much more of Themba, like has he ever mugged anyone to satisfy a fix? All he told me was that drugs led him here, but what else could he tell me?

I was standing in the wolves’ den and needed to get out of there for my own safety. I had seen so much, but I have not even scratched the surface.

As a member of the Society of St Vincent De Paul and as a media practitioner, I thought I knew it all.

If there has ever been a story that humbled me and my perspective, it was this one.

Do we know what happens behind the curtain of poverty’s oppression?

Do liberal values represent SA? Mphuthumi F Ntabeni EW things trouble me in our country more than our economic policies and the liberal interpretation of our national Constitution. I have written at length about the former on these pages, but not enough about the latter.

The Constitution is supposed to be the embodiment of the spirit of the nation, formulating its practices and aspirations.

Even though ours is often praised as being among the best in the world, I feel it is not the embodiment of the spirit of our nation, at least not the majority of our people. Instead, it embodies liberal values that are foreign to the majority of our people.

Perhaps that is not such a bad thing, says my liberal friend, seeing that were we to follow the majoritarian spirit we would end up killing more foreign African nationals and gay people, and forbidding assisted suicide.

It is unAfrican to kill a human being— even when doing so is a means of severe mercy—but my friend brings me to the gist of my discomfort with what I call the hegemony of liberal values in our national discourse.

Much has been said about how the majority of South Africans are not Afrophobic, and many excuses have been made about the socio-economic situation in townships that foment these sporadic riots. It has been made clear that, valid as these may be, they still do not excuse in-

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cidents of criminal violence against foreign nationals.

The role of the courts, in particular higher ones, is to confer on our judiciary the power of reflection in deciding whether a particular law conforms to the framework of our Constitution. This judicial review is supposed to act not in defiance of the will of the people, but in addition to it while protecting the rights of the minorities against majoritarian abuses.

In South Africa the judges tend to sit only as legal experts, concerned mostly with their own professional ethics than the spirit of the nation. The problem is that the judge doesn’t simply preside over a trial—the judge is also the jury who convicts or acquits.

This calls to mind the saying of somebody being the judge and the jury, with the general implication being that it is undesirable for somebody to wield both authorities.

L

egal structures that have jury systems do so in consideration of other countervailing interests of the community which judges, relying only on cold legality, might disregard. This is why the jury usually comprises ordinary members of the community.

That absence of the community’s influence explains why high-profile cases in South African tend to shock the public when these are decided on or influenced

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Pushing the Boundaries

by technicalities.

The idea of a jury was to democratise the legal system by investing it with the spirit of the community so that the courts are not seen to be operating in a legal vacuum.

In a sense, the panel of judges in the South African highest court partially fulfills the demand for a jury, since the panel does act as a well-informed jury. But there are two interrelated problems with it. It still limits the burden of decisions only to legal minds which are trained in a similar manner, one that lacks diversity of cultural and intellectual background, And that is one of the reasons why justice is so costly in South Africa, and thus available only to the rich. To persuade the bright legal minds on the bench, you need a similarly bright—and therefore expensive—attorney. It is a travesty of justice.

It is foolish to assume that judges are neutral individuals who consider cases based only on presented evidence before them. Judges have their own prejudices Continued on page 11

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7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

No to arrogance General Intention: That immigrants and refugees may find welcome and respect in the countries to which they come.

T

HIS is an intention custom-made in heaven for a South Africa still reeling from the savagery of the attacks on our brothers and sisters from other African countries.

Even for a society as desensitised to violence as ours, the front page Sunday Times photographs of a man being stabbed to death were still able to shock us.

Clearly there had been a failure both of leadership and “followership”. The looting of shops in Soweto earlier this year was a warning sign that was not taken seriously enough. Unelected but influential public figures who should know better made statements which were at best careless or at worst inflammatory and then refused to take responsibility for them.

How to find signs of hope in this horrible episode? The revulsion of many South Africans was a beginning. Statements such as Professor Jonathan Jansen’s showed that we still have some leaders with a vision for our land. We need more leaders who are not content with a pass mark of 30% for their performance, or ours.

The strong condemnation backed up by threats of consequences from those African states whose citizens had been affected was another helpful sign.

Being regarded as a banana republic by states we tend to look down upon had a very sobering impact.

Let us pray that, despite a lingering tendency to blame the victims, all of this will mature into a watershed moment, a humbling moment when we shed our self-proclaimed exceptionalism—the dangerous idea that we are not as other nations.

