150603 by The Southern Cross

The

S outhern C ross

June 3 to June 9, 2015

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4927

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The case for priestly home visits

Holy Shroud Pilgrimage in pictures

Page 9

Page 8

R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Archishop: Catholics should read Quran

Page 10

Pope: I miss going out for a pizza BY ANDREA GAGlIARDuCCI & ANN SCHNEIBlE

P The Southern Cross’ website (www.scross.co.za) periodically produces inspiring wallpaper images for computer screens, such as this one pictured. Currently there are close to 30 wallpapers to choose from. This image, with a statue of St Paul in front of St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican, quotes from I Corinthians: “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but I do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (13:1). Download the wallpapers at www.scross.co.za/category/wallpapers/

Gibran art set for SA exhibit BY STAFF REPORTER

HE paintings of Lebanese-American artist and writer Gibran Khalil Gibran, who authored the classic collection of philosophical tales The Prophet, are due to be exhibited in South Africa later this year. Fadi Khalaf, an advocate representing The Gibran National Committee in South Africa, said that the exhibit will give the country's Lebanese community, most of whom are Maronite Catholics, the chance to learn more about their cultural heritage. “Organising such cultural event will give the Lebanese, South Africans and South Africans of Lebanese descent the opportunity to discover and learn more about the Lebanese heritage, art and culture,” Mr Khalaf said. Gibran was born in 1883 into a Christian family in the town of Bsharri in Lebanon. He emigrated with his family to the United States when he was a young man. He studied art and wrote in English and Arabic. He is best known for authoring The Prophet, a collection of short philosophical essays that became one of the top-selling books of the 20th century. He was also an accomplished visual artist with work that incorporates components of two major late 19th century art movements—aestheticism and symbolism.

Gibran strove to relay personal, often deeply spiritual feelings in visual form, similar to the aesthetes, said Mr Khalaf. “He sought beauty and poetry in all things as an antidote for the rampant materialism of the world around him,” he said. “Gibran’s quest for humanity’s eternal and undeniable truths is a consistent theme linking his literature and artwork.” Gibran’s artwork, which used human figures to express universal themes suggesting a link between the physical and spiritual realms, is incorporated into his collection of literary work. In 1932, the content of Gibran's studio in New York, including his furniture, his personal belongings, his private library, his manuscripts and 440 original paintings, was transferred to Bsharri. His work is displayed at the Gibran Museum, which is managed by the Gibran National Committee. Mr Khalaf has asked the Lebanese community in South Africa and the Maronite Foundation in Johannesburg to help arrange the event. The exhibition is expected to be held between December this year and February 2016, possibly including the feast of St Maroun, the 4th-century founder of the Marionite rite, on February 9. A venue is still to be arranged.

OPE Francis has said he misses the “tranquillity of walking in the streets” and that he’s always been callejero—a man of the city. In a wide-ranging interview with the Argentinian newspaper La voz del Pueblo, Pope Francis said that since being elected pope, he misses being able to “go out in the streets”, or even “going to a pizzeria to eat a good pizza”. When the journalist told him that he can always order a delivery pizza, the pope responded: “It is not the same thing.” “I have always been a callejero,” the pope said. “When I was cardinal, I loved walking the streets, and taking buses and the underground.” Pope Francis also explained his need to stay in touch with people. “I enjoy the general audiences, both from a spiritual and from a human point of view. I get along well with people, I am in tune with people, it is just like my life is enveloped by people.” He noted that “from a psychological point of view, I cannot live without people, I am not useful as a monk”. He said that this is the reason why he chose to live in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse in the Vatican. “There are 210 rooms. We are 40 living there and working for the Holy See, while the rest of the people are guests, bishops, priests, lay people who pass and are accommodated here, and I like this a lot. Coming here, eating in the refectory where everybody eats, celebrating Mass there, where four days a week there are people from the outside, from the parish priests. I like it a lot,” he said. Pope Francis also revealed details surrounding his day-to-day life. “I sleep so profoundly...that as soon as I get in bed, I fall asleep. I sleep six hours a day. Normally, I stay in bed from 9pm, and read until almost 10pm. As soon as one of my eyes waters, I turn off the light and I sleep until 4am, when I wake up by myself, thanks to my biological clock.” During the afternoons, Pope Francis takes a nap that last from 40 minutes to one hour. “When I don’t take the siesta, I suffer.” he said. Asked if he understands the extent of his impact on people, Pope Francis said that he doesn’t know why exactly. “I try to be concrete in the audiences, in things I speak about.” He said he is touched by circumstances involving “sick children”, especially those who

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Pope Francis at a general audience in May. (Photo: Bob Haring/CNS) are affected by “rare infirmities”. The pope said he also mourns when he goes to prisons. He’s spent two out of three Holy Thursdays in a prison since his pontificate, and recalled that he has visited prisons in other towns throughout Italy. “When I am having meals with inmates, I think that I could be there,” Pope Francis said. “No one of us can be sure that he will never commit a crime. I feel pain for the inmates, and thank God that I am not there [in prison].” He went on, however: “Sometimes I feel that this gratitude is of convenience, as the inmates did not have the opportunities I had.” Pope Francis said he doesn’t cry in public, but admits that there have been occasions where “I was about to cry and stopped right in time”. One of these instances occurred when he was speaking about persecuted Christians. The pontiff also added that he’s not afraid of anything. He is “in God’s hands” with regard to any possible attempts against his life. He simply prays that, if it has to be, God will give him grace not to feel physical pain. Pope Francis said he says this prayer because he is a “coward” when it comes to pain. “I can manage the moral pain, but I can’t manage the physical pain.” Pope Francis also said that he feels the pressures of daily life like any person who governs. And he admitted that the intensity of his duties is weighing on him. “I am pushing forward an intense rhythm of work” as if it were the last year of school, he said. Pope Francis also addressed problems surrounding the media’s coverage of him, which he says “takes a word and uses it out of context”. The pope said he reads only one newspaper, Continued on page 5

Rome, Assisi, Florence, Siena, Padua, Milan, Venice and more 6 - 17 September 2015

The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

LOCAL

Jesuit: SA sitting on a social time bomb BY DYlAN APPOlIS

St Patrick’s Church in Sydenham, Port Elizabeth, will in 2016 celebrate its 80th anniversary with the theme of “Motherhood” of a parish. In the next six months people in the Port Elizabeth diocese will be invited to the church to tell stories about the value St Patrick’s has delivered through its priests and parishioners. For more information about St Patrick’s and its 2016 anniversary plans, contact the coordinator at teamwork@vodamail. co.za or the parish office on 041 484 4755. Fr Henry Ezenwanne (above) is seen after Mass, greeting parishioners who celebrated in the spirit the importance of the day’s announcement.

HE Catholic Church has a pastoral and moral responsibility to help build social cohesion because every week people from a diversity of South Africans sit in church pews, according to a leading Jesuit. Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute, made this point at an Auckland Park, Johannesburg, discussion that also included the Jesuit Refugee Service, the Scalabrinian Missionaries, and the Department of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees of the archdiocese of Johannesburg. The meeting was themed “Best Practices to Promote Social Cohesion Today”. Fr Pollitt noted the attacks on foreign nationals point to much deeper issues in South Africa. “It seems as if one of the biggest challenges we face in SA is the question of social cohesion—and it’s not just a foreign/local issue. It is also a white/black, English/Afrikaans, Zulu/Xhosa et cetera issue,” he said. The Catholic Church is well placed to contribute to building greater social cohesion. “The Church is in a very privileged and ideal place; we therefore have the pastoral and moral responsibility to make a contribution to building social cohesion because every week people from the great plethora of South Africans sit in our pews.” Fr Pollitt told The Southern Cross: “The priests [at the meeting] sug-

(From left) Fr Jorge Guerra CS, Fr Johannes Silalahi CCIM, Sr Cecilia CHJ and Fr Russell Pollitt SJ at a Johannesburg discussion on social cohesion. gested that inviting some people in a parish to help others who are struggling by bringing them together can have good outcomes. It has been done successfully, although not widely.” One participant suggested that parishes try to set up “skills banks” where parishioners who are looking for help in certain areas begin by seeing if the skill they require is present in their parish community, Fr Pollitt said. “In this way people in a particular community help each other, and in so doing build community spirit,” he noted. Other suggestions included that parishes should be involved in broader community structures, such as police forums. Many of the participants realised that one of the biggest challenges

the Church faces is to help people, through the light of the Gospel, to confront prejudices within and open their hearts to be reoriented by the Gospel. “This reorientation will, hopefully, lead us to realise more acutely that every believer has social responsibility, that our lives—including our cultural worldviews, biases, attitudes and consumerist trends—can stunt our growth in holiness but also have desperate effects on our brothers and sisters,” Fr Pollitt said. “We have to face the issue of dire poverty and social cohesion in this country,” he said. “If we don’t face the fact that we cannot live selfishly or mindless of others, especially poor South Africans, then we are sitting on a social time bomb. If this explodes, nobody will benefit,” Fr. Pollitt said.

Cathca to build healthcare Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School relationships with govt “EDUCATING YOUNG WOMEN THROUGH THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH”

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHING VACANCIES FOR A DYNAMIC AND GROWING SCHOOL:   

JANUARY 2016

MATHEMATICS / MATHEMATICAL LITERACY ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE AFRIKAANS – 1ST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

GRADES 8 – 12

OUR LADY OF FATIMA DCS IS LOOKING FOR AN EXPERIENCED EDUCATOR WITH APPROPRIATE TEACHING QUALIFICATIONS

Who is Eligible? It is essential that the successful candidate fits the following profile and is registered with SACE:  Senior School Trained Educator (preferably a B.Sc./B.A. Graduate with a PGCE) with recent experience teaching Grades 8 – 12  Extensive knowledge of the GET and FET curricula  Recent experience in an IEB school will be an advantage  An appreciation of the School’s traditions and Catholic ethos  Sound interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate effectively with learners, staff and parents Duties will include:  Attendance at related workshops and parent interviews  A full and active role in the co-curricular life of the School

Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School reserves the right not to make an appointment. An application in itself does not entitle the applicant to an interview.

