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S outher n C ross

January 20 to January 26, 2016

reg no. 1920/002058/06

no 4960

Pope’s sets out his vision in a new interview

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Where Bible offers a solution to racism

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Our joy in the Blessed Sacrament

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Archbishop on Israel and apartheid By stuArt GrAhAM

T Archbishop stephen Brislin of cape town gives communion to a Palestinian boy during Mass at the church of the Annunciation in Beit Jalla, West Bank. Archbishop Brislin was with a delegation of bishops from north America, Europe and south Africa which visits the holy Land every year to support the local christian communities in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan. (Photo: Debbie hill/cns)

‘Soap opera’ love isn’t true love

By Junno Arocho EstEvEs

T

RUE love comes from God and is expressed through his mercy and forgiveness, not through sentimental expressions that can easily vanish, Pope Francis has said.

Although many people use the word “love”, it is not known what it exactly means, the pope said in his homily during a morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

“What is love? There are times we think of soap opera love. No, that does not look like love. Or love may seem like enthusiasm for a person and then it is extinguished,” he said.

The pope reflected on St John’s first letter in which the apostle explains the nature of God’s love while acknowledging that “whoever is without love does not know God” (1 John 4:8).

The origins of true love, the pope said, are from God. However, while God is love, not every love comes from God. In distinguishing God’s love, the pope said, the one unique characteristic is that God

is “the one who loves first”.

The Gospel, he noted, offers countless examples, from the story of Zacchaeus to the parable of the prodigal son.

“When we have something in our hearts and we want to ask the Lord for forgiveness, it is he who awaits us to give forgiveness,” the pope said.

“This Year of Mercy is also a bit like this: We know that the Lord is waiting for us, each one of us. Why? To embrace us; nothing more. To tell us: ‘Son, daughter, I love you. I let my son be crucified for you; this is the price of my love.’ This is the gift of love.”

Pope Francis said it is important for Christians to keep in mind the truth that God is always waiting for them, especially in those moments when one does not feel worthy of his love.

“He will do the same that he did with the prodigal son who spent all his money on vices: He will not let you finish your speech, he will silence you with a hug. The embrace of the love of God,” the pope said.—CNS

HE president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has said he is reluctant to compare the Israel/Palestine conflict to apartheid.

Many similarities exist between Israel’s policies affecting Palestinians and apartheid South Africa, Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town told Vatican Radio, but added that he is reluctant to label Israel and Palestine “an apartheid society”.

“That doesn’t lend to understanding the particular complexities and historical difficulties and struggles of the area,” he said.

“There are similarities but we mustn’t simplify the situation or label it,” he said.

He noted that while many goods are now allowed through the previously blockaded border to Gaza, such as food and necessities of life, Israel still has complete control as to what goes in and what can’t go into Palestine territories.

“Palestine is not allowed to export anything. No produce is coming out of Gaza. It is very much a controlled situation that is reminiscent of [apartheid] South Africa,” said the archbishop, who was part of an international delegation of bishops visiting Gaza and the West Bank.

The Holy Land Coordination was set up at the end of the 20th century at the invitation of the Holy See to visit and support the local Christian communities in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

The bishops visited and celebrated Mass with the Christian communities of the West Bank villages of Taybeh and Beit Jalla, visited Gaza, then travelled to Jordan to meet with refugees from Syria and Iraq.

The delegation also included Fr PeterJohn Pearson, director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

Archbishop Brislin also told Vatican Radio about The Southern Cross’ “Pilgrimage of the Peacemakers” which he will lead to the Holy Land and Egypt in February.

Apart from visiting and praying at all the important Christian sites, the pilgrimage will give people an opportunity to interact with Israeli and Palestinian people, and es-

pecially the local Christians, in order to gain a greater understanding of the complexities of their society.

“It will be a pilgrimage with a difference,” Archbishop Brislin said.

Places are still available on that pilgrimage.

The delegation of bishops celebrated Mass at Beit Jalla, in the Cremisan Valley near Bethlehem, where Israel has annexed land from 55 Christian families and the Salesian order and flattened some of the families’ olive groves in order to build the Separation Wall on that land.

The Catholic bishops were initially told

by Israeli security forces to leave the area (see report on page 4).

Speaking about the delegation’s two-day excursion to Gaza—which the pilgrimage will not visit—Archbishop Brislin noted that the Palestinians there are much more hopeful than when he saw them last year, despite enduring enormous suffering of an Israeli bombing campaign that left around 2 600 mostly civilian people dead in 2014.

Palestinians are determined to get back to normality, despite living in a “terrible place”, Archbishop Brislin.

“When we visited in 2015, after the war and bombings of 2014, people were very dejected and we saw a lot of damage from the bombs,” he said. “This time we noticed there is a lot of activity in Gaza. People are rebuilding.

People’s spirits seem to be buoyant and hopeful.”

Meetings were held in Bethlehem in the West Bank and in Amman, capital of Jordan.

Before the meetings the bishops visited schools, parishes and a development organisation to show the support of world’s Christian community.

A sense of hope seems to exist in Palestine, but no one can say why it is there, said Archbishop Brislin.

“It is a general hope that springs from the human spirit that says no matter how bad the situation is, there is always hope,” he said.

“Gaza is a terrible place. It is an open-air Continued on page 3

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the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

LOCAL

During the southern cross/radio veritas saints of Italy pilgrimage in september, one pilgrim picked up three seeds from the garden of st John XXIII’s residence in sotto il Monte, northern Italy. she planted two of the peppercorn-sized seeds—one was lost—in her garden in KwaZulu-natal.

By January, the yellow and pink flowers were in full bloom, giving her a beautiful reminder of what the seasoned traveller described as her best tour yet. not many people in south Africa have flowers from a sainted pope’s garden.

Little Eden approaches 50: Tell them all your stories

Women’s day of prayer call

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ADIO Veritas, South Africa’s Catholic radio station, is preparing to lead the fourth annual Radio Veritas Women’s World Day of Prayer on March 5.

Along with the Friends of Radio Veritas, the station is working in association with the Women’s World Day of Prayer Committee of South Africa to host the event under the theme “Receive Children, receive Me”.

Radio Veritas has extended an invitation to “women from all walks of life as a way of living out the words of Jesus Christ, ‘For where two or three are assembled in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt 18:20), to pray for South

Africa and the world during a time of innumerable challenges”, said the station’s Mahadi Buthelezi.

“One only needs to look at how inundated society is with so much bad news, causing a sense of despondency and hopelessness,” Mrs Buthelezi said. “This calls for unity among the various faiths to stand together in prayer for the issues that plague our country and our world.

Issues such as racism, corruption, sexual abuse and substance abuse are merely the tip of the iceberg.”

This event will be a day of prayer and also a celebration of the women of our world, she said.

“It is a day that will grant attendees the opportunity to witness and

testify to how great God and his creation are. This is the time to stand up as the strong pillars of our society and shout a loud ‘no’ to the current status quo,” Mrs Buthelezi said.

“We hope to bring together women from various cultures, backgrounds and denominations to share their experiences, inspirations and motivations with each other,” she said.

“You educate a woman, you educate a nation—this is why we have worked so well to put such an event together every year.” n For more information contact Mahadi Buthelezi at mahadi@radiover itas.co.za or 011 663 4700.

L

ITTLE EDEN’S two homes in Edenvale and Bapsfontein, Gauteng, will celebrate the society’s 50th anniversary in 2017.

As it is moving towards its golden anniversary year, Little Eden would like to start getting in touch with people who, in one way or another over the past 50 years, have contributed to the care of Little Eden’s people with profound intellectual disability.

Everyone who has a fond memory or recent experience of the organisation, its late founders, Domitilla and Danny Hyams, or the residents, is encouraged to contact the society with their reminiscences. Little Eden is currently collecting information for a commemorative publication.

Throughout 2017 Little Eden will host several events in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

The official launch will take place at a special memorial service

Eager holy rosary Grade 1s in Edenvale, Johannesburg, on their first day of school for 2016, were (from left) Mavimbela temakholo, Angelique Loureiro tavares and Daniella hutton.

for the late founders, Danny and Domitilla Hyams, to be held in January 2017. n If you or someone you know has made a difference to the lives of those at Little Eden and would like to reunite with the society (or get involved now), please phone Nichollette Muthige on 011 609 7246 or send an e-mail to marketing@littleeden.org.za

LORETO CONVENT SCHOOL A group of 76 students had the privilege of writing their matric exam at Loreto Convent School. These students managed a collective 78 distinctions as well as a 90.78% Bachelors’ degree admission.

Our Top student achieved no less than 6 distinctions, followed by 4 girls each achieving 5 distinctions.

OUR TOP 4 CANDIDATES ARE AS FOLLOWS

Thembelilihle Themba 6 distinctions

Boitumelo Madumo 5 distinctions

Murunwa Ramothwala 5 distinctions

Katlego Moche 5 distinctions

We have celebrated yet another year of a 100% pass rate taking us to the 22nd consecutive year.

We wish to thank every student, parent and educator for their hard work and commitment.

135 Nana Sita Street, Pretoria, 012 326 6342

the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

LOCAL

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Church gets the ‘Michelangelo’ treatment I NTERNATIONAL interior designer and artist Carel van der Weshuizen has given the church of St Francis of Assisi in Humansdorp, Port Elizabeth diocese, the “Michelangelo” treatment in the form of an interior redesign.

The project involved the creation of a three-dimensional landand skyscape mural at the rear of the sanctuary, the creation of “sandstone” walls and architraves on both sides of the sanctuary and at various other locations in the church, and the painting of detailed three-dimensional murals which appear to have been carved from sandstone, alongside the mosaics of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady.

This vast project was completed in an incredible 12 days, with Mr van der Weshuizen working up to 18 hours a day to get it completed in time for the celebration of the fourth anniversary of the dedication of the church.

This project was the dream and vision of the church’s pastor, Fr Paul Fahy.

It was conceived some years ago when Fr Fahy met Mr van der Weshuizen at the home of mutual

friends, Veronica and the late Terry Wittstock, in Knysna.

Earlier last year, Mrs Wittstock brought Mr van der Weshuizen to Humansdorp to see the church, and he immediately saw the potential.

