151021

The

S outhern C ross

October 21 to October 27, 2015

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

Fr Townsend: The trouble with funerals

Page 7

No 4947

www.scross.co.za

Part 2 of Saints of Italy pilgrimage diary

R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)

12 great voices speak about Denis Hurley

Page 10

Page 9

Durban plans big for Hurley’s 100th birthday

BY STUART GRAHAM

M

Brescia House School in Bryanston, Johannesburg, was visited by Anthony Salcito, vicepresident of education for Microsoft Corporation’s Worldwide Public Sector. Brescia House School is the only Microsoft Showcase School in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Salcito spent the morning meeting staff and girls, and chatting about how the school has integrated the use of technology in teaching and learning. He was also joined by Mark Chaban, area director of education for Microsoft Middle East and Africa, and Claudia Johnston, education sector leader at Microsoft South Africa. The Grade 2 girls were most excited to show off their skills on the Promethean active tablet which allows six children at a time to interact on the giant “tablet” device seen in the photo.

USLIMS, Hindus, Jews, Anglicans, Methodists and leading KwaZuluNatal political leaders will join Catholics in celebrating the life of Archbishop Denis Hurley at his centenary celebration this November.

The event is a culmination of a year of the Hurley Centre building up towards its official grand opening and Archbishop Hurley’s 100th birthday on November 9, said Raymond Perrier, director of the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban.

“There is a lot of excitement in the Durban community,” said Mr Perrier. “Archbishop Hurley is seen not only as a Catholic hero but as a hero for the whole of the city.”

Visitors from around the world, including Archbishop Hurley’s family and people he worked with, will attend the events.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu, Durban Mayor James Nxumalo and African National Congress treasurer Zweli Mkhize, who as a young activist was close to the archbishop, will also be present.

“This isn’t just a Catholic event,” said Mr Perrier. “We have the members of different religious communities—Muslims, Hindus Jews, Anglicans, Methodists—who will all be involved in the concert as performers, narrators or as dancers.”

He noted that the board of patrons of the Denis Hurley Centre, located next to Emmanuel cathedral, will assemble as part of the event, adding that this “covers people from right across the spectrum”.

Catholic bishops from around the country will also attend.

The centenary will include a series of Masses focusing on different aspects of the archbishop’s life and legacy.

The Masses will celebrate women religious, justice, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate—the order to which he belonged—and his work with the poor.

Archbishop Hurley was a man who worked hard for the People of God, but, Mr Perrier noted, he also “enjoyed the finer things in life”, such as art and music.

To celebrate this, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra will perform a concert

The Denis Hurley Centre and Emmanuel cathedral in Durban. which will include different cultural and faith traditions. The concert will be held in the mall, with the cathedral as back-up.

The celebrations will start at 19:00 on Friday, November 6, with the annual Denis Hurley Memorial Lecture, delivered by Mgr Paul Nadal, who served as Durban’s vicargeneral for many years.

The first of the Masses will be celebrated on November 7 at 17:30. Thanks will be given for aspects of Archbishop Hurley’s life, with a focus on women religious.

On Sunday there will be three Masses at Emmanuel cathedral: at 7:45 to mark 100 years of the St Vincent de Paul Society, celebrated by Mgr Nadal; at 10:00 for justice, celebrated by Bishop Barry Wood; and at 12:00 to honour the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, celebrated in isiZulu by the order’s provincial, Fr Vusi Mazibuko.

On Monday, November 9, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier will formally open and bless the Denis Hurley Centre, which has been in operation since late 2014.

Mr Perrier said Archbishop Hurley’s 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 inspiration to people in the city.”

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2

The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

LOCAL

Lesotho soldiers’ wives speak of their pain

BY STUART GRAHAM

A

Four candidates from South Africa's Korean community were confirmed recently at Our Lady of Fatima in Bellville, Cape Town. In attendance were Fr Andrew Ha (Korean community), Archbishop Stephen Brislin and parish priest Fr Bogdan Buksa (right).

FOR EVERY CATHOLIC HOME AND SCHOOL

DELEGATION of Catholic leaders from Southern Africa has reported back from a visit to Lesotho that soldiers detained at a maximum security prison in Maseru for taking part in a mutiny are allegedly being tortured by their captors.

The claims were made by wives of the soldiers during a meeting at the cathedral in Maseru, said Fr Danisa Khumalo, director of the Dennis Hurley Peace Institute at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) in Pretoria.

“Two women stood up to share the experiences their husbands had undergone,” Fr Khumalo said.

“They pointed out that their husbands had been tortured and illtreated. For their part, they had suffered mentally and physically. Their children had also been affected by this ordeal,” Fr Khumalo said.

The weeping women were comforted by SACBC secretary-general Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS. The bishops in attendance—who

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included Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein, Bishop Valentine Seane of Gaborone and Bishop Xolelo Kumalo of Eshowe— laid their hands on the women and prayed for them.

Lesotho was thrown into tumult in June last year after president Tom Thabane suspended parliament when his fragile coalition government fell apart. A coup attempt on August 30 forced Mr Thabane out of the country.

South African Deputy-President Cyril Ramaphosa brokered a peace accord that brought forward the next elections from 2017 to February this year. The country held elections in February and a coalition led

by Pakalitha Mosisili replaced Mr Thabane’s government.

Mr Mosisili formed a close alliance with powerful army commander General Tlali Kamoli.

After the election, soldiers were snatched off the streets in Maseru, and imprisoned for taking part in a mutiny against the general.

In June this year Gen Kamoli’s predecessor, Lieutenant-General

Maaparankoe Mahao, died in a hail of bullets after soldiers were sent to arrest him on suspicion of being the mutiny leader.

Fr Khumalo said when the delegation visited 21 soldiers in prison for taking part in the mutiny, the soldiers wanted to explain their side of the story. Archbishop Tlali Lerotholi of Maseru and Bishop Seane gave them words of solidarity and encouragement.

The delegation met with the members of the opposition parties, who said that they accepted defeat after the February elections. They, however, intended to boycott parliament until the army is contained.

Archbishop Nxumalo told King Letsie III of Lesotho during a meeting that Basotho needed to engage in dialogue and put the interests of the country and its citizens first.

“The king expressed concern with the present situation and pointed out the need to have Basotho who are in exile, such as Ntate Thabani, to come back so that issues can be discussed,” Fr Khumalo said.

The rosary went public in SA

On October 10, groups from around South Africa took part in a global Prayer of the Rosary campaign in public places. These four South African groups were among those which brought the rosary to the public.

This group prayed at N1 City in Cape Town. (From left) Viv Reddy, Esme Moses, Terry Throp, Caryl-Ann Le Roux, Anita Boonzaier, Nico Petersen. (Photo: Peter Throp).

Parishioners from St Benedict’s cathedral in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal. The event was organised

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The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

LOCAL

3

Call to stop ‘predatory mining’ operations in SA

BY STAFF REPORTER

T Seen at the 75th birthday celebrations of Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, are (from left) Sharon Meyer (high school religion head of department), Clive Leon (first chairman of the board of governors, and later the trust, of the school), Bishop Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington, Lucy Ferguson (daughter of one of the Hurly brothers who donated the land the school was initially built on), Mary Fitzpatrick (primary school religion head) and Linda Giuricich (daughter of Mrs Ferguson).

School celebrates 75 years

H

OLY Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, held a special 75th birthday celebratory Mass, reflecting on the school’s humble beginnings and what it has become, growing from seven students in 1940 to today’s 950.

The main celebrant at the Eucharistic celebration was Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg. Bishop Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington, an old-boy of Holy Rosary, concelebrated and delivered the homily, which focused

on Bishop Joseph Shanahan and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, who founded the school.

He emphasised the virtues of the school’s patroness, Our Lady, and encouraged the students to lead lives which emulate her qualities.

The Mass was also concelebrated with Father Leathem OMI, parish priest of Edenvale and school chaplain, Fr Michel Meunier and Fr Paul Kitha.

Before the Mass, a bronze bust of Bishop Shanahan was unveiled and blessed.

HERE is an urgent need to stop human rights violations that come with predatory mining, a Brazilian environmental expert said at a workshop on mining and the environment in Pretoria this month.

The “green economy” pulls the natural world into the human market economy that is geared towards profit, said Franciscan Brother Rodrigo Peret, who is collecting data on the environment for Justice and Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC) in Rome.

“There has to be a move towards more responsible mining with systematic reassembling when the mines are closed,” he said at the Padre Pio Centre in Rietvallei.

Br Rodrigo gave a perspective on the “economics of biology”, where nature is reduced to a machine controlled by a technocracy.

This, he said, is not at all good for the poor as their plight forms part of the externalised debts, which include the health of the miners and those living in the vicinity of mines, acid mine water, pollution from dumps, habitat degradation and loss of biodiversity.

These consequences are not taken into account when the profits

Coal, among other minerals, needs to be mined responsibly, says Brazilian Br Rodrigo Peret. (Photo: CNS) of the mine are shown to the shareholders, he said. These “externalised debts”, he said, are carried by the taxpayer.

Over the last seven years, JPIC promoters of many religious congregations have become increasingly involved in issues related to environmental justice, the issue that Pope Francis addressed in his encyclical Laudato Si’, “On the Care of Our Common Home”, Br Rodrigo said.

For a lasting change, the world’s perspective needs to shift to a realisation that we are God’s creatures sharing the world with all of God’s creation, he said, adding that we share a common destiny with the

rest of creation and in this way share a common dignity.

Br Rodrigo said he is not against the use of technology nor the capitalistic system, but said he is asking for a move towards an “integral ecology”, in which the dignity of every being is considered at the inception of any mining project.

Dialogue is needed at grassroots, with respect for each other and reverence for all of creation.

Everything is interconnected, he said, and this should be seen in the way we live our own lives, cooperating with God’s design in relationship with one another and with the world around us in pursuit of the common good.