Failure to meet the advertised minimum requirements for the post will result in applicants automatically disqualifying themselves from consideration.

Applicants are required to fill in a covering information form which is available from Mrs Bennison. She can post it to you on request (Tel. 031-563-5390) or you can email her at fatimacs@fatima.co.za for an electronic version of this form. Detailed CV to be submitted with the information form to: The Principal, Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School, 155 Kenneth Kaunda Road (Northway), Durban North, 4051.

CLOSING DATE: FRIDAY, 12 JUNE 2015

BY DYlAN APPOlIS

HE Catholic Health Care Association (Cathca) plans to enable collaboration between Catholic health providers and government. “We are working on building the relationship between government and Catholic health providers,” Cathca’s Elvira Rohrbeck told The Southern Cross. “We offer Level 2 healthcare training and also offer government training. “We attend meetings with local and provincial government healthcare MECs where we share ideas, offer assistance and work on healthcare plans together.” Cathca’s mission is to affirm, develop, support and strengthen both individual healthcare workers and an evolving Catholic healthcare network, in conjunction with all other healthcare role-players. In meeting these objectives, the organisation is drawing from its Gauteng provincial conference. The Gauteng conference was held in April at the Koinonia conference

centre in Johannesburg. Cathca’s director, Yvonne Morgan, identified finance as “one major challenge” facing the association. “We cannot afford to run the centre on our budget,” she said. Another challenge is the “volume of people versus staff ratio”, Ms Morgan said. “The service we provide is of such good quality that patients walk many kilometres—past free government clinics—to come to our clinics. This puts our carers under a lot of stain to see everyone.” Recent funding from sponsors for projects has led to “tremendous improvement for communities—for example an increase in staff and a new mobile clinic,” Ms Morgan said. Some projects aim at community upliftment. “One of our members has started a successful soccer team, some have started vegetable gardens, and others participate in social activities in the community,” Ms Morgan said. n For more information on Cathca, view www.cathca-sa.co.za or e-mail info@cathca.co.za

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CORRECTION

HE headline to last week’s frontpage lead, “Church may take govt to court over condoms in schools”, did not accurately reflect the content of the article. While the Catholic Institute of Education is obtaining legal advice, there are no plans to institute court action. We regret the error and apologise for any misunderstandings the headline might have caused.

The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

LOCAL

Bible programme offers spiritual food BY DYlAN APPOlIS

BIBLE programme has enriched the spiritual life of 96 participants from 11 parishes in the diocese of Polokwane who started their journey of exploration in 2012. The Catholic Bible Foundation (CBF) has been presenting its Bread for the Journey programme in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Witbank, Keimos-Upington and Rustenburg for the past 21 years. They are currently in the eighth year of presenting the programme. “In Bread for the Journey we ask

people to commit to three Saturdays in a year. On each day we deal with parts of the gospel for the year. This year we have devoted three Saturdays to teaching Mark’s gospel,” said Teresa Wilsnagh, regional leader of the CBF. “When participants have completed the three years they are inducted as Apostles of the Word. Once people have completed the synoptic gospels they are invited to attend a weekend retreat during which John’s gospel is taught,” she said. A journey through Mark’s gospel includes modules in the geography

of the Holy Land, the origin of the gospel, discipleship in Mark’s gospel, portraits of Jesus, the kingdom of God, three mighty deeds (healing of the demoniac, cure of the woman bleeding, raising of the daughter of Jairus), the transfiguration, and Jesus’ last week. “Our usual audience is made up of adults who feel the need to grow in their understanding of Scripture. However, we have other programmes specifically designed for school children from Grade 1-12,” said CBF national director Br Mike Chalmers. Br Chalmers referred to the Vat-

ican II document Dei Verbum (The Word of God) which says: “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord since from the table of both the Word of God and the Body of Christ she unceasingly receives and offers the faithful the Bread of Life, especially in the sacred liturgy. “It’s this statement that guided us to name our Scripture programme Bread for the Journey,” Br Chalmers said. “Scripture is an essential part of our spirituality, just as food is needed to sustain life.” He said he hopes that further in-

terest will be taken in future programmes, such as the Basic Bible Seminar, an introduction to Scripture; Windows on God’s Word, which is designed to teach people how to approach a scripture text in order to draw from the depth of wisdom offered; and Lectio Divina, helping people to make the Bible their source of prayer. Br Chalmers encourages Catholics to form small Bible sharing groups. n For more information contact CBF national director Br Mike Chalmers at 084 831-4534 or e-mail at jhb@ catholicbible.org.za

Speaker: animals, plants have rights BY DYlAN APPOlIS

HE Edmund Rice Network (ERNSA) hosted its first ecojustice evening of the year. ERNSA aims to live out spirituality through social and environmental justice. While predominantly Catholic, its members include a wide range of faith groups. The eco-justice presentation was by Pia Rebelo, a core network member and a masters student in environmental law at the University of Cape Town. The evening was well attended, with many from other advocacy forums and environmental NGOs. Ms Rebelo began with an outline of the three major developments which have contributed to the establishment of environmental rights on a global scale.

These are the wave of constitutionalism that has emerged since the 1970s, the human rights revolution, and the growing awareness of the environmental crisis and its consequences for human life. “These developments have led to the drafting of a number of international ‘soft law’ instruments which afford humans the right to a healthy environment and the right to the management of their environment in a sustainable manner,” said Jessica Dewhurst, ERNSA’s social justice and advocacy coordinator. “South Africa has followed the global trend and incorporated an environmental right into our Constitution under section 24 of the Bill of Rights,” Ms Dewhurst said. “However, environmental rights are currently still very anthropocentric in nature, meaning that the en-

vironment is only afforded protection because of its value to humans. “Our current crisis illustrates that this narcissistic approach is failing us. The results have proven detrimental for earth’s biodiversity and human survival,” she said. “A new wave of legal jurisprudence has provided a solution in the form of a new legal tool: earth rights,” according to Ms Rebelo. “Earth rights will essentially give all beings, plants, animals, and humans alike, the right to exist by mere virtue of their own intrinsic value. “Thus humans are recognised to live within a larger community of beings, in which we do not hold dominion over other forms of life. “Thus plants, animals and land are not seen as just ‘property’, but co-members of a larger network of existence,” she said.

Twin brothers Njabulo (left) and luhlelunge (right) with twin sisters Asengcwele (centre left) and Ndimaka Yehova at the new grotto of Our lady at St Anthony’s pre-school in langa, Cape Town. The grotto, in the children’s playground, has indigenous plants that the pupils care for, and the statue comes from the Holy Cross sisters who started mission work in langa in 1935.

Past pupils of St Augustine’s to gather for Hurley’s 100th birthday

Patrick Flanery, author of Absolution—a 2015 setwork for independent school matrics—visited St Benedict’s College, as part of the English experience 2015 school tour. Holy Rosary School matrics joined other local schools for this rare opportunity. Seen here are Mr Flanery with Holy Rosary matrics: (from left) Jamie Kench, Gemma Bradford, Emma li, Ornella Varanini and Kathryn Bennett.

CATHOLIC LITURGICAL ARTS 22A Valley Road, Robin Hills Randburg

AST pupils of St Augustine’s School in Durban will celebrate the late Archbishop Denis Hurley’s 100th birthday on November 15. This will include past pupils both from the 1906-56 era when the school was in the parish centre alongside Emmanuel cathedral— the site on which the new Denis Hurley Centre has been built—and those who have subsequently attended the “new” St Augustine’s which is close to the Greyville Race Course. The event, to be held in the Gandhi-Luthuli Peace Hall of the Denis Hurley Centre, will be a “high tea”. Fr Albert Danker OMI, one St Augustine’s most illustrious past

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The old St Augustine’s School in Durban before the building was demolished. (Photo via Archdiocese of Durban) pupils, will be the guest speaker at the celebration. There will also be musical enter-

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.

tainment at the event which will serve as a fundraiser for the Denis Hurley Centre. The event is being announced early in the hope that past pupils who have emigrated might be able to time their visits to South Africa to coincide with this date so that they will be able to meet their old school buddies. The official opening of the Denis Hurley Centre, which is already active, will be on the date of the Hurley birthday, November 9, at 10:00. That evening there will be an outdoor “World Religions in Concert” in Cathedral Mall at 19:00. n For further information contact Daphne Goad on 084 606 6151 or goad.daphne5@gmail.com or Ekkie Esau on 084 200 8017.

