150624

The

S outhern C ross

June 24 to June 30, 2015

reg no. 1920/002058/06

no 4930

www.scross.co.za

With God in prison

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Composer legend Morricone writes Mass for pope

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r7,00 (incl VAT rSA)

Profile of a remarkable Catholic

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Priest: Devil worship on the rise in SA

By STUArT GrAHAM

D Cardinal Wilfrid napier blesses a joint Muslim-Christian project for the homeless at the denis Hurley Centre in durban. He is flanked by representatives from the Juma Masjid Grey Street mosque, the SA national Zakah Fund, faith leaders and homeless men and women. The initiative increases the denis Hurley Centre’s capacity to feed the homeless from three to four times a week. (Photo: Publicity Matters)

Busy summer for pope emeritus

By AlAn Holdren

P

OPE Emeritus Benedict XVI’s summer is set to be the most active since he stepped down from the pontificate in 2013, with plans for participation in at least two public events and a two-week stay at the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

“Pope Francis invited Benedict XVI to spend some time in Castel Gandolfo in the month of July and Benedict accepted,” Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ told journalists.

Castel Gandolfo, which lies about 25km south-east of Rome, has not been officially used as a papal residence since Benedict XVI spent just over two months there following his February 28, 2013 retirement. He currently lives in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican Gardens.

Pope Francis is not expected to join his predecessor, according to Fr Lombardi.

In his first two summers, the Argentinian pope has remained at the Vatican’s Domus Sanctae Marthae residence where he resides the rest of the year.

While in Castel Gandolfo on July 3, Pope

Benedict is also set to receive an honorary doctorate from the Krakow-based Pontifical University of John Paul II and its music academy.

The honour specifically recognises Pope Benedict’s “great respect for the musical tradition of the Church” and “special concern for the noble beauty of sacred music and its proper place in the celebration of the sacred liturgical rites of the Church”, according to a press release from the university.

On August 30, Pope Benedict will also take part in the inauguration of the “Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Roman Library” at the Pontifical Teutonic College in Rome.

The Ratzinger Foundation confirmed that he will first celebrate Mass at the college for this year’s meeting of his former theology students called the “Schülerkreis” (“Circle of Pupils”). Following Mass, he will take part in an inauguration ceremony at the library.

The library section dedicated to his life and thought is currently in the process of being catalogued. It includes books by or about him and his studies, many donated by Pope Benedict himself.—CNA

EVIL worshipping is “growing” in towns across South Africa, with children as young as six involved in Satanism, one of the Church’s most experienced exorcists has warned.

Fr Colin Bowes, who is based in Noupoort near Colesberg in De Aar diocese, said Satanists used various tactics such as “instilling curiosity in the demon world” to attract new members.

“Once you fall into that, they manipulate you. Later comes confusion. Then they control you by fear. The last stage is possession.”

Fr Bowes, who regularly performs demonic exorcisms in small towns in the Karoo, said he is not afraid of his work as he has “God’s protection”.

“I am 81 now. There aren’t many priests in this, and there is an increase in Satanism,” he said.

“Many don’t want to go into this kind of work. But I am not afraid. If God is for us, who can be against us? Why must I be afraid? God is there. St Michael is always defending us,” he said.

Fr Bowes named Durban, Bloemfontein and Krugersdorp as particular hot spots for Satanists.

He said he recently visited a school in the Kalahari where children between the ages of six and 11 had urged their principal to join a Satanic group. “The principal asked me to come” after that.

“Some of the children said they spent whole nights causing accidents and drink the blood of victims,” the priest said.

“During the day they are so tired they can’t take in any lessons. They sit in class and stare at the teacher with blank expressions.”

Fr Bowes said he works with the police, performing exorcisms when required.

“As an exorcist I perform almost weekly...

I deal with a lot of these things... I have been to the Kalahari three times. What people tell me is that Satanism is found in every town.”

Satanic groups work mostly at night.

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They are well organised, with groups that focus on different activities.

“Some groups specialise in breaking up marriages. Others cause trouble in churches.

They get up to all sorts of things,” Fr Bowes said.

Catholic experts have noted that occult activity and the resulting need for exorcisms has reached a critical level worldwide.

The International Association of Exorcists (AIE) met for their 12th annual conference in Rome last October. According to AIE spokesperson Dr Valter Cascioli, an increasing number of bishops and cardinals asked to participate in the conference due to an increase in demonic activity.

“It’s becoming a pastoral emergency,” Dr Cascioli told the Catholic News Agency.

“At the moment the number of disturbances of extraordinary demonic activity is on the rise.”

The rise in demonic activity can be attributed to a decreasing faith among individuals, coupled with an increase in curiosity and participation in occult activity such as Ouija boards and seances, Dr Cascioli said.

The South African Police Service said that occult-related crimes are on the increase, with dozens of cases being investigated in Gauteng.

The police have advised parents and guardians to be on the lookout for signs that their children are experimenting with satanic groups. These include rebellion, low self-worth, drug abuse, animal mutilation, increased hatred and body markings.

Common markings include the goat’s head, inverted cross, skull, pentagram, a black rose and the swastika.

People who witness or suspect occult behaviour are advised to report these to the police and to approach their priest.

Drug abuse is the common denominator in all levels of Satanism and is a primary source of mind-altering experiences for satanists.

The police occult unit also investigates muti murders, spiritual intimidation and astral coercion, curses intended to cause harm, Continued on page 3

Rome, Assisi, Florence, Siena, Padua, Milan, Venice and more PLUS ONE DAY IN PARIS! 6 - 18 September 2015

2

The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

LOCAL

SA delegates visit troubled South Sudan STAFF rePorTer & BronWen dACHS

T

HE Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI), an associate body of the SACBC, recently visited South Sudan to get first-hand experience of what is happening there, and to pave the way for continuing its relationship with the troubled state.

The “last born” country in Africa—it gained independence in July 2011—“is rich in oil and other natural resources, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time”, said Danisa Khumalo, DHPI director. He was accompanied by Mike Pothier, research director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

“It has been a blessing in that the country’s economy is kept going by the oil revenue, but it is also a curse as it is a source of conflict with neighbouring Sudan, and a complicating factor in the current civil war between the South Sudanese government and rebel forces.”

The war is concentrated in three states—Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei—which together hold almost all the country’s oil reserves.

The DHPI held a number of meetings with stakeholders in the capital, Juba. These revealed that many church leaders, including those of the Catholic Church, were saddened by the failure of the country’s political leaders to negotiate a peace to resolve the conflict.

“The political leadership is more focused on trying to secure posts in government than on bringing peace to the rest of the nation,” Mr Khumalo noted.

A major problem in the country is the proliferation of guns. An NGO worker based in Juba told the DHPI delegation that “the gun has become a decision-maker in our society. Anyone wanting something takes a gun and goes into the bush.”

Peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have been going on for more than 14 months, with no end

danisa Khumalo (back fourth left) and Mike Pothier (front second left) visited South Sudan under the auspices of the denis Hurley Peace Institute. in sight. Ben Gideon, who represents a civil society coalition in the peace talks, said there were still areas the warring parties had not agreed on.

These included, firstly, the system of government and whether or not it should be federal; secondly, the status of the army, as currently there were soldiers fighting on both sides; and thirdly, the issue of public debt and liabilities, both sides having been asked to declare how

Church reps at Daily Maverick event

South Sudan are appealing to our partners not to leave us alone.”

Church leaders in South Sudan have said they see no political will for peace and therefore will start a peacemaking process themselves.

“We speak with one voice,” 25 representatives of member churches of the South Sudan Council of Churches, including Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba, said in a statement following a weeklong meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

Noting that in the past 18 months “all our guidance has been ignored”, the Church leaders said they will “take action to bring peace and to begin reconciliation”.

“There appears to be no trust between the parties and no political will for peace, they noted.

South Sudan’s conflict is largely a power struggle between leaders surrounded by “advisers, aides, politicians, generals, hangers-on and spoilers”, the Church leaders said.

Innovative parish saves money by going it alone

By dylAn APPolIS

S

OUTHERN Cross columnist and 702/Cape Talk host Gushwell Brooks and Fr Russell Pollitt SJ attended the Daily Maverick’s annual “The Gathering” event in Johannesburg. Both write for the independent news website. “‘The Gathering’ is an annual event in which the Daily Maverick brings together some of the most influential minds in South Africa to discuss the state of the country,” Fr Pollitt explained.

“It is important that we, the Church, are at these kinds of discussions. We need to listen carefully to the narrative so that we can discern how and what it is that God is calling us to do and be in South Africa today.”

A number of panels were hosted throughout the day and there was an opportunity for participants to ask questions to the panellists.

In the first panel discussion, African National Congress Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile criticised the spending on President Jacob

they have been financing the war.

The Catholic Church in Southern Africa, through the DHPI, has a long history of solidarity with the Catholic Church and the people of South Sudan.