Communities, he said, need information for their empowerment, as without this they will not recognise their needs such as adequate housing, sanitation and a healthy environment.

Br Rodrigo said that people should pressure their governments to move towards using renewable energy and support movements like the “One Million Climate Jobs” campaign which aims to create one million jobs that would be created by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

SA urged to sign ahead of climate meeting

BY STAFF REPORTER

T

HE Global Catholic Climate Movement has urged South Africa’s Catholics to follow Pope Francis’ guidance and sign a climate petition to tackle greenhouse gases ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris late this year.

World leaders will meet in December to tackle the issue of reducing greenhouse emissions in the world. Past negotiations have been failures, so now is the time to increase pressure on our leaders to sign on a workable treaty, the Catholic group said.

“This is something we all can do.

Join millions of other Catholics from around the world and answer the question. ‘Should we take action on climate change?’ Pope Francis has already answered with a

huge ‘Yes’,” the group said.

The pope’s call to action in his encyclical Laudato Si’ is a time to work together as a family, with the core of the Gospel restored. Pope Francis has asked people to become aware of the plight of the world, where the poor are those worst affected by the environmental crisis that “we bring on ourselves”. He is challenging us to change, the group said.

A workshop was held on the environment at the Padre Pio Centre in Pretoria this month. Franciscans and other parties participated in the presentations given by two Brazilians, Br Rodrigo Peret OFM, and Igor Bastos, national general secretary of Young Franciscans (Youfra) in Brazil.

Mr Bastos outlined the aims of the Global Catholic Climate Movement petition to the delegates, noting that care of creation features

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prominently in the Franciscans’ charism.

He said people can become part of the movement by sending the petition link to their parish, their school, their family and friends, or placing it up on billboards, websites and blogs.

The petition will be delivered to world leaders on November 28 before the start of COP21.

Prayer is another way to influence the outcome of the conference, Mr Bastos noted.

He said marches are planned to take place on November 28 and 29 in major cities around the world.

Go to the website www.catholicclimatemovement.global and click on the “YES” icon to add your vote.

The site also includes prayer resources and a prayer chain.

A sample prayer of the faithful to pray for COP21:

All Souls Day

Monday 2 November, 2015

Msgr Clifford Stokes will celebrate Holy Mass for the Souls in Purgatory at 10am on Monday 2nd November 2015 at the All Souls Chapel, Woltemade Cemetery, Maitland, Gate 1, Cape Town

Please make every effort to attend this Mass

For further information contact Dorothy Paarman 021 551 1747 or dpaarman@mweb.co.za St Jude Society, PO Box 22230, Fish Hoek, 7974

“For world leaders, especially those attending December’s ‘Conference of Parties’ climate negotiations in Paris, may the God who is love grant them the ability to see the sufferings of the world and to be ‘far-sighted and capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary approach’ (Laudato Si’ 197) in forging agreements that protect all life throughout the globe in every stage of development; we pray to the Lord…

“For world leaders, especially those attending December’s Conference of Parties climate negotiations in Paris, may the God of love grant those with earthly authority the wisdom to see the fragility, dignity, and goodness of all humanity and all creation, which is entrusted to us, as one family, to nurture, protect and love; we pray to the Lord…

“For world leaders, especially

those attending December’s Conference of Parties climate negotiations in Paris—and for all business leaders and consumers—that Like St Francis we will see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness (LS 12); we pray to the Lord…

“For all people, especially the wealthy, may we follow Saint Thérèse’s ‘little way of love,’ of simple daily gestures that break the logic of violence, exploitation, and selfishness (LS 230); we pray to the Lord…

“For all people, especially those with the means to consume the goods of the world, that we may find our true joy not in consumption in the world but in the love and fulfillment we find in encountering the Triune God; we pray to the Lord.”

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4

The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Women at synod ‘feel included’

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

S

A member of the Missionaries of Charity holds orphan children at a centre in Kolkata, India. The order will close their adoption centres in India, citing new regulations that would allow nontraditional families to adopt children.

(Photo: Anto Akkara/CNS)

Vatican’s new homeless shelter

BY NICOLE PELLICANO

T

HE Vatican opened the “Gift of Mercy”, a shelter for homeless men, just a few hundred yards away from St Peter’s Square.

Housed in a Jesuit-owned building, the shelter was created by and is run with funds from the papal almoner, who has taken a variety of initiatives to assist the homeless people in the area surrounding the Vatican.

Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, Pope Francis’ almoner, inaugurated the shelter by celebrating Mass for the first guests. The shelter offers 34 beds in an open-floor, partitioned dormitory, according to a statement from the Almoner’s Office.

The shelter is run by the Missionaries of Charity, who briefly inter-

view the guests before they are checked in. Because of limited space, the guests may stay for a maximum of 30 days.

The guests agree to abide by a structured schedule with check-in each evening between 6pm and 7 pm, followed by lights-out at a set time.

After the 6:15am wake-up call, guests are offered breakfast and have until 8am to tidy up their respective areas and use the washrooms. After the shelter closes for the day, guests can shower and visit the barber at a facility set up under the colonnade in St Peter’s Square.

Various locations around the Vatican offer lunch and dinner, including the Vatican soup kitchen at the nearby “Gift of Mary” shelter for women.—CNS

EVERAL women participating in the Synod of Bishops on the family said they were encouraged that their views were not only respected but included in the discussions taking place.

“It's not just a feeling,” said Moira McQueen, director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute. “Many of the things that we have said are included in the reports. I am very happy that more women are being included, but once inside the actual meeting, I don’t feel any distinct separation.”

Several synod participants spoke to the press during a Vatican briefing. Speaking alongside Ms McQueen were Thérèse Nyirabukeye, a Rwandan who works for the African Federation of Family Action, and Benedictine Abbot Jeremias Schröder, president of the Benedictine Congregation of St Ottilien.

Although both Ms McQueen and Ms Nyirabukeye said they felt included in the various discussions taking place at the synod, Abbot Schröder said he had hoped for a greater presence of women religious.

He confirmed that a request was made by the men’s Union of Superior Generals to give half of their ten places to representatives of the women’s religious orders. After a meeting with the secretariat of the synod, the women were given three places, although they did not have a vote like their male peers did.

“There is a small recognition that women religious must be present,” he said. “I had hoped that those nuns, who are involved in so many apostolates of the family, would be a much greater presence than it is currently.”

The three synod participants were also asked about the synod dis-

Thérèse Nyirabukeye, Moira McQueen and Benedictine Abbot Jeremias Schröder in a synod press briefing. cussions on diversity in unity and about sensitive issues such as allowing divorced and civilly remarried couples to receive Communion or pastoral ministry to homosexual men and women.

Abbot Schröder said he counted about 20 speeches in favour of dealing with those issues at a regional level and only about two or three bishops who spoke against it, maintaining that the unity of the universal Church must remain intact.

However, he also said that there have been no votes on concrete propositions, thus “it’s a bit difficult to ascertain with precision the mind of the assembly”.

“I’m from Germany and the issue of divorced and remarried people or [people who are] divorced and living in a stable union with children is felt very strongly and very broadly in the German Catholic public,” he said. “It seems to be much less of a concern elsewhere.”

Local pastoral solutions also may be the answer to addressing issues that different cultures view differently, such as the acceptance of ho-

mosexuality, he said.

“The social acceptance of homosexuality is culturally very diverse, and that also seems to me to be an area where bishops’ conferences should be allowed to formulate pastoral responses that are in tune with what can be preached and announced and lived in a prayerful context,” he said.

While agreeing that certain issues may be better or more easily dealt with locally, both Ms McQueen and Ms Nyirabukeye said the Church also must look at the risks of allowing pastoral solutions at a regional level.

“Personally speaking, I believe that on one hand, it is better and positive to have this diversity, but on the other hand, I think there are some doctrinal aspects that should be maintained,” Ms Nyirabukeye said.

“This is a very delicate issue,” she said, “and the synod fathers should examine it and then within the Church they should really take time to better study and analyse all the consequences and concrete applications of it.”—CNS

Philippines takes refugees for Australia

A

SIA’S most Catholic country, the Philippines, is poised to burnish its reputation as the most refugee-friendly nation in Asia as it prepares to ink a deal with Australia to take in as many as 1 000 refugees from the controversial Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea.

The camp, along with another in the impoverished Pacific island nation of Nauru, has become a political burden for Australia’s coalition government. Both facilities are part of an offshore detention programme that sees Australia hand over huge sums of money to needy countries, effec-

tively outsourcing its obligations under international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention.

The deal is now awaiting approval from Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who has previously expressed some reservations.

“The culture is there, but we want to make sure that we manage it properly, that we don’t take more than we can handle,” Mr Aquino said. “A vast majority of our people are still living in poverty. ” Despite senior cabinet backing in the Philippines, there are a range of doubts about the pend-

ing agreement.

There is concern that the deal will put the Philippines squarely on the map for people smugglers in the region.

There is also a belief in some quarters that many of the refugees will not be satisfied with the Philippines, having set out—and paid their money—to get to firstworld Australia.

The final concern is ethical.

Refugee lawyers believe that Australia is illegally dodging its obligations and that by assisting Australia in the outsourcing of its obligations the Philippines becomes complicit.—CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

Challenge of walking together: Syrian bishops back Russia’s war on ISIS Letter raised concern at synod T F

BY SIMON CALDWELL

BY CINDY WOODEN

ROM newspaper headlines and social media comments it seemed there was a family feud going on inside the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Some cardinals—apparently 13 of the 74 cardinals participating in the synod—had written Pope Francis a private letter expressing concern about a part or parts of the synod procedure, especially the appointment of a 10-member committee to draft the final document the synod will vote on and give to the pope.