Pilgrimage of Light to the

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Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR Fr Larry Kaufmann CSsR Led by

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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Dublin archbishop: Church now needs a ‘reality check’ A BY MICHAEl KEllY

Clergymen and nuns carry the relics of Blessed Irene Stefani before her beatification in Nyeri, Kenya. Bl Irene, an Italian member of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, cared for wounded and sick soldiers in Kenya and Tanzania during World War I. (Photo: Herman Kariuki, Reuters/CNS)

Pope: Christians are all one to the devil BY CINDY WOODEN

HILE Christians may think of themselves as divided into different Churches and denominations, the devil actually sees that they are one in their faith in Jesus, Pope Francis said in a video message to a Christian unity celebration in Phoenix, Arizona. “Division is the work of the ‘Father of Lies,’ ‘the Father of Discord,’ who does everything possible to keep us divided,” the pope said in the message to the gathering sponsored by the John 17 Movement. “I feel like saying something that may sound controversial, or even heretical, perhaps,” he said in the video. “But there is someone who ‘knows’ that, despite our differences, we are one. It is he who is persecuting us. It is he who is persecuting Christians today, he who is anointing us with [the blood of] martyrdom.” The devil, he said, “knows that Christians are disciples of Christ, that they are one, that they are brothers! He doesn’t care if they are

Evangelicals or Orthodox, Lutherans, Catholics or Apostolic...he doesn’t care! They are Christians.” The John 17 Movement—named after the Bible passage in which Jesus prays for the unity of his disciples—includes evangelicals and Catholics. One of the participants at the Phoenix meeting was Giovanni Traettino, a Pentecostal pastor from southern Italy whom the pope has known since his days in Buenos Aires. The pope promised Mr Traettino and all those gathered in Phoenix that he would spend the day praying with them for the grace of unity, “the unity that is budding among us is that unity which begins under the seal of the one baptism we have all received”. While the Catholic and mainline Churches have been engaged in high-level ecumenical dialogues for 50 years, “I am convinced it won’t be theologians who bring about unity among us,” Pope Francis said. The work of theologians is essential for understanding, he said, “but if we hope that theologians will agree with one another, we will reach unity the day after Judgment Day.” “The Holy Spirit brings about unity,” the pope said.

Pilgrimage to The Holy Land In the Footsteps of Jesus led by Fr. Laszlo Karpati 27 September – 04 October 2015 R19 995 incl. Airport taxes

Pilgrimage to Medjugorje led by Fr. Kenke & Fr. Lekhema 22 September – 06 October 2015 R21 995 incl. Airport taxes

RCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has said the Church needs a “reality check” after Irish voters overwhelmingly supported same-sex marriage. Ireland was the first country in the world to put same-sex marriage to a popular vote and the poll was backed by 62% of the population. Same-sex marriage is now a constitutional right in Ireland. “I think really that the Church needs to do a reality check, a reality check right across the board, to look at the things it’s doing well, to look at the areas where we really have to start and say, ‘Look, have we drifted away completely from young people?’“ he told state broadcaster RTE. He said the referendum result was “an overwhelming vote in one direction”, and he appreciated how gay men and lesbians felt after the endorsement of same-sex marriage— “that they feel this is something which is enriching the way they live”, he said. The archbishop described the result as a “social revolution”. “It’s a social revolution that didn’t begin today,” he said. “It’s a social

teaching on fundamental values on marriage and the family. Nor does it mean that we dig into the trenches. “We need to find...a new language which is fundamentally ours, that speaks to, is understood and becomes appreciated by others,” the archbishop said. Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin, who had been a leading voice in the “no” campaign, described the outcome as “clear and decisive”. “It seems that many people voted ‘yes’ as a way of showing their acceptance and their love for friends and family members who are gay. Large numbers obviously believed that they could vote ‘yes’ without in any way undermining marriage. While I do not share their belief, I understand their reason for celebrating, and I do respect their spirit of solidarity,” Bishop Doran said. David Quinn, who as director of the pro-marriage think-tank the Iona Institute was the de facto leader of the “no” campaign, pointed to the fact that one in three citizens decided to vote “no” despite the fact that all political parties were calling for a “yes” vote.—CNS

Franciscan vocations boosteed by pope BY ElISE HARRIS

ATHERED in Rome for their general chapter meeting, members of the Order of Friars Minor—better known as Franciscans—said that while vocations in general have been down in recent years, numbers have begun to rise again after Pope Francis’ election. Polish Franciscan Father Filemon Janka said that the pope’s papal name selection “is significant for all Franciscan friars”. In his province of Poznan, the effects of having a pope named Francis have been particularly strong among the youth, he said, adding that the Franciscans “have new vocations because of that”. Fr Janka said that his small province has nine new novices this year, a significant number considering the size of the province. To have nine new vocations “is a good sign for the future for our order in Poland”, Fr Janka said, noting that it’s been 10-15 years since his province has had so many new

Do you feel called to the Franciscan way of life?

A group of Franciscans arrive in St Peter's Square after walking from Assisi to Rome on the eve of the second anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) novices. In 2012, the year before Francis’ election, he said they only had two or three, and in the years before that maybe five at the most. “I think it is a sign of Pope Francis choosing this name, and young people love him so much,” the friar said.

“All people in Poland love Pope Francis.” A friar, Pope Francis said, must be able to go beyond habits and securities, so that he can bear true witness to the poor, needy and marginalised. Pope Francis also encouraged them to be content with what is given to them, which he said “requires a strong commitment to transparency, ethics, solidarity of goods, in the style of sobriety and dispossession”. “If instead you are attached to goods and to worldly richness, and your security there, it will lessons for the Church from the Developing World be precisely the Lord who strips this worldly spirit off in order to preserve the precious heritage of Bishop of Rustenburg ‘smallness’ and poverty to which he has called you through St Francis,” the Pope said.—CNA

WAACSA 2015 Annual Lecture Johannesburg

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revolution that’s been going on, and perhaps in the Church people have not been as clear in understanding what that involved,” he said. “It’s very clear that if this referendum is an affirmation of the views of young people, then the Church has a huge task in front of it to find the language to be able to talk to and to get its message across to young people, not just on this issue, but in general.” Archbishop Martin said it was important that the Church must not move into denial of the realities. “We won’t begin again with a sense of renewal by simply denying,” he said. Referring to the high turnout of younger voters, the archbishop said “most of these young people who voted ‘yes’ are products of our Catholic schools for 12 years... there’s a big challenge there to see how we get across the message of the Church. ...We need to sit down and say ‘Are we reaching out at all to young people?’...We’re becoming a Church of the like-minded, and a sort of a safe space for the likeminded,” he warned. However, he insisted, “that doesn’t mean that we renounce our

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

Romero a ‘brilliant star’ BY RHINA GuIDOS

in Soyapango and national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in El Salvador. Before El Salvador’s conflict, Fr Turcios was imprisoned for defending the rights of the poor. Archbishop Romero helped free him. “There have been people inspired by Romero for 35 years. How do you think they feel right now?” asked Fr Turcios.

OME thought this day would never arrive. Others hoped and some always knew it would. The Church beatified Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdamez, of El Salvador, who was assassinated in 1980 while celebrating Mass, just a day after pleading and ordering soldiers to stop killing innocent civilians. “Bl Romero is another brilliant star that belongs to the sanctity of the Church of the Americas,” said Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes, during the ceremony in San Salvador. “And thanks be to God, there are many.” While those who persecuted him have died or are in obscurity, “the memory of Romero continues to live in the poor and the marginalised”, Cardinal Amato said. His homilies often pleaded for better conditions for the poor, for a stop to the escalating violence in the country and for brotherhood among those whose divisions ultimately led to a 12-year conflict. In a message sent on the occasion of the beatification, Pope Francis said that Archbishop Romero “built the peace with the power of love, gave testimony of the faith with his life”. Proof of that is the shirt he died in, soaked in blood, after an assassin’s single bullet took his life. Eight deacons carried the blood-stained shirt, now a relic, to the altar in a glass case. Others decorated it with flowers and candles during the ceremony. Several priests reached out to touch the case and later made the sign of the cross. In a time of difficulty in El Salvador, Archbishop Romero knew “how to guide, defend and protect his flock, remaining faithful to the Gospel and in communion with the whole Church”, the pope said in his message. His ministry was distinguished by a particular attention to the poor and marginalised. And at

Workers hang an image of Archbishop Oscar Romero near the Divine Saviour of the World square in San Salvador for his beatification Mass. (Photo: Oscar Rivera, EPA/CNS) the time of his death, while celebrating the holy sacrifice, love and reconciliation, he received the grace to be fully identified with the one who gave his life for his sheep.”

he event, at the square of the Divine Saviour of the World in the capital city of San Salvador, saw the attendance of four Latin American presidents and six cardinals including: Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, of Honduras; Leopoldo Brenes, of Nicaragua; Jaime Ortega, of Cuba; Jose Luis Lacunza, of Panama; Roger Mahony of the US and Italian Cardinal Amato, as well as Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, postulator of Archbishop Romero’s cause. Their excitement couldn’t have been greater than that of those like Fr Estefan Turcios, pastor of El Salvador’s St Anthony of Padua church

ut just as he has devotees, Archbishop Romero has had detractors. After his death, the Vatican received mounds of letters against Archbishop Romero, Archbishop Paglia has said. And that affected his path toward sainthood, which includes beatification. But three decades after his assassination, Pope Benedict XVI cleared the archbishop’s sainthood cause. In February Pope Francis signed the decree recognising Archbishop Romero as a martyr, a person killed “in hatred of the faith”, which meant there is no need to prove a miracle for beatification. In general two miracles are needed for sainthood—one for beatification and the second for canonisation. Fr Turcios said by studying Bl Romero’s life, others will discover all the Gospel truths that led him to defend life, the poor and the Church, and do away with untruths surrounding his legacy. During the country’s civil war that lasted from 1979 until 1992, some Salvadorans hid, buried and sometimes burned photos they had taken with or of Archbishop Romero, because it could mean others would call them communists or rebel sympathisers and put their lives in danger. Though he still has some detractors, Fr Turcios said, the beatification can help them understand the reality and truth that others have known all along: Archbishop Romero “was loyal to God’s will, was loyal to and loved his people and

Priests carry the blood-stained shirt of Archbishop Oscar Romero during his beatification Mass at the Divine Saviour of the World square in San Salvador. (Photo: lissette lemus/CNS) was loyal to and loved the Church”, he said.

ne of the offertory gifts during the Mass was the book De la locura a la esperanza (From Madness to Hope), a document generated during the peace accords that ended the country’s 12-year war. It chronicles some of the greatest human rights atrocities committed in El Salvador during the conflict, including the killing and rape of four women religious from the US, the killing of priests, catechists, as well as massacres of unarmed civilians— more than 70 000 died in all. Priests, bishops and cardinals wore some form of a red vestment, signifying martyrdom. Their stoles were emblazoned with Archbishop Romero’s episcopal motto: Sentir con la iglesia (Feel with the Church, also translated as “to think with the Church”). Flowers, music, tears and happiness flowed at San Salvador’s Metropolitan cathedral of the Holy Saviour, where the archbishop is buried. He is officially Bl Romero, but to others he already is and has been “San Romero”, or St Romero of the Americas.

