160413 by The Southern Cross

The

S outher n C ross

April 13 to April 19, 2016

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4972

www.scross.co.za

Interview with new nuncio to SA

Page 9

What is your vocation

Page 7

R8,00 (incl VaT RSa)

BETHLEHEM: Where Our Lord was born

Page 14

The state of vocations in SA today By maNDla ZiBi

A Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban blesses the new church at Tugela, KwaZulu-Natal, which was built on a flattened dune with great involvement by parishioners. Previously the church community had used a tin house for mass.

Parishioners rallied to build new church on sand dune By ThemBa Khumalo

ARDINAL Wilfrid Napier officially opened the new Our Lady of Africa church at Tugela, KwaZulu-Natal, built by parishioners on what he said was not long ago just a huge sand dune. The cardinal, who is the archbishop of Durban, presided over the Mass concelebrated with parish priest Fr Cyril Xaba, Fr Hugo McBride and ten other priests. Members of the parish community, including staff, also attended the celebration. Cardinal Napier thanked those who contributed to the building of the church. “This is a beautiful church; I want to thank parishioners and members of this community who worked hard to make sure that this place was ready for construction to begin. In the beginning this was just a huge dune which needed to be levelled.” He expressed his gratitude to Fr McBride, vice-chair of the parish finance committee Patrick Thusi, and the entire parish commu-

nity who built the church. Mr Thusi spent countless hours organising and overseeing the building process. He also used the facilities in his factory, Zama Zama Engineering, to manufacture and create many of the materials necessary for the building of the structure as well as the tabernacle, sedelia (seats in the sanctuary), candlesticks and so on—all free of charge. This is the second church he has built in the past two and a half years, in addition to completely refurbishing another outstation church. Margie Koenig landscaped and planted the gardens around the church, while Jay and Patsy Sewpel donated and built the grotto, and local artist Nthabi Mbatha painted a magnificent Our Lady of Africa. Fr McBride, who inspired and motivated the project, said the parishioners had worshipped in unbearable conditions. “They used a tin house. When it rained it leaked, and when it was hot it became difficult for parishioners.”

S the Church throughout the world observes World Prayer Day for Vocations on April 17, South Africa still lags behind other African countries in the production of priestly vocations. “The Church is growing in South Africa and we need a lot of young priests in a number of parishes. What is more, a lot of our priests are getting old and ready for retirement,” said Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria. “But it’s not all doom and gloom, we still have lot of students in our seminaries: St John Vianney Major Seminary in Pretoria and St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara have more than 350 students just between the two of them,” he noted. Archbishop Slattery outlined four elements to the formation of ordained ministers in the Catholic Church: academic, human, spiritual and pastoral. “The academic training for the priesthood in South Africa is as good as anywhere in the world. Some of our ministers have even worked in Rome. It’s when we get to the other three levels that things start sliding a bit,” he said. Human formation is the most critical factor, because you need to produce mature human beings who can handle the difficulties and challenges of life. “South African families are broken. So we get students who still have to deal with a lot of personal developmental issues,” Archbishop Slattery said. “We need to improve on the other two areas as well. Spiritually our students generally arrive at the seminary with weak catechetical skills. As for pastoral work, we have to produce people who can do good solid community work; people with people skills,” the archbishop said. He suggested a return of the old practice of sending students into the community six months before they are ordained. “But all in all, the situation is still under control and very hopeful. And not as concerning as in the Western countries,” Archbishop Slattery said. Fr Paul Manci, the rector of St John Vian-

ney Seminary since January, said that compared to ten years ago, the vocations situation has improved, though he also agreed the Church could do more. “I am more positive now than I was ten years ago, but if we continue with the current rate of intake for the priesthood, by 2018 we should start getting worried. Right now we are taking in between 15 and 20 a year. We need to improve on that,” he said. Fr Manci also pointed out that a small number of South African student priests are trained in Lesotho and then come back to South Africa after their training. Jesuit Father Chris Chatteris of St Francis Xavier Orientation Seminary in Cape Town agreed that South Africa is still behind other African countries in the number of formations but also pointed out that the local Catholic Church constitutes a smaller percentage of the population compared with many other countries of the continent. Moreover, social conditions are also different, he noted. “We are a more secularised country and that might be one of the reasons why we are not growing as we should. Another reason is that the local Church is still more a missionary church than a home-grown, self-sufficient entity. As we grow and establish our own funding base, I expect that the vocations will increase,” he argued. Asked about the permanent diaconate, Fr Chatteris lamented the attitude of certain clergy, which saw the diaconate as somewhat unimportant. “My impression is that sometimes there is no enthusiasm, and in certain cases no belief at all in the diaconate vocation. And that is unfair, because if the Church has established the diaconate as a vocation, which it has, then we need to work with that,” he said. Fr Chatteris admitted however that more careful thought needs to go into the formation programmes for deacons as they are “quite patchy”. n Throughout this Vocations Sunday issue several orders and congregations for men and women showcase their charism in panel adverts (as some do every week). Readers are encouraged to share these with young people who feel they have a call to the consecrated life.

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The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

LOCAL

Human trafficking workshop By maNDla ZiBi

HE Bertoni Centre of the archdiocese of Pretoria held a three-day workshop on combating human trafficking, organised by Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholic community members from the Rustenburg, Thembisa and Tshwane areas. Besides highlighting the scourge of human trafficking, the workshop also aimed at providing training on human trafficking issues. Sr Melanie O’Connor, who heads

the bishops’ anti-human trafficking desk, conducted the workshop and awarded attendance certificates to workshop participants. She also introduced two new coordinators for the Rustenburg area. According to co-organiser Hailo Adalo, the event was interdenominational, comprising Catholics, Ethiopian Orthodox and Pentecostals. The next workshop will be held in Johannesburg at a date to be announced. Two members of the missionaries of mariannhill of mthatha province were ordained to the diaconate. (From left) Deacon Twelekhaya mandondo, Deacon Raphael arop, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, Deacon hwaele Nkofo and provincial superior Fr Siegfried Jwara. (Photo: Fr Bernard Gathu Cmm)

Jesuit call to mass action against bad governance By maNDla ZiBi

N its most scathing public statement to date on the Nkandlagate crisis, the Jesuit Institute of South Africa has urged the people of South Africa “to channel despair and disappointment” into action by going out peacefully in their numbers to challenge the failings of the ruling party. The institute also criticised the current electoral system, saying it is time for a possible direct popular election of the president and a public vetting of candidates for cabinet positions “Do not let the evil of despondency and lethargy win you over! Enough is enough! We welcome initiatives like that of the alliance of civil society, Church, trade unions and academic organisations who have announced that they will confront the political and economic crisis South Africa faces”. Calling on the leaders of all faith communities to speak out, the statement said: “Since 1994 we

have failed in our religious obligation to promote the common good, and particularly, address those most vulnerable in society. You can no longer afford to be silent. Lead your people!” In a reference to Pope Francis’ address in Kenya last year, where he said corruption is “a path to death”, the Jesuit Institute argued that South Africa is “staring that path in the face”. The statement said the only moral way open for President Jacob Zuma is to resign, and for those in the National Assembly who have collaborated in Nkandlagate to “repent their failure to honour the Constitution”. The statement saved its choicest criticisms for the ANC party elite. It said they had sacrificed “a better life for all” on the altar of selfishness, greed, ego, hypocrisy and dishonesty. “What happened in parliament on April 5 [when opposition parties tried to impeach Zuma and the

ANC outvoted them] shows that corruption, like a drug, has colonised the minds of our leadership and they can no longer think or lead clearly,” the statement said. The institute said the ANC feeds on its own propaganda, thinking it is invulnerable, even at times godlike. The ANC, “like many liberation movements in parliamentary politics, has become fat: feeding on its people like ticks on a cow”, the institute said. “It attempts to use the poor as welfare grant hostages who are expected to vote up, shut up, put up with whatever seems expedient to those in power.” The statement added that beneath a veneer of freedom and human rights, a cynical elite treats the country as its own “personal fiefdom, the law at best as an advisory, and the people as little more than voting fodder, to be lied to always and placated with welfare crumbs from the men’s tables”.

More to parliament than Nkandla and Guptas By maNDla ZiBi

HE nomination of the new public protector will be an example of how our national parliament can reach consensus on the great questions of the day in South Africa, according to a Catholic political analyst. Mike Pothier, research director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Committee (CPLO), said the public tends to concentrate on the sensational, dramatic scenes in parliament at the expense of the meaningful. “Many people would assume that, given the fractious relationship between Advocate Thuli Madonsela and the governing party, the ANC would be keen to see someone more amenable to it, and to the govern-

ment, stepping into her shoes.” But although the ANC has the votes to achieve this—it has 249 MPs, and 240 votes would suffice—it has proved exceptionally difficult for the ANC to get all its MPs into parliament at once, Mr Pothier noted. “Seventy-five of them are either ministers or deputy-ministers, occupied mostly outside the National Assembly,” he said. “It is also very likely that more than nine ANC MPs would absent themselves from parliament rather than be involved in pushing through a partisan or otherwise unsuitable candidate.” Amid all the excitement of last month’s Guptagate revelations and the Constitutional Court judgment on Nkandla, two noteworthy decisions were made in Parliament, Mr

Pothier said. First, the ANC withdrew the nomination of its MP, Cecil Burgess, to the post of inspector-general of Intelligence. The position has been empty for more than a year, as opposition parties and civil society battled to prevent Mr Burgess, whom they see as too partisan, from being selected. Mr Burgess chaired the ad hoc committee that considered the Protection of State Information Bill (the so-called Secrecy Bill), and was one of the MPs who supported some of the more draconian provisions of the Bill. The ANC does not have a majority on the nomination issue, so had to back down. “The process of finding a suitable candidate will now resume, and hopefully the various parties will re-

WHAT ABOUT BEING A

MISSIONARY WR VKRZ WKH )DWKHU¾V PHUF\" ³(DFK vocation in the Church has its origin in the compassionate gaze RI -HVXV´

³7KH &KXUFK is the house of mercy, and it is WKH ³VRLO´ ZKHUH vocations take root, PDWXUH DQG EHDU IUXLW´

(Pope Francis, Message for World Vocation Sunday 2016)

MISSIONARIES OF AFRICA P.O. Box 10057 Edenglen 1613 South Africa

Tel.: 011.452.5283 Vocation Director: 072.987.2990 Email: mavocsa@gmail.com

Visit our international website: www.africamission-mafr.org

frain from nominating people who are clearly unsuitable,” Mr Pothier said. “Is this a naïve hope? Can our fiercely rival parties actually be expected to agree on nominations to important independent public posts?” he asked. On the same day, parliament had to fill a commissioner vacancy at the Independent Electoral Commission, and it unanimously chose Janet Love. Ms Love is a former ANC MP and national executive member and, earlier, was in Umkhonto we Sizwe¸ the ANC’s armed wing. “However, her political history notwithstanding, the opposition parties were satisfied that she would carry out her IEC duties fairly and impartially, as she has done for some years as a member of the

Human Rights Commission,” Mr Pothier said. He noted that in this case the ANC “could easily have forced through the nomination of its choice” since it required only a simple majority in parliament. Ideally, all appointments to posts such as these two would be made based on consensus, Mr Pothier said, adding that key independent state institutions are intended to outlast the tenures of political parties, whether they be in government or in opposition. “It is therefore unwise for parties to politicise such appointments, apart from the fact that doing so always negatively affects the capacity of the institutions to carry out their constitutional duties,” he said.

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception We Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are an International Congregation

We try to deepen our relationship with Jesus and share our Joy of the Gospel with other people by serving them in various ministries, in the spirit of St Francis. Is God perhaps calling you to do this?

