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October 28 to November 3, 2015

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Church view on student protests

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Why split family issues from laity issues?

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Catholic bonus: To pray with the saints

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Some of 46 candidates prepare for the sacrament of confirmation in Sacred Heart parish in Mahobe mission by Bishop Stan Dziuba of Umzimkulu, KwaZulu-Natal. This photo was taken by Bishop Dziuba himself.

Beekeeper nun’s sweet story BY STUART GRAHAM

BASUTHO nun has taught herself to keep bees and is giving the money she makes from honey and wax to her congregation. Sr Julia Masina Mafike, 52, who belongs to the Handmaids of Christ the Priest at the Catholic Training Centre in the Mafetheng district of Lesotho, said she learned the art of beekeeping from farmers. “I never received any formal training. I learned from those who were trained before me,” she said. “I tried to catch the bees. I asked them to show me how to catch the queens and transfer them from the hives to the catch boxes.” Sr Mafike said before starting her company, JMM Beekeeping, on September 13, she had to do a crash course in bees. She learned to identify the queen by her wings and that male drones are produced from unfertilised eggs and represent only the DNA of the queen that laid the eggs. Female workers and queens result from fertilised eggs, so have both a mother and a father. When you have the queen, the bees follow, Sr Mafike says. Sr Mafike started to plant flowers, trees, pumpkins and onions to provide the bees with pollen.

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Sr Julia Masina Mafike with jars of honey made by her bees. “It is me and two men who are caring for the garden and helping me catch the bees,” she explained. She harvests about 10kg of honey a month from each of her 17 hives. Apart from harvesting honey she also uses beeswax to produce lubricants and medicines. “The money we make is for my congregation,” Sr Mafike said. Apart from honey and beeswax, Sr Mafike Continued on page 2

Foetus-dumping is ‘despicable’ BY STUART GRAHAM

OSPITALS dumping miscarried foetuses into rubbish bins with medical waste is a “despicable objectification of human life”, the spokesman for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said. The remains of a stillborn baby should be treated as those of a human person, conference spokesman Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria said after reports that a mother, whose miscarried baby was tossed in a medical waste bin, intended to take the matter to court. “Human life, from conception, has intrinsic value,” the archbishop said. “The remains of stillborns must be treated as we would a human person. They should never be discarded in rubbish dumps.” Like all humans, unborn children should be buried with dignity and a prayer, Archbishop Slattery said. Babies miscarried under the age of 26 weeks are classified as medical waste and may not be released for burial, according to South African law. Hospitals let parents spend time with the baby, but once that is over, the body is placed in a bucket for incineration. Many parents afflicted by miscarriage want the opportunity to seek closure or healing through burial of the remains. Pretoria funeral director Sonja Smith is challenging the law, saying she wants parents to be able to have the choice of having a funeral for their baby. “Doctors are not obliged to sign documentation for a burial or cremation and a funeral director is normally not involved,” says Ms Smith. “Many parents find comfort in planning

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some type of memorial in honour of their baby. Many parents find it easier to accept the baby’s death, and they begin working through their grief.” The practice of dumping babies is not confined to South Africa. In March 2014, Britain’s The Telegraph reported that thousands of miscarried and aborted foetuses were being incinerated, along with other waste, to heat hospitals. In Texas human tissue or foetuses may be disposed of by seven legal means, including incineration, disinfection followed by deposition in a sanitary landfill, and grinding and discharging to a sanitary sewer. In the US state of Louisiana, the bishop’s conference has asked that families receive access to the remains of their unborn babies so that they may have a dignified burial and parents are given the chance to mourn their loss. Archbishop Slattery said the Catholic Church is also horrified by the lack of dignity shown to the bodies of unborn babies. The archbishop said the Church would also veto experimentation on living foetuses, unless such research is done for the sole purpose of ensuring the survival of that baby. “There are reports that infants are taken out the womb and kept alive for half an hour, while they are experimented on with chemicals before they are allowed to die,” he said. “We must not exclude from the human family the smallest form of human—the child embryo. We cannot reduce an embryo being to the moral status of penicillin mould or a piece of tissue,” Archbishop Slattery said. “This downward movement of modern culture is on the increase and must be reversed.”

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The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

LOCAL

J&P fights illegal pension deductions BY DYLAN APPOLIS

EMBERS of the Justice and Peace Commission(J&P) believe that the elderly in the rural areas in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are still struggling with illegal deductions from pension grants by the company appointed to manage such payments. Deductions are still being made from their pensions—for airtime, electricity and other products— without their consent. J&P members in Kokstad and Umzimkulu dioceses are helping victims of this practice. In April the Constitutional Court declared the 2012 contract between South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and Cash Paymas-

ter Service invalid. The court ordered a new tender to be issued for the payment of social grants. The new tender documents outlaw electronic fund transfers, debt and stop order deductions from SASSA accounts. Until the new tender is awarded, Paymaster will continue distributing the grants. Michael Shabalala of J&P in Umzimkulu is involved in paralegal support of the elderly people in his community who are victims of illegal deductions. “The beneficiaries complained that they were not receiving the full amount on their grants. They were literally crying when they explained the hardships they had to endure as

the result of the deductions,”Mr Shabalala said. “A lot of elderly people in our rural communities rely on the pension grants to survive. Some of these families are now unable to buy food, medicine and other groceries because there is not enough money left after the illegal deductions. This motivated me to do something about it,” Mr Shabalala said. Faith Koleka Mtimkulu of J&P in Kokstad said God had called her to fight for the rights of the most vulnerable in society. “I discovered that there are a lot of elderly people in my area who are victims of illegal deductions and are unable to solve this problem on

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

Continued from page 1 also harvests bee glue, or propolis, that has been used for thousands of years as traditional medicine for treating cold sores and post-surgery mouth pain. Propolis is created from resins, balsams and tree saps. Bees that nest in tree cavities use it to seal cracks in the hive and to defend themselves from ants and other invaders. Sr Mafike designs her own labels and packages, and distributes the produce herself. Her next project is to teach peo-

Cathy Day and Ernie Christie of Townsville in Australia have been introducing meditation to South African schools. States, England, Ireland, Poland, Singapore and Indonesia, where they have been invited to share their experience,” Mr Faller added. At the seminars, participants were invited to meditate together to get first-hand experience of the mantra-based style of meditation. Through two short videos prepared for the seminars, participants were able to hear from teachers and students in Townsville diocese about the benefits of meditation

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and how teachers go about facilitating it among children from the age of three to 18. Dr Day and Mr Christie believe the introduction of the meditation practice might help children and teachers through their personal lives and professional practice. “The CIE will follow up on requests for assistance in this regard,” said Mr Faller. n Contact Paul Faller at 011 433 1888 or paul@cie.org.za

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ple how to farm their own bees, so that they too can earn a living from honey and beeswax. “The people are very poor. They are very interested,” she said. “I will go around to teach them how to catch the bees,” she said, adding that she “will be supported by the other farmers from all over the country”. JMM Beekeeping products are currently available only in Lesotho, but Sr Mafike hopes to have them distributed in South Africa by the end of the year.

Franciscan Father Christopher Neville and Margaret Cullis, who celebrated her 50 years as a Secular Franciscan and renewed her vows during a day of reflection retreat at the Bluff in Durban. Mrs Cullis, who used to be a pilgrimage tour operator, has been a co-worker with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, supporting the congregation’s Shall Cross mission which cares for about 50 impoverished adults and children. (Photo: Margi de Kock SFO)

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plaints to Cash Paymaster Service in Johannesburg. “I am grateful for the commitment of the police in our area,” said Ms Mtimkulu. “I organised a satellite police station for people to do their affidavits at Lugelweni using the councillor’s office. There were two police officers who came to assist and they were there for four hours. they were very patient,” The bishops’ J&P Commission has called the deductions immoral and a human rights violation. The commission is hoping that the new service provider will comply with the new tender policies that outlaw EFT, debit and stop order deductions from SASSA accounts.

Sweet story of beekeeper nun

Teaching children meditation SERIES of nine seminars offered to Catholic schools throughout South Africa has focused on meditation. Entitled “A Way to Peace: Teaching Meditation to Children”, the series was presented by Cathy Day and Ernie Christie of Townsville Catholic Education in Queensland, Australia. With the encouragement of Benedictine Father Laurence Freeman, leader of the World Community of Christian Meditation (WCCM), Dr Day and Mr Christie were invited to South Africa by the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE), which has been working for the past three years to introduce the practice to South African Catholic schools. The seminars were presented in Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and Cape Town. Dr Day and Mr Christie have been running a meditation programme to teachers and learners in their Australian home diocese for ten years, following the teaching of the late Benedictine Father John Main. “Due to the very evident benefits of meditation for young people, the practice has become an established part of the prayer life of their 31 schools,” said Paul Faller, the CIE’s national coordinator for religious education. “The work of Dr Day and Mr Christie in Townsville has caught the attention of many in various parts of the world, including the United

their own. When I spoke to them, they told me that they reported the problem to SASSA Offices, but SASSA just gave them a customer careline,” said Ms Mtimkulu. “When they tried the number, they waited on line for more than three hours, without any reply. Some use their cellphones and run out of airtime without getting help. They were helpless.” This year Ms Mtimkulu has managed to assist more than 28 elderly people from Kokstad to submit their formal complaints to Cash Paymaster Service. Mr Shabalala has aided more than 16. The police have been helpful in facilitating the signing of affidavits used when submitting formal com-

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The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

LOCAL

‘Govt must listen to the students’

Students protest against a rise in tuition fees outside parliament in Cape Town. Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference spokesman Archbishop William Slattery said the government has to invest more in education for the future development of South Africa. (Photo: Mphuthumi Ntabeni)

