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The

S outher n C ross

February 24 to March 1, 2016

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4965

www.scross.co.za

Bishop Kevin Dowling’s silver jubilee

These are the ‘Catholic Oscars’

How porn is destroying healthy sex

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R8,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Parliament is a ‘theatre of insults’

BY STUART GRAHAM

D Mr N Arendse, fondly known as Oom Klonkie, a parishioner of St Peter’s die Visserman parish in Laingville, St Helena Bay, holds a model of a fishing boat which he made from Lollypop sticks. He has generously donated his artwork so that the parish can accumulate some muchneeded funds. St Peter’s die Visserman parish is a very small community situated on the West Coast. (Photo: Bernard Moat)

New head of ecumenism to lead Women’s Day of Prayer

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ADIO Veritas has teamed up with wellloved Bishop Victor Phalana and a group of talented priests to make the International Women’s World Day of Prayer event.

Speaking about his involvement in and intention for the event, the bishop said: “We are going to use this time to reflect on our attitudes towards women and the girl-child, as an opportunity to facilitate dialogue between mother and daughter, so that we can also learn how to relate in a healthy way.”

Bishop Phalana, the main celebrant for the day, was recently elected to head the department of ecumenism for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He stresses that

Bishop Victor Phalana this event is one of an ecumenical nature, one where, as a Church, we should use this time to “ecumenically repent”.

The event hopes to attract young girls accompanied by their mothers and grandmothers. The bishop says he hopes that this experience will motivate

young girls to look past “the momentary pleasure of the day” and focus rather on growing, maturing and contributing to the future of the country.

The International Women’s World Day of Prayer is a gathering where women from all walks of life stand together in prayer and worship against all the ills of society.

This year, it will take place on Saturday, March 5, at Christ The King Catholic cathedral in Johannesburg.

Fathers Karabo Baloyi, S’milo Mngadi, Emil Blaser, Teboho Matseke and other religious leaders from different denominations will be present. n For more information, contact Mahadi Buthelezi at 011 663 4700.

ISRUPTIONS led by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the National Assembly have turned parliament into a “theatre of insults” and taken away a space for South Africans to discuss and argue in safety, the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office said in a critique of President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation speech.

The discourse has shifted to the streets, the courts, the campuses and the community halls, as it did in the 1980s, when under the apartheid government parliament was seen at best as irrelevant and at worst as “the source of the country’s problems”, said researchers Mike Pothier and Fr Matsepane Morare SJ. “The tragic aspect of the circus that erupts on these occasions is that parliament as a safe space for South Africans to discuss, argue, and even seriously disagree—a place to fight without violence—is quickly disappearing,” the researchers said.

“Instead, parliament has become a theatre for insults, grandstanding, and extremist oneupmanship, and its main occasions have become no more than opportunities to end up as the lead story in news reports, with a guaranteed audience.”

Those responsible for the impasse in parliament that has characterised successive SONAs and successive “President’s Questions” need to question their role, the researchers said.

This includes at a minimum the presiding officers, the EFF and Mr Zuma.

“The country has a right to hear what the President has to say, and then to pass its judgment.

“Rendering the speech inaudible or engaging in long, repetitive arguments with the presiding officers merely dishonours parliament and ends up reducing, not enhancing, the degree of accountability it can exact.”

Barbed wire now winds around parliament to separate warring factions, with riot police patrolling the streets. To allow this spectacle to continue would be seriously damaging to our democracy, the CPLO said.

The EFF makes no bones about wanting to put Mr Zuma on the spot and to demand a public accounting for actions that, in its view, have harmed the nation or the economy. But, leaving aside the argument that many of the

The EFF protest and stage a walk-out during the annual State of the Nation address.

EFF’s own policies, if implemented, would be even more economically destructive, their chosen strategy must be seriously questioned, the researchers said.

Yes, parliament should be a place of robust exchange and maximum freedom of speech; but continual interruption and the raising of spurious points of order does nothing to foster either of these.

Last year, the EFF succeeded in capturing the moral high ground when its MPs were physically removed from the chamber by police. This year, as they chanted their way out via a side door in what was clearly a choreographed move, they ceded much of that ground back to the Speaker and, ultimately, to Mr Zuma. It was almost as if, with the irritating children out of the way, the adults could get down to business.

An intervention by Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota during Zuma’s speech “was surprising”, the CPLO said.

“Was he simply trying to grab an EFF-style headline, or was he, having come to the end of his tether, expressing genuine feelings of frustration and disillusion,” the researchers asked.

“Mr Lekota is one of parliament’s senior figures, having served as a cabinet minister, as national chairperson of the ANC, and as head of the National Council of Provinces, and has a struggle pedigree that very few active politicians can match.

“He would not have stood up last night lightly; but at the same time, his walkout, accompanied by his only two party colleagues, emphasised how isolated he has become.”

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The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

LOCAL

Johannesburg a city of challenges for new bishop

BY STUART GRAHAM

Fr Duncan Tsoke, newly appointed auxiliary bishop of Johannesburg,said fighting drug addiction among the youth and aiding professionals from across Africa living in the city to help solve South Africa’s skills crisis are two important projects.

F

ATHER Duncan Tsoke, who was appointed as auxillary bishop of Johannesburg earlier in February, says the first thing he did after being told the news was retire to a chapel to pray.

“I was shaking,” he told The Southern Cross. “I needed a chance to reflect and be alone with God. This is an enormous responsibility. I had to pray for strength and guidance.”

Fr Tsoke has been serving as the vicar general of the archdiocese of Johannesburg and parish priest at the Holy Family parish in Turffontein.

Johannesburg is a sprawling city with many challenges. The job of bishop, which he will share with Archbishop Buti Tlhagale, will be a daunting one, he said.

The city has extremes of widespread poverty and incredible wealth. Immigrants from across Africa move to Johannesburg to make money and have a better life but are often left destitute and struggling to survive.

One of the largest challenges Fr Tsoke has encountered is the effect that drugs are having on the youth.

“Drugs are tearing up society,” he said.

“I see that as one of my challenges as bishop. I would like to use my position to help those who are

addicted and affected by drugs and drug addiction.”

Fr Tsoke said he was inspired by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier’s call earlier this year for parishes around the country to fight back against “almost invincible” drug addiction.

Tasks teams need to be set up countrywide to engage with drug users and their families, and organise rehabilitation networks and support structures, Cardinal Napier said in a pastoral letter after spending time working in a drug rehabilitation clinic in Durban.

Another issue close to Fr Tsoke’s heart is the plight of immigrants from Africa. He often meets highly skilled Catholics from Cameroon and Congo, who are battling to find work.

“Many of them are doctors and

engineers, but they can’t find work here,” he said.

“They end up taking jobs as gardeners and painters to survive. That is unacceptable in South Africa, where we have a shortage of skills and there is so much need for our people.”

Fr Tsoke—who was born in Daveyton in 1964 and ordained a priest in 1995—has served as parish vicar, formator and teacher of spirituality at the St Peter’s Seminary of Garsfontein, Pretoria, episcopal vicar for evangelisation, assistant vicar for vocational pastoral ministry, parish priest and parish administrator.

The archdiocese of Johannesburg has a population of 253 000 Catholics served by just over 140 priests, 16 permanent deacons and nearly 200 religious.

Marist Brothers postulants of Southern Africa province for this year at Champagnat House in Malawi. They are from Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola (Front row from left) Lucas Mpando, Horacio Mitengo, Inocencio Filismino, Richard Chitembo,Innocent Chisenga, Charles Herbert, Benson Jackson and Costenes Joao Matias. (Back) Paschal Tchakulnada, Martin Malere, Emiliano, Innocent, Gabriel, Dilundu, Christopher, Innocent Kadyandawa, Daniel Sakala, Felestino Kanema kauya and Filipe.

Catholic education joins Anglo in Limpopo

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HE Catholic Institute of Education (CIE), JET Education Services and BRIDGE have been awarded a contract to develop and strengthen teaching and learning in 10 schools in Sekhukhune, Limpopo, on behalf of the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund. CIE is the lead service provider.

The programme was launched to school leaders, parents and officials from the Department of Basic Education (DBE).

“The aim of the programme is to address areas that have been identified for improvement and deliver a plan of activities that will hopefully

affect real change in the education outcomes of these 10 schools,” said Julie Dawjee, CIE’s school improvement specialist. “CIE’s interventions will offer support in the areas of literacy, mathematics and pastoral care. We will train educators on how to teach reading, writing and numeracy.”

Follow-up visits will be conducted to monitor and support educators in the teaching of the skills they will learn in the workshops.

Another objective of the programme is to ensure that school environments are caring and safe, and foster the wellbeing of children.

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“We will begin by conducting a climate survey in the schools to determine what level of care is being experienced by learners,” explained Nontobeko Matlala, pastoral care coordinator at CIE. “After that we will develop care policies with the schools and assist them in establishing care committees. We intend to create a support network that addresses the needs of learners. This will require the participation of learners, educators, parents, DBE officials, police, local businesses, clinics and various other community members.”

Be ambassadors of God’s mercy to those who are unloved, broken, rejected, betrayed by those they trust, Johannesburg Archbishop Buti Tlhagale (above with parishioners) said at a Mass where he blessed a new tabernacle at Our Lady of Lerato in Kempton Park in the Ekurhuleni municipality outside Johannesburg. Lent, he said, invites us to be truly remorseful, merciful and forgiving to others. The archbishop also expressed his admiration of Our Lady of Lerato’s well-maintained precincts. He then requested the congregation to assist in construction of Stations of the Cross at new land obtained for the archdiocese’s Immaculate Conception Marian shrine near Boys’ Town in the Magaliesburg. Parish priest Fr Peter Rebello OCD was applauded by the congregation as he accepted the task on behalf of parishioners.

