161123

The

S outher n C ross

November 23 to November 29, 2016

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5008

www.scross.co.za

We review the pope’s Year of Mercy

Why we must wait for Christmas

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Page 7

R8,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Advent: A season of feasts

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SA bishops to have a service with Lutherans and Methodists

By MANDlA ZiBi

W

HEN Lutherans and Methodists celebrate a historic joint service together with Catholics in January next year, a milestone in ecumenical history in Southern Africa will have been reached.

The joint ecumenical service will be the local high point of a programme jointly planned by the local Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist Churches to mark 500 years of the Protestant Reformation in 2017.

A committee comprising Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp, Bishop Horst Müller, the head of the Lutheran Church in South Africa, and Methodist Bishop Zipho Siwa, is in the final stages of preparing a common programme to mark the half-millennium of Protestantism.

“And what more natural setting could this ecumenical milestone be performed in than during the next plenary of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) in January 2017 in Tshwane,” Bishop Phalana told The Southern Cross.

“We are all in agreement that this would be a great and historic gesture in demonstration of how far we have come on the journey to reconciliation in our region,” the bishop said.

His remarks came in the wake of a call by Pope Francis that all Catholics should participate in events to mark the event 500 years ago since the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a German church door on October 30, 1517, thus beginning the Reformation and schism from the Catholic Church.

Bishop Phalana said all interaction between the local denominations continues to be guided by the historic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification of 1999 in Augsburg, Germany, when the Catholic and Lutheran leaders committed themselves to

reconciliation and pronounced a common position on the doctrine of justification, which had been a stumbling block to dialogue before then.

The declaration acknowledged that both Churches now share “a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ”. This settled a conflict that had been at the root of the Protestant Reformation.

The World Methodist Council voted in 2006 to accept the declaration.

“The declaration paved the way to a closer relationship with the Lutherans in particular, and Protestants in general. Now we realise how much more we have in common than that which divides us,” Bishop Phalana said.

“The Catholic Church now recognises their baptism, we share with them one Lord, one Trinity, one Creed and a lot of other sacraments,” he said.

A number of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches in South Africa are also “very interested” in working with Bishop Phalana and his counterparts on issues of ecumenism in the light of next year’s commemoration programme.

“We encourage as many people as possible, especially Catholics, to participate fully in this great quest. It is time to address the pain of our separation and give visible expression to Christ’s injunction that ‘May we be one’,” Bishop Phalana urged.

“As a starting point, the planned joint service in January and other events throughout next year are a good way of ultimately getting our parishes across our region to come together with the Lutheran, Methodist and other denominations—to pray, eat, play, work and study together in a concrete way from this point onward,” he said.

The exact time and venue for the ecumenical service will be announced closer to the time.

KwaZulu-Natal deputy provincial commissioner Major-General Phindile Radebe lights a candle during a prayer service and commemoration of police personnel who have been killed in the line of duty, held in Emmanuel cathedral in Durban. Chaplain Fr David Sithole is looking on.

The service was presided over by Bishop Barry Wood, auxiliary in Durban.

Cathedral service honours police killed in line of duty STAFF REPORTER

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HE archdiocese of Durban held a prayer service for police and commemoration of police personnel who were killed in the line of duty.

The service in Emmanuel cathedral was presided over by Bishop Barry Wood, the auxiliary in Durban, with Fr David Sithole of Tongaat, the chaplain for police, delivering the homily.

South African police personnel are at a high risk of being shot at. In KwaZulu-Natal alone, 22 police members were shot dead between April 2015 and January 2016.

“At times, you put your lives at risk, just to ensure the safety of our people. For that we thank you. We value the time and effort you put in bringing about order, stability and security in our families and communities,” Fr Sithole told the police and other security personnel at the service.

“We entrust our lives to your care and your protection, knowing that you are not Superman or robots.”

The priest called on the police not to seek glory.

“Work hard not to be noticed by people, for your reward will be great in heaven. In our gospel reading today we hear Christ saying: ‘If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest’,” Fr Sithole said, adding: “In the gospels, service is a personal act; its origin and goal is love.”

He reminded the police that their actions have consequences. “Bear in mind that what you do—good or bad—paints the picture about the [police] at large. Let’s do away with bad publicity. Shine wherever you are, and as members of the community we want to feel comfortable and safe around you,” the priest said.

“As we approach the festive season, put on the whole armour of God: clothe yourself with humility, with love and compassion, with kindness and gentleness, with patience and self-control, with holiness and purity and with forgiveness,” Fr Sithole said.

As police and all in the security cluster, “you need God above everything”, Fr Sithole told the congregation. “You are here today to seek his strength and guidance, protection and nourishment as to serve our people with prosperity.”

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The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

LOCAL

Call to ‘dine’ with the homeless STAFF REPORTER

Photographer Jono Nienaber discusses the pictures he is taking with August lusis. “lui” is one of eight homeless people being photographed for the Social Meal Project at the Denis Hurley Centre.

P

Members of the Holy Trinity Conference of the Society of St Vincent de Paul arranged a tea and celebration at Nazareth House in Durban for Roy Jaques on the receipt of his apostolic blessing from Pope Francis for his 36 years of service to the society. Members of the congregation, and Fr Sean Mullins, joined the celebration after Mass.

Mr Jaques’ wife Fritz, though in a wheelchair, also attended.

Retirement Home, Rivonia, Johannesburg Tel:011 803 1451 www.lourdeshouse.org

LANNING an innovative festive season campaign to create awareness about the plight of the homeless in Durban and generating funds to feed them, has resulted in The Social Meal Project—a joint initiative between the Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) in the inner city, and advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather Durban.

As part of the project, diners at some of the city’s top restaurants are invited to symbolically “share a meal” with a member of the city’s homeless community over this season of giving.

When sitting down in one of the participating restaurants or cafes, customers will receive an insert in the menu inviting them to join in the Social Meal Project. The insert profiles a named homeless person and invites the customers to share a meal with them by making a donation while paying their bill.