Fr Juan Navarro, of Maracaibo, Venezuela, said he visited the archbishop’s burial place to voice the many needs of his country. Food and freedom of expression are lacking, he said, and it’s a place with a similar situation to the one that led to war in Archbishop Romero’s time. “I asked for [Archbishop Romero] to intercede for our rights, to continue to inspire in us the will to go forward when the reality of life is serious,” he said. For 81-year-old Salvadoran Gregoria Martinez de Jimenez, the beatification marked the official recognition of something she has known all along: “We finally have a saint who is one of ours,” she said as tears flowed. Jesuit Father Miguel Angel Vasquez Hernandez, of Arcatao, said the archbishop would probably have felt a little taken aback with such a ceremony, which was expected to cost about $1 million and was attended by hundreds of thousands. The best way to honour him, he said, is to work for peace and justice in El Salvador, and in other parts of the world afflicted by poverty, war, violence, oppression and economic injustice.—CNS

Pope interview: TV-free for 25 years Continued from page 1 the Italian centre-left daily La Repubblica, but even then only for about ten minutes. He also has not watched television in 25 years owing to “a promise I made to the Virgin of Carmel on the night of July 15, 1990”. Asked if he likes being referred to as the “Poor Pope”, he joked that he agrees with that title if “poor” is accompanied by another word: “for example: the poor guy, the pope”. Then he underscored that “poverty is the centre of the Gospel. Jesus came

to preach to the poor, if you take poverty out of the Gospel, you cannot understand anything”. The pope admitted that eradicating global poverty might be aiming for a sort of utopia, but noted that it’s a “utopia that makes us keep going”. “There are three things that each of us must have in life: memory, ability to understand the present, and a utopia for the future,” he said. These three things must be combined together, because “if I cut my roots and lose my memories, the same happens to me as

happens to a plant: I die; if I just live the present day without foreseeing the future, the same thing happens to me as happens to any bad manager who is unable to make plans”. According to Pope Francis, the worst evils in the world are poverty, corruption and human trafficking. He said that he always asks people to pray for him because he “needs it. It is an internal need”. Pope Francis concluded the interview by saying that he simply wants to be remembered as a good guy.—CNA

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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Sense of the faithful

FTER 62% of Ireland’s population voted against the position represented by the Catholic Church in last month’s referendum on gay marriage, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin spoke about a “social revolution” which requires introspection by the Church. The referendum result is significant. For all the reports of a drain of Catholics from the Church, Ireland still has one of the highest Mass attendance figures in the West, and most people in the republic describe themselves as Catholics. Archbishop Martin noted that “most of these young people who voted ‘yes’ [in favour of same-sex marriage] are products of our Catholic schools for 12 years”. Many loyal Catholics, and even some priests, voted yes to civil same-sex marriage. These attitudes are replicated in polls throughout the West. This cannot be ascribed simply to a failure of catechetics. The Catholic Church has pronounced its teachings clearly and forcefully. The problem is not that many of the faithful don’t understand or appreciate these teachings, but that they have rejected them as inapplicable to their lives. Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin, who had been a leading voice in the campaign against same-sex marriage, put his finger on it: “It seems that many people voted ‘yes’ as a way of showing their acceptance and their love for friends and family members who are gay. Large numbers obviously believed that they could vote ‘yes’ without in any way undermining marriage.” Importantly, he showed respect for their position: “While I do not share their belief, I understand their reason for celebrating, and I do respect their spirit of solidarity.” The sensus fidelium—the sense of the faithful—in some areas of the Church seems to reject the Church’s opposition to civil same-sex marriage, and other issues. Conversely, in other areas, especially in Africa, the faithful seem to support the Church’s teachings and positions on matters concerning homosexuality. The Second Vatican Council stressed the notion of a sensus fidei, the competence of individual believers and the Church as a whole to discern the truths of faith. The sense of the faithful

cannot change the unalterable teachings of the Church, but, with due discernment, it could inform the ways in which these teachings are understood and applied. Speaking in Washington in late May, Cardinal Walter Kasper said that Pope Francis wants to give the sensus fidei “complete meaning”. “He wants a listening magisterium that makes its position, yes, but makes its position after it has heard what the Spirit says to its churches,” said Cardinal Kasper. Last year Pope Francis told the Vatican’s International Theological Commission: “By the gift of the Holy Spirit, the members of the Church possess the ‘sense of the faith’. It is a question of a kind of ‘spiritual instinct’ which permits us to ‘think with the Church’ and discern what is consistent with the apostolic faith and the spirit of the Gospel.” The magisterium, the pope said, has the “duty to pay attention to what the Spirit tells the Church through authentic manifestations of the ‘sense of the faithful’ ”, but cautioned that by this he does not mean simple majority opinion. The decision to circulate a questionnaire aimed at collecting the views of Catholics on the family in preparation for October’s Synod of Bishops on the subject is a concrete expression of the pope’s desire to know the sense of the faithful. Of course, the Church is not a democracy and its teachings cannot be altered on the mere basis of opinion polls or questionnaires. As it has been for almost two millennia, however, some teachings, especially those addressing issues of morality, can be expressed, presented, emphasised and applied in different ways and by different means. In this, it is essential that the magisterium—the teaching authority of the Church—remains intact. We live in times when large proportions of Catholics disregard the magisterium, not only on questions of sexual morality, but also, and perhaps more grievously, on the scandal of poverty. The Church needs to take stock and interrogate why this is so, and how the teachings of the Catholic Church can be communicated and applied in ways that reach people.

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Sermons need engaged listeners

ORING sermons! People are bored! The Holy Father and the press are creating sensational headlines because of boring preachers. However, I find no mention of boring listeners in the pews. The basic truth is that the proclamation of the sacred scriptures is, in fact, God speaking to his people. Let’s begin there! It is God’s Word, although it is proclaimed by a sinful creature; and no matter who is proclaiming it, it remains God’s message to his people—and that Word is never boring. It demands faith, a real faith, on the part of the listener. It will demand a certain disposition of heart, a willingness to listen. But more than that, it requires a hunger, a thirst, a deep desire—wanting to hear what God wants to say to me. It may be one single word, one

Give would-be priests a choice

short sentence or quote, or even a pause. Like a deer thirsting for running water so the soul is seeking the voice of God. “Speak Lord, your servant is listening” and God will always satisfy a hungry, seeking heart, and the Word may “cut like a twoedged sword”. It is all about our faith in the living Word of God Himself. There is a hymn that goes: “Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew”—a beautiful prayer. No matter how unskillful the preacher, the humble disposition of the listening servant will be touched by the power of God’s Spirit—and there is the true power of the Word proclaimed, and it is an influence far beyond our wildest dreams. Now what about God’s anointed preacher? He will preach to give

Why celibacy rule

N his article “The path to priesthood” (April 22) Stuart Graham quotes Fr Masilo Selema who said: “Once a young man feels that he has been called to the priesthood, he should approach his parish priest who will then recommend him to the vocations director of the diocese.” A huge step in the discernment process has been omitted. The parish priest, whether a diocesan priest or a member of a religious congregation, must carefully explain to the young man the difference between diocesan priests and members of religious congregations. He must tell him about different kinds of religious congregations. A parish priest who is a religious must not presume that this young man is called to “his” congregation nor should a diocesan parish priest likewise assume he is called to the diocesan priesthood. Discernment needs accurate knowledge. In my years at St Joseph’s Theological Institute, I have counselled a number of students who did not receive this guidance about the priesthood and the religious congregation they have joined. Often the parish priest sent him off to a vocation camp of “his” congregation or a diocesan vocations meeting without this essential information. And then a number of years later the student “wakes up” to the fact that, for instance, he has joined a missionary congregation and he really will have to serve outside his home country—and panic ensues. Sr Sue Rakoczy IHM, Cedara, KZN

REFER to the letter on married priests by Sr M Shanley IBVM (May 6). The idea of a celibate life for men and women was generally repugnant to the Hebrew culture. For women to be married and childless was shameful. For a house filled with children was seen as a mark of God’s blessing. “It was not good for man to be alone”, stressed Genesis. As pointed out, most of the apostles were probably married, including several of the first popes. Jesus, of course, and St Paul were exceptions. The first general law of the Western Church obliging the clergy to a celibate life appeared in the latter part of the fourth century, through the decrees of several popes and local councils in Africa and Europe. The reasons? Many in the clergy had mistresses and were living in open concubinage. It was later decreed that even married clergy were not to have intercourse with their wives in the future. In the Eastern Church, the opinion of St Paul seems to have been adhered to: “It is better to be married than to burn with passion.” In the fourth century and at the First and Second Lateran councils, however, the marriage of priests was considered not only illicit but also invalid. At the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the law of clerical Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately. Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

glory to God. St Paul tells us that Christ “emptied himself”. That is a very good start for the appointed preacher to make space for the inner flooding of the Holy Spirit, so that in his daily meditation on that particular topic he will feel enlightened and encouraged. And in the liturgy, God will indeed be glorified. And because he will preach only what he himself firmly believes and lives, the homilist will be able to speak with conviction, deep sincerity, clearly and also passionately. He will not be tempted to read his notes (the people can do that themselves), but proclaim the message, for the congregation will read his heart, not his written pages. The preacher must speak as a witness of Jesus Christ, for the preacher will be accepted more as a witness than as a simple teacher. Fr Ralph de Hahn, Cape Town celibacy was reaffirmed. However, against enormous opposition, the council declared that priestly celibacy was a matter of Church law—a discipline. The Church could therefore change its legislation in the future concerning celibacy, and priests would then no longer be obliged to observe it. At Vatican II the Church did this for deacons when it instituted a married permanent diaconate. With today’s chronic shortage of vocations to the priesthood, despite prolonged and fervent prayer by the Church, someone as innovative and courageous as Pope Francis could quite easily change the current discipline—it is only a discipline. In Scripture we even read of deaconesses in the early Church. Obviously, they may have had somewhat different responsibilities to deacons of today, such as assisting at adult baptisms for reasons of decorum and so on. We have to admit that the road of clerical celibacy has been rocky. Yet it seems the Church is not prepared to alter a practice that has been so much a part of its life down the centuries. John Lee, Johannesburg