BY STUART GRAHAM

Making music at perfect pitch BY DYLAN APPOLIS

OMFUNDO Makhathini, 18, is intellectually disabled and not capable of normal speech—but that has not stopped her from singing. Nomfundo’s love of music and talent was discovered by music therapist Karen de Cock at Little Eden, the Johannesburg home for people with cognitive disabilities. Ms de Cock had to do a lot of coaxing to get Nomfundo to sing. “It was a great surprise when I heard Nomfundo sing for the first time. Her voice was beautiful in the classical sense. She was able to sing in tune, and able to use both her head and chest registers. She was able to harmonise,” Ms de Cock recalled. “I felt the greatest joy.” But when she tried to include Nomfundo in the Cerebral Palsy Vocal Ensemble, she did not participate. Nomfundo just listened and did not make a sound. “In retrospect, I realised that the

sounds that the cerebral palsy ensemble singers were making were not congruent to what she enjoyed,” said Ms de Cock. “Her ear picked up that the singing was not ‘in tune’ and that the majority often did not pronounce the words ‘correctly’,” Ms de Cock said. “I offered her an individual, oneon-one space where we could celebrate and develop her talent for harmonising and singing in tune.” Nomfundo is not able to walk or talk, but she is able to memorise and sing words. “That became the basis of my therapy with her, said Ms de Cock. Their first song was Panis Angelicus. “The first time I taught her the melody, she harmonised with me,” Ms de Cock said. She has also taught Nomfundo Kyrie Eleison and Bwana Awabariki in Swahili, as well as Nomfundo’s favourite, Take My Soul, Oh Lord. “She is simply amazing,” Ms de Cock said.

A staff member of Little Eden holds the microphone for Nomfundo Makhathini, so she can sing to Little Eden residents and staff.

Jesuit Father Russell Pollitt greets his confrere Pope Francis during the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican this month. Fr Pollitt, who is the director of the Jesuit Institute South Africa and presents regularly on Radio Veritas, was in Rome to report on the synod for Vatican Radio. He writes the guest editorial, on the synod, in this week’s edition. (Photo: L’Osservatore Romano via Jesuit Institute)

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TUDENT protests that have rocked the country this month are “extremely worrying” and have highlighted the need for the government to invest far more in tertiary education, the bishops’ spokesman said. The government could learn from countries like Japan and South Korea that have reaped the rewards from investing in higher education, Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference spokesman Archbishop William Slattery said. “The government must invest more in health and education for the future development of South Africa. Countries that have done this have experienced huge advantages in industry and service,” he said. “Students are in great need of better access to financial institutions,” Archbishop Slattery said, adding that “the frustration that is turning into violent destructive protest is very worrying”. The riots started at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg earlier in October over a 10% fee increase. Protests spread to universities around the country, in some instances with students lighting fires, blockading traffic and scuffling with motorists and the police. Apart from the government, corporate South Africa should also play its role in empowering the country’s youth, Archbishop Slattery said. “Business, as the greatest beneficiaries of university graduates, should see tertiary education as a prime avenue of investment for

South Africa’s development,” he said. Catholic schools, meanwhile, are held in high regard for producing top matriculants in rural and urban areas and should receive extra funding. “Two cents of every rand paid in tax goes to education. It is a pity that the government is unable to facilitate and fund Catholic schools adequately as has Zimbabwe and many other African countries,” Archbishop Slattery said. “When we look at quality of students from Catholic schools, one would think the government would build on these rich resources.” The Rural Access to Education Programme (REAP), an associate body of the SACBC, is a good example of the Church’s involvement in providing access to funds for higher education to the country’s rural youth, Archbishop Slattery said. By helping the youth to access tertiary education, REAP is having an impact on demographic inequality in South Africa. It could do far more, however, if it had extra funding, the archbishop noted. Archbishop Slattery said a problem at universities is that not enough students pass their degrees in the time allotted. “It takes many students four to five years to complete a three-year course,” he said. “This is largely due to poor education foundations in primary and secondary school, before students reach university,” the archbishop said, noting that students’ failure to pass in time “puts the academic staff under enormous pressure”.

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• Be a fully qualiﬁed, enthusiastic teacher, experienced in teaching in the Foundation Phase; • Understand, identify with and contribute to the Catholic ethos and values of the school; • Be willing and able to teach the Catholic religious education syllabus; • Have a proven record of innovation, commitment and professionalism; • Be well versed in curriculum and assessment for the Foundation Phase; • Have a sound understanding of the Foundation Phase learner, in particular Grade Three; • Have eﬀective organisational and administrative skills; • Be available in afternoons, evenings and at other times to attend workshops, courses, school functions and educational outings and tours; • Have good computer skills; • Be registered with SACE; • Be willing to become fully involved in the school's curricular and co-curricular programme.

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The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

St Thérèse’s parents canonised

Anti-death penalty protester sits in the rain outside the Georgia Diagnostic prison in Jackson, Mississippi, before the scheduled execution of Kelly Gissendaner. Reversing a 40-year stand on the issue, the National Association of Evangelicals now opposes the death penalty. (Photo: Erik Lesser, EPA/CNS)

BY CAROL GLATZ

Pope’s African programme BY CINDY WOODEN

were deployed in January 2014 and the rebels were driven out of the capital. The National Reconciliation Forum, convened by the country’s transitional parliament in May, has been trying to bring Séléka and its Christian-dominated rival, AntiBalaka, into talks and preparations for elections. Kenya is the first stop on Pope Francis’ first visit to Africa as pope; there, too, he will meet with ecumenical and interreligious leaders, but he also will visit the Kangemi slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. Travelling to Uganda on November 27, the pope will honour the memory of the 23 Anglican and 22 Catholic Ugandan martyrs, killed for their faith on the orders of King Mwanga II between 1885 and 1887.—CNS

ESPITE continued instability and outbreaks of violence in the Central African Republic, the Vatican announced Pope Francis will spend about 33 hours in the country during a Novenber 25-30 visit to Africa. Releasing the schedule for the trip, the Vatican said that while the pope is in the Central African Republic on November 29-30, he will visit a refugee camp, hold a meeting with evangelical Christians and visit a mosque in Bangui, the nation’s capital. The country has known little peace or development in its 55 years of independence. In March 2013, a rebel movement, Séléka, led by Arab-speaking Islamists, suspended the nation’s constitution. French and African peacekeepers

OPE Francis called on people to replace their thirst for power with the joy of quiet and humble service, as he proclaimed four new saints, including the parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux. All of Christ’s disciples, especially its pastors, are called to model themselves after Jesus and “suppress our instinctive desire to exercise power over others, and instead exercise the virtue of humility”. The pope said the new saints—a Spanish religious woman, an Italian priest and the first married couple with children to be canonised together—”unfailingly served their brothers and sisters with outstanding humility and charity in imitation of the divine master”. The pope created the following new saints: • Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Marie Zélie Guérin Martin (18311877), the French parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux. They had nine children; four died in infancy and five entered religious life. During their 19-year marriage, the couple was known to attend Mass daily, pray and fast, respect the Sabbath, visit the elderly and the sick, and welcome the poor into their home. • Italian Father Vincenzo Grossi (1845-1917), founder of the Institute of the Daughters of the Oratory. • Spanish Sister Maria of the Immaculate Conception (1926-1998), a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Company of

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N his path to beatification, Pope John Paul I can count on a very special supporter: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Years ago Benedict was among those who witnessed the compilation of John Paul I’s positio, the dossier of documents and testimonies that will determine the virtues of a candidate for sainthood. That dossier was completed in August, according to Bishop Giuseppe Andrich of Belluno-Feltre, the native diocese of John Paul I. Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected bishop of Rome on August 26, 1978, taking the name John Paul I. He died unexpectedly on September 28, just a month later. There are two steps for a cause of beatification before it is examined in Rome. A diocese or religious institute gathers testimony about the life and virtues of the Servant of God. The candidate’s public and private writings must be collected and examined. This documentary phase of the process can take many years, as it did in the case of John Paul I. In the meantime, Cardinal Ratzinger had been elected Bishop of Rome. As a pope, he was directly involved in the final decision for an eventual canonisation. Therefore he could no longer be included in the list of witnesses for John Paul I. The diocesan phase of the investi-

Pope John Paul I (Photo: L'Osservatore Romano/CNS) gation ended in 2006. The Congregation for the Cause of Saints examined the volumes of documentation and authorised the beginning of the socalled “Roman phase”. In this step, the congregation commits the case to an official called a relator, who prepares a positio. Even this process can take years. In the same period that John Paul I’s cause advanced, Benedict abdicated, on February 28, 2013. He could once again be a witness in the cause. After the positio is submitted and theologians and congregation members have voted , the cause is referred to Pope Francis for approval. A miracle has already been attributed to the intercession of John Paul I: the 1992 healing of Giuseppe Denora, an Italian who was suddenly healed from a malignant stomach tumour after he sought the late pope’s intercession.—CNA

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Christian discipleship; honour, success, fame and worldly triumphs are incompatible with the logic of Christ crucified”. Pope Francis again praised the new saints before reciting the Angelus in St Peter’s Square and called for their intercession. He asked families to entrust their joys, dreams and difficulties to Ss Louis and Marie Guérin Martin; he asked that the example of St Grossi be an inspiration for people dedicated to offering young people a Christian education; and he prayed that St Maria of the Immaculate Conception “help us live in solidarity and in closeness with those most in need”.—CNS

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the Cross. Some 65 000 people attended the Mass. While the pope’s homily pointed to the new saints as inspiring examples of joyful servants who completely trusted in God, he dedicated the bulk of his reflection on the day’s readings and the Christian meaning of authority and hierarchy. Those who exercise “genuine authority” in the Church and the Christian community are those who serve others and “lack real prestige”, the pope said. Jesus’ teaching and example clearly show that “ambition and careerism are incompatible with