For being a rainbow nation with the most advanced constitution in the world will mean nothing if we cannot achieve the conditions fundamental to any civilisation worth the name, such as protecting the innocent from violence. We pray for the grace to be proudly rather than arrogantly South African.

Show youths Jesus Missionary Intention: That the personal encounter with Jesus may arouse in many young people the desire to offer their own lives in priesthood or consecrated life.

Is there anything that plunges one back into the ache of adolescence more than the account of his youth in Thomas Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain?

The rootless boy, moving from place to place, the early death of his mother, the awful long illness and final death of his father, the devastating emotional ambush of first falling in love: sometimes it is almost too unbearable to keep reading.

When his father died there was nothing to be done but bear “like an animal” the sorrow which “fell upon me like a mountain”. When Merton had a brush with death due to a serious infection, he was unable to see his life as having much meaning and therefore stopped caring whether he lived or died.

There is a pervasive sense of a lack of proper guidance. In one devastating passage he relates how his school chaplain preached on St Paul’s famous passage on love, interpreting Pauline love as “gentlemanliness”. Thus did Merton realise how short-changed he had been as a youth and how this drift had allowed him to imbibe the darker influences of the early 20th century.

The message he conveys is that a young person should not have to walk in such darkness. Young people need to be led and guided into the light of Christ. There is a sad sense of regret that valuable time was lost because no one introduced him to Jesus earlier. And yet, he also acknowledges that it all worked out according to God’s plan.

Although he had to “fly blind” for much of the time, the young Merton felt his painful way to God and finally found his vocation in the consecrated life.

Merton was unusual. Most young people will meet Jesus, if they meet him at all, through those whose duty it is to give them a Christian formation—that is, through us.

Merton’s experience suggests we should not delay in introducing him to them.

8

The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

COMMUNITY

The Seraphim Choir from St Francis of Assisi church in Yeoville, Johannesburg, sings regularly at the Nazareth House chapel for early morning Sunday Mass.

Matilda de Nobrega of Woodstock parish in Cape Town turned 100. Ms de Nobrega was a catechist for more than 30 years.

Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, held its matric dance with the theme “A night in Morocco”.

The Acies of the Legion of Mary appointed new senatus officers. (From left) Felicity Febana, vice-president Lilian Stuurman, secretary Fr Alvin Tshuma OMI, spiritual director Archbishop Stephen Brislin, president Jacinta Connolly, and treasurer Vera Roomaney.

Bride Kebebush Chafamo and groom Demisse Gabore held their wedding celebration at Yeoville Recreation Centre in Johannesburg, presided over by Deacon Woldeyesus Menedo and community coordinator Hailu Adalo.

Youth of the Salesian Youth Movement in Cape Town held a special rosary praying event for an end to xenophobic attacks against brothers and sisters from other parts of Africa and also to pray for peace on the continent. The rosary was shaped into the continent of Africa. Discussions were also held on how the youth can play a part in ending xenophobia.

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The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

FAITH

9

Blessed: Diary of a parish mission A parish mission can yield great spiritual fruit, as an Eastern Cape parish found this month. JOS TE BRAAKE gives an account of a parish mission led by Redemptorist Father Larry Kaufmann.

O

VER two weeks our parish of St Bernard’s in Gonubie, Eastern Cape, had a wonderful mission led by Fr Larry Kaufmann of the Redemptorists Mission Team.

Before the parish mission we set ourselves a couple of goals.

Firstly, we wanted to reach out to parishioners, other Catholics, who do not attend church (or not regularly) and also non-Catholics, in order to help them to become active members of the parish.

Secondly, we wanted to assist practising parishioners to renew their faith, energy, and commitment.

This is a record of what happened during our faith-filled twoweek mission.

In the first week Fr Kaufmann— let’s refer to him as Fr Larry for the purposes of this article—conducted focused sessions aimed at specific ministries within the parish.

Immediately after the Sunday Mass, he addressed our parish pastoral council, the parish finance council, and leaders of some of our ministries.

He read to us from Luke about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13-35). He introduced us to the idea that the two disciples— only one of them is named in the gospel—were Mr and Mrs Cleopas, on their way home after the terrible events of the Passover in Jerusalem.

Jesus was helping his disciples to understand the purpose of his life on earth.

On Tuesday, the session addressed the proclaimers of the Word, ministers of Holy Communion, sacristans, and head servers.