Jesus’ reasons

N her letter on married priests, Sr Monica Shanley IBVM writes: “It would be instructive to know when and why mandatory celibacy for ordination to the priesthood was introduced by the Church.” It came from Jesus himself when he said to the apostles: “Come, follow me.” And they followed Jesus, leaving their wives and families behind (cf. Lk 18:28-29). Why? I don’t know, but I am sure Jesus must have had a very good reason for that. Loretta Apostoli, Cape Town

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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

PERSPECTIVES

How St John XXIII worked for unity Fr Evans T Chama M.Afr HE late motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia said: “The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing and becomes nothing.” This month’s Saint of Christian Unity is Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli—Pope John XXIII—who dared to open a window for a wind of change that has brought us to contemporary Catholic ecumenism. Pope John convoked the Second Vatican Council which brought new impetus in the pursuit of Christian unity. Christian unity was a defining element in Vatican II. In the opening speech of the council in 1962, Pope John was explicit about the need to reinforce efforts at unity of Christian churches. He regarded promoting ecumenism as a major concern of the Catholic Church. “Unhappily, however, the entire Christian family has not as yet fully and perfectly attained to this visible unity in the truth. But the Catholic Church considers it her duty to work actively for the fulfilment of that great mystery of unity for which Christ prayed so earnestly to his heavenly Father on the eve of his great sacrifice,” the pope said. “The knowledge that [the Catholic Church] is so intimately associated with that prayer is for her an occasion of ineffable peace and joy. And why should she not rejoice sincerely when she sees Christ’s prayer extending its salvific and ever increasing efficacy even over those who are not of her fold?” The pope was big-hearted in his vision of unity, thus he spoke of unity of both the Christian and human family in three ways: • There is, first of all, that unity of Catholics among themselves which must always be kept steadfast and exemplary. • There is also a unity of prayer and ardent longing prompting Christians separated from this Apostolic See to aspire to union with us. • And finally there is a unity, which consists in the esteem and respect shown for the Catholic Church by members of various non-Christian religions. Certainly, it was not the first time the

Catholic Church talked about unity; nevertheless, there was a big shift not only in the effort but also in the attitude and approach that made a big difference.

ope John unveiled this new approach when he spoke about the new manner of suppressing error. The Church had always condemned error with severity. “Today, however, Christ’s Bride prefers the balm of mercy to the arm of severity. She believes that present needs are best served by explaining more fully the purport of her doctrines, rather than by publishing condemnations,” he said. “The great desire, therefore, of the Catholic Church in raising aloft at this council the torch of truth, is to show herself to the world as the loving mother of all mankind; gentle, patient, and full of tenderness and sympathy for her separated children. “Everywhere, through her children, she extends the frontiers of Christian love, the most powerful means of eradicating the seeds of discord, the most effective means of promoting concord, peace with justice, and universal brotherhood.” The gesture of an all-embracing open-

St John XXIII

Even this is a paradox; purpose cannot be pursued for its own sake. Only when something or someone becomes paramount in your life does purpose begin to form and exert its power in your daily life. This cannot be obsession because obsession kills. Rather, it is love, a love that goes beyond self in enthusiasm for what you love, be it a person, a cause, your creativity, or your God. “Your purpose and its fulfilment give meaning to your life. Meaning has to do with being lost in something bigger than yourself. It has to do with discovering the boundaries of your identity, but the emphasis is on transcending those boundaries and ascending toward a fuller measure of your being. “You do not seek to discover a universal meaning in life but one that is unique to your individuality—your state in life, your personality traits, your circumstances, and the faith you have in possibilities.”

hat I understand by Quezada’s words is that there is not a general meaning to life that applies to all. Our lives are unique. So I have to ask myself—as a woman living in the city, with my marital status, my interests, my family situation, my personality—what gives meaning to my life? And so each and every single person will answer these questions according to their unique circumstances. Quezada continues by saying: “Your

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ness was seen in Pope John’s invitation of non-Catholic observers to the Second Vatican Council. It was the first council to which Christians not in communion with the Catholic Church had been invited. Pope John also pioneered the formation of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. It was his desire that the involvement of the Catholic Church in the contemporary ecumenical movement be one of the council’s chief concerns. Thus, on June 5, 1960, he established the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity as one of the preparatory commissions for the Council. This was the first time that the Holy See had set up an office to deal specifically with ecumenical affairs. At first, the main function of the secretariat was to invite the other Churches and World Communions to send observers to the Second Vatican Council. Soon, by the will of the pope, the secretariat was elevated to the same level as the conciliar commission and fully participated in the council by preparing and presenting documents to the Council such as Unitatis redintegratio on ecumenism; Nostra aetate on non-Christian religions; and Dignitatis humanae on religious liberty. Indeed, there are no better words to capture and confirm Pope John as a Saint of Christian Unity than by the words of Dom Lambert Beauduin (featured in January) who, on hearing of the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, confided to his fellow ecumenist: “If they elect Roncalli all will be saved. He will be capable of calling a council and canonising ecumenism. I believe we have a good chance.” Pope John XXIII died on June 3, 1963. He was beatified by another champion of ecumenism, John Paul II, in 2000. Both popes were canonised together in April 2014.

Judith Turner

Meaning in suffering W HAT is the meaning of our daily lives? What is my life about? Living in a city, I ask myself this question many times. As I drive through traffic that seems to never subside, as I watch others on the road, the taxis, the buses, the trains, full of people, each one on their way going somewhere; each one living a life. And for each one life means something. As I walk around in the malls and observe people in restaurants and coffee shops, I always wonder what their lives are about. I wonder how they experience the meaning of their lives. I often wonder about my own life and its meaning, and I love reading about how saints, mystics and great spiritual writers have struggled with and expressed their quest for the meaning of life. What follows is an extract from Adolfo Quezada’s book Loving Yourself for God’s Sake (1997) in which he speaks about giving meaning to your life. “Inherent in your being is the nature of intention. Unless you move with purpose and live with direction, you flounder, become disorientated and isolated, and begin to die. When you pursue happiness, peace or pleasure for their own sake, they may elude you time after time. Eventually you learn that happiness, peace and pleasure are consequences of meaningful living and not the other way round. “The path towards meaning is purpose.

Saints of Christian unity

Faith and life

meaning is evident in those things you allow yourself to receive from life, what you learn, how you grow. You manifest your meaning through your contributions to life in your work, your creativity, and your love. Mostly, you reveal your meaning by your response to life’s surprises including the changes, the losses and the suffering.” What he says is that our losses and suffering help us find meaning in our lives. And this we can attest to. You might have experienced this when you have gone through suffering— death in the family, a divorce, a failed relationship, loss of a job or business, damage to our reputation— and truly reflected on life again and found the meaning of it. Once we have found the meaning of these events, we are changed and life becomes beautiful—renewed. Suffering is not to be avoided. As Christians we should unite our own pain and that of a “groaning creation” with the passion of Christ. And as we watch people walking through the streets of life, with their pain and their suffering, we can know that their suffering and our suffering now take on a new meaning: it renews and changes the face of the earth.

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How to set up a parish council Please advise how I could go about setting up a parish pastoral council. I have been in this parish for seven years and there is no such council here. I have spoken to our priest a few times, and no joy. Many parishioners complain of the same issue. How do we do this the correct way? Name Withheld

F your parish priest has decided not to have a parish pastoral council, he must have a reason for it. You say you have spoken to him a few times about it but you don’t mention why he has declined your request. It would have been helpful for me to know this. The only person authorised to set up a parish pastoral council is the parish priest. He is the chief pastor of his flock. This means that the correct way to get a legitimate pastoral parish council off the ground is with his complete consent and cooperation. Canon law prescribes that the pastoral council is presided over by the parish priest. Its membership consists of Christ’s faithful together with those who by virtue of their office are engaged in pastoral care in the parish. It has only a consultative vote as regulated by norms laid down by the diocesan bishop (c536). This implies that the members are the priest’s willing assistants in his work of teaching, sanctifying and directing the affairs of the parish community. They together discuss and plan for the pastoral needs and programmes of the parish community, the priest hearing what they recommend and then giving his own views. When there is a good spirit of teamwork, the council functions well, but the final decision on any matter, contentious or otherwise, belongs to the parish priest alone. If he should not agree to a particular proposal, he should clearly and charitably explain why, and so preserve the pastoral council’s common purpose. It seems to me that there is a kind of stand-off between your priest and yourself, since he apparently gives you no joy despite your attempts to win him round. If so, there must be a reason for that too. I suggest that the only way forward would be to ask your priest for a cordial meeting between him, yourself and the other concerned parishioners. All should be open to hearing the other side, because each could possess some preconceived ideas about the motives of the other. You could give sound reasons why you think a parish council is needed, and what pastoral shortcomings it could rectify. The priest could present his argument in turn. The whole object of the meeting would be to clear the air and satisfy you why or why not the establishment of a parish council is feasible.