In 2008, Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg undertook the first solidarity visit to the local Church, and in 2011 Cardinal Wilfrid Napier led a DHPI delegation that observed the independence referendum.

Last year the DHPI and CPLO facilitated the training of a person who is now running the South Sudan Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, and the DHPI has also helped many NGOs working towards creating a document called “The South Sudan We Want”.

“Even with the peace talks having reached a stalemate, the people of South Sudan treasure the solidarity that the SACBC continues to offer them,” Mr Khumalo said.

One priest, Fr Charles Abbud, said: “We in the Catholic Church of

By dylAn APPolIS

A director of the Jesuit institute Fr russell Pollitt SJ (left) and Southern Cross columnist Gushwell Brooks at the daily Maverick’s “The Gathering” in Johannesburg.

Zuma’s Nkandla residence.

Speaking on the panel for business and economics, analyst Moeletsi Mbeki said that the lack of electoral competition has led to corruption in South Africa.

“You will never overcome corruption if there is no political competition. That is the crux of single party dominance,” Mr Mbeki said.

“A number of the issues discussed are matters which are important to the Church because many of our people are affected by corruption, poor education and events like [the] Marikana [massacre],” Fr Pollitt said.

“It is in the complexity of contemporary South Africa that we are called to proclaim the Kingdom of God,” he said.

PARISH saved R100 000 when parishioners took to doing necessary upgrading work themselves.

St Clare’s parish in Elsie’s River, Cape Town, thoroughly investigated the cost implications of upgrading the church’s parking area, whose tarmac had been deteriorating.

“Potholes and nasty cracks had developed. Water stagnated in the holes. All the patchwork through the years had left the parking area very unsightly,” said parish priest Fr Job Kaleekaparampil MSFS. Various quotes were obtained and options considered. After much consultation, the maintenance committee decided that paving would be the best and cheapest solution.

The maintenance team decided to procure materials themselves, giving the labour to a contractor.

“The total expenditure for this

Fr Job Kaleekaparampil looking on as the construction of the new paving for the parking area is being laid down at St Clare’s parish in elsie’s river. project is about R225 000 instead of R324 000, the cheapest quote we received,” Fr Kaleekaparampil said.

“In the end there will be a cost saving of more than R100 000.”

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The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

3

With God in prison STAFF rePorTer

M Fr yves la Fontaine with his booklet on the spirituality of Abbott Francis Pfanner. (Photo: Mauricio langa)

Views on spirituality of Abbott Pfanner

By MAUrICIo lAnGA

T

HE “historical commission” which examined thoroughly the whole documentation of the life and work of Abbot Francis Pfanner, chiefly from a historical and archival point of view, has ended its work.

Its report was handed in by its president, Br Philippe Denis OP, lecturer in Church history, to Mgr Paul Nadal, episcopal delegate of Stanislaw Dziuba of Umzimkulu diocese.

With this, an important phase of the diocesan inquiry in the sainthood cause of the Austrian-born founder of the Mariannhill Missionaries is over.

Fr Yves La Fontaine, the postulator for the cause, has published a booklet entitled The Spirituality of Abbot Francis Pfanner and Consecrated Life Today.

The booklet is based on a talk on Abbot Pfanner which Fr La Fontaine gave to religious at the Emaus Heritage Centre in Umzimkulu earlier this year.

“I simply got the idea that I should take this opportunity to make my contribution available to a wider public of religious,” he said.

“And it was by looking more closely at what Pope Francis expected from religious during this special Year of Consecrated Life that I began to prepare myself.”

In the booklet he draws from his own experience in the consecrated life through the spirituality of Abbot Pfanner. “It did some good to me personally. Then I thought: ‘Why could it not help others then?’ ” He described the booklet as “a kind of examination of conscience in the light of elements which can be found in any religious institute”.

“Such a soul-searching can certainly be profitable for any religious.

With God’s grace it can lead to some conversions, to a greater conformity to Christ’s sentiments, to true joy, as Pope Francis hopes, and to a lifestyle that will really be an alternative way of living in today’s world,” Fr La Fontaine said. n The Spirituality of Abbot Francis Pfanner and Consecrated Life Today can be bought for R40 a copy from the Monastery repository on 031 700 1031.

Satanism on the rise in SA Continued from page 1 voodoo, vampirism and animal mutilation and human sacrifice.

Last year two Soweto schoolgirls, Thandeka Moganetsi, 15, and Chwayita Rathazayo, 16, were murdered in a satanic ritual.

Their bodies were found dumped in Dobsonville. Both had cuts on their hands and necks. Black candles and razor blades were found at the scene.

Two teenage boys were arrested in connection with the murder.

Investigator Lieutenant-Colonel Hennie de Jager told the Johannes-

burg daily The Star that his unit had seen an increase in occult-related crimes in Gauteng.

“Occult-related crimes are increasing, especially in black areas, where boys and girls are promised fame and riches.”

He said his unit had recently received calls from parents who had told investigators their children were drinking blood.

“It’s all over Gauteng. It pops up, goes down and then appears again,” Lt Col de Jager said.

ICHAEL (not his real name, like all prisoners quoted in this report) took part in a five-day workshop themed “In the image of God” for 22 peer-educator inmates from Devon, Nigel and Modderbee Correctional Services in Gauteng.

The workshop was organised by the Missionary of the Sacred Heart’s HIV/Aids Response in Modderbee prison at the request of the internal social upliftment programme for inmates.

The workshop was originally developed for youth and aims to help young people to better understand who they are as human beings created in the image of God. Three experienced facilitators—Veronica, Elton and Msawake, all in their early twenties and from Holy Rosary parish in Ivory Park, Midrand—led the workshop. The prison environment was new to them but they adapted well.

Sacred Heart Father Herman Van Dijck helped them with the preparation and daily debriefing, and attended two days in prison.

“It was tough, and in the beginning scary for me as a woman among all these men, but we managed well and now I feel I have become a real facilitator. We were really accepted,” said Veronica, who has six years of experience as a facilitator for youth.

Msawake said: “I was scared in the beginning: the check-in, the wait for the warder, passing the gates No 1, No 2, till No 13. But the openness of the inmates and wardens released my tensions,

Facilitators of the five-day workshop “In the image of God” outside Modderbee prison. and very soon I felt at ease.”

The inmates liked the first part of the workshop best.

“God sees me as unique, special, precious, and [in] his own image, even here in prison,” one said.

During an exercise titled “My Tree of Life”, Thabo, who already is 19 years into his life sentence, said: “When I was young my father warned me of the bad friends I frequented with, but I did not listen and ended up here for life.

“Please help young people to listen to their parents and elders.”

The reflection on “feelings” and how to handle them revealed an urgent need for anger management training among the inmates.

When reflecting on masturbation and homosexual activity— both very common in prisons—the inmates shared their experiences openly and sometimes in a rather crude language: an eye-opener for the facilitators.

At the handing out of the certificates Mpho thanked the facilitators: “Thank you for respecting us and listening to us; you gave us back our dignity.”

“Our aim is to reach about a thousand inmates in all correctional services Institutions in Gauteng,” Fr van Dijck said. “This is being made possible by a grant from the National Lotteries Development Fund Trust.

4

The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Vatican crackdown as US archbishops resign

By MArIA WIerInG

(Photo: Alessandro Bianchi, reuters/CnS)

Pope: I’m coming to Africa

By AlVAro de JUAnA

P

OPE Francis has confirmed that he is planning to travel to Africa in November, with the Central African Republic, Uganda and possibly Kenya on his itinerary.

“God willing, I will be in Africa in November. In the Central African Republic first and then Uganda,” he told a gathering of priests in Rome.

He added that it “is possible” that he may also go to Kenya, but said this is not certain, because of organisational challenges.

He noted that the trip will come “before the presidential transition in the Central African Republic, and Uganda after the 50th anniversary of the martyrs”.

Pope Francis had already announced his intention to travel to Africa during a press conference while returning from a trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January.

Last year the bishops of Uganda invited the pontiff to their country to mark the 50th anniversary of the canonisation of the martyrs of

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.

Uganda.

The 22 Ugandan Martyrs were killed by the king in the 1880s for refusing to recant their faith. They were canonised on October 18, 1964

by Pope Paul VI. Pope Francis’ other destination, the Central African Republic, has been gripped by a civil war since December 2012.

The conflict has died down since the presence of international peacekeepers was enlarged in late 2014, but the nation remains unstable.

On May 15, Pope Francis met with bishops from the Central African Republic.

He told them that they “must play an indispensable prophetic role during the current institutional transition, recalling and reflecting the witness of the fundamental values of justice, truth and honesty, which are the foundation of any renewal, promoting dialogue and peaceful coexistence between members of different societies and ethnicities, thus encouraging reconciliation and social cohesion, which is the key to the future”.—CNA

I

N line with his tough stance on clerical abuse, Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of two US bishops and will see another go to trial for abuse crimes.

Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche of St Paul and Minneapolis tendered their resignations after the state attorney’s office filed criminal and civil charges against the archdiocese alleging it failed to protect three boys who were sexually abused in 20082010 by Curtis Wehmeyer, a former priest of the archdiocese.

Wehmeyer was convicted of the abuse and is serving a five-year prison sentence. He was dismissed from the priesthood in March.

In a statement, Archbishop Nienstedt said he submitted his resignation to Pope Francis “to give the archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face”.

“The Catholic Church is not our church, but Christ’s Church, and we are merely stewards for a time,” he said. “My leadership has unfortunately drawn away from the good works of his Church and those who perform them. Thus, my decision to step down.”

Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, welcomed the resignations.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl said in reaction to the resignations: “I’m hopeful that one...of the good things to come out of this” is to see “what the Church

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Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop John nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop lee Piche of St Paul and Minneapolis. The archdiocese was criminally charged with failing to protect children. (Photo: dianne Towalski/ Catholic Spirit/CnS) has learned from this sad experience”, and view the Church as a model of the “accountability required of all institutions”, not just the Church.

A

former Vatican nuncio will stand trial in a Vatican court on charges of the sexual abuse of minors and possession of child pornography.

Jozef Wesolowski, the laicised former nuncio to the Dominican Republic, is accused of “a number of offences” committed between 2008 and the date of his arrest in September 2014.

Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president of the tribunal of Vatican City State, ordered the trial, which will start on July 11.

The criminal charges against the Polish national were possible after Pope Francis approved new and ex-

panded criminal laws, which became applicable to all Vatican employees around the world.

Any direct employee of the Holy See, which includes those working in a Vatican office or nunciature, can face a criminal trial at the Vatican as well as face criminal prosecution in the country where the crimes occurred.

The new amendments, which went into effect in September 2013, also brought Vatican law into detailed compliance with several international treaties the Vatican has signed.

In complying with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Vatican’s new laws defined and set out penalties for specific crimes against minors, including child prostitution, sexual violence against children and producing or possessing child pornography.—CNS

Muslim leaders denounce persecution of Christians

T

HE leaders of four branches of Islam in Lebanon have denounced attacks against Christians in the region.

In a statement they condemned “religiously motivated attacks against Eastern Christians, including attacks against their homes, villages, property and places of worship, when in fact the Prophet had recommended that they be respected, protected and defended”.

Such attacks, “like those suffered by other Muslims and non-Muslims belonging to other faiths and cultures, like the Yazidis, are tantamount to aggression against Islam itself”, they said.

The June summit included representatives of the Sunni, Shia, Druze and Alawite communities.

The summit also “reiterated its faith in respect for human dignity, private and public freedoms, especially religious freedom, and its rejection of any coercion in religion or in the name of religion”.

It also denounced terrorism and invited “Muslims from all schools in Lebanon and the Arab and Islamic world to focus on the fundamentals of faith of the Muslim doctrine and avoid misinterpretations that make Islam say what it does not say”.—CNA

earlier in the year Catholic, orthodox and Muslim religious leaders met for an interfaith summit in Bkerke, lebanon, where they affirmed the “essential role” of the Christian presence in the Middle east. (Photo: Mychel Akl/CnS)

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

5

Ennio Morricone Pope: Parents, your kids watch you premieres first Mass C By lAUrA IerACI

S

IX decades and hundreds of film and television scores later, award-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone premiered his first-ever Mass in the church of the Gesù, the Jesuits’ main church in Rome.

A parishioner at the historic church in the city centre, Mr Morricone composed the Mass to mark the 200th anniversary of the universal reconstitution of the Society of Jesus.

The 86-year-old took up his conductor’s baton for the performance in the church where the Jesuit order’s founder, St Ignatius of Loyola, is buried. Jesuit Father Adolfo Nicolas, the head of the Jesuits, was in attendance, along with former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and hundreds of Jesuit alumni.

Mr Morricone conducted Rome’s Sinfonietta orchestra throughout the 45-minute piece. A dual chorus, made up of 100 singers from the National Academy of St Cecilia and the Rome Opera, was directed by Stefano Cucci.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Mr Morricone said his wife had been asking him to compose a Mass for years but he could never put his mind to it. He finally did upon the invitation of the Jesuits.

Mr Morricone said the invitation to compose the Mass for the Jesuit bicentenary came from the rector of the Gesù one morning in the square in front of the church in 2012.

By January 2013, Mr Morricone showed the first pages of the composition to Pope Francis in the sacristy of the Gesù, when the pontiff celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving for the canonisation for St Peter Faber, said Fr Michael Rogers SJ, who was present that day.

Though commissioned for the bicentenary (1814-2014), Mr Morricone decided to dedicate the Mass to the first Jesuit pope, naming it Missa Papae Francisci.

The Mass is not the first collaboration between the Jesuits and Mr Morricone, who had composed the soundtrack for The Mission. The 1986 Academy Award-winning film tells the story of 18th-century Span-

Italian composer ennio Morricone has composed his first-ever Mass.

(Photo: rafael Marchante, reuters/CnS) ish Jesuit Father Gabriel, his ministry among the indigenous people in South America, and the dynamics that led to the suppression of the order in 1773.

After composing music to mark the suppression, Mr Morricone said he saw the invitation to compose this Mass, marking the order’s restoration and during the pontificate of the first Jesuit pope, as things coming full circle.

He said he considers these “coincidences” to be “almost miraculous”. He described his Mass as “serene” with moments of “drama” and said he is “satisfied” with the result.

Fr Rogers, who tweeted about the performance, said that Mr Morricone’s composition is “absolutely beautiful”.

“It is a concert piece though, not for Mass on a Sunday,” he said.

Fr Rogers said the introit, or entrance antiphon, seems to “try to evoke meditation of the Incarnation as in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius”; the Kyrie communicates “a sense of sorrow before God”, and the Sanctus “evokes a sense of entering into the mystery of heaven”.

The Italian state television, RAI, recorded the performance, which is available online at http://bit.ly/1GA49Tj.— CNS

Pope: Concern for the poor is not communism

By CArol GlATZ

F

OCUSING on poverty and sacrificing for the poor are the heart of the Gospel, not signs of communism, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass.

Furthermore, if Christians don't dig deep and generously open up their wallets, they do not have “genuine faith”, the pope said.

He said people often hear, “Oh, this priest speaks about poverty too much, this bishop talks about poverty, this Christian, this sister talk about poverty. Well, they’re a bit communist, aren’t they?”

But “poverty is precisely at the heart of the Gospel. If we were to remove poverty from the Gospel, people would understand nothing about Jesus’ message”, he said, according to Vatican Radio.

Being fully Christian means being rich in spirit, faith, the Word, wisdom and zeal—things that Jesus has taught and offered all people, he said.

Make sure, however, that this huge amount of “wealth in the heart” also impacts the wallet, he said, because “when the faith doesn’t reach your pockets, it is not a genuine faith”.

Pope Francis said the “theology of poverty” is based on the fact that Jesus—in his divine richness—became poor; he lowered himself and sacrificed himself to save humanity.

The Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, means “letting oneself be enriched by the poverty of Christ and not wanting to be rich with those riches that are not from Christ”, he said.

Christian giving goes beyond plain charity, which is good, but isn’t the “Christian poverty” believers are called to embrace, he said.

“Christian poverty is: I give to the poor what is mine, not the excess, but also what is necessary” for one’s own wellbeing.

Christians do this because they know that sacrificing in such a way enriches them, he said. “And why does the poor person enrich me?

Because Jesus said that he himself is in the poor.”

When people strip themselves of the material, “Jesus works within” them and they are enriched; when people give to the poor, Jesus is also working in the poor, “in order to enrich me when I do this”, the pope said.

The clearest sign Jesus left of how giving enriches others, the pope said, is the gift of himself in the Eucharist. “He becomes ‘bread’ for us.”

That is why the “theology of poverty” is the heart of the Gospel and not “an ideology. It is precisely this mystery, the mystery of Christ who lowered himself, was humiliated, made himself poor in order to enrich us”.—CNS

HILDREN need to see their parents kiss each other, compliment each other and resolve arguments peacefully, Pope Francis said.

“Dear parents, your children need to discover by watching you that it is beautiful to love another,” the pope told parents participating in the annual pastoral conference of the diocese of Rome.

Parents with their children preparing for first Communion and confirmation, catechists and priests joined the pope for an evening meeting in St Peter’s Square. The event marked the beginning of the diocesan conference, which focused this year on transmitting the faith.

As the pope entered the square, he pointed to two boys wearing yellow shirts and invited them to climb into the popemobile to help him greet the crowd.

Although he had a prepared text, he made long impromptu additions to his speech, including recounting the story of a little boy who told the pope he had seen his parents kiss. It is a “beautiful witness”, the pope said.