We learned some of the finer points on proclaiming the Word, such as preparing adequately before reading, taking adequate pauses, and letting our understanding of the Scriptures inspire us to give greater feeling and force to our voices.

Fr Larry spoke about the privilege of taking Communion to the sick, and shared some of the miracles of healing that he had witnessed. One of these was when he met with a parishioner who had been separated from the sacraments for many years and whom he assisted to be reconciled to the Church.

On Wednesday, Fr Larry met with the catechists. He urged them not to lose hope or become despondent, but to treasure the special opportunity they have to be evangelisers

Young people read hymn books by candle light and cellphones as loadshedding hit St Bernard’s parish mission.

For once, Eskom’s failures were welcome as the absence of artificial light created an atmosphere that was conducive to an especially spiritual experience.

Fr Larry Kaufmann CSsR within their own community.

The vibrancy of a faith community is most clearly reflected in the young people who are assisted in the formation of their faith until they reach a mature understanding which enables them to make a personal decision to accept Christ’s salvation, to form a personal relationship with him, and receive the Holy Spirit as the light that leads them through their lives.

On Thursday the focus shifted to family matters, including marriage preparation, cohabitation, the transmission of life, separation and divorce, annulments, same-sex attractions, and single parenthood.

That evening was a follow-up to the Vatican’s questionnaire which the parish had administered among parishioners in preparation for the Synod of Bishops on the Family in October. The response has been submitted to the diocese of Port Elizabeth as part of the input to inform the continuing discussion on these important matters.

It was most interesting to learn that many of our results were in line with findings in other surveys in different parts of the world. It was also very encouraging to learn of the thinking of theologians on some of these very sensitive moral issues.

It gives a lot of hope that the Church is facing these issues and that important decisions may well be made soon.

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the Church appears to be just as difficult as it is among any other group in society.

We were most grateful to know about these matters from Fr Larry, a theologian who is well informed and able to give carefully considered pastoral advice.

On Friday there was a service for the bereaved. Here people shared stories of their struggles with their loss which became a helpful form of group healing.

We had the weekend off, but as of the Monday in the second week, the daily routine was of early Mass at 6am, provided for those who wished to start their work day with a charged spiritual battery.

At 9am another Mass was available for those who did not need to rush off to work, followed by a 20minute “School of Prayer” session.

In the evenings Fr Larry led the formal preaching sessions.

A

well-stocked table with spiritual books was available throughout the mission, including Fr Larry’s newly published book, Perhaps God: Wisdom Through the Gift of Disability; the inspiring story of Fr Larry’s experiences with his friend and Redemptorist confrere of 40 years, Fr Cyril Axelrod, who is deaf and blind.

The first preaching session was on “Our Life in Christ”.

Here Fr Larry encouraged us to create a personal relationship with Jesus: through prayer, the sacraments and our relationship with others. The wondrous gift of salvation that we have been given provides the foundation of our life in Christ.

The Tuesday session focused on healing, especially of our memories.

Fr Larry had a regular flow of challenging stories, sometimes very funny, but always focused and delivered with thoughtful insight.

He also used a touch of the dramatic at times, such as using beau-

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tiful lighting effects with candles and dimmed lights—or no lights, as happened when we had a power outage on the last Friday.

The Wednesday preaching was on “Sin, Forgiveness and Salvation”.

This session included a penitential service, with the assistance of Fr Peter Whitehead and Fr Varghese Kannanaikal CMI. Each person was invited to identify not what they did wrong, but the nature of what they are that is in need of forgiveness. The seven deadly sin were used as the stimulus to get us to honestly examine the root weakness we have in our lives.

Thursday focused on the Eucharist as Passover meal, in which Christ’s redemptive sacrifice and example of obedience to the Father is eternally available to us. A tableau of the Passover meal was used, driving home the symbolism of this important Jewish feast.

The final day of the mission, Friday, focused on the Holy Spirit and spiritual growth.

Thanks to load-shedding this was an especially beautiful, candle-lit

event. It was reminiscent of how the Nazarenes in the early Church would have experienced preaching from a senior member of the Church, visiting them under the secrecy of night, at a time when one might have been persecuted for one’s faith.

This is not very different from how many Christians are being treated under the influence of the Islamic State, who refer to Christians as Nazarenes.

Several people received blessings from Fr Larry: representatives of different groups within the parish, such as married people, divorced, singles, youth, children and those following the consecrated life.

This was a wonderful way to finish this most inspiring, challenging and spiritually uplifting experience in the life of our parish.

