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December 9 to December 15, 2015

Popular priest’s 60 years of ministry

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SA priest: Pope Francis has lifted African spirits

BY STUART GRAHAM

P

OPE Francis has given Africans—many of whom have become estranged from the Church—a sense of faith and God in their lives during his visit to the continent, according to the director of South Africa’s Jesuit Institute.

“I think many people have felt estranged from the Church in the places he visited, Fr Russell Pollitt SJ told The Southern Cross.

“People like him. Unprecedented numbers of people, many of them non-Catholics—and in Central African Republic, Muslims—lined the streets to greet him. He has that appeal.

He draws people and gives them a sense of faith and of God in their lives.”

Pope Francis used his visit to Kenya, Uganda and Central African Republic to reinforce messages of religious tolerance, peace and non-materialism, Fr Pollittt said.

The Holy Father adapted his messages to the environment he was in, starting with an uncompromising speech about urban exclusion in Nairobi where three million people live in poor neighbourhoods.

“For Africa this was a very important trip,” Fr Pollitt said.

“In Kenya, where corruption is a problem, he spoke in the Kangemi slum about good governance and leadership and also about poverty. It was a provocative and uncompromising speech about urban exclusion, with the poor excluded by the elite.”

Pope Francis criticised the unfit housing and lack of basic infrastructure such as water and sanitation. These situations “are a consequence of new forms of colonialism” and “a culture of waste”, he said.

He praised values of “resistance” and “solidarity” in poor neighbourhoods which an

For further info or to book contact Michael or Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za/ poland-2016/

opulent society, anesthetised by consumption, appeared to have forgotten.

He urged the youth to fight radicalisation by making certain no one was ever an outcast.

Jesuit Father Oskar Wermter, a Hararebased media commentator, noted that Pope Francis “as a peacemaker is prepared to take risks. He is not taking orders from his security staff, but tells them what to do, so that he fulfils his mission. And while he was in Bangui [in Central African Republic], the people began once more to think and talk of peace, which they had done in the past and could do again”.

Fr Wermter noted the way in which the pope criticised poor governance.

“Many African leaders consider themselves completely in control, with no limits to their power. However, Pope Francis does draw a line, pointing out the moral demands they have to respond to, the human dignity of their subjects they have to respect, the duty they have to promote the common good of all, the service their voters expect to get from them,” Fr Wermter said.

“Politicians appeal to the rich and powerful, with a few concessions to the ‘masses’— the very word expresses contempt for the faceless crowd of the poor who don’t count.

For Pope Francis they do count, they have dignity and deserve respect. The world belongs to them as much as to the leaders. He speaks as their advocate,” the priest said.

Fr Wermter noted that the pope’s empathy with the poor comes naturally to him.

“Pope Francis was not an academic teacher before he became Bishop of Rome, but a pastor who was at home among the underprivileged of Buenos Aires.” n See page 5 for round-up and photos.

Guests enjoy the meals created at a cook-off using items included in the “Buckets of Love” distributed to poor families in the Western Cape by Catholic Welfare & Development (CWD).

This year CWD aims to feed 45 000 families, up by 13 000 from last year.

‘Buckets of Love’ to feed 45 000 people this Christmas STAFF REPORTER

A

CATHOLIC organisation set itself the goal of feeding 45 000 people for one week in its “Buckets of Love” campaign.

Buckets of Love is one of the signature campaigns of Catholic Welfare & Development (CWD) in Cape Town, having run for 21 years.

In that time CWD has provided more than 1,8 million meals to more than 65 420 poor and vulnerable families over the Christmas period in the Western Cape.

“The buckets consist of 17 essential food items that feed a family of four for seven days,” said Kevin Roussel, executive director of CWD. “This year we have set ourselves the ambitious target of feeding 45 000 people by packing 11 250 buckets,” he said.

Last year 7 920 buckets fed more than 32 000 people.

Mr Roussel note that “the number 45 is significant to us this year as we are celebrating our 45th anniversary”.

Buckets of Love has been tied to the CWD’s 100 Days of Social Action campaign, which was launched in September to ask peo-

St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross

ple to come together to “put the spirit back into giving”, said Karen Pillay, marketing and fundraising manager.

The 100 Days of Social Action included commissions that deliberated on the key social issues that are destroying family structures and eroding the moral fabric of society, she said.

This year’s Buckets of Love campaign was launched with a cook-off competition between five teams of five people each. The teams submitted recipes for meals they were preparing from ingredients in the buckets to feed 30 guests on the day.

“It was so amazing to see the delicious number of meals prepared from the ingredients in the bucket, the innovative presentations of the food displayed,” Ms Pillay said.

Buckets of Love can be supported by making financial donations or of non-perishable food Items, or donating time to assist with packing or becoming a Buckets of Love campaign ambassador. n For more information contact Julia Oduol on 021 425-2095 or visit facebook.com/ catholicwelfareanddevelopment or www.cwd. org.za

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

Led by Bishop Stan Dziuba 13 - 21 May 2016

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

2

The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

LOCAL

Pioneer Oblate celebrates 60 years of priesthood STAFF REPORTER

O

NE of Durban’s most popular priests has celebrated 60 years of priesthood and his 86th birthday, both within a couple of days of one another.

Fr Albert Danker, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, celebrates his 60th anniversary of ordination on December 10, two days after his birthday. A Mass to mark the jubilee was celebrated on December 6 at St Anne’s church in Sydenham, with Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, archbishop of Durban, presiding.

Fr Danker was born on December 8 1929 to Henry and Lillian Danker (née Thomas), the oldest of four children in a family of Mauritian and French descent. He attended St Augustine’s School, an institution for coloured children which stood at the place now occupied by the Denis Hurley Centre, next to Emmanuel cathedral.

“At a very early age, even before I went to school, I was so interested in the things of the Church. My mother would take me to Mass and we would kneel there in the church, and I’d be listening to bells ringing and the incense would be burning,” he once recalled.

“In those days the altar servers would strike the gong when the bells rang, and I thought that I was hearing birds singing at the same time as the church bell ringing.”

As a child he created an “altar” from tomato boxes and would pretend to celebrate Mass.

After leaving St Augustine’s, he at-

Durban priest Fr Albert Danker celebrates 60 years of priesthood and his 86th birthday. tended Umbilo Road High School where he met future priests Frs Cyril Carey and Charles Langlois , and future Anglican Bishop George Swartz.

In 1949, they were the first coloured men from Natal to enter the Oblate novitiate, in Germiston.

On February 27, 1951 they took their first vows and on December 10, 1955 they were ordained to the priesthood.

The following year Archbishop Denis Hurley sent Fr Danker to Belgium to study the Young Christian Workers (YCW), a movement of young working-class people. Fr Danker was appointed the YCW’s national chaplain for South Africa.

“The YCW was a wonderful movement which really formed hundreds of young people,” Fr

Danker recalled. “There were no racial barriers. We were hounded by the Special Branch,” he said, referring to the feared apartheid security police.

One day a stressed member approached him; the security police had demanded that he give them a copy of the YCW’s constitution.

“I said, ‘We’ve got no constitution, here is the Bible, give them the Bible.’ So he did. They were furious.”

The government went as far as withdrawing Fr Danker’s passport in 1969. For the next seven years the priest was denied a passport.

In 192 he resigned his position as the national chaplain to the YCW and was appointed parish priest of Assumption parish in Umbilo, where he served for four years.

This was followed by Fr Danker’s appointment, against his wishes, as superior of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. During the following six years he took leadership in initiatives such as starting the Red Acres retreat house and inviting members of other congregations to teach at the Oblates’ St Joseph’s Scholasticate in Cedara.

He has also been very active in promoting vocations.

In 1983 Fr Danker was appointed to St Anne’s in Sydenham, succeeding Fr Joe Money. He remained there until his retirement in 2005, having reached the age of 75.

His school friends and fellow Oblate priests Frs Langlois and Carey died in 1998 and 1996 respectively.

Johannesburg’s Holy Rosary Primary School’s Grade Rs held a Christmas party, inviting Santa to join. Seen here with Father Christmas are (back, from left) Siyi Tao, Amy Liang, Calista Da Mata, Caitlyn Dukoff-Gordon, and (front) Okuhle Littler, Carmen Zhang, Sauvarna Singh, and Andiswa Zondi.

Debate on municipality size

BY STAFF REPORTER

S

OUTH Africa needs a comprehensive debate over the size of local government, according to a research paper by the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

For example, in the Mnquma municipality in the Eastern Cape, 62 councillors serve a population of 250 000 people—a ratio of just over 4 000 citizens per councillor.

On the other hand, each of the 221 councillors in the Cape Town metropolitan municipality is responsible for nearly 17 000 people.

“Clearly, logistics and infrastructure make it easier for a councillor in a large city to serve the interests of 10 000 to 15 000 people, while a colleague in a rural area may have to travel for hours to reach outlying villages with tiny populations,” researcher Dean Walbrugh said.

What may be needed is not a reduction in the number of councillors but in the number of municipalities themselves.

If South Africa is to have structural change, it has to be at the level of the district municipality with a shared-services model where agencies provide those services, perhaps administered by provincial government, the paper said.

“There is a need for a pragmatic approach as to what is the best vehicle that will ensure we deliver services and enhance democracy on the ground,” Mr Walbrugh said.