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

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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

TRAVEL

Holy Shroud pilgrimage

I The Salesians at the St John Bosco sanctuary in Turin said they were honoured to welcome a group all the way from South Africa and allowed them to take a group photo at a spot where this is normally not permitted. Having viewed the Shroud of Turin, the group visited sites associated with Don Bosco, who was born 200 years ago this year.

N May some 43 pilgrims from South Africa, Botswana and even Australia joined Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria on a special Southern Cross pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Italy. Among the many highlights in the Holy Land were the renewals of baptismal vows at the Jordan River and of wedding vows in Cana, seeing the grotto of the Annunciation, touching the spots of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and his crucifixion on Calvary, a Mass at the Rock of the Agony in Gethsemane, and following the Way of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa. There was also fun, such as floating on the Dead Sea. In Italy the group saw the Holy Shroud of Turin, visited sites associated with St John Bosco, and explored Florence. In Rome they saw Pope Francis up close, explored ancient and baroque Rome, had Mass in two major basilicas and in the city’s Franciscan basilica, a moment that was special to the Franciscan archbishop. The Southern Cross will return to Italy in September (see page 1) and to the Holy Land in February (see page 10). More photos at www.bit.ly/1EuD905

Pilgrims climb the Holy Stairs in Rome on their knees. According to tradition, these are the steps leading up to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.

lenise and Cecelia Clothier and Moira Mpama in St Peter’s Square before the papal audience.

Archbishop William Slattery and Deacon Frederick Mokoena of Pretoria lead an outdoor Mass at St Peter's Primacy in Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Five couples renewed their wedding vows in Cana, site of Our lord’s first public miracle at the wedding feast: (Clockwise from left front) Theresa and Anthony Napier, Chris and Mmoni More, Phyl and Robert Hawker, Bernice and Emmanuel Ngara. Out of the frame are leonora and Edward Ying.

Southern Cross columnist Emmanuel Ngara, Mmoni More and Gapi Mathe carry the cross on the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Archbishop Slattery and Deacon Mokoena lead the Mass at the basilica of St Mary Major in Rome.

Archbishop William Slattery with Mongali Paulus Chabalala, who celebrated his birthday. This was Mr Chabalala’s third Southern Cross pilgrimage, and his second with Archbishop Slattery. Several other members of the group took part in their second or third Southern Cross pilgrimages.

Holy land tour guide Rimon Makhlouf, a Roman Catholic, and Sr Berni Wilczkiewicz of the little Sisters of Jesus during a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

The Southern Cross logo travelled throughout the Holy land and Italy. Seen here is pilgrim Gapi Mathe, on her second Southern Cross pilgrimage, with the tour bus on the Mount of Beatitudes.

Pilgrim Vincent Maphai and Archbishop Slattery on the way to the church of the Visitation in Ein Kerem, the traditional site of Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country, where Our lady recited the Magnificat.

The pilgrims pose for a group photo at the Jordan River after they renewed their baptismal vows at Qasr el-Yahud, which the Catholic Church recognises, along with the Jordanian site on the opposite bank of the river, as the authentic spot of Jesus’ baptism by his cousin John.

VIEWPOINT

The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

Priests should start visiting homes again Once upon a time it was normal to receive home visits from the parish priest. Today this practice has mostly fallen away. FR KEVIN REYNOlDS argues that it is important that home visits be reinstituted.

REALISE that I might be the proverbial fool by rushing into a subject where angels fear to tread. Be that as it may, I am moved to share a few thoughts about home visitation by pastors because in my senior years I have become convinced ever more of its importance. Without any scientific proof, I will not be surprised if the vast majority of readers agree that home visitation by their parish clergy is something they miss sorely from days of yore. To be fair, systematic home visitation faded away so long ago that there are few parishioners today who can truly recall its practice. At best, some might remember Redemptorist priests visiting them before or during a parish mission. The fact that so many people are attracted to the idea of their priests visiting their homes says much about their wanting—better still, their needing—to meet their priests in the safe and welcoming atmosphere of their homes. Of course, such a desire runs counter to many practices in their daily lives, like using automatic teller machines rather than being served by a human person at their banks. This depersonalisation of service is encouraged to save clients fees by choosing the ATM route. Without a doubt, the introduction of television in our country four decades ago contributed to eroding the practice of regular home visitation. I believe Fr Neville Armstrong, the late saintly chaplain at Voortrekkerhoogte (today Thaba Tshwane), stated from the pulpit once that he saw no point in visiting his parishioners when that meant being forced to join them in

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viewing their favourite television programmes. Naturally the most common reason advanced for the disappearance of home visitation is that priests are too busy with other matters to still have time to visit their people in a systematic way. One might ask what can ever be more important than getting to know their flock— in the words of Pope Francis, even “to taking on their smell”? Certainly, with diminished numbers, priests today have heavier loads to bear than in the past. This reality has led in many communities to the laity taking on roles that were previously the preserve of priests. Commendable as this practice is, it calls for serious evaluation of what roles should still be fulfilled by priests besides their essential liturgical functions of preaching and celebrating the sacraments. While home visitation by members of the laity is valuable it should never relieve priests from visiting their people.

efore I am accused of elevating the clergy above the laity, let me explain the unique role of priests’ home visitations. Despite a steep decline in the frequency of people practising the sacrament of penance (or confession), I continue to experience an overall appreciation by Catholics of this sacrament’s unique confidential value. It almost goes without saying that what one shares with a priest—in the formal celebration of the sacrament of penance or in a serious chat—is sacrosanct. This spills over to home visitation which is why, I think, in addition to deacons and laity visiting parishioners, the need remains for the priest himself to be among his people. From my 46 years in the pastoral ministry I know how demanding the ideal I am describing is. I must acknowledge, too, that being a semi-retired priest I have more time to visit people than when I was in charge of a busy parish. This naturally influences my present attitude towards home visitation. It is my experience that it takes parishioners several visits from their priest to eventually feel com-

A priest blesses a parishioner during a home visit. Once a normal part of a parish priest’s ministry, regular home visits are becoming increasingly rare. In his article, Fr Kevin Reynolds makes the case for home ministries as an important part of the pastoral ministry. fortable and trusting enough to open up to him. This is why home visitation has to be done repeatedly. Useful as house Masses are by including larger groups of parishioners, such gatherings lack the inherent value of a one-to-one encounter that home visitation provides. Laudatory as pastoral programmes like Renew Africa are, because their objective is different, they should not be seen as a replacement for home visitation. The efforts priests devote to such activities should also never be at the expense of the time they schedule for visiting their flock.

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Of course, the model for pastoral priests is Christ’s own ministry. Here we see his fine tuning his time to prayer (even at the cost of getting up early), preaching and simply being with people in both groups, as in meals, and in one-toone encounters.

e believe Christ’s public life lasted two to three years during which, given the compactness of the area of his ministry around the Sea of Galilee—and even between Galilee and Jerusalem—he obviously visited some people and places more than once, for example the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany, near Jerusalem.

This was surely his own practice of what we describe as home visitation whose value is timeless because it is so basic and necessary. Virtually all my comments about home visitation apply equally to the need for priests to minister also to the sick and infirm. Naturally there is a difference between regularly visiting such parishioners in their homes and ministering to transient patients in hospitals. Once again receiving regular visits in their homes enables sick and infirm parishioners to grow in their relationship with their priest and his lay assistants. Obviously visiting hospital patients doesn’t achieve the same result but is nonetheless of much supportive value. These days almost every parish that is responsible for hospitals has groups of assistant-ministers of the Eucharist and lay carers who take it in turns to take Holy Communion to housebound parishioners and patients in their institutions. This arrangement also enables the parish priest to be advised of those who desire the sacrament of the sick which only he can administer. Christ is similarly the model for those who minister to the sick and infirm. The Gospel accounts of how much time Christ spent with these people remind us of the priority he gave such service in his own ministry. Just as Christ fulfilled his overall mission in a very personal way, so do those who share in his ongoing ministry, especially in home visitation and caring for the sick and infirm. n Fr Kevin Reynolds is a semi-retired priest of the archdiocese of Pretoria.

The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

PERSONALITY

Archbishop: Why I recommend the Quran An archbishop who previously headed the Vatican’s interreligious council believes that Catholics can learn a lot from the Quran, Islam’s holy book, reports DENNIS SADOWSKI.