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Nuns wait for Pope Francis to lead the Mass for the canonisation of four new saints in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Pope Francis canonised Spanish Sister Maria of the Immaculate Conception, Italian Father Vincenzo Grossi, and Louis and Marie Zélie Guérin Martin, parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux. (Photo: Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters/CNS)

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ESUIT Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said an Italian newspaper’s claims about the pope’s health were “entirely unfounded”. After checking with the pope himself and other sources, Fr Lombardi told reporters “the pope enjoys good health” and that the unsubstantiated news report was “a serious act of irresponsibility, absolutely unjustifiable and unspeakable”. The Quotidiano Nazionale reported that an unnamed nurse at a clinic in Pisa told the paper that the pope visited the clinic several months ago and that tests revealed a “small dark

spot”—”a small brain tumour”. The newspaper’s editor-in-chief told the Italian news agency ANSA that they had waited until now to publish the report because they were unsure about making it public, but then decided to because the pope is a public figure. Fr Lombardi had said in a written statement: “The circulation of entirely unfounded news regarding the health of the Holy Father by an Italian newspaper is gravely irresponsible and unworthy of attention. Furthermore, as is clearly evident, the pope is carrying out his very intense activity in a totally normal way.”—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

Pray for peace in Holy Land BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES & JUDITH SUDILOVSKY

T Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila gives a food bag to a refugee family as they arrive at a transit camp in Idomeni, Greece, on the border of Macedonia. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Cardinal welcomes refugees BY CINDY WOODEN

EARY faces, fussy babies, little boys teasing little girls to the point of tears and repeated uses of the Arabic word, inshallah (God willing) reflect the uncertainty faced by refugees trying to reach northern Europe. Thousands of people fleeing Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan pass through the makeshift transit centre daily at Idomeni, a Greek village —population 120—on the border with Macedonia. The crossings began as a trickle in the summer and by late October were occasionally reaching 10 000 refugees passing through in a single 24-hour period. “Uncertainty is the name of the game,” said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, president of Caritas Internationalis. The cardinal visited the camp with members of Greece’s Caritas Hellas and helped them hand out bags of food to refugees arriving on buses from Athens, 600km to the south. With a little bit of rest, some food, water and a toilet break, the refugees continue their journey north, most hoping to join family already in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden or Norway. Those standing in line near the border—marked with rolls of barbed wire—outside the Idomeni camp have fled Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. They travelled to Turkey. From there, they paid smugglers more than 1 000 euros (R15 000) each for a place in an overcrowded rubber boat bound for one of the Greek islands. Once in Greece, they paid to ride a ferry to Athens, and then they paid 80 euros (R1 200) for the bus ride to Idomeni. They will walk half a few hundred

metres to cross the border, then pay 25 euros (R380) for a train ticket to Belgrade, Serbia, four hours away. Luca Guanziroli, a staffer of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the train ticket cost only 5 euros in the summer, but the Macedonian government has raised the price due to the increased demand.

ardinal Tagle, who visited the refugees after handing out the food bags, said that although the refugees are assured at each stage that they are safe now, the uncertainty continues. They don’t know when the trains will arrive, which borders will be open to them and how they will be treated by police and border control agents. Yasin, 29, and his shy young wife fled Aleppo, Syria, to the Kurdistan region of Iraq three years ago. Now, with four children who are between the ages of 1 and 9, they are trying to join family in Norway. The boat from Turkey to Leros was the worst part, Yasin said. “We were crying and praying because of the waves. Huge waves made water come into the boat, but at least we had life jackets.” Cardinal Tagle stood in the dusty transit centre between a medical tent set up by Doctors Without Borders and the little awning that marks the spot where Caritas volunteers handed out 1 200 food bags in just two hours. “Caritas Hellas has only one paid staff person here; all the others are volunteers taking their turns every day to pack food, to sort out donations of clothing and coming here to spend the day or evening with refugees,” he said. “That is ‘caritas’, which means love”.—CNS

HERE is a need for great courage and strength in order to reject hatred and to carry out acts of peace in the Holy Land, Pope Francis has said. The pope expressed his concern for the increase in violence between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank before reciting the Angelus. The conflict has left more than 50 Palestinians and around ten Israelis dead since the beginning of October. “I am following with great concern the situation of high tension and violence that afflicts the Holy Land,” the pope said. “For this we pray, so that God strengthens in all—political leaders and citizens the courage to oppose violence and to take concrete steps towards easing tensions.” The pope also stressed that peace in the Holy Land is crucial “now more than ever”. Parishioners of St Saviour church in the Old City of Jerusalem are also praying for peace. “We are very tired,” said Margaret Injak, 63, who lives near the third station of the cross along the Via Dolorosa. “We are very afraid of the police, we are afraid of the Israelis, we are afraid of the Muslims. I am for peace; I want peace for all the world, just peace.” Over a number of decades, several Muslim Quarter properties have been bought by Jews, including a religious seminary. The armed Israeli border policemen standing guard at the fourth and fifth station of the cross, where a metal detector has been placed, are meant to prevent further attacks. Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, chancellor of the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem, said it was more important than ever to remain

An Israeli border police officer stands near Catholic pilgrims from Indonesia as they carry a cross on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old City, near a site where several stabbings have taken place. (Photo:Debbie Hill/CNS) strong in faith. “We keep our children safe by teaching them their faith, sending them to Catholic schools and giving them a good example,” he told Catholic News Service. Though the streets are less crowded than normal and hotels have reported cancellations, groups of pilgrims from Taiwan, Poland, India and Spain still walk the Via Dolorosa, or Way of the Cross, stopping at the stations and taking the presence of the border police in their stride. Pilgrims have always been safe in the Holy Land, even in times of uprisings, and they continue to feel safe there. “I know that violence is inherent to this place,” said Luis Vernajo, 66, a pilgrim from Madrid on his fourth visit to the Holy Land. “It is very complicated for a person to face that hate, but the desire to be here is so strong that you put that to the side. This place deserves for us to come here. Since the Psalm of David there has been a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem, and we all have to try

and contribute to this. We all have to pray for a better peace of Jerusalem.” Franciscan Brother Mark McPherson, an American who has been in the Holy Land for three years, said he tries to make his presence on the Via Dolorosa a positive influence. He chats amiably equally with the Muslim shopkeepers as well as the Israeli soldiers. “I try to be warm and friendly to everybody, also to the soldiers,” he said, noting a shopkeeper had just chastised him for taking a picture with some soldiers, calling them “killers”. “The soldiers are also probably scared, they are also young kids. You can’t assume they are killers.” Samir Asm, 56, reads a newspaper in front of the T-shirt shop he has run for 35 years. A blue T-shirt emblazoned with the word “peace” in Hebrew, Arabic and English hangs on display next to him. “We like peace and we should help each other,” he said. “Even if we don’t have peace, I will sell my [peace] T-shirts.”—CNS

Vatican Museums app community grows BY NICOLE PELLICANO

ONE are the days when regularly discussing one’s favourite works of art in the Vatican Museums and funding the restoration of historic pieces was limited to a very small group of people. “Patrum”, an app launched by the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, is “the first ever cultural institution app bringing together instant chat technology, crowd-source fundraising and online community building”, according to its website.

Juliana Biondo, the digital initiatives manager for the patrons group, told Catholic News Service that “Pa-

trum is intended for people who can’t get to the Vatican.” The Vatican is “a world treasure, so the question is, how do we make a world treasure accessible to someone who can’t travel the distance?” The app is doing just that; analytic software shows that there have been more than 5 300 downloads and the number of users is increasing every day. It was designed to expand the “patrons” of the Vatican Museums to more than just the people visiting the museum in person. —CNS

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The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Who would choose to be ridiculed?

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial: Fr Russell Pollitt SJ

Fruits of a synod

FTER three weeks of intense work at the Synod of Bishops on the Family, no significant changes to Church discipline or doctrine are on the cards. There was no agreement on the hot-button issue of finding a way to admit the divorced and civilly remarried to Communion, despite the heated debate that took place after Cardinal Walter Kasper suggested this should be considered. At the end of the synod there were two reactions: for some, relief that Church teaching has been affirmed; for others, disappointment—especially for those in difficult circumstances who had hoped for some change. Even though there will be no substantial immediate change in the Church’s position, there have been significant changes. Right from the first session of the synod, there was an openness and freedom that had not always been enjoyed in the past. Prompted by Pope Francis, delegates spoke their minds freely on once-taboo issues. This immediately revealed divergent views among them. In the past, it seemed that presenting a “united front” was an imperative. This time we heard phrases like “there are divergent views but we are united in our commitment to the synodal process”. Another significant change was the role African bishops played. In the past, the voice of the African Church seemed mute. Even after last year’s sitting of the same synod, some African concerns had not made the agenda. This year the African bishops made sure their pastoral challenges were not only on the agenda but also discussed. There were lengthy discussions about polygamy, poverty, and marriage between Christians and Muslims. The African bishops downplayed issues such as the admission to Communion of the divorced and civilly remarried. Regarding a welcoming and less condemnatory language towards gays and lesbians, they also said that this was not an alarming issue on the continent as a whole. Many of the African bishops spoke out strongly against pressure, lobbying and “ideological colonisation”. They rejected pressure from aid agencies and foreign governments who set conditions for aid—a condition cited was making contra-

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.

ception widely available. It is also important to note the robust debate on decentralisation. Vatican II promoted a healthy subsidiarity but, in recent times, the Church seemed to move in the opposite direction. Burdened with many diverse issues, which in a number of instances pertain to particular contexts, some delegates asked that cultural/contextual-specific issues be dealt with by local bishops’ conferences. Opinion was split. Pope Francis seems to favour some decentralisation. In a hardhitting speech, he said the Church was not a top-down structure but an inverted pyramid where the summit, the pope, is at the bottom and at the service of the People of God. He called for healthy decentralisation. As for his own role, he said that the pope guides the Church but is “one bishop among many, one Catholic among many”. Language became central in many of the discussions at the synod. There was a strong call for a language that was “more sensitive and welcoming”. There was also a call for language that could communicate with people today. This is significant. Phrases like “intrinsically disordered” or “love the sinner but hate the sin” and “the indissolubility of marriage” made many delegates uneasy. They thought that these were not sensitive or pastorally helpful. Others said that they did not convey Catholic teaching clearly enough. What next? Pope Francis will decide on the way forward. He has read what the Church all over the world had to say from local surveys and listened intently—he attended the sessions—to what the bishops had to say. He also has the synod report in his hands. Usually the pope writes an apostolic exhortation on a synod, pointing the way forward for the Church. This may take a while. In the words of synod delegate Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ, this point in history is “a very delicate moment where you realise the relationship between the Church and the world is at stake”. What Pope Francis does next will indicate just how the Church will handle this “delicate moment”. n Fr Pollitt is the director of the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg. He followed the synod as a special reporter for Vatican Radio.