“That way forward seems to be performance audits and pro-active oversight by an independent board that will provide effective interventions so that municipalities can get back to the business of providing services to the people,” he argued.

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The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

LOCAL

3

‘Apostle of Mbabane’ newly laid to rest

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

HE remains of the “apostle of Mbabane”, one of the first missionaries who came to Swaziland in 1914, were transferred to a new resting place, with the bishop of Manzini calling him a pioneer who had his eyes fixed on Jesus.

The remains of Servite Father Arimath Maria Gratl were transferred from Mbabane to Mzimpo.

He was one of the two first Catholic missionaries who came to Swaziland, where he died 30 years later, in 1944.

Fr Gratl, originally from Austria, was not—at least not at the beginning of his missionary journey—a healthy man. He did, however, have a powerful belief in God, which gave him enormous endurance.

When he arrived in Swaziland, Mbabane had 500 people, with only five or six Catholics.

With fellow Austrian Father Franz Mayr, who had previously lived for eight months with the

Trappists at St Michael’s mission near Mariannhill, he helped start the country’s first Catholic mission.

Two more, a priest and a brother, joined them soon after.

The murder of Fr Mayr by a young man on October 15, 1914 and the outbreak of World War I tested the endurance of Fr Gratl, who due to his Austrian origins was considered an enemy by Britain, the colonial power in Swaziland.

He was allowed to work in Swaziland but not to cross the border into South Africa. This presented a problem for the missionary, since Swaziland at the time was part of the vicariate of Natal.

Meanwhile, the other priest was seconded to Dundee, leaving Fr Gratl as the only priest in the growing Church in Swaziland for the following few years.

“This always remains in my mind and heart. One hundred years ago: two Catholic missionaries for one country. Only one priest: Fr Gratl,” said Bishop José Luis Ponce de León of Manzini, Swaziland’s

only Catholic diocese.

The bishop noted that there were “no roads, no Internet, no email, no money, no communication. The nearest Catholic priest was 300 or 400km away”.

Bishop Ponce de León proposed that the Church in Swaziland adopt Fr Gratl as “a patron of the priests of the diocese”, religious and diocesan.

“I would encourage the priests to pray for his intercession, and whenever they go through a crisis to go and pray at his tomb. “He certainly knew and experienced the challenges of our call and pastoral service,” the bishop said.

“I believe he kept his eyes fixed on Jesus, on the one who called him and sent him to proclaim his good news,” Bishop Ponce de León said.

“May we, who gathered today to remember him, like him, keep our eyes fixed on God and continue what he started more than 100 years ago.”

Bishop José Luis Ponce de León presides over the transfer of the remains of the “apostle of Mbabane”, Fr Arimath Maria Gratl.

Order’s investiture a first for Africa

BY DINO GOMES

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

WENTY-EIGHT Catholic lay men and women, one priest and two permanent deacons of the archdiocese of Cape Town were formally invested in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem as knights and dames.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, grand prior of the order in Southern Africa, vested the new knights and dames in the order’s cloaks and other items of their regalia at an investiture Mass in Our Lady of Good Hope church, Sea Point.

Archbishop Brislin was assisted by Mgr Clifford Stokes, chancellor of the order in Southern Africa and the ecclesiastical master of ceremonies, together with Fr Peter-John Pearson. Both priests are knights of the order and vicars-general of the archdiocese.

Also present at the investiture Mass were Joseph Quinn, magistral delegate for Southern Africa; Dr David Smith, lieutenant of the lieutenancy of England and Wales; and Michael Cowley, president of the northern section of the lieutenancy of England and Wales.

The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organise the religious, military and public bodies of the territories, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre.

The order’s aims are: • To strengthen in its members the practice of Christian life, in absolute fidelity to the pope and according to the

Missionary charity arm seeks rebranding

T

Catholic lay men and women, one priest and two permanent deacons were invested in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a first for Africa. teachings of the Church, observing as its foundation the principles of charity which make the Order a fundamental means of assistance to the Holy Land.

• To sustain and aid the charitable, cultural and social works and institutions of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, particularly those of and in the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem, with which the order maintains traditional ties.

• To support the preservation and propagation of the faith in those lands, and promote interest in this work not only among Catholics scattered throughout the world, who are united in charity by the symbol of the Order, but also among all other Christians.

JouRNaLISM INTERNShIP offers the opportunity of a

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who wishes to gather hands-on experience in journalism in The Southern Cross’ Cape Town newsroom. The position is not paid, but published articles are remunerated and a stipend may be paid at the editor's discretion. We cover daily travel costs within Cape Town.

The length of the internship is 3-6 months, starting on January 4, 2016 – or earlier by mutual agreement.

While a Catholic background is not a requirement for the position, knowledge of the Church and affinity for its mission will be a distinct advantage.

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• To uphold the rights of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land.

In the 900-year existence of the Order, which currently has more than 40 000 members worldwide, this was the first investiture of newly admitted lay members of the Order in Africa.

Although the Order has for many years had a presence in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia, until now there had never been a formal presence of the Order in Africa, the continent that gave shelter to the Holy Family when they found refuge in Egypt. n For a history of the Order visit www.va tican.va/roman_curia/institutions_con nected/oessh/index_en.htm

ThE JouRNEYS oF a LIFETIME!

Year of Mercy Pilgrimage

HE Church’s official missionary charity arm, known as the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS), is looking to rebrand itself in order to reach more people, its national director told The Southern Cross.

The PMS, which collects money from around the world in October before sending it to Rome for division and distribution, will discuss renaming itself to Missio at its general assembly in May, said Fr Gordon Rees MCCJ. “The rebranding is in the pipeline,” he said. “It is not 100% approved by Rome yet, but we are going through the interim stage,” Fr Rees said.

“The idea is to have a universal name that every country and language can use. The feeling is that the current name is too long and not conducive to publicity. The aim is to reach people more effectively,” he explained. “‘Missio’ is nice and short and will be understood in most languages, so we are trying to work with this and see where it goes.”

All money that is collected by the PMS is put together in a universal common pool. Rome decides how to divide it up to help different sectors of the Church.

The money is collected on all four Sundays in October during Mission Month.

The missionary societies fall under the canonical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis.

Its organisations include the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St Peter the Apostle, the Holy Childhood Association and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.

The pope asks the Pontifical Mission Societies to help bring the message of Christ to the world, especially in countries where Christianity is new, young or poor. The societies care for and support the younger Churches until they are able to be self-sufficient.

The societies have 120 offices worldwide and support every one of the world’s 1 150 mission dioceses.

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4

The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Northern Ireland bishops react to abortion ruling

BY MICHAEL KELLY

BY CAROL GLATZ

T

HE Catholic bishops of Northern Ireland have described as “profoundly disquieting” a ruling by the High Court that the region’s ban on abortion in all but very limited circumstances breaches human rights legislation.

While Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, the 1967 legalisation of abortion only extended to England, Wales and Scotland.

Northern Ireland retains the earlier 1861 prohibition on abortion.

Currently, termination of pregnancy in Northern Ireland is allowed only if a woman’s life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health.

However, the High Court in Belfast ruled that grounds for abortion should be extended in cases where the child is not expected to live long outside the womb or cases of rape or incest.

Northern Ireland Attorney General John Larkin said he was “profoundly disappointed” by the decision and was “considering the grounds for appeal”.

Responding to the ruling, the bishops said: “It is profoundly disquieting that the decision of the High Court in Belfast has effectively weighed up one life against another and said to our society” that the lives of some children are “more worthy of our protection, love and care than others”.

“Vulnerable and innocent children who suffer from a life-limiting condition, and children who have

Vatican: COP21 must send a ‘clear signal’ H

A pro-life banner outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo: Paul Mcerlane, EPA/CNS) been conceived as a result of the trauma of a sexual crime for which they bear no responsibility, will no longer be afforded the protection of the law to vindicate their inherent right to life.”

Bernadette Smyth of the pro-life advocacy group Precious Life said: “This is an undemocratic decision today—it will clearly see, long- term, the opening of the floodgates.”

The issue is also proving contentious in the neighbouring Irish Republic, where a strict ban on abortion was relaxed in 2013 to permit abortion in limited circumstances when there is a substantial risk to the life of the mother, including when a woman says the continuation of the pregnancy leads to suicidal thoughts.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said he will call a citizens’ convention to debate the issue next year.— CNS

EADS of state discussing carbon emission limits must create a global and “transformative” agreement built on justice, solidarity and fairness, a papal representative told the UN climate conference in Paris.

Pope Francis has said “it would be tragic” if special interests “manipulated information” and won out over the common good, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said.

The cardinal delivered a speech on behalf of the pope during the Conference of Parties, or COP21, in Paris, which ends on December 11.

A global agreement must have three interrelated goals in mind: “alleviate the impact of climate change, fight poverty and let the dignity of the human person flourish”, the cardinal said in a speech delivered in French.

A meaningful global pact must be guided by a clear ethical vision that sees all of humanity as belonging to one human family, and has “no

A young man collects items on Jawahar Lal Nehru Lake in Bhopal, India.

(Photo: Sanheev Gupta, EPA/CNS) room for the so-called globalisation of indifference”, he said.