He said that he had long felt the need to give something back in thanksgiving for his God-given talents, and decided this was going to be the project—his gift to the Kouga Catholic community.

The community forms the southernmost parish in the diocese of Port Elizabeth, and includes the towns of Humansdorp, Jeffreys Bay, Cape St Francis and St Francis Bay.

M

ister van der Weshuizen is not a Catholic, but has a strong and abiding faith. He said he was “not alone” during the project but was constantly guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

He began his career as an architectural student, inspired by his architect father, who died when Carel was 14.

“I could draw a complete set of house plans by the time I was 16,” he said. It was in those early years that he realised that he had a huge

artistic talent , but also made another discovery: he is completely dyslexic, experiencing great difficult with reading and writing.

“I realised then that I was destined to express myself visually,” he said.

Following his military service, during which he was employed in the army architectural unit, he changed direction slightly and became a theatrical set designer, working for the Roodepoort Municipal Theatre for 13 years.

During this time he was involved in the production of 39 operas—fittingly, since he is also a talented operatic singer.

Mr van der Weshuizen then moved into interior design, and after having worked on a number of projects in South Africa, was invited to collaborate on an interior design commission in the United States.

He eventually acquired his Green Card, and then US citizenship, and now operates out of Miami, Florida, under the name of Carel West Design Studio.

He returns to South Africa on a regular basis to undertake design assignments.

standing in front of the newly designed sanctuary of st Francis of Assisi church in humansdorp are (from left) veronica Wittstock, designer carel van der Weshuizen, Fr Paul Fahy and Parish Pastoral council chair Felicia Lucas.

Pro-life Mass in Cape Town

T

O mark the 19th anniversary of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act becoming law, a Mass will be celebrated on February 1 at 13:10 in Cape Town’s St Mary’s cathedral, opposite parliament.

The Mass will be a time to pray for a change of heart on the part of all who disregard the rights of unborn children,

Assisi Mission in the Bloemfontein diocese celebrated several jubilees. seven Franciscan sisters of siessen were celebrating: sr Mary-Anne Mosese (60 years), sr Maria-Gertrude (50 years), sr MariaJulia Monethi, sr Maria-sylvia smous and sr Maria ottilia Khoele (all 40 years) and two first professions, sr Marie-Gabriella and sr Mary-Joseph.

Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberley was the main celebrant and was accompanied by several priests from different parts of south Africa. the church was full and among the visitors were Mother General sr AnnaFranziska and her general counsellor sr Iris together with Fr superior Joseph Weber, all of them from Germany. Family members, relatives and friends were part of the celebration, and the Franciscan family gave support too, including Franciscan friars and secular Franciscan brothers and sisters.

Archbishop Brislin on visiting Gaza Continued from page 1 prison. But nonetheless people want to live a life as normal as possible,” Archbishop Brislin said, adding that the bishops had visited Catholic Relief Services, which has built 450 homes for Palestinians who were affected by the bomb damage in 2014.

He also visited the Catholic Holy Rosary School, which has 900 pupils, of whom 82 are Christian and the rest Muslim.

There are five Christian schools in Gaza, of which three

are Catholic, the archbishop said.

The sisters at Holy Rosary assured the bishops that classes are gender-mixed despite this being questioned in the past, he said.

“We had a lovely Mass in Holy Family church. It was wonderful to be able to pray with fellow Catholics who are experiencing a great deal of hardship in Gaza and to be with them and to express our solidarity with them,” he said.

“The whole visit is geared towards that, of saying we are rep-

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resenting Christians who are suffering here in the Holy Land but also in other places in the world.”

The most important aspect of a visit to Gaza by the Church is to create awareness, he said.

“We try to communicate with our fellow South Africans about what we have seen and experienced,” the archbishop said. “To relay stories people have told us of lives and what has happened.”

He said that he and Fr Pearson would also brief the South African foreign ministry on their visit.

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said the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, which arranged the Mass.

Since the law that legalised abortion came into effect on February 1, 1997, “many thousands of unborn children have been killed, their dignity and humanity counting for nothing”, the CPLO said.

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the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

INTERNATIONAL

Christian Palestinians are Bishops warn against Guantanamo prisoners losing hope over wall

By DAM En AvEvor

By JuD th suD LovsKy

G

A

B SHOP v s t ng the Ho y Land or the second year n a row sa d Pa est n ans whose and has been d v ded by the srae separat on barr er “have ost hope” “ t was very sad to see the pres ent s tuat on where nd v dua s have the r ands con scated and trees uprooted ” sa d B shop Oscar Cantu o Las Cruces New Mex co “Th s s a s gn o someth ng much arger t seems to be a d m n sh ng o the r ghts o Pa est n ans to be there and a ack o acknow edg ment o the r eg t mate r ght to be present whether n the state o s rae or n Pa est n an ands ” B shop Cantu and 12 b shops rom South A r ca Europe and North Amer ca v s ted the Crem san Va ey as part o the Ho y Land Coord nat on n wh ch they come to show so dar ty w th Pa est n an Chr st ans More than 55 Chr st an am es had the r and con scated by srae n th s agr cu tura va ey ad acent to the v age o Be t a a to make room or the srae separat on bar r er desp te years o ega attempts to have the route o the barr er moved Meet ng w th Crem san Va ey andowner Nah eh Abu E d 76 who had 15 trees uprooted and ost ree access to h s rema n ng agr cu tura and he ped the b sh ops remember the s tuat on was not “s mp y po t cs” but about “peop e s ves and about the r d g n ty” sa d B shop Cantu “They had he d out hope the and wou d be saved ” he sa d “Gett ng the r hopes up on y to have them broken does no good ” Xav er Abu E d a Pa est n an Author ty spokesman and Nah eh Abu E d s nephew to d the group that the same young peop e who ast year had been attend ng Mass every Fr day to br ng attent on to the r p ght were now throw ng rocks at the srae checkpo nt “They have ost hope ” sa d B shop Cantu The e der Abu E d to d the b sh ops the r v s t was a s gn that they were shar ng n the d cu t s tua t on o the Pa est n ans Dur ng the v s t to the s te where construct on has started and a smoothened d rt road cuts through a w de swathe o the and where o ve trees used to stand border po ce arr ved A ter n t a y request ng that the b shops eave they wa ted as the b shops rece ved a br e ng rom awyer Ra ou Ro a o the Soc ety o St Yves Catho c Center or Human R ghts Mr Ro a exp a ned that n theory the andowners are to be

A chb shop s ephen B s n o cape town gh s ens o an s ae bo de po ceman a e he s opped a de ega on o b shops om no h Ame ca Eu ope and sou h A ca nea Pa es n an and n he c em san va ey n Be Ja a Wes Bank Pho o Debb e h cns a owed to reach the r and to har vest the r o ves through a ser es o gates but past exper ence has shown that such a system rare y works as t shou d and usua y n pract ce the armers are unab e to ga n access to the trees or to har vest as they norma y wou d As they e t some v s tors spoke w th the border po ce one o whom asked to be photographed w th the b shops Archb shop Stephen Br s n o Cape Town was the on y one who agreed to the photo “Com ng rom aparthe d South A r ca rea se that the peop e n vo ved were not bad peop e they were caught up n a part cu ar s t uat on and they d dn t quest on and d dn t know what was go ng on ” he sa d “There ore don t see these two so d ers as bad peop e but they are part o a system and they don t understand the n us t ce and oppress on be ng caused ”

A

t a Mass at Be t a a s Annun c at on church Lat n Patr arch Fouad Twa to d the par sh oners the b shops v s t was s gn cant not on y because the Ho y Land Coord nat on has been com ng n a show o support or the oca commun ty s nce 1998 but a so because o the mportant work o advocacy they do when they go back to the r countr es “They are the vo ce o the oca Chr st ans and express our ears or the uture ” sa d Patr arch Twa The r message he sa d was one o “prayer and p gr mage” “M tary strength cannot g ve us the peace The most mportant th ng s the prayers The wor d

seems not to be sten ng but we cont nue our prayers and that s a very mportant message W th your a th w th your prayers we can make a d erence we can make a change ” A ter greet ng the par sh oners B shop Cantu noted the mpor tance o p gr mages to the Ho y Land espec a y dur ng d cu t t mes “The v o ence has not hurt tour sts and p gr ms There are sk rm shes here and there but gen era y p gr mages are very sa e t s most mportant to come on p gr mage to support the Chr st an commun ty here when tour sts are stay ng away ” he sa d “Chr st ans are e ect ve y be ng squeezed out and understandab y at any opportun ty they can they eave because o the check po nts the r nab ty to reach the r obs so they can make a v ng n Gaza they can t get out to v s t am y ” he added “Our ob s to encourage them to stay here they can and to advocate or them po t ca y so they have the space and energy to work and ve n peace and our sh ” Among the other b shops who took part n the Ho y Land Coor d nat on were B shop Dec an Lang o Br sto Eng and Aux ary B shop W am Kenney o B rm ngham Eng and B shop L one Gendron o St ean Longueu Quebec B shop ohn McAreavey o Dromore re and and B shop W am No an o Ga oway Scot and Fr Peter ohn Pearson d rec tor o the Catho c Par amentary L a son O ce was a so a member o the de egat on—CNS

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CIE: Too many matrics for struggling unis

BY STUART GRAHAM

M

3,2 million people saw Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2015

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

M

ORE than 3,2 million pilgrims visited and attended papal events, liturgies or prayer services at the Vatican in 2015, the Vatican has said.

The statistics were compiled by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, which coordinates papal events and distributes free tickets to p a p a l a u d ie n c e s a nd li tu r g ie s . T h e p r e f e c ture said more than 3,2 million people attended a papal even The total was a s 5,9 million visitors r 2014. It was also sli 6,6 million pilgrim during the first nine pontificate in 2013.