The names of the cardinals signing the letter changed over the course of the day, with four declaring they did not sign any letter and two others saying the leaked letter published by Italian blogger Sandro Magister on the Vatican Insider website is not the letter they signed.

The synod is supposed to be a process true to the Greek roots of the word meaning “walking together”. Perhaps more than a family feud, what happened was a family walk. Anyone with a big family—or even with just a couple of very young members—knows how hard it is to keep everyone moving at the same pace and on the same trail with no arguments over rest stops or detours.

Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, writing on his blog, said the whole letter to-do was a “typically Roman melodrama, not untinged with psychodrama”.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ said concern expressed in a private letter—not Mr Magister’s leaked and published “letter”—that Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban and Australian Cardinal George Pell said they sent the pope, had been addressed by Pope Francis and by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the synod general secretary, on the third day the synod.

In his comments that morning, Pope Francis insisted Catholic doctrine on marriage would not been touched or put into question, Fr

African cardinals and bishops participating in the Synod of Bishops on the Family gather for a meeting in Rome. At the head of the table are Bishop Zolile Mpambani of Kokstad, Cardinal John Njue of Nairobi, Kenya, Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban and (far right) Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) Lombardi told reporters at the time, and he asked the synod “not to give into a ‘hermeneutic of conspiracy’, which is sociologically weak and spiritually unhelpful”.

Cardinal Pell told the news site Vatican Insider that he was “fundamentally satisfied” with the pope’s response.

F

ather Lombardi told reporters that publishing the letter, or some form of it, long after the pope had responded to the cardinals’ concerns was an “act of disturbance not intended by the signatories—or at least of the most authoritative among them”.

He said that “it is not surprising” that questions were raised about the new synod method, which gives more time to small group works and having them amend the working document rather than write a list of propositions for the pope. But once the pope decided how he wanted things done, it was time for synod members to get to work, which he said was happening.

Pope Paul VI established the synod to assist him in governing

the universal Church by providing him with counsel based on information and observation drawn from their pastoral and theological experience around the world. It is not a deliberative body like a parliament.

When the Holy Spirit speaks, tensions can rise. But that can be positive because it shows “that the spiritual process is active. It would be bad if there were a dead calm”, said Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, a synod member appointed by the pope, and editor of the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica.

More worrying, he said, is the fact that the letter leaked to the press expresses concerns that could be interpreted as questioning the authority of the pope.

“Using the words of Paul VI, the synod is there to ensure the pontiff is not lacking ‘the consolation of the presence’ of bishops, who express their opinion, bringing news and information from various parts of the world,” Fr Spadaro said.

“Certainly it has no deliberative power unless it is conceded by the pontiff. It is important not to betray the spirit of the synod.”—CNS

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not exist,” he continued, adding that the “Syrians will decide if and when Mr Assad has to go away, and not the Daesh [Islamic State] or the West.”

The following day, Peter Ford, a former British ambassador to Syria, criticised Britain’s foreign policy against Mr Assad as a “shambles”.

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Ford predicted that the Christian minority in Syria would be “massacred” by jihadists if Mr Assad was ousted.

“The fall of the regime will be opening a Pandora’s box such as we saw with the fall of Gadhafi in Libya and when Saddam Hussein fell,” he said.

“Is this what [Prime Minister] David Cameron really wants, to open another Pandora’s box?” he said. “Does he not realise that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to the massacres of Christians, Shias, Alawites, Druze and other minorities?

“I realise it is not fashionable to point to the plight of Christians in the Middle East today but he [Cameron] would have blood on his hands if Assad were to fall as the result of Western support for what Cameron amazingly called the ‘legitimate opposition’ to Assad,” Mr Ford said.

“Let us be clear here—we are talking about jihadis,” he added. “Most of the opposition groups are jihadis, the so-called Free Syrian Army is just a footnote. If Assad was to fall—and the Russians thankfully realise this— it would be a disaster.”

At a meeting in the House of Lords, Archbishop Jeanbart warned British politicians of the folly of supporting Islamic militants in the war in his country. He said that for the past 60 years, Syria has strived to become a modern secular state. Western support for militants against Syrian President Bashar Assad would destroy all such progress. “Our country was fighting for 50-60 years to become a pluralistic country, to give citizens their rights of religion and freedom of choice...and you are destroying this work and pushing on us fundamental jihadis who want to kill everyone who is not similar to them.”—CNS

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WO Syrian archbishops expressed approval for Russian airstrikes against rebel groups in their country. Melkite Catholic Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart of Aleppo said that the bombing of rebel positions by Russian jets was “a source of hope” for Syria.

He told Suisse Romande television that the intervention into the Syrian civil war by Russia “serves the Christian cause” and generated “renewed confidence among Christians in Syria”. “[Vladimir] Putin is solving a problem,” said Archbishop Jeanbart.

His comments came after the Islamic State released a video showing the murders of three Assyrian Christians captured in Hasakah province in February.

They also came after Syriac Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo of Hassake-Nisibi defended the Russian campaign while accusing the United States of arming al-Qaeda terrorists under “a different name”.

Archbishop Hindo said Western opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was wrong because it could make Syria “like Libya”, a country in a near state of anarchy after the US, Britain and France helped to bring down Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Archbishop Hindo spoke after Senator John McCain, chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, claimed Russia was bombing rebel groups trained by the CIA. Archbishop Hindo told Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples at the Vatican, that Mr McCain’s words represented “a blatant admission that behind the war against President Assad there is also the CIA”.

“There is something very disturbing about all this,” he said in an interview published online. “There is a superpower that after 9/11 protests because the Russians hit the militias of al-Qaeda in Syria.

“What does it mean, [that] alQaeda is now a US ally, just because in Syria it has a different name?” he asked.

“Western propaganda keeps talking about moderate rebels, who do

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The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Don’t trust every word

A

N old adage has it that one should not trust everything one reads in the press. This holds true even more for information obtained from the Internet.

Social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, are good ways of receiving information through shared items of interest which one might not have been alert to otherwise. The downside is that often this information is unreliable.

So it is with an image of Pope Francis featuring a quote attributed to him which is wholly false.

According to the image, the pope says, among other things, that “the traditional notion of God is outdated. One can be spiritual but not religious.”

This hoax, which attributes ideas to the Holy Father which he most certainly does not hold, is being disseminated by people in good faith.

The lines between fact and fiction become further blurred by the growth of satirical websites that are designed to look like news sites, leading the casual reader to believe that invented news stories are authentic.

Internet users may also receive dubious information from clickbait sites, sites that look independent but are selling a product or an idea, and sites that exist to further an agenda.

Some websites can be trusted, others can not—but it is difficult to tell the questionable and more credible sites apart.

It is easier to do so with the traditional media. With regular exposure to a publication or broadcaster, one gets a sense of its philosophy, vision, biases and direction, and of its reliability as conveyor of trustworthy news.

Where many websites have little or no editorial control, the content of publications and broadcast news is subject to the control of an editorial team.

Though editorial control does not guarantee quality or accurate reporting, consumers of these media and subjects of stories have recourse to holding an editor accountable for journalistic lapses.

Many websites have similar editorial filters, but many others don’t. So it is good to make regular use of trusted websites and to monitor whether their content remains dependable.

But one must take great care with unknown websites which one lands on through shared links or search engines.

This requires a measure of media literacy—the ability to differentiate between websites (or traditional media) that can be believed and those that do not merit our unreserved confidence.

That isn’t always easy. Witness, for example, the report on the “Vatican Insider” blog of a purported letter to Pope Francis signed by 13 cardinals who had concerns about procedural aspects of the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

The story was a big deal, and it was tricky to know whether the story had merit.

On the one hand, it was broken by a blog that is known to have well-placed sources in the Vatican. On the other hand, it is also known that the blog has a record of publishing inaccurate or disputed stories in the past, had been banned from the Vatican earlier this year, and is known to be stridently critical of Pope Francis.

In the event, several supposed signatories said they never signed such a letter, and others who had signed it, including Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, said that the letter published on the blog was not the same as was sent to the pope.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation who is said to have signed the letter, said that the leak of the purported letter (and presumably its publication) was intended to sow discord and division in the synod, pitting the signatories against the pope.

This illustrates the need to evaluate all our sources for news and analysis.

We must interrogate the sources of what we read by asking these questions: Do I know the publishers (website, newspaper, radio station) of the news I am receiving? Can I trust them?

How or through whom did I discover them? Might they have an agenda (ideological or commercial) which influences what they publish and how they do so? Is the content plausible, and the fact verifiable?

If we are unsure of the answers to any of these questions, we must exercise caution in trusting what we read.

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.

Proclaim the truth of the Eucharist

P

ATRICK Dacey (October 7) raises an interesting question on why “clerics feel the necessity to convince us that the host only becomes the body and blood of Jesus at the consecration”, adding that “surely the transformation that takes place includes the presence of Jesus in his entirety, in all that he manifests”.

He framed his letter around the account of a eucharistic miracle in which a defiled host was reported to have transformed into human flesh.

The letter reminds me of Roy Schoeman, a Jewish convert to the faith who in his search to find the true Church accidently came across the Fatima story which had a major impact in his conversion to Catholicism.

Dr Schoeman was extremely “mad” that this miraculous event was not known to the wider world and anxiously asked the question of why he had never heard of it!

The Shroud of Turin is another example of sceptics who question its validity, even though well-documented scientific tests that were

Radio Veritas or Marian shrine?

W

ITH no offence to the archbishop and the archdiocese of Johannesburg, I would like to ask why would all the parishes be asked to contribute to the building of an archdiocesan Marian shrine—a wonderful idea, don’t get me wrong—while our Radio Veritas is drowning for want of funds to keep it going.

Most of our parishes, like my own, have a grotto and statue of Mary in a garden, and it is used on an ongoing basis. I, living in Kempton Park, would not drive all the way to wherever the new shrine is.