O some people really think LBGT people decide or choose to be how they are? Who would want to be ridiculed all the time? Everyone seems to have something to say about LBGT people, but do they have any idea of what we go through every day? How many teenagers kill themselves because they are told that “it’s

Gay by choice truly a misnomer

REFER to JH Goossen’s letter “Gay by choice” (September 23). The nature of genetics is such that passing on of certain genes often skips a generation or two. Genes are not always passed on directly to the next generation; so the theory that homosexuals would have become extinct flies out the window. Sometimes, the most terribly homophobic individuals find to their dismay that a beloved child or grandchild has realised that they are gay—not by choice, but by design of the designer. The result of this realisation often has terrible consequences; the parents or family reject the poor child or make their lives unbearable by trying to get them to change their sexual orientation. Homosexuals don’t choose to be this way; this is how our Creator made them. Hopefully Dr Ben Carson, who is referred to so approvingly by JH Goossen, doesn’t stand a snowball’s hope in hell of becoming president of the United States. June Boyer, Johannesburg

Homosexuality not in our genes

N her letter “Homosexuals are created by God” (September 9), June Boyer refers to research which stated that “gay people have certain different chromosomes to heterosexual people”. I do not agree with this statement. Homosexual people are no different from heterosexuals except in respect of sexual preference. I got my information from The Language of God by Francis Collins, who is the head of the Human Genome Project. In his book he says that “sexual orientation is genetically influenced but not hardwired by DNA, and whatever genes are involved represent predispositions and not predeterminations”. Gays are not special human beings; rather they are like everybody

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wrong to be gay, to be different”. Would we really willingly put ourselves through a hell like that if we had a choice? All we ask for is some respect. Is it really so hard or difficult to respect another human being just because he or she is different? It is easier, it seems, to accept murderers, those who sexually assault others, perpetrators of domes-

else and they merit our respect and understanding, as do others. Furthermore, it is my belief that gays have free will like all human beings. For some reason in their life experience they acquired a new sexual preference. There is nothing wrong with that, so it seems to me that it is pointless to look for excuses. I have also heard from a priest that homosexuals have a difference in their brains. I am reminded of an article that I read some months ago which said if children suffer strong physical punishment, then this punishment comes to be reflected in their brains. Similarly, it appears to me, that practising homosexuals will eventually have this practice reflected in their brains. I don’t think that homosexuals have a difference in their brains when they are born. This view is corroborated by prevailing research, although the opposing view is also available. What is difficult to prove is that if the brain is different at maturity, what proof do we have that it was different at birth? The LGBT lobby is particularly strict in respect of terminology. You can’t say that homosexuality can be cured because that implies that homosexuality is a disease, which it is not. You cannot say that it can be corrected because that would imply that it is wrong, which it is not. You cannot say that it can be overcome because you only overcome a defect, and homosexuality is not a defect. Psychologists who have indicated transgender as being treatable, just as anorexia nervosa is 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

tic violence and so on, but to be gay is “a sin” and “wrong”. Do such people have any idea how we long to be seen as “normal”, to have a family, not to be looked at like people with a disease? Who would want to have a life facing so much prejudice? Who would choose something like this willingly? Before making judgments, try and understand what we must go through on a daily basis! Cindy Quantoi, Port Elizabeth

treatable, were subjected to strong criticism, and it was suggested that the voicing of such opinions should be criminalised. I have nothing against members of the LGBT community but I feel that they should be less demanding. Rui de Bivar Oliveira, Johannesburg

Putting in a word for Radio Veritas

E hear so much about the pope’s call to evangelise, that I, being an 81-year-old widow, begin to feel inadequate and wonder, at my age, what I can do. And so I hope this letter will count as a bit of evangelisation. Do you listen to Radio Veritas? It is our Catholic radio station bringing “the good news for a change”. I discovered this valuable station only a few years ago and admit that I listen only to my favourite times. The chief one, which I love, is at 17.30 Monday to Friday, when I can peacefully relax and listen to Fr Emil Blaser, the director, bring his programme As the Sun Sets. This gives us the evening prayer of the Church, it presents hymns, a psalm reading, a short discourse on this reading and prayers. Fr Emil displays his love of Our Lady as he never fails to use the Magnificat. The programme is followed by the recitation of the Angelus and a group-saying of the rosary, with some very valuable singing and meditations. It is a lovely, peaceful hour spent with the Lord and his lovely mother. Another programme I look forward to is John Lee’s presentation of beautiful music from shows, famous artists and composers. It is on Saturday from 17:00 to 18:00, and from 13:00 to 14:00 on Sundays. The radio station advertises regularly in The Southern Cross and there are often news items. Radio Veritas broadcasts on AM radio only in Gauteng, but I receive it loud and clear on DStv channel 870 audio. Carmen Smith, Somerset West

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PERSPECTIVES Raymond Perrier

We are all family I HAVE been thinking a lot about the concept of family recently. Not just because it had been preoccupying 300 bishops in Rome over the past few weeks. Nor because my mother is visiting me from England—though she is and that is always delightful. It’s rather because family words have come up often as I have been preparing to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Archbishop Denis Hurley, which will be marked with a whole series of activities in Durban culminating in a big gala concert. Naturally, we will be welcoming members of his own family, from South Africa and Australia, nephews, nieces, and cousins, including Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg. They clearly feel a close affinity to “Uncle Denis” and have stories to share about family cricket matches or playing hide-and-seek whose intimacy few can match. But Denis Hurley also had another family, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the OMIs, of whom he was a member for over 70 of his 90 years. And in the nature of a religious order, it is not only the Oblates that he knew and lived with for whom he is family but also younger Oblates, even from outside South Africa, for whom he is a role model. Then there are the many Catholics that I talk to, especially over the age of 30, who remember Hurley personally and talk of him with the affection associated with an uncle or a grandfather. They all have stories of how they shared a key moment of their lives with him: first Communion, confirmation, marriage, the funeral of a loved one, their arrival in a strange city. And then, perhaps surprisingly, there are so many people in Durban, not

Catholics, many of them not Christians, who also speak of him with affection and even love because he is, 11 years after his death, still “our Hurley”. Why else would the mayor and the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mercury newspaper, and the mosques and the temples and the synagogues, want to get so involved in celebrating his 100 years? We did not need to persuade them. Instead they seem spontaneously to want to gather next weekend to celebrate a patriarch who, in a sense, is father to so many.

he term “father” is, of course, one that we Catholics use a lot. Even though Jesus specifically commands us not to apply it to anyone on earth (Mt 23:9), we are quite accustomed to addressing our priests as “Father”, and indeed the first among equals of all our priests as “the Holy Father”. In using “Father” in this way, we are extending a term that we use for a blood relation and applying it to someone else with whom we have a different but also important relationship. We do the same in

Archbishop Denis Hurley, a father-figure

Why split family from laity?

VEN well-balanced adult parents might have had some difficulty keeping afloat in the sea of reports emanating from the Synod on the Family. A meeting of 300 people reflecting and debating over a document that they all have had a chance to study well beforehand would rather make the mind boggle in the secular domain. It was an anomaly that although marriage is of decreasing interest, almost all the lay people present at the synod were married couples. What about never-marrieds, single parents, widows, separated men and women, many divorcees who are not in conflict with Church positions and also those who are? There are countries where the number of unmarried adults now exceeds that of married adults. In the course of my ministry I have strongly promoted the notion that a diversity of families exists in society. This was one of the four elements of the US Catholic Bishops’ “Family Perspective in Church and Society” of 1994, which formed the foundation of Marfam’s original vision. This document, produced after decadelong research in the US, contained a vision statement on the family which includes a description derived from St John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio (1981): “A family is an intimate community of life and love bonded together for life by blood, marriage or adoption.” I have used this description and had some influence on its edited inclusion in the SA White Paper on Families. The tasks of a family are, firstly, to form its own intimate community with the above mentioned qualities. Secondly, to support and nurture life from conception to natural death. Thirdly, to be active, a leaven in society. Fourthly, to participate in the life and mission of the Church. These are some fairly clear indicators of what families can and should be doing, as laity, in the Church and the world.