During 2015, at tended the pope’s ences; more than 4 group audience; at l ticipated in papal lit or St Peter’s Square; a tt d d th ’

Muslim declares ‘jihad’ on extremists

By JAMEs MArtonE

M

OHAMMED Ch ran was pursu ng a m d e career change n Br ta n when news erupted out o h s nat ve France that Mus m extrem sts had attacked the Par s headquarters o a sat r ca magaz ne Cha e Hebdo k ng 12 peop e nc ud ng e ght o the magaz ne s sta For Mr Ch ran the events were devastat ng he e t he and other Mus ms were be ng “he d hostage” by a m nor ty o anat cs and that t was h s duty to do someth ng about t He headed back to France where s nce then he has been engaged n a campa gn to erad cate extrem sm He ca s h s m ss on a “ had” p ay ng on the same word that some Mus m extrem st groups use to de scr be the r v o ent act ons “M ne s a had o test mony o c t zensh p and sp r tua ty ” ex p a ned Mr Ch ran who ved rom ages 9 19 n h s parents nat ve A ge r a where he earned Arab c and stud ed the Quran “The rea mean ng o had s e ort a sp r tua and eth ca e ort For extrem sts had means on y to k and harm ” Mr Ch ran sa d He has been ocused on beat ng

Mohammed ch an Ma one cns

ATRICULANTS need to realise that attending university is not the “beginning and end” for finding a job or being successful in life, the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) said after the release of matric results.

A s e x p e c t e d , w e l l - r e s o u rc e d C a t h o l i c schools with learners who wrote matric assessed by the private Independent Examinations Board (IEB) achieved a far higher pass rate than schools writing the NSC state exams, said CIE deputy director Anne Baker.

Some 799 306 pupils wrote the matric exam in 2015, the highest number of candidates ever in South Africa.

Although the matric pass rate went down nationally from 75,9% to 70,7% in 2015, an increased number of learners made it through matric, with more than 117 000 learners writing exams.

Despite the drop in the pass rate—which has been attributed to thousands of “progressed” pupils, poor maths skills, over worked teachers and three poorly performing provinces—far more learners qualified to attend university. The problem is that universities are struggling financially and may find it difficult to cope with the number of students applying to attend.

“There were 15 500 more bachelor degree passes in 2015” than the previous year, Ms Baker noted.

“Given the problems at universities, what does that mean? Are we guiding young peo-

had to progress 41 Grade 11 learners recorded a pass rate of 64,6%. Without those 41 learners, the school would have attained an 80% pass rate, Ms Baker said.

Far too much emphasis is placed on matric results while not enough attention is placed on the entire schooling system, she said.

Ms Baker said that if schools perform poorly in the regions which the CIE ser ves directly, the organisation will try to support principals in analysing what can be done to improve results.

“There have been a lot of changes for teachers in the past year and we find that you don’t always have the best teachers in key subjects. The challenge is a [shortage] of good teachers,” Ms Baker said.

“Our energy must go into the foundation phase: Grades R, 1, 2 and 3. We shouldn’t have all the hype around matric. We should be building and building from the foundation phase. We shouldn’t be measuring the [entire] system based on matric results.”

The Equal Education movement has suggested that the “true matric pass rate” is 42%, saying that a large number of students drop out before they reach Grade 12 to write the matric exams.

“For broader perspective and context on the overall matric pass, one should use a cohort matric pass rate,” the movement said in a statement.

Equal Education defines the cohort matric pass rate as the percentage of learners in Grade 2 who pass matric 11 years later.

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Mus m extrem sts at the r own game v a French press rad o and te ev s on where he “desanct es” the a se pretences he c a ms the extrem sts groups use to ust y the r v o ence “We are at the mercy o anat c de nquents anat c scum who have taken re g on rom 1 6 b on peo p e ” he sa d “ n the Quran when God speaks and he says Do the true had what s had? t s to test y that God s mercy and peace We are work ng or a true god God o mercy and ove ” Mr Ch ran sa d add ng that those k ng n the name o s am were “ n the serv ce o a satan c sect” —CNS

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Collecting their matric results in Johannesburg were Holy Rosary High School’s 2015 matriculants Caitlyn Callanan, Theané Dietrich and Taylor Rattray, who indicate the six distinctions each obtained. Most independent Catholic schools, including Holy Rosary, recorded 100% pass rates.

hana s b shops have cr t c sed the government or ac cept ng two ormer pr soners rom Guantanamo Bay Cuba de scr b ng the s tuat on as wrong and dangerous n a statement the Ghana B sh ops Con erence urged the govern ment to “act n the best nterest o the nat on by send ng these men back to wherever they came rom” The statement sa d that s nce one o the two men ought or Osama b n Laden and another tra ned w th a Qaeda “we w sh to pose these quest ons among oth ers or our government s response What s the r m ss on here n Ghana? Does the r presence not const tute or pose a c ear danger to us? ndeed these two persons are harm ess and they have been c eared o any terror st act by the US government as our government and the US government and some others want us to be eve why were they not sent back to Yemen or Saud Arab a or A ghan stan where they come rom or taken to the USA wh ch ound them harm ess?

D d our representat ves n Par a

ment d scuss the mer ts and demer ts o the r resett ement here n Ghana? We need urgent answers to these and other quest ons because we th nk that the r presence c ear y poses a threat to Ghana ” The b shops ca ed on the gov ernment not to act n ways that can have ser ous consequences on the nat on s sa ety and secur ty “Ghana has been open to rece v ng re ugees n the past but these two men are not n th s category We th nk that they are not re ugees but t me bombs and so the gov ernment shou d do a t can to send them back as soon as pract ca b e ” the b shops added “We have reports o the move ment o Boko Haram ghters across parts o West A r ca ook ng or p aces to p tch camp Th s and other reports shou d make Ghana re ect sober y on how to t ghten our nat on s borders and secur ty to ensure that we do not a v ct m to the attacks o these terror st groups n the near uture The acceptance o two ormer pr soners o Guan tanamo Bay camp s sure y not a good move n the e ort to secure the secur ty o the nat on ”—CNS

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the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

5

Pope sets out his vision on mercy in a new book By cInDy WooDEn

B Anthony hopkins stars in a scene from the 2010 movie The Rite. (Photo: Warner Bros)

Films about exorcisms ‘inflate Satan’s power’ By cAroL GLAtZ

M

OVIES depicting exorcisms could be an important medium for showing how God always triumphs over evil, but instead, they misrepresent the faith and exaggerate human and satanic powers over God, a leading exorcist wrote in the Vatican newspaper.

Television and cinema have accustomed people to recognising “the presence and extraordinary acts of demons in people’s lives and the battle that the Church faces against them”, wrote Fr Francesco Bamonte, president of the International Association of Exorcists, headquartered in Rome.

Portraying exorcisms in the world of fiction “could promote greater awareness” about the Christian faith, however, “the way in which evil, demonic possession, the prayer of exorcism and liberation are presented is disappointing and unacceptable”, he wrote in L’Osservatore Romano.

While priests are entrusted by the Church to help protect or liberate people from the power of the devil, most movies hide or ignore “the marvellous, stupendous presence and work of God”, wrote the priest, who is a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As exorcists witness through their own experience, the reality is that “the demon, even if he doesn’t want to, is forced against his will to affirm the truth of our Catholic faith”, he

said. For example, he said, when holy water or a holy relic is used in an exorcism, demons react—often violently—as they are forced to submit to the power of God every single time,” Fr Bamonte wrote.

While there are many inaccuracies about the faith in films, their most serious error is presenting life as a battle between two equal principles or divinities: light and darkness, good and evil, the priest said.

“Satan and the spirits at his service are not omnipotent beings, they cannot perform miracles, they are not omnipresent, they cannot know our thoughts or know the future.”

Fr Bamonte’s article appeared in the Vatican newspaper together with a film critic’s look at how the exorcism genre was the most “prolific” in the evolution of “B movie” horror flicks.

William Friedkin’s 1973 movie The Exorcist is still today “one of the most terrifying horror films ever created”, according to Emilio Ranzato, author and frequent movie critic for L’Osservatore Romano.

While “no film in recent years has come close to reaching the same level” achieved by Friedkin’s masterpiece, “fine commercial productions” include The Last Exorcism by Daniel Stamm in 2010; The Conjuring

by James Wan in 2013 and Deliver Us From Evil by Scott Derrickson in 2014, Mr Ranzato wrote.

EING ministers of God’s mercy, Church members overcome “prejudice and rigidity”, taking risks like Jesus did in order to heal and to save, Pope Francis said.

In Jesus’ day, lepers were cast out of the community “to avoid contamination: the healthy needed to be protected”, but Jesus, at his own risk, “goes up to the leper and he restores him, he heals him”, Pope Francis said in a new book-length interview on mercy.

“By welcoming a marginalised person whose body is wounded and by welcoming the sinner whose soul is wounded, we put our credibility as Christians on the line,” the pope told the Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli in The Name of God Is Mercy.

In the interview, the pope spoke about experiencing an overwhelming sense of mercy during confession when he was 17 years old, provided more details about stories he has recounted in homilies, explained his comment, “Who am I to judge” about a homosexual person seeking God, and discussed the need he saw to invoke a jubilee Year of Mercy.

He also talked about the relationship of mercy and justice and addressed criticism that his focus on mercy amounts to watering down Church doctrine and tolerating sin.

Mr Tornielli asked Pope Francis why he so frequently and negatively mentions the “scholars of the law” in his morning homilies. The pope responded that in the gospels “they represent the principal opposition to Jesus: they challenge him in the name of doctrine” and such an attitude “is repeated throughout the long history of the Church”.

Using the example of Jesus’ close contact with lepers despite the Old Testament law that lepers be excluded from the community, Pope Francis said it is obvious that the exclusion of lepers was meant to contain disease, but it led to social and emotional suffering and, what

Pope on the cellphone: ‘Check your diary; I need a favour’ By cAroL GLAtZ

P

OPE Francis phoned a noted Italian theologian to ask him for a “favour” —to help him and Vatican officials prepare for Easter by leading an annual Lenten retreat, the theologian said.

The pope calling his cellphone caught Servite Father Ermes Ronchi by surprise, he said, and “my first reaction was trepidation, excitement”.

“When he told me that he had a favour to ask me, I didn’t hesitate and answered, ‘But of course, go ahead, whatever you need,’” the priest told his local newspaper, Messaggero Veneto.