We were most grateful to Fr. Larry and wished him God’s blessings as he proceeded to the next parish carrying his message of Christ’s love, salvation and peace. n Jos te Braake chairs the parish pastoral council of St Bernard’s.

A married couple receives a blessing from Fr Kaufmann during the parish mission.

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The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

FAITH

Have a drink with saints A drink and the sainthood go together well, so a theologian has compiled a book of cocktails, saints and liturgy on that theme, as MARY REzAC reports.

‘I

SHOULD like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I should like the angels of Heaven to be drinking it through time eternal.”

It might not exactly sound like a quote from a Catholic nun, never mind a saint—but it is actually an excerpt from a poem attributed to St Brigid of Ireland, who founded several convents in her lifetime.

Some people might find the intersection of saints and alcohol surprising, but not Michael Foley, author of the new book, Drinking with the Saints: A Sinner’s guide to a Holy Happy Hour. For him, the experiences of Catholicism and celebration always went hand in hand.

“Our family has always observed as many of the traditional customs surrounding the liturgical year that we could,” he said. “We had special foods for special feast days, and after a while it occurred to me: well, we have special foods, are there special drinks?”

Dr Foley discovered that while there were a few saint-drink pairings, there weren’t many. So he set about creating a comprehensive liturgical guide that matches cocktails, wine and beer selections with saints and feast days of the Church.

His doctorate in Catholic theology helped him with the liturgical aspect of the book, but he relied on friends and family to help him with mixology and taste-testing.

“I had a group of about 20-30 friends that we would either meet in person or communicate through

e-mail about various ideas and swapping suggestions,” he said, “and then the other research was either done online or by consulting old bartenders manuals that I collected.”

The resulting book has two parts. The first provides brief biographies of saints and pairs beverages for almost every day of the calendar year. The second part recommends drink selections based on the liturgical season of the year, such as Lent or Advent.

More than 350 cocktail recipes are included, as well as toasts, fun facts, and ideas for ways to celebrate.

Figuring out which drinks to pair with which saints was easy in some cases, where there were already wines or beers or cocktails named after saints, or whose names very closely resembled saints.

“In France alone there are over 120 wines named after the saints, and I try to mention as many of those as possible for the sake of being comprehensive, but I definitely didn’t try every one of those wines,” Dr Foley said.

For some saints, the author had to get a little more creative. He was always on the lookout for any “hook” he could find—whether it was alcohol from the same region as the saint, or something peculiar about their biography that stood out, or if he could somehow connect a drink to the way a particular saint might be represented in Church art.

“We discovered a really old recipe called the Life Blood Warmer; we used it on the feast of St Januarius, because his blood froths up on his feast day,” he said.

A martyr of the fourth century, St Januarius’ blood is kept in a vial in Naples, where it “becomes liquid and bubbles up as though it were fresh” when it is set near the saint’s severed head on certain days.

In addition to revived cocktails

from years past, the book includes more than 30 original recipes. Dr Foley’s wit is on display with some of the invented names, such as Prompt Succour Punch for Our Lady of Prompt Succour, or Lady Continence for St Augustine’s feast day.

“I’ve always been a martini man—that’s kind of my go-to cocktail—but this book definitely expanded my horizons,” he said. “I have to confess that I’m partial to some of the cocktails we invented especially for the book.”

Concocting and inventing drinks became a little complicated for the Texan, who daylights as a literature professor at Baylor University, a Baptist college in Waco, Texas, with a dry campus.

I

n his research for the book, Dr Foley said, he was impressed at how much of an impact Catholicism has made on the history of alcohol.

“The great orders of the Middle Ages developed further the production of beer and wine of course, but they actually invented all kinds of distilled spirits that didn’t exist before,” he said.

“It’s believed that whiskey was invented by Irish monks. Chartreuse is this still-produced, magical liqueur made by the Carthusians.

Lots of liqueurs were invented by various orders.”

And the most famous champagne is named after the Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Pérignon (1638–1715), a pioneer in the production of sparkling wine.

With this book, Dr Foley said he hopes to champion all that is good in the worlds of alcohol and Catholicism—but without encouraging drunkenness and debauchery.

“This book promotes the very best kind of drinking there is, which is drinking in moderation,” Dr Foley said. “Moderation is not

A new book suggests ways to drink—always responsibly and in moderation—with the saints. (Photo courtesy of Michael Foley) only the morally responsible thing to do, it’s also the most pleasurable thing to do. It slows you down and enables you to actually savour the drink that you’re drinking.”