“There are 1,4 million holidaymakers who come to Durban in the summer to have fun—we want to give them a chance to share the fun with the less fortunate homeless

people of Durban,” said DHC director Raymond Perrier.

“Revellers are estimated to spend over R3,1 billion during the holiday season—it costs the Denis Hurley Centre a 1 000th of that amount to provide its services to the homeless, refugees and poor of inner-city Durban for one whole year,” he said.

The DHC, which welcomes up to 300 homeless people each day, estimates that it costs about R15 to provide breakfast, lunch, a hot shower and clean clothes to one person. “We are asking people to pledge R15, or multiples thereof, so they can ‘share’ a social meal with a homeless person,” Mr Perrier said.

Frail/assisted care in shared or single rooms.

Independent care in single/double rooms with en-suite bathrooms.

Rates include meals, laundry and 24-hour nursing.

Day Care and short stay facilities also available.

“At this festive time, we want to put a face and a name to some of the homeless community who are typically considered invisible and nameless; initiate conversations around issues of homelessness; and invite Durbanites and visitors to donate sufficient money to provide a meal and essential services to one homeless person as they enjoy a restaurant meal of their own,” said Lwazi Mthabela, account manager of Ogilvy Durban Members of the homeless community have come forward to tell their stories and add their names and faces to the project to give the plight of homelessness a more inti-

mate, human persona.

“The photographs will help diners to see the homeless person as someone with dignity; they will be able to read more about the person’s history and share photos of the meal that they are eating alongside the meals being served at the Denis Hurley Centre,” Mr Perrier said.

“We want to show that the city’s homeless are ordinary people. Our wish is that this campaign will encourage us to look them in the eye and in so doing to engage with mutual respect and humanity. Isn’t that what this season is intrinsically supposed to be about?”

Top photographer Jono Nienaber volunteered his time to take a series of photographs of the homeless volunteer ambassadors to be used in the media rollout and on the “table talkers”, as the menu inserts are called.

Restaurants that are interested in participating should contact socialmeal@denishurleycentre.org n For more information, contact Raymond Perrier on 031 301 2240/076 570 2497 or raymond@denishurley centre.org, or visit www.denishur leycentre.org

New youth movement launched

By Sr NkheNSaNi ShiBaMBU

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EADERS in Action (LIA) has been officially launched as an organisation formed by the youth, for the youth, with the youth.

The vision of LIA is to inspire young Catholics to renew personal encounters with Christ and to help develop them into future leaders.

The dream started three years ago when young Catholics saw a need to reach out to other young Catholics by organising various camps and conferences under the banner of Radio Veritas.

The group launched in Soweto at St Angela’s Catholic church, with the Mass celebrated by Fr Patrick Dladla, the Soweto Deanery youth chaplain, followed by a colourful African- themed gala.

Young people who previously attended the camps and leadership conferences gave testimonies of their experiences.

Young people as the Church of

young people attended the launch of leaders in Action, a new Catholic organisation for the youth. tomorrow have become a primary concern for the Church, epitomised by the theme for the next synod of bishops in 2018, which will focus on young people.

LIA operates under the auspices of the Congregation of the Companions of St Angela, whose

mission is to respond to the needs of the youth like their patroness St Angela. n For more information on LIA and future events visit their Facebook page LeadersinAction YouthConference or Twitter handle @LiAConference.

Cabra Dominicans hold 800th year international meeting in SA

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N the year of the 800th jubilee of the founding of the Dominican Order, Cape Town was chosen as the venue for the full international Congregational Council meeting of the Dominican sisters of Cabra.

The sisters attending the meeting at the Kolping guesthouse in Durbanville were led by their congregational prioress, Sr Elizabeth Healy. The other members of the council came from Ireland, Argentina and South Africa.

Over the years the Cabra Dominican sisters have left their mark in several countries of Latin America—Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia—in New Orleans in the US as well as in Portugal.

After almost 350 years of ministry in Portugal, the congregation has just withdrawn from that country as it did a few years ago from Brazil.

The Cabra sisters were the first Dominican sisters to set up a foundation in South Africa over 100 years ago. They still have a presence in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg.

It was the Dominican sisters of Springfield Convent in Wynberg who first challenged the apartheid education system by admitting pupils of colour to

(Front from left) Cabra Dominican Sisters Elizabeth Healy OP, congregational prioress (ireland) and Frances Krige (South Africa).

(Back from left) Srs Caitriona Gorman (ireland), Noemi Zambrano (Argentina), Martina Pbelar (ireland), liz Smyth (ireland) and Elsabe O’leary, the meeting’s facilitator. their school in the 1970s. This prophetic act had a ripple effect throughout South Africa.

The full congregational council gathered to reflect on its important ministries, strengths and weaknesses and to find a way forward in these challenging times.

The meeting was facilitated by Elsabe O’Leary of Cape Town.

On arrival at the Kolping guesthouse, the sisters were happy to find one of their Dominican brothers, Fr Emil Blaser, on holiday. He celebrated Mass with them each day.

The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

LOCAL

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Kids at children’s home get access to computers

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HE Society of St Vincent de Paul in Durbanville, Cape Town, undertook a project to upgrade the non-operating computer room at Holy Cross Children’s Home in Parow.

The SVP asked Lourenco Moirinho of ICT Empire in Bellville for assistance to test all equipment, discarding the necessary, standardising, setting up and re-cabling all to one printer and more.

“They offered up much of their time and expertise and were so willing to put an effort in for these less fortunate children,” said the SVP’s Mike Collier.

Now 96 children at the home have full computer access which they never had before.

Pictured right are some of the upgraded computers at the children’s home.

Parishioners watch the entrance procession for the final Mass of the year of Mercy in the Southern Deanery of Johannesburg archdiocese.

Closing the Year of Mercy

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HE Year of Mercy for the Southern Deanery of Johannesburg came to an end with the celebration of a final Mass at the host parish, Our Lady Of Lebanon in Mulbarton.