But when the pope told the priest he wanted him to organise and lead a weeklong series of “spiritual exercises” for the pope and top Roman curia officials, the priest said: “I tried to stall and I told him that I wasn’t sure I was the right person or good enough for the assignment he was offering me.”

He said the pope cut right to the chase and said, “So, we’re starting Sunday, March 6,” but then the pope asked the priest if he wanted “to check your calendar first” to make sure he wasn’t already busy.

At that point, Fr Ronchi said he didn’t need to check his schedule and accepted the pope’s offer.

Pope Francis speaks with Italian journalist Andrea tornielli, whose interview with the pope is contained in a new book titled, The Name of God Is Mercy. (Photo: Paul haring/cns) is worse, to a sense that lepers had committed some sin which caused their disease. They were excluded from the community, but also from a relationship with God.

I

n literally reaching out to lepers, the pope said, Jesus “shows us a new horizon, the logic of a God who is love, a God who desires the salvation of all men”.

Jesus touched and healed the lepers. “He didn’t sit down at a desk and study the situation, he didn’t consult the experts for pros and cons. What really mattered to him was reaching stranded people and saving them,” he said.

“Caring for outcasts and sinners does not mean letting the wolves attack the flock” or jumping into the darkness with sinners, he said; it means being aware of the reality of sin and sharing the reality that God always is ready to forgive the sinner.

When the grace of God begins to help a person recognise his or her sin and need for forgiveness, the pope said, that person “needs to find an open door, not a closed one.

He needs to find acceptance, not judgment, prejudice or condemnation. He needs to be helped, not pushed away or cast out”.

Obviously, he said, the Church

cannot and does not pretend sin is unimportant.

But “God forgives everyone, he offers new possibilities to everyone, he showers his mercy on everyone who asks for it”, Pope Francis said.

“We are the ones who do not know how to forgive.

“Humanity is wounded, deeply wounded,” he said. “Either it does not know how to cure its wounds or it believes that it’s not possible to cure them.”

As for his “Who am I to judge” remark to reporters in July 2013 when asked about the Church’s attitude toward homosexual persons, Pope Francis said: “I was paraphrasing the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalised.”

Speaking to Mr Tornielli, Pope Francis made no comment on homosexuality as such, other than to insist that “people should not be defined only by their sexual tendencies”.

“I prefer that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we all pray together,” he said. “You can advise them to pray, show goodwill, show them the way and accompany them along it.”—CNS

K BOO O T CE N A H TC S A L 13-26 FEBRUARY

servite Father Ermes ronchi, an Italian theologian, has been asked by Pope Francis to lead the pope’s annual Lenten retreat.

(Photo: cristian Gennari/cns) The annual retreat is expected to take place March 6-12 at a Pauline Fathers’ retreat and conference centre in Ariccia, a town about 32km southeast of Rome.

Fr Ronchi, 68, studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris, specialising in cultural anthropology and the history of religions.

A prolific author, he also teaches theological aesthetics and iconography at Rome’s Pontifical Theological Faculty Marianum, and he’s a regular contributor to Avvenire, the

daily newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference.

He also has his own segment on a weekly television programme on Italian television, in which he reflects on the Gospel.

Pope Francis quoted the Italian theologian in his most recent pre-Christmas address to the Roman curia, saying, “Mercy is a scandal for justice, insanity for the intellect and consolation for we who are in debt. The debt of existence, the debt of being loved is paid only with mercy.”—CNS

6

the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

An overdue debate

W

HY are we still talking about race in South Africa, more than a quarter of a century after FW de Klerk declared the end of apartheid?

A clue resides in the question: for the past 26 years South Africa has never had the kind of discussion on race that was necessary to arrive at a mutual understanding.

The discourse on race was blurred by the hopeful terminology of the Rainbow Nation, coined in the glow of our mostly peaceful and miraculous transition to democracy and reinforced by transient moments of national unity triggered mostly by sporting events.

The discussion about the past was supposed to be facilitated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s, but whites in particular tended to disassociate themselves from that process because most of them did not actively participate in the depraved acts of state-sanctioned terrorism against fellow South Africans.

And so white South Africa unilaterally wiped its conscience clear with the transfer of power from a government elected by a small percentage of the population to one elected by all the people.

Some remained bitter and kept flying their apartheid flags while proclaiming the supposed superiority of the white race; others welcomed the end of apartheid and notions of transformation.

Most whites went on with their lives, expecting that bygones would be let to be bygones.

But the bygones never were bygone. White people tended to close the book of apartheid when the entrenched inequalities created by that system were still glaringly evident.

When white people complain about defective street-lamps or potholes in their areas, few direct their thoughts to people who live in areas where there is no street lighting and where there are no streets in which potholes might appear (and that is true also for municipalities that are not run by the ANC).

While most whites carried on as before, so did most blacks whose hopes of liberation from economic and social subjugation have not been met. The white sense of entitlement to the metaphorical smooth streets and street lighting have helped to feed a simmering discontent

which the likes of Julius Malema are now articulating.

Penny Sparrow, who in her Facebook post called all black people “monkeys”, threw a firebomb on that simmering anger.

This obscure real estate agent didn’t say anything that has not been said around countless braais, but here was a common mindset of racial superiority set out in typed words that demeaned and dehumanised every black person.

Penny Sparrow became a symbol of white racism precisely because she does not wear the paraphernalia of racist movements—indeed she was a member of the Democratic Alliance (she resigned before the party could discipline her).

The potency of her crass racism resided in her easily identifiable suburban, middle-class white normality. And so Penny Sparrow came to be seen by many as representative of all middleclass white people who lead normal suburban lives.

Matters were not helped by those who sought to deflect her racism by bringing up unrelated issues and speaking in the terminology of “them” and “us”.

The effect was to encapsulate the various forms of racism in white society, from the claims of white superiority to the daily casual racism which its perpetrators might not even be aware of.

There were some black responses that were no less despicable than the views of Penny Sparrow, including one Facebook post that advocated a genocide of whites. But there is an important difference: one racist outburst was prompted by litter on a beach, the other by racial abuse which did not begin only with a Facebook post in January 2016.

There can be no justifying, downplaying or deflecting racist outbursts. The only proper response to racism is to say: “Not in my name!”

In her contemptible bigotry, Penny Sparrow nevertheless did South Africa a service. Her awful Facebook rant has helped to open up the necessary debate on racism in South Africa, and to conscientise people about it.

It is important that we, as a nation, seize this opportunity to speak openly about race and racism, not in the form of accusation and reaction but in the spirit of eradicating this social cancer— and other bigotries—from our country.

JOURNALIST is inviting applications for the position

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• A proven track-record as a reporter • Excellent networking skills • Excellent command of written English • capacity to research and write news/feature copy to deadlines • Ability to work independently as part of a small team

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.

Racism alive in Catholic Church

I

AM writing this letter based on the past weeks’ controversy around racism. This is a major concern for all of us as South Africans.

While the media and social networks debated this issue, it made me reflect about the division in our Catholic Church. Our Church is discriminating in so many ways and nothing is being done about it.

Why? Last year the Catholic Church in South Africa celebrated the most wonderful gift: having our own martyr. At the beatification cere-

All respect to Anne Hope

F

URTHER to your obituary of Anne Hope (January 13), I will remember Anne as a deeply prayerful person with a profound love for the mystical and theological traditions of the Catholic Church.

She delighted in putting together liturgies (hymns, readings, prayers) for retreats and celebrations at the Grail Centre which she co-founded in Kleinmond, near Cape Town.

Many of us have fond memories of Advent, Christmas and Easter services—as well as wonderful celebrations of anniversaries—singing in many languages, circle dancing, candles carried in the night, children participating in processions and mini-plays, lots of laughter, fun and shared meals to follow.

Anne’s love of nature—the Overstrand mountains, rocks, beach, ocean and trees—meant the Grail Centre is beautiful too: little streams run through the deep shade of yellowwoods and other indigenous trees, grassy spaces have banks to sit on, there are pools in which to swim, birds and frogs sing in the reeds.

Anne and Sally Timmel created a space not just for formation and recreation, but somewhere we could bring ourselves—all the different parts of our lives—and be confident that we would be received with gentleness, humour and solidarity.

As Sally reminded us, we have the assurance which Anne had: that she is with God and her father, mother, brother, sister, niece, the saints and martyrs of the ages, theologians, poets and writers, where she will enjoy conversations with them through all eternity.

Stephanie Kilroe, Cape Town

Santa Sophia

I

REFER to your front page article of January 6, “Bishops’ HQ on the move” and the final paragraphs’ potted history of Santa Sophia which is inadequate.

For the record, Santa Sophia was built in 1986 by the Institute for

mony of Bl Benedict Daswa in September one could tell that the Catholics are not united. The majority of people who attended this beautiful event were black people.

Most white people present at the event were priests and nuns, let alone a handful of Indians and Coloureds.

Another event was the Mini World Youth Day camp held at John Bosco Centre near Johannesburg in December. The majority of the youth who attended were blacks. Why? Our Catholic Church in South

Catholic Education, founded in 1962, on land donated by the Poor Sisters of Nazareth.

Inspired by the late Fr Fergus Barrett OFM, then rector of St John Vianney Seminary, the work of the ICE continued successfully in its new home at Santa Sophia. The purpose was to promote higher learning for priests and lay persons, a purpose which was highly successful.

Fr Bonaventure Hinwood OFM took over from Fr Fergus until 2009 when the ICE continued to provide funds for postgraduate education, directly, and now in collaboration with St Augustine College.

Allan Schwarer, Pretoria

Expose Church corruption too

I

APPLAUD the fact that in your editorial leader on corruption (December 30) you are “encouraged when authorities and the media expose cases of corruption in the South African government and civil service”. Well said!

But does the applause not equally apply when corruption is exposed in the Church and particularly in the Vatican?

Exposing the disgrace that 80% of the Peter’s Pence collection does not go to charitable initiatives indicated by the Holy Father but is “used by the curia”; the criminal money-laundering at the Vatican Bank; unaccounted millions of euros going to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; fraudulent taxfree trade in the Vatican in tobacco and electronics; and luxury apartopinions 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

Africa is silent about the issue of racism, and this is disturbing.