Moderation and slow-sipping were key for Dr Foley as he created this book as well, so that he could fully experience the flavour profiles of each cocktail.

The goal of the book is to cultivate authentic Catholic fellowship and festivity, the author explained.

“We live in trying times,” he said, “and it’s all the more important for us to get together and celebrate the culture of life and the good news that is the Gospel, and you know, drinking used in moder-

ation is a part of that fellowship, so I hope that this encourages a greater sense of Catholic camaraderie.”

Dr Foley hopes to further promote that Catholic camaraderie through the book’s website and social media pages, where he hopes to create an ongoing community and conversation, with occasional updates to the book such as new saints and recipes.

“In a sense we want this to be kind of a living book, to generate more conversation about ideas for Catholic festivity,” he said.—CNA n The online community based on Drinking with the Saints is at www.drinkingwiththesaints.com

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The Southern Cross, May 27 to June 2, 2015

CLASSIFIEDS

Do liberal values represent SA? Continued from page 11 and cultural preferences. And the predominant ones in our country are liberal values.

The ironic reality of liberal values presiding over a nation whose majority is not liberal is a recipe for disaster. Soon people lose respect for a law that does not represent their values.

Liberalism took over almost all of the institutions of democracy in the 21st century, legitimising them as the historically evolved

effect of human nature.

This is why even exposing the incoherence of liberal ethics does little to undermine the substantial control these have over modern culture. Because the majority of lecturers, managers, judges and other heads of modern institutional bureaucracy operate by a liberal ethos, and that ethos exercises control over all our practices.

Consequentially the spirit of the majority is being seen as crude and unsophisticated, in

need of civilising by liberal values.

With that the need for open debate is closed when it comes to these issues.

There is a desperate need for an open constitutional and economic policy convention in this country before things get too much out of hand.

The current policies are not serving our democratic needs well—and in this I include the electoral system.

Fr Patrick Towe OMI

O

BLATE Father Patrick Joseph Towe of Kimberley and Bloemfontein died in a Kimberley hospital on May 6 at the age of 66.

Born in Birmingham, England, on July 30, 1948, he made his first vows as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in Cahirmoyle on September 29, 1968 and his perpetual vows in 1972. From 1963-67 he attended St Mary’s College in Colwyn Bay, Wales, and then studied philosophy and theology at Milltown Institute in Dublin.

He was ordained a priest in Liverpool on April 1, 1975.

Fr Towe continued his studies at Aix University in Marseilles, Loyola University in Chicago, obtained a psychological counselling diploma at the University of East London and in 2001 a master of arts degree with distinction in theology at King Alfred’s College, Winchester.

At the time of his death he was working on a doctorate in theology at the University of the Free

State in Bloemfontein.

His priestly ministry in Europe took him, among other places, to the troubled Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham, North London. As part of an ecumenical project, he initiated community organisations. He was an energetic advocate for prisoners, including the Tottenham Three. He was instrumental in the founding of the health centre on the Broadwater Farm Estate.

He also promoted the RCIA programme, producing a dissertation entitled “The Ministry of the Community in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults”. Catechetics was a passion he later followed up in Bloemfontein where he headed catechetical programmes and structures.

Fr Towe came to South Africa on January 2, 2002. He worked for a period in the Assumption parish in Kimberley and in November that year was transferred to Bloemfontein. There he focused on university chaplaincy

and the Association of Catholic Tertiary Students. He was a founder member of the Interreligious Forum and served in many university structures.

During this time he was pastor of the Christ the King parish in Heidedal. With a bottle of water and his phone in his hand and a yellow Kaiser Chiefs cap on his head he was easily recognised on campus or shopping in town.

Fr Pat suffered periods of depression throughout his life and this condition worsened during the last few months.

He is survived by his sister June.

Fr Leo D’Aes OMI

O

BLATE Father Leo D’Aes of Bloemfontein died on May 8 in Universitas Hospital at the age of 85, just two days after his confrere Fr Patrick Towe.

Fr D’Aes was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on December 19, 1929, the youngest of four children.

Their parents owned a bookshop and early in his childhood years he lost his father.

Educated by the Jesuits from 1937-47, Fr Leo entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, making his first vows on September 8, 1948. He was ordained a priest in Gyzegem, Belgium, on February 14, 1954.

Fr D’Aes was sent as a missionary to South Africa in 1955 and proceeded to learn English and Sesotho at the Sacred Heart parish in Bloemfontein and Butha Buthe in Lesotho respectively.