Mass was celebrated in the full Maronite rite by Fr Jean Yammine.

The offertory was presented by the various sodalities in the parish, each carrying a descriptive plaque of their various functions within the parish.

It also included a testimony from parish member Jaqueline Zock on the wonders of mercy and a Eucharistic procession around the church by all in attendance, leading

up to the opening of the holy doors.

The doors were opened by Fr Charles Uloko, dean of the Southern Deanery. While the weather was ominous, prayers were answered when the rain stopped in time for the procession.

The celebration began with Adoration, reciting of the Rosary and Divine mercies. Various priests from surrounding parishes were also on hand to hear confessions.

Fr Yammine ended Mass with a prayer of mercy, asking all to place their hands on their hearts while praying for a merciful heart. Fr Uloko closed the celebration.

Rosetta Herold sells The Southern Cross after Mass at St Kevin’s in Northpine, Cape Town.

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New couples course leaders

By MANDlA ZiBi

S

OME 707 couples from all over the Southern Africa region attended Catholic Engaged Encounter (CEE) between June 2015 and June this year, the annual general meeting of the organisation heard this month.

“CEE weekends are designed for couples who are preparing for marriage. They are designed to create space for couples to talk openly and honestly about their relationship and future marriage within a Christian context,” Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, one of the outgoing CEE national coordinators, told The Southern Cross.

“Although the programme is run by the Church—it has its origins in Marriage Encounter weekends—it is not exclusively for Catholics. Many people of other denominations and faiths also make use of the programme annually,” Fr Pollitt said.

The weekends are a “live-in experience” during which couples planning marriage concentrate on each other free from the tensions, pressures and interruptions of daily life and the preparations for the wedding day.

At the opening of the meeting Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria welcomed the coordinating couples from the different regions where CEE is operating in Southern Africa. This includes regular weekends in Gaborone, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

The archbishop said that the Church and indeed society is becoming more and more aware of the challenges married people face.

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(From left) New CEE pastoral officer Fr Patrick Rakaketsi CSS, new leadership couple Kabelo and Bridgette Senna, with previous couple Kelsay and Gustavo Corrêa, and previous pastoral officer Fr Russell Pollitt.

Archbishop Slattery also pointed out that CEE’s work had also been encouraged by the papal document on the family, Amoris Laetitia. In it, Pope Francis “explicitly said that marriage preparation needs to be done with care and is very important”, Fr Pollitt said.

CEE is run collaboratively between married couples and priests.

On every weekend two couples—one couple a “junior couple” and the other a couple that has been married longer—talk about their own experience of the vocation of marriage. Their talks are intended to get couples talking about their own hopes and expectations.

The priest on the team also

shares his experience as a priest.

“The feedback on the weekends is always very positive. Many couples say that sitting together, alone, for a weekend, and focusing on each other and their relationship is for them the most meaningful part of the weekend,” said Fr Pollitt.

The elected leadership may serve for a period of three years, renewable once. Fr Pollitt has served with Gustavo and Kelsay Corrêa. They are succeeded by Kabelo and Bridgette Senna, with Fr Patrick Rakaketsi CSS as their pastoral counterpart. n For more information about CEE or to get involved: www.engageden counter.co.za

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The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

YEAR OF MERCY

Mercy Fridays: A year of stories, tears, hugs

By CiNDy WOODEN

By CiNDy WOODEN

T

EARS, prayers, caresses—but most of all, listening—were the hallmarks of Pope Francis’ “Mercy Friday” visits during the Year of Mercy.

As the jubilee began last December, Pope Francis said he would ditch the media one Friday afternoon each month and personally try to give life to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Throughout the year, he used his weekly general audiences and monthly Saturday jubilee audiences to teach about the reality of God’s mercy and the obligation of sharing mercy with others.

But the Mercy Friday visits—even the two that were not held on a Friday—were about presence. Almost every month throughout the year, the pope visited a group of people— people recovering from addiction, women rescued from prostitution, infants in a hospital neonatal unit, and others—as his own expression of the corporal works of mercy. The Mercy Fridays gave them a chance to tell the pope their stories and, usually, to share a late afternoon snack with him.

Nearing the end of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis paid a visit to seven families formed by men who left the priesthood to marry. The Vatican said the visit was a sign that God loves and is merciful to everyone experiencing difficulty.

“The Holy Father wanted to offer a sign of closeness and affection to these young men who made a choice that often was not shared by their fellow priests and families,” the Vatican said.

Travelling to an apartment in the Ponte di Nona area on the far eastern edge of Rome, the pope met the families of the former priests. Four of the men had been priests in Rome. A former priest from Madrid and a former priest from Latin America, both now living with their new families in Rome, also were in attendance as was a visiting former priest from Sicily.

After serving in parishes, the Vatican said, “solitude, incomprehension and tiredness because of the

Holy Doors close, but mercy continues T

Pope Francis talks with young people during a “Mercy Friday” visit to Rome’s SOS Children’s Village. (Photo: l’Osservatore Romano) great requirement of pastoral responsibility put in crisis their initial choice of priesthood”. The crises were followed by “months and years of uncertainty and doubts that in many cases led them to believe they had made the wrong choice with priesthood. So they decided to leave the priesthood and form a family”.

Pope Francis entered the apartment and was greeted by the priests’ children, who embraced him. The adults, “could not hide their emotion”.

The former priests and their families did not feel judged by the pope, the Vatican statement said, but felt his closeness and affection. He listened to their stories and paid particular attention to the concerns they raised about “juridical procedures”, apparently in reference to the process of releasing a priest from his priestly promises.

Pope Francis’ “paternal words reassured every one”, the Vatican said.

“In this way, once again, Pope Francis intended to give a sign of mercy to those who live in a situation of spiritual and material difficulty, showing the obligation to ensure no one feels deprived of the love and solidarity” of the Church’s pastors.— CNS

HE Year of Mercy reportedly brought more than 20 million pilgrims to Rome, but for Pope Francis, the idea always was that the celebration of God’s mercy would be local: have people experience God’s love in their parishes and send them out into the world to commit random acts of mercy.