Racism is alive in our lives and the communities we live in.

How can we declare that we love God but do not love our fellow people because their skin pigmentation is different from ours?

I am appealing to our Catholic family that we start dealing with this issue of racism/discrimination/division in our parishes, so that we may be able to build better communities.

Let charity begin at home!

Jeanette M Lesisa, Clayville, Gauteng

ments of cardinals and below-market rentals for friends—all this is not commented on.

At least Pope Francis has accepted that this is the corruption he is fighting; yet five people are on trial for leaking this information, while the Vatican criminals remain untouched!

And when it comes to dealing with the hard times ahead for South Africa’s poor, surely with the accepted corruption in the Church, is it not incumbent on our bishops to not only halt the deception of collecting Peter’s Pence for the poor but also to review all collections and the expenditure for the various Catholic welfare organisations we are encouraged to support?

Does diocesan expenditure reflect the poor Church of Francis?

After all, the faithful should surely be allowed full transparency of the use of their money.

It is well to point fingers at our government—remember the fingers that point back at us.

Michael Bouchier, Stanford, Western Cape

Pillars of faith

Y

OU have my heartfelt sympathy, Judith Leonard (January 6). All too often, I am left feeling dumbfounded and disheartened when Catholic bishops and priests use the mass media to openly criticise papal teachings on faith and morals.

And all too often, I need to silently repeat to myself the adage that “every member of the Church is a pillar of the Church. There are one or two concrete pillars which support the roof. The remainder are caterpillars which crawl in and out”.

Fortunately, the Catholic Church does offer us a good number of concrete pillars onto which we can hold when we are left feeling shaken and dazed by that unwarranted criticism. So, Judith Leonard, in the storm, and with prayer, just cling to a concrete pillar to see the vision which lies beyond that storm.

Patrick Q Gonsalves, Cape Town

ThE journEyS of a lifETimE!

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PERSPECTIVES

Race into the new year T HIS month marks six years since I arrived in South Africa—so I wonder if I am now allowed to write about

race.

An American student of mine once remarked a few days into his exchange visit to Pretoria: “South Africans are obsessed about race and that’s why they talk about it all the time. Americans are obsessed about race and that’s why they don’t talk about it.”

As a brown-skinned Brit who has lived in both countries, I hope that I have learnt to talk about it when it is relevant and keep silent when it isn’t.

Race is not real. There is a true natural biological dividing line between primates and fish; and between apes and monkeys; and between humans and gorillas. But there is no biological or genetic dividing line between “blacks” and “whites”, or between “coloureds” and “Indians”.

I realise that for some South Africans that is like learning that Santa Claus is actually your uncle in a red suit. But I hate to break it to you: “race” is made up.

Of course there are physiological differences between individuals, and sometimes we put together groups of individuals with certain physical characteristics and differentiate them from others without those characteristics. And that is what we have come to call “race”.

But you see that we do that: politicians, community leaders, teachers, ordinary people. Biology didn’t do it and God certainly didn’t.

That is why under the old regime such bizarre methods had to be invented to draw lines since those lines didn’t actually exist: pencil tests in the hair, the colour of skin that never saw the sun, width of nose, whiteness of teeth. And it worked—people believed it and many South Africans still do. They treat “race” as if it was a real thing and something that cuts across time and place.

That is why an African priest—born and brought up in Soweto, an activist campaigning for the rights of “black” people— was horrified when he went to South Sudan to discover that for them he was “a bit brown”.

In Sudanese culture—where the prized skin colour is so black it’s blue—the lines are drawn between different shades of blackness with their contingent hierarchy.

And anyone who is not really dark black is simply classified as muzungu (ghosts).

Thus, my Sudanese neighbours thought that in our group the brown-skinned Indian, the olive-skinned Mexican and the

pearl-skinned Pole “all looked alike”.

But, after at least 400 years of race-based politics, it is hard for South Africans not to fall into the trap of believing that “race” is a real thing and that as soon as you know someone’s race you can make a whole heap of assumptions about them.

They may be positive: “good at maths”, “chilled”, “very organised”, “life of the party”; but more often than not they are negative: “mean in business”, “lazy”, “cold and calculating”, “drunkard”. And admit it: you immediately linked those adjectives to people of a certain “race”.

But since race is not something hard and reliable, we need to be very careful when we build other assumptions on top of this.

A good test is to apply “race” language to some other physical characteristic. “He is corrupt like all people who wear size 7 shoes”; “she is promiscuous like all women with small hands”; “that child behaves like a monkey because all children with small eyes are like that”. Absurd, isn’t it?

So why do we do we feel justified to say things like this about people because they have black skin or white skin or any other kind of skin. (Though, Sudanese and Poles aside, I am not sure that anyone really has black or white skin—we are in fact mostly 50 shades of brown!).

T

his brings me to the recent issue about the behaviour on Durban beachfront and intemperate comments about it.

I live on that very beachfront. And indeed, after New Year’s Day it was a mess. It was a mess because any large group of people in a confined space, with limited places to put litter and other things on their mind, will cause a mess. I have seen similar messes after rock concerts and political rallies and even papal Masses.

Unfortunately, a human weakness is

“race” is an artificial idea. there is no biological or genetic dividing line between “blacks” and “whites”, raymond Perrier writes.

Raymond Perrier

Faith and society

that when in a crowd everyone’s behaviour drops to the lowest standard of the group—whether in terms of tidiness, noisiness or timeliness. But it is not the colour of people’s skin that accounts for this, any more than it is the size of their feet, the length of their earlobes or the colour of their hair.

But in South Africa, some people say— and a lot more people think but don’t say—such things because they believe that “race” is real and that “race” explains people’s behaviour. And for as long as most of us only ever socialise with people who are the same “race”, we will get away with these absurd generalisations.

The problem with the Rainbow Nation is that the colours never mix. As in a rainbow there is sometimes a bit of blurring at the edges but 22 years after liberation the vast majority of South Africans do not spend leisure time with people whom they regard as being of a different “race”. And the most shocking thing is that most South Africans do not notice this and are not perturbed by it when it is pointed out.

Durban beachfront is usually a mixing pot where South Africans of different colours do come together to enjoy the delights of the ocean: a white dude in surfer shorts, next to a black gogo with a plastic bag to protect her hair, next to a Muslim lady in hijab, next to a Hindu family who have brought half their kitchen with them.

We all share the space and live alongside each other.

I walked out along the beachfront just after midnight at the start of New Year’s Day, joining the many families taking a stroll, and enjoying the revelries. In a country where people are anxious about safety it was lovely to see literally thousands of people, young and old, walking safely along the beachfront.

But in the one hour that I walked I did not see a single white person. Not one!

None of the white people who live along the beachfront, or who walk or jog or ride there every day, who frequent the bars and the restaurants, or who call Durban home, thought to be there in the heart of the city on New Year’s Eve. If we genuinely mixed with people who are different to us, perhaps we will let go of these artificial, anti-Christian, offensive prejudices about “race”—and remember that God created all of us to be members of the one human race.

In 2016, let’s change for the better Toni Rowland D UKE Ellington’s jazz standard notes: “Things ain’t what they used to be!”

Being a bit of a musician I often think in terms of songs—though not much of the latest hits.

Things ain’t what they used to be. It seemed that fewer people than before went away on holiday this summer, with cost being a possible factor as more of us are cash-strapped these days.

For me the holidays have been a quiet time. I was kitty-sitting which was a nice change. It was also a chance to look back a bit and look forward to the new year with its new challenges and ideas.

A big change at this time have been the incessant heat waves with temperatures between 35º and 40º, far hotter than we have experienced in Gauteng during December and January when often it has been more pleasant for families to stay home rather than to join the mad rush to the coast.

Accompanying the heat of course were the drought and water restrictions, which are tough for us in our cities but an enormous problem for the security of farmers and the impact on future food production.

The fact that the media control so much of our lives and thinking is also something relatively new.

President Jacob Zuma had a very rough ride, especially with the sacking of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, but all kinds of demonstrations and protests highlight a change in people’s behaviour.

The fact that people, young and older, are speaking out and making demands is positive progress but also presents problems as too easily the demands tend to be narrowly focused on individual or group needs rather than the common good. And what an example for our children. Comments on social media seen as racist can get blown up, and constant images and re-

Family Friendly

Pope Francis opens the holy Door at the basilica of st Mary Major in rome. (Photo: Maria Grazia Picciarella/cns) ports of terrorism, war, destruction and refugees begin to make us immune to very real human suffering.

Then along comes Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy, with its challenges to be kind, considerate and concerned for the common good.

Maybe in the first few weeks we were too caught up in thoughts of Christmas and holidays. However, the potential and possibilities for changing our attitudes to become more caring and compassionate to those who are needy and afflicted can be a force for change, for the rest of the year and beyond.

W

e’ve used the term mercy in church so readily for so long, possibly with little deeper thought about its meaning.

Yes, it is about God ‘s forgiveness, even our worst sins can be forgiven at this time, as Pope Francis has made special provision for that.

Reconciliation is not just with God alone, but also with our neighbours—and the nearest of those are our family members. Was there some reconciliation this

Christmas in hurting families and with long forgotten friends?

MARFAM ‘s Family Year Planner month by month will be exploring the Year of Mercy and the Family with its theme “Building Homes of Merciful Love”.

Being nice and kind is important but mercy demands a new vision. “Mercy versus judgment,” says the Holy Father. Families can practise that, and even more valuably, share their thoughts and feelings.

The bishops in their third year of the 2014-16 Family Focus are emphasising healing of broken families. Talking, listening, sharing, communicating within families about relationships goes hand in hand with the events and celebrations in Jubilee of Mercy churches.

And so, to cite another old song: “I’d like to build the world a home and furnish it with love, grow apple trees and honey bees and snow-white turtle doves. I‘d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, I’d like to hold it in my arms and keep it company. I ‘d like to see the world for once all standing hand in hand, and hear them echo through the hills for peace throughout the land.”

This song by the New Seekers may date from 1972, but it will be my theme song for the year ahead, for “Family Matters” on Radio Veritas and elsewhere whenever I get a chance to promote the family theme to build homes of merciful love.