HERE is a book which Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald believes can inspire Christians to appreciate the God of all creation. And it’s not just the Bible. Archbishop Fitzgerald, who retired at the end of 2012 as the papal nuncio to Egypt, said the Quran, with all of its names for God, can help Christians deepen their faith and inspire them to see God in new ways. Since retiring, the English-born archbishop has been leading retreats on the names of God in Islam and contrasting the same or similar names for God found in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Archbishop Fitzgerald, who is fluent in Arabic, spent the past eight months finalising a book on the subject while serving as a guest instructor at Jesuit-run John Carroll University in Cleveland. He said his aim is to broaden understanding among people of different faiths, much as it was when he taught at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome, his time as a missionary priest in Sudan, his 19 years as secretary and then president of the Pontifical Council for

Interreligious Dialogue, and as nuncio during Egypt’s Arab Spring. The archbishop’s work is rooted in Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”), the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on relations with nonChristian religions promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965. Understanding and accepting people of other faith traditions and their religions “is what we are supposed to be as Church,” Archbishop Fitzgerald said. “Nostra Aetate, in a sense, gives you an impression that dialogue is always bilateral. So it’s Christians and Muslims. Christians and Buddhists. Christians and Hindus,” he explained. “This is what we are supposed to be as Church. I think you come back to Lumen Gentium [Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church], the Church is the nature of a sacrament. It is a sign of what God is doing. And God doesn’t only work in the Catholic Church. God works through the Spirit in other religions as well, and we must be open to that,” he said. “That means we must relate to people. We are not meant to be a club. We are meant to be engaging in relations.” Zeki Saritoprak, director of the John Carroll University’s Islamic studies programme, has known Archbishop Fitzgerald for more than a decade. He said having the archbishop on campus for eight months has boosted an understanding across religious traditions. “He would make connections with the biblical sources so nonMuslim students would find their Quranic understanding can res-

Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald is one of the Catholic Church’s foremost experts on Islam and the Quran. The former president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has spent much of his 54 years in the priesthood working to improve understanding among people of different faith traditions. (Photo: William Rieter/CNS) onate with their own teaching,” Prof Saritoprak said.

or Archbishop Fitzgerald, who is now 77, much of his 54 years as a priest has been spent engaging in interreligious relations. His most high-profile work occurred from 1987 to 2006 with the pontifical council, first as secretary for 15 years and then as president for nearly four years. He landed at the council because of his knowledge of Islam and his teaching background and experience living, studying and

13 to 26 February 2016

ministering in Tunisia, Uganda and Sudan. However, he said, his life path has been different from what he first imagined when he went off to school with the Missionaries of Africa—the White Fathers—at the age of 12 in 1949. He originally thought he would eventually serve where members of the order had traditionally served: West Africa, East Africa or in subSaharan countries. Along the way, Arab North Africa piqued his interested and eventually he was sent to Tunisia to study theology for four years. In Tunisia, he took the opportunity to study Arabic. Several years after his 1961 ordination as a priest of the missionary order, he earned a degree in Arabic at the University of London. Archbishop Fitzgerald subsequently was assigned to teach Arabic at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies and then was a lecturer in religious studies at the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, where he taught courses on Islam to Muslim and Christian students. He returned to the pontifical institute in Rome after two years and was named director in 1972. In 1978, he returned to Africa to minister in parish work in northern Sudan. In 1980, he was elected to his order’s general council, serving for

six years. His experience has made him one of the Catholic Church’s foremost experts on Islam and the Quran. As secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Archbishop Fitzgerald worked with Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, then the council’s president, and focused on building stronger ties and understanding with leaders and those who practised different religions. “We had visits from people all around the world, and we conceived our work as also giving this message that the Church must be engaged with people of other religions. So it was encouraging others churches to open up. That meant going around to different places, accepting invitations, sometimes organising things ourselves,” the archbishop recalled. He was ordained a bishop in 1992 and became archbishop in 2002 when he became president of the pontifical council after Cardinal Arinze was named prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. At one point at the congregation, he spent a month living in a Buddhist monastery in Japan as part of an interreligious exchange. On a holiday in India, he and a friend explored key sites of Hinduism. “That was also getting the feel of the religion rather than just studying it through books,” he said. In February 2006, he became nuncio to Egypt and served as the Holy See’s representative to the Arab League. He witnessed the uprising of the Egyptian people in 2011 and retired at age 75 at the end of 2012 as the country struggled with establishing a new form of government. Archbishop Fitzgerald is now returning to Jerusalem, where he is assigned to the Missionaries of Africa community based at the Crusader-era St Anne’s church in the Old City, which Catholic pilgrims usually visit before they begin the Via Dolorosa. The church is the traditional birthplace of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who commands a chapter in the Quran and is the only woman mentioned by name in Islam’s holy book (she is mentioned more frequently in the Quran than she is in the entire New Testament). The 21 White Fathers there always welcome pilgrims.—CNS

The PILGRIMAGE OF THE PEACEMAKERS is a special journey to the land of Christ which will include the great sites of Our Lord in the Holy Land as well as encounters with Palestinian and Jewish organisations working for peace. We will explore the roots of the conflict and see the situation first-hand to enable us to pray for justice and peace. In Cairo we will honour the 21 Coptic Martyrs slain by ISIS terrorists by visiting Coptic churches and monasteries, and meeting with local Christians to learn from their experiences and offer them our solidarity. The PILGRIMAGE OF THE PEACEMAKERS is a journey of prayer for peace and of solidarity with our fellow Christians and all people of peace in the Holy Land and Egypt. Led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin, Catholic top guide Rimon Makhlouf, and Southern Cross editor and The Holy Land Trek author Günther Simmermacher, it will be a pilgrimage in the footsteps and in service of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pilgrimage Highlights

• All the important sites of Our Lord’s life, death and resurrection in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cana, Jordan River, Sea of Galilee etc. • Encounters with peacemakers of the Holy Land, visits to abandoned village, refugee camp, Yad Vashem memorial, a Catholic school in the West Bank and more... • Visit to Coptic churches and monasteries, incl. Hanging Church of el Moallaqa. Encounter with Coptic Christians. Plus the Pyramids of Giza, Sphinx, Egyptian Museum, a Nile Cruise and much more... St Anne’s church in Jerusalem, where Archbishop Fitzgerald will be based. After his defeat of the Crusaders, Sultan Saladin turned the church into a Muslim school, as an inscription above the entrance still states. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

CLASSIFIEDS Beryl Murray

ERYL Murray (née Halsall), the wife of former Southern Cross managing editor Andrew Murray, died in late April in Britain at the age of 91. A convert to Catholicism whose younger brother Robert is a Jesuit priest, Mr Murray was The Southern Cross’ “lay editor” under Fr Louis Stubbs from 1950-69. During that time he also established himself as an artist; he left

the newspaper, and South Africa, in June 1969 to pursue that calling fulltime. Beryl Murray, who had previously run her own dressmaking firm, acted as his business manager. Mr Murray, who was a grandson of Oxford English Dictionary founding editor Sir James Murray, died in October 1998 at 81. In 1944 he came to Durban as a telegraphist on board the HMS Abdiel, which needed repairs. There he met the young Englishborn Beryl Halsall. After the war

Our bishops’ anniversaries

This week we congratulate: June 7: Bishop Frank Nabuasah of Francistown on his 66th birthday. June 7: Bishop Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe on the 7th anniversary of his episcopal ordination. June 11: Bishop Francisco de Gouveia of Oudtshoorn on his 64th birthday. June 13: Auxiliary Bishop Barry Wood of Durban on his 73rd birthday.

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Cycle Year 1 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 Monday June 8 2 Corinthians 1:1-7, Psalms 34:2-9, Matthew 5:1-12 Tuesday June 9 2 Corinthians 1:18-22, Psalms 119:129-133, 135, Matthew 5:13-16 Wednesday June 10 2 Corinthians 3:4-11, Psalms 99:5-9, Matthew 5:17-19 Thursday June 11, St Barnabas Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3, Psalms 98:1-6, Matthew 10:7-13 Friday June 12, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9, Isaiah 12:2-6, Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19, John 19:31-37 Saturday June 13, St Anthony of Padua Wisdom 7:7-14, Psalms 40:3-4, 10-11, 17, Mark 16:15-20 Sunday June 14 Ezekiel 17:22-24, Psalms 92:2-3, 13-16, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, Mark 4:26-34

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he left England in 1946 for Durban and married Beryl. Mr Murray, whose works also hang in the National Gallery in Cape Town, was best-known for his city scenes, bringing him success first in South Africa, and then in London in Paris, and enough income for him and Beryl to live on. One of his religiously inspired images, the lion cradling a lamb, was used as a Unicef Christmas card. To their pain, the Murrays had no children.

Fr Tommy Swords OMI

BLATE Father Tommy Swords of Kimberley died at the age of 77 on April 15. Born a twin in Jonestown, in the Irish county of Offaly, on July 7, 1937, he received his school education at Ballybryan National School and Belcamp College in Dublin. He later joined the congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He was ordained a priest at Our Lady’s Scholasticate in Piltown, County Kilkenny, on December 19, 1965. Soon after he left for South Africa. This year he would have celebrated his golden jubilee of priesthood. Fr Swords was affectionately known as Fr Disabole by the parishioners where he served. He caringly assembled the Emmaus community in Botshabelo under the trees and lovingly saw to their sacramental and pastoral needs up until the building of the church as it stands today. He served many communities in the archdiocese of Bloemfontein and diocese of Kimberley: Smithfield (1967-68), Bloemfontein district (1968-71), Edenburg (1971-72), Dewetsdorp (1972-81), Zastron (1981-83), Emmaus (1983-93), Assumption in Kimberley (199394), and St Charles Lwanga in Botshabelo from 1994 until his death. Fr Tommy very much enjoyed gathering on Mondays to play golf and a game of cards with the priests in the evening. He enjoyed his holidays in Ireland with his family and large circle of friends, and avidly followed the Gaelic football games in Ireland. Fr Tommy will be remembered for the many years that he spent in the Marriage Encounter movement, especially in Sesotho. He also spent many years developing and promoting the ministry of Small Christian Communities in the parish. Fr Tommy met the difficulties and problems of life head on and never let the obstacles encountered defeat him.

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SOLUTIONS TO 657. ACROSS: 1 Bars, 3 Immodest, 9 Rubicon, 10 Stock, 11 Body of Christ, 13 Angels, 15 Parson, 17 Correctional, 20 Aisle, 21 Omnibus, 22 Herodias, 23 Fled. DOWN: 1 Barabbas, 2 Rabid, 4 Monica, 5 Observations, 6 Egoists, 7 Take, 8 School friend, 12 Enclosed, 14 Grosser, 16 Schola, 18 Nabal, 19 Bath.