Bicentennial jubilee for Oblates

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HE celebration of the 200th year of the existence of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a celebration not only of the universal Church but also of the founding of the local Church in Southern Africa in which St Eugene de Mazenod played a direct role in animating the missionary drive of the first Oblate missionaries sent to the port of Natal in 1850.

The founding of the Oblate Congregation began with the personal conversion of De Mazenod as he prayed at the foot of the Cross, and it was through this experience that he understood humanity’s need for salvation—and especially the poor and most abandoned.

The birth of the congregation began with Fr de Mazenod leaving behind a life of luxury and wealth and devoting himself to the poor, the workers, the youth, the sick and the imprisoned in Aix in Provence.

With a group of diocesan priests, Fr de Mazenod established the Society of the Missionaries of Provence in 1816. Later, in 1826, he saw that his call was for the whole world rather than just for one region. So the small group of missionaries changed their name to Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and received pontifical approbation that year.

Fr de Mazenod was appointed bishop of Marseilles in 1837. At first, this was a crisis moment for

the small congregation because the initial rule of the first missionaries forbade the acceptance of positions of authority within the Church, so as to remain close to the poor.

But this appointment brought Fr de Mazenod into working for missions in the universal Church.

O

blates were sent out to the missions of Canada in 1841, England in 1843, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1847 and South Africa in 1852.

Bishop de Mazenod sent out Fr Marie-Jean-Francois Allard as the first bishop of the vicariate of Natal.

It was a huge expanse of jurisdiction which extended from the Great Kei River to the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe.

In many letters, Bishop de Mazenod gave several exhortations to Bishop Allard and the first missionaries for the evangelisation of the people of Africa

and participated in directing the strategy of the first missionaries.

His letters highlight his vision that Oblates should be close to the people by means of evangelising through the bonds of human affection, mercy and understanding.

The work he began for the local Church in South Africa established many areas in Southern Africa, from the first vicariate of Natal in 1852 to the Mongu diocese in Zambia in 1984.

By the close of his life, the missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate numbered 417 missionaries and by 2016, the Oblates number about 4 000 missionaries of priests and brothers.

The history of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate over the past 200 years is a history of many successes and many failures. But, throughout this journey, God has utilised the small sacrifices of many to become a blessing for the Church.

Rev Dr Alan C Henriques OMI

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

3

Bishop Dowling: ‘Voice of the voiceless’

BY MATHIBELA SEBOTHOMA

B

ISHOP Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg shed a tear during his silver jubilee celebration in Phokeng, North West province, when he spotted the Bafokeng Queen Mother Semane Molotlegi among the congregants.

At that moment he recalled the atrocities of apartheid that he had experienced in the Bophuthatswana “homeland” after he was ordained bishop of Rustenburg 25 years ago.

Testifying at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997, Bishop Dowling recounted how he was summoned by Bophuthatswana’s President Lucas Mangope on February 12, 1991.

The new bishop was asked to explain why he was allowing Church property to be used by antiapartheid activists.

Bishop Dowling explained that he believed in democracy and freedom of speech, but his interrogators took this stance as support for forces bent on destabilising the bantustan.

When Bafokeng Queen Semane Molotlegi became the target of apartheid security forces, and was under threat of being removed from her house in Phokeng and deported, Bishop Dowling made representations to halt the move, which he argued would destabilise the area as she commanded significant support.

It was Bishop Dowling who transported the queen to exile for her safety.

Speaking in Setswana at the silver jubilee celebration, Bishop Dowling said: “Our Queen Mother, you are in my heart and in my life.”

In April 1992 the bishop was

Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg celebrated his silver jubilee in Phokeng, addressing the crowd in Setswana. Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg paid tribute to him, as ‘an unwavering voice of the voiceless’, a man ‘who has always urged the bishops not to interpret the traditions of the Church in such a way that the poor are made to feel guilty, burdened and suffocated, instead of experiencing through the Church God’s mercy’.

again summoned to see Mr Mangope, and accused of giving the National Union of Mineworkers a platform and meeting place, at a time when mineworkers had embarked on frequent strikes and political action.

Born in Pretoria in 1944, Bishop Dowling was educated at the city’s Christian Brothers’ College. After his schooling he entered the Redemptorist novitiate in Cape Town, studied at Hawkstone in England, and was ordained in 1967.

In 1977 he was elected viceprovincial of the Redemptorists in South Africa, and 12 years later a consultor to the Redemptorist General in Rome.

Shortly after he returned to

South Africa he was named bishop of Rustenburg.

He has chaired the Justice and Peace Department of the bishops’ conference.

In the mid-1990s he was instrumental in setting up the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

During his quarter of a centurylong episcopate, Bishop Dowling has always acted according to his conscience, even if this was met with opposition.

When HIV/Aids ravaged the African continent, Dowling supported the use of condoms, to the dismay of some bishops and laity in Southern Africa.

He was one of the few bishops from Africa who protested against

what critics see as archaic language in the liturgy in the latest missal.

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg, a former president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), paid tribute to the bishop of Rustenburg: “An outstanding quality that has penetrated and shaped the attitude of Bishop Kevin, his work and contribution for many years, is his preferential option for the poor.

“He has been an unwavering voice of the voiceless, he has always urged the bishops not to interpret the traditions of the Church in such a way that the poor are made to feel guilty, burdened and suffocated, instead of experiencing through the Church God’s mercy.”

The archbishop described Bishop Dowling as a formidable public speaker. “Once in Bulawayo he spoke so movingly about the injustices in that country that many feared he might not be able to leave the country or might be declared persona non grata in Zimbabwe.”

Archbishop Tlhagale also noted the quality of Bishop Dowling’s contribution to the SACBC. “One of his admirers—and I am glad he is here today, Archbishop George Daniel—remarked on several occasions after Bishop Kevin had spoken that he has a remarkably lucid mind and a rare ability to put things in perspective.”

He noted that Bishop Dowling “continues to be one who formulates the resolutions of the bishops’ conference—but this does not mean he agrees with the resolutions he has written!”

Bishop Dowling said he had many painful experiences as bishop. For example, he could not afford to employ personnel because the diocese of Rustenburg did not have money.

Bishop Dowling said he drew consolation from seeing that “more and more of my people experience that they are personally called by Jesus to build the Reign of God in our diocese and society through sharing their gifts, talents, and time in collaborative ministry with others”.

He shocked bishops and public at the celebration when he asked for forgiveness for things he failed to do as diocesan bishop. “I feel I have failed as bishop,” he said. “I have tried to be faithful.”

The reaction of those in the congregation indicated that the contrary was true.

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4

The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

INTERNATIONAL

Zika virus rekindles abortion debate

BY LISE ALVES

T

HE president of the Brazilian bishops’ conference criticised a proposal by the UN Human Rights Commission that countries allow abortion in cases in which the mother was infected with the Zika virus.

“Abortion is not the answer for the Zika virus,” Archbishop Sergio da Rocha of Brasilia said. “We need to value life in any situation or condition. Less quality of life does not mean less right to live or less human dignity.”

The same day, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff met with members of the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil to seek their help in fighting the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the Zika virus.

Ms Rousseff asked the religious leaders—including Catholics—to urge parishioners to look around their homes and neighbourhoods for possible breeding grounds for the mosquito, which also transmits

Ana Beatriz, a 4-month-old girl with microcephaly in Lagoa do Carro, Brazil. (Photo: Percio Campos, EPA/CNS) dengue and chikungunya fever.

The Zika virus, which has made world headlines in the past few weeks, has been linked by the Brazilian government to the surge in microcephaly cases, although only 400 of 3 670 suspected cases of microcephaly have been proven to be linked to the virus.

The possible link has led to the rekindling of the debate surrounding the decriminalisation of abortion in Brazil. Groups that have often spoken out for the decriminalisation are

now said to be preparing a suit to be taken to Brazil’s Supreme Court for the authorisation for abortion in cases of confirmed Zika infection in pregnant women.

Auxiliary Bishop Leonardo Steiner of Brasilia, secretary-general of the bishops’ conference, said groups are taking advantage of a painful situation to advance the discussion of abortion in the country. He said the Church’s position would always be in favour of life.

Other Christian groups, however, would like to expand the discussion on abortion to other sectors of society and hear what women have to say.

“We understand this is an issue that needs to be discussed with society in a much more open and democratic manner,” said Joel Zeferino, president of the Alliance of Baptists of Brazil. “We need to include in this debate the women who suffer these abortions, the women who live on the outskirts of our cities, these are the ones who, in fact, resort to illegal abortions.”—CNS

Kenyan bishops donate food, clothing to thousands

BY MIKE O’MAERA

A

PROMINENT Kenyan bishop said Lent is a time to celebrate and experience God’s mercy, then donated clothing and food to more than 4 000 households on behalf of the bishops’ conference.

Bishop Cornelius Arap Korir of Eldoret, launching the bishops’ national Lenten campaign, said Kenyans “need to shun corruption, negative ethnicity and radicalisation that tears the country apart and embrace oneness and tolerance of one another”.

He added that “in the season of

A woman cooks outside her residence in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo: Daniel Irungu, EPA) Lent, the Catholic Church calls her faithful to be in fellowship and sol-

idarity with their brothers and sisters who are less fortunate and support the Church through prayers, self-denial and almsgiving”.

The bishops’ Lenten campaign asks Kenyans to pray and reflect on responsible citizenry, care for the environment, family values, insecurity and corruption.

In the bishops’ Lenten guide, Bishop Korir said: “Kenya is a blessed country, but when we do not take responsibility for our affairs and when we remove God from our dealings, we lose a lot.”—CNS

Guiding the hearts and minds of tomorrow’s leaders

Fr Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, is pictured reading in a kayak in this photo dated 1955. (Photo: CNS)

John Paul II’s friendships, letters, not a secret

E

XPERTS and friends of St John Paul II responded quickly to a BBC documentary about his friendship with Polish-born female philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka—questioning some of the portrayals of their friendship and outright dismissing others.