An agreement must send “clear signals” to governments, businesses, the scientific community and local communities on how to adjust or change their behaviour and policies in ways that leads to a low carbon economy and integral human development, he said.

Finally, the cardinal said, the COP21 endeavour must be part of an

ever-evolving commitment to future generations with constant updates, follow-up and enforcement.

“It’s necessary to take into serious consideration the realisation of models of sustainable production and consumption and new behaviours and lifestyles,” he said.

An unsustainable “culture of waste” has no place in new models of education and development, he added.—CNS

Author of ‘Joshua’ novels dies at 85

F

ATHER Joseph Girzone, who became far more prominent in retirement than during active ministry because of his Joshua series of novels, died on November 29 in Altamont, New York. He was 85.

Fr Girzone, a priest of the diocese of Albany, retired from active ministry in 1981.

After retiring, he picked up his pen and wrote Joshua, which was published in 1983. It was a success, selling tens of thousands of copies.

The premise of Joshua and several novels that followed in the series is that Jesus comes back to earth dis-

guised as itinerant carpenter Joshua, distilling simple wisdom and challenging the prevailing order on a variety of issues so that the books’ characters can get closer to God. He once told Catholic News Service in an interview that he wrote Joshua to heighten awareness that the Church will “lose more of our people if we don’t show more gentleness”. “Christ was the good shepherd—he used to bring people home, not drive them away,” he said.

Fr Girzone did not restrict himself to fiction and an estimated 3 million books have been sold under his name.

He used the royalties to establish Joshua Mountain Ministries to get people to learn more about Jesus.— CNS

Colosseum lights up to say ‘No’

BY NICOLE PELLICANO

T

HE Rome-based lay Community of Sant’Egidio, which is active in a worldwide campaign to eliminate capital executions, annually sponsors the lighting of Rome’s Colosseum to highlight its cause.

The Colosseum has been a symbol against the death penalty due to its history as a site for gladiatorial combat and executions.

This year the Colosseum was lit in recognition of the US state of Nebraska’s attempt to abolish the death penalty and as part of Cities for Life Day, a worldwide event that supports a global end to capital punishment.

Nebraska ended the use of the death penalty in May, becoming the 19th US state to abolish capital punishment. However, state residents gathered enough signatures to temporarily reinstate the death penalty until it can be voted on in a referen-

The Colosseum in Rome lit up for the Cities of Life event. (Photo: www.santegidio.org) dum in November 2016.

This year, 2 031 cities around the world expressed their support for the Cities for Life initiative, and nearly 400 special events were held worldwide.

The death penalty is applied both in law and practice in about 37 nations, including the United States, Japan and China.—CNS

Contact us: Tel 041 373-0039 / Mobile 074 376-5833 / Email retreat@catholic-pe.co.za

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

5

Pope surprised by joy, hope in Africa

BY CINDY WOODEN

P

OPE Francis said of his trip to Africa that he is well aware that God is a god of surprises, but he had not been prepared for what a surprise his first visit to Africa would be.

Pope Francis told reporters he prayed in a mosque in Bangui, Central African Republic, and rode around a Muslim neighbourhood with the imam seated with him in the popemobile. Both were spontaneous initiatives of the pope on his last day in Africa.

“The crowds, the joy, the ability to celebrate even with an empty stomach” were impressions the pope said he would take home with him after his six-day trip to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic.

After two years of civil war, the pope told reporters, the people of the Central African Republic want “peace, reconciliation and forgiveness”.

“For years, they lived as brothers and sisters,” the pope said, and local Catholic, Muslim and evangelical Christian leaders are doing their best to help their people return to that situation of peace, coexistence and mutual respect.

Leaders of every religion must teach values, and that is what is happening in the Central African Republic, Pope Francis said.

“One of the most-rare values today is that of brotherhood,” a value essential for peace, he said.

“Fundamentalism is a disease that is found in all religions. We Catholics have some,” he said. “I can say this because it is my Church.”

“Religious fundamentalism isn’t religion, it’s idolatry,” the pope said.

Ideas and false certainties take the place of faith, love of God and love of others.

“You cannot cancel a whole religion because there is a group or many groups of fundamentalists at certain moments of history,” he said.

Meeting ecumenical and interreligious leaders was on Pope Francis’ agenda during his trip. In Kenya he met with 40 representatives of Kenya’s Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh and Buddhist communities, as well as with a Masai elder and other leaders of communities that have maintained their traditional African beliefs.

In Central African Republic he visited the Koudoukou mosque in Bangui where he opened his speech with: “God is peace, ‘salaam’,” and said “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters,” created by the same God, he said, and they must act like it.”

And in Uganda, the pope honoured the martyrs, Catholic and Anglican, noting that they shared the same faith in Jesus and they offer a witness to “the ecumenism of blood”.

A

s usual Pope Francis held everyone enthralled with his off-therecord discussions, warm manner and frank illustration of his point.

Metting youth at Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium, he said in response to questions: “Tribalism destroys a nation, it is keeping your hands behind your back and holding in each hand a rock to throw at others.”

“The ear, the heart and the hand” are needed to overcome tribalism, the pope told the young people, including many who were dressed in the traditional costumes of the Masai

and other ethnic groups.

In Bangui, Central African Republic the pope opened the Holy Door at the cathedral starting the Year of Mercy. Explaining to people outside the cathedral that their city was, for the day, “the spiritual capital of the world”, Pope Francis prayed for the mercy and grace of peace as he used both hands and his body weight to push open the Holy Door of the cathedral.

At a meeting with the youth later on, the pope used the symbol of the banana, CAR’s official symbol, to encourage young people to be resiliant, to pray and to forgive.

In Uganda, the pope visited the Anglican shrine and museum located on the site where many of the martyrs died. The main exhibit features realistic statues of men being tortured, bound and thrown on a fire.

Pope Francis had a look of shock on his face as Anglican Archbishop Stanley Ntagali explained how the martyrs were executed on the orders of King Mwanga II in the late 1800s.

In his address to Uganda’s priests, religious and seminarians. the pope spoke about the importance of remembering the martyrs by witnessing to the faith like they did.

Ugandan soil, “bathed by the blood of martyrs”, always will need new witnesses to faith, he said.

Looking back on his trip, Pope Francis said that at various moments of his trip, he visited the very poor, people who lack everything and have suffered tremendously. He said he knew that a small percentage of people—“maybe 17%” of the world’s population controls the vast majority of the world’s wealth—”and I think, ‘How can these people not be aware?’ It’s such suffering.”—CNS

(Above) Pope Francis visits the Anglican martyrs’ shrine at Namugongo in Kampala.

(Left) Traditional dancers perform as Pope Francis visits the Munyonyo shrine in Kampala, Uganda.

Young people wait for Pope Francis’ arrival for a meeting with them at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi.

Children wait for Pope Francis' arrival outside a Catholic parish in the Kangemi slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. (All photos: Paul Haring/CNS)

Pope Francis sits next to Imam Tidiani Moussa Naibi during a meeting with the Muslim community at the Koudoukou mosque in Bangui, Central African Republic.

LoVINg FaThER bless us, the people of aFRICa, and help us to live in justice, love and peace Mary, Mother of Africa, pray for us

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(Above) Pope Francis celebrates Mass for the martyrs of Uganda near the Catholic shrine at Namugongo in Kampala.

(Left) Pope Francis opens the Holy Door as he begins the Holy Year of Mercy at the start of a Mass with priests, religious, catechists and youths at the cathedral in Bangui.

can help in the education of South Africans for the priesthood at St Joseph’s Scholasticate, Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal. Please send them to: oMI Stamps, Box 101352, Scottsville, 3209.

Our mission has always been to give huMaN aND ChRISTIaN EDuCaTIoN to the young, especially to the poor. Saint John Baptist De La Salle gave a new meaning to the school by making it accessible to the poor and offering it to all as a sign of God’s kingdom and as a means of salvation. Today, De La Salle Brothers, in addition to teaching in school, are also involved in educational ministry.

Br Patrick Letswalo, De La Salle Brothers Po Box 35687, Northcliff 2115, 078 344 8238 079 422 5953, patrickletswalo@yahoo.com

6

The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Why race still matters

W

HEN the pioneers of the new, democratic South Africa combined as one national holiday the African and Afrikaner commemorations observed on December 16, they expressed great hope for our country’s future.

The former Afrikaner holiday of the Day of the Vow and the anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress’ military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, became the Day of Reconciliation.

Two martial remembrances were set aside to bring peace to the disparate people of the nation.

The intervening two decades have shown some progress. In some pockets of South Africa, the process of reconciliation, which is ongoing, has shown encouraging results.

Especially in urban areas, racial mixing is becoming increasingly normal; interracial marriage no longer is a novelty. In interpersonal relations, South Africans have shown that the ideal of nonracialism can exist.

But this should not fool us into believing that all is well. The national reconciliation project is at risk of failing, and not only because populists like Julius Malema have written off the Rainbow Nation.

Mr Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, in a speech last month attacked the efforts of reconciliation led by Nelson Mandela in the 1990s. It articulated for many black South Africans that the reconciliation project has failed them because it did not fulfil its implicit promise of transformation.