Maybe that is not how things used to be and maybe we can make a change for a happier, healthier, holier life.

the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

Fr Michael Austin SJ

7

year of Mercy

Mission of Mercy

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AYS before his election as pope in March 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was given a book by his friend and fellow cardinal, Walter Kasper, a newly published Spanish translation of his book in German, now published in English as Mercy: Fundamental Gospel Concept— Key to Christian Life.

Placed on the nightstand next to his bed in the conclave, it became Cardinal Bergoglio’s bed-time reading.

The book profoundly touched the cardinal from Argentina and, despite the intensity of the voting in conclave, he read it from cover to cover. Quoting from it at his first Angelus address, it has become the touchstone of Pope Francis’ radical and reforming papacy.

It is astonishing, on reflection, that so many theologians have overlooked the heart of the biblical message in both Old and New Testaments. Mercy is the key feature of God’s self-revelation throughout the whole history of salvation.

At that first Angelus address in St Peter’s Square on March 17, 2013, the newly-elected but not yet enthroned Pope Francis, talked about having read Cardinal Kasper’s book, explaining to the crowd: “He writes that hearing the word ‘mercy’ changes everything. It is the best thing that we can hear; it changes the world. Mercy is the name of our God, and without mercy we are lost.”

Receiving this book at this precise moment was truly providential for Cardinal Bergoglio. We can detect God’s guiding hand clearly at work. He finished reading the book on mercy just as he was ascending the Chair of St Peter.

When he addressed the thousands in St Peter’s Square at noon that Sunday he had the perfect topic to tell the people about: God is mercy. And he hasn’t stopped since.

On April 11 last year Pope Francis published Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy), the Bull of induction of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy that was inaugurated on December 8 with the opening of the Holy Door.

The Bull opens boldly: “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.” Jesus in the gospels does not only speak about mercy: He incarnates divine mercy and opens its riches to everyone. We are encouraged to meditate on the gospel passages that tell of the Father’s mercy, especially Luke’s gospel with its powerful three parables on mercy in chapter 15: the Lost Coin, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Son. The Holy Father urges the practice of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy listed in the Catechism as absolutely essential to living the Christian life of holiness and goodness.

As a symbol of the life of a Christian he encourages us to make a pilgrimage to the cathedral or to a church designated by the bishop of each diocese.

He finishes the Letter by reminding us that the “Church feels the urgent need to proclaim God’s mercy.”

To this end “missionaries of mercy” are to be available to spread the message in our parishes in week-long missions organised and trained by the mission apostolate of the Redemptorist Fathers.

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the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

COMMUNITY

Parishioners from st Anthony’s parish in sedgefield, oudtshoorn diocese, hosted a christmas party for the children at the Kleinkrans informal settlement. the parish feeds the children from the settlement every saturday.

Mariannhill Monastery hosted their annual festival with jazz music, prizes and plenty of food.

our lady of Good help parish in verulam, KZn held a carols by candle light service and nativity play. the choir and nativity actors are pictured with parish priest Fr Jude Fernando tor (back right).

st Martin de Porres parish in Lavistown, cape town held a st charles parish in victory Park, Johannesburg christmas party for underprivileged children from the community. the residents of san salvador home for Mentally challenged Women in held their opening of the holy Door ceremony the children are pictured with parish priest Fr John D’souza Johannesburg, prepared for christmas by acting in a nativity play. with Fr James ralston oMI. ocD (back right).

Learn, Live and Lead with Love

Veritas College’s Stars

Veritas College Matric learners have yielded another magnificent set of results for 2015!

Veritas achieved a 100% pass rate for the 18th consecutive year, and 58 learners attained 61 distinctions, on the IEB system.

Chloe Mitchell attained 6 distinctions and missed her 7th distinction by only 1%.

Landro van der Linde attained 6 distinctions

Whitney Howell attained 5 distinctions

Steven Selkon, Giorgia Silvaggi and Nonduduzo Simelane achieved 4 distinctions and Damian Borien and Thomas Perikli attained 3, while many others achieved 1 or 2 each.

the number of degree passes has risen impressively from 75% in 2014 to 84% in 2015. head of the senior college, Mrs terry holland, states: “I am proud to acknowledge the efforts of our sterling learners and their excellent teachers; people of this calibre are good for the future of this country.”

the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

CHURCH

9

Love beats racism — and now is the time for the Church to act A new race debate exploded with the Facebook post of Penny Sparrow, but racism never disappeared and can be found in the Church too, as coLLEEn constABLE explains.

love should unite all, irrespective of race, gender or culture. It is here where hearts and minds are transformed.

As a People of God, we are held together by love. This is the most fundamental teaching and commandment given to us. Upon the teaching of love, everything is held together: our interaction with God and each other.

Love erases prejudice. Love touches the heart and minds. Love transforms. Love forgives. Love heals.

Love is merciful.

Scripture teaches us how to live and love. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God.” Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love…If anyone says, ‘I love God’ but hates his brother, he is a liar, for whomever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:7, 20-21).

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RECENT editorial in The Southern Cross, headlined “Race still matters” (December 9) focused on the need for true reconciliation and transformation in South Africa.

In a thought-provoking opinion, the editor touched on the rationale for celebrating Reconciliation Day and acknowledged the progress and failures, the gains and losses made.

“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 failures on race, in a language that still speaks of ‘us’ and ‘them’,” the editorial said, further noting the “self-defensive, affronted responses that are formulated when these issues are raised”.

On January 2, while the world was still in a celebratory mode welcoming the new year, a white South African woman, Penny Sparrow, became infamous for her Facebook post of black South Africans celebrating New Year on beaches, in which she referred to blacks as “these monkeys that are allowed to be released on New Year’s Eve onto public beaches, towns…”

She concluded her post by stating: “I shall address the blacks of South Africa as monkeys…”

Of course, she later apologised, stating “I certainly didn’t mean to anger you.” But speaking to Metro FM to defend her opinion, she left no doubt that her Facebook post accurately captured her thoughts and feelings.

Penny Sparrow’s comments, and those of others who have made known their racist views on social media, confirm that the notion of white supremacy based on racial prejudice is still alive. There are still many Penny Sparrows. Blacks encounter them in public and private spaces all the time.

The blatant infringement of the human dignity of others through prejudice based on race is slowly eroding the democratic gains achieved through our constitutional democracy.

The presence of supremacy and superiority based on race, manifested through speech and actions, erases the idea of a rainbow nation. It con-

Multi-cultural parishes should aim to combat racism by focusing on our identities as united christians, not race or culture. firms that there are still those who have held on to the strings of apartheid South Africa, rejecting the opportunity to participate and contribute towards nation-building and social cohesion in a democratic country.

It abolishes the dream of Nelson Mandela, what he stood for and what he fought for. It nullifies the enormous contribution to the struggle against apartheid by those who sacrificed their lives to bring about freedom, justice, peace, true equality and democracy.

More than 20 years into our democracy, we have not yet transformed in our hearts and in our minds.

S

ometimes you’ll find the Penny Sparrows in the pews of the Church. I have heard many stories of how blacks experience some of their white sisters and brothers in the Church. The stories range from whites refusing to shake black hands during the exchange of “Peace”, refusing to hold black hands during the Prayer of our Lord, to direct verbal insults and a huge sense of superiority when whites lead groups, creating a perspective that blacks in the groups have either never developed their prayer life or have poor knowledge of Church teachings.

And, of course, there is also the lack of true integration in the activities of some groups.

I once heard of an annual retreat that was scheduled for a group of men. The white males were all grouped together in a separate sleep-

ing area and all the blacks were grouped together in another sleeping area on the same premises. If true, what does this selective grouping of men tell us?

Here is an opportunity for the Church to review some of its movements. It is time for deep reflection to obtain a better understanding of what contributes to the lack of integration. It is time to encourage cultural-integration within these movements.

The tendency that some sodalities are “exclusively black”, while some are dominated by a huge white presence is outdated and does not encourage integration, mutual respect, trust and social cohesion. Faith-based movements and sodalities should attract membership from all race groups.

These spiritual movements should become beacons of transformation and hope with a membership that reflects multi-cultural unity. It is here where the message of

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ccording to The African Bible, the theological treatise on disagreements in the Johannine Church (1 John 4) teaches us about application of Christian love. That love is the condition and place for experiential knowledge of God. This doctrinal source in the New Testament emphasises that as children of God we should love one another to the point of self-sacrifice for each other. The apostle, in chapter 4 in the first letter of John, does not differentiate between the love of God and the love of neighbour. It emphasises that our faith in God is made possible and even perfect through the love for one another.

We need to assess the impact of racism in the Church: it is cold in the Church.

Sometimes parishioners know that their parish is a challenge as minds and hearts have not been transformed completely. Sometimes parish councils may even be aware of challenges that are being

encountered.

There is a moral responsibility to ensure social cohesion and effective transformation of our own Church community. This requires strong spiritual and transformational leadership from everyone in a position of authority in the Church.

The idea that some priests are too scared to address issues of racism as it may decrease Mass attendance should be dealt a blow. Discrimination and prejudice can never be condoned: silence or failure to act on such knowledge of discrimination and prejudice amounts to complicity in injustice.

Some parishes have grasped the necessity to foster a culture of love and unity among parishioners. Some offer tea after Sunday Mass in an attempt to improve relationships and create an engaging church atmosphere. Some offer social events.

These attempts are effective only if attendees integrate beyond culture, race and gender. Dinner tables and tea groups that look the same and speak the same do not aid the process in a multi-cultural parish.

There is a need to willingly go outside our comfort zones and form constructive friendships with those who look different and speak different languages.

The Church should start a proper programme to address racism—and do so sooner than later.

“The Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk 1:15). The interpretation found in the African Bible teaches us that we are the Kingdom of God: a very relevant statement for our modern day living.

“The Kingdom of God is present when we accept that God loves each and every person, and when we try to live as brothers and sisters together in his family, without making distinction of tribe, religion, class and race.” n Colleen Constable is founding CEO of the South African Institute for Violence Prevention and is an institutional transformational consultant.