Should you wish to know more about us, contact: The Vocation Directress, PO Box 773 Nelspruit/Mbombela, 1200. Tel 076 692 8477 or 013 741 4520 franciscansnelspruit@telkomsa.net

The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

LOCAL

Good night to priest of light and mercy By SyDNey DuVal

HE Dutch priest who had filled his monastery and the people around him with music, words and the whiff of pipe tobacco smoke has fallen silent—as silent as the giant mkhuhla trees at Mariannhill when no wind blows. The CMM community at Mariannhill and the Church in KwaZulu-Natal have lost one of their great sons and stalwarts with the passing of Fr Henry Ratering, who died in his room at the monastery on the afternoon of April 4. He was 83. He died just over a week after the passing of his close friend, confrere and compatriot, Fr Simon Rodenburg CMM, who died on Easter Sunday, March 27. The last formal writing Fr Ratering did was to compose a tribute to Fr Rodenburg: “Just as the Easter candle displayed its new light, so the candle of Fr Simon’s life was finished. It had exhausted itself and its little flame was extinguished.” Fr Yves la Fontaine, a former superior-general of the Mariannhill missionaries and postulator for the cause of the beatification of Abbot Francis Pfanner, described Fr Ratering as an amazing combination of qualities and gifts: “He was a big man, but a gentle one; he was a scholar, but he was also very practical and down to earth.” Fr Ratering loved a good joust with words and fine tuning. He measured his words the way he measured his tread, that form needed substance. He was also valued as the willing servant who went wherever he was needed to render service to the Church and to his religious community in a ministry of close on 60 years. He acted as Mariannhill monastery superior

The late Fr henry Ratering on several occasions. Among his last pastoral ministries Fr Ratering served as chaplain to the Precious Blood Sisters at Mariannhill, having been chaplain to the sisters’ community at Ixopo for many years. He was also a very active member of the Historical Commission associated with the beatification process concerning Abbot Pfanner, the Trappist founder of Mariannhill in 1882. He travelled extensively—in Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea—to talk on the life and work of Abbot Pfanner and on the CMM charism, identity and spirituality. Fr Ratering was born at Ulft in the Netherlands on June 17, 1933. He made his first profession on September 8, 1954 and was ordained a priest on July 12, 1969. He gained an MA in philology and literature at Utrecht University, followed by a diploma in theology at Würzburg University in Germany. In South Africa he lectured at St Mary’s Seminary, Ixopo, for a total of 23 years and served in pastoral ministry at a number of

semi-rural parishes in the diocese of Mariannhill, including Park Rynnie and Creighton. At the monastery he enriched community and liturgical life as a maestro on the organ, the conversationalist with a spontaneous sense of humour and irony, the intellectual who could nuance complex issues from a vast reservoir of reading and languages: Dutch, German, French, Latin and Zulu. He had a deep knowledge of the history of his congregation and of the Church—it was said that he made history “a lived experience”. The serious side was balanced by the merrymaker who could bash out swing music on the recreation room piano. He was also a man of courage and sharp critique, even on controversial issues, but always with tact and fairness and never with anger. Later on, from his room at night, one could hear the music of Beethoven, Bach and Verdi dissolving the world in peace. It was at the altar that Fr Ratering was a priest of light, the priest they came to cherish for his richness of personality and ministry—he lit the way with his carefully prepared introductions to Mass, to be followed by homilies that stayed incandescent with spirit and profound simplicity that touched deep in both heart and mind. He had an infinite capacity for sympathy with vulnerable humanity and its journey in search of wholeness. He, too, was the pilgrim and penitent capable of a spontaneous “mea culpa”. And now the voice that proclaimed the good news from Room 111 at Mariannhill Monastery, has himself said: “Good Night!” n See page 15 for an obituary for Fr Rodenburg.

The Catholic Parliamentary liaison office hosted a round table discussion on climate change. (From left) Zuziwe Jonas of the South african National Biodiversity institute, Floyd Chauke of the Department of environment affairs, Fr Peter-John Pearson (CPlo director), Palesa Ngwenya (CPlo researcher), obed Phahlane of the agricultural Research Council, and Dr amos madhlopa of the energy Research Centre at university of Cape Town.

Students do the robot thing By maNDla ZiBi

OR decades South Africa was the only country in the world using robots: shining in colours of red, amber and green to control traffic flow. But Sacred Heart College learners in Johannesburg got a taste of the real robotics thing, using high-tech tools to teach robots to behave like humans. This was part of the school’s biennial Science Fest at which an engineer from the University of Johannesburg’s Technolab, Michael Ettershank, taught learners computer software skills to build automated robots. “He taught them how to drive desktop scale robots through a maze. This entailed using graphical software to teach robots autonomous manoeuvres,” the college’s Lynn Walker explained. At the three-day event, part of the curriculum, junior high learners presented original research tasks. “Learners are required to work individually or in groups to produce and

present an original scientific project based on a topic of their choice. They are then judged by a panel of external adjudicators and the successful candidates are entered into the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists,” said Ms Walker. Professor David Block, a worldrenowned astronomer and mathematician, opened the Science Fest. Events included a physics demonstration highlighting electromagnetic induction and electric fields, and some “chemically spectacular reactions”. Learners also visited the Johannesburg Planetarium and the Sci–Bono, Sci-Enza and Wits Origin Centres as an initiation into the scientific world. Later, the budding scientists participated in workshops featuring building telescopes, measuring the brain sizes of living and extinct ape and hominid species, walking through paper, and experiencing the world of electricity and electromagnetism.

Loreto Convent School

135 Nana Sita Street, Pretoria ● PO Box 11381 The Tramshed 0126 ● Tel-School Oﬃce 012 326 6342, 012 326 6352 012 321 6880 Tel-Accounts 012 326 6531 ● Fax 012 324 2780 ● E-mail:admin@lorskin.co.za

PRINCIPAL

Loreto Convent is a Catholic Independent School situated in the CBD of Pretoria. The school caters for boys and girls from pre-primary to grade 3 and girls only from grades 4 to 12. The school was founded by the Loreto Sisters in 1878 and has provided excellent holistic education ever since at the same location. Pending the retirement of our Principal in December 2016, the Board of Governors invites applications for the Principal’s position. The appointment date is 15 January 2017. Applicants should be motivated, enthusiastic with a passion for providing excellent education to young people, have professional teacher’s qualiﬁcations, be registered with SACE, with at least ten years school management experience and have a commitment to the ethos of a Catholic school.

We accommodate small Conferences, Retreats and workshops

We are 5 min from Howick Falls, 10 min from Midmar Dam, 20 min from Pietermaritzburg.

Contact Veronica 083 784 7455 Email redacres@omi.org.za

Good Shepherd Sisters

Regrettably, due to stolen telephone cables, we no longer have a landline.

We are Apostolic and Contemplative Good Shepherd Sisters. Our Mission is that one of reconciliation and bringing about the love of Jesus the Good Shepherd Sr. Lydicia Letlaka, 072 290 3657 pusylyd@yahoo.com

Key Performance Areas • Ability and willingness to maintain the Catholic Ethos of the school. • Lead, guide and support academic and other staff. • Initiating and supporting staff development. • Monitoring the quality of teaching and learning. • Financial management skills. • Commitment to continuous improvement in all aspects of the school. • Critically evaluating academic results and implementing appropriate interventions. • Excellent interpersonal, organisational and communication skills. • Willingness for self-development to enhance the leadership of the school. • The Board invites interested applicants to e-mail or fax the following to e-mail pa@lorskin.co.za or Fax no. 012-324 2780 o Curriculum Vitae not longer than four A4 pages. o Three contactable references, one of whom is a parish priest or a minister of religion o Certified copy of SACE registration and professional qualification.

The closing date for applications is 29 April 2016. Please consider your application unsuccessful if you have not heard from the school by the 20th of May 2016. The school reserves the right not to make an appointment. Submission of an application does not in itself entitle the applicant to an interview.

The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

INTERNATIONAL

French cardinal agrees to help police in abuse case A

a young man walks outside the St James’s Gate Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. eight thousand teenagers signed up to the Pioneer association last year. (Photo: andy Rain, ePa/CNS)

Ireland’s Pioneers: Youth are swearing off booze By NiCK BRamhill

OUNG people in Ireland are increasingly looking for an alternative to the drinking scene, with up to 8 000 teenagers signing up to the Pioneer Association last year. The temperance group, known formally as The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, said school visits by their representatives are increasingly paying off, with more and more students pledging to abstain from alcohol until they turn 18 and to keep away from illicit drugs for life. Raymond O’Connor, project coordinator, said the growing appeal among young people reflects increased awareness about the dangers of excessive drinking. “We live in an age where people are a lot more conscious of their health, and that message certainly seems to be getting through to young people and has helped lead to a growth in short-term pledges,” he said. “Also, alcohol-related issues seem to be in the news every day, so people are much more aware of the problems it creates.” More than 130 000 people have signed up to the Pioneers, who stress their message is “not anti-alcohol, rather anti the abuse of alcohol and excessive consumption”. The Pioneer Association was founded in 1898 by Jesuit Father

James Cullen, and its pin soon became a ubiquitous symbol of teetotalism, set against an alcohol-fuelled culture. Successive surveys have found that 20% of Irish people describe themselves as nondrinkers, the highest rate of nondrinkers in Europe. But those statistics are overshadowed by the amount of alcohol consumed in Ireland, which again tops the list of European nations. According to recent figures, the average Irish adult drinks 11,9 litres of pure alcohol a year. That’s the equivalent of 44 bottles of vodka, 470 pints of beer, or 124 bottles of wine in the space of just 12 months. “Certainly, if people don’t drink or drink in moderation, it’s one less area to worry about in life and leads to more peace and harmony in the home,” Mr O’Connor said. “There’s a lot of peer pressure among young people to drink, particularly when they go to university, where it’s ingrained in their social life,” he said. “But when I give talks, I also tell people that they are much more likely to have a successful relationship or marriage if they seek a life away from alcohol,” he said. “Statistics show that up to 50% of marriages break up due to alcohol abuse.”—CNS

FRENCH cardinal reiterated his promise to cooperate with law enforcement officials after his offices were raided in connection with charges of failing to discipline a priest now charged with abuse. Police raided the offices of Lyon Cardinal Philippe Barbarin to search for information related to the case of Fr Bernard Preynat, charged with “sexual aggression and rape of minors” between 1986 and 1991 at Lyon’s Saint-Luc parish, where he ran a large Catholic Scout group over two decades, Catholic News Service reported. “The investigators conducted a search, and the Lyon archdiocese was made to hand over items sought by the justice authorities,” the cardinal’s office said in a statement after the search. France’s Catholic La Croix daily said Cardinal Barbarin met at his residence with family members of Fr Preynat’s victims. French newspapers said Fr Preynat had been moved to a new parish after his crimes were reported to then-Cardinal Albert Decourtray, but the priest was only withdrawn from parish work last August. In January, the archdiocese said Cardinal Barbarin had launched an inquiry after first hearing a victim’s testimony in 2014. However, in an interview, the cardinal admitted he had heard about the priest’s activities at least six years earlier, but taken no action after the priest assured him he had not committed

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin. (Photo: Robert Pratta, Reuters/ CNS) further offences. A group of 45 abuse survivors, La Parole Libérée, is suing Cardinal Barbarin for “endangering life” and failing to report abuse, a crime that carries a three-year jail term under France’s penal code. Similar lawsuits have also been filed against three Lyon archdiocesan staffers and Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith.

eaninwhile the superior-general of a South American community of consecrated laymen and priests has confirmed that its founder, Luis Fernando Figari, is guilty of the abuse accusations levelled against him, Catholic News Agency reported. Mr Figari has been declared “persona non grata” by the Sodalitium

Christianae Vitae after an apostolic visitation concluded that he was guilty of sexual abuse, mistreatment and abuse of power against him. The conclusions of the apostolic visit are now in the hands of Vatican authorities. The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which is regarded as being conservative, was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997 by Pope John Paul II. Mr Figari founded the community, and stepped down as its superior-general in 2010. In addition to Peru, the community operates in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, the US and Italy. Alessandro Moroni Llabres, the current superior-general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, said in a statement issued via YouTube: “We ask for forgiveness from the victims of any type of abuse and mistreatment which they may have suffered from any member of our organisation”, especially those who “for years did not obtain a satisfactory and convincing response from our authorities”. He added that the community had “personally asked Pope Francis in a private hearing held last December to order [Mr Figari’s] immediate separation from our community and to end his unsustainable retreat at our facilities”. Mr Moroni announced “the immediate start of a comprehensive reform of our organisation”.

Who won at the‘Catholic Oscars’? T HE well-received feature films Creed, The Martian and Room are among 21 winners of Christopher Awards announced in New York. They are joined by an ABC News documentary on the Islamic State, comedian Jim Gaffigan’s cable sitcom and Dolly Parton’s made-for-TV movie Coat of Many Colours. The awards will be presented on May 19 in New York. They were inaugurated in 1949 to celebrate writers, producers, directors, authors and illustrators whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit”, according to a statement by the organisation. The Christophers organisation was founded by Maryknoll Father James Keller in 1945, in the JudeoChristian tradition of service to God and humanity, and has long held as its guiding principle the ancient Chinese proverb “It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”

HAIL FULL OF GRACE

At your Baptism the Father called you, through Jesus, to be a member of his family and to work for a better world for children, with Jesus and Mary, and with the help of His Holy Spirit.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Contact Br. Christopher, a MARIST BROTHER, at muth@telkomsa.net

Dolly Parton. (Photo: Wikipedia) Dolly Parton, in a statement, likes that slogan. “I personally believe that with all my heart. I think the movie, Coat of Many Colours, a true story from my childhood, does throw a light on a lot of things like family, hope, love, kindness, understanding and acceptance. I am very proud at how God works through me to shine a light, and to help heal a lot of hurt in a lot of people, and I am very

proud of this award.” The documentary Escaping ISIS followed 189 Iraqi Christians as they find safe haven from terrorists in a Catholic church in Irbil, Iraq, before two Americans help them escape the country. The Jim Gaffigan Show episode titled “My Friend the Priest” has Gaffigan feeling uncomfortable because his friendly parish priest tags along with him wherever he goes—even an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In addition to The Martian, Creed and Room, a relatively unknown documentary, The Drop Box, also merited a Christopher Award. “A documentary about a pastor in South Korea who gives abandoned, disabled babies a loving home, The Drop Box highlights the inherent dignity of society’s most vulnerable,” the Christophers said in making the award.—CNS

THE CAPUCHIN POOR CLARE SISTERS We are called to prayer, Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament, silence, penance, manual labor and joyful community life. Through this way of life, we join our lives to Jesus redeeming love, praying for the world and remaining hidden in the heart of Holy Mother Church.