Why is more help not being given from the top to assist Radio Veritas, which, by the way, is wonderful for housebound and lonely people?

Lorraine Cowling, Johannesburg

Try homelessness for just one night

I

T’S time. You must leave your home tonight, carrying nothing.

You’ve dressed warmly because it’s quite cool outdoors, and you’re unaccustomed to exposure. Nowhere to go, you’ve undertaken to spend the night away from the comforts of your home in an effort to empathise with those who do not have a home. It’s past 10 pm—not much movement in the suburb.

Where to go?

Shelter—you need shelter. But in these days of violence, theft and

done by a broad range of Christians and non-Christians posits a supernatural intervention.

God from time to time makes himself known “in another form” (Mk 16:12) through miraculous events such as these to awake the unbelievers and to provide “evidence” to a sceptical and damaged world that does not believe that God exists.

Jesus was obviously aware of unbelief and unwillingness to trust the leadership of the Church. Hence, one week later Jesus reappeared in the Upper Room to the magisterium and his devoted followers and allowed Thomas to “test” the “evidence” of his real presence (Jn 20:24-26).

Clergy and laity often deliberately behave in a manner unbecoming before and during the consecration: a rush to get through the liturgy or a lack of focus, and, of course, our living the faith and rebelling against the magisterium’s teachings which may bring our belief into question of the real presbreak-ins, there are security guards at most public places, and they do not want you in their areas. All houses are barred and closed.

As you wander through the suburb you become aware of others who are “sleeping rough”—huddled into shadows on the outskirts of shopping centres, seated leaning against walls away from the streetlamps’ glare.

What kind of people are these?

They, having little, might take what you have!

After all, you’re well-dressed.

Will they attack you now, or wait until you’re off-guard? The law of the jungle rules out here—if you don’t take what you need, who will provide for you? Some man without a coat might fancy the one you’re wearing.

Here’s what seems to be a bundle of rags lying under a street lamp.

Skirting the object, you realise it’s a human being curled into a foetal position, ragged jersey pulled over the head and feet—the feet pushing through broken shoes.

Is he dead? What to do? Spurred by your conscience you ask: “Are you alright?” A muffled grunt. At least there’s life. You have nothing 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

ence of Christ.

Protestant apologists often question the validity of the Eucharist by pointing to how we Catholics have abandoned the faith for Protestantism. If Jesus was so real, Catholics would prostrate themselves before him and never miss an opportunity to attend Mass, many would say.

The Eucharist is arguably the most important sacrament which the Protestant reformers denied in order to distance themselves from Rome.

Martin Luther, in his efforts to have some unity within the Protestant reform tradition, offered a middle ground with his novel teaching of “consubstantiation”, the belief that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, but that they also remain bread and wine.

Zwingli and Calvin denied transubstantiation completely.

The Church must verify such events as described by Mr Dacey by authentic means to dispel any misgivings, skullduggery or scepticism, and to make known the truth of what Christ taught his Church.

Henry Sylvester, Cape Town but what you wear—nothing to offer this derelict.

You go on. An electrical sub-station has been built on the pavement—a narrow passageway behind and next to some household’s wall.

A place to hide, to sit, to establish as your own! Occupied! Two recumbent figures silently declare their right of possession. You go on.

Hours pass. You have found a place of shadow on a pavement next to a school wall. At first you sit leaning against the wall. Then you doze, but the night’s coolness (it’s not even really cold!) wakens you.

You’re stiff and cold. Pull the sleeves of your coat over your hands. Lie on your side against the wall—there’s some protection against the slight breeze. Draw your legs up, conserving heat. Turn up your jacket collar and tuck your head in; doze. Wake with the cold and the sound of a dog barking.

Someone stumbles along the road, making you rigid with fear. He passes. Doze.

Wake with dew upon you, stiff with cold, tired as a drunk in the morning.

What’s the time?

No watch—perhaps it was stolen, or did you not bring it with you? A motorcycle bursts up the street, delivering newspapers. Must be nearly morning.

The worst feeling is that of dispossession, of loneliness, of rejection. You get just a taste of them, for you can and will go home in the morning. How do you get just a cup of water. A cup? Cold brings hunger —what’s to eat?

Tom Drake, Alberton

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PERSPECTIVES

To meet the angel of death

O

NE of my favourite semi-liturgical times of the year is the month of November, the month of the Holy

Souls.

I love the focus that we place on the ancestry of faith and family that we share. I love too how we might be accused of going overboard, remembering the dead with sadness and fun.

It’s in this context of our Catholic custom that I look on the modern customs, fixed and emerging, of facing death. Let’s ask some questions of the cultures around funerals. These will be hard questions and we do need to get a little squirmy.

As a priest, I’m part of that professional class that has to deal with dying, death, grief and all the emotions that come with this necessary part of life. In a sense, we develop a necessary detachment from the rawness of dealing with death because we face death more often than most people do.

In my first year at St Michael’s in Meadowlands, Soweto, we had more than 60 deaths and funerals. As a fairly newly minted priest, a white priest in that most vibrant Ndofaya, I admit that I was out of my depth.

Previously I had conducted only a few funerals, including my godfather’s as the first funeral I had presided over. I landed slap-bang in the middle of a strange and well-established funeral culture.

Saturday mornings always had a funeral, or two, or three. It became a logistical nightmare of timing departures to Avalon or Dobsonville cemeteries. Undertakers and burial societies ruled the days.

My altar servers would debate hard and furiously which meal they would attend, and then, of course, those most notorious “after-tears” gatherings.

It was here that I began to notice that the Church’s important role of pointing to eternal life beginning to be eclipsed. And this eclipse has only got worse in the following 15 years.

While nothing can outdo the consolation and support of the “tipa brigade” (tipa is the SeSotho word for knife) when they

gathered to cook and peel and chop and accompany the family in the all important task of feeding the multitude after a burial, there were small signs of the loss of the eternal life perspective.

The first of these was the growth in memorial services where everyone was expected to say something. These usually turned into canonisations of untruth, sadly not reflecting the person at all but a formularised way of getting time to address the community about one’s own issues.

T

hen we had the growth in all communities of the bling undertakers, where the Church’s liturgy for eternal life became dictated to by timing and gimmicks.

And sadly we got more and more caught by the attraction of a “celebration of life”—but not of eternal life. Subtly the focus shifted from the liturgy which consoles to a liturgy that only looks back to memories. There is a need for balance between consolation and memory, one which is in danger of being lost.

Recently, I was deeply tempted to push an undertaker into an empty grave when she interrupted the final liturgy to release doves—homing pigeons actually—and then proceeded to give a homilette on how

“The undertaker interrupted the final liturgy to release doves—homing pigeons, actually—saying the doves were the soul of the departed leaving this earth.”

Fr Chris Townsend

Pastor’s Notebook

the doves were the soul of the departed leaving this earth. Um, no dear, I’m not going to heaven as a rodent with wings!

We get caught in the bizarre expenses of the funeral industry. I often warn the grieving family that undertakers provide a very necessary service, but that most are still money-making businesses which wouldn’t want the dearly departed resting on a sprung mattress in a tupperware-sealed casket—especially when said casket costs the price of a small car (Of course, I also know of other, more caring, undertakers)…

Recently, we priests joked about the choices of funeral music. Everyone wants their own favourite song played—even if that is “Burn Baby Burn”…at a cremation service.

So what alternative way is there?

I admired a parishioner who called me about three years ago to give me her set of instructions. What a comprehensive instruction that was, from what readings to who would read them and who had been asked to speak in tribute. This organisation was a deep consolation for her family when she died. It was an eternal life requiem.

The Church’s funeral liturgy is full of symbols of the Resurrection. From greeting the body of the deceased at the door of the church to sprinkling it with baptismal (holy) water, reminding us of the birth into eternal life that is baptism, to the resting before the altar, the burning of the Easter candle, the Eucharistic sacrifice and the incense symbolising our prayers. All of this points not backwards but forward to eternal life.

I have left strict instructions that my own funeral liturgy will be as early as possible in the morning as quickly as possible after death. I don’t want the grief to turn to duty.

After all, death for me is the end of the first chapter—and who mourns a great story with its first instalment?

50 years since the Church embraced Jews Sr Marie André Mitchell SND

O

N October 28 the Church will mark the 50th anniversary of the document that broke new ground in interfaith relations: Nostra Aetate.

The history of the Second Vatican Council’s “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions” was long and complex.

It began with Pope John XXIII who had wanted the Council to make a statement to clarify the Church’s stand with regard to Judaism. Various drafts of the document met with difficulties and eventually its scope was enlarged so as also to include the attitude of the Church not only to Judaism, but also to Islam and all world religions.

Referring to Acts 17:26, Nostra Aetate noted: “For all peoples form a single community; their origin is one for God made the whole human race to dwell over the entire face of the earth.”

The document expresses great respect and sympathy for the religions of the world whose authentic values it expounds, but at the same time it shows the finality of Christ’s revelation which the Church is commissioned to proclaim.

Article 4 relates specifically to the Jews and reinforces the relationship of the Church with Abraham’s stock and recounts many basic elements the Church has in common with the Jews.

“Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christian and Jews is thus so great, this Sacred Synod wishes to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit above all of biblical

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Sculpture “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time” at St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. and theological studies and of brotherly dialogue,” the document says. It also condemns all forms of anti-Semitism.

Nostra Aetate defined and set in writing an historic and wide-ranging transformation in the Catholic Church’s thinking about and relating to Judaism and the Jewish people. It marked the beginning of a new age of dialogue between the two ancient communities.

Nostra Aetate also provided the inspiration and direction for many other significant documents and events which have helped significantly to reshape JewishCatholic relations.