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Cardinals, bishops and other delegates attend a session of the Synod of Bishops on the Family. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) The role of the laity as a body continues to appear to me to be undervalued in all the current goings-on. In my years at the SACBC Family Life Desk with Mgr Barney McAleer, we dedicated time to promoting the concept of the priesthood of the laity, an idea put forward for consideration by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale at the time.

n Christefidelis Laici, Pope John Paul II wrote one of my favourite passages: “For all their works, prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body if they are accomplished in the Spirit, even the hardships of life if patiently borne, become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions the laity consecrate the world itself to God.” Similarly, the prophetic and kingly callings of the laity are important, but particularly collaboration and partnership matter. I have always found it sad that the role of the laity is separated from family life which then tends to become much narrower. The Vatican has two separate pontifical councils for laity and family life. Surely the

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Faith and Society

religious life with the terms “Brother” and “Sister”. It seems curious that one part of our Catholic custom lets us extend the term “father” so broadly and naturally, while another part (our traditional ban on divorce) does not let people stretch the term to include a second husband. The children of my dear cousin certainly have no difficulty calling the man their mother has been married to for 20 years “Dad”, rather than using that form of address for the man whom she first married, who produced the children, and whom my cousin divorced after he beat and abused her. In our Catholic tradition, we live very freely with a flexible notion of family. Religious congregations have in many cases become alternative families. New Christian movements (like Focolare or Sant’Egidio) have all the hallmarks of an intentional (as opposed to natural) family. For some people, a small Christian community or sodality can be a true place of support and love when their biological families let them down. If a Muslim trader or a Hindu lawyer or a Methodist bishop tells me that for them Archbishop Hurley was “like a father”, I am secretly proud that a man in whose name I work can have had such an effect on people around him. And, at a more profound level, it is embedded in our Christian theology of “the one Father”’ and our Catholic tradition of solidarity that we treat all people whom we encounter with equal respect as Continued on page 11

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

laity are family people and bring not only their individual gifts and aspirations but particularly their marital and family experience which is inherent in their lives. A good outcome of the synod would be a greater family focus in the Church in general with a combination and acceptance of the contribution that laity make quite naturally as family people. Support from hierarchy and clergy is needed in this. Yes, laity need formation, but it should be contextual. Yes, marriage as a sacrament needs much deeper preparation but where does it fit into our ongoing adult formation programmes? Do laity themselves request this or avail themselves where it does exist in order to qualify themselves for their Mission in the Church? November’s family theme focuses on “Loss and Commitment” to those experiencing loss of various kinds. There is even loss of credibility and a degree of influence when “Becoming Widowed”, as I share in reflections in the booklet by that name published by the Redemptorists. A growing family-friendly Church needs active involvement from a wide range of lay family people, dealing with practical issues but also a spirituality of the ordinary events of their daily lives—children, time, work, wealth or poverty, friends and issues of sex and sexuality. Where and how? Marfam’s vision would be to build up the Church of the home, where families could both pray and play, eat and meet, fight and heal. Incidentally, 2016 is the 3rd year of the SACBC Focus on Families. For the 2016 Family Year Planner produced by Marfam and accompanying materials on the themes for the “Jubilee Year of Mercy and the Family”, contact me on 082 552-1275 or info@marfam.org.za or www.marfam.org.za

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The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Let’s talk! General Intention: That we may be open to personal encounter and dialogue with all, even those whose convictions differ from our own. HERE is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees,” according to Michel de Montaigne, a 16th-century French thinker who wrote a lot about debate and disagreement. He thought that it was “good to rub and polish our brain against those of others”. However, in a dig at philosophers, he wrote: “I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.” We know what he means. It is not just that our dialogue partners have different ideas from us; they may also be from different social, cultural or intellectual worlds. It helps to know where someone “is coming from”, as we would say today. Then there is the question of temperament. “He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak,” remarks Montaigne, commenting on the kind of interlocutor who could frustrate the most open-minded person. In fact the bombastic arguer can take advantage of a patient listener’s very openness. Maturity and sensitivity are prerequisites for true dialogue. The Tanzanian theologian Fr Laurenti Magesa identifies several types of dialogue. In the “dialogue of life” people share their lives and experience. This dialogue occurs all the time among ordinary people, naturally and unselfconsciously and is arguably the most important form of dialogue, one in which actions speak louder than words and we learn from one another by simple observation. There is also the dialogue of action where people get together in order to confront a crisis, a natural disaster or an oppressive political regime, as churches and other faith traditions did in the days of apartheid. Then there is the specialist dialogue of theological exchange in which the participants are professionals in their fields. Finally we have the dialogue of spiritual traditions, for example the meetings at Assisi which have been attended by leaders of all the main faith traditions. Much dialogue is taking place already, it seems. We ask the Lord for it to continue, to deepen and to bear much fruit, including in our own lives.

‘T

To be a good priest Missionary Intention: That pastors of the Church, with profound love for their flocks, may accompany them and enliven their hope. ASTORAL work “isn’t exactly rocket science”, a colleague of mine likes to say. Exactly; a great deal is common sense. For example, the pastor has to be willing just to talk to people after Mass and get to know them or visit them at home. The pastor must also give good service in the liturgy and the sacraments. Well prepared homilies are essential. “Do these things”, I sometimes say to our seminarians, “and you will live.” There are a few obvious don’ts. Pastors must beware of allowing their hobby horses to dictate parish policy. The newly appointed priest who starts off his ministry by imposing his own pet projects on the community with no consultation is likely to experience resistance. Rather, he should make space for the creativity of the people. Priests who habitually squelch ideas which are not their own can become “sons of discouragement”! Those who let things happen in a prudent and discerning manner are generally more effective than those who would like to mould the parish in their own image and likeness. The intention gives us two clues as to why pastoral work, although not rocket science, is not necessarily easy. The pastor must have a “profound love for the flock”. This does not come naturally to everyone, perhaps not to anyone. Some may well have to learn to love and appreciate people who are very different from them. All people have different stories to tell. Then there is the business of “accompanying” the flock. This is a humble role. It implies walking with people on the same road as them and at their pace. This is the road of the human condition, so it can be pretty rough at times. It is, of course, the same road upon which the Master walked. So all this is obvious but not necessarily easy. There is a true sense in which just to be ordinary is quite difficult and is sometimes particularly difficult for priests who have somehow gained the illusion of being better than the rest of humankind, and “not as other men” (Lk 18:11)—the temptation of the Pharisee. The pastor must also strive to become “familiar with God” to use St Ignatius’ phrase. Without this, even with the greatest of enthusiasm, creativity and people-skills, the work will eventually falter. Which is why we have this intention.

The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

COMMUNITY

Newly enrobed members of The Little Flower movement of Thapelong parish in the diocese of Gaborone. With them is Sr Neo Mosala and their leaders.

Parishioners from St Anthony’s parish, Coronationville, and St Maria Goretti, Riverlea, in Johannesburg, attended the beatification of Benedict Daswa. Pictured are Freda, Leone, Patricia Prim and Desiree.

Christmas in August! The Justice & Peace committee of Eucharistic Heart of Jesus parish in Cambridge, Port Elizabeth, and volunteers visited Ethembeni retirement home in Mdantsane and Langheim House in Quigney with gift parcels.

Bishop Peter Holiday of Kroonstad visited Our Lady Of the Rosary parish in Thabong, Welkom, where he celebrated Mass with Frs Patrick Anyawu, Thomas Chuma OP, Michael Rasello and Molula Mokhoamathe to honour marriage and family life.

Our Lady Of Good Help church in Verulam, archdiocese of Durban, baptised children in the parish. Parish priest Fr Jude Fernando TOR is pictured with Deacon Ray Sampson and the families.

Tayla Meeks of Holy Rosary High School in Johannesburg was awarded National Colours for Hip Hop dancing from the Dance Masters Association of South Africa, after receiving a gold medal for her solo performance at a regional competition.

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The department of Formation, Life and Apostolate of the Laity in Klerksdorp diocese coordinated a workshop for all top five of the sodalities and associations in the diocese. Representatives of the sodalites are pictured with Fr Tom Maretlane (centre).

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St Dominic’s Priory in Port Elizabeth announced their student leaders for 2016. William Browne, Devin Chen, Kyle De Beer, Sarah Forbes, Tessa Hiscock, Anesu Machite, Timothy Morgan, Julia Penaluna, Jamie Porter, Brandon Price, Claudia Schaberg, Alexi Tsiotsiopoulos, Kirsten Vieira and Jody Young are pictured with headmaster Greg Stokell (centre) and deputy head Fr Michael Theron CO (far left).

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HURLEY AT 100

The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

Celebration of a man who loved to celebrate

When the Church in Durban celebrates the 100th birthday of the late Archbishop Denis Hurley in November it will look back at a rich history but also forward to the future. SYDNEY DUVAL introduces some of the people who will be there to celebrate the life of South Africa’s most-beloved Catholic cleric.