“John Paul II’s friendship with her was neither secret nor extraordinary,” Poland’s national library, which hosts Ms Tymieniecka’s letters from the Pope, said.

“The statements made in the media have no basis in the content of the letters of John Paul II to Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka which are in the National Library of Poland’s archives,” the library said, according to Agence France Presse.

The BBC News discussed letters and various meetings between the Pope and Ms Tymieniecka, saying that the letters showed a close relationship. The BBC story said there is no suggestion the Pope “broke his vow of celibacy”.

Greg Burke, vice-director of the Holy See Press Office, commented on the broadcast.

“With regard to a documentary on the BBC, it comes as no great revelation that Pope John Paul II had deep friendships with a number of people, men and women alike,” he said. “No one will be shocked by that.”

The report started internet rumours of an affair, but the late Pope’s long-time secretary countered these.

“Those who lived at John Paul II’s side know very well that there is no space for malicious conspiracy theories,” Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz said in a statement.

“He was free and transparent,

he lived with no complexes because he was a very pure man. This is the only key of interpretation of his exemplary and holy life.”

The friendship between Pope John Paul II and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka was well known within John Paul II’s inner circle and outside of it.

George Weigel’s biography of John Paul II, Witness to Hope, recounts that Ms Tymienecka began writing letters to the prelate before he was a pope—when he was known as Karol Wojtyla. The letters discussed his philosophical thoughts after the publication of his book The Acting Person.

Gianfranco Svidercoschi, a veteran Vatican observer and a biographer of John Paul II, also commented on the story.

“Ms Tymieniecka kept all the letters from the Pope, and also a copy of the letters she sent,” Mr Svidercoschi said.

After John Paul II’s death, “...the Polish National Library bought them all. However, the letters are not available for reading.”

In his view, this is the reason why the BBC can claim that these are “secret letters”.

Mr Svidercoschi maintained that John Paul II had friendly relations with many people, including a long friendship with Wanda Poltawska, a Polish doctor, writer and World War II concentration camp survivor.

“John Paul II loved to meet people. When he wanted to discuss something, he used to invite someone for a walk in the mountains.

And he loved to go boating,” Mr Svidercoschi said.—CNA

Pope to priests: Year of Mercy means unpaid overtime

BY CAROL GLATZ

P Brescia House School celebrates its Jubilee year in 2016.

Grade 8 2017 Entrance and Scholarship examinations will be held on Saturday 5 March 2016 from 08:00 – 12:00. To To register or for further www.brescia.co.za information, email admissions@brescia.co.za or visit www .brescia.co.za

OPE Francis told Rome’s priests that offering God’s mercy during the jubilee year will mean lots of unpaid overtime.

“I think this year there will be lots of overtime that will not be paid,” he said to laughter. “But the Lord will give you joy for working overtime, being merciful like the Father,” he said, as he met with them at the Basilica of St John Lateran for his annual Lenten meeting with pastors of Rome parishes and heard confession from a few priests, according to Vatican Radio.

In a short, unscripted address, the pope told the priests to make sure they try to understand their people, “to put themselves in the other’s shoes” and be generous with forgiveness.

Just as doctors and nurses can heal injuries, priests can alleviate suffering, too, he said. A kind word

from a priest “is so good—very good. It works miracles”.

Being “rigid” or stingy with forgiveness is the fault of a priest suffering from “the disease of clericalism”. Every priest is susceptible to this disease, he said, “everyone, me too. We all have this”.

But they need to remember, he said, that “we are not princes, we’re not masters. We are servants of the people”.

Priests have to remember that God became incarnate to be able to embrace and understand people.

“If you do not believe that God became flesh, you are the Antichrist,” he said. “And that’s not me saying that. That’s the apostle John who says it.”

Jesus instituted the priesthood precisely so they could “go and help the people with humility and mercy”.—CNS

PAPAL VISIT

The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

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Young people hold a banner of Jesus as Pope Francis meets with youths at the Jose Maria Morelos Pavon Stadium in Morelia.

Pope Francis tries on a sombrero while meeting journalists aboard his flight to Havana, Cuba, where he briefly met with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

Viva Papa Francesco!

P

OPE Francis’ 6-day visit to Mexico included visits to crime-ridden areas, the indigenous peoples of the Chiapas and a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadaloupe.

The Pope demanded forceful denunciations of drug violence in Mexico from the country’s bishops, who have preferred timid pronouncements instead of speaking prophetically on a tragedy that has claimed more than 100 000 lives over the past 10 years. Speaking to an audience of bishops in Mexico City’s Metropolitan cathedral, Pope Francis urged them to confront the scourge of drug cartels and organised crime.

“I urge you not to underestimate the moral and anti-social challenge which the drug trade represents for young people and Mexican society as a whole,” Pope Francis said.

The violence has claimed the lives of more than a dozen priests over the past five years, while some dioceses have been accused of collecting narcolimosnas or “drug alms”, and drug bosses—who often consider themselves proper Catholics—construct and fix parishes and sponsor patron saint feast days.

Pope Francis also alluded to the folkloric Santa Muerte, a skeletal pseudo-saint attracting hordes of followers in Mexico and Latin America, including many in the illegal drug trade.

“I am particularly concerned about those many persons who, seduced by the empty power of the world, praise illusions and embrace their macabre symbols to commercialise death in exchange for money which, in the end, ‘moth and rust consume’,” he said.

Church observers said the pope’s message was unprecedented for Mexico, where the bishops’ conference has become quite conservative over the past quarter-century as the Church and government restored relations. In some Catholic circles, critical voices on issues such as human right have been considered an impediment to that process.

Pope Francis fulfilled his much-desired wish to pray in silence before the miracu-

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lous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe After celebrating the first Mass of his papal trip to Mexico, the pope made his way to the camarin (little room) behind the main altar of the basilica dedicated to Mary.

The miraculous mantle, which normally faces the congregation, can be turned around to allow a closer and more private moment of veneration.

About 12 000 people packed the basilica for the papal Mass and another 30 000 were watching on screens set up in the outer courtyard. Built in 1976, the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is located near Tepeyac hill, the site of Mary’s apparitions to St Juan Diego in 1531.

T

he pope began his travels to Mexico’s “peripheries” in Ecatepec, on the edge of Mexico City, by visiting an overcrowded, sprawling settlement known internationally as a hunting ground for girls forced into prostitution and for boys to enlist in the drug trade.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on a vast open field with some 300 000 people. The high-altar platform was decorated with Aztec designs—flowers and birds—made of flowers and petals.

More than 1,7 million people live in Ecatepec, which Vatican Radio described as “a lawless neighbourhood where organised crime, pollution and poverty reign and where most people fear to tread”.

In his homily the pope said: “You cannot dialogue with the devil because he will always win. Only the power of the word of God can defeat him.”

Lent, the pope said, is a time of conversion, which involves acknowledging each day how the devil tries to tempt and divide people.

“Three great temptations”—wealth, vanity and pride—are behind such an attitude and so many other ills that destroy society and attack human dignity, he said.

The sinful use of money and material things, he said, is “seizing hold of goods destined for all and using them only for ‘my own people’”. It involves living off the

Women stand near an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Morelia, Mexico.

sweat and labour of others, “even at the expense of their very lives”, the pope said.

Visiting San Cristobal de Las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state, the pope paid homage to the culture and ancient wisdom of Mexico’s indigenous peoples, urged them to hold on to hope and condemned those who exploit their people and their land.

“Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior. Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them,” the pope said at a Mass with representatives of Mexico’s indigenous communities.

Chiapas has been a centre of advocacy and struggle for indigenous rights, and particularly the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas, has been a centre of official Catholic support for indigenous culture, support that was not always shared by all of Mexico’s bishops.

The pope visited Morelia, capital of Michoacán state—a stronghold of the Knights Templar drug cartel—and told tens of thousands of young people at Jose Maria Pavon Stadium: “Jesus never sends anyone out as a hitman, dealing in death, but calls Christians to be his disciples and friends.”

Pope Francis also repeated his frequent call to priests, religious and seminarians to get out of their churches and convents and take God’s mercy and offer of salvation to the world. “The devil loves Christians—especially priests and nuns—who are resigned to the violence and corruption around them,” he said.

The final Mass of the 6-day trip was celbrated as a bi-national event in Ciudad Juárez, with thousands watching from across the Rio Grande River border. The pope pleaded for the plight of immigrants while warning those refusing to offer safe shelter and passage that their actions and inhospitable attitudes were bringing about dishonor and self-destruction as their hearts hardened and they “lost their sensitivity to pain”. —CNS

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Dancers perform during a welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City. (All photos except specified: Paul Haring/CNS)

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The original image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is seen as Pope Francis celebrates Mass Pedro Esquivel and Lila de la Torre watch Pope Francis' arrival at the Mexico City airport on a in the basilica of Our Lady of large screen in the city’s central Zocalo square.

Guadalupe in Mexico City.

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A panther decorates the altar as Pope Francis celebrates Mass with the indigenous community from Chiapas in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico.

M PA I G

Pope Francis gives a vaccine to Rodrigo Lopez Miranda, 5, held by Mexico’s first lady Angelica Rivera during a visit to the Federico Gomez Children’s Hospital of Mexico in Mexico City.

Pope Francis waves to people gathered across the border in El Paso, Texas, after praying at a wooden cross in Ciudad Juarez. (Photo: Max Rossi, Reuters/CNS)

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6

The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Church has not lost contemplation

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editor: Michael Shackleton

I

T is wrong to say that the Western Church lost the contemplative dimension, as Paul Faller argues in his letter (December 30).

If one looks at the Divine Office second readings, century after century we see the Church’s rich contemplative tradition. However, I agree with Mr Faller that meditation in the Christian tradition is not a new thing, as true meditation goes back to the Bible.