While concrete works of mercy have a social impact, Pope Francis’ idea was deeply connected to evangelisation, which is why Rome jubilee events were organised by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation. The pope had said he wanted the Holy Year to be “a new step on the Church’s journey in her mission to bring the Gospel of mercy to each person”.

The pope’s constant refrain during the Year of Mercy, which began on December 8, 2015, was that no one is excluded from the mercy of God, who has shown his love for each person by sacrificing his son for the salvation of all. All can be forgiven, the pope taught over and over again. And once a person experiences just how loving and merciful God has been, the obligation is to reach out to others with that same love and mercy.

“I believe this is the time of mercy,” Pope Francis told reporters travelling with him to Brazil in 2013 on his first foreign trip as pope. “The Church is mother. She must go out and heal wounds with mercy.”

For Pope Francis—personally and for all Catholics—that healing is expressed most powerfully in the confessional where one is honest about one’s sins and where God’s forgiveness and mercy are expressed through sacramental absolution.

The pope formally commissioned more than 1 100 priests from around the world as “missionaries of mercy” on Ash Wednesday, February 10, giving them special faculties to grant absolution even in cases that usually must be referred to the local bishop or even the Vatican.

Along with processions to the

Pope Francis walks through a Holy Door as he arrives to celebrate Mass at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Holy year of Mercy ended last Sunday. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) Holy Door in St Peter’s basilica and a meeting with Pope Francis, all of the major jubilee events in Rome included extended hours for confession. It was part of all the large jubilee events, including those for children, for people in mourning, for deacons, priests, the sick, youths, catechists, prisoners and for papal nuncios—the pope’s ambassadors around the world.

As he has done before, ignoring the cameras, Pope Francis himself went to confession during a special Lenten penance service in St Peter’s basilica and again in August in Assisi when he celebrated the traditional “Pardon of Assisi”.

Setting an example did not stop at the Church doors, though. One Friday each month throughout the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis quietly left the Vatican—without informing the media—and spent the late afternoon and early evening making visits reflecting the traditional corporal works of mercy.

A

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In his homily, Pope Francis said, “God is pleased by every act of mercy because in the brother or sister that we assist, we recognise the face of God which no one can see.”

“Each time we bend down to the needs of our brothers and sisters,” he said, “we give Jesus something to eat and drink; we clothe, we help and we visit the Son of God.” Preaching God’s mercy has been a central focus of Pope Francis’ ministry since his election in March 2013, and the closing of the Holy Door in St Peter’s basilica on November 20 will not end that focus.

Celebrating a jubilee Mass with the homeless and other people in precarious situations, Pope Francis prayed that as the Holy Doors in some 10 000 cathedrals, shrines and churches around the world were closed, God would open people’s eyes and hearts to the needs of others.

The Year of Mercy was an occasion to help people recognise how merciful God has been to them and, then, in effect, he commissioned all Catholics to be “missionaries of mercy”.—CNS

‘Forgive us for looking away’

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OOKING directly at thousands of homeless and marginalised persons, Pope Francis asked for their forgiveness for failures to recognise their dignity and alleviate their suffering.

“I ask your forgiveness if I have ever offended you with my words or for not having said something that I should have,” the pope said during an audience with people who are homeless or otherwise socially excluded.

Pope Francis, speaking in the name of all Christians, asked their forgiveness for times when they were not treated with the dignity the Gospel says they have.

“I ask your forgiveness for all the times that we Christians stand before a poor person or a situation of poverty and look the other way,” the pope said.

The forgiveness of those who have felt unloved and unwanted by men and women of the Church “purifies us and helps us to believe once again that at the heart of the Gospel is the great message of poverty and that we— Catholics, Christians, all of us—must form a Church that is poor for the poor”.

“All men and women from any religion must see in the poor the message of God who comes close to us and made himself poor to accompany us in life,” he said.

Pope Francis encouraged them to “not give up on dreaming” despite the sufferings they face daily.

With hands clasped tightly around a microphone and his head bowed, Pope Francis adlibbed a prayer asking God to “give us strength, give us joy, teach us to dream and to look forward”. “Teach us solidarity because we are brothers and sisters and you help us defend our dignity. You are our father. Bless us,” he prayed.—CNS

The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

INTERNATIONAL

5

Islamist extremism not the only religious freedom threat

By ANDREA GAGliARDUCCi

R Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the new super-dicastery for the laity worldwide. (Photo: Robert Duncan/CNS)

When Pope Francis says he wants you...

By CAROl GlATZ

want them to take their place within the Church,” he said the pope told him.

Naming him to the College of Cardinals, he said, was a special hat tip to the laity because putting a cardinal at the helm tells people the pope considers this focus of laity, family and life to be “very important”.

The new dicastery should have a full slate of members and consultors from all over the world early next year and a majority of them will be laypeople, he said. He expects it will take a year for the new structure to be “completely settled”.

What is new is that most of the senior positions will also have to be staffed by laity, as mandated by the statutes, and while that is a big change for a Vatican dicastery, “I don’t think it’s going to be unique for dicasteries in the future,” he said.

“That is the intention of the Holy Father, to have laypeople involved in the administration of the Church.”

Cardinal Farrell’s new role and the role of the new office, he said, is to be a sounding board, listening to the needs of the laity across the world and providing bishops’ conferences with possible ways to engage the laity, have them participate more in the Church and promote the lay apostolate and solid formation of Catholics.

Despite his varied and vast experience, especially in finance and administration, the Dublin-born prelate said what has prepared him best for his new job are all the years spent working in parishes.

“I think we need to be a little more pastoral today,” to reach out to the people like Jesus did, not “afraid of speaking to public sinners and to cure the poorest of the people”.— CNS

E

VEN though Cardinal Kevin Farrell had asked his diocesan secretary to hold all phone calls so he could finish his work, one caller insisted on getting through.