For more information contact: Adoration Monastery "Bethania", P.O. Box 43, Swellendam, 6740 Tel: (028 ) 514-1319, Email: capuchin@telkomsa.net

The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

INTERNATIONAL

Pope meets Society of St Pius X head By CiNDy WooDeN

S discussions continue between Vatican officials and leaders of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX), Pope Francis met at the Vatican with Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the society. The Vatican press office confirmed that the meeting took place but provided no details. On its website, the SSPX said of the meeting: “Pope Francis had wanted a private and informal meeting, without the formality of an official audience.” The meeting “lasted 40 minutes and took place under a cordial atmosphere. After the meeting, it was decided that the current exchanges would continue. The canonical status of the society was not directly addressed, Pope Francis and Bishop Fellay having determined that these exchanges ought to continue without haste.” Last September Pope Francis had expressed his hopes that “in the near future solutions may be found to recover full communion with the priests and superiors of the fraternity”.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the Society of St Pius X, at the society’s headquarters in menzingen, Switzerland. (Photo: Paul haring/CNS) “In the meantime,” the pope wrote in the letter, “motivated by the need to respond to the good of these faithful, through my own disposition, I establish that those who, during the Holy Year of Mercy, approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the

absolution of their sins”. Although the society is no longer considered to be in schism and the excommunication of its bishops was lifted in 2009, questions remained over whether the sacraments they celebrate are valid and licit. The bishops were excommunicated in 1988 when they were ordained without papal permission. Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the society and the bishop who ordained them, also was excommunicated; he died in 1991. Talks aimed at fully regularising the status of the bishops, priests and faithful attached to the society have occurred, with some pauses, since 2000. The talks have focused particularly on the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and especially its documents on religious liberty, ecumenism, liturgy and relations with other religions. In an interview posted on the society’s website, Bishop Fellay confirmed the talks were ongoing and “are making headway. There is no hurry, that’s for sure. Are we really moving forward? I think so. I think so, but it is certainly slow going”.—CNS

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Medieval convent opens doors to refugees By CaRol GlaTZ

MEDIEVAL Franciscan convent near Assisi opened its doors once again to offer refugees shelter and assistance. With the support of the Order of Friars Minor in Umbria, the local Caritas will provide educational, cultural and language assistance to 13 men from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria. The Franciscans in Assisi have been working to make their lodging and residential properties—mostly convents— throughout Umbria available for such efforts, they said. “Welcoming refugees represents a work of mercy—called for also by the appeals of Pope Francis and the entire provincial fraternity,” the Franciscan order said. The refugees will move into the 15thcentury Convent of “Santissima Annunziata” in the hills northeast of Assisi and live there for at least one year. The refugees, together with Caritas workers and the two

Pope Francis greets refugees during a visit to the astalli Centre of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Rome. (Photo: alessia Giuliani/CNS) Franciscans who live at the convent, will help with the convent’s upkeep and preparing meals. The same convent had been the temporary home for 16 Muslim and two Catholic refugees for almost two years between 2011

and 2013. That initiative also involved the collaboration of the Franciscan province and the diocesan Caritas. Just months after his election in 2013, Pope Francis had said church buildings that no longer house nuns, friars, monks and other religious should be used to shelter refugees. “Empty convents and monasteries should not be turned into hotels by the Church to earn money,” he said when visiting the Jesuit Astalli Centre for refugees in Rome. The buildings “are not ours, they are for the flesh of Christ, which is what the refugees are”, he had said. Two years later, the pope called on every parish, religious community and sanctuary in Europe to take in one refugee family to help respond to the massive influx of peoples coming especially from war-torn Syria. The Vatican’s St Peter’s basilica and St Anne’s parish helped sponsor two refugee families, offering them housing and assistance. —CNS

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Papal theologian, Cardinal Cottier dies, 93

ARDINAL Georges Cottier, former theologian of the papal household, died on March 31 at the age

of 93. Cardinal Cottier, a Dominican, had served as a theological expert at the Second Vatican Council, as secretary of the International Theological Commission and was theologian of the papal household from 1989-2005, retiring at the age of 83. He was born on April 25, 1922, in Carouge, Switzerland. He joined the Dominican order in 1945, was ordained a priest in 1951 and studied at Rome’s Angelicum University from 1946-1952. Pope John Paul II named him a cardinal in 2003. Just before retiring, he said in an in-

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terview that the papal theologian’s main task is to vet the many thousands of words prepared by Vatican aides for the pope to speak or publish. He checks for statements of dubious theology and otherwise hazardous phrases that could Cardinal Georges come back to Cottier. (Photo: Paul haunt the pope. haring/CNS Part of the task, the cardinal said, is to be careful not to make the pope say too much about some

topics. “By this, I mean that when we have a theological issue that is still open to discussion and study, it’s not a good thing that the pope pronounce on it too early,” he said. Well into retirement, Cardinal Cottier was a featured speaker at Vatican conferences and was an expert sought out by Catholic media. In an interview on God’s mercy and family life, the cardinal said the Catholic Church must develop better ways to accompany people and not simply condemn those who fail. “In rigorism, there is an innate brutality that is contrary to the delicacy with which God guides each person,” the cardinal had told the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Give SA some hope!

ANY South Africans owe Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng an apology after greeting his appointment as chief justice of the Constitutional Court in 2011 with much cynicism. After leading the court’s unanimous decision that President Jacob Zuma and parliament had failed to uphold the Constitution in the upgrading of the president’s private homestead at Nkandla, nobody can accuse Justice Mogoeng of being the ANC’s lapdog, as a cartoon published at the time of his appointment predicted. Of the injuries which the presidency of Mr Zuma has inflicted upon South Africa, one of the most grave is the lack of confidence in the public institutions which are supposed to serve us. It is an indictment of the government that the Constitutional Court’s decision had to be hailed not only as correct and self-evident, but also, without undue hyperbole, as a victory for democracy. Too many of Mr Zuma’s appointments—and, it must be noted, also of those installed during the Thabo Mbeki presidency—have revealed themselves to be acting not in the interests of the nation, but as agents invested with the task of protecting a mendacious presidency and the narrow interests of the African National Congress. Frequently neither Mr Zuma nor the government nor parliament nor the ANC made much of an effort to hide its agenda as it appointed, approved or deployed individuals of dubious qualification and character who were tasked with executing partisan agendas, regardless of the damage they would cause. Too often such individuals were ethically compromised already at the time of their appointment. They proceeded to undermine institutions they were supposed to strengthen, such as the National Prosecuting Authority or the South African Broadcasting Corporation, to the extent that the public has lost confidence in them. It is necessary to note, however, that some Zuma-era appointments have acted with the highest integrity and honour—Justice Mogoeng and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela are two prominent examples of this. Nonetheless, the president and the ANC have routinely acted with impunity in appointing unsuitable and unqualified individ-

uals to key positions with no regard for the welfare of the country. For this they must be held morally accountable. The Machiavellian methods employed by the Zuma regime in the service of venal misrule were exposed by the damning Constitutional Court judgment, but they go much deeper than Nkandla. After the Constitutional Court judgment, President Zuma appeared on television in a bid to absolve himself of blame for the Nkandla debacle, and to offer an apology so qualified as to be meaningless. At face value, Mr Zuma seemed to confess to the nation that he is clueless as to what is going on in his government and on his personal property, and that he is incompetent in following basic procedures in accordance with the law. He admitted to listening to shoddy advice by incompetent people whose wisdom he naively trusted. He conceded that he is a poor judge of policy, procedure and character, and demonstrated that he has no grasp of ethics. This was Mr Zuma’s positive spin—a sober assessment of his presidency is much more damning. South Africa is expected to believe that Mr Zuma is competent to be president of the country. His record is not persuasive that he is, neither in terms of administration nor of ethics. The premature departure of Mr Zuma surely is now necessary and, at some point after the municipal elections, inevitable. But when Mr Zuma eventually goes, South Africa will not be liberated from its many social problems, nor will it spontaneously redress our economic woes, which are in many ways linked to international causes which are out of the government’s control. However, Mr Zuma’s retirement—and that, one may hope, of some of those who have compromised themselves by aggressively doing his bidding—will give the government, parliament and the ANC an opportunity to purge themselves of the stench of corruption and maladministration they have been party to. This will be an opportunity that does not present itself too often. The conversation within the deeply divided ANC and in the public forum must already begin to shape a clear vision of good governance which might give our distressed country some hope and healing.

PuBLIC LECTuRE ON

POPE FRANCIS’ DECISIONS ON THE FAMILy Date: Time: Venue:

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.

Meet personal God in Eucharist ATHER Ralph de Hahn (March after he died because love of Jesus Funknowingly 23) asks the question, “Are we was looked on as an ongoing eleposing obstacles ment. We need to experience a perwhich cancel the powerful action of the Blessed Eucharist within us?” Maybe we are. Unlike St Paul’s image of the body and its members (1 Corinthians 12), St John’s image of the vine emphasises how inherent Jesus is with the question: “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). Do we truly love Jesus? And in Revelation Jesus says: “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. I will enter and dine with anyone who hears my voice and opens the door” (3:20). Do we open the door? The followers of Jesus survived

No quick fix for SA’s problems

DISAGREE with Anne Teodorczuk’s letter (March 16) and I deem it unfair that she would blame the government for the poverty and hopelessness so many of our historically disadvantaged people find themselves in after 22 years of our young democracy. How can any reasonable, honest South African expect the government to eradicate within 22 years serious social and economic evils, like poverty and hopelessness, which the apartheid regime and its predecessors created, over a period of more than 84 years? And that doesn’t even account for the white colonial reign prior to 1910. Poverty and hopelessness didn’t develop overnight, so it stands to reason that they cannot be solved by a quick fix. Douglas Eckard, Somerset West

Qualify terms of racism debate

ES, let us talk about racism, as the bishops requested in their pastoral letter (March 16). Firstly a definition: One race considers itself superior to another? One race is discriminated against by another, in the manner of the apartheid government? Unfortunately this also applies to the ANC government which has enacted racist legislation such as affirmative action, BEE, quotas for sport and university entrance, employment equity etc. Secondly, the discussion must move away from the premise that whites are racists and non-whites are not racists. Thirdly, transformation. There is a need to define exactly what is meant by this frequent term. Fourthly, apartheid and colonialism. Most people, of all races, under

sonal God as “friend, companion, or parent”. We should praise him and acknowledge that he is: • The Bread of Life • The Only Truth • The Good Shepherd • The Lamb of God • The Great I AM In addition to the Church providing doctrine and pastoral care, liturgy and sacraments, and a supportive sense of belonging to a caring community, people need to be brought into some personal contact with Jesus. And how important is Eucharistic the fascist apartheid government did exactly as most people do under such circumstances, which is nothing. Certainly, white South Africans benefited enormously during those 40-odd years. As for colonialism, well that is really stretching one’s credibility. Colonists were men of their era and behaved in Africa and elsewhere as they did in their home countries. As did Shaka and Dingaan in their era, killing millions of their own and others during their reigns. I feel absolutely no need to apologise for colonialism which indeed brought many benefits. Fifthly, let us look at some African countries which gained independence more than half a century ago: Ghana 1957, Uganda 1962, Kenya 1963. All were given a vast amount of aid, both financial and physical, and should be shining examples, having recovered from the so-called yoke of colonialism. They are not and the question is why? I think racism is used as an excuse for all shortcomings and this too needs to be placed on the “let’s talk about racism” agenda. Margaret von Solms, Sedgefield

A selfless saint

REPLY to the letter of Luky Whittle (January 27) as a co-worker of Mother Teresa, who has had direct contact with her work through our national coordinator, Margaret Cullis of Durban. As a travel agent, Mrs Cullis regopinions 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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ularly travelled to Kolkata and called on Mother Teresa and her Missionary Sisters of Charity. Being a co–worker involves only a wish to identify with Mother Teresa and her Sisters, and to pray daily simple prayers, in a pamphlet, for God’s help in their work. We co-workers meet once a month to carry out “something beautiful for God” as a group. Mother Teresa also taught us: “If you see the need, do the deed” and “Take a broom and sweep the room.” Right now, I have seen the need and am doing the deed. So I was appalled at Mrs Whittle’s letter which castigated Mother Teresa for using donations of tainted money “without insisting that prior retribution be made to the victims that were robbed”. I do not for one moment believe Mother Teresa would have used money she identified as belonging to a particular person or group. Any tainted money put in her hands by a penitent would immediately be made pure by God and used in her work of mercy for the glory of God. In September 1988 Mother Teresa came to South Africa to settle a group of her Sisters in Khayelitsha informal settlement in Cape Town, meet with her co-workers and give motivational talks across the country. Our group met her in Pinetown’s church of the Immaculate Conception. As her car stopped outside the church everyone was busy taking photos. I saw the tiny Mother Teresa trying to push open the heavy car door from the inside. I rushed to open it and help her out. While in Durban she stayed at Nazareth House and I know her “luggage” was one small white plastic packet with a change of sari and basic needs. There was nothing ostentatious or materialistic about Mother Teresa that would make her so avaricious as to take money that God had not purified for her. Molly Hayward, Durban