RCHBISHOP Denis Hurley OMI loved a good celebration. That’s just what the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban has planned over several days to mark the centenary of his birth on November 9, 1915. The celebration will bring together voices and personalities who have walked with Archbishop Hurley in ministry and service that formed a lighthouse for the Church—both Catholic and ecumenical, in pastoral outreach and social justice. It will bring back the spirits of Vatican II which the archbishop celebrated as the greatest experience of his life. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban will be joined by Archbishop Emeritus George Daniel of Pretoria, who will be holding a Durban launch of his memoirs That They May Be One. Together with Archbishop Hurley, Cardinal Napier and Archbishop Daniel shared decades as members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference during momentous times encompassing the life of a nation struggling to overcome the cruelties and suffering of apartheid. Among the community of Hurley stalwarts who will share in the celebration will be Mgr Paul Nadal, who as vicar for adult formation contin-

Archbishop Denis Hurley and his long-time vicar-general Mgr Paul Nadal, who will deliver this year’s Denis Hurley memorial lecture as part of the centenary celebrations in November. ues the work he shared with his mentor and friend of many years, going back to his First Communion in 1940. At the age of 80, Mgr Nadal undertook a sponsored pilgrimage walk of 400km on the Santiago de Compostela which raised R200 000 for the Denis Hurley Centre. A dinner and auction on his 80th birthday raised R50 000 and a dinner marking his golden jubilee of priesthood raised another R25 000. Also present will be Fr Stephen Tully, who recently resigned as administrator of Emmanuel cathedral. He is the brains behind the Denis Hurley Centre and its contribution to urban renewal and works of mercy among people affected by various forms of psychosocial distress—the poor, hungry, refugees, homeless, unemployed, drug addicts and people living with HIV/Aids. The centre, which is set in the heart of old Durban, where West meets East in alleyways like Ajmeri Arcade and Madressa Arcade, squeezed between Emmanuel cathe-

dral and the Jummah mosque, was erected to the memory of the son of a lighthouse-keeper who came to be known as “Guardian of the Light”— which is also the title of his biography by Paddy Kearney. The Denis Hurley Centre stands amid the bazaar-like bric-a-brac of the neighbourhood as a living affirmation of the Church’s option for the poor and to be a community serving humanity. Surrounded by signs of shabby neglect and urban decay, the brand-new Denis Hurley Centre is a place of light.

urley biographer Paddy Kearney will also be there. He coordinated and fundraised for the project. With Archbishop Hurley’s support he had been the founding director of the Diakonia Council of Churches as an ecumenical resource responding to deeply troubled times. And there will be hundreds of Durban’s faithful who will recall sharing with Archbishop Hurley and his fellow Oblates of Mary Immaculate the magnificent 1952 Marian

Congress organised by Fr Sheldon Kelly OMI and the first Passion Play produced by Fr Noel Coughlan OMI earlier in the year. Celebrations never dimmed for Archbishop Hurley—like the day when Natal (later the Sharks) made rugby history by thrashing the Blue Bulls in the 1990 Currie Cup final at Loftus. Among the Oblates will be Fr Albert Danker, for many years national director of Young Christian Workers—an organisation built around Fr Joseph Cardijn’s “See, Judge, Act” principle which Archbishop Hurley so highly valued. Probably the most illustrious of the past pupils of St Augustine’s School—which for 50 years was housed in the old parish centre which had to make way for the new centre—will reminisce about those days at a High Tea organised by his fellow past pupils. Raymond Perrier, the director of the centre which rose on the site of the old building that once served as a school and parish hall where youth once rocked and rolled to Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, said the comprehensive centenary programme has been staggered over several days to provide something special for everyone.

he KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu will officially open the new centre on November 9, followed by Cardinal Napier blessing the centre in the presence of other centre patrons, religious leaders and VIPs—the public is also invited to attend. The programme will open on Friday, November 6 at 19:00 with the annual Hurley Memorial Lecture, delivered by Mgr Nadal. His talk will be devoted to “Hurley as Visionary and Strategist” a cleric who took the inspiration of Vatican II to heart and sought to implement its vision that became a profound moment of convergence and re-emergence and spir-

itual and pastoral renewal for the whole Church community. Vatican II was a call to aggiornamento, to daily renewal, which led Archbishop Hurley to establish Khanyisa Pastoral Institute at Mariannhill in 1976, with Mgr Nadal as the director supporting catechetical and liturgical renewal based on Vatican II. This initiative was preceded by Archbishop Hurley sending Mgr Nadal to Lumen Vitae, affiliated to Belgium’s famous Catholic Louvain University, to study catechetics. The archbishop then tasked him, together with the late Sr Theodula Müller CPS, to present the new catechetics in the “People of God” series comprising five books. As a great admirer of the American flair for organisation, Archbishop Hurley sent Mgr Nadal and a team of eight to the United States in July 1987 to study Renew as the archdiocesan response to the SACBC Pastoral Plan, “Community Serving Humanity”. After Durban and other dioceses, Renew was launched in Cape Town where more than 10 000 people lit up the Good Hope Centre in a blaze of candlelight. Mgr Nadal continues to serve the Durban archdiocese under Cardinal Napier as vicar for adult formation. For the octogenarian monsignor, marathon running has given way to cycling on the beachfront promenade and walking the open road. But, he says, he is willing, as long as it’s humanly possible, to keep walking in ministry, service and friendship. n Mgr Nadal’s memorial lecture will be given on Friday, November 6 at 19:00 in the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban. Anglican Bishop emeritus Rubin Phillip will give the response. See page 11 for the full programme of the Denis Hurley centenary celebrations. Don’t miss next week’s Hurley supplement in The Southern Cross.

Ecumenical archbishop shared activist past with Hurley Archbishop emeritus George Daniel of Pretoria will introduce his memoirs during a launch event in Durban as part of the Hurley centenary. He spoke to STUART GRAHAM about his book and experiences.

ANY years ago the young Anglican reverend George Daniel made a difficult deci-

sion. Born in Pretoria in 1933, he had been raised as an Anglican and was ordained in the Anglican Church. Three years later he converted to Catholicism, and then studied to become a Catholic priest. On December 19, 1964 he was ordained. Just over ten years later he was appointed archbishop of Pretoria. “My family and personal history could be described as ecumenical,” he says. For years Archbishop Daniel shied away from interreligious discussions. He felt his past would make dialogue difficult with his Anglican counterparts. “So I was pleased to be involved rather with the Commission for Seminaries, where I worked with Archbishop Dennis Hurley and the late Archbishop Stephen Naidoo of Cape Town on the amalgamation of the seminaries,” he says. White seminarians were trained at St John Vianney in Waterkloof, Pretoria, at the time, while black seminarians were at St Peter’s in Hammanskraal. Achieving amalgamation in the thick of the apartheid era was one of struggles that Archbishop Daniel was most passionate about. “Apartheid had done considerable harm in dividing the races, and it was not so easy for them to live to-

gether in harmony. The first 15 years as a bishop I was involved in that work.” When the time came for Archbishop Daniel to be nominated to be on the Commission for Ecumenism, he discovered that his relations with his former Anglican colleagues weren’t as difficult as he first thought. “I had discovered in my dealings with my Anglican friends that they had no problem with my being a ‘turncoat’. So I could work with them in the Anglican Roman Catholic International Committee.” In 2000 Archbishop Daniel represented Southern Africa’s Catholic Church in a high-level meeting in Canada which was chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.” “At this stage I was already a member of the pontifical council. As a member, I attended ten meetings in the Vatican,” he recalls. “Besides dialogue with Anglicans in South Africa, we were involved in dialogue with Pentecostals, Lutherans and the NG Kerk. We met with Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists through the Church Unity Commission.” It was during this period that Archbishop Daniel represented the SACBC on the South African Council of Churches (SACC). “I was given much encouragement by Archbishop Hurley as part of a delegation with the SACC to Namibia in 1981.” In 1984 Archbishop Daniel was the only Catholic bishop on a delegation to the United States and Europe to promote the joint SACC/SACBC report on forced removals. That exercise helped bring about economic sanctions against South Africa, “which was the only response that the countries we visited felt was appropriate”. He adds: “It must be admitted

that sanctions did bring about the changes we had called for.” Archbishop Daniel says he had two motivations for writing his memoirs, That They May Be One, which will have a launch event on November 7 as part of the celebrations of Archbishop Hurley’s centenary. Soon after he became a Catholic in 1960, his Catholic friends told him to “put my experiences in writing before my memory began to play tricks on me”. The second motivation came decades later when he and other bishops were due to retire. “We were asked to write our memoirs, which would contribute to the compiling of a history of the

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bishops’ conference,” he says. “I had retired nearly seven years before, and the nature of the retirement at Little Eden, Bapsfontein and at Sizanani near Bronkhorstspruit, was such that I was left with a lot of time on my hands. “I decided to get on with writing my memoirs, and these I completed over a period of years.” As for the timing of its publication: “I had to stop somewhere. Otherwise I would have been calling for my laptop on my death bed to record the last few moments,” Archbishop Daniel jokes. n The launch event for Archbishop Daniel’s memoirs will be on Saturday, November 7 at 12:00 in the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban.

The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

ALL SAINTS

Praying with the saints: it works The saints form an integral part of Catholic life. This was highlighted by the recent Saints of Italy pilgrimage. GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER reflects on our relationship with the saints.

HE weather forecast for Venice was dismal: dark skies, rain. And, as our local tour director assured me, if it rains in the morning in this region, it will rain all day. “Pack your umbrellas,” we were told. We had enjoyed a week of glorious weather on our Southern Cross/Radio Veritas Saints of Italy pilgrimage in September. But now, in beautiful Venice, it was raining. By the time we emerged from our morning Mass in St Mark’s basilica, the vast piazza in front of it was flooded. We had to enter the basilica for our tour by navigating hastily erected planks. But when we came out again, the sun had emerged. And we ended up with a day of glorious sunshine. I give the credit for that to St Scholastica. In the morning I had asked the patron saint for rain for her intercession to stop the rain, and invoked her twice on the bus. Clearly St Scholastica came through for us. The scientists may refer to meteorological phenomena that conspired to deceive the weather forecast and conventional wisdom. Whatever those might be, they doubtless were God’s tool. Even the most cynical Catholic

will have at least one story of prayer for a saint’s intercession producing unexpected results. My personal favourite story involves St Anthony of Padua. Some years ago I had lost my ID book. Evidently being a careless individual where the prudent management of important documents is concerned, a few years after that I couldn’t find my passport—days before I was due to leave on an overseas journey. We had turned the house upside down to find the passport, to no avail. Then my wife prayed for St Anthony’s assistance. The very next place she looked was in an old briefcase: and, lo, there were the passport and the long-lost ID book. I have no rational explanation how these items happened to be in that briefcase. Had I put the passport there, I would then have found my lost ID book. I don’t know by what circumstances these two items came together, but I do know that within seconds of asking St Anthony, my wife found them. When the saints help us, there is a temptation to give all credit to them. Of course, they only intercede for us before God, therefore it is to him that the glory must be given. So it is not really correct for us to say we’re praying “to” a saint— though that terminology is common usage—as if the saint is an officer of God performing heroic deeds. Rather, we might say that we pray with the saints, as we might ask our priests or family or friends or community to pray with us in times of need. Still, it is good to have saints at hand to help us find lost travel documents or to change the weather, or to pray with us when