“She came in and said that the pope was on the telephone, and I kind of laughed and said, ‘Sure, the pope’s on the telephone,’” he said, adding that the secretary continued to insist it really was the Holy Father because she knew his voice from television.

“And it was the pope,” he said.

Pope Francis made that surprise call in May to tell the then-bishop of Dallas he was the papal pick to lead a new super-dicastery bringing laity, family and life together under one roof.

“Well, I nearly had to call 911 because I did not expect that and I mustered my energy, my mind, to tell him a couple of reasons why I did not think I was the person for that job,” he said.

The cardinal said he breathed a sigh of relief when the pope said to just think about it and he would call again in three days, because he was sure the pope would never call back.

But he did.

Cardinal Farrell said he gave the pope even more excuses for not accepting the job, but then the pope said: “‘Well, you’d better come talk to me.’ And it was over,” meaning resistance was futile, the cardinal added, “and here I am” in Rome.

The pope told him there were separate Vatican congregations for bishops, religious and clergy and more, but there was no congregation for the men and women who make up 98-99% of the Catholic Church—the laity.

“So I want to give emphasis to the family and emphasis to the role of laypeople in the Church today, I

ELIGIOUS freedom is under threat worldwide from phenomena like Islamic “hyperextremism”—but there are also other dangers, a new report from Aid to the Church in Need says.

“The importance of religious freedom is for me the difference between life and death,” Fr Jacques Mourad said in the report’s foreword.

The priest was held hostage by ISIS in Syria for five months before his escape in October 2015.

“Our world teeters on the brink of complete catastrophe as extremism threatens to wipe out all traces of diversity in society,” Fr Mourad said. “But if religion teaches us anything it is the value of the human person, the need to respect each other as a gift from God.” Aid to the Church in Need is an international Catholic pastoral charity. Every two years it publishes a report that analyses the state of religious freedom in 196 countries.

The latest report, published in mid-November, covers the period from June 2014 to June 2016.

It shows major threats to religious freedom from the rise of “Islamist hyper-extremism”, with ISIS being the prime example.

The extremist phenomenon is described as “a process of heightened radicalisation, unprecedented in its violent expression”. It is characterised by “an extremist creed and a radical system of law; systematic attempts to annihilate or drive out

By DAlE GAVlAK

A

LTHOUGH there are different versions of the story of St Barbara, Christians in the Middle East and Central Europe still celebrate the early Christian martyr on December 4.

To celebrate St Barbara’s Day, known as “Eid il-Burbara”, Christians in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon prepare and share a dessert made from boiled wheat, rose water, cinnamon, anise and nuts. This aromatic sweet represents the wheat fields where St Barbara hid from her father, who kept her locked in a tower because she had converted to Christianity in 235AD. After years of war and political instability in neighbouring Lebanon, celebrations of the feast of St Barbara grew a bit more subdued, but shouts of “Hay-shlee Ba-bar-a!” (“Run away, Barbara!”) are still heard on the December 3 eve of the feast day.

St Barbara’s feast marks the begin-

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H

owever, the Middle East is the region that is most of all suffering from the rise of this extremism.

This extremism also fuelled the refugee crisis in countries like Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria.

Major Islamic leaders have condemned this extremism, speaking out in many public declarations.

Fr Mourad reflected on the future of religion in the world. “If we are to break the cycle of violence threatening to engulf our world, we need to replace war with peace,” he said.

“In this day and age more than ever, it is time to cast aside religious hatred and personal interests and learn to love one another as our faiths call us to do.”

Islamic extremism is not the only threat. The report says that countries where one particular religion is identified with the nation state have “stringent religious freedom restric-

tions”. These include Hindu India, Islamic Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Buddhist Burma.

In Israel, the Catholic bishops made a formal complaint about Rabbi Benzi Gopstein, the report notes. On an ultra-Orthodox website, the rabbi stated: “Christmas has no place in the Holy Land” and called for the destruction of all churches in Israel, adding: “Let us remove the vampires before they once again drink our blood.”

In India, “the world’s largest democracy”, respect for minority rights “has come under increasing threat from extremist Hindu groups”, the report notes.

Aid to the Church in Need highlighted 38 countries where religious freedom is at risk. Of these, 23 are ranked among the most at risk.

In 12 of these 23 countries, the threat to religious freedom is driven by non-state actors. There, discrimination and persecution involve organised non-government groups.

Religious freedom has worsened in 37% of the world’s countries. In 55% of the world’s countries, there have been no changes on the state of religious freedom in comparison with the 2014 Aid to the Church in Need report.

Religious freedom improved in only three countries: Egypt, Bhutan and Qatar.

The worst places in terms of religious freedom are Eritrea and North Korea.—CNA n Read the full report at www.reli gious-freedom-report.org

St Barbara kicks off Christmas season

A Christmas Gift to Remember

A Gift that will nourish the Spirit

all groups that don’t conform to their outlook, including co-religionists; cruel treatment of victims; use of social media to recruit followers and to intimidate opponents by parading extreme violence”.

The report says this hyper-extremism has had “a global impact”.

It is able to affiliate with extremist groups and has “well-resourced support networks”.

The report shows that radical Islamism is on the rise. Attacks have occurred in one out of five countries around the world, including 17 African countries.

St Barbara ning of the Christmas decorating season for Lebanese Christians.

Lebanese families also plant wheat grains, lentils, chickpeas and other legumes with the idea that in three weeks, the sprouts will be plentiful, accenting the Nativity scene under

the Christmas tree.

Legend says that St Barbara kept a branch from a cherry tree, which she watered from her cup in the tower. On December 4, when her father decapitated her for refusing to renounce Christianity and for rejecting an arranged marriage, the cherry branch blossomed.

Ever since, believers take cherry branches into their homes on December 4.

This custom recalls the prophecy in the Old Testament book of Isaiah: The Messiah will spring from the root of Jesse.

From this tradition comes Barbarazweig, the German and Austrian custom of taking branches into the house on December 4 with hopes of a bloom on Christmas.