He was assigned to Edenburg in September 1958 and for the next 13 years served the mainly Basotho community on farms and outstations, working closely with catechists.

He earned his living running a mission shop during the week and also raised funds for the building of churches in Edenburg and Reddersburg.

At night he could be found reading or studying the writings of Fr Hans Küng and other theologians and scripture scholars.

Fr D’Aes was transferred to St Rose mission, Bloemfontein, in 1971 and remained there for 44 very active years. His pastoral vision was influenced by Frs Fritz Lobinger and Oswald Hirmer of the Lumko Pastoral Insitute, both of whom later became bishops.

He divided the parish into a number of Small Christian Communities, encouraged neighbourhood gospel-sharing and mutual care for each other as well as training of lay ministers.

This vision of empowerment of laity within the Church became central to his whole life’s work. In this regard he was seen as prophet of his time.

His other passion was for education. Throughout his long tenure at St Rose parish he managed St Mary’s Primary and St Bernard’s High School.

It was a time of change and political uncertainty when strong dedicated leadership was required— and he had this in abundance. He turned both schools into top academic institutions in a society that was clamouring for good education.

For many of those years he personally found the finance to develop the schools enlisting his missionary partners: the Oblates, his family and various Oblate procure. The late acclaimed artist Fr Frans Claerhout OMI was a very generous supporter in this education ministry.

Since his time in Edenburg Fr D’Aes was called “Pheello”, meaning perseverance or insistence. He was an energetic, untiring, uncompromising and courageously outspoken advocate and priest for those in his care.

He served a term as vicar-general in the archdiocese of Bloemfontein and as district superior for his Oblate Community—but most of all he was present to his parish throughout a stormy political period, a true compass giving support and encouragement though his development initiatives as well as his solid preaching and training.

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday May 31, Trinity Sunday Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40, Psalms 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22, Romans 8:14-17, Matthew 28:16-20 Monday June 1, St Justin Tobit 1:3; 2:1-8, Psalms 112:1-6, Mark 12:1-12 Tuesday June 2 Tobit 2:9-14, Psalms 112:1-2, 7-9, Mark 12:13-17 Wednesday June 3, Ss Charles Lwanga and Companions Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17, Psalms 25:2-9, Mark 12:1827 Thursday June 4 Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1, 9-17; 8:4-9, Psalms 128:1-5, Mark 12:28-34 Friday June 5, St Boniface Tobit 11:5-17, Psalms 146:1-2, 6-10, Mark 12:3537 Saturday June 6, Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Tobit 12:1, 5-15, 20, Tobit 13:2, 6-8, Mark 12:3844 Sunday June 7, Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Exodus 24:3-8, Psalms 116:12-13, 15-18, Hebrews 9:11-15, Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

cLaSSIFIEDS

11

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

WINDVOGEL—Magdalene. Mommy, Ma called home two years ago on 24/5/2013 to join husband John, passed on 23/9/1968. Time may pass and fade away, but in our hearts you will always stay. We miss you dearly, gone but never forgotten.

Always in our prayers.

Rest in peace, your children, in-laws, grandchildren and great-grand children. rOOY—Martha from Bridgetown (formerly Onseepkans). In loving memory of my dear friend, passed in May. Always remembered by Mary da Silva (Pillay).

PraYErS

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

publish this prayer. Amen.

Thank you for prayers answered. Stenio Fabre.

THaNKS be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me, For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, May I know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, And follow thee more nearly, For ever and ever.

PErSONaL

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Word of the Week

Cassock: A non-liturgical, full-length, closefitting robe for use by priests and other clerics under liturgical vestments; usually black for priests, purple for bishops and other prelates, red for cardinals, white for the pope.

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Body and Blood of Christ: June 7 Readings: Exodus 24:3-8, Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18, Hebrews 9:11-15, Mark 14:12-16, 2226

God’s costly generosity

Nicholas King SJ

N

above all the generosity of God, but also the need to celebrate as People of God: “What return shall I make to the Lord for all his generosity to me?” Then he finds the answer: “I shall raise the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” (and we recognise, of course, that this cup is what God has already given to him).

For this project is entirely a matter of God’s generosity, as he confesses: “Lord—I am your slave; I am your slave, and the son of your son of your slave-girl; you have undone my chains.” So he responds in the only way that he can: “I shall sacrifice to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving; and I shall call upon the Lord’s name.”