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devotion? We live in lonely times. Modern people have more solitude in their lives than in the past. With the virtual end of the extended family, with the modern preference for privacy, people spend much less time interacting in a personal way with one another. It should not surprise one if the mysterious and personal presence of Christ has a profound human appeal. As regards faith and belief in the real presence, if the code of a whole life can be found in the minute details of the DNA molecule, we should not be completely surprised that the Eternal Son of God could leave us with such a powerful and real memorial of his time spent on earth as Son of Man, a being of flesh and blood. Dominic Sam, Port Elizabeth

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The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

PERSPECTIVES Raymond Perrier

Vocation call is for all G OOD preachers will be tying themselves in knots as they seek to talk to their congregations this weekend on Vocations Sunday. It was much easier in the “good old days”. Then a vocation simply meant becoming a priest or a religious brother or sister (although then we were still using the more old-fashioned and narrower terms “monk” and “nun”). “Do you have a vocation?” was the simple question the priest asked; and the answer was usually an embarrassed “no”; and thankfully in a few cases a tentative “yes”. But we now use the term vocation much more widely. Going back to the Latin root meaning of “a call”, we realise that all Christians have a call from God, a plan for our lives which God is calling each one of us to fulfil. As Christians, we have a duty to try and discern this call, to test our professional choices against our sense of God’s plan, and to be accountable for our choices not just to our families or our bank manager but also to God. That’s a far cry from the kind of careers guidance most young people receive today. Of course, we might not make the time to listen to God’s call or have the courage to respond. But none of us can say that we don’t have a vocation. God calls us to a wide variety of options for our lives and he is interested in whatever we do with our talents, even if we do not choose to become priests or religious. It also resonates with how people talk about what they do. I recently spent time with three groups of people whose professions show clearly what difference this fuller understanding of vocation can mean. One group were experienced teachers working in Catholic schools—some of them Catholics, many of them not. When speaking about what they do and in particular how they treat the young people in their care, they easily used the language of vocation. Another group comprised young doctors from the UK who had been working

with South African doctors in a public hospital here and were impressed by the level of commitment they encountered. The British secular worldview did not enable them to articulate it in terms of a vocation but that was what they were witnessing. The third was a group of 80 Unisaa social work students with whom I will spend time over the next few months. They have had a good grounding in the professional and managerial dimensions of being a social worker. But I have been asked to also help with their vocational formation: what would it mean to regard entering this sector as responding to a sense of call? While I am not underestimating the importance of professional training and managerial qualifications, I am very grateful that in these jobs there are people who feel they are fulfilling a vocation. Those are the kind of teachers, doctors and social workers this country needs.

ut this is the dilemma that ties the preacher in knots. If all lines of work can be vocations, how can he encourage people to sign up to the Church’s specific vocations? Are they better or higher or truer than the other secular vocations? I have personally travelled through three stages of this journey. For many years I did a job, in advertising, which I thoroughly enjoyed but which at no time felt

a Dominican sister speaks about her vocation to young people in madrid. The call to vocations is not directed only to those who join holy orders and the consecrated lives, but to everybody in all contexts of life. (Photo: Paul haring/CNS)

Faith and Society

like a calling from God. I then abandoned that in a Damascene conversion and signed up to the Jesuits—a very clear commitment to the narrower definition of vocation. I then left the Jesuits but have continued to work for eight years in Church organisations. These roles have been paid (never well) and I have not had to make explicit promises such as poverty, chastity or obedience. Nevertheless, I regard what I do as living out a vocation. My conclusion from this crooked path is that a vocation is not defined by the job that you do. So it is wider than being a priest or a religious; wider even than being in the caring professions. An engineer or a taxi driver—or even an ad man—could be living a vocation. Nor is it defined by where you do that job. It is not defined by the social context of the role, though a doctor or teacher who works in the private sector has to prove harder that their role is a vocation. It is not even defined by how committed you are, though this is an important characteristic. We would hesitate to say that the hardworking drug dealer had a “vocation”. I would conclude that the true test of vocation is to ask yourself: “Whose Kingdom are you building?” Scripture gives many examples of building God’s kingdom, but the best is perhaps captured in Micah: “to act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly” (6:8). There are some jobs—and being a priest or religious would be uppermost—which provide activities and structures and contexts which ought to enable one to pass the Micah test. And there are many people in those roles who do and who should be held up as models, not just on Vocations Sunday but all year round. But simply having that title does not mean that the person is living out a vocation. I have also known priests and religious who are anything but models of justice or mercy or humility. Instead of building Continued on page 15

Sr Susan Rakoczy IHM

Point of Debate

A moratorium on homilies?

ALM Sunday 2016. Palms have been blessed; the Passion was read well by a group. It is homily time. The parish priest begins and adapts the volume of a fiery Pentecostal preacher. I am alarmed by the very loud tone. He then begins to exhort us to “destroy the darkness”—what darkness is he talking about I wonder? South Africa has a multitude of problems—is this the darkness? No, it is the “darkness” of Calvary. Are we supposed to destroy “darkness” as we enter into Holy Week? I thought that was the power of the death and resurrection of Christ. Silly me—I am just a theologian, not a priest. He continues and moves into moralising mode: do not gossip, do not be “self-referential” and do not “consider yourself indispensable”. What does this have to do with the readings of Palm Sunday? It doesn’t of course. Then we are told “to be nice” to each other. Then I switch off and pray the Jesus Prayer as he goes on and on. Was this a homily on the readings of Palm Sunday? Of course not. It was a striking but not unusual example of what the People of God so often have to endure Sunday after Sunday from priests and deacons who do not prepare their homilies and/or who have no idea how to present the Word of God in a way that touches and transform hearts and minds. In Evangelii Gaudium (#135-144) Pope Francis discusses the homily. He is clear and forthright. From his pastoral experience in the archdiocese of Buenos Aires he must have heard many laments about the poor quality of homilies. He states: “We know that the faithful attach great importance to it, and that both they and their ordained ministers suffer because of homilies: the laity from having to listen to them and the clergy from having to preach them! It is sad that this is the case.”

The security in family permanence Toni Rowland F ATHER Chuck Gallagher SJ, founder of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, once used the idea of “security of permanence” to describe the unique characteristics of a family. Other aspects were unconditional love, belonging, family meals, conflict, forgiveness, healing. No matter what the dynamics are, you continue to belong no matter what. Even if there is divorce, spouses continue to belong, as ex-spouses. You cannot become an ex-parent once you have played a role in conceiving, bearing and bringing up a child, who is an extension of two parents. You are that parent permanently. That security is intended to give one a sense of value, belonging and worth. This aspect of the security of permanence struck me a few days ago when I came across an article about permanence and Facebook. The article did not provide the figures of actual Facebook users but tells us that more than 8 000 Facebook users across the world die each day, adding to the 30-40 million users who have already died. At some point in time there will be more dead Facebook users than living ones. Their physical selves cease to be, but in some form the deceased person, through their words and images that they have posted, lives on. Long before Facebook, after my husband Chris died, I took out the little tape on the answering machine to be able to

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a family takes a selfie. There is security in the permanence of family ties. hear his voice. In that way, he lived on for me. We, as believers in life after death, hold that in some form we continue into eternal life. We speak of soul, spirit, a resurrected body—but we do not know exactly what form it will be. While we grieve when someone dear to us dies, we certainly hope to be reunited with them as well as living gloriously in the presence of God.

ince I first came across the idea that the words we have spoken remain “somewhere out there”, I have been fascinated by the idea of hearing the real voice of Jesus and the actual words he spoke. Now I regard this modern-day invention of Facebook and a presence “some-

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where out there” as another dimension of this concept. All Facebook posts are stored on a central server, but much other information is cloud-based, that is, it sits on various servers. This is something to reflected on: the fact that once we have created we do not cease to exist. In a unique way this then applies to family life. Many cultures cherish the memory of their ancestors in a big way as they recount their great deeds. That is also what we are doing in particular during the Easter season, even going beyond remembering but reliving and reflecting from the perspective of God’s mercy. It is what the Eucharist does daily. The April family theme is “God’s mercy is divine mercy”. This means that in its allencompassingness, his mercy is greater than any practice of mercy that we are able to offer. Still throughout this Holy Year, the motto “Merciful like the Father” is our challenge. This is also a challenge for all—for fathers, mothers, children and elderly—to make our homes places where each member can experience the security of permanence, forever and ever. Amen.

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t is more than sad; it is scandalous that priests can use the “homily space” as they wish and subject the People of God to what I would call nonsense, as my experience proved. If we think about those who preach well, they have many things in common: a life of prayer, a commitment to serious preparation of the homily, the willingness to read, pray and reflect deeply on the text, the ability to connect the Word with ordinary life. Poor homilists do the following: seldom pray over the texts, use Internet homilies, think that repeating the Gospel is a homily (this happened in another parish this Lent when the Gospel which was the story of the Prodigal Son was retold to us in the “homily space”), moralise (“do this, don’t do that”) and prepare on Sunday morning at they drive or walk to the church. A few years ago a priest told me that he prepares his homily in the shower on Sunday morning! What can be done? Here is a radical suggestion because of the crisis in preaching. The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference should declare a one-year moratorium on all homilies. No homilies will be given—not even on Christmas, nor on Easter. Instead, after the Gospel is read, all are invited to reflect on the readings in silence for five minutes. During this year of no homilies, each bishop is to organise preaching workshops for the priests and deacons. If the bishop truly knows his priests and deacons, then he knows who is a good homilist. Those priests are asked to conduct these workshops. Each person who attends must bring what he considers his best homily and his worst homily, and these become the basis for the workshops. Laity and religious of the diocese are invited to participate in the workshops and to critique the homilies. The reality is that priests are living off the classes they took in homiletics when they studied theology. At St Joseph’s Theological Institute at Cedara, where I lecture, the requirement is one four-credit course taken over one semester. Possibly the religious congregations to which our students belong supplement this. This means that for the rest of his priestly life, unless he is an unusual person, the priest lives off what he had learned when he was in his mid-20s. No wonder we are in this crisis! (In fairness, I have to point out that I don’t know what St John Vianney Seminary, where diocesan priests are trained, requires in homiletics.) I preach twice a year at St Joseph’s and at other places, so I know how demanding it is to prepare a homily. But taking shortcuts and serving up unpalatable food does not build the faith of the People of God. Instead, it makes some leave the Church in disgust and induces boredom and apathy in others.

The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

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RCia candidates were accepted into the Church at the easter vigil at Bellville parish in Cape Town. The group was led by parish priest Fr Bogdan Buksa (centre) and RCia leaders Deacon Saville Graayenstein, margaret Carelse and abie Cader (not pictured).

St Charles Borromeo parish in Victory Park, Johannesburg, held a solemn procession on Palm Sunday with altar servers, lay ministers, Fr James Ralston and Deacon Paddy maddison.

Bishop emeritus Boniface Setlalekgosi baptised catechumens during the easter vigil mass at St Bernard’s parish in Gaborone, Botswana.

Fr Terrry Nash SPS with parishioners of St anthony’s parish in Pietermaritzburg who walked in the annual Good Friday procession held by leaders of the Catholic and anglican Churches in Pietermaritzburg. (From left) merlynn marion, Fr Nash, michael Kholopa, Fortunate Dlamini, mbongi Dlamini, Richard moodley, leo Camp and (front) Phlavi mukundi .

Fr John Thompson SDB, assisted by Fr Pawel michalowski and Deacon Victor ho, lit the easter candle at the vigil mass at Don Bosco parish in Robertsham, Johannesburg. (Photo: mark Kisogloo)

The diocese of Bethlehem celebrated its Chrism mass on holy Thursday at the diocesan shrine in Tsheseng with Deacon lerato mokoena (left), Fr Sifiso Thusi (centre) and Bishop Jan deGroef. (Photo: Fr Khahliso mofokeng)

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The Mission of the FMM springs from a life of union with Christ centred on the EUCHARIST

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UMHLANGANO WAMAFRANCISCAN MISSIONARIES OF MARY

Fr David Rowan SJ (centre) with Sr Dorothea lombard (back left), choir members and altar servers after easter Sunday mass at Nazareth house, Johannesburg.

Umsebenzi wobuthunywa benhlangano yama Franciscan Missionaries of Mary idabuka empilweni yokuzibandakanya noKhristo oyisizinda sesidlo esiyingcwele.

Uzizwa ubiziwe na?