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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2015

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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

TOWELL—Francis (White). Died June 4, 2009. His nature was loving and giving, his heart was made of pure gold. And to us who truly love him, his memory will never grow old. We miss you daddy—RIP. Desiree, Neil, Darren and Nathan. PARKERWOOD—Sheela Margaret June (née Coughlan). 14/6/1941 to 31/5/2002. lovingly thought of by husband Tony, sons Vincent, Tony jnr and John, friends and by local community folks. May God Almighty Bless you very much my darling.

PRAYERS

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humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. Riccarda. 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

OUR LADY OF FATIMA O most Holy Virgin Mary, who chose to appear on the Sierra de Aire, in the Cova de Iria, to three young shepherds to reveal the treasures of grace held in the recitation of the Rosary, impress upon our souls a fervent love for this devotion. By meditating on the mysteries of our redemption, may we learn how to use the teachings which lie therein and obtain the graces we ask in this prayer. For the Glory of God and the redeeming of our souls. Amen. Novena from 5th -13th each month. For prayers/ hymns write to jjvcamara @gmail.com 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

GRATEFUL thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Mother Mary and Ss Rita, Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Martin de Porres for prayers answered. Riccarda. ST JUDE, I thank you for your intercession in response to my prayers. Magdalene.

PERSONAL

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the

11th Sunday: June 14 Readings: Ezekiel 17:22-24, Psalm 92:2-3, 13-16, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, Mark 4:26-34

EXT Sunday we are back in the gospel of Mark, after all the excitement of Lent and Easter—and how are we to restart our ordinary time? The only way we can do this is to listen attentively to God’s word, and that is the message of the readings chosen for the day. In the first reading, Ezekiel is trying to explain to his fellow-Israelites in exile in Babylon that God is still in charge; Israel and her leadership have done great wrong, but the God whom they have disobeyed has not abandoned them. The cedar, which here symbolises Israel, and the wrong that it has done, will, under God, turn out to be fruitful; it will be replanted “on a high and lofty hill, on Israel’s high mountain”, which can only mean the Temple, which has of course by now been destroyed, and “it will turn into a noble cedar, and every bird shall nest in the shadow of its branches”. Then, he continues, “all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord shall bring low the high tree”; and, finally: “I, the Lord, have spoken and I shall act.” The psalm for next Sunday is characteris-

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Listen attentively to God tically cheerful, and it picks up the imagery of trees from the first reading, speaking first of “the palm tree”, and then, as in the reading from Ezekiel, of “the cedar of Lebanon”. However, the main motif is one of sheer gratitude: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing to your name, O Most High.” Humanity has to learn to respond, though, so “the just flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the House of the Lord, and in the courts of our God”. Then, in a lovely image, we glimpse them “bearing fruit when they are old…to proclaim that the Lord is righteous”. It is an image to which we shall do well to pay attention. In the second reading, Paul is utterly attentive to God; you may ask when he is anything else, but at this point he is expressing his longing to die: “When we are at home in the body, we are not at home in the Lord.” And the reason is that “we walk in faith, not by sight”; he longs to be with his beloved Lord, but all that matters is that “we should be well-pleasing to him”. But he has to pay attention, “because we

must appear before Christ’s judgment-tribunal, so that everyone may receive their reward for what they did in the body, whether good or evil”. The gospel for next Sunday returns to the idea of planting; here it takes the form of the last two of the parables in chapter 4 of Mark, namely the seed that grows by itself and the mustard-plant. It is a story that would have had a ready resonance with Jesus’ peasant listeners in Galilee, for they knew only too well how tricky is the business of farming, and how much they depended upon God. The first parable focuses on the miracle of silent growth: “the seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how”, while the farmer “goes to sleep at night and gets up in the morning”. It is the land that bears fruit, and only when that process is over does he put in the sickle for the harvest. The second parable, that of the mustardseed, is slightly different; here the point has to do with the respective size of the original seed and of the final product. Botanists will say that the parable does not get it quite right:

Are our obsessions sinful? T

However, what they mean by “inordinate attachments” covers a wide range of things. In their view, we can be inordinately attached to our pride, our appearance, money, power, pleasure, comfort, possessions, sex, and many other things. They saw this as the opposite of the virtue of detachment. And, since its opposite is a virtue, “inordinate attachment” is, for classical spirituality, a vice, a moral and spiritual flaw. There is a lot to be said positively for this view. Normally, lack of detachment is a moral flaw. But, perhaps, there is an exception. An inordinate attachment can also be an emotional obsession with another person and this muddies the moral issue. Obsessions, generally, are not freely chosen, nor are they often within the power of the will to control, at least inside the emotions.

s our old catechisms and moral theology books used to correctly teach: We are responsible for our actions but we are not responsible for how we feel. Our emotions are like wild horses; they roam where they will and are not easily domesticated and harnessed. Hence, I believe, the notion of “inordinate attachments”, as expressed in classical spirituality, needs to be nuanced by other concepts which, while still carrying the same warning labels, carry something more. For example, today we speak of “obsessions”, and we all know how powerful and

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HE renowned spiritual writer Fr Henri Nouwen made no secret about the fact that he was emotionally oversensitive and that he suffered, sometimes to the point of clinical depression, from emotional obsessions. A vowed celibate, he was at times so overpowered by the feeling of being in love with someone who was hopelessly unavailable that he became psychologically paralysed and needed professional help. Yet, given Nouwen’s moral honesty and the transparency of his life, one would hardly ascribe this to him as a moral flaw, however emotionally crippling it was. He simply could not help himself sometimes, such was his emotional sensitivity. Almost all sensitive people suffer something similar, though perhaps not as acutely as what afflicted Fr Nouwen. Moreover, these kinds of emotional obsessions affect our whole lives, including our moral and religious lives. What we do in the pain and paralysis of obsession rarely does us proud and is often far from a free act. In the grip of an emotional obsession we cannot think freely, pray freely, decide things freely, and we are prone to act out compulsively in ways that are not moral. What is the morality of our actions then? Classical spiritual writers speak of something they term “inordinate attachments”, and, for them, these “inordinate attachments” are a moral fault, something we need to control by willpower.

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/

Sunday Reflections

the mustard-tree may be bigger than “all the vegetables”, but its branches are not really “large”. That does not matter, however, for the point is a different one: under the gracious action of God, our endings and our beginnings bear no relation to each other. And there is more: Mark ends our gospel reading (and the chapter) with what you might call his theory of parables: “He used to speak the message to them in many parables like this, in so far as they were able to pay attention. He would only speak to them in parables; but privately he explained everything to those who were his own.” Here the idea seems to be that parables are not intended to reveal but to obscure; but look a bit more closely, and you will realise that the reader of the gospel counts among “those who were his own”. So rather than enabling you to gloat over unbelievers, this should simply encourage you to be even more attentive to God’s word than you already are.

Southern Crossword #657

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

crippling these can be. You cannot simply wish or will your way free of an obsession. But is that a moral flaw? Sometimes we also speak of “being possessed by demons”. We can be possessed by a power beyond us that overpowers our will, be that the devil himself or some addiction such as alcohol or drugs. Most of us are not overpowered, but each of us battles with his or her own demons and the line between obsession and possession is sometimes thin. Moreover, today psychologists speak of “daimons”, that is, they believe that what explains our actions are not just nature and nurture, but also powerful “angels” and “demons” inside us, that relentlessly haunt our bodies and minds and leave us chronically obsessed and driven. But these “daimons” are also very often at the root of our creativity and that is why we often see “tortured genius” in many high-achievers, romantics, people with artistic temperaments, and people like Van Gogh and Fr Nouwen, who, under the pressure of an obsession, cut off an ear or check themselves into a clinic. What is the point of highlighting this? A deeper understanding of ourselves and others, is the point. We should not be so mystified by what happens sometimes in our world and inside us. We are wild, obsessed, complex creatures, and that complexity does not take its root, first of all, in what is evil inside us. Rather it is rooted in what is deepest inside us, namely, the image and likeness of God. We are infinite spirits journeying in a finite world. Obsessions come with the territory. In ancient myths, gods and goddesses often fell helplessly in love with human beings, but the ancients believed this was a place where the divine and human met. And that still happens: The divine in us sometimes too falls hopelessly in love with another human being. This, of course, does not give us an excuse to act out as we would like on those feelings, but it does tell us that this is more an encounter between the divine and the human than it is a moral flaw.

St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross

Nicholas King SJ

ACROSS

1. Behind which publicans are jailed? (4) 3. Shameless (8) 9. Caesar’s decisive river (7) 10. Market of exchange (5) 11. Sacred Host (4,2,5) 13. Carollers have heard them on high (6) 15. Preacher (6) 17. Kind of service given to prisoners? (12) 20. The way in the aircraft and church (5) 21. Comprehensive book on public transport (7) 22. Her daughter danced (Mt 14) (8) 23. Ran away (4)

DOWN

1. The released prisoner (Mt 27) (8) 2. Fanatical dog? (5) 4. St Augustine’s mother (6) 5. Comments about what is seen? (12) 6. These persons are self-interested (7) 7. Jesus said we must ... and eat (4) 8. Class-mate (6,6) 12. Kind of Order in an envelope? (8) 14. More unattractivesounding food seller (7) 16. School of singers in Latin (6) 18. Abigail’s husband (1 Sam 25) (5) 19. Order of the Clean Knight? (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

lapsed Catholic met the parish priest at a party. He smugly boasted: “I never go to Mass, Father, and do you want to know why that is?” The priest invited the man to give his reason. “The reason, Father, is because there are so many hypocrites in church.” “Don’t let that keep you away, Sir,” the priest replied with a smile. “There’s always room for one more.”

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