All we can do, all that this unknown poet can do, is to give ourselves utterly to the Lord in response: “My vows I shall repay to the Lord, in the presence of all his people.”

The second reading comes from the Letter to the Hebrews, that distinguished theological treatise, whose main thesis is that “Jesus is the Real Thing”; and at this point in the letter, our author is exploring a metaphor for that reality of Jesus, that of Jesus “the High Priest”.

ment, concerning the unlikely phenomenon of “a man carrying a pot of water”, and a secret message.

So the supper is duly prepared; but it does not turn out to be as joyful as Passover should be, recalling God’s liberation of the People from slavery.

For as it begins, Jesus predicts that “one of you will betray me”; and only after that dark shadow has fallen do we have the blessing and breaking of the bread, with the slightly menacing note “this is my body”, which clearly refers to his death; and then the cup, of which he says (but only after they have drunk of it), “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many”, once again emphasising the cost, that it is a matter of Jesus’ death, and that it is for God’s People.

The gospel ends with “and after they had sung hymns” (so they are still together), “they went out to the Mount of Olives”.

And we know what was to happen there.

EXT Sunday we celebrate the ancient feast of Corpus Christi, an annual reminder that the astonishing generosity of God in no sense depends on anything we might have done to deserve it.

Not only that, but it is a thoroughly costly generosity. And this is a feast we celebrate together as God’s People, without forgetting the price that God has paid.

In the first reading, Moses is the intermediary when God offers his covenant to the People of God on Mount Sinai. When they are told the terms of the covenant, they proclaim, not once but twice, “the whole people, one voice answered and said, ‘the words which the Lord has spoken, we shall do’ ”, and “they said ‘all that the Lord has spoken, we shall do and we shall obey’.”

Between these two confident affirmations, (possibly even over-confident, in the light of their later history), the covenant is sealed with a sacrifice and blood; but we should notice the costliness implied by the blood. Our celebration next Sunday is nothing cheap or easy, but we shall do it together as people of God. The psalm for next Sunday recognises

Here he remembers the People’s experience in the desert, “the greater and better Tent, not made by hands”, and that what it achieved was not “through the blood of goats and bulls”, but something much more costly, “the blood of Christ, purifying our conscience from dead works, so as to worship the Living God”.

Once again the metaphor of “covenant” is used, “a death that happened for the redemption of the transgressions that took place at the time of the first covenant, so that those who have been called as part of the eternal inheritance might receive the promise”.

Once again we see the costliness of what is offered in the Body and Blood of Christ, and how we receive it as a people together.

The Gospel, not surprisingly, offers us Mark’s account of that Last Supper which we commemorate at each Eucharist; it starts with the disciples asking Jesus something that they should have thought of long since, given how crowded Jerusalem was at Passover: “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

It turns out that Jesus has the whole thing in hand, and gives them a coded arrange-

Writers in spirituality A

Conrad

MONG those who write in the area of spirituality today, who is being read? Here’s my list of spiritual writers who are highly influential today in the English-speaking world: • Henri Nouwen: Dutch Catholic priest.

Perhaps the most widely read and most-influential among all.

• Thomas Merton: Trappist Catholic, monk, one of the most influential spiritual writers in the past 100 years.

• CS Lewis: British Anglican layman.

Well known across both religious and secular circles.

• Jim Wallis: US Evangelical lay evangelist, social activist and social organiser.

Widely read and respected.

• Tomáš Halík: Czech Catholic priest and recent winner of the prestigious Templeton award.

• Parker Palmer: US Quaker layman, has written brilliantly on balance in life.

• Alan Jones: US Anglican priest. Wisdom drawn from the deep wells of Christian tradition. Practical spirituality with depth.

• Carlo Carretto: Italian Catholic hermit/monk. Br Carretto spent many years living as a hermit in the Sahara desert.

• Ruth Burrows: British Carmelite nun.

Deep insights into mysticism, faith and contemplative prayer.

• Richard Rohr: US Franciscan priest and popular evangelist. Books on prayer, masculine spirituality, addictions, overcoming dualism, overcoming sectarianism.

• Wendy Wright: US Catholic laywoman.

A specialist regarding Ss Francis de Sales and Jane Chantel, but with wider writings, especially about the place of devotions.

• Peter Tyler: British Catholic layman. A specialist in Carmelite spirituality.

• Thomas Keating: US Trappist monk.

The widely accepted “canon” on contemplative prayer.

• John Main: British Benedictine monk.