Children watch their parents carefully, the pope said. “They watch a lot and when they see that dad and mom love each other, the children grow in that climate of love, happiness and security.”

And they suffer when they see “dad and mom every single day screaming at each other, insulting each other, maybe even hitting each other”, he said. “Dad and mom, when you fall into these sins, do think about the fact that the first victims are your children, your own flesh.”

A man and a woman who love one another and decide to marry and

A young girl smiles as she embraces Pope Francis during an audience for families participating in the pastoral conference of the diocese of rome. (Photo: Giampiero Sposito, reuters/CnS) start a family, the pope said, have the exaulted vocation of being similar to the triune God: loving one another in their differences and creating new life.

“Being parents is based on the diversity of being male and female, as the Bible reminds us,” he said. “This is the first and most basic, constitutive difference in the human being.”

Pope Francis insisted parents must attentively counter the “ideological colonisation” of their children, including when they are told by teachers or informed in their school books that differences between male and female are unimportant or are invented social conventions.

Marriage, he said, is a call “to love one another with their differences” and to help the other become “more

a man and more a woman. This is the artisanal work of marriage and the family each day: helping one another grow, thinking of the other, the husband of his wife and the wife of her husband. This is communion”.

In a world where people often are afraid of differences, Christian couples need to show first their children and then their societies that differences are a source of enrichment because it “becomes complementarity, but also reciprocity”.

Growing up, children need to see what it means to be a man or a woman and to have proof that their parents’ differences are something positive, Pope Francis said.

“We men learn to recognise, through the women we meet in our life, the extraordinary beauty that women bear. And women make the same journey (of discovery), learning from men that man is different and has his way of feeling, understanding and living,” the pope said.

Pope Francis also told the families gathered for the evening meeting that when they experience real difficulty, they have an obligation to their children to seek help and support.

And if they get to the point where “separation seems inevitable”, he said, “know that the Church holds you in its heart and that your educating role does not end: you are and will always be dad and mom”.

Even if couples are unable to live together, the pope said, they must find a way to work together harmoniously.

“Please, do not use your children as hostages!” he said. “Never, ever speak ill of the other to your children! Never! They are the first victims of this battle between you."—CNS

6

The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Pope’s green blueprint

L

IKE the saint of Assisi whose name he adopted upon his pontifical election in 2013, Pope Francis uses his platform to speak truth to power.

His first completely own encyclical—2013’s Lumen Fidei was almost all Pope Benedict XVI’s work—draws from St Francis the title Laudato Si, which is the medieval Italian form for the phrase “Be Praised”, used by the saint in his famous “Canticle of the Creatures”.

In choosing the title, Pope Francis immediately ascribes ownership of the earth to God, not the humans who dwell on it.

The encyclical reiterates the Catholic teaching that humans have only stewardship over the earth which is God’s. Therefore anything that harms it is acting against God. God’s creation, the title implies, should be praised—not raped.

In the encyclical, Pope Francis attacks the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods that God has placed on earth.

“We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life,” Pope Francis writes.

The non-Latin title also indicates that this encyclical is addressed not only to Catholics but to “every person living on this planet”. And Pope Francis takes particular aim at those who place profits above stewardship.

Quoting Pope Paul VI, he says: “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying [the earth] and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation.”

Most notably, the pope cuts through the self-interested blather of climate change deniers. Expressing the scientific consensus, he acknowledges that climate change is mostly due to human activity, especially “the intensive use of fossil fuels, which is at the heart of the worldwide energy system”.

The pope calls for a radical change in behaviour, by consumers and especially by industry and governments.

The industrial degradation of the earth harms above all the poor, as several popes, going back to John XXIII, already noted long before Pope Francis.

The day before he released the encyclical, the pope told a general audience: “Our ‘house’ is being ruined, and that hurts everyone— especially the poorest among us.”

He calls for urgent action to develop policies to reduce greenhouse gases, including substituting fossil fuels and developing renewable energy sources. The technology for this exists, but not the political will.

Who will tell big industry and their henchmen in the corridors of political power that their greed for profit must be subordinated to the welfare of all?

In December the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris will discuss a global agreement to decrease greenhouse gas emissions—a decrease that must significantly beat current (largely unkept) pledges if we are to avert the worst effects of climate change.

Before that, in September, the pope will address the UN and the US Congress; climate change will doubtless feature strongly in both addresses.

He will speak truth to power, as he does in Laudato Si: “The myopia of power politics delays the inclusion of a far-sighted environmental agenda within the overall agenda of governments.”

Vested interests clearly regard the pope’s message to be powerful. For months before the release of Laudato Si, the encyclical and Pope Francis himself were subjected to attack by those who stand to lose from ecological responsibility and by their mouthpieces—even within Catholic circles.

An Italian conservative website went so far as to publish a leaked draft version, allegedly in a bid to undermine the effect of the encyclical when it was released.

These vested interests fear the impact of the pope’s clear and forthright words, which are backed by centuries of Catholic teaching and an abundant body of scientific inquest.

Pope Francis has no material or ideological self-interest to declare in the question of climate change.

His verdict is devastating to those who place profit and comforts above the wellbeing of the earth on which our descendants must live.

With Laudato Si the pope has given Catholics, and all who are concerned about ecological degradation, a blueprint for articulating the defence of our earth.

Now we must use it.

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.

Stewardship of nature is the issue

I

REFER to your article “Speaker: animals, plants have rights” (June 3). This is a much-debated topic among many environmentalist and animal lovers.

I am a biologist and have worked with animals all my life. One of the speakers at the eco-justice evening hosted by the Edmund Rice Network claims that man does not “hold dominion over other forms of life.” This, of course, goes against scripture (Gen 1:27-31).

Here is the problem; man does have dominion over the created universe, but this places firmly on

True need for home visits

B

RAVO to Fr Kevin Reynolds for his article on home visiting in parishes (June 3) and to you for publishing it!

For many, many years I have espoused such sentiments among my friends and members of prayer groups but never have I had the guts to really go public as Fr Reynolds has done in advocating the practice of home visiting by our parish priests.

Fr Reynolds has opened a hornets’ nest and I believe many priests in our country will complain on many counts, and doubtless with some justification, considering the size of some parishes.

However, it is my hope that priests will see his call as a challenge to re-examine their existing priorities, and to make every effort to make at least some time—even if only one day a week—to respond to this call, even if it means it may take a year or more to make an impression on this task.

I lived for 30 years at the same address in a fairly small parish without being visited even once.

But we parishioners are also to blame. So many of us are content, and even determined, to remain anonymous. We shy away from contact with others. We don’t want to identify ourselves by, for example, putting a nametag on our clothing so that others can see our name when we make the “Peace” greeting during Mass, or afterwards outside.

I wonder, is it extreme shyness or is it Anglo-Saxon reserve gone to extremes? Why are we all so reticent to get to know our fellow parishioners and Catholics in our own neighbourhood?

The need for home visits by a priest first came to me when I volunteered to make 30 calls for my parish to solicit “planned giving”. What I encountered in those calls was just staggering! In many instances I learnt that the people needed to be

his shoulders the responsibility to be a good steward of creation.

We have the God-given right to use animals, plants and the environment, but we also have the Godgiven instruction to be responsible users and not abusers.

We have not been good at this at all; in fact we have been very selfish and greedy and have not done what God asked of us: “All I’ve created is yours to use but you must look after it very well.”

That animals and plants have rights is also a badly thought-out idea. We all know, or should know, visited by our parish priest.

I believe the fertile ground for home visits has never been more apparent than today when so many marriages involve a non-Catholic partner. Priests, please just do it.

You won’t be disappointed!

Ted Hinton, Johannesburg

No Sensus fidelium

I

N his editorial of June 3, the editor commits an error which is most unlike him: he jumps from sensus fidei to sensus fidelium without any reason given.

The sensus fidelium, a term not used in Catholic Church language, could easily suggest a popular opinion-type process.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives a neat definition in the glossary of the sensus fidei in the words: “A supernatural appreciation of the faith...shown by the universal consent in matters of faith and morals manifested by the whole body of the faithful under the guidance of the magisterium [the pope and bishops]”, referring to the full quotation in article 92 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium.

This in no way suggests a popular opinion poll.

In Matthew 7:15 and even more so in 1 John 4:1 we are warned against false prophets. Perhaps for us the most dangerous is what the Germans call the “Zeitgeist”, the spirit of the times.

As Pope Francis keeps on telling us, which confirms what we know, Western culture and its offshoots, as some South Africans are, has sold its soul to materialism and finance. 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

Contact Ian on 021447 6334 ian@noah.org.za

Genuine progress in Catholic teaching is always in line with what has gone before, and is substantiated by references to and quotations from previous Church documents. This would not be possible in the issue under discussion.

If the state wishes to give some legal standing to permanent union between gay people it is entitled to do so, even though the Church may not approve; but then these unions should not be called “marriage”.