It does not require the historical illiterate polemic of Mr Malema to acknowledge that reconciliation and compromise have not produced transformation in the lives of the majority. Privilege remains the preserve mostly of whites; poverty mostly that of blacks.

While it is true that there is a growing black middle class and a small black elite, most of the country’s wealth remains white. It therefore does not sit well with many black Africans when whites are claiming victimhood over Black Economic Empowerment and affirmative action, even if the implementation of these policies often is iniquitous and unfair.

Black South Africans indicated their willingness to reconcile in 1994. This shouldn’t have been taken for granted. But for many white South Africans, the act of “surrendering” political power seemed to be the quid pro quo,

bringing closure to the country’s past. That wasn’t the idea.

Few white people acknowledge without qualification that the inequalities created by apartheid and the racist policies that preceded it for almost three centuries had entrenched their privileges and the poverty of the majority, and that this invests in them certain responsibilities.

To many black people, the change in the exterior has not been matched by a change of heart. This is one reason why increasing numbers of black Africans express disillusionment with the reconciliation project.

There is some truth to the perception that fundamentally white attitudes have not changed.

It’s the attitude of racial superiority which blames the government’s failures on race, in a language that still speaks of “us” and “them”.

It’s the lack of contrition for apartheid which should find expression not in ceaseless apologies but in the honest acknowledgment that white privilege remains entrenched thanks to the legacy of centuries of racist policies.

It’s the sense of entitlement that is implicit in white claims of victimhood by well-fed middleclass people.

It’s the self-defensive, affronted responses that are being formulated when these issues are raised.

The school of Malema is a consequence of too many white people thinking that their hands were washed clean of apartheid when they consented to the transfer of political power in 1994 without also being willing to participate in transformation.

Of course, these white attitudes are not the only cause for the crisis in our reconciliation project.

The ruling African National Congress has allowed a culture of incompetence and kleptocracy to become the public face of black empowerment.

The ANC’s failure in effecting real transformation—beyond the trivialities of sporting quotas and the enrichment of an elite—and its resort to blaming “counter-revolutionary whites” for it, is another chief cause for South Africa’s failure to achieve true national unity.

Many South Africans have shown that it is possible to live and work together regardless of race. But race will become truly insignificant in our land only when there has been a true transformation, of lives and of hearts, across the nation.

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.

At last a pope who truly respects us

O

F various Catholic publications’ coverage of the visit by Pope Francis to Rome’s Evangelical Lutheran church last month, including Cindy Wooden's report in your November 25 issue, I think that of the National Catholic Reporter’s opening paragraph is the most succinct.

“Pope Francis has strikingly suggested that Lutherans married to Catholics can personally discern whether to take Communion in the Catholic Church, saying it is not his

No to appeasing prevailing culture

T

OM Drake (November 18) paints an oblique picture of the prohibition of participation in the Eucharist placed on Catholics who divorced and illicitly entered into a new marriage.

The Church did not “interpret” the Scriptures to arrive at its teachings on the sacrament of marriage.

It is by divine revelation that the Church received her teachings from Christ.

The obedience of the lived tradition of sacred scripture predates the written word which the Church defended and preserved throughout the ages.

Some critics would prefer that the Church meets those who have sinned where they find themselves and leave them there! The prerequisite for receiving Christ’s mercy and forgiveness is for the penitent to follow Christ’s command to move forward and “sin no more”.

By appealing to argumentum ad misericordiam, Mr Drake seeks to have the end justify the means. “An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1759).

One of the men who were hanged next to Christ feared God, accepted his fate and repented his deeds, and won himself a place in God’s kingdom, unlike his unrepentant accomplice who complained about his sentence (Lk 23:39-43).

On November 15, Anke de Bernardinis, a Lutheran who is married to a Catholic, expressed to Pope Francis her desire to participate in the Eucharist. Mrs de Bernardinis cited reasons such as her happy long marriage. After a lengthy explanation on the Lord’s Supper, Pope Francis indicated that it is not his competence to change the sacraments and canon law.

It is often asserted by critics that Rome has too much authority and power. The opposite is true when one considers the many changes and abolitions to Church doctrine, liturgy and morals that have taken place in many Protestant Christian

website: ursulines.org. za Tel: 011 953 1924 Fax: 011 953 3406 e-mail: ursulinekdp@vodamail.co.za

Tabernacle thanks

O

N behalf of St Timothy’s Catholic church in Tafelsig, Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town, I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Charismatic Renewal of Cape Town for their generous donation of R3 000.

Our church was broken into on November 19, and apart from the many valuable items that were taken and the extensive damage that was caused, our biggest loss was the Blessed Sacrament which was stolen out of the Tabernacle.

Thank you to Fr Emmanuel Siljeur and the executive of Charismatic Renewal for your concern and generous support in helping our parish get back on its feet.

Fr Raphael Thomas, Tafelsig parish administrator, Cape Town 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

Unite behind pope

I

N my little prayer book I have a very appropriate quotation that may apply to your editorial “Attacks on Pope Francis” (November 11): never attack a priest.

There is also a part of revelation to Mutter Vogel: “When a priest falls we should extend him a helping hand through prayer and not through attacks!”

With all the religious problems in the world, we should unite behind our pope.

J Paget, Benoni

Pill can cause chemical abortion

A

MERICAN Randy Alcorn has published a booklet entitled Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? which proves that it often does, undetected, very soon after conception, and at unpredictable times.

All Catholics should read this booklet for the following reasons.

1. It substantiates and justifies the statements in Humanae Vitae regarding artificial birth control.

2. It will inform all married and unmarried Catholics who utilise this drug to avoid pregnancies, that they are thereby practising potential chemical abortion, with its tragic results.

There is no doubt that, in spite of the above facts, many Catholic doctors continue to prescribe the Pill, possibly for the following reason, stated by Mr Alcorn in his booklet.

1. Most secular physicians who have been prescribing the Pill do not feel guilty for having done so, and are thus able to view the booklet’s contents objectively, which they usually accept.

2. Many Christian physicians, however, who have also been prescribing this drug, feel guilty for having done so, which disables them from viewing the said contents objectively, which they thus reject.

The above booklet can be read online at www.epm.org/static/uploads /downloads/bcpill.pdf Damian McLeish, Johannesburg

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traditions to appease the prevailing subjectivist culture.

Mercy is waiting for those who seek an annulment and who sincerely and prayerfully present themselves to their pastor and Church tribunal. Where a first marriage is found to have been valid and in accord with the teachings of the Church, an annulment is not possible. The prescripts of canon law for celibacy will then be applied for those who sincerely desire to receive the Eucharist without a separation from their partner.

It is a hard teaching indeed! St Paul’s “thorn in his flesh’’ received this response from Christ. “My grace is sufficient for you….For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, and for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 19:9-10).

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role to give permission to such persons but to encourage them to listen to what God is telling them about their situations.”

When I read this, all I could say in my mind and feel in my heart was, “Wow!” At last, we have a pope so respecting of our human condition that he sees his role as that of encouraging us to follow our informed consciences.

For me, this is a story not to be buried inside publications but one

deserving of banner headlines on front covers. The attitude of Pope Francis is truly radical and uplifting.

No longer should Catholics feel obliged to grovel before their pope, bishops and priests for permissions in all human situations but rather are encouraged to discern with enlightened consciences what God is asking them to do as responsible people.

I can now better understand why Pope Francis appeals constantly for our prayers for him. What an awesome role he has as our supreme shepherd.

Fr Kevin Reynolds, Pretoria

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PERSPECTIVES

Pope Francis set the scene for change Mphuthumi P Ntabeni OPE Francis did nothing surprising when he wrote his encyclical Laudato Si’. The Church has been speaking about the environment for a long time.

That was one of the points Fr Peter-John Pearson emphasised when he recently gave a talk on the encyclical to the Justice and Peace Commission of my parish of Constantia, Cape Town.

Fr Peter-John Pearson is the director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, as well as one of the two vicars-general of the archdiocese of Cape Town.

He registered his surprise at those who claim that Laudato Si’ is an aberration, an “irruption” without pedigree in Catholic Social Teachings (CST).

Fr Pearson said the Church began speaking prophetically about environmental issues in 1998, when Pope John Paul II and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew issued a “Common Declaration on Global Climate Concerns”.

Then, in 2002, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace issued “Ten Commandments for Safeguarding the Environment”.

Fr Pearson pointed to ten main themes which Laudato Si’ speaks on: • How man is an image of God and part of the environment that is the gift of creation.

• How CST refuses reducing nature into a utilitarian object of manipulation by man, or to absolutise it above human dignity.

• How ecological responsibility must involve the use of the entire planet for the common good and not just privileged appropriation for the elite rich few.

• How ethics and human dignity must come before the false solution of technological advancement as a universal panacea.

• How the politics of development need to be subordinated and coordinated with those of ecology.

• How a universal right to safe and clean environment must be prioritised, affected and protected for all.

• How environmental protection demands a lifestyle change that reflects moderation and justice on a personal and societal level.

• How environmental protection is a call for the spirituality of authentic development, away from the mentality of consumerism.

• How this spiritual response can be in-

spired only by the belief in creation as God’s gift placed in our hands, to be used with responsibility and loving care.

• How the only appropriate human attitude towards nature is that of gratitude to God who created and supports it.