It paved the way for acknowledgment by Pope John Paul II that God’s covenant with the Jews had never been revoked (Mainz, Germany 1980). Pope Benedict XVI in his message for the 40th anniversary of Nostra

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Aetate said: “The Jewish- Christian dialogue must continue to enrich and deepen the bonds of friendship which have developed while preaching, and catechesis must be committed to ensuring that our mutual relations are presented in the light of the principles set forth by the Council.”

During an unscheduled stop at the Jesuit St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia last month, Pope Francis viewed the university’s new statue, “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time”, which was recently unveiled to mark the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of Nostra Aetate.

The statue reflects the teaching of the Catholic Church today. It depicts synagogue and church as both proud crowned women, living in covenant with God sideby-side and learning from one another’s sacred texts and traditions.

It is so different from medieval presentations that showed that Jews were blind enemies of God whose spiritual life was obsolete.

On this 50th anniversary, as we thank God for what has been achieved, we need to renew our commitment to continue the work that yet remains to be done. Nostra Aetate was a beginning not an end.

The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

Judith Turner

Faith and Life

The rich benefits of meditation

I

RECENTLY had the opportunity to attend a workshop on meditation at the Christian Brothers’ Centre in Stellenbosch. It was a double experience of sheer privilege.

Firstly, the centre has become a place of renewal and re-energising for many people. It has now been transformed into a peaceful space which gives opportunities for deep reflection, meditation and tranquillity.

The workshop was held in the newly-built meditation chapel, which is in the shape of a rondawel.

Upon entering the chapel, you are requested to take off your shoes because you are entering a sacred space. There is seating around the chapel as well as mats and cushions for those who want to meditate on the floor. In the middle of the chapel is a water feature which lights up, so one can see the water and also hear its sound.

And the water, for me, is what makes the chapel the ideal space for meditation. It is well known that water has healing effects, and it is therefore not surprising that meditation and water are a natural combination.

In the Buddhist tradition, water usually is the symbol of serenity, purity, and clarity of thought.

There are many guided meditations that use water imagery and the sounds of waterfalls, babbling brooks or ocean waves to help the body’s binaural rhythms.

Water is crucial to life; humans, animals and plants simply dry up and die when they do not have it. Water is soothing, it is inspiring, and since the beginning of time human beings have been drawn to water.

The Christian Brothers have designed the perfect meditation chapel by placing a water feature in its centre. It is an experience!

My second experience of privilege at the workshop was the education about meditation itself, and particularly about children and meditation.

I learned that children meditate naturally. That is something I did not know. I learnt that one of the most significant developments in the world of Christian meditation is the way in which children and young people are embracing this form of prayer.

Children enjoy meditation, and one of the reasons for this is because it’s an activity where they are all equal. In meditation there is no competition. There is only each one’s experience of meditation. So it does not matter whether you are the smartest, prettiest, richest, fastest or strongest in the class. In the meditation room, none of that counts because each child is asked to draw on and connect with that which each one possesses an equal share of, the Spirit of God. Needless to say, meditation has a positive impact on the academic performance of the child as well as his/her social development.

For adults, too, there are many benefits of meditation. Meditation increases your emotional stability and your mental harmony. It expands your self-awareness and your state of consciousness.

You become more aware of what’s happening around you. Meditation improves your sleep and helps with insomnia. By meditating regularly you will have more motivation and ability to reach your goals.

It has a physical benefit has well. Meditation can boost your immune system, your health and your wellbeing.

All in all, meditation builds community because it has all these wonderful benefits for the individual.

Meditation is found in all religious traditions.

In Christianity it is the heart of the contemplative teaching of Jesus on prayer. Meditation, in the Christian tradition, is often called “the prayer of the heart”.

When next you find yourself in the beautiful Cape area, please visit the Christian Brothers’ Centre in Stellenbosch and enjoy your experience of renewal. In my opinion, it should be on everybody’s bucket list!

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The Southern Cross, October 14 to October 20, 2015

COMMUNITY

Thirteen children received first Communion at St Lawrence parish in Delft, Cape Town. Seen with the children are Fr Louis Padua, Fr Alex Chileshe and catechists.

Members of St Vincent de Paul sodality in St Mary’s cathedral in De Aar, Northern Cape, assisted at the Methodist soup kitchen. Pictured are Carol Smith, Gloria Harmans, Ursula Mngewana, Jumo Morar and Thelma.

A threeday workshop was held for all catechists in Verulam, KwaZuluNatal and outstations, conducted by Holy Family Sister Fr Bonga Mkhize OMI (centre) installed the altar servers at Christ the King Vinifrida parish in Wentworth, Durban Vasalthan thri from Sri Lanka.

The First Holy Communion class from Our Lady Help of Christians in Lansdowne, Cape Town, are pictured with Salesian Fathers Marian Kulig (back right) and Roy Elavungal (back left).

Margareta Mulatu Amado of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholic community was baptised by Fr Vincent Brennan SMA at St Theresa’s parish in Mogwase, Rustenburg.

Margareta’s parents are seen with Fr Brennan.

Katlego Kgole and Savannah Sale of Holy Rosary High School in Johannesburg are the school’s new Blood Donor Drive Representatives.

Sacred Heart College in Observatory, Johannesburg, sent Thuwaybah Moses, Jordyn Walker, Mujahied Moses, Riley Pam-Grant, Astrid Kuhn and Julia Barry to the World Scholars Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Maynooth, Ireland.

Youth were confirmed at St Anthony’s parish in Pietermaritzburg. (From left) Dale Stevens, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Fr George O’Brien SPS and Darnell Brown.

Send us your photos to pics@ scross.co.za

Youth at St Theresa’s parish in Knysna were confirmed by Bishop Frank de Gouveia of Oudtshoorn.

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...but please have patience: Sometimes we have an overflow of photos awaiting publication.

Our Lady of the Wayside parish in Maryvale, Johannesburg, held a fundraising raffle for pilgrims who wish to attend World Youth Day in July 2016. Pilgrims are pictured with Fr Petrus Shiya.

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The Keimoes-Upington diocese Justice & Peace ministry hosted a Women’s Day celebration at the SC Kearns School in Upington. The event was arranged by (back from left) Michelle Malgas, Mary-Ann Magang, Liena Mauwers and (front) chaplain Fr Alex Beukes.

HURLEY AT 100

Nelson Mandela

Cardinal Napier

Bishop Dowling

Archbishop Tutu

Ela Gandhi

Fr Mkhatshwa

Fr Nolan OP

The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

Fatima Meer

Fr Pearson

9

Elizabeth Mkame

Hurley remembered by his friends On November 9 the Church will celebrate the centenary of Archbishop Denis Hurley’s life. Here 12 of his contemporaries, some living and some already dead, pay tribute to the great, late archbishop of Durban.

Ela Gandhi

(Granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi)

D

t is pleasant to recall your priestly qualities which by God’s help made you an active and devoted pastor, a diligent cultivator of the Lord’s vineyard, and, amid great difficulties, a promoter of human rights to all groups of the population.

You have been outstanding as a priest both within and without the community of the Church conducting yourself steadfastly in the role of metropolitan and at one time president of the bishops’ conference. (Letter to Archbishop Hurley on June 13, 1989, the golden jubilee of the archbishop’s priestly ordination.)

uring the 1970s, when there was massive repression throughout the country, Archbishop Hurley spoke at several public meetings, calling for clemency for political prisoners and praying for the repressive apartheid government’s change of heart. As a true Christian and a holy person, Archbishop Hurley prayed for all, the perpetrators and the victims.

When listening to his prayers, I was often reminded of my grandfather who always spoke about the separation of the deed from the doer. Sometimes it was difficult to love the perpetrators of apartheid while hating apartheid, yet Archbishop Hurley in his simple, truthful style brought that message home very clearly.

It remained in my consciousness throughout the dark days of apartheid.

President Nelson Mandela

Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa

Pope St John Paul II

I

A

rchbishop Hurley is an outstanding example of dignity, compassion and commitment to equality and human rights. His quest for justice is a source of inspiration to many South Africans, young and old.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (Archbishop of Durban)

W

hat we admired in Archbishop Hurley and what we thank God for, was the conviction with which he lived his Christian and priestly life as an answer both to the situation in our land and to the words of Jesus concerning service to the disadvantaged in society: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Throughout his life Archbishop Hurley was known for his firm opposition to injustice. He stood up for the poor and the oppressed— often literally, as when taking part in placard demonstrations; speaking out on their behalf; setting up or serving on bodies working for social change; making available to all his clear insight, his eloquence of expression and his rare gift of being able to chair a meeting, participate in the debate and draft resolutions… all at the same time!

Bishop Kevin Dowling CSsR (Bishop of Rustenburg)

I

remember how the Bophutatswana ecumenical group known as Pastors for Human Rights were protesting about the homeland ruler Lucas Mangope’s deportation of the queen-mother of the Bafokeng.

The heavily-armed Bop security forces blocked a protest march with automatic rifles and Casspirs. They opened fire on the pastors who were leading the march with lethal teargas grenades. I came back that night quite shattered from the injuries of people and the death of a young student...it had been an awful, awful day...and then the phone rang.

It was Archbishop Hurley with his love for sport and his passion for justice and his great commitment to me: “Oh, I’ve heard what happened today. Your cricketing days have stood you in good stead, you were able to duck the bouncers, were you?” referring to the grenades coming at my head.

He made me laugh for the first time that day and then he just said: “I am so proud of you, please just keep on. Keep on with this commitment to justice and human rights. I am so proud, this is the way to go.”

The social teaching of the Church provides a tradition that can be looked at and moulded to engage a particular situation. This he put firmly on the table of the Church. I think he’s given a whole generation of us who are in different kinds of leadership and who are tasked with different responsibilities...he has imprinted on us that tradition: go to the social teaching, use it, it is there, develop it, find its relevance.

tell him: “Denis, I’m so glad that we can skulk behind your stature, both physical and moral.”