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the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

FAITH

To love the Eucharist As the Church prepares for the International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu, Philippines, from January 24-31, MIchAEL oGunu explains the virtues of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

D

URING the third apparition in 1916 of an angel to the three shepherd-children—Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco—to whom Our Lady appeared in Fatima a year later, the children saw the angel holding a chalice in his left hand and over it, in the air, was a host from which some drops of blood fell into it.

Leaving the chalice and the host suspended in the air, the angel prostrated on the ground and repeated this prayer three times: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly, and I offer you the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which he himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of his most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners.”

Then rising, the angel once more took the chalice and the host in his hands. He gave the host to Lucia, and to Jacinta and Francisco he gave the contents of the chalice to drink, saying as he did so: “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Offer reparation for their sins and console your God.”

Once again, he prostrated on the ground and repeated with the children three times more the same prayer, “Most Holy Trinity …” and then disappeared.

The children were deeply impressed by the angel’s Eucharistic adoration. Overwhelmed by the supernatural atmosphere that involved them, they imitated the angel in every way, kneeling as he did and repeating the prayers he had taught them.

The teachings of the Church on adoration of Our Lord in the Eucharist outside the setting of the Mass go right back to the early Fathers of the Church.

Pope Pius XII not only strongly encouraged the faithful to adore the Eucharist but even insisted that to fail in this regard is itself sinful. In his encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, Mediator Dei (1947) he quoted St Augustine, who “asserts that ‘no one eats that flesh without first adoring it’, while he adds that ‘not only do we not commit a sin by adoring it, but that we do sin by not adoring it’”.

Paul VI in his encyclical Mysterium Fidei (1965) exhorted the faithful to centre their lives totally in the Eucharist by receiving it every day and visiting the Blessed Sacrament daily. The Eucharist is the necessary “focus where all other forms of piety must ultimately emerge”.

St John XXIII was very traditional in his love for our Eucharistic Lord.

He derived his great love and compassion for others from the daily holy hour he made before the Blessed Sacrament.

He wrote in his diary: “To keep me from sin and to prevent me from straying from him, God has used devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in

the Blessed Sacrament... Devotion to the Sacred Heart has grown with me all my life... Today everything which concerns the Sacred Heart of Jesus has become familiar and doubly dear to me. My life seems destined to be spent in the light irradiating from the tabernacle, and it is the heart of Jesus that I must look to for the solution of all my troubles.”

T

he same year that Pope John XXIII announced the Second Vatican Council, he also issued an encyclical commemorating the centenary of the death of St John Marie Vianney, in which he proposed the Curé of Ars as a model for all priests to imitate.

Pope John XXIII pointed out that St John Vianney’s power was in his deep contemplative prayer which was pre-eminently Eucharistic.

The worship of Christ present in the Eucharist is not just a personal, solitary “Jesus and me” experience but involves the entire Church. We are called upon to develop a greater awareness of the needs of the Church and to recognise our intrinsic role within Christ’s Mystical Body.

Pope John Paul II, like Paul VI before him, emphasised the social dimension of Eucharistic adoration. In fact, he wrote, the ability to love one’s neighbour with profound respect for the uniqueness of each individual person is the fruit of Eucharistic worship.

On his pilgrimage to Ireland in 1979, he commended the Irish for their great tradition of Eucharistic devotion.

“The visit to the Blessed Sacrament…is a great treasure of the Catholic faith. It nourishes social love and gives us opportunities for

the angel appears to visionary children of Fatima in the spring of 1916, a year before the Marian apparitions. the encounter is represented at a site near the homes of the children in Aljustrel, with the angel holding the host and chalice. (Photo: Günther simmermacher) adoration and thanksgiving, for reparation and supplication. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Hours and Eucharistic processions are likewise precious elements of your heritage— in full accord with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council.

(Homily in Phoenix Park, Dublin, on September 29, 1979).

Visiting Spain in 1983, John Paul II discussed the many benefits that one receives from Eucharistic adoration, in particular an increase in the

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virtues of faith, hope and charity.

We come to know experientially and in greater depth that “the crucified and risen Lord is really present in the Eucharist, not only during the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, but as he subsists in the sacramental species”.

Our life is rooted in this mystery of faith, St John Paul II insisted. It leads us to greater hope, for the Eucharist is “actually an ongoing proclamation of his second glorious coming at the end of time”. It is an Continued on page 11

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CLASSIFIEDS

Fr Martin Roden OP

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OMINICAN Father Martin Roden of Springs died on January 4 at the age of 85.

Philip Martin Roden was born on June 5, 1930 in Birmingham, England, and joined the Dominican Order in 1950 as a Brother.

In 1966 he came to South Africa, serving his order first at Stellenbosch as bursar, then supervising Emmaus House, an ecumenical conference centre, and finally the St Martin Centre.

Having asked to be ordained to the priesthood, Br Martin studied for five years at St Joseph’s Scholasticate at Cedara.

He was ordained in his 50th year and went to Springs to look after the parishes of Payneville and Geluksdal where people were being moved from the former to the latter. He had to organise the building of the present churchcum-hall as Mass was being cele-

brated in the local civil hall.

After five years he moved to Kroonstad and then Sasolburg in the Free State, finally settling in the new house at Cedara for 11 years where he was bursar and at times superior. While there, he looked after the parish of Woodlands in Pietermaritzburg for three years.

In May 2000 he returned to Springs to be semi-retired as superior and vicariate archivist. He jokingly remarked that he moved from Cedara to Springs to save the funeral expenses.

Fr Martin had a dry sense of humour, and commented on his own death that people would quote Shakespeare and say: “For this relief much thanks.”

He valued the main characteristics of Dominican life, community prayer and living. Though not a student, he had a keen sense

T

was born on April 23, 1935 in Roeland Street Jail, where his grandmother was the matron.

Archbishop Stephen Naidoo of Cape Town, the chief celebrant, noted that Mr Bishop had believed the New Testament offered a solution to South Africa’s troubles.

Citations were given by Bishop Adams, the then-banned Trevor Manuel, former University of Cape Town chancellor Sir Richard Luyt, and others for whom Mr Bishop had worked so fearlessly.

He had been a successful businessman, but on turning 50, he sold off his computer services business to investigate police brutalities in townships, particularly in rural areas.

Gerald Shaw, political editor of the Cape Times—and a fellow Catholic—spoke of a man of courage who provided accurate reports of brutality in townships.

Mr Bishop served in leading

DEATH

of study and an enquiring mind.

Fr Martin spent his last years at Marian House in the Newcastle Dominican Sisters’ old age home in Boksburg where he finally breathed his last, with a smile on his face, at around 5am on January 4.

His funeral Mass was celebrated at Our Lady of Mercy, Springs, on January 8.

roles at the Civil Rights League, the Institute of Race Relations, and the Catholic Commission of Justice & Peace. At the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce, he worked with community leaders to create awareness As an activist in his younger days he had served quietly but effectively, and gave shelter to Nelson Mandela, godfather to his youngest daughter. Brian told his mother at the time: “I have just met a man who will one day become prime minister.”

With others, he also helped defuse a potential crisis when thousands marched from Langa into Cape Town in 1960.

In the 1980s, together with Di, he assisted families in visiting prisoners on Robben Island, and helped children of prisoners to be educated.

When over 50 homeless victims of influx control camped inside St George’s Anglican cathedral in 1982, Mr Bishop moved in to share their 22-day fast, recording his experience in the document “Nyang: A Personal Perspective”.

He was closely monitored by the security forces. Twice in 1985 petrol bombs were thrown into his house; on another occasion a family car was set alight.

A decade after his passing, Nelson Mandela wrote to Mr Bishop’s mother to “assure you that Brian’s contribution to the struggle will always be treasured”.

Learning to love the Eucharist Continued from page 10 essential “hope-filled encouragement for our advance to eternal life”.

Christ’s sacramental presence is also the source of love for both God and neighbour, Pope John Paul II said. “The authenticity of our union with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament ought to be translated into our genuine love for all persons” for it is truly “the bond of that unity desired by

Christ for the Church”, according to John Paul II. St John Paul II is reported to have spent entire nights before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer, sometimes prostrate.

He continually exhorted priests and the faithful to turn towards the Lord in this devotion because of the great fruit it bears for the Christian life, which he knew well from personal experience.

Our bishops’ anniversaries

This week we congratulate: January 27: Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein on his 72nd birthday.

January 27: Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg on the 25th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

January 28: Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town on the 9th anniversary of his episcopal ordination in Kroonstad

CLASSIFIEDS

11

Births • First communion • confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • ordination jubilee • congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • holiday Accommodation • Personal • services • Employment • Property • others Please include payment (R1,60 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

Struggle stalwart remembered HIRTY years ago two stalwarts in the fight for justice and peace were killed in a motor collision after meeting with Bishop Edward Adams of Oudtshoorn.

The car carried Molly Blackburn, a Port Elizabeth-based member of the Provincial Council, retired businessman Brian Bishop, his wife Di (now Oliver), and Molly’s sister Judy Chambers. Ms Blackburn and Mr Bishop were killed; she was 55, he 50.

Human rights campaigners Molly and Di—leading figures in the Black Sash—were seen as “troublemakers” by the apartheid regime, so many suspected the accident was the result of foul play.

The Truth & Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s could not determine whether this was so.

They had been collecting information on police brutalities in Bhongolethu township in Oudtshoorn. Their findings there and elsewhere were recorded and left with Bishop Adams. They were published in 1987 by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the 61-page document “The Last Affidavits”.

Molly Blackburn was buried from the Methodist St John’s church in Port Elizabeth, with 20 000 attending.

Brian Bishop was buried from the overflowing St Mary’s Catholic cathedral in Cape Town, just a few hundred metres from where he

the southern cross, January 20 to January 26, 2016

On December 2, 1981 he inaugurated perpetual daily adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Peter’s basilica and invited the faithful to find there “the very source of life and holiness that gushes from our Lord’s Eucharistic heart”. n Professor Michael Ogunu is one of the leaders of the World Apostolate of Fatima in Africa and the national president of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites in Nigeria.