What is most difficult to most people is the pope’s emphasis on the fact that the cost of the distorted and injured environment has mostly been caused by the rich and borne by the poor.

“The rich have their appetites indulged while the poor have their needs denied,” Pope Francis wrote, linking the environmental crisis to the issue of social justice.

The encyclical talks also about the ecological debt of the North to the South.

F

or those reasons, the pope has no confidence in technological solutions for the environmental crisis, because it is a moral one, and is mostly about “needs” and “greed”.

It is the problem of unrestrained appetites versus unmet basic needs. Instead the pope calls for dialogue as the only way out of the quagmire. He calls for a move towards sobriety and self-restraint, away from the intoxications of consumerism and wanting more and more.

What do our eyes reflect?

O N November 28, few weeks after the beginning of the Dominicans’ 800th anniversary, the friar preachers in South Africa commenced with an ordination to the diaconate of one of their brothers from Zambia, Deacon Clement Mweni.

In this special celebration full of different languages it seemed like Dc Mweni and the other eight newly ordained, clergy, religious and People of God were also being prepared for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

In his homily, Bishop Barry Wood, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and the ordaining bishop, shared the importance of the office which these new deacons of the Church were entering: the sacredness, necessity and its institution that is still very much relevant to today’s world.

One of his main points was a challenge he posed to everyone. Bishop Wood urged everyone to show mercy to other people.

Referring to the Acts of the Apostles in narrating the story where deacons were chosen for the office of bringing justice, mercy and love to all the people of God, equally.

This reminded me that as the Church we have just ended our liturgical year and we are awaiting the coming of Christ into our lives once again to be revived in our spiritual journey.

While thinking of this, I was also reminded of the movie on St Thomas Becket where he had found himself having to choose between earthly powers or wholeheartedly giving himself to God as the weapon against the injustices levelled against the society.

“When we look at ourselves in the mirror, do we see love? Do we see mercy? Do we see hope? “ Indeed, to a certain extent every one of us does find him or herself having to choose between good and bad. St Thomas chose the side full of light—the side where mercy flourishes more than the darkness which is a sad reality of our time.

It is thus fitting to confront ourselves with the words of Bishop Wood: What do our eyes reflect to the society.

E

yes become a very important tool in preaching both to ourselves and to others. When we look at ourselves in the mirror, do we see love? Do we see mercy? Do

Pushing the Boundaries

The pope, Fr Pearson said, is turning the Church’s gaze to the reaction of the world during this Zero Hour of transition. “This is not just an age of change; as such, it is a change of an age,” Fr Pearson said.

The great discourses of the era are falling: about racial superiority and Western dominance; gender discrimination and patriarchy; absolutism of technological solution, and so on. Everything is undergoing a seismic change that is opening up new parameters.

Quoting from the book God is Back by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, Fr Pearson said the closure of these signs of modernity is opening up room for religion even in the public policy deliberations.

The question is what type of religion will be ushered in: Jihadists with their cruel intolerance? Christian fundamentalists who oppose social engagements? Jewish absolutism with its tragic consequence to others, such as Palestinian people? God forbid!

What is required is the dialogical religion that speaks on equal terms with the world, as Laudato Si’ does.

The gains are clear in the responses: the Muslim world reacted by producing Quran teachings that share common witness with the encyclical. The business world, though strongly opposed to the pope’s message of disusing fossil fuel for renewable energy, has entered into respectful dialogue with the document, pointing out what they regard as shortfalls of the message while promulgating for business as usual through things like carbon trading.

In the end, if we take the pope’s call for going deeper, and not just be content with superficial distractions of convenience that distract us, but allow ourselves to be challenged into deeper synergies, we shall arrive at the point that allows for new paradigms where the future of our planet shall be reborn.

We must not allow ourselves to be discouraged by the daunting task. We need new spiritual insights, coupled with an attitude of gratitude and trust in God and the solidarity of the people of goodwill.

Phiwokuhle Siyabonga Xulu

Point of Reflection

we see hope?

If these qualities—love, mercy, hope— are absent as we behold ourselves, what contribution are we making to the society?

With the nine brothers ordained to the office of the diaconate, we are called to be merciful to our fellow men and women, bring hope to all without prejudice, show love to a world so afflicted by war; both spiritual and physical.

Most importantly, we are called to be of service to others as Christ was. We are to be the eyes, hands and image of Christ.

When the office of diaconate was established, as Bishop Wood explained, the early Christian community encountered difficulties. Customary law and tradition seemed to overshadow the message of Christ, the message of Love.

In November 2015, this particular ordination followed a series of xenophobic attacks to our brothers and sisters from other African countries. And yet the richness of our faith became more visible especially because no one from South Africa was among the newly ordained deacons.

The community of St Raphael’s in KwaMzimba in rural of KwaZulu-Natal welcomed this ordination and participated fully from the preparations to the final day of ordination.

No colour, no foreign spirit dwelt among us, only Christ’s love and mercy.

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The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

7

Domenick Canale

Point of Reflection

Mom said: Don’t be happy in Advent

T

HE comment caught me by surprise. I was in the middle of beginning a catechism class for Grade 5 boys and girls, and I had just asked them why they were so excited in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

A bunch of the kids mentioned the opportunity for family parties, gifts, and general fun. They were laughing and joking about it.

And then a boy said: “My mom said we shouldn’t be happy during Advent.”

It turned everything around in the class; it went silent for a moment and the kids were puzzled. Yet it turns out that his comment was an invitation to me, and the class, to discover Advent.

Come to think of it, this invitation to silence and reflection, to penance, in the days of Advent couldn’t be more different than the one our wider culture is giving us in the days leading to Christmas.

We are all inundated with the advertisements on TV or radio with some variation of, “Are you ready for Christmas? If not, hurry to get that shopping list taken care of.” And so I wonder if we stop for a moment, amidst the Christmas parties and the mad rush to buy that “perfect gift” for someone, to reflect on exactly why we celebrate Christmas.

“And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7).

This passage always strikes at the heart of what I think is the most pressing question of Advent: “Is there room at the inn?”

So I asked my students, in these days of Advent, is there room for Our Lord in the inn of our hearts?

Or are we “all filled up” in there?

Are the cares of the world, or the things we want, gnawing at our hearts? Do these things crowd out the Lord?

I find it fascinating to reflect on that. And I think if we can sort through this question, we will get some illuminating answers.

Perhaps then we will see that the waiting, the silence, the reflection, the penance of Advent is most worthwhile. Perhaps then we will know what it means to “prepare the way of the Lord”.

Perhaps when we come out of the confessional and see again with the eyes of the heart, too often blinded by sin, we will understand the meaning of Advent.

Perhaps then we can read the story of that night in Bethlehem anew.

Perhaps we can see once again, with the imagination of a child, the moment when through the utter darkness of the night and the darkness of sin and death, in a world distressingly similar to our own, the sky was pierced by the light of a glorious star and the angels announced his coming.—CNA n Domenick Canale is a volunteer with Catholic Voices USA. He writes from New York.

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The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

COMMUNITY

Youth from St John’s parish in Florida, Johannesburg, were confirmed by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale.

St Anne’s parish in Sydenham, Johannesburg held its outstanding service awards at which parishioners were recognised for their years of service.

(Front from left) Moses John, 30 years of service, Cynthia Naidoo, 20, Esme Joyce, 35, Priscilla Biggar, 40, Victor Martin, 20, Sr Helena, 30, Sr Maureen, 30. (Top back) Heather Barnard,15, Maurice King, 20, Maurice Smith, 20, parish priest Fr Michael Foley OMI, Nicholas Joseph, 20, Peggy Ellis, 50, Sr Dorothea, 30. This added up to a total of 360 years of dedication and commitment.

Bishop Valentine Tsamma Seane of Gaborone confirmed 40 catechumens in Thapelong mission in Kanye. After Mass the bishop handed out prizes to the winners for a raffle that was held to raise funds for the parish.

Holy Cross Primary School in George celebrated its 120-year birthday. Every Holy Cross school in South Africa and Namibia was represented. Holy Cross provincial Sr Monica Madyembwa attended as well as many past teachers. Principal Jane Askew (second left) is pictured with guests.

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The Grade 11 history class at St Dominc’s priory in East London observed Remembrance Day with the help of the music department who performed the “Last Post”.

Fr Mndeni Hadebe joined St Joseph’s parish in Morningside, Durban, as assistant priest to Fr Brett Williams (left).

The children of Christ the King parish in Wentworth, Durban received their first Holy Communion. They are pictured with parish priest Fr Jean Baptiste Mpuni Langong.

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Sacristans Irene and Ronald Langeveld have served at the church of the Annunciation in Milnerton, Cape Town and elsewhere for 34 years. Mr Langeveld is now retiring from ministry due to problems with his eyesight.

Youth from St Peter’s parish in Lutzville, diocese of Keimoes-Upington, were confirmed by Bishop Edward Risi. Four young people from Koekenaap were part of the group.

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Bobbi Morgan-Smith and Joan de Jager from St Anthony’s parish in Sedgefield attended a retreat for all extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist in the Oudtshoorn diocese, with diocesan chaplain Fr David Dettmer at John Bosco Youth Centre in Dysseldorp.