The Bible says we are to meditate on the word of God (Ps 1:2), works of God (Deut 32:4), on Jesus (Heb 12:3), eternal things (Col 3:2), and things pleasing to God (Ps 19:14).

Traditional meditation always begins with the Bible and the glories of salvation history, mulling over these things as Mary did (Lk 2:19), especially on the Passion (Heb 12:3), using our God-given minds and imaginations to the full.

Victory with self-control

T

HIS month we reported that Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban had written a pastoral letter in which he called on parishes to fight back against drug addiction which, he remarked, was “almost invincible”.

He urged them to be aware of the extreme harm done to young people in particular, and to take practical steps to engage with drug users, their families and friends.

Poverty and the breakdown of family and community structures were among the root causes of this unhealthy state of affairs, he said, and identified the abandonment of good morals and upright behaviour as the worst of them.

This abandonment of a responsible and caring attitude towards the common good of all in society appears to be the kind of life so many of our children are born into. It is a situation and milieu in which moral values are questioned or even eliminated.

The adage that one must do the right thing and avoid the evil thing is obscured or forgotten.

This blindness to morality means that, in a certain sense, too many of our young people are born blind in this way. They cannot see the positive values of love and respect for God, neighbour and oneself.

It is not easy in a permissive society to exercise self-control, which is a behaviour pattern relatively independent of external forces.

We are social beings. We think, act, experience emotions and talk in relation to other people. This has implications in that individuals and groups are stealthily swayed by others to do things they would not otherwise do.

St Paul found himself in a similar position when he wrote: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it but sin which dwells within me” (Romans 7:19).

The ever-present human tendency to take the line of least resistance when faced with a moral choice between right and wrong is what self-control is all about.

In spite of the fact that our families, schools and parishes nourish a spiritual and mutually caring life in our people, it is up to each individual to embrace a personal commitment to do the right thing. This is best done

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.

through the good example of others because it is the bad example of so many delinquent role models that receives the greatest publicity and attention.

Public figures, whether in politics, commerce, entertainment or religion are on show regularly.

What they say and do has a tremendous influence on society’s attitudes and actions, constructively or destructively.

More’s the pity, then, that the conduct of many men and women in these spheres of responsibility is so often seen to be blatantly dishonest.

The holy season of Lent induces us to work hard to discipline our nature’s reluctance to do the right thing. When we give up little pleasures, attend Mass or do corporal works of mercy, we show that we can regulate our wayward desires.

But the season of Lent is only of a short duration. We need its spirit of self-discipline habitually so that we can stand up against the external influences that contradict the values taught us by Christ and his Church.

It is undeniable that scandals within the Church in many parts of the world have made it more difficult for people, particularly the young, to be motivated to behave with self-control.

Yet self-control is essential for anyone who has a goal, as is plain to see when students study rather than play or when seriously sick patients freely undergo uncomfortable medical procedures in order to be restored to health.

Pope Francis is rapidly demonstrating the effectiveness of an influential role model. He has presented us with a goal that is not only eternal life but also an earthly life in which families and communities can press on with supporting themselves and Mother Nature.

He has raised our spirits, nudging us to see with new eyes the happiness of experiencing God’s love and mercy in one another.

Whoever desires the outcome has to desire also the means to that outcome. This is an old maxim but it is pertinent now.

If we want a disciplined society we must want the means to it, namely, self-restraint and selfcontrol, and we must support one another in striving for it.

Relations with our Jewish brethren

I

T is 50 years since that groundbreaking document of Vatican II Nostra Aetate, a reason for joy and thanksgiving.

Who can forget that poignant meeting between the pope (now Saint John XXIII) and the Jewish rabbi at Rome’s synagogue, when the pope greeted and embraced the rabbi with the words: “I am your brother, Joseph” (Genesis 45:3).

Pope John’s baptismal name was Joseph (Giuseppe).

Our local Jewish newspaper has noted with joy the significance of the visits of three recent popes to the Jewish community.

I have always felt a nearness, great love and affinity for my Jewish brothers and sisters. It is a particular joy for me that our Pope Francis, too, has such a great love and closeness for and towards the Jewish people.

While still the archbishop of Buenos Aires, his very closest friend was a Jewish rabbi whom he invited to join him on his recent visit to the Holy Land. Pope Francis makes a special point of mentioning the Jewish people with obvious love, wherever possible. For this we thank him.

I was educated at a Christian Brothers’ college in Boksburg. There was one Jewish pupil in my class, and at the end of each year, when we had our religious instruction test, the brothers would contact his rabbi to set questions especially for him, from the Hebrew Scripures.

Let me quote from Nostra Aetate, Vatican II (1962-65) of the Catholic Church, regarding guidelines in regard to our Jewish brethren: “To the Jews ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving

The mediomedia meditation advocated by Mr Faller for all Catholic schools is a totally different thing.

Mediomedia meditation web pages all have this New Age definition: “Meditation is a process in which we take time to allow ourselves to become aware of our infinite potential.”

The New Age Movement (NAM) promises infinite potential through self-discovery. Christ promises eternal life through self-abandonment.

For the NAM, it’s all self-actualisation, self-transformation, self-potential. It’s all me, me, me.

The core difference between traditional Catholic meditation and the Hindu/Buddhist/NAM variety is that the former is all about love of God and neighbour and the latter is principally about achieving altered states of consciousness.

The former stresses faith and

of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ’ (Rom 9:45), for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable (Rom 11:29).

“The Church cannot forget that she received the revelation of the Hebrew Scriptures through the people, with whom God in his inexpressible mercy deigned to establish the ancient covenant.

“The Church recalls too that from the Jewish people sprang the Virgin Mary, the apostles, her foundation stones and pillars, as well as most of the early disciples.

“The Church awaits the day known to God alone when all peoples will address the Lord with a single voice and serve him with one accord.”

“The Church repudiates all persecutions against any man, and she deplores the hatred, persecutions and displays of anti-semitism directed against the Jewish people at any time and from any source” (Nostra Aetate 4, Vatican Council II).

John Lee, Johannesburg

Requiem Masses

T

HE letter “Whither Requiem Masses for aged?” (January 27) refers. It is stated that the writer found herself frequently attending Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

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New SA nuncio: Pray for me T

Two giant chandeliers made of old CDs, ice cream cartons, printers’ plates and broken mirrors b D i S h ti t were presented to the Denis Hurley Centre in Durba b U Samuel Gwezva and director Robin Opperman of U the centre’s AGM. (Photo: Niamh Walsh-Vorster)

HE newly-appointed papal nuncio to Pretoria has said he was “extremely humbled and honoured by the faith which has been placed in me by the Church and our Holy Father”, and has asked the faithful for their prayers as he prepares to embark on his new mission “to the extraordinar y people of Southern Africa”.

This is Archbishop Peter Wells’ first appointment as nuncio, a role in which he represents Pope Francis in the region and ser ves as ambassador to South Africa and Botswana (with the possibility of further countries being added to that portfolio).

The 52-year-old American has ser ved as the assessor for the General Affairs of the

or

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trust in God for Shalom, while for the latter it is all about technique to reduce the stress that, as Mr Faller put it in your report of September 2, 2015, “arises from the pressure that comes through peers and the media”. No word about prayer or grace here; just technique.

In Christianity there is no mention of mantra—neither the word nor the concept, just monologistos, or one-word prayer, as in the Jesus Prayer (actually 15 words) and John Cassian’s inspirational prayer (13 words) which focus the mind and do not empty it as in the NAM meditation of mediomedia.

I believe our children are being short-changed and deprived of genuine teaching on prayer by this rush to the mystic East. Have we nothing to contribute to spirituality except aping the Hindus and Buddhists and denying our own rich spiritual tradition?

Fr Finbarr Flanagan OFM, Pretoria Protestant memorial services for deceased practising Catholics instead of possibly a Requiem Mass in a Catholic church because the relatives of the deceased did not want the body in the church in a coffin.

Very young children, probably grandchildren, are unlikely to fully understand that the soul separates from the body at death.

They will have been told that Granny/Grandpa has gone to heaven and small children may well be very frightened at the sight of the coffin.

I would not like my grandchildren to associate me for the rest of their lives with a big brown box.

When I die I would like my grandchildren to be able to say goodbye to me without any fear and knowing that I was with God. J Bruyns-Haylett, Pietermaritzburg

Crossword fans

F

OR family reasons my wife and I have had to return to Britain permanently.

When our postal subscription to The Southern Cross expires we will not renew it. The digital subscription, however, we will keep on renewing because it means so much to us to be able to read it online and keep up to date with the Church in South Africa.

Every week on Wednesday, when I am notified the latest digital edition is available, the first thing I do is copy the Southern Crossword from the backpage.

My wife Mary and I enjoy the challenge to our ageing memories and especially the implicit wit and puns of the cryptic clues; so please would you pass on our thanks to the compiler, Michael Shackleton.

Jim Needham, UK

PERSPECTIVES

We have the cure for blemishes inside Emmanuel Ngara A S I grow older I have become more and more aware of the Catholic Church as a church of sinners.

By this I mean that more than many other Churches, the Catholic Church is prepared to admit that Christians are sinful people who have all fallen short of the goodness of God. This awareness of the sinfulness of humanity was heightened by the head of the Church himself, Pope Francis, who, on being asked who he is declared, “I am a sinner,” adding, “It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

From the very early times the Church sought to recognise the sinfulness of humanity by establishing the sacrament of confession or the sacrament of repentance.

This was in response to Jesus who calls us to repent: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 4:17).

Through baptism we are cleansed of our original sin, so why do we need to go to confession after baptism?

The short answer is that we are human, and as such we are inclined to sin again, even after we have renounced Satan at baptism, and so we need the sacrament of repentance and forgiveness. But how does this sacrament work?