If you were to ask me whom I would want to canonise in the Roman Catholic Church, I would do that straight away for him.

(Chairman of the Moral Regeneration Movement)

A

rchbishop Hurley was associated with the social teaching of the Church, the struggle against apartheid, solidarity with the oppressed and the poor. When the Second Vatican Council deliberated on bringing the Church closer to the modern world, Hurley made his mark.

How do you do justice to a man who was the darling of the intelligentsia and progressive students in South Africa? His Zulu might not have impressed King Shaka or Dingane, but the ordinary workers, along with the rural and the urban poor, saw in him the champion of their cause.

Fr Albert Nolan OP

(Theologian and author)

A

rchbishop Hurley was not only a saintly man. He was also exceptionally gifted in a number of ways. He was a clear thinker and a good writer. He was well-read in all the latest theology of that time. He devoured each new book as it came out, grasping its meaning and relevance for the Church immediately and with great excitement.

Hurley was a real intellectual and a profound theologian with a sharp critical mind.

One of the things I always admired in him was his genuine openness to new ideas. He had no trouble in accepting the discoveries and insights of the Jesuit palaeontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, just as he was able to accept the in-

Jeremy Hurley (Oldest nephew)

A Archbishop Hurley meets Pope John Paul II. Both were influential figures in the Second Vatican Council sights of feminist theologians and others in more recent times.

Spiritually and intellectually he lived up to his own episcopal motto: “Where the Spirit is, there is freedom”.

Elizabeth Mkame

Professor Fatima Meer

(Muslim academic and activist)

T

he minaret and the steeple, casting their intertwined shadows, embracing each other’s light, could not but have inspired in Denis Hurley the universalism and versatility of God in engaging humanity in many names and forms.

It could not but have liberated his mind and heart of the phobias and prejudices that trammel and trap so many others, so that when a Christian wrote that he could not worship Allah, only Christ, Hurley responded that the two were indivisible and indeed one.

The great attribute of Denis Hurley’s ministry was his uncompromising commitment to truth and justice. He raised his voice fearlessly when these were violated. He saw poverty as a violation of truth, of Christ’s Gospel, and his arguments rang out in clearest terms against the greed and violence of capitalism.

Fr Peter-John Pearson

(Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office)

D

enis Hurley had an incredible commitment to the social teaching of the Church.

Those of us involved in justice and peace work caught something of that commitment in which he said—this is the body of teaching that we work from, here we have the insights, the kind of inspiration that we can take further.

THE JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME!

Pilgrimage of Light to the

HOLY LAND 15 - 27 October 2016

Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR Fr Larry Kaufmann CSsR

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (Nobel peace laureate)

W

hat thrilled all of us who were running the gauntlet of the system was that Archbishop Hurley was a fearless and articulate adversary, determined to stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were just thrilled that he was on our side, ready to enter the fray, to man the barricades and enter the trenches.

But he was also warm, approachable and hugely funny too, which endeared him to people. I was very, very fond of him and liked to

s we 14 young cousins grew up, we became more challenging to our Uncle Denis. One by one we became adolescents and young adults and just like a flock of free-range chickens many of us decided to make our own pathways in life.

Many of the things we did were difficult for Denis and our parents, but they never judged, not for one moment, and it was a great gift he and they gave us: the gift of unconditional love.

It was as though he was a tightrope walker on a rope that was stretched between his fierce loyalty and love for the Church and his fierce loyalty and love for his family, and most of us made the tightrope walk that Denis did very difficult for him at times.

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(Patron of Denis Hurley Centre)

A

fter the Second Vatican Council Archbishop Hurley was keener than ever to promote lay leadership. He insisted that there should be lay leaders in every parish. And he organised training for parish councils so that they could exercise that leadership.

And then there was the first synod of the archdiocese in 1968. Everyone was encouraged to prepare for that event because the archbishop wanted to share his leadership with the people. It made us see the Church as a family much wider than just our own parish. The Church was ours and we needed to share responsibility for it with the bishop and priests.

With the archbishop’s passion for change, he created the Diakonia Council of Churches so that all the churches would work together to do something about the unemployed, something about the homeless. He was keen that we should expose seminarians to the migrant worker hostels. He wanted the staff of Diakonia to be out in the communities disseminating information.

I suppose he always had a vision that he would start this organisation and then we would pass on the message: “I have started. I have lit a candle, now you must pass on its light.” n Compiled by Paddy Kearney

10

The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

TRAVEL

Visiting the great saints of Italy Last month 30 Southern Cross/Radio Veritas pilgrims took part in the Saints of Italy pilgrimage.

Here is the second and final part of the travel diary of editor GüNTHER SIMMERMACHER.

Left: The Duomo (cathedral) of Siena, dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. Right: Pilgrims look at the tomb of Galileo Galilei in Santa Croce basilica in Florence. (All photos: Günther Simmermacher)

Day 6: Siena & Florence

A

FTER the relaxed atmosphere of Umbria, it was a very hectic day in Tuscany.

First, the beautiful city of Siena, birthplace of the great Dominican St Catherine, whom we saw everywhere in the city, and the great Franciscan St Bernardino, whom we encountered nowhere (but met in Assisi the previous day).

The basilica of St Dominic was something of a disappointment, the only one of this great journey. It was being renovated outside and inside, and the irksome “No Photos” rule, which is so widespread in Italy’s churches, meant that I left the basilica with few memories, other than the vibrant modern stained glass windows and the grotesque relic of St Catherine’s face.

I was more impressed by the background to Siena’s Palio horseraces, which involve teams from the city’s 17 wards, known as contrade.

Held on July 2 and August 15 every year in the city’s main square, the medieval Piazza del Campo, the Palio races are dedicated to the Madonna of Provenzano, a devotion particular to Siena, and to Our Lady of the Assumption.

The latter is the city’s patron (as it is South Africa’s), and Siena’s breathtaking 13th-century Duomo (cathedral), with its intricate façade, is dedicated to Mary Assumed into Heaven.

Our next destination was the Duomo of Florence, dedicated to Our Lady of the Flower. The distinctive exterior is breathtaking but the interior is comparatively plain, other than the 15th-century dome, a masterpiece of engineering as well as of artistry.

Florence was crowded with tourists, as it usually is, so navigating the city as a group was not easy.

We managed, and got to visit the Ponte Vecchio—the bridge lined with shops—and the Piazza della Signoria, which is crowded with notable sculptures, including the copy of Michelangelo’s David.

At the end of our day we saw Michelangelo’s tomb in the basilica of Santa Croce (Holy Cross), as well as the final resting places of Galileo, Macchiavelli and the composer Gioachino Rossini, and loads of long-forgotten Florentine VIPs. Santa Croce, a Franciscan church, is the converse of the Duomo: the exterior is pretty but unremarkable, but the interior is awe-inspiring, as any church featuring art by the likes of Giotto and Cimabue should be.

The Saints of Italy pilgrims in front of St Anthony’s basilica in Padua.

I wonder whether one doesn’t become blasé about that wealth of art if there’s a Giotto or Michelangelo masterpiece wherever you turn.

We joined the local parishioners for Saturday evening Mass. It was a good reminder that this is a living church, not just a museum for tourists. I was delighted to see Catholic publications displayed for sale in the middle aisle.

What must it be like to have Mass every week in such a church, with its famous history, artworks, relics and tombs?

Day 7: Padua

W

hile in South Africa 35 000 people witnessed the beatification of Bl Benedict Daswa at Tshitanini, our group was on the autostrada from Florence to Padua.

No doubt Fr Emil Blaser and I would have been at the beatification, had we not committed to this pilgrimage long before the date was announced. Instead we followed portions of the ceremony in Italy on our cellphones via live streams from the SABC and Radio Veritas.

Our hotel in Padua overlooked the side of the basilica of San Antonio, a very convenient location. In the piazza of the basilica is an equestrian statue from 1453, sculpted by Donatello (apparently Italy’s first equestrian statue since the times of the ancient Romans).

St Anthony of Padua (or of Lisbon, if you’re Portuguese) is one of the big hitters in the Community of Saints. The reverent devotion of the many people, locals and visitors, who come to his tomb testifies to that. In Padua, St Anthony is known simply as il Santo (The Saint). Even the piazza in front of the basilica is called simply The Saint’s Square.

Last year I was blessed to have Mass at the place of St Anthony’s birth in Lisbon; now I had Mass in the basilica of his tomb.

Our Mass in the basilica’s Sala del Capitolo (Chapter Hall) chapel, adorned with frescoes by Giotto, found a glorious conclusion in a solo of Schubert’s “Ave Maria” performed by the youngest member of our group, 19-year-old Michaela Singh.

Day 8: Venice

I

f one is in Padua, one must also go to Venice, just 40km away. It’s a city like no other.

Alas, the rain that was forecast fell hard on our way to Venice. Our tour director, the wonderful Rosanna who hails from this region, assured us that if it rains in the morning, it rains all day. But it stopped while we walked to St Mark’s basilica, where we had our Mass in the crypt.

By the time we emerged from Mass to visit the basilica proper, the area in front of the entrance was flooded, so we had to navigate planks to enter. And when we returned from our tour of St Mark’s (crowded and uncomfortable, and again, “No Photos!”), the whole square was flooded.

But the sun was coming out, producing not a miserable day of rain but of glorious summer sunshine.

My prayers to St Scholastica, the patron for rain whom I had invoked repeatedly on the bus and whose birthplace we had visited earlier in Norcia, evidently were answered.

We had an afternoon at leisure.

Some used it to go shopping, others took a gondola ride (just about affordable for a group of eight). I went off on my own, taking the beaten path into the residential quarters.