It is a bad habit of Western society to stretch the meaning of a word to suit current fashion, as if language has no tradition.

Fr Bonaventure Hinwood OFM, Pretoria

Sermon styles

R

EFERRING to Fr Ralph de Hahn’s letter “Sermons need engaged listeners” (June 3), about two years ago I made it a point to attend services at other Christian denominations, with some startling results.

As most other denominations have only the liturgy of the Word, the focus is on that, and some serious thought is put into the structure and content of the service.

Generally speaking, the Bible texts were read in extended versions to allow the congregation to understand the context of the passage.

The preacher and sermon is generally of a higher standard than in the Catholic Church.

Questions are asked of the assembled, answers encouraged, a variance in presentation style is employed— at the pulpit, walking around, sitting among the people and, as Fr De Hahn pointed out, very little reading from a prepared text.

Finally, a flexible structure employed to keep us on our toes.

Imagine if we went to Mass, started with a short contrition, then the liturgy of the Eucharist, followed by the liturgy of the Word.

Surely, filled with the Spirit after receiving the Holy Eucharist, it would engage me to be better able to absorb the Word of God. Dieter Schauerte, Hillcrest, KZN

THE JouRnEyS oF A LIFETIME!

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that with every right there is a corresponding responsibility. If animals have rights, what are their responsibilities?

Further, if all animals have the right to exist—that is, the right to life—what is our stance regarding pests like cockroaches, fleas and so on. Or are we being selective? All means all, not only those animals we can relate to.

The issue is that we, as humans, have not been good stewards of God’s creation. The challenge is how to change man’s greed and teach him to think of his responsibility to protect God’s creation.

Deacon Tony de Freitas PhD, Durban

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PERSPECTIVES

Are we prophets of doom or hope?

E VERYONE talks about our country’s lost moral compass. Our government keeps stumbling from one corruption scandal into another.

If it’s not Nkandla, it is a big toilet construction scandal in the Eastern Cape municipalities that involves senior officials of the ruling party’s family members, or the Free State awarding a total of 233 contracts worth R165,2 million to councillors, employees and their family members, according to the Auditor General.

Less talked about by our media, is the corruption in the private sector. About R150 billion leaves our continent annually through “illicit financial flows”, according to an African Union report.

The Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) released a report titled “The Bermuda Connection”, which reveals that the platinum mining company Lonmin (of Marikana notoriety) has for years been moving hundreds of millions out of South Africa through the use of tax havens, transfer pricing and profit shifting.

According to the testimony filed in the High Court by Conrad Benn, De Beers, in coalition with the Swiss-based and Israeliowned Steinmetz Group, “are working in collusion with [Levy] Rapoo (the chief executive of the diamond regulator) and stealing from the nation of South Africa” to undermine Section 74 of the Diamond Act, which stipulates that at least 40% of sales exceeding R5 billion must benefit local companies. Let’s say nothing of the FIFA bribe mess.

Meantime, we keep holding seminar after seminar, and conference after conference, aimed at tackling our ethical problems and finding a prosperous new way for the continent. All political parties talk about working for the poor.

Yet the poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer.

I think we can safely say that we have reached a stage—observed by Livy during the reign of Augustus in the Roman era of early first century AD—where we can en-

dure neither our vices nor the cures provided for them.

What, then, is to be done? We can indulge in prophecy of doom, or be agents of hope.

In biblical tradition, the prophet Jeremiah is usually misconstrued as one of the prophets of doom, but he actually was a prophet of hope.

Prophets of doom tend to be optimistic but not hopeful. Hopefulness is what comes after an authentic diagnosis of the situation; the courage to roll up one’s sleeves in the belief that if we all work together for the common good things shall change for the better, no matter how bad the situation seems to be.

L

isten to Jeremiah writing to the Jews in Babylonian exile, while they sat wailing and crying next to the rivers of Babylon: “Build your houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them…seek the peace of the city I have caused you to be carried away.”

Now contrast that with modern prophets of doom in our public space, who tell you to dust off your passports and pack your bags for Perth, because South Africa’s doom is imminent.

Jeremiah introduced an interesting thing into the history of the world,

A scene of poverty in Masiphumelele, Cape Town. (Photo: Sydney duval)

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

Pushing the Boundaries

through the Jewish people in exile. He understood the difficulties of being a minority in a land where people do not share your values. He told them to be true to their God, YHWH, who is universal and accessible anywhere (this was not so obvious then because of the association of God with the tabernacle)—to be loyal to their respective countries, economically and politically, while being true to their faith and a blessing to others regardless of their faith.

With this he established the universal nature of Jewish culture. He made them into creative minorities, born of adversity; a critical culture of internal agent-provocateur to world empires (governments), preferring prophets over kings, even if it stoned them sometimes. In death, kings lose power, but the influence of prophets is spread by their death.

When the influence of Christendom decreased in the West, the Church, in particular Pope Benedict XVI, picked up on this and pointed to the universal Church as the “Creative Minority” of the world, in accordance with the New Testament.

As a Creative Minority the Church now has a duty to sustain the universality of truth while being true to the Judeo-Christian God. It is easy to be a prophet of doom. In fact, the failure of South African minorities has always been in opting for the Cassandra role of condemnation whenever the situation was not under their control.

They have always refused to assimilate if assimilation was not on their terms.

They prefer to be captors than being captives: politically, economically and culturally. Hence they never find peace near the rivers of Babylon that Jeremiah preaches.

To be human, Christians, saints A LMOST 200 years since the formation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, I can attest to their work in South Africa because I am a product of these holy men of God. Their rich spirituality, inspired by founder St Eugene de Mazenod, is profound.

“Teach them to be first humans, then Christians and then saints,” St Eugene said.

It was an Oblate who baptised me.

Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein, then an assistant priest of St Theresa mission in Inchanga, near Durban, marked me with the indelible sign of Christianity, thus integrating me into the next level of the Oblates’ spirituality: that of being Christian.

In my 24 years of the life God has gifted me with, the torch of fire has always been burning in the mouths and actions of every Oblate I have encountered.

I have been greatly inspired by their preparations for the celebration of their 200 years of existence in 2016 (which, incidentally, begins just a few weeks after the centenary of one of the most famous Oblates, Archbishop Denis Eugene Hurley).

Their wristbands declare, “New Mission, New Heart and New Spirit”, a slogan that makes me realise that the world has changed in the 24 years since the future archbishop baptised me as much as it did in the 200 years since St Eugene founded the order.

The world has changed in ways that re-

Phiwokuhle Siyabonga Xulu

year of Consecrated life

A Mass in 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the death of St eugene de Mazenod, founder of the oblates of Mary Immaculate. (Photo from omiworld.org) quire a renewal in so many things. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate are zealous and eager to “renew” themselves to respond to the grief the world has accumulated.

It isn’t only the Oblates who need “a New Mission, a New Heart and a New Spirit”. We all are called to respond to the new mission of life that the world has presented to us. Every one of us must respond to the strife and human frailty with a new heart—and if we sanctify our souls with the Holy Spirit, then we will be renewed.

If we have been renewed we’ll also live in the spirituality of St Eugene de Mazenod as humans, Christians and saints-in-making.

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One Oblate priest who has inspired me over the years is Fr Vusi Penyane. He knows the problems and challenges but is more interested in the solutions.

We remember Christ in the Upper Room: he knew what awful fate awaited him; he knew that Judas would betray him; he knew that Peter would deny him three times.

But knowing all this did not stop him from showing love to the whole human race. He knew that his sacrifice was the solution to the world’s problems. His body and blood is exactly that we need(ed) in order to face the challenges that might hinder us in our spiritual renewal.

Christ lived in first-century Palestine, he lived in the early 19th century during the times of St Eugene de Mazenod, he lived 24 years ago when I was baptised, and he still lives today.

Through Christ we can learn, and help others learn, to be human, Christians and saints; and this we can achieve by renewing and refocusing our mission, hearts and spirits.

We pray for growth of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and a successful celebration of 200 years of existence in all four corners of the world.

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The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

More than charity General Intention: That political responsibility may be lived at all levels as a high form of charity.

W

E don’t often think of politicians, whether high and mighty or humble and lowly, as dispensers of charity. Or if they are, we would suspect that they are in reality seeking votes.

The intention might therefore seem a little starry-eyed to the cynical and world-weary.

But Pope Francis has a way of putting before us arresting challenges. Maybe this is because he is a Jesuit who takes seriously St Ignatius’ drive for the magis, the “more” or greater generosity towards God. For, in fact, the intention is asking for much more than mere “charity”.

The Latin word caritas means more than giving a few rands to the beggar at the robots. It really means selfless, loving dedication to others because God asks it of us. In other words “charity” is love of neighbour for the sake of the God who is love and who asks us to live in that love.

We desire caritas among our leaders, but the democratic world has largely settled for mediocrity in our political representatives. We get the leaders we deserve, the old saying tells us, and what we have got suggests that we don’t deserve very much.