There is a casual approach to confession: Someone is aware that he has committed grave sins which prevent him from receiving Holy Communion. He goes to confession and lists the sins he has committed: “I missed Sunday Mass three times;

I committed adultery twice; I stole a neighbour’s cellphone once.”

This itemisation of sins may be very genuine and may result in forgiveness; but genuine confession requires a lot more than just a recalling and enumeration of one’s sins—it requires interior repentance.

First, we could see the process of confession in this way: It is as if before baptism our bodies are covered with festering wounds of leprosy. On the day of baptism we go to the Pool of Siloam (where Jesus healed the blind man); we are immersed in the waters of the pool and we come out clean.

Now we are no longer lepers, but the disease keeps on manifesting itself in the

A priest grants absolution during the sacrament of reconciliation. Contrition, confession and penance are the way to conquering sin, writes Emmanuel Ngara.

(Photo: Nancy Phelan Wiechec/CNS)

Christian Leadership

form of wounds and small sores and we need to keep on visiting the pool to wash those wounds and sores until they get smaller and smaller and our bodies look really clean and beautiful without large marks of wounds and sores.

T

he wounds and sores are a symbol of internal blemishes on our souls that are caused by our waywardness as sinful humans. To get rid of those blemishes we need to go through a process of internal repentance and reconciliation with our holy and merciful God. We need to be like the Prodigal Son who remembers that he has sinned against his father and must go back and declare that he is no longer worthy to be called a son, but to be treated like one of the father’s servants.

Inclined as we are to sin again and again, if we are really committed to turning away from our sinful habits, our souls will keep on being cleansed of ugly blemishes, and we will more and more be desirous of establishing an intimate and friendly relationship with God, a relationship which spurs us to desire to avoid sin.

The old guitar man evokes our love Sarah-Leah T Pimentel HE old man comes shuffling in, guided by his daughter. He doesn’t appear to see very well as he feels, rather than reaches, for his cup.

His speech is slurred and at times he appears somewhat disoriented. His coat is illfitting and the beanie on his head makes him appear out of place. Bearing his guitar, he might be a washed-out, oldtime busker on a street corner. You might casually drop him a coin or two as you walk past.

The old guy whom you might have been prepared to disregard when I first described him is Sixto Rodriguez, the enigmatic “Sugarman” who was the voice of a generation who felt powerless (and possibly afraid) to change the cruel regime of the day, but who still wanted to express their desire for a different kind of country.

Attending a Rodriguez concert recently reminded me that how we treat others is often directly tied to the context in which we meet them and the personal relationship we have with them.

What touched me deeply was the compassion that the audience had for Rodriguez. The artist was clearly ill at ease when he first stepped onto the stage. He started by playing someone else’s songs.

In between songs he seemed unsure of what he would be playing next or even which tune he was strumming.

But the audience transformed him. For over an hour and a half they called out things like “Rodriguez, we love you” and “You’re my hero”, and thundered applause after every song.

By the end of the concert, Rodriguez had played some incredible solos, taken digs at the candidates vying to become US presidential candidates, and given advice by telling the audience to “stay off drugs and listen to your momma”.

Mercy transforms. It is not just a pious concept restricted to religious contexts.

Mercy is a call of the heart to reach out in compassion to the heart of another. And when heart meets heart, the external trappings fall away. We no longer see the shabby

The Mustard Seeds

Rodriguez’s concerts in South Africa evoked the love and mercy for him that Pope Francis calls on us to extend to all. clothes, the brokenness of an aged body or the confusion of the mind. These become irrelevant and we suspend judgment.

Mercy sees that each person we encounter has a history and a story to tell.

R

odriguez’s lyrics were the first encounter that many South Africans had with him some four decades ago. They connected with his desire for a more just and equal society that doesn’t build its power on the back of the disenfranchised blue-collar worker.

That first generation of Rodriguez fans connected because they sensed this man was singing from his own personal experience. He was one of the forgotten masses.

What makes his story so poignant is that he would have remained forgotten in his own country if it hadn’t been for the quest of two people to find the man behind the songs. A connection of the heart.

A connection of mercy.

Personal connection elicits a personal response. The audience at the concert reacted with such gentleness and empathy to the man who had borne hard labour and the broken dreams of a lifetime because they knew his story and it resonated with the inbuilt desire for justice and recognition.

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This is what the Holy Father is calling us to in this Year of Mercy. He urges us to reach out to those we would normally disregard, simply because they are nameless faces on street corners or the forgotten masses in the squatter camps at the fringes of our cities and towns.

It’s about more than dropping a coin in a hat or placing a cup of hot coffee into cold hands. It’s about making a personal connection. Listen to their stories, their long-forgotten dreams, their frustrations and disillusions—even their anger.

As we journey into the deep heart of Lent we reflect on the many occasions when Jesus turned outwards to the fringes of society and personally touched the lives of those who observed him from afar, not even daring to think he would speak to them.

Zacchaeus, the reviled tax collector, hidden in a tree; the unclean woman with a haemorrhage; the adulterous woman about to be stoned; blind Barimaeus who called on “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”; the man possessed by demons; the leper who came back to say thank you…

In each of these stories, the person touched by Jesus receives hope, the chance for a new life. I know that Christ’s mercy— through the audience —was present in the concert hall in Cape Town when Rodriguez called out: “South Africa, you give me life.”

Life because we gave him an opportunity, late in life, to live out his dream.

If the people of this nation can give life to an impoverished manual labourer from Detroit, how much more can we do for the millions of South Africans who live on our doorstep, if only we would reach out to them in mercy, one person at a time, one heart at a time?

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The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Mercy for refugees General Intention: Families in Difficulty. That families in need may receive the necessary support and that children may grow up in healthy and peaceful environments.

EFUGEES attempting to find a normal world are forced to make the most awful choices affecting their children. The Syrians crossing the Aegean Sea must agonise about whether to take their children with them or to leave them in the care of relatives until they are settled in Europe.

They will all have seen the photo of the little boy Aylan Kurdi lying dead on the beach in Turkey. No one should be forced to takes such risks with their children. No child should be put at risk of losing its parents or being separated from them. And yet these are the stark realities for millions at the moment.

The families that make it safely across to Greece often weep for joy and relief on landing, but their hardships are far from over, even if they have escaped from the battlefields of Syria and the refugee camps of Turkey or the Middle East. They may still have to walk hundreds of kilometres through strange countries, sleeping out in the open in all weather, with no guarantee of food or drink or medical care. To do this with small, bewildered children must be a parent’s nightmare.

I imagine that it was the plight of the children that most moved the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other concerned Europeans to welcome the refugees. Pope Francis lent his authority to the situation by asking members of the Church to show compassion and hospitality.

In an unstable world those of us who are fortunate enough to live secure family lives will naturally feel grateful. But we are asked to remember, and if possible do something to alleviate the situation of those who are forced to endure that terror and insecurity, especially their children.

R

Christian witness Missionary Intention: That those Christians who, on account of their faith, are discriminated against or are being persecuted, may remain strong and faithful to the Gospel, thanks to the incessant prayer of the Church.

HENOUDA III, the Egyptian Coptic Pope, once said of the Christians in his country: “We do not live in Egypt; Egypt lives in us.” What he meant was that the ancient Coptic Christian community is an essential part of the Egyptian national, cultural and religious identity.

Even though today the Copts are a minority, their religious tradition is deeply rooted in Egypt, going back to the beginnings of Christianity and giving the Church great saints and scholars such as St Anthony, the father of monasticism.

I wonder if it is this sense of the deep rootedness of the Christian faith which prompts people like Fr Jacques Mourad (Southern Cross, December 23, 2015) to return to the Middle East. Fr Mourad, a Syrian priest of the community of Al-Khalil and the prior of St Elian’s monastery, was kidnapped by the socalled Islamic State and imprisoned, along with a deacon, in a bathroom in Raqqa for four months.

During that time the two of them had to endure much privation and many threats, including death threats. Eventually he managed to escape on a motorbike, disguised as an Islamist and with the help of a Muslim friend.

After his escape he was involved in the delicate business of negotiating the release of various Christian groups held by IS. But now he has decided to return to Syria. On the face of it this seems like a quixotic venture, a mission impossible. Someone without faith might also see it as tempting fate. But one of the themes coming out of the current tragedy of Middle Eastern Christianity is the deep sense of just how important it is to continue to have a presence there and to continue to give witness to the Gospel.

This does not appear to flow from a stubborn sense of resistance. It stems from a deep conviction that without the Christian faith, the Middle East will no longer be true to what it was—a region where the three great Abrahamic religions arose, grew and spread.

This sense of responsibility for the wider society is rather well summed up in a quotation from Fr Mourad in a recent interview: “The entire Syrian people are victims of this war. I believe that when Jesus gave his life, he gave it for all, and we, as a Church, are responsible for the entire Syrian people, not only the Christians. This is a responsibility to commit ourselves very seriously, that everyone has peace.”

People with such breadth of vision and depth of courageous faith more than deserve our prayers.

S

8

The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

COMMUNITY

Children from St Peter’s parish in Strand, Cape Town, received their first Holy Communion. They are pictured with Deacon Lester May.

The head students of St Henry’s Marist College in Durban were presented with their honours blazers at the annual academic Mass. (From left) Amy Cooper (head girl), Jessica Read (deputy head girl), Joshua Robinson (head boy), Dylan Cowan (head of chapel), Luthando Zulu (deputy head boy).

Sr Mary Immaculata Nkhatho of the Sisters of St Paul made her First Profession in Bethlehem diocese on the feast of the Conversion of St Paul.

St Benedict’s College in Johannesburg welcomed its new staff members headed up by executive headmaster Andre Oosthuysen and campus headmaster Deon Oerson.

Capuchin Poor Clare Sister Maria Angelina Moonilal celebrated 56 years of religious life at the Capuchin Poor Clare convent at Umzumbe, South Coast, KwaZulu Natal. She entered the convent on February 29, 1959, was clothed on December 7, 1959 and took her first profession on December 8, 1960.