Although the feast of St Barbara was removed during the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, it is celebrated in various regions.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Editorial: Editorial Advisory Board

A season of mercy

I

N the world today, the definitions and certainties of the human experience are shifting.

Family life, sexuality, sacredness of life and so many other areas of our human condition are subject to contestation and discomfort among those who enjoy historical certainty and those who find themselves outside classical definitions.

It is for these and many other reasons that the jubilee Year of Mercy, which ended on November 20, should be seen as not just an event that has come and gone.

Indeed, the Holy Year made concrete the heart of the Church’s pastoral response which began at Vatican II. Mercy clearly is at the centre of Pope Francis’ pontificate. We can understand this focus through one of the pope’s key statements: “Time is greater than space.”

For theologians like Fr Michael Kirwan SJ, metaphors of space often imply a lack of movement.

Phrases like “making a stand”, “adopting a position”, “forming a camp” and “defending a corner” suggest a closed and steadfast disposition. That is not always a bad thing because sometimes situations require that a position be taken.

Time, on the other hand, is shared with others, regardless of whichever space one occupies.

Mercy, therefore, is not to be understood from the perspective of holding a position (space) but rather from the perspective of one’s shared existence (time).

The imagery of Holy Doors, so central to the jubilee year, suggests an openness to move from one position to another in order to better understand and encounter the human experience.

The Year of Mercy, therefore, cannot be a one-year project; it must be ongoing.

It demanded of the Church to stand not only among its faithful but also to turn its disposition outward to embrace and meet even those who struggle, for whatever reason, to have God in their lives.

During the Holy Year, Pope Francis took time every Friday to engage in works of mercy, mostly in the form of encounters with the marginalised. Many Catholics have followed his example by adopting some personal initiative.

But there must also be collective acts of mercy aimed at identifying

areas in our communities and regions which need our collective focus. For example, there is nothing to stop the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference from appointing certain Sundays in the year for prison visitations across the entire country.

A particular focus in the Holy Year was the sacrament of reconciliation, or confession. The Year of Mercy gave the Church the opportunity to explore and highlight this sacrament rigorously.

Pope Francis has called confession an “encounter with God’s mercy”. This is an important emphasis because it discourages that fear and a sense of judgment often associated with the sacrament.

We now need to encourage this focus on this sacrament, using the lens of mercy.

The catechesis on the sacrament of reconciliation has been revitalised through the Year of Mercy and we need to build on it.

While much has been done in the preparation rites, more can be done in an ongoing catechesis on the sacrament of reconciliation.

The notion of “confessions by appointment” must be revisited.

Surely the sacrament must be offered in all parishes, preferably standardised at a set time.

The renewal of the sacrament of reconciliation would be a fitting legacy of the Holy Year, for both priests and the laity.

The emphasis of mercy at this time of the Church and the world has served as a proper pastoral response to our present needs. The Year of Mercy emphasised the very basic truth that all, without exception, have access to God’s merciful heart.

It also offered an opportunity for people to be part of the Church, even if they are not in harmony with all the teachings of the Church.

The Year of Mercy offered us a way of finding each other in our human situation. There is a personal dimension of pilgrimage and encounter which is ongoing.

Thus the Church as a whole is on pilgrimage towards the fullness of God who is the source of mercy. This movement can only be made fully manifest through engagement at all levels of the Church.

The Year of Mercy might be over but the season of mercy is just getting started. Let’s get on with it.

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.

Fruits of Year of Mercy evident

I

WAS delighted and overjoyed to receive a surprise letter from Bishop Emeritus Hubert Bucher of Bethlehem, now residing at Mariannhill. The letter, its enclosures and contents, was for me truly “a smile from the Lord”, and an early and unexpected fruit of the Year of Mercy.

The Year of Mercy initiated by Pope Francis, now ended, is already showing forth blossoms and fruit in yet another springtime for the Church prophesied by Pope St John XXIII. The Charismatic Renewal which in some areas seems to have stagnated, is showing new life in conjunction with a new impetus of devotion to Mary, our blessed mother, and a renewed devotion to the rosary.

The memory is still fresh with me of that prophetic meeting which was the brainchild of the late, great Cardinal Leo Suenens of Belgium when delegates of the

Marist memories

Charismatic Renewal and the Marian Congress came together in St Peter’s basilica on Pentecost Monday in May of 1975 for a remarkable, historic and “unlikely” celebration of the liturgy (so some people imagined).

At this, Cardinal Suenens was given permission by Pope Paul VI to concelebrate the Eucharist at the high altar of St Peter’s.

It was at the end of the pope’s homily that, frail as he was, he proclaimed to all that “this Renewal has been given to the Church as a chance for an age of evangelisation never before seen by the world”, and strongly proclaimed to all assembled there that “Jesus is Lord”.

Bishop Bucher’s letter enclosed a copy of a fascinating publication and initiative of his entitled The Living Rosary, which I recommend to all. I found the booklet riveting and a powerful instrument of renewal for the prayer of the rosary. Copies are

available from the Paulines Bookshop in Kensington, Johannesburg.

I remember my friend Bishop Blucher well for his guidance to leaders of the Renewal in the 1970s, particularly one memorable meeting at Marist Brothers’ College in Observatory, Johannesburg.

This was at the time when many, particularly in the clergy, were fearful of being associated with “this new American gadget”, as some put it.

I suggest that one of the fruits of this Year of Mercy will be a new, combined powerful impetus of the presence and action of Mary and the Holy Spirit in the Church.

I strongly suggest that readers buy a copy of the bishop’s booklet and see what this new approach to the rosary is all about.

In the words of St John Paul II, we repeat his oft-repeated leitmotif: “Be not afraid to launch out into the deep” and give the Lord a chance in a world drastically and urgently in need of God! John Lee, Johannesburg

C

Marist the ONCERNING Brothers’ schools in Port Elizabeth, I recently read in your publication the following paragraph: “In 1952 this school for junior and high school boys was transferred to Walmer as St Patrick’s Marist Brothers’ College. This school was closed and sold by the brothers in 1982.”