Contacts: Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, Pax Christi, Post Net Suite 36, Private Bag X6603, Newcastle 2940, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Sister Helena Coragem, fmm: 076 762 3125 and 034 312 1957 helenacoragem@gmail.com, Sister Ana Tonela, fmm: 073 542 0910 Sharafmm.tonela@gmail.com

The RCia group of St Joseph’s parish in middelburg, De aar diocese, were baptised and confirmed by Fr Bernard Ngidi Cmm (front) during the easter vigil mass. RCia co-ordinator Sr Sylvia Van Vuuren oP and teachers are pictured at the back.

St Benedict’s cathedral parish in eshowe came together with opus Dei parish for a Stations of the Cross procession led by Fr Victor Chavunga oSB, together with Fr lungisani masondo.

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PERSONALITY

The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

New nuncio on serving popes, coming to SA Archbishop Peter Wells, the new nuncio to Southern Africa, is an old hand in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. He spoke about his experiences to eliSe haRRiS.

OR Archbishop Peter Wells, the pope’s new representative to South Africa, being in the diplomatic service of the Holy See isn’t about politics or governing— above all it is a ministry centred on Jesus Christ. “At the end of the day, what is papal diplomacy? What does it mean to be a papal diplomat? It’s about one thing at the end of the day: Jesus Christ. That’s it,” Archbishop Wells said. He said that apostolic nuncios, the Holy See’s ambassadors, always have to look for effective means of showing that they are in a country “to bring the concerns, the hopes, the suffering of the local population back to the Vicar of Christ”, referring to one of the titles of the pope. Apostolic nuncios differ from secular diplomats because “we’re not really there to represent the political, economic, diplomatic views of our government” but rather “to listen to what the people need”, Archbishop Wells said. As representatives of the pope, “we’re dealing with the local Church, the local bishops; we’re there for them as the pope’s representatives to be their voice when we come back to the pope—but also to be the pope’s voice when we go back to them”. Archbishop Wells said he detests it “when people talk about priests who are working in the Vatican— people who are in my kind of job— as bureaucrats or CEOs. We’re not. We’re priests. We’re ministers first and foremost.” One of the things the archbishop said he has always emphasised to his colleagues in the Secretariat of State is that “the minute you start feeling like a bureaucrat is the minute you need to get out. You need to get back to the parish.”

“We are doing ministry here,” he said, adding that while it may be a more indirect, behind-the-scenes form of ministry, “it is helping the Holy Father as the Vicar of Christ in his ministry”. He emphasised: “If you lose touch with that you better get out of there quick because you need to get yourself grounded again.” Archbishop Wells’ appointment as apostolic nuncio to South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia was made in February. He was consecrated an archbishop— the common title held by nuncios—on March 19 by Pope Francis. His episcopal consecration “was an extraordinary moment”, he said. “It was a moment filled with grace and thanksgiving, great humility, a sense of awe but also a real serenity.”

he US-born archbishop, 52, was ordained a priest of the diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1991. He has been working in Rome in Vatican diplomacy since 2002, giving him a 14-year tenure in which he has served under three pontiffs: St John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Since July 2009 he has served as the assessor for the General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, which handles the majority of Church affairs, aside from relations with other states. His role as assessor made Archbishop Wells the fifth-ranking official in the Secretariat of State. Though he is happy to be back in active ministry, the archbishop said his time in the Vatican was “a real grace,” especially in serving under three popes. Having arrived towards the end of St John Paul II’s pontificate, Archbishop Wells said he was amazed to see that the Polish pope was “still so active, still so engaged with his limitations”. Benedict XVI, with whom the archbishop frequently travelled, “was such a humble—incredibly humble—person,” he said. While many thought the German pontiff was timid, Archbishop Wells said he didn’t see him that way. “I never thought he was timid… he’s humble and incredibly respectful. And because of the respect, maybe as a professor…he always

archbishop Peter Wells, the new nuncio to South africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and lesotho. (Photo: alexey Gotovskyi/CNa) showed incredible respect for the other person, but he wanted to let them express their ideas, their views, and then he would say something.” Pope Francis, on the other hand, has been “a whirlwind since day one”, the archbishop chuckled. He said that though the Argentine has been in office for only three years, “it’s been an extremely invigorating time and a very beautiful time, especially to see how Pope Francis has this ability to touch everyone’s heart immediately”. Touching on the differences in the diplomatic tone of each of the popes under whom he’s served, Archbishop Wells said that John Paul II “was extraordinary” in terms of his diplomatic service. “He interacted on the entire world stage and was very much a part of the fall of the Eastern Bloc,” he said, crediting the pope’s input, diplomatic tact and rapport with other heads of state in helping to eliminate communism in Europe. The archbishop said that in his opinion, one of the most significant

contributions of Benedict XVI in the diplomatic world was that he continuously talked about “the importance of the relationship between faith and reason”, as well as the importance of religious communities in having a voice in the public forum. Francis has followed closely in his predecessors’ footsteps, and has already had a huge impact in just three years, Archbishop Wells said, pointing specifically to Francis’ role in helping to restore US-Cuba relations, and in drawing attention to the global migrant crisis. “He has a keen sense of what is happening, but he never, ever loses the idea that it’s the human person who is at the centre,” Archbishop Wells said, adding that “we can never lose the concept of the integral and core nature of the human person”.

rchbishop Wells said that one of the biggest challenges in his tenure has been not only his assistance in streamlining Vatican communications—he is one of the officials who pushed for the pope’s

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Twitter account—but also knowing how to deal with Benedict XVI’s resignation. “We didn’t have instruments, or really archives, of how to deal with the resignation of the pope and how to move forward in the interim, so we had to come up with new models of dealing with things.” A large part of the discussion centred on determining what would happen when Benedict actually resigned, he said. In order to signify that he had actually stepped down, they finally agreed to close the doors to Castel Gandolfo and to remove the Swiss Guard (the personal protectors of the Holy Father), replacing them with the Gendarme, the Vatican’s police service. “Our communications office did a beautiful job following Pope Benedict in the helicopter, and the way that that was shown to the world was extraordinary,” he said. “Everyone could really participate in what was happening, because it was a historic moment.” Despite his time serving in Rome, Archbishop Wells said he is eager to jump into his new position as nuncio. He hopes to make the move to South Africa in time for the April 30 consecration of Bishop-elect Duncan Tsoke as auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese of Johannesburg. One of the things the archbishop said he’s looking forward to as nuncio is that “now I get to be involved in direct ministry again”. While the diplomatic work of someone inside the Secretariat of State is important, it’s indirect, he said, voicing his excitement at being able to say Mass in communities and help with sacramental preparations such as marriage and confirmations. “I’ll also get to be present in a very direct way for the local bishops, for the priests and the laypeople. That’s definitely going to be a real joy: I’m really looking forward to that,” Archbishop Wells said.— CNA

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The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

VOCATIONS

A vow made forever is eternal When religious profess their vows “forever”, they mean it, as moSeS ChaNDa oP explains.

N today’s society, one rarely hears the word “forever”, but when one uses it, some big decisions are being made. There are several reasons for why the word “forever”, in its true sense, is hardly heard. In our age everything is moving at a faster rate. Hence, making promises that are binding with the permanence of “forever” is frightening. What if things change, as they quickly do? And so enjoying what is in the here-and-now serves as a the substitute for making a life-long commitment. It also demonstrates a fear of taking up responsibility. But sometimes “forever” manifests itself. I’m looking back at two such occasions in January 2016. The year dawned with a colourful spectacle of a guided encounter which foresaw the new “forever” resolution among the Montebello

Dominican Sisters in KwaZuluNatal and the Dominican friars of the Southern African vicariate. At the beginning of every new year, people make their resolutions—be it for the short or long term—to guide them towards a hoped-for personal achievements. But a resolution is not a vow. In contrast, religious women showing their willingness to give their lives and their work for the Church in serving God forever is a resolution to permanence. In our modern society, this can seem unusual to many. Just being a religious person is seen to be counter-cultural. Sisters or brothers who make “forever” vows of poverty, chastity and obedience show their dedication to what God calls them to do. In this way they conform not to the short-lived things of the world but to the eternal will of God. In making their vows, they use the word “forever” to signify that no matter what comes their way, the focus will be to live out their permanent resolution. It is amazing to see how each of our stories of vocation—be it in the religious life, priesthood, mar-

riage or single life—are different, and yet they all eventually bring us together. The profession of religious final vows is a breathtaking event that can be fully taken in only by being there in person. It is one of those things you have to see to believe. Things that last forever never come to an end, they continue endlessly. An experience that changes you forever alters you in ways that will last for the rest of your life. Forever literally means “eternally”. So when we promise, “I will serve you, Lord, forever” or “I will love you, my wife or husband, forever”, we must mean it, because eternity does not cease when we leave this earthly life. At final professions, ordinations or marriages, God makes himself present in the ceremony, and he continually makes himself known through the actions that people make in their lives. God calls us all in one way or another, and we should say “yes” and also be willing to become “fishers of men and women”. On Vocations Sunday, this is our challenge.

Three montebello Dominican Sisters of the holy Rosary make their final profession.

Preaching is the key to the charism of lay Dominicans By moSeS ChaNDa oP

W Present at the conference for lay Dominicans in January were (from left) assistant treasurer Khunjulwa Petrus, secretary monica alson, spiritual promotor Sr Paul oP, national promoter Fr mark James oP, president Delores hartzenberg, and treasurer maposholi Tabile.

HEN one thinks of the Dominican order, which is celebrating its 800th anniversary of foundation this year, one pictures friars in their white robes and sisters of various congregational traditions. But there is another form of living out the order’s ethos: as a lay Dominican. God continually calls people out of the darkness into the light of the Good News of Jesus. He has always called men and women to worship him and to proclaim his name.

St Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers who lived from 1170 to 1221, heard his call in the cries of men and women, young and adults, for a message of hope and freedom. The lay Dominican forerunners, people like St Catherine of Siena and others, followed in the footsteps of St Dominic. Today Dominicans still are attentive, as their founder was, to the needs of our time. Lay Dominicans have an intrinsic part in the Dominican family, to share the Dominican mission and way of life. In whatever lifestyle they find themselves, married or single, they enrich the order with their passion for the truth, their love of Dominican prayer and apostolic zeal. Fr Mark James OP, national promoter for the lay Dominicans, said that the order at all levels draws its strength from the four pillars which constitute its charism: community life, prayer, study and preaching. Although lay Dominicans may live these pillars differently from friars and sisters, they have prioritised and embraced these values to helping them be good witnesses to the Good News of Christ. Community is the locus of formation, Fr James told a conference of the lay Dominican chapters of the vicariate of Southern Africa at Emephetelweni priory in Pietermaritzburg in January. In this context, he said, the biological family is the foundation where all Christian values must be embraced; this then moves to the parish which is a bigger community. However, within the Dominican family this is strongly supported by various efforts of individual and collective forma-

tion and renewal, within groups and communities. In these communities of faith and action a true formation is achieved for each member through prayer, study of the word of God and other materials as tools to becoming better preachers. “This is where we share our reactions, listen to those who share our opinions, or again to those who think differently which is often more valuable,” he said. At the conference, lay Dominicans were challenged to reflect on three points: • How are they different in their simplicity of life? • How do they become responsible stewards of their property in being generous to the poor as a way of achieving their preaching mission? • How is preaching in their identity as Dominicans different from others? Preaching must not be limited to being on the pulpit alone, since lay people are not mandated to stand on the pulpit to preach at Mass. Still, Dominicans have always practised preaching in their station of life. This means that they have to create in their lives a platform where the word of God can be proclaimed and the Dominican order be made visible. The lay Dominicans countrywide are visible by engaging actively in St Dominic’s call to contemplate and share with others the fruits of their contemplation. They are involved in Justice & Peace programmes, the Masizame community project, feeding and food parcel programmes, hospital and prison visits, and catechetical programmes in parishes. This sort of preaching is echoed as “the preaching wherever life finds you”.

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VOCATIONS

The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

Mill Hill looks back on proud 150 years

This year Mill Hill Missionaries celebrates 150 years of existence. FaTheR aNThoNy NDaNG NDiChia, a member of the congregation, looks at its history.