On my aimless stroll I discovered a few delightful churches along the way, including the Dominican church of Ss Giovanni and Paolo (named after early Venetian martyrs) and the church of St John the Baptist in Bragora, with the 14th-century font in which the composer Antonio Vivaldi was baptised in 1678.

Day 9: Sotto il Monte

O

n our second day of this pilgrimage we had Mass at the tomb of St John XXIII in St Peter’s basilica. Our penultimate Mass was in Sotto il Monte, the late pope’s birthplace near Bergamo in the Lombardy region.

Sotto il Monte, which has incorporated the name Giovanni XXIII into its official name, is a quiet village of 3 500 inhabitants which very few English-speaking groups visit. After our busy days in Florence, Padua and Venice, the peace-

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Left: The basilica of St Anthony in Padua with Piazza Il Santo. Right: Gabi Masite reads at Mass in the crypt of St Mark’s basilica in Venice.

Left: Fr Emil Blaser OP preaches at Mass in the Duomo of Milan. Right: A relic of St John XXIII in the church of St John the Baptist in Sotto il Monte. ful village atmosphere was a welcome relief.

People were clearly pleased to see us. At the end of a delicious threecourse lunch, our hosts got out bottles of grappa and cognac to give us a taste of Italian hospitality, which we accepted gladly but with due moderation.

As a career diplomat and eventually cardinal, Mgr Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope St John XXIII, had a summer residence in Sotto il Monte.

It is now occupied by his former private secretary, the now 100-year-old Cardinal Loris Capovilla, and an elderly nun. Visitors are welcome to tour the late pope’s living room, study, bedroom (with the bed in which he died) and so on.

Surveying the Roncalli bookcase, Fr Emil noted the absence of his fellow Dominican St Thomas Acquinas’ Summa Theologica. I was just pleased to plant my seat onto an armchair on which a future pope and saint once used to sit…

We visited the 15th-century church of St Maria in Brusicco in which Angelo Roncalli was baptised––within hours of his birth on November 25, 1881, so as to safeguard his soul. In the same church the newly-ordained Fr Roncalli said his first Mass in 1904.

We also saw the simple room in which St John XXIII was born to poor sharecroppers.

In the courtyard of the modest Roncalli home is a poignant bronze tableau of Pope John XXIII receiving the congratulations on his papal election from his (by then deceased) parents. Next to the figure of the pope is a little boy with a dog, presumably the young Angelo.

God clearly had a plan for this boy, who grew up poor in an entirely unimportant village—much as our Lord did.

Day 10: Milan

P

aris and Rome now seemed so long ago as we began our final day in Milan. In normal life, a week and a half can feel like an instant; on a pilgrimage, with all the experiences and spiritual growth it brings, it can feel like an age.

Milan greeted us with rain. Some people asked me to invoke St Scholastica again, but I didn’t want to impose on her. Still, the rain soon stopped. Maybe somebody else said a prayer.

Milan is a city of opulence. On the city’s main shopping street, the Via Dante, only big designer brands are represented. The same applies to the 19th-century glass-roofed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade.

So I expected the famous La Scala opera house to be an edifice of ostentatious grandeur. Instead it looks like an unadventurous city hall of a mid-sized Italian town.

Still, Verdi and Puccini were here, Caruso and Callas sang here, all watched over by a statue of Leonardo da Vinci.

What La Scala lacks in sumptuousness, the Duomo compensates for. The cathedrals of Florence and Siena were impressive. The elaborate façade of Milan’s Duomo overshadows them all.

The Duomo’s gothic interior doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the façade, even as it is imposing and fascinating in details. I was pleased to see the grave of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the Jesuit archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2002 who many thought would have made a great pope before his death in 2012.

The Duomo holds the tomb of St Charles Borromeo, who was the patron saint of St John Paul II. This gave me occasion to pray for the success of the Southern Cross’ pilgrimage to Poland in honour of the late pope in May 2016.

Alas, the entry fee to the archaeological digs, which include the baptismal font in which St Ambrose baptised St Augustine, was rather too steep, so I skipped that.

After some free time, looking at shops with stuff I couldn’t afford, we had our final Mass behind the Duomo’s main altar, looking at the back of silver statues of Ss Ambrose and Charles Borromeo.

At the end of that Mass, Fr Emil pronounced: “The Mass and the pilgrimage has ended. Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” We sang the South African national anthem, asking God to bless Africa, and filed out of the Duomo.

Before we knew it we were at the airport to make our way home. The corporeal pilgrimage had ended, that’s true. But our pilgrimage continues as we discern and reap the fruits of this moving and profoundly spiritual journey. n Next week Günther Simmermacher will reflect on the saints.

The Southern Cross, October 21 to October 27, 2015

CLASSIFIEDS

Fr Tom Nicholson MSC

S

ACRED Heart Father Tom Nicholson, a long-time parish priest of St Pius X in Plumstead, Cape Town, died on September 23 at the age of 82.

Born on December 13, 1932 at Killererin in County Galway, Ireland, he entered the novitiate of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Cork, Ireland, in 1950.

Fr Nicholson was ordained a priest in 1957 and left Ireland for South Africa. His first appointment was to St Scholastica mission in what was then Northern Transvaal.

He then studied anthropology and African languages at the University of Cape Town.

On graduation he was appointed to the Missiology Institute of Lumko in the Eastern Cape, an initiative of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart,

which was to have a huge impact throughout Africa and Asia and other parts of the world.

Thereafter he returned to Cape Town to serve as associate pastor Plumstead parish, where he took over as parish priest in 1974. He went on to serve the parish for 37 years.

During his long time there he

built up the community, helping the church to grow to the fine parish it is today.

Fr Tom was very proud of the stained glass window at the back of the church in the choir loft. He was responsible for building a new presbytery and parish hall.

He was manager and chaplain to St Anne’s, the parish school, in which he took great interest in its progress. A well-known and loved priest with care and compassion for everyone, the avid sportsman and keen golfer loved life and loved people.

The packed church for his funeral Mass and the tributes paid by so many people give witness to a wonderful priest who will be sadly missed by all who came in contact with him.

Fr Frank Gallagher MSC

Fr Robert John Hindley OSFS

F

ATHER Robert J Hindley, a US Oblate of St Francis de Sales who served for more than 50 years in the diocese of Keimoes-Upington, died in the United States on August 31, 2015.

Fr Hindley was born on April 20, 1930 at Trenton, New Jersey in the United States of America.

He joined the Oblates of St Francis de Sales soon after he finished high school. He made his first profession in 1949. He then began to study philosophy at Niagara University. He made his perpetual profession in 1952.

Fr Hindley studied at the Catholic University in Washington, DC, and at De Sales School of Theology in Hyattsville, Maryland. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1958.

After his ordination he was assigned to Salesian High School in Detroit, Michigan. Thereafter, he had different assignments in schools and parishes.

He came to South Africa in 1961. His first assignment was in Keimoes as assistant priest. In Oc-

tober 1962 until 1970 he was assigned as priest in charge to Riemvasmaak (Northern Cape).

Fr Hindley was a priest, a teacher, an architect, building contractor, plumber, electrician, and a farmer.

In Riemvasmaak, Keimoes-Upington, he began a large mission where there had been nothing.

Over the years, he built a church, a school, and several other parish buildings.

To many people in the diocese, he was simply known as

Liturgical Calendar Year B – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday October 25, 30th Sunday of the Year Jeremiah 31:7-9, Psalms 126, Hebrews 5:1-6, Mark 10:46-52 Monday October 26 Romans 8:12-17, Psalms 68:2, 4, 6-7, 20-21, Luke 13:10-17 Tuesday October 27 Romans 8:18-25, Psalms 126, Luke 13:18-21 Wednesday October 28, Ss Simon and Jude Ephesians 2:19-22, Psalms 19:1-4, Luke 6:12-19 Thursday October 29 Romans 8:31-39, Psalms 109:21-22, 26-27, 30-31, Luke 13:31-35 Friday October 30 Romans 9:1-5, Psalms 147:12-15, 19-20, Luke 14:1-6 Saturday October 31, Saturday Mass of Our Lady Romans 11:1-2, 11-12, 25-29, Psalms 94:12-15, 17-18, Luke 14:1, 7-11 Sunday November 1, All Saints Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14, Psalms 24:16, 1 John 3:1-3, Matthew 5:1-12

“Oupa” (grandfather).

He also served as regional superior of the Oblates of St Francis de Sales in South Africa from 1968 until 1973.

In November 1970 he was transferred to St Augustine’s parish in Upington as parish priest until his retirement in April 2010.

While in Upington he also served as the national Chiro youth chaplain, judge for the marriage tribunal for the archdiocese of Bloemfontein, diocesan catechetical director, vicar-general of the diocese of KeimoesUpington from 1980 until 1993, and administrator of St Augustine co-cathedral in Upington.

In 1993 he was again elected regional superior of the Oblates of St Francis de Sales and served the congregation as superior until January 2002.

In June this year he went on holiday to the United States and while there, he fell ill and passed away at Child, Maryland, on August 31. He was buried at Child, as was his wish.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 677. ACROSS: 1 Aids, 3 Archives, 9 Templar, 10 Ascot, 11 Constitution, 13 Exceed, 15 Fossil, 17 Enthronement, 20 Sneer, 21 Arrange, 22 Extremes, 23 Fiat. DOWN: 1 Attached, 2 Demon, 4 Rarity, 5 Heart-to-heart, 6 Victors, 7 Seth, 8 Clothes horse, 12 Ill-treat, 14 Convent, 16 Solace, 18 Ennui, 19 Isle.

CLASSIFIEDS

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,50 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

DEATH

TUCK—John. Beloved husband of the late Maureen, father of John & Pixie, Mary, Bernard & Anna and Margie & Andy, grandfather of Bernadette, Steve, Duncan & Angelique, and great grandfather died peacefully on October 8 at the age of 94 years. We thank God that he gave you such a long and fruitful life. We will love and miss you always. Rest in peace old soldier.

power, O show me that you are my mother. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Thank you for your mercy towards me and mine. Amen.