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CIOLLI—Mary Anne (Dickie) née Dickson. In loving memory, the mother of my children who passed away on January 23, 2015 after a long illness, loyal and faithful. Will be forever missed and remembered in our prayers by remo, catherine, Michael, David, stephen and grandchildren. rest in peace.

PRAYERS

HOLY SPIRIT you make me see everything and show me the way to reach my ideals. you give me the divine gift to forgive and forget. In all instances of my life you are with me, protecting me and opening for me a way where there

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O MOST beautiful flower of Mount carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of heaven, blessed Mother of the son of God, Immaculate virgin, assist me in my necessity. o star of the sea, help me and show me where you are, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. there is none who can withstand your power, o Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands. “say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then publish.

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Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday January 24 Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10, Psalms 19:8-10, 15, 1 Corinthians 12:12-30, Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Monday January 25, Conversion of St Paul Acts 22:3-16, Psalms 117:1-2, Mark 16:15-18 Tuesday Janury 26, Ss Timothy and Titus 2 Timothy 1:1-8, Psalms 96:1-3, 7-8, 10, Luke 10:1-9 Wednesday January 27, St Angela Merici 2 Samuel 7:4-17, Psalms 89:4-5, 27-30, Mark 4:1-20 Thursday January 28, St Thomas Aquinas 2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29, Psalms 132:1-5, 1114, Mark 4:21-25 Friday January 29 2 Samuel 11:1-10, 13-17, Psalms 51:3-7, 10-11, Mark 4:26-34 Saturday January 30, Saturday Mass of Our Lady 2 Samuel 12:1-7, 10-17, Psalms 51:12-17, Mark 4:35-41 Sunday January 31 Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19, Psalms 71:1-6, 15-17, 1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13, Luke 4:21-30

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GRATEFUL thanks to ss Martin and Jude for prayer answered. cr.

MY BELOVED Mother Mary, many thanks for yet again coming to my aid. you have never failed me and I love and honour you. correen.

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4th Sunday: January 31 Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19, Psalm 71:1-6, 15a, 17a, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13, Luke 4:21-30

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OD’S word is powerful; but it always mercifully respects our human freedom. And the difficulty with these two points is that when people reject God’s word, as they are entirely free to do, they can tend to lurch violently in the opposite direction.

The first reading for next Sunday is an account of the calling of the prophet Jeremiah to what was going to be a far from easy ministry. Nor, it must be said, does he have much choice in the matter, for God tells him: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I consecrated you; I have given you as a prophet to the nations.”

Then he is gently warned that it will be no easy task: “Gird up your loins” (the equivalent of an athlete’s endurance equipment) “and you shall speak to them whatever I command you.” Nor is he likely to win friends, for he is to speak “against all the land, against the kings of Judah and its princes and priests and against all the people of the land”.

That, of course, leaves pretty well everyone at odds with the young prophet. No wonder

S outher n C ross

he is told that “they will fight against you”.

It is not all gloom, however: “They will not overcome you, for I am with you, says YHWH, to deliver you.”

So much for the youthful Jeremiah receiving his vocation. The psalm might have been (but was not) written by Jeremiah in old age, looking back on how it has all worked out, and it is a lovely hymn to the God who has mercifully carried him through: “In you, YHWH, I take refuge—let me not be put to shame.” God is “a rock for me, a refuge”, “You are my hope, Lord YHWH; my trust from my youth…from my mother’s womb you are my strength.”

The psalmist can look back over a lifetime of God’s favour: “O God, from my youth you have taught me—up to this moment I have proclaimed your wonders.”

The power of God’s word, and the negative reactions it can arouse, was of course something that Paul knew very well indeed. In next Sunday’s second reading, he is making his final (and, alas, unsuccessful) attempt—appropriate

enough in this Year of Mercy—to persuade the Corinthians not to quarrel with each other.

They were to do that by seeking the gifts that God offers, and above all by embracing the greatest gift of them all, namely “love”. The only thing that is important, says Paul, is that you should love.

Religious practice, charismatic gifts, spiritual endowments, even asceticism and generosity to the poor, unaccompanied by love are, as far as Paul is concerned, utterly useless.

Paul describes this love in terms that are almost a portrait of his beloved Lord: “Longsuffering, kindly, not jealous, not bearing a grudge, not puffed up…love never fails.” It is a lovely passage, and needs to be read over and over again.

The Gospel reminds us of the stark fate of those who fearlessly preach God’s word. It has Jesus preaching the shortest sermon in history; as you would expect, this is well received at first, but soon another mood creeps in: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” And Jesus trails his coat: “Soon you’ll be telling me…‘Doctor,

Let your soul catch up S

Frank’s diary, Dag Hammarskjold’s Markings, Etty Hillesum’s An Interrupted Life, or Henri Nouwen’s Genesee Diary.

My journals resemble more what you might get from a schoolboy describing his day at school, a simple chronology of what happened.

Yet when I go back and read an account of what I did each day, I’m always amazed at how rich and full life was on those days, except that I wasn’t much aware of it at the time.

While actually living through those days, mostly I was struggling to get my work done, to stay healthy, to meet expectations, to carve out some moments of friendship and recreation amidst the pressures of the day, and to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

There wasn’t a lot of soul there, just a lot of routine, work and hurry.

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his is not atypical. Most of us, I suspect, live most of our days not very aware of how rich our lives are, forever leaving our souls behind.

For example, many is the woman who gives ten to fifteen years of her life to bearing and raising children, with all that entails, tending constantly to someone else’s needs, getting up at night to nurse a child, spending 24 hours a day on constant alert, sacrificing all leisure time, and putting a career and personal creativity on hold.

And yet too often that same woman,

Conrad

OMETIMES nothing is a helpful as a good metaphor. In his book The God Instinct, Tom Stella shares this story.

A number of men who made their living as porters were hired one day to carry a huge load of supplies for a group on safari. Their loads were unusually heavy and the trek through the jungle was on a rough path.

Several days into the journey they stopped, unshouldered their loads, and refused to go on. No pleas, bribes or threats worked in terms of persuading them to go on. Asked why they couldn’t continue, they answered: “We can’t go on; we have to wait for our souls to catch up with us.”

That happens to us too in life, except mostly we never wait for our souls to catch up. We continue on without them, sometimes for years.

What’s meant by this? Mostly it means that we struggle to be in the present moment, to be inside our own skins, to be aware of the richness of our own experience.

Mostly our experiences aren’t very soulful because we aren’t very present to them.

An example: For the past 20 years I’ve kept a journal, a diary of sorts. My intent in keeping this journal is to record the deeper things that I’m aware of throughout each day; but mostly what I end up actually writing down is a simple chronology of my day, a daybook, a bare, no-frills, recounting of what I did from hour to hour.

My diaries don’t much resemble Anne

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Nicholas King SJ

Our freedom to choose

cure yourself. Do the things we’ve heard of in Capernaum here also in your homeland’.”

Jesus, however, pulls absolutely no punches, and quotes scripture, to show that Elijah and Elisha were also unpredictable as to how and where they dispensed divine favour. Jeremiah was likewise something of a thorn in the flesh for his Jewish contemporaries. Certainly Jesus and Jeremiah suffered a similar fate: refusal to listen, attempted murder and so on.

Luke tells us in this instance: “And they were all filled with rage, hearing these things in the synagogue. They rose up and hustled him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built, so as to fling him down the cliff.”

But God is in charge: “He went through the midst of them, and set out on his journey.” God’s power is greater than the violence of those who reject God.

Southern Crossword #690

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final reflection

later on, looks back on those years and wishes she could relive them—but, now, in a more soulful way, more deliberately aware of how wonderful and privileged it is to do precisely those things she did with so much drama and tiredness.

Years later, looking back, she sees how rich and precious her experience was and how, because of the burden and stress, how little her soul was present then to what she was actually undergoing.

This can be multiplied with a thousand examples.

We’ve all read accounts wherein someone shares what he or she would do differently if he or she had life to live over again.

Mostly these stories rework the same motif: Given another chance, I would try to enjoy it more the next time, that is, I would try to keep my soul more-present and moreaware.

For most of us, I fear, our souls will catch up with us only when, finally, we are in a retirement home, with diminished health, energy and opportunity to work. It seems we need to first lose something before we fully appreciate it.

We tend to take life, health, energy and work for granted—until they are taken away from us. Only after the fact do we realise how rich our life has been and how little of those riches we drank in at the time.

Our souls eventually do catch up with us, but it would be good if we didn’t wait until we were in the retirement home for this to happen. Like the porters who dropped their loads and stopped, we need regularly to stop and wait for our souls to catch up.

Early on in his priesthood, when Pope Francis was in charge of school, he would at a certain point each day have the public address system cut and interrupt the work that was going on in each classroom with this announcement: “Be grateful. Set your horizon. Take stock of your day.”

We all need, regularly, to lay down our burdens for a minute so our souls can catch up with us.

St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross

sunday reflections

aCroSS

1. Application to a higher court (6) 4. Mercury as known to the Greeks (6) 9. Sets up a place of worship (6,1,6) 10. Thuribles for pipers (7) 11. Have this philosopher for breakfast (5) 12. Bring to an end (5) 14. Make the lonely embrace the girl (5) 18. Make arise differently (5) 19. Heraldic animal (7) 21. Put the stained altar linen in here (7,6) 22. Shows to be plainly innocent (6) 23. Look for the arches abroad (6)

DoWn

1. Surprise attack (6) 2. I’m entire group with the firstborn advantage (13) 3. Confuse like an egg (5) 5. Short Hibernian in the exit on show (7) 6. He performs wonders (7-6) 7. Stony-faced Egyptian (6) 8. Reason for canonisation perhaps? (5) 13. He could be the buyer (7) 15. Happy romp in the playground (6) 16. Ships’ loading bays given to Peter, we hear (5) 17. Kidnap (6) 20. Pirate loses his head when angry (5) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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VERY morning the man and his wife argued about who should make the coffee.

They traded good arguments until one day the wife said that brewing the coffee should her husband’s job because it says so in the Bible.

“In the Bible?” answered the husband. “I’d like to see that!”

The wife opened the Bible to the New Testament and showed him the heading over several pages: “Hebrews.”

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!)