Part of the problem is that dangerous detachment from politics or even contempt for it that familiarity can breed. The journalistic expression for this is “voter apathy”. People stop voting, which is a recipe for allowing low-grade politicians to take over.

Like Pope Francis, we must make more and greater demands on our public representatives.

More has been given to them, so more can be demanded.

They should know that they will be held to account for their stewardship of the “commonwealth” and their care for the common good.

Certainly we must pray, but here the old saying holds true: “God helps those who help themselves.”

A fraternal society Missionary Intention: That, amid social inequalities, Latin American Christians may bear witness to love for the poor and contribute to a more fraternal society.

ITHOUT forgetting the Holy Father’s beloved South America, we can surely turn to the “social inequalities” of our own place.

The intention speaks to us in South Africa where we have one of the most unequal societies in the world. Though it sounds like a media cliché these days, it’s still true.

Recent research suggests that extreme inequality is not only itself a social evil, but it also generates other social evils. The sense of hopelessness and resentment at the unfairness of extreme inequality makes those at the bottom of the ladder prey to drug and alcohol addiction, health problems and other forms of social dysfunction.

Interestingly enough, some of the research shows that those at the top end of very unequal societies also suffer more than they do in more equal societies, often from psychological disorders.

The executive director of Oxfam, Winnie Binyamina, in a recent interview said that if global inequality continued the way it is going, by 2016 the top 1% would own more than the rest of the world put together.

Oxfam’s appeal is for tax reform, not in the usual sense of lower taxes for the better off but a tax system that corrects extremes of inequality.

This is an absolutely crucial contemporary debate and some economists now argue that inequality holds economies back rather than energising them. This certainly makes sense if the inequality is extreme—why make any effort at all if your sense of being out of it as far as the economy is concerned is overwhelming?

There are many simple, practical ways in which we can show our “love for the poor”. “Contributing to a more fraternal society” is much more complicated. God grant us the wisdom and courage we need.

W

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8

The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

COMMUNITY

youth at Ss Peter and Paul parish in George were confirmed on the feast of Pentecost. Fr Johan Strydom, who stood in for Bishop Frank de Gouveia, and catechist Sandy Page are pictured in the back row. (Front from left) Brandon Wallis, duncan drever, declan o’Kelly, Angela Bonheim and Farren Prins.

Fr Sebastian rossouw oMI at his farewell Mass at regina Mundi parish in Soweto. Fr rossouw has been appointed to Christ the King parish in Kamieskroon, in the diocese of Keimoes-Upington.

Cardinal Wilfrid napier with Catholic Women’s league members Anna Accolla and Alisande Bradshaw of our lady of Fatima parish in durban north.

youth at don Bosco parish in robertsham, Johannesburg, were confirmed by Fr duncan Tsoke, Vicar General of the archdiocese of Johannesburg. (Photo: Mark Kisogloo) Bishop Graham rose consecrated St George church in Madadeni township, newcastle, dundee diocese, and confirmed 85 candidates from the five communities in the area. Consolata Father Giorgio Massa (left), who oversaw the building of the church and inaugurated it in 1995, was present at the ceremony. The Consolata Missionaries, who took over from the Franciscans, have been ministering in the township since 1991.

THIRTEEN SPECIAL DAYS! 13 to 26 February 2016

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.

Holy rosary Sister Brendan, a former teacher at Holy rosary School in Johannesburg, is pictured with some of her pupils from the Class of 1985.

Sr Brendan, now in her 90s, has remained an inspiration to all those that she has taught.

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...

The flower girls and boys of Mahobe mission in Umzimkulu diocese are pictured in the Corpus Christi procession. They scattered flowers and sang praises in honour of the Blessed Sacrament.

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The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

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The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

PERSONALITY

A life devoted to those at the margins Johan Viljoen’s religious journey took him from the Dutch Reformed Church via the Anglican priesthood to the Catholic Church. And always his life is devoted to the poor, as GUSHWell BrooKS explains.

H

E was born into the Dutch Reformed Church, went on to become an Anglican priest and wanted to pursue his religious life as a Catholic, either as a Jesuit or Franciscan priest.

The universe has steered Johan Viljoen on to a path which he has followed with no regrets, first with the Aids Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) and now on a new challenge as the new South African country director Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS).

Full disclosure: I now work with Mr Viljoen at JRS, of which I am now communications officer.

In light of recent upsurges of xenophobic violence, increased turmoil and conflict across our continent, ever more repressive immigration laws and hardened government approaches towards foreign nationals, Mr Viljoen has a huge task ahead in running JRS’ South Africa office.

Mr Viljoen’s work history does not read like a CV but rather as an enchanting biography.

As an Anglican priest, somewhere around 1990/91, he decided to live with black people and work with the social issues that afflicted the most brutalised and marginalised people in South Africa.

“I did not become a priest to run a parish; I wanted to work with the poor and refugees,” he says.

Mr Viljoen was based in Winterveld, north of Pretoria, in the then-Bophuthatswana. At the time the Mozambican civil war led to half a million seeking refuge in South Africa. A spiritual awakening and subsequently his conversion to Catholicism occurred while he was working alongside the Sisters of Mercy.

“The Catholic principle of Christ’s presence in the Holy Sacrament always fascinated me,” he says.

One day, during Mass, he rose to receive the sacrament of Communion, despite not yet being confirmed in the Church. The priest, Fr Jean Pierre Le Scour, advised him that he would not refuse

him the sacrament, but counselled that his reception of the Catholic Eucharist was a matter of conscience.

“As I received the Holy Sacrament, I felt a surge of power,” says Mr Viljoen.

Soon thereafter he resigned from the Anglican Church. He was received into the Catholic Church.

Not long after, he began working for the SACBC. He was working in Ressano Garcia, a town on the South African/Mozambican border, at a reception centre for the internally displaced, providing food and medical assistance.

On October 4, 1992, the Rome General Peace Accords were negotiated, with the crucial mediation of the Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio. It brought the 22year-long Mozambican civil war between Renamo and Frelimo to an end.

The International Organisation for Migration started efforts to resettle internally displaced refugees in Mozambique.

“It was a huge repatriation initiative, which took years.” says Mr Viljoen.

Johan Viljoen, the new Jesuit refugee Service South Africa country director. next to him is JrS human resource officer Mike nyamarebvu.

(Photo: lekgotla Mosebi/Jesuit refugee Service)

But another crisis—one that resonated with Viljoen on a personal basis—loomed. The South African HIV/Aids pandemic was spinning out of control, exacerbated by the Aids denialism of the Mbeki government.

“At some stage, I was being bout five years later, Fr Peter taken care of in a hospice, I Balleis SJ, then JRS’s Southern weighed 47 kg, my CD4 count was African director and now its inter- 95—that is extremely low—and national director, deployed Mr one of the nurses that was looking Viljoen to Angola since his work after me told me, ‘No man, you with Mozambican refugees gifted need to pull yourself together’,” him with the ability to speak Por- Mr Viljoen recalls. tuguese fluently.

This is when anti-retroviral Mr Viljoen’s mission saw him (ARV) treatment turned based in a remote part of his life around, literAngola, in the middle of The Catholic ally—two weeks later he the bush where he had to reported back to work! occupy a house owned by Church in Mr Viljoen says that the Society of Jesus in he had never sought Angola.

SA initiated high-profile jobs within The house needed the corporate or civil somany repairs, and with a world-first: ciety spheres. What has the assistance of two Jehis driving force a massive been suit scholastics he manthroughout all these aged to make a life in the is his sense of voroll-out of years tropical wilderness of Ancation, hence his desire gola during 1997. to serve as a Jesuit or ARVs The prolonged civil Franciscan priest. As a war in Angola had also result of his health, he seen to many internally displaced could never pursue this calling. and vulnerable people, people who “I find myself doing what I hid in the wild to escape Unita’s want to do. Things sometimes bullets. work out for the best. As a FrancisAs the Angolan civil war lulled, can or as a Jesuit, I would have had South Africa faced a renewed to take a vow of obedience. There refugee crisis as a result of the con- is a possibility that I might have flicts in the Democratic Republic been sent somewhere else and I of Congo and Somalia. would not have been able to work The SACBC feared that they with the poor,” he says. would not have sufficient resources As the world was preparing itto deal with this renewed refugee self for the apocalypse that the crises and so Mr Viljoen returned Y2K bug was supposed to bring at to set up the JRS offices in Pretoria the beginning of the year 2000, Mr and Johannesburg in 1998.

Viljoen was fighting another bug,

A

one that killed thousands needlessly.

He was appointed programme manager at SACBC’s Aids Desk (which was later elevated to Aids Office).

Pharmaceutical giant BristolMyers Squibb had endowed the SACBC and the Catholic Medical Mission Board with a five-year fund to combat the pandemic.