HIS year, the St Joseph’s Missionary Society, commonly known as the Mill Hill Missionaries, is celebrating a century and a half of bringing the love of Christ to the four corners of the world. According to general-superior Fr Michael Corcoran, this is a significant milestone in the life of the society as “it marks a substantial contribution to the Church for over 150 years”. On March 1, 1866, Fr Herbert Vaughan (1832-1903) a priest of the diocese of Westminster, settled with one student at Holcombe House in the north-west London suburb of Mill Hill. There he intended to begin to fulfil Christ’s missionary mandate (Matthew 28:19) which is incumbent on the Catholic world. In 1866, this obligation was felt to be more of a burden than a benefit. Fr Vaughan approached the archbishop of Westminster and suggested that he might establish an English missionary college. As a newly appointed bishop, Archbishop Henry Manning—like Fr Vaughan a future cardinal—had long been tortured by doubts and uncertainties. As a priest, in his distress he

sought the advice of Fr Vincent Pallotti, the Italian founder of the Pallottines. This venerable old priest, now a saint, advised him: “The Church in England will not flourish until it sends priests to the foreign missions”. Fr Vaughan proposed to put that advice into action. He sought recruits not only in England, Ireland, Scotland and North America, but also in Flanders, the Netherlands and the Tyrol region. Despite early difficulties, the number of students grew. Soon Fr Vaughan realised that Holcombe House would be far too small. He decided, therefore, to begin new, permanent college buildings. On the feast of Ss Peter and Paul, on June 29, 1869, the foundation stone of the new college was laid, and by 1874, a chapel was consecrated. With special permission from Pope Pius IX, Cardinal Manning was permitted to crown the statue of St Joseph in a separate ceremony, with the hierarchy of England and Wales in attendance. The college went on to produce thousands of missionaries who have worked in different parts of the world. Today Mill Hill missionaries are found on almost every continent. Traditionally, members originated from European countries: Britain, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands and from the German-speaking areas of northern Italy and Austria. Members also came from North American. After training in centres in Eng-

New perpetually professed members of the mill hill missionaries from the Philippines, india, uganda, Kenya and Cameroon, with former generalsuperior Fr anthony Chantry in the mill hill Formation house in Nairobi, Kenya.

mill hill missionaries members celebrate the feast of St Joseph, their patron, in South africa. (From left) Frs Gabriel Baraza (Kenya), emmanuel omollo (uganda), John Doran (england), Sylvester Ponje (Cameroon), Bishop Peter holiday (Kroonstad), Frs ephraim ohdiambo (Kenya), Stephen Giles (england and australia) and anthony Ndichia (Cameroon and South africa). land, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and the Tyrol, these Mill Hill missionaries were sent to countries in Africa: Cameroon, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and, in more recent years, South Africa. In Asia they went to Pakistan, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and China, as well as to New Zealand. Today Mill Hill Missionaries has missionary formation centres in Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, the Philippines and India. The mission and work of the society expresses itself in primary evangelisation, justice & peace, integrity of creation, mission animation, social work and development, and interreligious dialogue. Members are responding to the challenges of secularisation and globalisation in the local churches where they serve. In more recent years, Mill Hill missionaries were assigned to South Africa in response to the request by the late Bishop Johannes Brenninkmeijer of Kroonstad, a Dominican. He invited them to work post-apartheid for reconciliation in his diocese, focusing on engagement work among migrant workers and people of different ethnic groups through community-build-

Dominican Sisters, Cabra Rooted in prayer, study and community; Upholding the values of love and compassion in our search for Truth; Promoting right relationships with God, people and creation so that we widen our circle of compassion We invite you to continue your discernment about the path of life to which God is calling you, by contacting: The Vocation Promoter cabdoms@ mweb.co.za

ing and reconciliation in the townships of northern Free State.

n 1998, the first official group of Mill Hill missionaries to arrive in South Africa comprised Frs Kevin O’Donovan (Ireland), Andrew Mukulu (Uganda), and Ephraim Odhiambo (Kenya), followed later by Frs Anthony Chantry (England), James Juma (Kenya), John Melluish (England), Stephen Giles (England/Australia), Emmanuel Omollo, (Uganda), John Doran, (England) and Emmanuel Mbeh (Cameroon). Latterly, these missionaries were followed by Fr Gabriel Baraza from Kenya, and from Cameroon Fr Sylvester Ponje and myself. In Kroonstad seven Mill Hill missionaries cover 16 parishes. In the past years the congregation has extended its presence to the diocese of Rustenburg. Mill Hill missionaries are involved in numerous pastoral activities, including peace-building and reconciliation, education, and care for the sick, orphans and the elderly. On the 150th anniversary of Mill Hill Missionaries, members will be encouraged to go where the need is greatest, seeking to build up the local Church in the new South Africa by endeavouring to mend relationships be-

tween South Africans of different racial backgrounds and with foreigners from the world over. Last month, the Mill Hill Missionaries celebrated its 150 years of love and service with a Mass of thanksgiving in Westminster cathedral, London—a church that was built thanks to the tireless work of founder Cardinal Herbert Vaughan, who succeeded Cardinal Manning as archbishop of Westminster in 1892. In South Africa, the Mill Hill missionaries also gathered in Parys, Free State, to celebrate the feast of St Joseph. On June 19—the anniversary of the death at 71 of Cardinal Vaughan in 1903—the congregation will celebrate the 150th anniversary of foundation in Sasolburg with a Mass of thanksgiving for all that God has accomplished through Mill Hill Missionaries. It will also be a time to pray that the journey into the unknown, begun in 1866 in Mill Hill, London, under the patronage of St Joseph—who himself ventured trustingly forward—will continue, treaching across the globe and making disciples of all nations. n Fr Anthony Ndang Ndichia is a Mill Hill missionary working in the diocese of Kroonstad.

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OuR VISION – to be brothers to all,

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OuR MISSION – to be and bring Jesus’

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The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

PERSECUTION

Seven peaceful Christians jailed in a conspiracy Following anti-Christian pogroms in India in 2008, seven Christians were convicted of the murder of the Hindu leader whose death sparked off the violence. A Catholic journalist believes they are innocent and is campaigning for their release.

anto akkara is pictured at a press conference with the wives of the Christians who he says were injustly jailed for the muder of a hindu leader.

ORE than seven years since seven Indian Christians were arrested on suspicion of murdering a Hindu leader—whose death sparked the worst case of antiChristian violence in India’s history—one of them has been freed on interim bail for a month. But all seven of them, six of whom are illiterate, continue to maintain their innocence. Previous bail applications from the seven had been flatly rejected by the High Court of the eastern state of Odisha. But Gornath Chalanseth’s successful application gives hope to the families of the other six that they too may soon be released. Nearly 100 Christians were killed and 300 churches and 6 000 Christian homes damaged in the Kandhamal district of Odisha, after the killing of controverial Hindu spiritual leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008. Soon after the assassination, the Maoist Communist Party of India claimed responsibility for the attack. By the end of that year, the seven Christians—Bijay Kumar Sanseth, Durjo Sunamajhi, Bhaskar Sunamajhi, Budhadeb Nayak, Munda Badamajhi, Sanatan Badamajhi and Mr Chalanseth—had been arrested. In 2013, they were found guilty of

the murder by the trial court and each sentenced to life imprisonment. A day later, the same court also convicted a Maoist leader for the assasination. The convictions of the seven shocked India’s Christian community, which was still reeling after the deadly attacks, and Christian advocates have been fighting for their release ever since. Chief among these is Anto Akkara, a Catholic journalist from Kerala State, who is close to completing his fifth book about the saga, which he refers to as a great “conspiracy”. “There is absolutely no shred of evidence that links these people to the murder, so my question is: why are these people in jail?” said Mr Akkara, a Catholic who has written for The Southern Cross. “The whole case is a blot on the face of India’s judicial system—why have these illiterate, innocent people been convicted? If it goes on like this, these poor people will die like convicts in jail and history will say Christians killed the swami.” Mr Akkara was recently involved

in the creation of a website—www. release7innocents.com—which urges readers to sign a petition for the release of the seven. Each online signature generates instant e-mails to India’s president, the chief justice of India’s Supreme Court and the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, asking for the release of the seven.

he bail order for Gornath Chalanseth from the Odisha High Court came a day after Mr Akkara received a call from the National Human Rights Commission asking about the online signature campaign. The website outlines the major discrepancies and apparent injustices in the case against the Christians. “The trial court convicted the seven accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment on the basis of a fabricated Christian conspiracy theory, despite hardly any credible evidence brought before the court,” it states. It then adds that in June 2015 “two top police officials—who had relied upon the same conspiracy the-

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Violence against Christians in the Kandhamal district of odisha, india in 2008. ory to ensure the conviction of the innocent Christians—have testified before the Kandhamal judicial inquiry commission that the allegations were false.” However, the website notes that the appeal hearing has since been “repeatedly” postponed. “Everyone should speak up for these people,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai after the website’s launch. The website asserts that discrepancies within the case against the seven were apparent right from the start, when Hindu fundamentalists blamed Christians for the Swami’s murder. In the days that followed his murder, the swami’s body was taken across Kandhamal, “accompanied by thousands of Hindus…to incite the primordial passion of revenge among Hindus in one of the least developed districts of Odisha”, notes the website. “They wanted to make a spectacle of it, and were prepared—as events were to prove—to take full advantage of the passions that would arise. They did not even go by the shortest

route, but meandered across [Kandhamal],” noted a report by a group of human rights organisations. Three-quarters of the damage done to Christian homes took place along the route of the funeral procession, the website reports. Among the slogans shouted was, “Kill Christians and destroy their institutions”. “It was obvious that public reaction to the murder of a prominent religious leader like the swami would be extreme. Yet when options to be followed after the murder were being considered, there is little evidence that high-level political and official leadership offered guidance and support to the local district administration,” said the National Commission for Minorities after its visit to Kandhamal a month after the 2008 violence. Fifty-six thousand Christians were displaced after the violence in Kandhamal. Since then, the local community has struggled to receive adequate compensation from the government, which has been a source of much contention. Fr Ajaya Kumar Singh, director of the Odisha Forum for Social Action, told Asia News: “After the violence of 2008, young people migrated to other states in search of work.” In June 2013, according to The Hindu, a report recommended that the Odisha state government “take immediate measures to adequately rehabilitate and resettle the victimsurvivors of the Kandhamal violence”. The report further urged the government to “ensure full reparation to those whose livelihoods were affected due to violence and strife”. In his forthcoming book, Cry of the Oppressed, Mr Akkara profiles the seven Christians, outlining some of the reasons why he believes they are innocent.—World Watch Monitor n Follow Anto Akkara and the Release 7 Innocents campaign on Twitter: @An toAkkara

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The Southern Cross, april 13 to march 19, 2016

HISTORY

Muslim restorers work at Jesus’ burial site The mosaics in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are in the process of being preserved by a team of trained restorers—most of them Muslim. JuDiTh SuDiloVSKy interviewed the young team.

T’S quiet and dark in the cavernous gallery above Jesus’ burial place in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Raed Khalil and his small team of trained restorers have been patiently and methodically cleaning off centuries of soot and dirt from 39 ancient mosaics and two carved marble pieces, some of which may date back to the Byzantine period. All but one of the restorers are Muslim. The framed mosaics hang from the thick stone walls of the Franciscan gallery, and some include both tiny stone and glass pieces. Some of the mosaics are missing big chunks; all have been brought to the church from different places, at different times. The true history of the works will not be known until it is fully researched, a process that will take about two years. This is the second restoration project at the church of the Holy Sepulchre the team has taken part in this year; workers have just completed restoring the colourful 1926 mosaics in the small Franciscan chapel at the 11th station, next to the spot where tradition holds the crucifixion of Jesus took place. They began that work in 2001. “Before, people would come visit here but did not care about our work. I did not feel a reaction. But now they see the results, and I feel a reaction to what we are doing. The guides with pilgrims start talking about it and are so happy to see it,” Mr Khalil said of the completed project. The current project is being done in collaboration with the Association pro Terra Sancta and the Mosaic Centre of Jericho.

Dana hamdam from the mosaic Centre of Jericho cleans a mosaic in the Franciscan section of the church of the holy Sepulchre in the old City of Jerusalem. (all photos: Debbie hill/CNS) “This is a very interesting job to work with our history,” said Dana Hamdan, a Muslim from Jerusalem who was been studying and working with the Mosaic Centre for four years, as she meticulously washed off a layer of dirt from a piece of marble hanging on the wall. “Before I started here I didn’t know anything about the Christian religion, but now I have more information. Before I did not feel any connection to any of this, but now I do. These are historical places, and we are protecting them,” she said “I am very happy I can secure a holy place,” added Anas Abutir, 23, also from Jerusalem. Mr Khalil said he appreciates the opportunity to work in such an important place of another faith. “This is history. We must save it,” said Mr Khalil. “This is important. Putting aside all the politics, the heritage remains. There are layers of history here. Before the Muslims there were Christians here, before the Christians there were Jews, before the Jews there were Canaanites. There were all these people living here in this place. Some people left, but the land re-

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mains, the culture remains. History is history. You can’t make a part disappear and say I am the only heritage.”

Raed Khalil, senior expert at the Jericho mosaic Centre, says he doesn’t think in terms of Christian, Jewish or muslim, it’s all cultural heritage.