I wish to point out an error in that paragraph. I was a pupil at the Marist Brothers’ Junior School in Bird Street in 1955 and 1956. It was only from 1957, not 1952, that I and my other schoolmates were transferred to the High (“Senior”) School at 10th Avenue, Walmer.

When I commenced at the Junior (correctly known, then, as the “Preparatory”) School in Bird Street—a building, playground and facilities I remember well, despite the passage of years—my first class teacher was a Mrs Bella J Aspeling, a middle-aged to elderly lady with completely white hair and glasses.

She oversaw Standard III (in which I began) and was very strict, but fair.

Mrs Aspeling and I got on well together, so much so that after I had been at the school some time she asked me if I would like to help her in the tuckshop, which she managed. I accepted and occupied the position until my later move to the Walmer school.

Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff, or of the Catholic hierarchy. They do not necessarily reflect the teachings 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

The tuckshop functioned from an otherwise disused room at the rear of the playground away from the main teaching block on the site (adjacent to Cuyler Street); I was allowed to choose sweets to the value of one penny each day.

The head at the Bird Street Preparatory School while I was there was Br Anthony, a young to middleaged, dark haired and tall Brother with whom I also got on well.

In 1955 a photograph was taken of the entire class at the Preparatory School in Bird Street of which I was a member [The writer of this letter is in the 2nd row from the front, 5th from the right in the photo at left.] I still remember many of the names of the boys in this photo.

Although I left Marist Brothers’ School at Walmer at the end of 1957, I still remember my time at both the Preparatory and Senior schools with some affection—I received a very well-founded education.

I should be interested to read of or hear from any other former pupils of the Preparatory School who were in either Standard III (1955) or Standard IV (1956), or of

the Senior School in 1957 and those who were in Standard V under the volcanic Br Philip.

I can be contacted via the editor.

Alan Flowerday, North Norfolk, England

Protestants proud and rightly so

A

NTONIO Tonin’s request to stop using the term “Protestant” (November 2) beggars belief.

The term “Protestant” is borne proudly by many non-Catholic Christians to show their allegiance to churches that sprang up in the 16th century Reformation such as Lutherans and Anglicans. They stood to protest against the Catholic Church at national meetings. They would abhor to be called “Catholics”.

I refer Mr Tonin to Michael Shackleton’s Open Door response on page 7 of the same issue to help him understand. And I recommend he reads some history of the Catholic Church to obtain the correct perspective.

M Bruce, Johannesburg

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Pray with the Pope

‘Young and daft’ General Intention: That the scandal of child soldiers may be eliminated the world over.

E tend to think that child soldiers are a recent and African phenomenon. I suspect that the recruitment of children, especially boys, for war is something perennial.

In my Jesuit novitiate in 1968, we had an elderly confrere living in the community who had fought in the First World War as a machine gunner. My fellow-novices and I were somewhat in awe of this quiet, rather sad-faced man who had lied about his age and enlisted at the age of 16. When I think of him today, I wonder what horrors he witnessed and how he dealt with his memories.

A line which struck me from an interview with the last surviving British veteran from the Great War was: “We were young and daft!” Young people don’t believe that they are going to die and they are often avid for adventure, and foolishly brave.

Those who recruit the children are older and they know exactly what they are doing. It is hard to find any excuses for them.

The cynicism with which they frequently treat these children is staggering. One hears stories of them forcing the youngsters to commit atrocities so that the poor kids feel they then have no choice but to throw in their lot with their captors. Girls are raped and become the mistresses of adult soldiers.

On a personal note, I can still remember the furious anger I felt towards child-recruiting adults when, back during the violence between Inkatha and the UDF in Natal, I saw a couple of young boys disappearing into the bush carrying shotguns.

In the Liberian war the adults seemed to have lost control of many of the child soldiers who carried on fighting each other in small bands rather like heavily armed street gangs.

A missionary priest who knew a number of these boys told me that he once asked an “officer”—only a teenager—why a particularly young boy was carrying grenades. The “officer”, without a hint of irony replied: “Because he’s too young to carry a rifle, Father.”

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said that human beings can get used to anything. That it can become normal for little boys to carry grenades suggests that he is right.

Leaders who recruit child soldiers must be called to account—another reason perhaps to support, rather than withdraw from, the International Criminal Court.

W

Faith in Europe Missionary Intention: That the peoples of Europe may rediscover the beauty, goodness, and truth of the Gospel which gives joy and hope to life.

ATHER Henri de Lubac SJ once said: “Industrial civilisations are naturally atheistic, and agricultural civilisations are naturally pagan. Faith in the true God is always a victory.”

It does seem as if faith is on the losing side at the moment in Europe. Of course nothing is inevitable and the decline and revival of faith has happened before in many times and places in the long history of Christianity, particularly in France.

There is, however, a question lurking below the surface here. It is whether modern life, with all its materialist allurements, leads inevitably towards loss of faith.

Those who question this idea often cite the United States as a very modern country in which faith is still strong. Sceptics suggest, however, that even the US is changing and this can be seen in the remarkable statistical rise of the so-called “Nones”, those who, when asked what religion they profess, reply, “None”. So maybe more material things do generally lead to weaker faith.

Another underlying assumption is that the march of technological progress will continue to improve the standard of living of our world. But according to Jared Diamond in Collapse, his magisterial work on why some societies have fallen apart, progress is not guaranteed, especially if a society squanders its resource base—and there is ample evidence of this happening now on a global scale.

And if faith flourishes in a situation of constraint rather than plenty, the future of faith might be one of revival.

All this speculation is very interesting, but the Christian’s job is to bear witness, “in season and out of season”.

In Europe it is decidedly “out of season”, so we pray for those who, inspired by Pope Benedict XVI, work for the re-evangelisation of Europe.