Mr Viljoen remembers the challenges Aids Desk faced: “At the time government had not rolled out an anti-retroviral scheme, our funding and work was largely based in homecare and hospices across 70 sites. We also funded projects aimed at assisting Aids orphans.”

A United States presidential fund changed everything.

T

he United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief—generally known by its acronym Pepfar—was the US government’s initiative to help save the lives of those suffering from HIV/Aids around the world.

The SACBC received a significant grant from Pepfar, enabling the Catholic Church to roll out an ARV programme. Where the Church’s work in the area of HIV/Aids had been confined to palliative care sites, it now initiated a world-first: a massive and ambitious project to roll out ARVs through existing palliative care units.

Nurses and caregivers were trained to take blood samples; a courier company had to be contracted to speedily convey these blood samples to the laboratory for testing; laptops and Internet

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connections needed to be provided to enable these caregivers and nurses to receive e-mails with results from the laboratory; and the courier company needed to deliver neatly packaged and sorted ARV prescriptions.

This SACBC Aids Desk initiative, Mr Viljoen says, was the first such programme anywhere in the world.

The programme’s footprint reached far and wide. It was dependent on caregivers (who in some cases were functionally illiterate) within the innermost depths of rural Kwa-Zulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

With 22 sites across South Africa and 45 000 people having directly benefited from ARV treatment, Mr Viljoen, Aids Desk head Sr Alison Munro OP, and their team achieved the impossible: to make massive inroads in curbing the impact of HIV/Aids at a time when a government allowed a treatable illness to be a rampant death sentence.

Now the Aids Office has passed on the baton to a more responsive government. Under health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa is boasting the world’s largest state-sponsored ARV programme.

Only two sites remain in the SACBC project. One is at Nazareth House in Johannesburg, the other in Topologo in Rustenburg, North West Province.

HIV/Aids no longer is the preeminent crisis it was, Mr Viljoen says. “People need to get tested and if their CD4 count is below 350, they need to go on ARV treatment.”

Of course, it is necessary to continue addressing the HIV/Aids problem, but cross-border migration has become the new looming crisis in the world.

“Look at the xenophobic violence here in South Africa.

Refugees and migration is a pressing issue globally. The situation is likely going to get worse for displaced people,” Mr Viljoen says.

Explaining why he has returned to the Jesuit Refugee Service, he says: “I want to continue to put my energy and expertise into addressing pressing social needs.”

If there was any doubt, he is the man for the job: working with the social needs of people is a vocational calling for him, and his track record is testimony to the fact that he has a Midas touch in addressing even the most challenging issues facing the continent today. n For more information about JRS, visit www.jrs.net

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CLASSIFIEDS

Sr Ingrid Stöckle OP

T

HE Oakford Dominican congregation said farewell to Sr Ingrid Stöckle OP who died peacefully at Villa Assumpta, Pietermaritzburg, on the day of her diamond jubilee of profession, April 30.

Sr Ingrid was born on December 30, 1927 in Bad Dürrheim, in Germany’s Black Forest. She trained as a tailor and entered the Dominican Congregation of Oakford in 1953, arriving in South Africa in November 1955.

Sr Ingrid was a very kind and hospitable person. Her ministry was serving, mending, sewing, looking after the chapel and dining room, being the leader in the community, and welcoming anyone who knocked at the doors of

the convent.

She served in various convents in South Africa: Melrose House and Marymount in Johannesburg, Rosary Lodge in Pretoria, Boys Town in Magaliesburg, and Villa Assumpta in Pietermaritzburg.

She will be remembered as a kind and gentle sister, friendly towards every person she met, a perfectionist in her work, having a deep love for God and prayerful for all who were in need.

Sr Ingrid had a twin sister who is still alive in Germany. Her last words were to tell her sister not to be sad; she will be close to her and pray for her.

Quiet as she was, so she died.

It was her day of being 60 years

T

HERE is a very special chair on display at Tonin Alia’s furniture factory.

It’s made of wood with upholstered yellow velvet, and is one of several which accommodated Pope Francis on his one-day trip last year to Albania.

The chair is not for sale. “The priests are asking and asking for it,” said Mr Alia, who manufactured the chair and an additional 1 500 others for general use during last September’s papal visit.

“I won’t give it,” the furniture

maker told the Catholic News Service.

Mr Alia noted a steady rise in business—and blessings—which he said had begun with his “contribution” of the seats towards the event and had increased even more when he put the chair the pope sat in on display at his factory in the Albanian capital.

“I feel honoured and I feel blessed,” Mr Alia said with a grin, noting that the chair possessed other qualities as well.

He said he regretted that his now-deceased grandfather—the man he most credited with keep-

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday June 28 Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24, Psalms 30:2, 4-6, 1113, 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15, Mark 5:21-43 Monday June 29 Ss Peter and Paul Acts 12:1-11, Psalms 34:2-9, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18, Matthew 16:13-19 Tuesday June 30, First Martyrs of Holy Roman Church Genesis 19:15-29, Psalms 26:2-3, 9-12, Matthew 8:23-27 Wednesday July 1, Bl Junipero Serra Genesis 21:5, 8-20, Psalms 34:7-13, Matthew 8:28-34 Thursday July 2 Genesis 22:1-19, Psalms 115:1-6, 8-9, Matthew 9:1-8 Friday July 3, St Thomas Ephesians 2:19-22, Psalms 117:1-2, John 20:2429 Saturday July 4 Isaiah 58:6-11, Psalms 107:2-9, Matthew 25:3146 Sunday July 5 Ezekiel 2:2-5, Psalms 123:1-4, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Mark 6:1-6

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

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

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CLASSIFIEDS

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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.

DEATH

professed. She could not be present at the jubilee Mass in the morning, but she received a special blessing by Fr Mark James OP. Many sisters prayed for her and with her on that day. In the evening she gave herself back to her Creator to whom she consecrated her life 60 years earlier.

Sr Carmen Brokamp OP

Papal chair brings blessings

By JAMeS MArTone

The Southern Cross, June 24 to June 30, 2015

ing Catholicism alive in the Alia home despite the grave risks involved—had not been around to witness the pope’s visit.

“All the prayers had to be in silence, under the roof. Grandfather also listened to Vatican Radio, in secret. He would wake up at 5 to listen to Vatican Radio which gave news in Albanian, and I would listen too,” Mr Alia said.

While he seemed a bit disappointed that he did not personally meet Pope Francis during the visit, he insisted that “the biggest privilege [was] to make the chair that he sat on”.—CNS

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 660. ACROSS: 4 Fig tree, 8 Extort, 9 Liturgy, 10 Chorus, 11 Avenge, 12 Margaret, 18 Possible, 20 Appear, 21 Plaint, 22 Deserve, 23 Haggle, 24 Chemist. DOWN: 1 Welcome, 2 At court, 3 Ursula, 5 Imitates, 6 Toured, 7 Engage, 13 Reproves, 14 Abridge, 15 Beetles, 16 Speech, 17 Redeem, 19 Sultan.

Word of the Week Minister: From the Latin word for “servant”, in the ecclesiastical sense a minister is (1) an ordained cleric or (2) one who has the authority to minister to others.

Secular institutes: Societies of men and women living in the world who dedicate themselves to observe the evangelical counsels and to carry on apostolic works suitable to their talents and opportunities in everyday life.

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: June 25: Bishop Peter Holiday of Kroonstad on the fourth anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

July 2: Bishop Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe on his 61st birthday.

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CrOWTHEr—Vera. A past pupil of Springfield Convent School, she passed away peacefully on June 17. deepest sympathy to her daughter Penny, sons Christopher, Terry, Alan and their families. From the Springfield board, dominican sisters, past pupils, headmistress & staff. May her dear soul rest in Peace.

DA SILVA—Monica. Mrs da Silva of Mitchell’s Plain passed away peacefully on May 30, 2015. A loving mother gone to rest; for all of us she did her best. rest in peace. Jerome, estelle, grandchildren, all families and friends.

IN MEMOrIAM

gAJJAr—Aldridge. you may be gone from this earth physically, but spiritually and emotionally you will always be engraved in our hearts. you’re constantly in our thoughts and embraced in our memory.

In loving memory, dearest wonderful husband, father, brother and uncle, who left us on July 3, 2012. Greatly missed by your wife Patricia, sons Bradley, Kenan and family.

LAWrENCE—Beaver. our beloved husband, father and grandfather left us June 29, 2003 (12 years) on his final journey home to receive his eternal rewards. We have missed your physical presence around us, but your spirit continues to live in our thoughts and in our hearts. our memories of you are indelible and cannot and will not be erased.

Until we meet again, rest in peace. From elaine, Gary and elli, derek and Janice, Wendy and Wolly, Vivian and Andrew, leslie and Johan and all the grandchildren.

PrAYErS

HAVE mercy on me, o God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

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

Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameLoVInG FATHER bless us, the people of AFRICA, and help us to live in justice, love and peace Mary, Mother of Africa, pray for us

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

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

ST MICHAEL the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, o Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

THANKS

THANKS to God for prayers answered through the intercession of our lady Untier of Knots.

