The
S outhern C ross
September 16 to September 22, 2015
Reg No. 1920/002058/06
No 4942
www.scross.co.za
Catholic media the job of all Catholics
Page 9
Archbishop’s memoirs like a chat over tea
R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)
Prisons: Why we can’t throw away the keys
Page 11
Page 14
Church: Why are we so angry with each other? BY STUART GRAHAM
H
EED Pope Francis’ call to make family “a subject of profound reflection” on Communications Sunday, September 20, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference says. Conference spokesman Fr S’milo Mngadi said it was through the family that people first learned to communicate. By focusing on this we can make communication authentic and humane. “The pope is challenging us,” Fr Mngadi said. “In the media we see fewer and fewer stories portraying strong family values. The focus is often on the negatives of family life. Of rape, incest and femicide. “We need to remember what family values are about. The pope’s theme for Communications Sunday is the use of media to communicate the good stories of family values. We need to focus on that.” When he announced the theme for the 49th World Communication Sunday earlier this year, Pope Francis said the family is an environment in which “we learn to communicate in an experience of closeness”. The pope said at times the media tended to present the family as “a kind of abstract model, which has to be accepted or rejected, defended or attacked” rather than as a living reality. “The modern media, which are an essential part of life for young people in particular, can be both a help and a hindrance to communication in and between families,” Pope Francis said. The media can be a hindrance, he said, if they become a way to avoid listening to others, to evade physical contact, to fill up every moment of silence and rest “so that we forget that silence is an integral element of communication”. The media can help communication when they enable people to share their stories, to stay in contact with distant friends, to thank others or to seek their forgiveness, and to open the door to new encounters. “Families at their best actively communi-
For further info or to book contact Michael or Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za/ poland-2016/
cate by their witness the beauty and the richness of the relationship between man and woman, and between parents and children,” Pope Francis said. Fr Mngadi said the encroachment of modern media, such as smartphones, into “real space” is of serious concern to the Church. “Through modern technology we are becoming more and more virtual,” Fr Mngadi said. “We are moving away from facing each other. At first it was television that took over the centre of our evenings. We spent the nights facing a screen and forgot to communicate with each other. It is very sad. “Today we have cellphones and computers that distract us from each other. It’s not only the young. You find the elderly spending evenings fiddling with their cellphones.” It isn’t only in families that South Africans should improve the way they communicate. There is, he said, still enormous anger in the country that emerges in various media platforms. A decision by the popular News24 website to switch off its comments section below its articles was dealing with the problem and not the cause. “There is much anger that South Africans feel for each other,” Fr Mngadi said. “Shutting off the comments will not address the deep underlying anger. It is treating the problem and not the cause. That anger is only the surface of the problem. “You often find that when people meet face to face they are polite to each other and greet each other with smiles, but in an individual space, on the comments site of a website for example, the anger emerges. One of the challenges for South Africans this Communications Sunday is to look at that. “We need to understand why are we so angry with each other.” South Africans, Fr Mngadi said, could start by learning each other’s languages so that they can communicate on a deeper level and understand each other better.
The members of the Southern Cross/Radio Veritas Saints of Italy Pilgrimage are seen in Rome. Led by Fr Emil Blaser OP, station director of Radio Veritas, and Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher, the pilgrimage included sacred shrines in Rome, Assisi, Cascia, Norcia, Siena, Florence, Padua, Venice, Sotto il Monte Giovanni XXIII and Milan, as well as a day's excursion to Paris, with Mass in the Miraculous Medal chapel.
Poverty and politicians would have ‘frustrated’ Denis Hurley BY STUART GRAHAM
A
RCHBISHOP Denis Hurley would have been greatly disappointed in South Africa’s politicians for enriching themselves while forgetting the poor. Raymond Perrier, the director of the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban, told The Southern Cross that the “failure to connect political with economic liberation” would have frustrated the archbishop, who would have turned 100 on November 9. “There is great wealth here but also great poverty. He would have been very frustrated that after our political liberation our economic problems are getting worse rather than better,” Mr Perrier said. “He might have wondered what all those politians were fighting for and campaigning for. Were they doing it for the poor or for themselves.” Mr Perrier said Archbishop Hurley stood for justice and was known for working with other faiths. His spirit is still felt in Durban. “As soon as we mention the event to people, they immediately say they want to be part of it. His name continues to be a sort of
St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross
inspiration to people in the city.” Mr Perrier said the centre would celebrate Archbishop Hurley’s legacy with a series of events. “We are holding a series of events that will remember who he was and what he stood for and why he still remains important for Church and the world,” Mr Perrier said. “One aspect of that is working with other faiths. There will be a whole seminar on what thats mean on the ground. “One of the programmes that the centre is involved in is a feeding scheme for the homeless in partnership with Muslim organisations. That is a practical way of putting into effect the legacy of the archbishop.” Mr Perrier said the centenary would include a series of Masses focusing on different aspects of the archbishop’s life and legacy. The Masses will celebrate the women religious, his fight for justice, the Oblates—the order to which he belonged—and another that will focus on his work with poor. The archbishop was a man who worked hard but he also “enjoyed the finer things in Continued on Page 2
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 Maximilan Kolbe) | Divine Mercy Sanctuary | Warsaw | Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (with miraculous icon) | Zakopane | Wieliczka Salt Mine (with Mass!)