Lord Jesus, open the hearts Of many young people, in our country, to The Healing Power of the

Precious Blood

So that they may respond Generously to your call, And grow in Friendship With you. May their lives bring Hope to the despairing, Light in the darkness, Joy to those who have lost the meaning of life. May they like Mary Be ready to say, “yES” To God’s will And to bring the unconditional love of JESuS To the ends of the earth. Amen

Is God calling you? Please contact:

Sr. Patricia Mary c.p.s Sr. Alfonsis c.p.s Precious Blood Convent Ph: 0712115079 P.O. Box 23 Precious Blood Bizana Convent P.O. Box 15232 4800 Ashwood 3605 SrAlfonsis@yahoo.co.uk

Mr Khalil was among the first students of a three-year restoration course at the Mosaic Centre of Jericho. The centre, funded by an Italian nongovernmental organisation in cooperation with the Palestinian Department of Antiquities, opened in 2000 under the scientific supervision of Franciscan Father Michele Piccirillo of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. One of the goals was to instil young Palestinians with pride and strengthen their identity with their national heritage. “I started to understand our identity as Palestinians,” said Mr Khalil. “I started to think in a different way. Whether it is Muslim or Christian, it is all Palestinian. I don’t think in terms of Muslim, Christian or Jewish. It is all cultural heritage.” The students have worked on the restoration of mosaics in ancient synagogues in Jericho, West Bank, with the same care, he said. Having received his master’s degree in mosaic restoration at AlQuds University in Jerusalem, Mr Khalil said he has had the privilege of being also able to work in restoration projects in Jericho and

in the Syrian cities of Sweida and Aleppo. He said it has been very painful to watch not only the human loss in Syria but also the destruction of all the country’s national heritage in the form of its antiquities. Many of the projects he worked on have been destroyed by ISIS, he said, shaking his head. “They have destroyed the culture of Arab countries,” he said. “It is terrible. It destroys your mind to think of all that the people of Syria have lost.” But while in Syria there is continuing strife and bloodshed, here, in the silence of the gallery, he and his team were witness to the preparations for Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Clergy and pilgrims of various Christian faiths come to venerate the traditional site of Jesus’ burial. It has made the restorers feel a part of the celebration, he said. “Everybody is cleaning, everything smells nice. I feel like I am a part of this. I am cleaning. I am preparing. This is the first time I have seen these preparations. To sit here in this place, to look down and see all this, is beautiful,” said Mr Khalil.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

PILGRIMAGE

Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace was born Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a place whose people yearn for peace. In the fifth part of his series on the recent Pilgrimage of the Peacemakers, GüNTheR SimmeRmaCheR takes us on a tour of the region.

HE Bread of Life was born in the House of Bread, for that is the meaning of the name Bethlehem. Located just 10km from Jerusalem, the ancient city has two particularly illustrious sons. King David was from Bethlehem and was crowned there; and, as we are reminded every Christmas, it was the little town where Jesus was born. The location of Jesus’ birth tends to exercise scholars of the Bible. Matthew and Luke both place the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, but Luke’s account of the census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem is inconsistent with history, and Matthew offers no explanation for why they were in Bethlehem in the first place. So all manner of theories about Jesus’ birthplace are being proposed—none of which, in absence of a birth certificate, are verifiable. Yet, there is no documentation to suggest that Jesus was born elsewhere, and all ancient tradition points to Bethlehem. It is arrogant to imagine that the ancient Christians who passed down the story of their Lord’s life can’t be trusted to have remembered the major places of that life. So whatever deficiencies there might be in the details of the gospel’s nativity account—remember, they were not written as biographies in the sense that we today understand the concept—there is no good reason to doubt that Matthew and Luke restated what all the Christians of Palestine knew to be true. In fact, it is almost implausible that the Christians of Bethlehem would have forgotten the exact place of Jesus’ birth. Just as you and I will recall the places of meaning in our lives—the house where our best childhood friend lived, the spot where we broke an arm, or the church where our parents were married—so will the locals have remembered the birthplace of the Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, faith in whom people were prepared to die for. In the second century St Justin Martyr (c. 100–165) attested to “a certain cave”—the phrase always indicates that the location is common knowledge—that was being venerated as Jesus’ birthplace. The philosopher Origen noted in the early 3rd century that even nonChristians accepted the cave as that of Christ’s nativity. As they did with the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the Romans helped keep that memory alive by building a pagan temple dedicated to Adonis, in the form of a grove, over the place of Jesus’ birth.

From left: archbishop Stephen Brislin celebrates mass in the grotto of St Jerome beneath the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem which is the cave in which St Jerome translated the Bible into latin; Prof Cordelia Kirk, archbishop Stephen Brislin, peace activist Dr Zoughbi Zoughbi and Dr Stephen-John martin in front of the Separation Wall which virtually encircles Bethlehem; Nkhothatseng lepheana touches the silver star that marks the spot of Jesus’ birth. (Photos: Günther Simmermacher) They might have intended to discourage Christian devotion to the place of the nativity. If that was the plan, it didn’t work very well. In 313 Emperor Constantine legalised Christianity; a decade later he sent his mother, Helena, to the Holy Land to finance and supervise the construction of churches on sacred sites.

elena is often credited with discovering the holy sites of Jesus’ life, leading us to believe that she was something of a super-archaeologist. In fact, all she needed to do was to follow her local Christian guides who had inherited the practice of venerating these sites over many generations. And in Bethlehem all they had to do was take Helena to the pagan temple. One of the first churches she commissioned in the Holy Land was the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was completed in 333. That church was destroyed in the 6th century during a revolt by Samaritans. It was rebuilt in 565, and that is the church we still visit today, as our Pilgrimage of the Peace-

makers group did. Inside this ancient church, which currently is undergoing comprehensive renovations, pilgrims descend a few stairs to enter the grotto of Our Lord’s birth. They kneel below an altar and touch the silver star which identifies the spot where Our Lady gave birth. On the opposite side is an often overlooked altar which stands on the place of the manger. The shops in Bethlehem that sell the beautiful olive wood carvings of biblical events tend to present the nativity in the form we are used to from Christmas cards and plays: the open-fronted wooden stable, with the Holy Family surrounded by animals and shepherds, maybe a palm next to it. The reality was different. Jesus was born in a cave which probably formed part of a domestic abode. Many houses in the region were built in front of caves; some still are even today. The caves would be used to keep the animals; the front structure would be the family’s living, sleeping and cooking area. So when there was no room at the inn, we must not imagine over-

The Pilgrimage of the Peacemakers group outside the 6th-century church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

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booked hotels. Mary and Joseph were looking for room in a domestic residence. One family offered them accommodation, lodging them in the cave. This was a good place to give birth in: it was warm and safe. And it was probably quite peaceful.

ethlehem today is not at peace. As a Palestinian town in the West Bank, it is almost completely encircled by the Israeli Separation Wall which jags eight metres high into the sky and is dotted with prisontype watchtowers. There are three checkpoints through which residents must pass in most humiliating conditions— sometimes to be denied entrance into Israeli territory anyway. Tour buses pass through these checkpoints without any hassles. Israel calls the wall a Security Barrier, saying its aim is to keep out suicide bombers. But if that was the only purpose of the wall, which snakes throughout the West Bank, it would have been built on the accepted border between Israel and Palestinian territory. Instead much of it is built on Palestinian land, often separating farmers from their land, workers from their place of employment, pupils from their schools. Peace activists call the barrier an Annexation Wall. Indeed, on Palestinian land outside the wall that encircles Bethlehem, Israel is building settlements, which are illegal in international law, as even Israel’s closest allies, including the United States, acknowledge. Among those from whom Israel has taken land in order to extend the wall is the Catholic Salesian order in the Cremisan Valley on the edge of Bethlehem. As the wall stands and the illegal settlements go up all around, there is no way for Bethlehem’s population to expand. Work in the city is scarce and access to jobs outside it is made impossible by the wall and the limitations on free movement imposed by the checkpoints. The copious graffiti on the wall in Bethlehem includes the rhetoric of protest one would expect to find, but also many messages of peace, often referring to Christian imagery. This is not surprising. Although its community in the town has diminished over the years, Christians still take on leadership roles in Bethlehem. Its mayor is a Roman Catholic woman, its university is Catholic (though most of its students are Muslims), as is its main hospital. Among the many poignant graffiti, one caught our group’s eye. In the middle of the scene stands a Palestinian Lady Liberty. To the left an Israeli soldier aims his machine gun at her; to the right Palestinian protesters are throwing stones. Neither of these, the message suggests, will secure peace. The wall obviously also touched Pope Francis, whom Palestinians credit for flying into Bethlehem from Jordan on his May 2014 Holy Land visit, instead of Tel Aviv,

thereby acknowledging Palestinian claims to nationhood. As he was driven through Bethlehem, the pope suddenly ordered his car to stop at the Separation Wall. He got out and prayed at the wall in the same position he would later adopt at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It was a powerful moment, amplified by the graffiti at the spot where the pope chose to pray. Above him was the sprayed message: “Pope, we need some 1 to speak about justice. Bethlehem look like Warsaw ghetto.” Next to the pope was the slogan, “Free Palestine”.

ur Peacemakers group met with a peace-building organisation called Wi’am (Arabic for “cordial relationships”). It describes itself as the Palestinian Conflict Resolution and Transformation Centre. Its offices are next to the Separation Wall which casts a shadow over the organisation’s playground. (See their website at www.alaslah.org) Wi’am received the 2010 Peacebuilding Award in the World Vision International Peace Prize for “successfully integrating traditional Palestinian mediation customs with innovative academic models of conflict analysis to address the very difficult circumstances of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank”. We were addressed by the organisation’s founder and director, Dr Zoughbi Zoughbi, a distinguished gentleman with a professorial bearing. He has seen much suffering; among Wi’am’s activities is a programme for traumatised children and youths. Still, he began by saying that no good is served by pointing fingers in ways that negate the potential for a dialogue for peace. Wi’am sees dialogue and mediation as an essential means of creating peace. The organisation frames this within the Arabic principle of Sulha, a form of restorative justice. As South Africans our minds turned to the peacemakers under apartheid, led by Christian leaders such as Denis Hurley, Desmond Tutu, Beyers Naudé, Allan Boesak and so on, and so many people on the ground. Like some of them under apartheid, Dr Zoughbi has no freedom of movement. As a Christian, his great wish is to pray in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, just a short drive away— if you can get out of Bethlehem. But Israel will not issue him with a permit to leave Bethlehem, despite many applications. After our meeting with Wi’am, Archbishop Stephen Brislin led us in prayer for peace and justice in front of the wall, as its huge watchtower cut into the clouds. My particular prayer that day was that Dr Zoughbi, and the many Christian people like him, might be able to exit the town of the birth of the Prince of Peace to pray at the place of his death and resurrection. Next week: Jerusalem.

The Southern Cross, april 13 to april 19, 2016

CLASSIFIEDS

Fr Simon Rodenburg CMM

ARIANNHILL missionary Father Simon Rodenburg lived in style. He also died in style on Easter Sunday, March 27, at the age of 86. Just as the Easter candle displayed its new light, so the candle of Fr Simon’s life was finished. It had exhausted itself and its little flame was extinguished. Fr Simondied in the presence of his friend and confrere Archbishop Paul Mandla Khumalo. Fr Simon was born in December 1929 near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He came from a large and solid Catholic family of four brothers and four sisters, two of whom entered religious life. Sr Salome, who is still alive in AarleRixel, was a missionary sister of the Precious Blood who worked for many years in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Having learnt about Mariannhill and its founder, Abbot Francis Pfanner, Fr Simon had a desire to become a missionary. He applied to the Minor Seminary of St Paul. But St Paul had been taken over by the German army. Fathers, brothers and students had moved to an old castle. Towards the end of the war the students were sent home, and the fathers and brothers were taken as prisoners to an internment camp in Germany. After the war, Fr Simon completed his secondary education at St Paul seminary and in 1952 was received into the novitiate. He

made his first profession in 1953, followed by five years of theology study at the Bavarian State University in Würzburg. In 1958, he was ordained a priest in Nijmegen. The same year he was appointed to the diocese of Mariannhill in South Africa. Fr Simon has served the diocese and the congregation in many ways. Places where he worked included Reichenau, St Michael’s and Park Rynie, and he was for a period superior of the monastery of Kwa St Joseph (eMabheleni), the Congregation of the FFJ founded by Bishop Adalbero Fleischer, now called the TOR. In the early years of apartheid, on the advice of the South African Catholic bishops, Fr Simon made a sacrifice when he took South African citizenship to avoid being thrown out of the country. As a young priest he had the courage to rebuke his provincial superior in a sharp letter to de-

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday April 17, 4th Sunday of Easter Acts 13:14, 43-52, Psalms 100:1-3, 5, Revelation 7:9, 14-17, John 10:27-30 Monday April 18 Acts 11:1-18, Psalms 42:2-3; 43:3-4, John 10:1-10 Tuesday April 19 Acts 11:19-26, Psalms 87:1-7, John 10:22-30 Wednesday April 20, St Marcellinus Acts 12:24--13:5, Psalms 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8, John 12:44-50 Thursday April 21, St Anselm Acts 13:13-25, Psalms 89:2-3, 21-22, 25, 27, John 13:16-20 Friday April 22 Acts 13:26-33, Psalms 2:6-11, John 14:1-6 Saturday April 23, St George, St Adalbert Acts 13:44-52, Psalms 98:1-4, John 14:7-14 Sunday April 23, 5th Sunday of Easter Acts 14:21-27, Psalms 145:8-13, Revelation 21:1-5, John 13:31-35

Community Calendar

FISH HOeK: inter-parish Potjiekos Competition, Soccer 5-a-side tournament, food fair including a raffle, on Freedom Day april 27 at 10am at Falsebay College, Kommetjie Rd, Fish hoek. Potjie contestants need to start earlier as applicable. Contact magda on 082 706-6375 or south african2@iafrica.com if you or your parish would like to compete, or you'd like more in-

formation. DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena to St Anthony at St anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9am. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30pm on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9am. 031 309 3496. 9018 or 031 209 2536. Overport rosary group. at emakhosini hotel, 73 east Street every Wednesday at 6.30 pm.

fend a brother who had been let down by the authorities. In 1968 the bishop entrusted him with the reorganisation of St Mary’s Minor Seminary in Ixopo. A transfer followed to St Francis College in Mariannhill to be the rector. His next appointment was to Murumba parish in Umbumbulu, with its many outstations. Here he worked happily with the people for a vibrant liturgy and solid catechesis. After becoming superior of the monastery of Mariannhill in 1980, his priestly life took on a strong missionary character. He was in charge of two old and very large mission stations, Mhlabashane and Mkhunya. Later he moved to Mariathal mission. When Fr Simon’ strength weakened, he was appointed to Our Lady of Peace parish in Margate, as well as Gamalakhe, in Umzimkulu diocese. Finally he took up the position of chaplain of Sacred Heart Home in Ixopo, which is the home of the elderly sick sisters of the Precious Blood. With great love he cared for the sisters and the sisters cared for him. When his faculties diminished and he retired to Mater Dolorosa Home in Mariannhill, he said to Sr Gerald, the superior: “Even if I cannot do much anymore for the people, I can still pray for them.” n This obituary was written by Fr Henry Ratering CMM shortly before his own death on April 4 (see page 3).