She professed her solemn final vows on January 21, 1964.

Youth at Sr Peter’s parish in Strand were confirmed by Archbishop Stephen Brislin. They are pictured with parish priest Fr Martin Pendert and Deacon Lester May.

Eighteen candidates were confirmed at St Clare’s parish in Elsies River, Cape Town. They are pictured with Archbishop Stephen Brislin (centre), Fr Job Kaleekaparampil (MSFS) (centre right) and Deacons Joseph Arulandu (fifth left) and Arthur Classen (fifth right).

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St Dominics Priory School in Port Elizabeth celebrated its annual opening Mass, concelebrated by Fr Michael van Heerden (head of ethos) and Fr Grant James (acting headmaster). Deputy head girl, Claudia Schaberg, was the cantor for the Mass and head boy Kyle de Beer served at the altar.

The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

FAITH

9

The new celibacy: How porn may be destroying the impetus for sex Easy access to pornography on the internet is causing sexual dysfunction and might even affect marriage rates—and society is beginning to recognise porn’s harmful effects, as MARY REZAC reports.

O

NE of pop singer John Mayer’s signature songs is “Daughters”, a sweet and simple tribute to the importance of parents’ influence on their little girls.

Here’s the refrain: “So fathers, be good to your daughters, Daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, So mothers, be good to your daughters too.”

But when John Mayer isn’t crooning about your beautiful daughters, he’s looking at naked pictures of them, sometimes hundreds at a time before he gets out of bed in the morning. In fact, he often prefers that to an actual human being, according to his wildly controversial 2010 interview with Playboy magazine.

“You wake up in the morning, open a thumbnail page, and it leads to a Pandora’s box of visuals.

There have probably been days when I saw 300 [naked women] before I got out of bed,” he told the magazine.

Unfortunately, Mayer’s morning routine is not unique to him.

Studies show that easy access to free internet pornography is having devastating effects on real-life relationships.

“For many individuals, the more porn they consume, the more likely it is that they can end up preferring the fantasy to reality, they can end up preferring the pixels to a person, and that’s really messing up relationships, as you can imagine,” said Clay Olsen, cofounder of the internet movement Fight the New Drug (FTND).

The FTND movement (fightthe newdrug.org), so named because of porn’s addictive properties, aims to raise awareness of the harmful effects of pornography through creative mediums such as blogs, videos and infographics. The website includes personal stories as well as scientific studies to illustrate pornography’s effects on the brain, the heart (relationships), and ultimately on the world.

“Our goal is to change the conversation from ‘Dude, check this out’, to ‘Dude, that’s messed up,’” Mr Olsen said.

The long-standing, pervasive cultural narrative surrounding pornography is that it is a healthy sexual outlet and can improve sex lives. However, science begs to differ. Several studies cited in FTND’s article, “Porn Ruins Your Sex Life”, found that pornography not only leads to dissatisfying sex, it can lead to less sex with actual human beings.

In a series of studies examining pornography use, “The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers”, published by the Wither-

One of the large range of anti-porn posters created by the Fight the New Drug movement. Studies show that use of internet porn by men can lead to sexual dysfunction and problems in relating to women. spoon Institute, a conservative think tank, researchers found that those who viewed pornography became less satisfied with their sex lives, and that viewing porn just once can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction towards a human partner.

According to an article in Psychology Today by clinical psychologist Tyger Latham, erectile dysfunction, while once considered an issue plaguing old men, is cropping up more in young men who rely heavily on pornography to become sexually aroused.

A study by the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine surveyed 28 000 men on their internet porn habits, and found that porn use over time led to a lower sex drive and an eventual inability to become aroused at all.

“As soon as they try to actually get close to someone and commit to somebody and have an intimate relationship with somebody, it’s in those moments that the harms of pornography show their full colours and truly manifest themselves,” the FTND ‘s Mr Olsen said.

“The unrealistic expectations are completely exposed. And we now see people in their 20s having porn-induced erectile dysfunction because they cannot get excited or aroused without the presence of pornography.”

Not only is pornography use destroying physical sexual life, it may be impacting the number of people pursuing marriage or committed sexual relationships.

I

n 2013, an article in The Guardian sounded the alarm that fewer people in Japan were having sex, citing as evidence numerous statistics on the country’s declining birth rate, marriage rate, and even rates of young people who are dating or who are interested in dating.

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A follow-up article on the Slate website found that while the actual number of people having or not having sex might not be definitively pinpointed, the statistics on falling marriage and birth rates only mean Japan is leading a worldwide trend, rather than bucking one. While it’s not clear whether porn is directly influencing these numbers, many have speculated that it is.

Researchers with the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) in Germany found an increase in free internet pornography is at least correlated with a significant decrease in the percentage of young married men, and it may even be contributing to the trend.

A 2013 Pew study found that 71% of single Americans were not looking for a committed relationship. Another study found that nearly 40% of American women had never been married.

“The results in this paper suggest that such an association exists, and that it is potentially quite large,” the study notes.

The study used General Social Survey (GSS), a comprehensive, representative survey which analysed internet use of 1 500 American men ages 18-to-35, be-

tween the years 2000 and 2004.

The researchers studied the number of hours spent on the internet per week, how often internet pornography was used in the past 30 days, as well as other activities such as use of religious sites.

Even when adjusted for variables such as age, income, education, religion and employment, the study found that generally, the more a person used the internet, the less likely they were to be married. Additionally, it found that the more a person used internet pornography, the less likely they were to be married.

On the other hand, the use of religious websites was positively correlated with marriage.

Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and a Catholic who has studied religion and sexual behaviour, cautioned against assuming that correlation equals causation in such studies— but he said that pornography use is likely part of a more complex reason for dropping marriage rates.

“We know that both things are occurring, but it’s difficult to establish a causal connection. A variety of things are contributing to the declining marriage rate,” he said.

“I don’t think porn-use necessarily causes that, but contributes to it,” together with diminished earnings power, diminished confidence, and so on.

“To be sure, porn-use doesn’t help build confidence in men, something that’s pretty necessary [but not sufficient] to be considered marriageable. So I’d say pornuse is a suspect here, but connecting the dots is hardly straightforward.”

O

nly in the past few years has a conversation countering the “it’s healthy, it’s normal” narrative been emerging in mainstream media about pornography. Several celebrities are speaking up, and there are an increasing number of websites dedicated to helping people fight pornography addictions.

Last year’s release of the controversial 50 Shades of Grey movie sparked a conversation on social media about sexual violence against women in media, with the hashtag #50dollarsnot50shades, encouraging people to forgo the movie and instead donate to places that help victimised women.

The movie sparked a response from an unlikely source: British comedian Russell Brand, whose short

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video about the problems with pornography went viral, generating over 500 000 views on his YouTube channel and over 2 million views on FTND’s website.

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is another celebrity who has been outspoken about the negative impact of pornography, most notably in his 2013 movie Don Jon, which he wrote, directed and co-starred in.

The film explores the unrealistic expectations of love and relationships that come from pornography addictions and from the media at large.

“I think that there’s not a substantial difference between a lot of mainstream culture and pornography. They’re equally simplistic, reductionist,” Gordon-Levitt said in an interview with NPR radio in the US about the film.

“Whether it’s rated X or ‘approved...for general viewing audiences’, the message is the same.

We have a tendency in our culture to take people and treat them like things.”

But the internet has been around for decades now—why has it taken society so long to catch on to the fact that pornography is harmful?

“Science has caught up with the fact that pornography’s harmful,” Mr Olsen said, “but society is still catching up.”

It often takes years for something that was once culturally accepted as true to be flipped on its head as science proves otherwise, Mr Olsen said, so Fight the New Drug knows they still have a lot of work ahead of them.

“We’re very excited to see some of this progress and some of these mainstream media outlets kind of following suit and starting to talk about the negative impacts,” he said, but cautioned: “We still have a long way ahead of us.”

Some other websites that are also trying to raise awareness and give help to those struggling with pornography include The Porn Effect and Covenant Eyes, and internet filtering and accountability system.

The best way for Catholics to kick a porn habit? Keep fighting it and lean on the sacraments, said Mark Regnerus, the University of Texas sociologist.

His advice: “Don’t give up hope; pursue confession regularly; recognise and avoid the contexts which give rise to temptation.

That’s a start.”—CNA

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The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

FILM

Here are the ‘Catholic Oscars’ On February 28 Hollywod will dish out its annual awards for films of 2015.

Here leading Catholic reviewer JOHN MULDERIG comments on his team’s Top 10 for films in general and family-oriented movies.

The top 10 family films: Cinderella

K

enneth Branagh’s exuberant live-action retelling of the Cinderella story—which stars Lily James in the title role and Cate Blanchett as her wicked stepmother—injects vibrant new life into a venerable fairy tale. The result is a delightful fantasy. (Suitable for all ages)

W

HILE the outstanding films of the year just past covered a wide range of traditional genres—from sci-fi adventures to sports stories—factbased titles predominated to a notable degree.

A musical biopic, a Cold War spy duel, the tale of canny investors who managed to profit from a worldwide economic downturn: all were grist for high-quality bigscreen treatment.

Thus, at least four of Catholic News Service’s top 10 movies for 2015—as chosen by its Media Review Office—have their roots in reality. A similar number of the ten favourite family films, a nature documentary among them, are based on true events.

The selections in each category are listed below in alphabetical order. Except as indicated, the classification for films under the first heading is “suitable for adults”.

For movies in the family movie group, unless otherwise noted, the classification “adults and adolescents” applies. Some material may not be suitable for children.

The Big Short

T

his ensemble dramatisation follows a collection of Wall Street outsiders (including Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling) as they stake everything on a downturn no one else foresees.

Adam McKay’s film merrily berates greed and folly without forgetting the human cost of corruption.