Seven catechumens celebrated the rite of acceptance into the catechumenate at Don Bosco parish in Robertsham, Johannesburg. Fr Eugene Hennessy SDB together with Deacons Mike Nolan and Victor Ho led initiates and their sponsors through the rite of acceptance.

CHURCH HISTORY

The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

9

The day South Africa got its first cardinal Becoming a cardinal can give you a spring in your step, as Owen McCann, archbishop of Cape Town, found when he received the red hat in 1965. His former secretary, MICHAEL SHACKLETON, recalls how a sick archbishop became a vigorous cardinal.

F

IFTY years ago, between September and December 1965, the fourth and last session of the Second Vatican Council assembled in Rome.

Owen McCann, the archbishop of Cape Town, had been present at the first three sessions, sitting among the enormous throng of fellow bishops in the imposing setting of St Peter’s basilica. At this fourth session he found himself seated among the elite group of fellow cardinals. In February of that year Pope Paul VI had made him South Africa’s first cardinal.

The news of the appointment came to him at a moment that was, oddly enough, inconvenient.

In December 1964 he had returned home feeling fatigued. He said the third session of the Council had been stressful, due mainly to the uncomfortable long hours the assembly had endured debating the content of the proposed document that eventually became the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Lumen gentium).

As chairman of the Southern African Bishops’ Conference at the time, which met together weekly during Vatican II’s sessions, he sharply felt the pressure of the frustrating debates around this issue, not to mention the other business of the Council.

As a resolute upholder of Church doctrine, he admitted that he and many other bishops found themselves in deep water because the document’s focus was not primarily on doctrine but on how the Church could interact with the modern world. This was a territory he was somewhat unfamiliar with. No previous ecumenical council had directly tackled the question of the Church and its relationship with secular affairs.

Coincidentally, although knowledge of his state of exhaustion was not widely known, The Southern Cross issue of October 28, 1964 published a picture of him entering St Peter’s, with an innocent tongue-in-

Cardinal Owen McCann climbs the steps at St Mary’s cathedral, Cape Town in 1964, accompanied by Frs Ernest Manasse (front), Jeremiah McMorrow (far left) and Michael Shackleton. cheek caption: “Why is Archbishop McCann looking so worried while climbing the steps of St Peter’s? Is he depressed by the Roman heat wave or by the tremendous speed of the deliberations since the opening of the third session?”

W

hen at the end of the session Pope Paul announced that he intended to travel to India to preside at the 38th international Eucharistic Congress to be held in Bombay (now Mumbai) from November 27 to December 6, Owen McCann decided he wanted to be there too. But he hit a snag.

Because of the apartheid policy then fiercely in force in South Africa, the Indian government implacably refused him entry. The Vatican endeavoured to assist by offering him a diplomatic passport.

He declined because, he said, he wanted to represent South Africa in India, and not the Vatican.

Eventually, Cardinal Valerian Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, put in a few smooth explanatory words with the Indian authorities, and Archbishop McCann had his visa, which delighted him.

Perhaps he did not realise just how much the stress and extra travel had truly exhausted him. In Bombay, keeping up with the various papal functions left him drained of energy.

When at length he landed home in Cape Town he appeared gaunt.

He would not see his doctor and claimed he had picked up “a bug” somewhere. Conscientious, as ever,

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he sat late into the night catching up on lost hours of paperwork. At Christmas, he celebrated Midnight Mass in the cathedral as usual.

But it was obvious to his vicargeneral, Mgr Jack Galvin, and the chancery staff and clergy that he needed to see a doctor urgently. He was patently bone-weary and sometimes lost track of what he was saying. This was not like him, a man with a focused and precise mind.

Then on January 4, 1965 his doctor, Sid Kiel, waving aside the archbishop’s protests, put him into the Monastery hospital in Sea Point, run by the Holy Family Sisters. Doctor’s orders were for him to rest completely for at least three weeks.

The Monastery was well known for its medical excellence. Doctors

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in the area regularly praised the dedication, expertise and efficiency of the Sisters and staff. It was also the designated treatment centre for sick seamen, many of whom were airlifted from passing ships.

I visited the archbishop every day as he lay flat on his back, looking green about the gills. He would quiz me about every detail of the business going on at the archdiocesan chancery in his absence. He even drafted letters for his typist, Sr Sheila Bell, to have ready for him to sign.

One morning, while he was instructing me about my duties for the day, the redoubtable Sr Peter walked in. Over many years she had become well versed in the behaviour of patients, not least the rough and ready seamen.

She greeted us politely and then abruptly halted. Glancing at the papers in our hands, she glared at the pair of us. Turning a compelling eye on the archbishop she demanded: “What’s all this? You are supposed to be resting!”

She deftly drew the pen and papers from his fingers and pressed them into my hands, ordering me to remove them from her sight. Then she addressed the man in the bed.

“Look here,” she said with the hint of a threat in her eye, “there are no archbishops in this hospital.

There are only patients, and patients do what I tell them. Remember this: you are not indispensable”.

From that moment Owen McCann began to relax, and even appeared relieved. I believe he needed someone like Sr Peter with the right credentials to take his mind from his high office and to concentrate it on his low state of health and the seriousness of the need to recuperate.

When he left the hospital he let me take him out to buy a couple of light, white jackets to replace the austere black that he always appeared in. He moved into End House in Gordon’s Bay, a little holiday spot where clergy and religious could now and then enjoy a spell of a rest by the sea. Smiling, he declared how well he liked it there and how he was looking forward to being back at work in a week or two.

The summer days and sea air were like a balm and the archbishop’s health rapidly responded.

He actually obeyed doctor’s orders and was in no hurry to return to his post.

T

hen on Monday, January 25, 1965 the apostolic delegate, Archbishop Joseph McGeough, brought him the incredible news that Paul VI had included him

among 27 newly named cardinals who would receive the red hat on February 22 in Rome.

Owen McCann was stunned. He immediately returned to Cape Town and to his desk. Messages of congratulation came flooding in from all quarters, home and abroad. Cape Town’s mayor and the city council declared their pride that a son of the city had been so deservedly promoted by the Church.

There was no hint of a goodwill message from the South African government. This was not surprising because of the many times the archbishop had condemned its apartheid policies.

It was rumoured that the pope had chosen McCann as South Africa’s first cardinal because of his tenacity against the odds to attend the Bombay Eucharistic Congress as a patriotic South African Catholic.

Whether Owen McCann knew the real reason or not, he said nothing except to insist that the honour was directed not to himself but to the Church in South Africa and to Cape Town.

This sincere modesty was very much in character. But Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban shifted the limelight to where it belonged when he wrote: “Warmest and heartfelt congratulations. Delighted at news for South Africa, Cape Town and McCann”.

Those who knew how sick the cardinal-elect had been, asked themselves whether he would be strong enough to carry even more responsibilities than before. Some of his priests pessimistically predicted that his health might now take a backward step and he would not wear the red hat for long. They were wrong: he wore the red hat until his death at 86 in March 1994.

Contrary to expectation, he astounded everyone with his sudden new surge of vigour, almost as if his sick-leave had been a preparation for this unexpected turn of events.

He was now unquestionably the picture of health, and the decisive and confident archbishop again.

As for me, when he almost casually remarked that because I was now a cardinal’s secretary, he would need me to accompany him to the Vatican Council’s final session in September, I suddenly grasped the fact that this new adventure was not to be the cardinal’s alone. The two of us would share the historic moment, each in our own way. n Like Cardinal McCann, Michael Shackleton is a former editor of The Southern Cross.

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10

The Southern Cross, December 9 to December 15, 2015

PEACE

Soldiers turned to non-violent Jesus War is not Jesus’ way, as three young Americans found once they were in the army. TONY MAGLIANO heard their testimonies of conversion.

D

URING a recent meeting of US Catholic bishops’ in Baltimore, several bishops and one abbot decided to skip dinner at their hotel, and walked several blocks to an inner city parish to share a simple meal with about 30 peace activists—myself included.

In the basement of the historic St Vincent de Paul church, they shared soup and bread together with members of Pax Christi, the Catholic Worker and Sant’Egidio, as we discussed how followers of the non-violent Jesus should respond to calls to war.

Highlighting the discussion were three speakers who shared with us deeply personal testimonies regarding Christian conscience formation, war and conscientious objection.

Daniel Baker explained that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks he believed he had to do something.

He came to what he thought was the obvious conclusion: “Join the military, fight in war, and kill the enemy.”

He joined the US Navy and started to see “from first-hand experience the military outside of the movies”. He told us that it started to become less clear how killing would really be helping others. “My expectations unravelled fast.”

Mr Baker said he began reading the Gospel, and that most of what Jesus taught took him by surprise; his words and actions against violence are “radical and demanding”.

And I would add that a serious, honest reading of Jesus’ radical and demanding teachings against violence should take all of us by surprise. For Jesus’ teachings were, and remain, extremely countercultural.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).

Mr Baker said while flying over the Persian Gulf in 2006 in a reconnaissance plane designed to carry bombs and torpedoes, he and his crew members were tracking an Iranian submarine.

After making radio contact, one of the submariners said: “Coalition aircraft, maintain five nautical miles, or we will take defensive action.” But, Mr Baker said, as his plane continued to make passes over the submarine, the voice of the Iranian submariner was sounding more and more nervous.