IN MEMORIAM

VERGOTTINI—Laura Celestine. She left on October 24, 2005 to a beautiful place in paradise. In loving memory of our precious mommy who floats on a fleecy white, silver-lined cloud, over the blue ocean with its twinkling diamonds.

The colours of the rainbow brighten your heavenly passage dearest Mommy.

By day the sun-rays warm your loving soul. By night the stars appear and your eyes sparkle with sheer delight and humour. The moonbeams cast golden highlights in your hair. We imagine your gay laughter and long to hear your voice. We love and miss you, our mommy. Your ever-loving Anthony, Alfred, Wendy and family.

PRAyERS

O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother, O Holy Mary Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to secure me in my necessity. There are none who can withstand your

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

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.

HOLIDAy ACCOMMODATION

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9018 or 031 209 2536.

views with a 500m walk through nature reserve to beautiful unspoilt beach.

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044 387 1052.

MARIANELLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.”

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Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675, mjsalida@ gmail.com PLETTENBERG BAy: Holiday flat, sleeps four adults, two children, R650 per night. Phone 082 652 4362.

PERSONAL

ABORTION is murder. Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow! Avoid pro-abortion politicians.

See www.hli.co.za www.abortioninstruments.c om is the graphic truth that will set you free.

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All Saints: November 1 Readings: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14, Psalm 24:1-6, 1 John 3:1-3, Matthew 5:1-12a

N

EXT Sunday is the feast of All Saints, which the Church takes so seriously that the solemnity overrides the Sunday. One of the things about this feast, something that has perhaps taken on a new edge under Pope Francis, is the surprising quality of those who are saints.

I have a suspicion that after death we shall find ourselves saying, to all kinds of unexpected people, “What are you doing here?”

Worse still, we shall find, I fear, that people will be saying just the same to us. Our God is a very unexpected God. The first reading for the feast is from the Book of Revelation, from which far too many readers flee in abject panic. Try to hear what it says from the point of view of those who are suffering appalling and apparently irresistible persecution.

To them the message is clear: God is in charge. In this reading God’s power is symbolised by the “angel coming up from the East with the seal of the Living God”, with a mission “to damage the land and the sea”.

But he is told to hold back until “we seal

S outher n C ross

the slaves of our God on their foreheads”.

And the seals, it turns out, are on those who are on God’s side: 12 000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and then “a huge crowd, whom no one could count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white garments and with palms in their hands”.

We hear them singing a liturgical hymn, of which the refrain goes, “Victory to our God who sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb”.

This unexpected human choir is then joined by the heavenly powers, consisting of “angels around the Throne and elders and the four living creatures”, an equally unexpected combination; and then the huge crowd is identified by “one of the elders”, as “those who come from the Great Tribulation and have washed their garments and made them white by the blood of the Lamb”.

That is all those, in that generation and in ours, who seemed to be suffering more than flesh can survive. This is a very surprising

gathering. The surprise, of course, comes from the fact that God is in charge, as the psalm for next Sunday reminds us: “The Lord’s is the earth and what fills it, the world and those who live in it.” Then those are singled out who can go up to “the Lord’s mountain”: “the clean of hand and pure of heart”, rather than the wealthy and powerful.

Those who are thus privileged are “the generations of those who seek him”; and it is to them that (unexpectedly) the “ancient gates” are told to “lift up your heads”, and then “the King of glory shall come”. That is not what we were expecting.

The second reading also offers an unexpected thought, that we are indeed “children of God”, and that eventually, “we shall be like God” and that we shall “make ourselves pure, as God is pure”.

The Gospel for the solemnity is the utterly startling set of beatitudes with which the Sermon on the Mount begins. The unexpected saints who are dear to our God of Surprises are just the wrong sorts of people. Jesus goes

The stigma of suicide endures R

munity, we make up the Body of Christ along with all of those who have died in faith before us. Part of that belief is that Christ has given us the power to bind and loose which, among other things, means that our love for someone can hold that person inside our family, inside the community of grace, and inside heaven itself.

In all three of these books, these mothers make it clear that this is exactly what they are doing. Their family, their circle of grace, their love, and their heaven includes their lost child.

My heaven too includes these three young people, as should any true understanding of God, of grace, of love, and of the family of life.

That’s a deep consolation, but it doesn’t take away the pain. For a parent, the loss of a child to any kind of death leaves a wound that, this side of eternity, will find no healing. The death of one’s child goes against nature, parents aren’t supposed to bury their children.

T

he death of any child is hard, but if that death comes by suicide, that pain is compounded. There’s the frustration and anger that, unlike a death from a physical disease, this is unwarranted, unnecessary, and an act of betrayal in some way.

And there’s the endless second-guessing: How responsible am I for this? How should have I been more alert? Where was I negligent? Why wasn’t I around at the crucial moment? Guilt and anger commingle with the grief.

Conrad

ECENTLY I read, in succession, three books on suicide, each written by a mother who lost one of her children to suicide.

All three books are powerful, mature, not given to false sentiment, and worth reading: Lois Severson, Healing the Wound from my Daughter’s Suicide: Grief Translated into Words, lost her daughter Patty to suicide; Gloria Hutchinson, Damage Done: Suicide of an Only Son, lost her son David to suicide; and Marjorie Antus, My Daughter, Her Suicide, and God: A Memoir of Hope, lost her daughter Mary to suicide. Patty and David were in their mid-twenties, Mary was still a teen.

You cannot read these biographies and not have your heart ache for these three young people who died in this unfortunate manner.

What these books describe in each case is a person who is very loveable, oversensitive, has a history of emotional struggles, and is in all likelihood suffering from a chemical imbalance.

Hearing their stories should leave you more convinced than ever that no God worth worshipping could ever condemn any of these persons to exclusion from the family of life simply because of the manner of their deaths.

The 20th-century French philosopher Gabriel Marcel had an axiom which said: “To love someone is to say of that person, you at least will not die.” That’s solid Christian doctrine.

As Christians we believe that as a com-

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/

Nicholas King SJ

All Saints set to surprise

up the mountain not only with his disciples, but also with the “crowds”, and he offers his congratulations to the following: “the poor in spirit”, not those whom the world regards as having everything; then “those who mourn”; after that (if you can believe this) come “the gentle”, whereas you and I for the most part think in terms of the “powerful”.

The next group to be congratulated is “those who hunger and thirst for justice [or righteousness]”, rather than those who are building up their bank balances.

Then come the “merciful”, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, as well as “those who are persecuted for the sake of justice”; finally, you and I are told to “rejoice and sing for joy” when we get reviled.

This is a very unexpected set of qualities that is being recommended to us; but we should recognise that our surprising God is at work here, on this great feast day.

Southern Crossword #677

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

But that isn’t all. Beyond all of this, which is itself more than sufficient to break a person, lies the stigma attached to suicide.

In the end, despite a better understanding of suicide and a more enlightened attitude towards it, there is still a social, moral and religious stigma attached to it, equally true in both secular and religious circles.

In the not too-distant past, Churches used to refuse to bury someone who died by suicide on blessed ground. The Churches have changed their attitudes and their practice on this, but, truth be told, many people still struggle in their gut to accord a blessed, peaceful farewell to someone who has died by suicide.

The stigma still remains. Someone who dies in this manner is still seen as somehow accursed, as dying outside the family of life and the circle of grace. There is, for most people, nothing consoling in their deaths.

I have suggested elsewhere in my writings that the majority of suicides should be understood as death by a mortal illness: a deadly chemical imbalance, an emotional stroke, an emotional cancer, or an oversensitivity that strips someone of the resiliency needed to live. Here, however, I want to address more specifically the issue of the stigma attached to suicide.

There’s still a stigma attached to suicide, that’s clear. With that in mind, it can be helpful to reflect upon the manner in which Jesus died.

His death was clearly not a suicide, but it was similarly stigmatised. Crucifixion carried a stigma from every point of view: religious, moral and social. A person dying in this way was understood to be dying outside the mercy of God and outside the blessing and acceptance of the community.

The families of those crucified carried a certain shame and those who died by crucifixion were also buried apart, in grounds that then took on their own stigma. And it was understood that they were outside the mercy of God and of the community.

Jesus’ death was clearly not a suicide, but it evoked a similar perception. The same stigma as we attach to suicide was also attached to the manner in which he died.

St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross

Sunday Reflections

ACROSS

1. Said about supports (4) 3. Records of historical importance (8) 9. Religious knight (7) 10. One from Glasgow at the race meeting (5) 11. It mixed with Scout Union and is the law (12) 13. Go beyond (6) 15. Loss if turned to relic (6) 17. Giving the bishop his seat (12) 20. Smile mockingly (5) 21. Put in order (7) 22. Going to them can be excessive (8) 23. Let it be done for the car (4) Solutions on page 11

DOWN

1. Death act with strings on (8) 2. Devil done about a thousand within (5) 4. This is very infrequent (6) 5. Cordial conversation (5-25) 6. Conquerors with papal names (7) 7. Father of Enosh (Gn 4) (4) 8. School’s there for the washerwomen’s use (7,5) 12. Act cruelly like a sick doctor? (3-5) 14. Community of nuns (7) 16. Consolation (6) 18. Some sudden nuisance reveals your boredom (5) 19. Surrounded by water and is less obvious (4)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

priest parked his car in a no-parking zone in Johannesburg because he was short of time and couldn’t find a space with a meter.

So he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: “I have circled the block 100 times. If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment. FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES.” When he returned, he found a ticket from a policeman along with this note: “I’ve circled this block for ten years. If I don’t give you a ticket, I’ll lose my job. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION.”

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!)