we have other petitions. It’s one of the great benefits of being Catholic that we have recourse to the saints as intercessors. Sometimes they act as a useful buffer which enables us to pray better. I’d have felt quite foolish going straight to God to pray for the rain in Venice to stop. It’s trivial, and quite possibly selfish, if there were farmers in the Veneto region who actually needed buckets of rain that particular day. It was easier to go to St Scholastica first (she probably also knew all about the agricultural needs of the local farmers from their petitions). Going through the saints might be likened to asking your mom or older sibling to put in a word for us with dad. Sometimes even in our prayer we want a go-between. Other times we may feel quite comfortable to go straight to our Heavenly Father. Either way, God hears our prayers—sometimes he just says no. Some Protestants criticise the Catholic devotion to the saints as a medieval superstition, or, worse as a heresy, assuming that we see the saints, including Our Lady, as mediators. They are wrong, of course. There is only one mediator: Christ. The practice of asking the saints to pray for us is, in fact, as old as the Church itself. And there is proof for that. When the house of St Peter in Capernaum at the Sea of Galilee was excavated, archaeologists found inscriptions from early pilgrims in different languages, asking Peter to pray for them. One of these languages was Hebrew, the theological language of Jews in apostolic times. The obvious conclusion is that this graffito dates to the very early times of the Church, when it was still a sect within Judaism. Ancient graffiti found in the Roman catacombs further show that praying with the saints was a normal practice in the ancient Church.

The Transito chapel in the in basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi marks the spot where St Francis died, and displays his Franciscan cord and a piece of his robe. The relationship which Catholics have with the saints serves as an aid to prayer. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

he Saints of Italy pilgrimage placed a particular emphasis on the portfolios of patronages held by the various saints we visited. If our prayer petitions concerned an instance of marital problems, for example, the Umbrian town of Cascia was a good place to present them to God through St Rita, patron of troubled marriages. In Cascia I had an uncanny experience which might indicate that some saints don’t have a good sense of humour—or perhaps too much of it. As we explored the monastery of St Rita we saw the holes made in a wall between the saint’s cell and her old tomb by what tradition holds are miracle bees which moved in there some 200 years

Some prayer cards collected on the Saints of Italy pilgrimage. Among them are (front from left) Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, St Clare of Assisi, St Scholastica, St Rita of Cascia, (second row) St Francis of Assisi, St Anthony of Padua (with relic), St John XXIII, (top row) Bl Simone Fidati, St Catherine of Siena, St Benedict, St Clemens Hofbauer and St Paul. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) after St Rita’s death. I joked that the holes looked more like my misadventures with a powerdrill. Instantly, a bee appeared and circled above my head, as if to admonish me for my flippancy. You might say that nature just favoured my sweet head; I suspect St Rita sent this solitary bee to send me a stern, or playful, message, perhaps knowing my phobia of bees. We do build relationships with saints, albeit in different ways. One might relate differently to the fifth-century saint Scholastica as one might to the 20th-century saint John XXIII. The former’s life is distant and abstract, the latter’s life is recent, concrete and welldocumented. We can identify with St John XXIII because he lived in a world we recognise. So where St Scholastica is a welcome intercessor on weather-related matters whose sanctity we take for granted without knowing much about it, St John XXIII inspires us by visible example. The observable holiness of the saints is what motivated John Paul II, now himself one of them, to accelerate the process of canonisation. In his 26-year pontificate he created a record 110 saints. The example of holiness inspired the Saints of Italy pilgrims: going to the places of saints, seeing their tombs or birthplaces or the arena of activity or their relics showed that these men and

women were real people living in the real world, not just names on churches and pictures on prayer cards. St Francis was real; St Scholastica was real; St Rita of Cascia was real; St John XXIII was real. All faced challenges in life, as do we. They contended with temptation and battled with sin. In the end, they won and are confirmed residents in the presence of God, in what we call heaven. Canonisation is just that, though: an official confirmation that a person is in heaven. But just because your granny hasn’t been canonised doesn’t mean that she cannot be a saint in the presence of God in heaven. It means that the Church has not confirmed this to be so. That implies two things: firstly, it would be inappropriate for you to involve the whole Church community in maintaining a devotion to Granny, unless your bishop thinks her witness of faith was so extraordinary as to justify a popular devotion. But it also means that you are free to invoke Granny’s intercession with God on your behalf. On the feast of All Saints we are called to remember all the saints in heaven, known and unknown. In that spirit: Granny and all the saints, pray for us.

n Next week Günther Simmermacher wil reflect on Italy’s churches.

THE JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME!

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CLASSIFIEDS

Perrier: We are all family Continued from page 7 “brothers and sisters”. We are not entitled to privilege some people over others just because we share the same DNA. Isn’t this what Jesus was shockingly reminding us of when he said, after being told his mother and brothers were waiting for him, that everyone was his mother and his brothers (Mt 12:46-50)? I have to remind myself of that when we are faced with 300 homeless people waiting to be fed: I have to treat each one of them as

my mother or my brother. Family words are powerful words, the first ones we speak, the ones we reserve for our dearest moments. They are not fragile flowers that need to be protected or defended. They are robust and strong terms that grow through being stretched and tested and used. The synod struggled with the idea that the term “father” or “mother” or “husband” or “wife” might be used in new ways by new kinds of family. At the same

time, the Church has herself, in creative and productive ways, shown how family words can draw us into new and Spirit-filled relationships with each other. I never knew the grandfathers from whom I am descended. I also never knew the man whose centenary I am about to help celebrate. But it feels like Archbishop Hurley is becoming a third grandfather to me; and I can thank the Church for showing how that term can be stretched.

The Hurley centenary programme

HIS is the full programme for the celebrations of the centenary of Archbishop Denis Hurley’s birth. All are open to the public and, other than the concert, are free of charge. All Masses and the concert will be in Emmanuel cathedral; all other events in the Denis Hurley Centre.

Friday, November 6 Saturday, November 7

12:00: Launch of That They May Be One, the memoirs of Archbishop George Daniel; plus bring-andshare lunch. (see page 9) 13:00-17:00: Workshop on relations with other Christians and other faiths, led by Professor Philippe Denis OP, Fr Zaba Mbanjwa OMI (St Joseph’s Institute, Cedara) and Grant Tungay SJ (Jesuit Institute). 17:30: First of the Masses giving thanks for aspects of Hurley’s life: focusing on women religious (presider: Archbishop George Daniel; preacher: Sr Shelagh-Mary Waspe HF; in English).

Sunday November 8 07:45: Mass marking 100 years of the SVP, followed by reception (presider and preacher: Mgr Paul Nadal; in English). 10:00: Mass celebrating justice (presider & preacher: Bishop Barry Wood OMI; in English). 12:00: Mass honouring the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (presider & preacher: Fr Vusi Mazibuko OMI, provincial; in isiZulu).

Monday 9 November (100th anniversary of the birth of Archbishop Hurley) 10:00: Formal opening of the Denis Hurley Centre by KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu and blessing by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, with other centre patrons, religious leaders and VIPs; also open to general public. 18:30: World Religions in Concert: Gala Concert and re-opening of the Mall with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and massed choirs: general tickets on sale from Computicket and in parishes at R130. VIP tickets including post-concert reception for R450 from Computicket or from the DHC. Free tickets for safe-guarded parking can be obtained with concert tickets.

Sunday 15 November 15:00: St Augustine’s School Alumni Event: High Tea with Fr Albert Danker OMI, an alumnus of St Augustine’s, with Holy Family sisters in attendance. n For further information contact concert@denishurleycentre.org

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 678. ACROSS: 5 Ehud, 7 Raise a hand, 8 Wear, 10 Heavenly, 11 Pauses, 12 Ankara, 14 Igloos, 16 Menace, 17 Fletcher, 19 Nile, 21 Dispossess, 22 Stay. DOWN: 1 Brow, 2 Espresso, 3 Lashes, 4 Havana, 5 Edge, 6 Unclerical, 9 Evangelist, 13 Kindness, 15 Schism, 16 Mormon, 18 Tidy, 20 Easy.

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: November 2: Bishop Valentine Seane of Gaborone on his 49th birthday. November 7: Bishop Frank Nabuasah of Francistown on the 17th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

Liturgical Calendar Year B – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday November 1, All Saints Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14, Psalms 24:1-6, 1 John 3:1-3, Matthew 5:1-12 Monday November 2, All Souls Job 19:23-27, Psalms 23, Romans 5:5-11, Matthew 5:1-12 Tuesday November 3, St Martin de Porres (pictured) Romans 12:5-16, Psalms 131, Luke 14:15-24 Wednesday November 4, St Charles Borromeo Romans 13:8-10, Psalms 112:1-2, 4-5, 9, Luke 14:25-33 Thursday November 5 Romans 14:7-12, Psalms 27: 1-4, 13-14, Luke 15:110 Friday November 6, All Saints of Africa Sir 44:1, 10-15, Psalms 15:2-5, Luke 6:27-38 Saturday November 7, Saturday Mass of Our Lady Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27, Psalms 145:2-5, 10-11, Luke 16:9-15 Sunday November 8 1 Kings 17:10-16, Psalms 146:7-10, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44

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

DEATHS

QUICKFALL—Dorothy. Aged 89, died peacefully on October 18. Fondly remembered by her three daughters Pam, Marian and Virginia, sons-in law, six grandchildren and great granddaughter. May she rest in peace.