“As I listened to the trembling voice, I began to realise that it was a flesh-and-blood man in the submarine down there. And that blip on our sonar screens represented an entire crew of human beings; they were sons, brothers, husbands,” Mr Baker recalled.

“Gradually, I became firmer in my conviction against war,” he said. With the help of Catholic Peace Fellowship (www.catholic peacefellowship.org) he applied for conscientious objector status. And after seven months he was honourably discharged.

Now a seminarian, he is on his way to becoming a Catholic priest.

Raquel Falk shared with us that after spending five years in a special youth military programme designed to build leadership skills, she realised that trips to the firing range and obstacle course, along with the hand-to-hand combat sessions, had the hidden objective to teach how to kill efficiently and without reflection.

This soul-touching insight was central to her declining an invitation to attend the US Naval Academy.

Ms Falk said the honour American churches and schools give to the military sends a strong promilitary message to our youth.

“I find myself wondering how the Church can show the youth of our militarised nation that their desire for self-sacrifice can best be found in the cross of our Lord.”

Kristi Casteel, the mother of the late Joshua Casteel, started by say-

The late Joshua Casteel who underwent a conversion while interrogating an Iraqi jihadist. ing: “Tonight I am going to simply share Joshua’s story in the hope that it will reveal the significance of conscience development and what is possible in our lives when we are alive and responsive to our conscience.”

J

oshua Casteel, who died of lung cancer in 2012 at the age of only 31, is famous among Christian peace activists in the US. His mother said: “War will always exist where love is absent.

This is what Joshua came to understand in the twists and turns of his life. Joshua’s story could be entitled ‘An Unexpected Journey.’”

And we could surely add this has been the life-title of many a saint.

Mrs Casteel said that Joshua’s story was an “arduous and complex journey” from conservative Evangelical cadet at the US military academy West Point to a more compassionate Catholic conscientious objector.

She explained that Joshua joined the early enlistment programme to prepare him for West Point. However, the programme’s violent chants about killing without mercy didn’t quite sit right

with all he had learned about Jesus.

And the “reflexive training”, which the military uses to shortcircuit man’s resistance to killing, also seemed wrong to Joshua.

He resigned from West Point.

But later in light of the 9/11 attacks, he re-enlisted as a non-commissioned and Arabic-trained interrogator, and was ordered to Iraq.

Mrs Casteel further explained: “The real world of war, however, with its chaos, inconsistencies and known torture in the field—causing his fellow soldiers to unravel emotionally—hit Joshua like a punch in the gut.”

Aware of his deep religious convictions, he was called “Priest” by many of the soldiers. Many shared their struggles with him.

The contrived atmosphere of expressed hatred by superior officers towards the Iraqi detainees did not set well with Joshua.

“Joshua knew that most detainees were simply fathers, imams and young men caught up in sweeps by American soldiers, or were men turned in by fellow Iraqis in an attempt to earn money

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from the coalition,” Mrs Casteel said.

But indeed, God does write straight with crooked lines.

In a later taped explanation, Joshua Casteel revealed that during the interrogation of a young, very calm jihadist detainee, he was morally confronted by the detainee who called him a “very strange man”.

He said to Joshua: “You call yourself a Christian, but you do not follow the teachings of Christ who said you are to love your enemies, to pray for those who persecute you, to turn the other cheek.”

Joshua later recalled thinking to himself that this was an ironic moment: Here you are sitting across the table from a declared jihadist who is giving you a lesson about the Sermon on the Mount.

Mrs Casteel said her son shared with the jihadist that he agreed that he wasn’t following those non-violent teachings of Christ.

And that in military uniform he was not free to live as he believed he should as a Christian.

Mrs Casteel said that during her son’s interrogation—which turned into a conversation—of the jihadist detainee, Joshua said to him that there were other ways to deal with conflict than the way they had both chosen. And he asked him to consider what it might look like in different circumstances for them to meet and talk—learning about each other’s lives and beliefs with the potential of bringing about mutual trust.

Mrs Casteel said her son left the interrogation room “a changed man, but more importantly a free man—on the inside where it counts”.

Now that’s Christian conversion! The kind of conversion we all need. The kind of conversion the world needs. n Tony Magliano is an internationally published writer on justice and peace issues. His columns appear fortnightly on The Southern Cross’ website (www.scross.co.za). To see a video of Joshua Casteel telling his powerful and inspiring story, visit www.bit.ly/1SZKVc6

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CLASSIFIEDS

Sr Scholastika Ottmann CPS

P

RECIOUS Blood Sister Scholastika Ottmann died on November 15 in Mariannhill at the age of 86.

Born as Maria Elisabeth Ottmann on January 10, 1929 in Breslau—then in Germany but now the Polish Wroclaw—her family fled to western Germany at the advance of the Soviet troops in World War II. The war experience left a deep impression of sorrow and pain on her. She decided to follow the call to religious life and entered the Precious Blood Congregation in Neuenbeken, near Paderborn, in 1951.

She made her first profession in 1953 and was missioned to Mariannhill, where she made her final profession on August 15, 1956.

Sr Scholastika taught at St Francis College in Mariannhill from 1954-73.

As a result of her good leadership qualities she was appointed twice superior of the convent of Mariannhill from 1967-73.

A new challenge awaited her in 1973, when she was transferred to Pretoria where she became the

principal of the Queenshill Convent School, as well as superior of the Precious Blood community in that city. From 1976-85 she was principal in the order’s school in Cofimvaba and then returned to the convent community in Mariannhill to teach again at St Francis College.

Community Calendar To place your event, call Mary Leveson at 021 465 5007 or e-mail m.leveson@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

CAPE TOWN: Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Followed by vigil at Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree Street.

Contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP on 078 739 2988.

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Contact Keith at 083 372 NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to 16:45, followed by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30pm.

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In 1992 she moved to Glen Avent, Eastern Cape, where she served two terms as superior of the community till 1996. In 1997 she was appointed second provincial councillor there.

Sr Scholastika served also for a short time at Cwele.

In December 1997 Sr Scholastika returned to the Mariannhill province to join the Sacred Heart Home Community.

There she took over some of the entrance duties and the care for the elderly sisters for many years.

On November 3 this year she broke her leg and was admitted to Hillcrest Hospital. Because of a heart condition, surgery could not be done.

On November 9 she was transferred to Mariannhill infirmary where she suffered patiently till she was called to God in the presence of her fellow sisters on November 15.

Sr Scholastika will be remembered as a warm-hearted motherly fellow sister, but also as a good leader.

She is survived by her brother Klaus and her sister Christa.

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle 2 Sunday December 13, Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:10-18 Monday December 14, St John of the Cross Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17, Psalms 25:4-9, Matthew 21:23-27 Tuesday December 15 Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13, Psalms 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-19, 23, Matthew 21:28-32 Wednesday December 16 Isaiah 45:6-8, 18, 21-25, Psalms 85:9-14, Luke 7:1923 Thursday December 17 Genesis 49:2, 8-10, Psalms 72:1-4, 7-8, 17, Matthew 1:1-17 Friday December 18 Jeremiah 23:5-8, Psalms 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19, Matthew 1:18-24 Saturday December 19 Judges 13:2-7, 24-25, Psalms 71:3-6, 16-17, Luke 1:5-25 Sunday December 20, Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5:1-4, Psalms 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19, Hebrews 10:5-10, Luke 1:39-45

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IN MEMORIAM

DONNELLY—Eugene. In loving memory of our longstanding colleague, friend and loyal servant of The Southern Cross who left us on December 18, 2011.

Remembered fondly by the staff of The Southern Cross.

THANKS

THANKS for prayers answered, Blessed Virgin Mary, Sacred Heart and St Jude. Alix.

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www. valuelifeabortionisevil. co.za ABORTION is murder. Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow! Avoid pro-abortion politicians.

See www.hli.co.za VISIT PIOUS KINTU'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE http://avemaria832.simple site.com This website has been set up to give glory to the Most Holy Trinity through the healing power of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. View amazing pictures of Pious Kintu's work in Congo and various African countries since 2007. Also read about African Stigmatist Reverend Sister Josephine Sul and Padre Pio among others.

PRAYERS

ALMIGHTY eternal God, source of all compassion, the promise of your mercy and saving help fills our hearts with hope. Hear the cries of the people of Syria; bring healing to those suffering from the violence, and comfort to those mourning the dead. Empower and encourage Syria’s neighbours in their care and welcome for refugees. Convert the hearts

of those who have taken up arms, and strengthen the resolve of those committed to peace. O God of hope and Father of mercy, your Holy Spirit inspires us to look beyond ourselves and our own needs. Inspire leaders to choose peace over violence and to seek reconciliation with enemies. Inspire the Church around the world with compassion for the people of Syria, and fill us with hope for a future of peace built on justice for all. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and Light of the World, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen. Prayer courtesy of the USCCB.