Trustworthy guide on contemplative prayer.

• Laurence Freeman: British Benedictine monk. Another trustworthy guide on contemplative prayer • Kathleen Norris: US Presbyterian laywoman and Oblate of St Benedict. Deeply immersed in the Desert Fathers and attuned to our contemporary spiritual struggles.

• Trevor Herriot: Canadian Catholic layman. A powerful apologia for protecting nature, and essays on the place and role of our sexual energies in either protecting or despoiling nature.

• Barbara Brown Taylor: US Anglican priest and popular evangelist. Strong literary writer within a secular audiences.

• David Steindl-Rast: Austrian-born US Benedictine monk. Now 88, is Fr Nouwen’s spiritual director. Draws many of his insights from the richness of monasticism.

• Anthony de Mello: Indian Jesuit priest.

Brings insights of Buddhism and Eastern spiritualities into Christian spirituality.

• James Martin: US Jesuit priest. Widely popular, and deservedly so.

• Anne Lamott: US Episcopalian laywoman. A unique blend of insight, commit-

Sunday Reflections

Southern Crossword #656

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

ment and blistering iconoclasm.

• Marilynne Robinson: US Congregationalist novelist. An exceptionally bright apologetic voice.

• Simone Weil: French Jewish laywoman. Manifests a spiritual sensitivity and depth that includes her in most discussions about contemporary spirituality.

• Etty Hillesum: Dutch Jewish laywoman. Her writings exhibit an extraordinary insight into spirituality.

• Scott Hahn: US Catholic layman. Very popular, catechetical and instructional.

• Rabbi Abraham Heschel: US rabbi. Exceptional spiritual commentaries on the Jewish scriptures.

• Rob Bell: US Evangelical evangelist.

Good balance, good insights, and an exceptional capacity to speak to a contemporary audience.

• Rick Warren: US evangelist. Stunningly popular across denominational lines. His book, The Purpose-Driven Life, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

• John Allen Jr: US Catholic layman and journalist. Almost everyone’s ear-to-the ground vis-à-vis what’s happening ecclesially around the world.

• Joyce Rupp: US Servite Catholic nun.

Insights, particularly popular with women.

• Michael Higgins: Canadian Catholic layman. Insightful commentary on contemporary spirituality. The official biographer of Fr Nouwen.

• Joan Chittister: US Benedictine nun.

Powerful social justice and feminist voice.

• Paula D’Arcy: US Catholic laywoman.

Inspires great following among devotees particularly in her spirituality of healing.

• Annie Dillard: US Catholic laywoman.

A convert, her writings invariably articulate an aesthetic and moral insight that is a natural friend of religion.

• Elizabeth Johnson: US Sisters of St Joseph nun. Mentor for those searching for a better intellectual apologia for their faith.

• Bill Plotkin and Belden Lane: US “naturalist” laymen. Challenging vis à vis the place of nature in shaping our souls.

My apologies to those I didn’t name, particularly young, emerging voices.

ACROSS

3. I see trail leads to ancient Hebrew (9) 8. As solid as St Peter (4) 9. Wide awake (9) 10. Pam turned out to be in Mozambique (6) 11. Lead the way (5) 14. Not loosely drunk (5) 15. Dissection reveals religious group (4) 16. After this our ... (Marian prayer) (5) 18. Periods of history (4) 20. He looks open-mouthed (5) 21. Contaminate (5) 24. Easter hat maybe (6) 25. She gave birth to her son, her ... (Lk 2) (5-4) 26. Its freezing below here (4) 27. One who is not the washerwoman (9)

DOWN

1. Where Joseph came from (Mt 27) (9) 2. A sage Copt will take all the blame (9) 4. Lone voice (4) 5. He represents you (5) 6. The flowers of the field (Mt 6) (6) 7. Piece of work you can be taken to? (4) 9. Taste the condition (5) 11. Restrict supply in first intake (5) 12. Replies in the litanies (9) 13. Sorrow that falls short of contrition (9) 17. Urge forward in the hen house (3,2) 19. Judge whose locks were tampered with (6) 22. Lordly (5) 23. Art I turn to find widow saint (4) 24. Cheese mostly from fibre (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE ecumenical mission had finished, and the three clerics compared their successes.

Dominee van Wyk said: “This mission was a great success! We gained four new families.”

Elder Smythe said: “We did even better: six new families.”

Finally Fr O’Malley speaks: “Well, we did even better than both of you: We got rid of our ten biggest troublemakers!”

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