IN MEMORIAM

19:00: Annual Memorial Lecture given by Mgr Paul Nadal. (see page 9)

The Southern Cross, October 28 to November 3, 2015

FALLER—Cecilia. (Died November 7 2002). Lovingly remembered by all her 14 sons and daughters and their families in South Africa, Australia and Spain. (S)he whose mind is at peace emits a heavenly light (Chuang Tzu). SOKOLIC—Margrit Mathilde(née Cordis). Died on All Souls Day, November 2, 2012. A virtuous woman, for the fairness which was pre-shadowed in her name, was eclipsed by the surpassing beauty of her soul. She was called Margrit, and in the sight of God, she showed herself to be a pearl, precious in faith and works. Mourned by her husband Franko, children Stephen, Ivan, Catherine, Franko, Mary, Angela, Andrew, Vincent, Joseph, Thomas and families.

PRAYERS

HOLY ST JUDE—Thank you St Jude my patron saint, for all the help you have given me in the past, especially for your help to me last Thursday. I promised that if my petition was successful I will publish my thanks. May you always be with me St Jude. From Dermot. HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron

in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. MLR & LCM 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 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.

O VIRGIN Mother, In the depths of your heart you pondered the life of the Son you brought into the world. Give us your vision of Jesus and ask the Father to open our hearts, that we may always see His presence in our lives, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, bring us into the joy and peace of the kingdom, where Jesus is Lord forever and ever. Amen FATHER in heaven, everliving source of all that is good, keep me faithful in serving you. Help me to

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32nd Sunday: November 8 Readings: 1 Kings 7:10-16, Psalm 146:7-10, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44

S outher n C ross

NE of the lessons of which Pope Francis does not fail to remind us is that God actually prefers the poor; it is a healthily uncomfortable and a salutary lesson, this; and it is the message of the readings for next Sunday. The first reading presents us with the prophet Elijah and a widow (a standard type of the marginalised in that society). The widow is not a worshipper of the God of Israel, but nevertheless the prophet hails her and asks her for water (and this at a time of drought!). As she goes to fetch the water he makes an additional request: “Please bring me a bit of bread in your hand.” She points out that she has only “a handful of flour and some oil”, so that she and her son might have a final meal before they die. Elijah is not put off, but asks her to feed him first. We cannot help feeling slightly uncomfortable at his priorities (“clerical prelates exploiting poor widows again”, I hear you mutter); but we should notice that he has said, “Don’t be afraid”, which is always a sign of the presence of God; and then he makes her a

promise on God’s behalf: “The flour shall not fail, and the jug of oil shall not run out until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the face of the earth.” And of course, it comes true, because God is on the side of the poor. The psalm is one of the great Alleluias with which the Psaltery comes to an end, and offers a series of phrases that describe God for us: “The Lord who keeps faith for ever; who does justice for the oppressed; who gives bread to the hungry; who sets prisoners free; who opens the eyes of the blind; who raises up those who are bowed down; who loves the righteous; who keeps immigrants safe; who keeps the widow and orphan.” This is the God “who will rule forever”; and he is on the side of those society ignores. In the second reading we continue with Hebrews, presenting us with a Jesus who is the “real thing”, a Jesus who is utterly different, and is on the side of those who cannot look after themselves. One difference that Jesus makes is that he has gained access to the “Holy of Holies, not made by hand, and has appeared

in the presence of God for our sakes”. And he is different from the “High Priest”. Here we may like to recall that in Jesus’ day, the “High Priest” was very much on the side of the politically powerful, rather than the poor; and Jesus, our author points out, makes his sacrifice with his own blood, not with that of another (like the High Priest). Christ is on the side of sinners (like ourselves) and will eventually “appear again (without sin) for those who are waiting for salvation”. The Gospel likewise reminds us of God’s favouring the poor, and indeed widows. Jesus has just engaged in a series of controversies with various prominent parties, the tension mounting higher and higher. His death is now clearly on the agenda, as he does battle with the High Priests, with “Herodians and Pharisees”, with Sadducees, and with a scribe. Now it is true that this particular controversy sorted itself out with a remarkable meeting of minds, but Jesus then makes a dark remark about scribal insistence that the Mes-

You and your big ego T

ply because we consider ourselves mature and spiritual. They’re incurable because they’re an innate part of our make-up. Moreover, they’re not meant to go away, nor are they, in themselves, a moral defect. Our ego is the centre of our conscious personality, part of our core make-up, and each of us needs a strong ego to remain glued-together, sane, healthily self-protective and able to give of oneself to others. But it usually comes as a shock to people when someone suggests that great people, spiritual people, have strong egos. For example, Ss Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Thérèse of Lisieux and Bl Mother Teresa, for all their humility, had strong egos—namely, they had a clear sense of their own identity, their own giftedness, and their own importance. However, in each case, they also had the strong concomitant sense that their persons and gifts did not originate with themselves and were not meant for them. Rather, they were clear that the source of their giftedness was God and that their gifts were intended not for themselves but for others.

N that lies the difference between having a strong ego and being an egoist. An egoist has a strong ego and is gifted, but he understands himself as both the creator and objective of that gift. Conversely, great persons have strong egos but are always aware that their giftedness does not come from them but is something flowing through them as a gift

Conrad

HE Buddhists have a little axiom that explains more about ourselves than we would like. They say that you can understand most of what’s wrong in the world and inside yourself by looking at a group photo. Invariably you will look first at how you turned out before looking at whether or not this is a good photo of the group. Basically, we assess the quality of things on the basis of how we are doing. The 17th-century philosopher René Descartes must be smiling. He began his philosophical search with the question: “What’s the one thing that’s indubitable? What’s the one thing, for sure, of which we can be certain.” His answer was his famous dictum: “I think, therefore I am!” Ultimately, what’s most real to us is our own consciousness. And it’s so obsessively real that, until we can find a maturity beyond our natural instincts, it locks us inside a certain prison. What prison? Psychologists call it narcissism, an excessive self-preoccupation that keeps us fixated on ourselves and on our own private headaches and idiosyncratic heartaches. Like the Buddhist commentary on the group photo, we worry little about how others are doing; our focus is first of all upon ourselves. And this condition is not a childish thing that can be brushed off by glibly affirming that we have grown up, are beyond ego, and are unselfish. Ego and its child—narcissism—do not go away sim-

Nicholas King SJ

God loves the widow

Lessons from your cruise company: always check your ark’s departure times.

Sunday Reflections

siah is to be “son of David”; then we are into this warning against the scribes, and their love for social esteem. He also mentions their attitude to the poor and insignificant: “They devour the homes of widows, and make long prayers as a bluff.” Then Jesus will have astonished his audience with a hint at their fate: “They are going to get a much worse condemnation.” Now comes an acted parable and a powerful contrast between “the rich”, on the one hand, who put vast cheques into the Temple treasury, to the applause of all, and “a single destitute widow on the other, who put in two tiny coins, a farthing”. She is singled out for more praise than all the rich, for they “put in money from their surplus, while she from her lack: all that she had, her entire life”. We should learn, this week, whom God prefers.

Southern Crossword #678

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

for others. The goal in maturing, then, is not to kill the ego but rather to have a healthy ego, one that is integrated into a larger self that precisely is concerned with the group photo. But coming to that maturity is a struggle that will leave us, too often, in either inflation (too full of ourselves and too unaware of God) or in depression (too empty of our own value and too unaware of God). Maturity and sanctity do not lie in killing or denigrating the ego, as is sometimes expressed in well-meaning though misguided spiritualities, as if human nature was evil. Ego is integral and critical to our natural make-up, part of our instinctual DNA. We need a healthy ego to be and remain healthy. So the intent is never to kill or denigrate the ego, but rather to give it its proper, mature role: to keep us sane, in touch with our gifts, and in touch with both the source and intent of those gifts. This can be achieved only paradoxically: Jesus tells us that we can find life only by losing our lives. A famous prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi gives this its classic, popular expression: “O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.” Only by denying our ego can we have a healthy ego. Finally, some wisdom about ego from the Taoist master, Chuang Tzu. If you are crossing a river in small boat, he says, and another boat runs into you, you will be angry if there is someone steering that runaway boat; but you will not experience that same anger if the boat is empty. Why no anger then? Chuang Tzu’s answer: A person who has let go of his or her ego “leaves no trace”. Such a person does not trigger anger in others.

ACROSS

5. The left-handed assassin (Jg 3) (4) 7. Priests do it to bless, not to hit you (5,1,4) 8. Be dressed in (4) 10. Kind of bodies seen in space (8) 11. Hesitations in the sermon may be dramatic (6) 12. Where to meet a Turkish priest (6) 14. Chapels for the Eskimos (6) 16. A threatening danger (6) 17. Maker of the bowman’s missiles (8) 19. It has banks in Egypt (4) 21. Deprive of (10) 22. Reside (4)

DOWN

1. Forehead (4) 2. Roman coffee-break (8) 3. Scourges that may flutter? (6) 4. Mr Castro’s cigar (6) 5. The brink (4) 6. Uncle Alric is not like a priest (10) 9. I vest angel disguised as Mark (10) 13. It shows you consider others (8) 15. Division of the Church (6) 16. He’s a Latter-Day Saint (6) 18. Neat (4) 20. Kind of chair for the simple (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

CATHOLIC girl and a Jewish boy fell madly in love with each other. But their religious beliefs interfered with their marriage plans, so the girl’s mother, a staunch Catholic, advised her daughter to teach the boy the joys of Catholicism. The girl did as she was told. She taught him and taught him, and the wedding date was finally fixed. But a day before the wedding, the girl came home crying: “The marriage is off.” “Why?” the mother wanted to know. “Didn’t you teach him Catholicism?” “I think I taught him too well,” replied the daughter. “Now he wants to become a priest.”

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