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: Po Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, News Editor: Stuart Graham (s.graham@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), dylan Appolis (intern@scross.co.za), Advertising: elizabeth Hutton (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Pamela davids (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Dispatch: Joan King (dispatch@scross.co.za), Accounts: desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za), Directors: r Shields (Chair), J o’leary (Vice-chair), Archbishop S Brislin, S duval, e Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, C Moerdyk, r riedlinger, Z Tom

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the

14th Sunday: July 5 Readings: Ezekiel 2:2-5, Psalm 123, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Mark 6:1-6

I

S outher n C ross

Facing a hostile audience

T is no fun preaching to a hostile audience; but that is what you and I are called to do, in our secular world.

Make no mistake about it, however: it has never been easy, and that is what our readings for next Sunday tell us.

The first reading tells us of the vocation of the prophet Ezekiel, an encounter with the mystery of God, in which the seer finds the Spirit coming into him, and giving him a mission: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, a nation of rebels, who have rebelled against me.”

God makes no promises about how the people are likely to react, but simply says: “Whether they listen or refuse to listen (for they are a rebellious house), they are going to know that a prophet was in their midst.”

Do you feel encouraged by this?

The psalm for next Sunday is one of the lovely pilgrimage psalms; and it sounds very confident: “To you I lift up my eyes, you who dwell in the heavens.”

It offers the attractive image of the soul as an eager slave paying attention to their master or mistress; but we should also notice that

the singer is waiting for God’s mercy: “Have mercy, Lord, have mercy”, and in particular this is because he has been treated with contempt: “For too long our soul has been filled up with the scorn of those who are comfortable, the mockery of the proud.”

Have you ever felt like this?

In the second reading, Paul is experiencing some discomfort of his own; basically this is because he is at odds with some of the chattering classes in Corinth, and he is rather angry with them.

We should be grateful to those who made him angry, however, because it is only when he is cross that he shares autobiographical details with us.

What he has just done is to reveal to them some of his visionary experience, and then tell them about the compensating “thorn in the flesh”.

We have no idea what this was, but frequently made suggestions include epilepsy, bad eyesight, sexual temptations, and a nagging wife. Three times he asks the Lord to remove this thorn in the flesh.

The Lord, however, was having none of it: “My grace is enough for you, for power is made perfect in weakness—but I shall most gladly boast all the more of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may make his tent over me.”

So, remembering the “insults” and “persecutions” that he has endured in Corinth, he says: “I am pleased with my weaknesses…for when I am weak, then I am powerful.” Can you identify with this position of Paul?

The gospel shows Jesus also receiving the contemptuous treatment meted out to prophets.

He goes back to his home town of Nazareth (having by now apparently set up his Mission Headquarters at Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee), and preaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

He receives a fairly hostile greeting: “Where did this chap get these things, and what is this ‘wisdom’ that has been given to him, and such miracles that come through his powers?”

These sceptical onlookers make the point

Giving the best we can R

right. They too had a right to my time, my unfatigued self, my full energies, and my undivided attention.

During that week of retreat, my office also got second best: I was not giving it my ideal best; but only what I could do, given the circumstances.

I suspect most time-management experts, and not a few counsellors and spiritual directors, would tell me that the reason this tension exists in my life is because of my failure to set clear priorities and be faithful to them, and that this sloppy indecisiveness is unfair to everyone on every side.

If I am over-extended, it’s a fault in my life, pure and simple, which I have a moral responsibility to correct.

B

ut is it really that simple? Are we really meant to have this much control over our lives? Don’t circumstance and need perennially trump that? Aren’t the generative years of our lives about much more than ensuring our own health and rest?

Even if the purpose of our own self-care is not selfish but intended for the better service of others, isn’t that service itself the final culprit? There are needs all over and our resources are finite; isn’t that always a formula for tension?

Circumstance conscripts us and, in the words of Jesus, puts a rope around us and takes us where we would rather not go, namely, beyond our comfort, beyond always being adequately rested, and beyond

Conrad

ECENTLY I led a week-long retreat for some 60 people at a renewal centre.

Overall, it went very well, though ideally it could have gone better.

It could have gone better if, previous to the retreat, I had had more time to prepare and more time to rest so that I arrived at the retreat well rested, fully energetic, and able to give this group my total undivided attention for seven days.

Of course, that wasn’t the case. The days leading up to the retreat were consumed by many pressures in my regular ministry; these were long days that kept me preoccupied and tired.

Indeed, in the days leading up to the retreat, I had to do many extra hours of work simply to free myself up to lead this retreat.

So I arrived for this retreat partly exhausted and carrying with me still a lot of pressures from my regular duties.

In spite of this, the retreat still went pretty well. I had enough energy and focus to make things essentially work. But it wasn’t the best I could do ideally, though it was the best I could do given the circumstances.

Given that confession, it’s fair to ask: Didn’t those retreatants have a right to have me arrive for this retreat more rested, more prepared, and more ready to give them my full, undivided attention?

Fair enough. They did have that right; except that this was mitigated by the fact that all the people who are daily affected by my regular duties also had that same

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Sunday reflections

that they know exactly who he is: “The carpenter, Mary’s son, and Jacob and Joses’ brother, and of Judas and Simon as well—and aren’t his sisters also here with us?”

Jesus calmly comments (and we can hear Ezekiel muttering “Hear! Hear!”) that “a prophet is not dishonoured except in his home country and among his kinsfolk and in his own household”.

Then Mark tells us something that Matthew omitted when he came to edit this text (presumably because he did not like the idea of Jesus not being able to perform miracles): “And [Jesus] was unable to do any miracle there, except that he laid hands on a few sick people and cured them.”

After that comes a devastating comment from the evangelist: “And he was astonished at their lack of faith—and he was going around the villages round about, teaching.”

How do you feel about your task of preaching this week?

Southern Crossword #660

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final reflection

always being in control of our own timetables and energies.

Admittedly it’s dangerous to over-extend yourself, except that it’s equally, perhaps more, dangerous to under-extend yourself so as to always have full control of your own energy and commitments and be always well rested and not over-taxed. We can burn out, but we can also rust out.

This, of course, can easily become a rationalisation for not setting proper priorities and for letting ourselves be non-reflectively buffeted by circumstance.

But the opposite can also be a rationalisation used to over-protect our own comfort and rest.

That’s the tension, and it’s meant to be a tension. Sometimes we overextend ourselves and sometime we underextend ourselves. Most of the people that I admire most in the world suffer from the former, overextension, and, paradoxically, it seems to give them more energy.

Jesus, while cautioning proper self-care— “Let us go away by ourselves for a while and rest” (Mk 6: 31)—also tells us that we should pour ourselves out completely for others without worrying too much about whether this will kill us or not.

I had all of this in mind as I struggled while giving that recent retreat, knowing that neither the retreatants nor my office were getting my best energies.

And isn’t this a good image for the whole of our lives? We have finite energies, finite time, finite attention, and we are constantly swamped by circumstance, need and pressure. There’s always something! And so we are often caught in a major tension as regards our time, energy and attention.

In any given season within our lives, if we are honest, we might have to say: This wasn’t the best I might have done ideally, but it’s the best that I could do, given the circumstance!

Ultimately this is true for our whole lives. It’s never ideal, but it’s the best we can do, given the circumstance. And that should be more than enough when we stand before our Maker in judgment.

St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross

Nicholas King SJ

ACRoSS

4. Its fruit was withered (Mt 21) (3,4) 8. Text or compel to give (6) 9. Church ritual (7) 10. The company of singers (6) 11. Heaven generally holds a way to get your own back (6) 12. Saintly queen of Scotland (8) 18. With God all things are such (Mk 10) (8) 20. Come into view (6) 21. Paint around fifty for grievance (6) 22. Be worthy of (7) 23. Bargain with Leah about horse (6) 24. Pharmacist (7)

DoWn

1. Kind of mat for warm reception (7) 2. Where a judge may serve?

(2,5) 3. Usual right turn to this saint (6) 5. Takes as a model (8) 6. Took a journey for pleasure (6) 7. Hire one for marriage? (6) 13. Rebukes or vesper changes (8) 14. Shorten and cross it to the card game (7) 15. Disturbed bees let you see other insects (7) 16. Parts of it could make an oration (6) 17. Buy back, as Christ will do (6) 19. Muslim ruler (6) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

I

T was a Sunday morning when a mother woke up her son to tell him to get ready for church.

“I’m not going,” the son said. His mother asked him why.

“Two reasons,” the son said. “Firstly, they don’t like me, and secondly, I don’t like them.”

The mother replied: “I’ll give you two good reasons why you must go to church. Firstly, you’re 54 years old, and secondly, you’re the priest!”

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

Led by Bishop Stan Dziuba 13 - 21 May 2016

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