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

FATHER in heaven, everliving source of all that is good, keep me faithful in serving you. Help me to drink of Christ's truth, and fill my heart with his love so that I may serve you in faith and love and reach eternal life. In the sacrament of the Eucharist you give me the joy of sharing your life. Keep me in your presence. Let me never be

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 684. ACROSS: 1 Impede, 4 Snooze, 9 Money-changers, 10 Shipped, 11 Empty, 12 Leapt, 14 Nymph, 18 Aisle, 19 Develop, 21 Prefabricated, 22 Rested, 23 Brides. DOWN: 1 Inmost, 2 Pennilessness, 3 Dry up, 5 Nunnery, 6 Overpopulated, 7 Essays, 8 Shade, 13 Prelate, 15 Camper, 16 Adore, 17 Spades, 20 Vicar.

Word of the Week

Miracles: Generally a miracle is used to refer to physical phenomena that defy natural explanation, such as medically unexplainable cures.

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11

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separated from you and help me to do your will.

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

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za

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Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

the

4th Sunday of Advent: December 20 Readings: Micah 5:1-4, Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19, Hebrews 10:5-10, Luke 1:39-45

S outher n C ross

Savour unexpected joy

N

OW Christmas is very near, and it is permissible to mention the word; but that does not enable us to be complacent, for although there is reason to celebrate, the source of our joy is somewhat unexpected. That seems to be the message of the readings for next Sunday.

Our first reading is a famous passage from Micah, pointing us towards Bethlehem, but we should notice that the reference is to the clan from which King David was born, and that the prophet here (unlike Matthew’s gospel when it is used to tell the Magi where to look for the newborn king of Judah), calls Ephrata, “least of the clans of Judah”, “for from you will come a ruler in Israel, and his origin is from of old, from ancient days”.

We are speaking here, clearly, of the surprising intervention of God, for David came from a very obscure clan; but that will not come soon, for “he will abandon them until the time when she who is to give birth gives birth”.

God is at work, nevertheless, for “he shall stand and shepherd his flock, with the power of the Lord”. This is not quite what we expected, but we can dimly grasp that all will be

well: “He himself will be peace.”

The notion of a shepherd reappears in the psalm for next Sunday, “shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock”; here we are talking of God, “who dwells on the cherubim” and asking God to “rouse up your might, and come to save us”.

But God is apparently looking in the wrong direction, and has to be asked: “God of hosts, come back, look down from heaven and see, visit this vine.”

But then we discover why God has looked away: it is because the people have abandoned him, so we hear them promise: “We shall never abandon you again.” This is a very surprising God. In the second reading we hear more of this unexpected God, through the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. The author feels at liberty to take words from Psalm 40 (“you did not want sacrifice and offering…here I am, I come to do your will”). It is a shocking enough sentiment on Jesus’ lips, but he often challenged the Temple authorities.

The essential thing for us, as we prepare for the feast that lies at the end of Advent, is to echo the words here attributed to Jesus, “I have come to do your will”, and to ruminate on the very powerful reflection that follows: “We have been made holy by that will, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once and for all.”

We shall not understand Christmas unless we see that the cross already overshadows it.

That is a very surprising truth.

The Gospel for next Sunday is one of Luke’s pictures (he is excellent at painting a scene); but it is a very unexpected one, and our task as we contemplate these last few days before Christmas is to “get the picture”.

This episode happens immediately after the Annunciation, and although Gabriel has not given Mary any instructions about what to do, her immediate instinct is to “get up and go”: she “arose in those days and journeyed”. Now that word “journey” is a favourite one in Luke’s computer, and it often has a hint of “pilgrimage” about it; so we

Why can’t we see God? W

Conrad

HEN I first began teaching theology, I fantasised about writing a book about the hiddenness of God. Why does God remain hidden and invisible? Why doesn’t God just show himself plainly in a way that nobody can dispute?

One of the standard answers to that question was this: If God did manifest himself plainly there wouldn’t be any need for faith. But that begged the question: Who wants faith? Wouldn’t it be better to just plainly see God? There were other answers to that question, of course, except I didn’t know them or didn’t grasp them with enough depth for them to be meaningful.

For example, one such answer taught that God is pure Spirit and that spirit cannot be perceived through our normal human senses. But that seemed too abstract to me. And so I began to search for different answers or for better articulations of our stock answers to this question.

And there was a pot of gold at the end of the search; it led me to the mystics, particularly to St John of the Cross, and to spiritual writers such as Carlo Carretto.

What’s their answer? They offer no simple answers. What they offer instead are various perspectives that throw light on the ineffability of God, the mystery of faith, and the mystery of human knowing in general.

In essence, how we know as human beings and how we know God is deeply paradoxical, that is, the more deeply we know anything, the more that person or object

begins to become less conceptually clear.

One of the most famous mystics in history suggests that as we enter into deeper intimacy we concurrently enter into a “cloud of unknowing”, namely, into a knowing so deep that it can no longer be conceptualised. What does this mean?

Three analogies can help us here: the analogy of a baby in its mother’s womb; the analogy of darkness as excessive light; and the analogy of deep intimacy as breaking down our conceptual images.

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irst: Imagine a baby in its mother’s womb. In the womb, the baby is so totally enveloped and surrounded by the mother that, paradoxically, it cannot see the mother and cannot have any concept of the mother.

Its inability to see or picture its mother is caused by the mother’s omnipresence, not by her absence. The mother is too present, too all-enveloping, to be seen or conceptualised. The baby has to be born to see its mother.

So too for us and God. Scripture tells us that we live and move and breathe and have our being in God. We are in God’s womb, enveloped by God, and, like a baby, we must first be born—death as our second birth—to see God face to face. That’s faith’s darkness.

Second: Excessive light is a darkness: If you stare straight into the sun with an unshielded eye, what do you see? Nothing.

The very excess of light renders you as blind as if you were in pitch darkness.

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

must be ready for surprises.

It may help you in setting the scene if you remember that Mary is almost certainly a young girl of twelve or so, and she is travelling alone, on foot, through dangerous territory, a journey of two or three days. She gets there safely, however, and when “she went into Zachariah’s house”, she greeted not the old priest, but his wife.

That splendid woman, Elisabeth, is then “filled with the Holy Spirit” (the first of several people in Luke and Acts to whom this happens), and makes the astonishing identification of Mary as “the mother of my Lord”.

This is quite unexpected, and we should gaze closely at the scene, and at the knowledgeable unborn child that is John the Baptist, who “leapt in my womb”, to give his mother a clue as to the identity of the visitor.

Gaze at this picture between now and Sunday, and then in the run-up to Christmas, and savour its unexpectedness.

Southern Crossword #684

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

And that’s also the reason why we have difficulty in seeing God and why, generally, the deeper we journey into intimacy with God, the deeper we are journeying into Light, the more God seems to disappear and become harder and harder to picture or imagine.

We’re being blinded, not by God’s absence, but by a blinding light to the unshielded eye. The darkness of faith is the darkness of excessive light.

A final analogy: Deep intimacy is iconoclastic. The deeper our intimacy with anyone, the more our pictures and images of that person begin to break down.

Imagine this: A friend says to you: “I understand you perfectly: I know your family, your background, your ethnicity, your psychological and emotional temperaments, your strengths, your weakness, and your habits. I understand you.” Would you feel understood? I suspect not.

Now imagine a very different scenario: A friend says to you: “You’re a mystery to me! I’ve known you for years, but you’ve a depth that’s somehow beyond me. The longer I know you, the more I know that you are your own mystery.”

In this non-understanding, in being allowed to be the full mystery of your own person in that friend’s understanding, you would, paradoxically, feel much better understood.

John of the Cross submits that the deeper we journey into intimacy, the more we will begin to understand by not understanding than by understanding.

Our relationship to God works in the same way. Initially, when our intimacy is not so deep, we have firm feelings and ideas about God. But the deeper we journey, the more those feelings and ideas will begin to feel false and empty because our growing intimacy is opening us to the fuller mystery of God. Paradoxically, this feels like God is disappearing and becoming non-existent.

Faith, by definition, implies a paradoxical darkness: the closer we get to God in this life, the more God seems to disappear because overpowering light can seem like darkness.

aCRoSS

1. Cause an obstruction (6) 4. Nap during the sermon?

(6) 9. Jesus drove them from the Temple (Jn 2) (5-8) 10. Sent by sea (7) 11. As headed for an unthinking person (5) 12. Plate that jumped about (5) 14. Mythological creature (5) 18. Is ale found in the nave?

(5) 19. Elaborate the film (7) 21. Fat Padre Brice has church assembled on site (13) 22. Took it easy around the desert 23. They have a wedding day (6)

DoWN

1. Like private thoughts that are central (6) 2. The very poor are in this state (13) 3. Holy water will do it in the desert (3,2) 5. Hamlet told Ophelia to get herself there (7) 6. Veto loud paper about too many people (13) 7. Attempts to take easy about ship (6) 8. Ghost out of the light (5) 13. Bishop (7) 15. Scout having temporary home (6) 16. Worship to the sound of a gate (5) 17. Suit for the diggers (6) 20. Bishop’s deputy (5) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE Sunday school teacher asked her Grades 2 if they would give a million rand to the Church’s charitable works. All scream: “Yeeees!”

“Would you give a thousand rand?” Again, “Yeeees!”

A hundred rand? “Yeeees!”

Would you give just a rand to the Church’s charities?” she asked. All the kids shout “yeeees”, except for little Thabo.

“Thabo,” the catechist says, “why didn’t you say ‘yes’ this time?”

“Well,” Thabo stammers, “I have a rand.”

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