Bridge of Spies

I

n Steven Spielberg’s outstanding historical drama, a corporate lawyer (Tom Hanks) defends a KGB agent (Mark Rylance), then negotiates his exchange for a downed American pilot.

The understated decency of its main character makes this balanced, well-crafted retrospective a valuable experience.

Christian Bale in The Big Short.

The Good Dinosaur

I Daisy Ridley and John Boyega in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Brooklyn

B

rooklyn is the meticulously understated story of a young Irishwoman (Saoirse Ronan) who, with the help of a priest (Jim Broadbent), emigrates to the United States in the early 1950s and falls for an Italian-American plumber (Emory Cohen).

John Crowley’s drama offers a trenchant look at migration.

(Adults and adolescents)

Creed

A

n imaginative, surprisingly gentle reboot of the Rocky franchise, Creed finds the iconic ex-champ (Sylvester Stallone) coaching the illegitimate son (Michael B Jordan) of a long-deceased adversary-turnedally.

Ryan Coogler’s underlying message is that, no matter what the circumstances, the cherished values of self-sacrifice and discipline can prevail.

Far From the Madding Crowd

The Martian

R

idley Scott’s screen version of Andy Weir’s novel centres on a NASA botanist (Matt Damon) who’s stranded alone on the Red Planet after a space mission gone awry.

This compelling sci-fi epic uses its protagonist’s plight to examine fundamental aspects of the human spirit.

99 Homes

A

profoundly moral drama, Ramin Bahrani’s 99 Homes examines the toll taken by the recent financial crisis via the story of two bit players on the Florida real estate scene as each struggles to weather the maelstrom of forces unleashed by the meltdown.

Room

V

I

n Thomas Vinterberg’s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel, an independent-minded heiress (Carey Mulligan) is pursued by three suitors (Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge).

A top-rank cast, lush cinematography and high drama combine for a treat that’s suitable for most viewers. (Adults and adolescents)

Love and Mercy

T

Pohlad evades sentimental gloss, adopting instead an intelligent, steady approach to his gifted but troubled subject.

he documentary-like biography Love and Mercy is a profile of Brian Wilson, the driving force behind the Beach Boys. Director Bill

iewers of faith will appreciate the biblical overtones of Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, a poignant study of the love between a mother (Brie Larson) and her young son (Jacob Tremblay) as both are held captive by a predator.

Spotlight

S

potlight is a hard-hitting look at how a new editor (Liev Schreiber) at the Boston Globe inspired a group of dedicated reporters (led by Michael Keaton) to uncover the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

This painfully accurate film will educate mature viewers even as it grieves them.

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n the animated The Good Dinosaur, a young Apatosaurus with human characteristics is separated from his family, and must find his way home, with only a feral Neanderthal boy as his companion.

Their journey is both wholesome and hilarious. (Suitable for all ages)

Emory Cohen and Saoirse Ronan star in Brooklyn.

Inside Out

I

nside Out is a splendid animated comedy, founded on strong values, in which a young girl’s personified emotions help her cope with an upsetting family move. Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen prove equally deft at tickling and touching their audience.

Marie’s Story

Lily James and Richard Madden in Cinderella.

T

he life of Marie Heurtin (Ariana Rivoire), often called the “French Helen Keller”, is dramatised in the joyous Marie’s Story. At a special-needs school, one idealistic nun gives her deaf and blind student a master class in unconditional love, patience and perseverance.

McFarland, USA

Matt Damon in The Martian.

T

he uplifting fact-based drama McFarland, USA follows a high school coach (Kevin Costner) to the impoverished community of the title where, recognising a widespread gift among his students for long-distance running, he organises a cross-country team. This faith- and family-friendly tale honours education and self-improvement.

Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy in The Peanuts Movie.

Monkey Kingdom

M

onkey Kingdom is an enjoyable documentary recording the exploits of Maya, a female toque macaque disadvantaged by her low rank within the rigid hierarchy of her species. Dramatic scenery and Tina Fey’s pleasant narration buoy Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill’s study. (Suitable for all ages)

The Peanuts Movie

A scene from the nature documentary Monkey Kingdom.

T

he CG-animated movie is scrupulously faithful to the spirit of cartoonist Charles M Schulz in this charming animated comedy. Top-notch values prevail as hapless Charlie Brown pines for a classmate while Snoopy also pursues romance. (Suitable for all ages)

Shaun the Sheep Movie

A

n endearing feature centred on the madcap adventures of the eponymous little lamb. Despite some questionable jokes, the entertaining and inventive goings-on make suitable viewing for most of the family.

Sylvester Stallone and Michael B Jordan in Creed.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

T

he blockbuster series gets a fresh start in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. J J Abrams brings a steady hand to the task of rejuvenating the sci-fi saga, successfully relying on a lucid plot, abundant humour and two dynamic new heroes (Daisy Ridley and John Boyega) to revitalise the proceedings.

Ariana Rivoire and Isabelle Carré in Marie’s Story.

Woodlawn

S

et in 1973 Alabama, and based on the true story of football star Tony Nathan (Caleb Castille), the entertaining drama Woodlawn makes inspirational viewing. With racial integration causing team tension, Nathan’s coach hires a chaplain who challenges the athletes to live the Gospel message.

Jacob Tremblay and Oscarfavourite Brie Larson in Room.

The Southern Cross, February 24 to March 1, 2016

CLASSIFIEDS

The silent reform of Benedict XVI I N his new book on Benedict XVI, Vatican journalist Marco Mancini argues that while the retired pontiff became known for his shocking resignation three years ago, his real legacy began far earlier.

“Unfortunately, we remember Benedict for the great gesture of the renunciation, but if we go on remembering Benedict only for that, it would not be doing a service to truth or the facts,” Mr Mancini said.

Benedict XVI’s February 11, 2013, announcement of his resignation from the papacy three years ago—hit the Church “like a lightning bolt in a clear blue sky”, said one cardinal.

But in his book Benedetto XVI: Un Papa Totale, translated roughly as “Benedict XVI: a Complete Pope”, Mr Mancini said Pope Benedict’s most memorable act was everything he did to carry the Church through the varied crises it endured during his eight-year pontificate.

Archbishop George Gänswein, prefect of the Pontifical Household, said that, in his opinion, Benedict XVI’s greatest legacy “is yet to be discovered”, but that an important one we can see now is “the personal and theological

Pope Benedict XVI. A new book

by Marco Mancini highlights the reforms started during his papacy. (Photo: CNA) witness of a man who is a great theologian, but who did theology in a very, very humble way.”

The “silent reform” Benedict carried out is centred on the way he guided and governed the Church, “with clarity, but above all with his fine theology,” the archbishop said.

The book offers a nutshell overview of how Benedict XVI fought against scourges in the Church and in society such as the growing presence of relativism, the economic crisis, paedophilia, increasing global hostility toward Christians and the first “Vatileaks” scandal.

It also highlights Benedict XVI’s many efforts in favour of

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday February 28, 3rd Sunday of Lent Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15, Psalms 103:1-4, 6-8, 11, 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12, Luke 13:1-9 Monday February 29 2 Kings 5:1-15, Psalms 42:2-3; 43:3-4, Luke 4:2430 Tuesday March 1 Daniel 3:25, 34-43, Psalms 25:4-9, Matthew 18:21-35 Wednesday March 2 Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9, Psalms 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20, Matthew 5:17-19 Thursday March 3 Jeremiah 7:23-28, Psalms 95:1-2, 6-9, Luke 11:14-23 Friday March 4, St Casimir Hosea 14:2-10, Psalms 81:6-11, 14, 17, Mark 12:28-34 Saturday March 5 Hosea 6:1-6, Psalms 51:3-4, 18-21, Luke 18:9-14 Sunday March 6, 4th Sunday of Lent Joshua 5:9-12, Psalms 34:2-7, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

ecumenical dialogue, particularly with the Orthodox and Anglican Churches.

Mr Mancini notes that Benedict was the one to start the current process of reform and “cleaning” within the Roman curia, which Pope Francis has continued, particularly on financial matters, streamlining the marriage annulment process and dialogue with the Muslim community.

“Financial transparency and paedophilia are the two pillars of the process of reform that Benedict set up in the Church. He started,” Mr Mancini said.

“Benedict denounced corruption first,” Pope Francis has said, noting that he spoke about the same thing again shortly before the conclave, “and we elected him for that freedom in saying things”.

Mr Mancini noted that Pope Benedict also faced resistance, as Pope Francis does today.

He said he believes it is the same “lobby” that is resisting Francis’ process of reform.

“I think there is a lot of continuity between the two, whether it’s among whoever tries to hinder the process of reform, or the way of reforming the Church,” he said.—CNA

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CAPE TOWN: Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town.

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Daniel SCP on 078 739 2988.

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

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DEATH

GALLAGHER—Stella: Passed away peacefully in Dumfries, Scotland, after a long illness borne with dignity. Sister of the late Dolores McLachlan and Jim Gallagher. Deeply mourned and forever remembered with great love by her sisters Margaret Pothier and Helen Sedgwick, her fourteen nieces and nephews and their families. Grateful thanks to Lochduhar Care Home and the Quinn family. May she rest in peace.

DES LIGNERIS—Molly.

Aged 95, she passed away on February 17 at PCH. Survived by her four sons, Mike, John, Geoff, Ken, and five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren.

IN MEMORIAM

THOMAS—Zoë Roberta (Dollman). Our beloved daughter, sister, aunt and mother to Mikhail passed away February 24, 2013.

Rest in the peace of the Lord our God. We all miss and love you and are happy with the memories which will never be wiped from our consciousness.

Love Ruth and Pinky Kamfer, Jason, Jessica, Meriah, John-Paul Thomas and family.

PERSONAL

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

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

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

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4th Sunday of Lent: March 6 Readings: Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 34:2-7, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

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HIS is the Year of Mercy, and we are invited to look upon a God who looks out for us and looks after us. You can see this in the readings for next Sunday.