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IN MeMORIAM

BROWN—William Christian. in loving memory of our father and grandfather who passed away on april 13, 2004. Fondly remembered by Ruben, Gloria and children.

PRAYeRS

O MOST beautiful flower of mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of heaven, blessed mother of the Son of God, immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. o Star of the Sea, help me and show me where you are, mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth i humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. There is none who can withstand your power, o mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. holy mary, i place this cause in your hands. “Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then publish.

Vocation call is for all Continued from page 7 God’s kingdom they are more focused on building—or usually defending—their own kingdoms. And while they might technically live according to their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the contortions that they go through to explain these to the ordinary Catholic make their lives a poor witness to these great counsels. There are some jobs, for example in the caring professions or in NGOs, where it is easier to live up to Micah’s words, but that’s still by no means automatic. The context is not enough; what also matters is how generously each person responds to that context. So I must be careful that I do not help myself to the term vocation just because I work for the Denis Hurley Centre. And there are many jobs which could potentially be vocations—butcher, baker, candlestick maker or even politician. Here though, and I know this from my days in advertising, there is not much help given by the activities or the context or the structures. So if you wish to work with justice, mercy and humility in banking or in telesales or in real estate, you will have to invest a lot of time and effort. But that would be well worth doing. Because no matter how effective Vocations Sunday is in recruiting future priests and religious, there will still always be more teachers and accountants and journalists in this world. So certainly the Church needs to be recruiting for its historical vocational roles. Each one of us can encourage young people we know to give serious consideration to these. In addition, the Church could help us all to see how we are to live out our vocations in whatever job we find ourselves. And religious orders in particular have an opportunity to share their traditions, formation practices and wisdom with Catholics struggling to live their secular vocations. In each age the successful religious movements are the ones that have understood the signs of the times and adapted to them. How wonderful it is when we see how the traditions of St Francis or St Ignatius or Catherine McAuley can inspire people who are living out their vocations in the world alongside those who have taken vows in religious life—in fact, more or less the model of the early Church that we are reading about each Sunday.

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

ST MICHAeL the archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. may God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, o Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. amen.

FATHeR in heaven, everliving source of all that is good, keep me faithful in serving you. help me to drink of Christ's truth, and fill my heart with his love so that i may serve you in faith and love and reach eternal life. in the sacrament of the eucharist you give me the joy of sharing your life. Keep me in your presence. let me never be separated from you and help me to do your will.

PeRSONAL

ABORTION IS MURDeR: Silence on this issue is not

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 702. ACROSS: 1 Fish, 3 Merciful, 9 Opulent, 10 Think, 11 Pope Innocent, 13 Thrown, 15 Persia, 17 Increasingly, 20 Ninth, 21 Spanish, 22 Prompter, 23 Step. DOWN: 1 Footpath, 2 Slurp, 4 Extend, 5 Catechetical, 6 Friends, 7 Luke, 8 Devil-worship, 12 Ladyship, 14 Run into, 16 Hassle, 18 Guilt, 19 Snip.

Our bishops’ anniversaries

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the

5th Sunday of Easter: April 24 Readings: Acts 14:21-27, Psalm 145:8-13, Revelation 21:1-5, John 13:31-35

E cannot see God, but just occasionally we glimpse the reality of God’s victory. In the first reading for next Sunday it comes out as we watch the upbuilding of the infant Church, with the very new apostle Paul getting down to the work of “strengthening the hearts of the disciples, urging them to remain in the faith”. In addition they “appointed elders in church after church”. The advantage of building up structures like this, of course, is that it sets the itinerant apostles free to do their work of spreading the Gospel all over the world; and we gaze at the map of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) as they go through Pisidia to Pamphylia, Attalia, and finally Antioch. There they “gathered the church and announced what great things God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles”. As we watch, we can see God and the Risen Jesus at work. What the author of our psalm for next Sunday glimpses is that “the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in mercy”. We have a vision of the whole of creation playing

S outher n C ross

Glimpsing God’s victory a kind of symphony: “Lord—all that you have made give you praise, and your faithful ones bless you.” And the psalm ends with a lovely vision of God’s rule: “Your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages, and your dominion is for every generation.” That has not arrived yet, but God is still at work to bring it about. In the second reading, with the seer John we glimpse the victory as almost present, with the vision of “a new heaven and a new earth”, and the lovely picture of “the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, like a bride made up for her husband”. Then, by way of commentary, we hear a voice: “Look! God’s tent with human beings; and God will pitch his tent with them, and they shall be his peoples, and he shall be God with them, their God.” This is a reversal of the breach between God and humanity that was often foreshadowed by the Old Testament prophets who would angrily mutter “not my people”. And the tent, of course, is that provisional

dwelling-place in which God accompanied his people across the desert. Then, picking up Isaiah’s vision of God’s victory over death, we hear the beautiful maternal gesture: “[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes—and Death shall be no more, nor mourning nor weeping, nor toil, for the first things have gone away.” Finally, we hear God speak: “And the One Sitting on the Throne uttered: ‘Look! I am making everything new.’ ” However, the victory does not come cheap, as next Sunday’s Gospel reminds us. We are in the Upper Room, with that tiny group of disciples, and Jesus is trying to explain that he is going to leave them, but all will be well. Judas has just gone out, and the evangelist has commented “and it was night”, stressing that the darkness is all around them. The task now, though, is to get his disciples to grasp that this is really a victory, so they (and we) listen bemused as Jesus says: “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is

Why we all need rituals I

N the movie based upon Jane Austen’s classic novel Sense and Sensibility, there’s a very poignant scene where one of her young heroines, suffering from acute pneumonia, is lying in bed hovering between life and death. A young man, very much in love with her, is pacing back and forth, highly agitated, frustrated by his helplessness to do anything of use. Unable to contain his agitation any longer, he goes to the girl’s mother and asks what he might do to be helpful. She replies that there’s nothing he can do, the situation is beyond them. He can’t live with that response so he says to her: “Give me some task to do, or I shall go mad!” We’ve all had the feeling at times when in the face of a dire situation we need to do something—but there’s nothing we can do, no magic wand that we can wave to make things better. But there is something we can do. I recall an event in my own life several years ago. I was teaching summer school in Belgium when, late one evening, just as I was getting ready for bed, I received an email that two friends of mine, a man and a woman recently engaged, had been involved that day in a fatal car accident. He was killed instantly and she was in a serious condition in hospital. I was living in a university dorm, thousands of miles from where this all happened, and thousands of miles from anyone with whom I could share this sorrow. Alone, agitated, panicked, and desperately needing to do something but being absolutely helpless to do anything, I was literally driven to my knees. Not being able to do anything else, I picked up the prayer-

book that contains the Office of the Church and prayed, by myself, the Vespers prayer for the dead. When I’d finished, my sorrow hadn’t gone away, my friend was still dead, but my panic had subsided, as had my desperate need to do something (when there was nothing I could do). My prayer that night gave me some sense that the young man who’d died that day was alright, safe somewhere in a place beyond us, and it also relieved me of the agitation and panicked pressure of needing to do something. I had done the only thing I could do, the thing that’s been done in the face of helplessness and death since the beginning of time: I’d given myself over to prayer and to the rituals of the community and the faith of the community. It’s these, prayer and ritual, which we have at our disposal at those times when, like the man in Sense and Sensibility, we need to do something or we will go mad.

hat’s not only true for heavy, sorrowful times when loved ones are sick or dying or killed in accidents and we need to do something but there’s nothing we can do. We also need ritual to help us celebrate happy times properly. What should we do when our own children are getting married? Among other things, we need to celebrate the ritual of marriage because no wedding planner in the world can do for us what the ritual, especially the church-ritual, of marriage can do. Weddings, just like funerals, are a prime example of where we need ritual to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Sadly, today, we are a culture that for

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

glorified in him.” How that can be, we are not sure, except that in this gospel Jesus’ death is seen as glory. Then the idea is repeated: “If God is glorified in him, then God will glorify him in him [there are other possible ways of translating this, but let that pass], and he will immediately glorify him.” Then it is back to the theme of Jesus’ absence: “Little children—I am with you for a little while.” Then he indicates how they are to survive: “I am giving you a new commandment: you are to love each other; as I have loved you, that is how you are to love each other.” And the challenge is clear; this is meant to be evidence of the victory of God: “This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples—that you have love in each other.” That is a challenge, but if we can only live up to it, this week, then we and those with whom we live will glimpse the victory of God.

Southern Crossword #702

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

the most part is ritually tone-deaf. We don’t understand ritual and therefore mostly don’t know what to do when we need to be doing something but we don’t know what to do. That’s a fault, a painful poverty, in our understanding. The Trappist monks who were martyred in Algeria in 1996 were first visited by the Islamic extremists who would later kidnap and kill them, on Christmas Eve, just as they were preparing to celebrate Christmas Mass. After some initial threats, their eventual murderers left. The monks were badly shaken. They huddled together as a group for a time to digest what had just happened. Then, not knowing what else to do in the face of this threat and their fear, they sang the Christmas Mass. In the words of their abbott: “It’s what we had to do. It’s all we could do! It was the right thing.” He shared too, as did a number of the other monks (in their diaries) that they found this, celebrating the ritual of Mass in the face of their fear and panic, something that calmed their fear and brought some steadiness and regularity back into their lives. There’s a lesson to be learned here, one that can bring steadiness and calm into our lives at those times when we desperately need to do something, but there’s nothing to do. Ritual: It’s what we have to do. It’s all we can do! It’s the right thing.

ACROSS

1. Angle for what could be angel (4) 3. The way to be in Holy Year 2016 (8) 9. Put one L in luxurious (7) 10. Have an opinion (5) 11. The pontiff found not guilty? (4,8) 13. Cast heard from bishop’s chair (6) 15. One spear from old Iran (6) 17. Cry, angel, I sin in an ever-growing way (12) 20. Last day to pray novena (5) 21. St James is patron of these people (7) 22. He’s more punctual and gives you your cue (8) 23. Pest on the staircase (4)

DOWN

1. The way of the pilgrim (8) 2. Noisily sup your drink left and right (5) 4. Hold out the hand of friendship (6) 5. Lattice cache holding religious teaching (12) 6. Quaker pals (7) 7. Evangelist whose warmth is tepid (4) 8. Satanism (5-7) 12. Her form of address is not the Lord’s (8) 14. Collide with someone unexpectedly (3,4) 16. Martha’s sleep may pester you a bit (6) 18. Wrong-doing feeling (5) 19. Use the scissors (4) Solutions on page 15

Conrad

CHURCH CHUCKLE

ATHER was being honoured at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. The mayor was to give a little speech, but was delayed, so the priest said a few words while the guests waited. “I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here,” he said. “I was appalled. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had

stolen money from the pension fund, embezzled from the council, regularly took drugs, had many extramarital affairs and visited prostitutes every Sunday after Mass,” Father recalled. “But I learned that my people were not all like that and I had come to a fine parish,” he said. Just as the priest finished, the mayor arrived, apologising for being late.

He immediately began his talk: “I’ll never forget the first day Father arrived,” the mayor remembered. “In fact, I had the honour of being the very first person to go to him for confession.” n Of course, this would never happen in real life. A priest may not divulge anything that is said during confession, and would never do so. The joke here, of course, is on the pompous and corrupt mayor.

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