The first reading tells us the story of the Israelites, after they have been circumcised, having entered the Promised Land, and eating their first-ever Passover, “the produce of the Land”.

At that point, we are told: “The manna ceased on the day after they ate the produce of the Land.”

So we are not to complain “the Lord has taken our manna away”, but to rejoice that he has brought us into our inheritance, where there is food for all.

So gratitude is the name of the game, and that is the song sung by the psalmist for next Sunday: “I shall bless the Lord at all times, always his praise on my lips.”

He remembers the bad times: “I looked for the Lord, and he answered me, from all my fears he set me free…this poor one called and the Lord heard, from all my distress he redeemed me.” This is a God who looks out for

S outher n C ross

God is looking out for us us and looks after us.

Paul, in our second reading, knows this well; he sees us as being “in Christ, a new creation”. This is the work of God who is looking out for us in Christ: “Everything comes from God who through Christ was reconciling the world to himself.”

And in this Year of Mercy, we need to remember that God “was not counting up sins”.

So we have a job to do, and it is to recognise the God who is looking out for us: “On Christ’s behalf we are making a plea, as if God were begging through us; we are imploring you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.” Then we are told how far God and Jesus will go to in order to look after us: “The one who did not know any sin he made into a sinoffering on our behalf, in order that we might become God’s righteousness in Christ.” That is the price God is prepared to pay.

God’s ability to look out for us is dramatically told in next Sunday’s Gospel, possibly the most famous parable that Jesus ever told.

We should notice how it starts, with those

rigid religious officials complaining that “all the tax-collectors and sinners are drawing near to listen to him!”

(Those, of course, are the very people who are complaining these days about Pope Francis attracting exactly the same disreputable companions).

So Jesus tells us three parables to indicate how much God celebrates when he finds what is lost: a shepherd who loses a sheep, a housewife who loses a part of her housekeeping money, and a parent who loses both his sons.

You know the story well enough: the harsh-sounding younger son, who demands his share of the inheritance. In doing this, he is of course declaring his father dead.

Then the story goes on, and all we can see is the younger son, “scattering his life, living in a dissolute manner”, until he falls on hard times, and has to look after pigs (unclean animals, we remember), and he could not even eat the food that was given to them.

Our focus is still on him, and we listen as he rehearses a speech that he is going to make

The Lord’s inexhaustibility M

world or at ourselves and, consciously or unconsciously, think: “It’s too late! This has gone too far! Nothing can redeem this!

All the chances to change this have been used up! It’s hopeless!”

But is this natural, depressive feeling in fact a loss of hope? Not necessarily. Indeed it is precisely when we feel this way, when we have succumbed to the feeling that we have exhausted all of our chances, it’s then that hope can arrive and replace its counterfeits, wishful thinking and natural optimism. What is hope?

We generally confuse hope with either wishful thinking or with natural optimism, both of which have little to do with hope.

Wishful thinking has no foundation.

We can wish to win a lottery or to have the body of a world-class athlete, but that wish has no reality upon which to draw. It’s pure fantasy.

Optimism, for its part, is based upon natural temperament and also has little to do with hope. Terry Eagleton, in a recent book, Hope without Optimism, suggests rather cynically that optimism is simply a natural temperament and an enslaving one at that: “The optimist is chained to cheerfulness.” Moreover, he asserts, the optimist’s monochrome glaze over the world differs from pessimism only by being monochromatically rosy instead of monochromatically gray.

Hope isn’t a wish or a mood; it is a perspective on life that needs to be grounded on a sufficient reality. What is that sufficient reality?

Conrad

ANY of us, I am sure, have been inspired by the movie, Of Gods and Men, which tells the story of a group of Trappist monks who, after making a painful decision not to flee from the violence in Algeria in the 1990s, are eventually martyred by Islamic extremists in 1996.

Recently, I was much inspired by reading the diaries of one of those monks, Christophe Lebreton. Published under the title, Born from the Gaze of God, The Tibhirine Journal of a Martyr Monk, his diaries chronicle the last three years of his life and give us an insight into his, and his community’s, decision to remain in Algeria in the face of almost certain death.

In one of his journal entries, Christophe shares how in this situation of hatred and threat, caught between Islamic extremists on one side and a corrupt government on the other, in seeking ground for hope, he draws upon a poem, The Well, by French poet Jean-Claude Renard: But how can we affirm it’s already too late to fulfill the desire— so patient does the gift remain; and when always, perhaps, something or someone says, from the depth of silence and nakedness, that an ineffable fire continues to dig in us beneath wastelands peopled by thorns a well that nothing exhausts.

A well that nothing exhausts. Perhaps that is the real basis for hope.

For all of us there are times in life when we seem to lose hope, when we look at the

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Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

to his father (indeed we wonder whether there is any sincerity in him at all); and he goes home.

Now our focus is back on the father, and to our astonishment, the father (representing God, we must recall) is looking out for him: “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him [so he had the binoculars trained on him] and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”

Then he organises a party to celebrate; but of course there are two sons, and the other one now comes into the picture; and his father is looking out for him also, leaving the party and begging him to come in.

The parable ends with the elder brother seething under a cloud of rage; and does he come in, as his father invites him to?

That depends on whether he can open up to the Year of Mercy and believe in a God who is looking out for us and looking after us.

Southern Crossword #695

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

Jim Wallis, a salient figure of Christian hope in our time, says that our hope should not be grounded on what we see on the news of the world each night because that news constantly changes and, on any given night, can be so negative as to give us little ground for hope.

He’s right. Whether the world seems better or worse on a given evening is hardly sufficient cause for us to trust that in the end all will be well. Things might change drastically the next night.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who perennially protested that he was a man of hope rather than of optimism, once suggested that there are two sufficient reasons for hope.

Asked what would happen if we blew up the world with an atomic bomb, he replied: That would set things back a few million years, but God’s plan for the earth would still come about.

Why? Because Christ promised it and, in the resurrection, God shows that God has the power to deliver on that promise.

Hope is based on God’s promise and God’s power.

But there is still another reason for our hope, something else that grounds our hope and gives us sufficient reason to live in trust that eventually all will be well, namely, God’s inexhaustibility. Underneath and beneath, beneath us and beneath our universe, there is a well that nothing exhausts.

And it is this which we so often forget or slim down to the limited size of our own hearts and imaginations: God is a prodigal God, almost unimaginable in the scope of physical creation, a God who has created and is still creating billions upon billions of universes.

Moreover, this prodigal God, so beyond our imagination in creativity, is, as has been revealed to us by Jesus, equally unimaginable in patience and mercy.

There is never an end to our number of chances. There is no limit to God’s patience. There is nothing that can ever exhaust the divine well.

It’s never too late. God’s creativity and mercy are inexhaustible.

ACROSS

3. One who deceives city hoper (9) 8. Some long periods are returning (4) 9. Oath that is spoken with offence? (5,4) 10. You shall live in the country of ... (Gn 45) (6) 11. Goddess of Ephesus (Acts 19) (5) 14. Saul’s army commander (1 Sam 17) (5) 15. Happy and satisfied (4) 16. Damascus is its capital (5) 18. French key for the musician (4) 20. Lower the sabre (5) 21. Have another go in court (5) 24. Boredom (6) 25. Drama Tony required by law (9) 26. Silly nuts knock you silly (4) 27. Speeches made where people live (9)

DOWn

1. Retribution (9) 2. One who gets carried away (9) 4. Physical sign of 24 across (4) 5. Cook a pie containing this creature (5) 6. Sort of boat to be disputing in? (6) 7. Citizen of Istanbul (4) 9. Scorches (5) 11. Kind of look of disapproval (5) 12. Stalls in a liturgical festival (3,6) 13. Decoration that will dent Roman pride (9) 17. Home of religious community (5) 19. It borders your fireplace (6) 22. Liturgical routines (5) 23. Country where the aircraft come down (4) 24. Nature with confused end is not false (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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he two lads were known troublemakers. They stole anything from anywhere, even the church.

One day the priest stops them and asks: “Where is God?” The lads shrug and the priest repeats: “Where is God?” The thieves run out of the church, crying.

As they catch their breath they say: “We’re in deep trouble now. God is missing and they think we stole him!”

What if your oasis of Catholic news dries up?

OW are we going to get the same reliable information provided in the Catholic newspapers when there aren’t Catholic newspapers anymore?

For Catholics in Michigan in the US, this question became reality last month when three diocesan newspapers shut down—three of many that have closed shop in the past decade.

The readers of these Michigan newspapers know what they are going to miss: content about the Catholic Church

that they can trust more than what they stumble upon on the Internet; a place where the good things are jumbled up with all the confusing and misleading material; where you cannot be sure whether the pope actually said what he is being quoted as saying.

We need the Catholic press or risk being drowned out by the noise of the world. In South Africa, The Southern Cross is an oasis from that noise.

But after almost 100 years of surviving exclusively on self-generated rev-

enue—The Southern Cross is fully independent and not subsidised—we are going through tough times.

The economic crisis, spiralling costs, a changing newspaper landscape and, above all, the strikes and incompetence of the SA Post Office have left The Southern Cross vulnerable.

The postal strike of 2014 depleted much of our reserves; another strike could kill us off.

This is where our Associates Campaign can help ensure the survival of

South Africa’s only Catholic weekly.

By contributing to the Associates Campaign, you will help us replenish our reserves and at the same time support our outreach programmes to people who are in need of good Catholic reading, including those in jail.

If you want to see The Southern Cross survive and thrive, please support our Associates Campaign with an annual contribution.

To do so is easy: choose one of the categories of Associates you would like

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Make your contribution into the account: The Southern Cross, Standard Bank, Thibault Square Branch (Code 020909), Acc No: 276876016.

Please e-mail or fax payment details and your name and contact details to admin@scross.co.za or 021 465-3850.

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