Pope Francis seems to draw the crowds and has the admiration of many, but there is little evidence of a mass return to Church, even though in some places there is talk of a “Francis effect”.

Clearly it is going to be tough going for the Church in her traditional heartland and she will need all the prayers she can get.

And we also must not be complacent about belief in our own country, the most westernised country in Africa.

F

The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

Wait for Christmas L AST year on December 28 I wished a shop assistant, “Happy Christmas”.

She looked horrified—not because she was a Muslim or a Jehovah’s Witness, but because she thought that Christmas was all done and dusted.

Her supermarket had been selling mince pies since Halloween and decking the halls with boughs of (plastic) holly since at least early November. Who was this absurd man still wishing people “Happy Christmas” long after it was all over?

I was so tempted to point out to her that Christmas had only just begun. I wanted to tell her—or better still sing to her—that this was in fact the 4th day of Christmas, and that my true love had just sent to me four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

The look on her face suggested that she was not in the mood to be educated.

For the Christian liturgist, Christmas is a season that begins on December 25 and then runs for 12 days (to the night before Epiphany) or, in some traditions, for 50 days until Candlemas (the feast of the Presentation on February 2).

But for the ad man, the sales merchandiser and the average shopper, Christmas starts when the first tinsel appears in the aisles, and then finally runs out of steam on December 24. Because then the start of our Redemption gets eclipsed by the end-ofyear sales.

So what about the ordinary Christian: you or I? Do we just give in to the commercial line and celebrate with everyone else at the wrong time of year? Or do we try to hold the purity of the liturgical line?

The latter would be hard indeed. It would require us to abstain from feasting and even drinking during December, since after all Advent is a time of preparation, not of celebration. It would require us to resist the temptation of mince pies, carol singing, and putting up the tree until most of our

friends have lost all interest in it. Do we have the strength of character for that?

But how do we honour Christmas? One way would be to make a personal or family commitment to avoid the worst excesses of premature Christmas in so far as we can.

Thus, even if others insist on serving us Christmas delicacies, we could keep them out of our own houses until at least Christmas Eve. We could wish people a “Merry Advent” when they try to wish us a “Happy Christmas”. We could even avoid sending the cards out until after December 25.

T

hese ideas might seem a bit silly. Here is one with a better chance of succeeding.

The tradition of the Advent calendar appears to be one of the few ways in which December is still marked as a preparation for the festival rather than the festival itself.

We open a window every day (chocolate treats not essential but a nice addition) and also reveal slowly a Christmas image. There are some rather wonderful digital calendars available now too.

How about taking that same idea a step further, especially if you have children? Instead of putting up all the decorations in one go early on, and then being thoroughly bored by them by the time Christmas actually happens, what about putting them up in stages?

Start with a tree but absolutely no deco-

Mary’s song of the poor

A

7

Raymond Perrier

Faith and Society

rations: a chance to admire it and, in case it is actually made of wood, enjoy its smell.

Then at different points through December, perhaps tied in with the Sundays of Advent, add the decorations in stages: first the lights, then the tinsel, then the old decorations, then perhaps some new ones, and finally on Christmas Day itself the angel or star on the top.

Such an approach gives us a chance to reflect on the slow emergence of Christ’s coming—light in the darkness—and create a sense of expectation and anticipation. It can also provide a shared ritual for a family or group of friends as we travel slowly with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.

Let me offer a final suggestion: to mark two different festivals: One is a riotous, frivolous, commercial mid-winter (or here midsummer) festival dedicated to eating, drinking and merriment. Let’s call that one Yuletide after the pagan deities of Europe.

This festival ends on December 25.

That date then happens to be the start of the second festival. It is marked by a special religious service, and by feasts which are more about sharing than consuming.

The break from work allows us to give time to ourselves, to our families, and to long-forgotten pursuits. And it gives us a contemplative time to prepare for the end of one year and the beginning of the next.

Since this is a crossover moment, we can think of it as an X and so call the festival Xmas (remembering that the X was an early code for Christians to write about Christ or Xristos).

And so now, in the first part of December, we can spend some of our time joining our debauched friends in their celebration of Yuletide. But we can also set aside some quality moments to prepare for our secret celebration of Xmas.

Cackie Upchurch

year of Mercy

LL across the world the people of God pray with the words of Mary from the gospel of Luke: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord ...” loving faithfully, and worshipping the God The Canticle of Mary, also known as the of their salvation.

Magnificat, is the staple of evening prayer The poor were neglected and abused, in the Liturgy of the Hours and first appears and religious and political leaders seemed in Luke 1:46-55 as Mary’s response to the to have lost their moral compass. The harsh work of God in her life as she comes to unwords of the prophets were not solely inderstand what God is doing through her tended to shame or punish those in posipregnancy. tions of power. Their purpose was to call all A canticle is a prayer that offers praise to of Israel to a deeper conversion so that their God. Much like the psalms, biblical cantiwords and deeds were in harmony with cles are written to be chanted or set to their calling to be God’s people. melody so that the message of praise might The Magnificat is displayed in various lanThe prophets offered those who were vibe remembered and become a pattern for guages outside the church of the Visitation olating God’s law the opportunity for conin Ein Kerem, west of Jerusalem. our own personal offerings of praise. version. Their blunt language may on the Mary’s canticle serves as the culmination surface sound condemning but the of the events in her life that lead up to the that mean God withholds mercy from the prophets were offering the kind of mercy birth of Jesus. The angel Gabriel has ap- arrogant and the powerful and the rich? Or that would transform their listeners from peared to her announcing that she will bear does it mean that unless we discover and the inside out.

God’s Son (Lk 1:26-38), she has been told of embrace our humility and hunger and Perhaps we can see the Canticle of Mary her elder kinswoman’s pregnancy and goes poverty, we might not have that deep expe- as part of the prophetic tradition of the rience of God’s mercy? to visit her in a hillside village, and the elder Bible. She sings of the triumph of the poor Elizabeth greets Mary with joy and blessing he prophets of Israel may be of help in and lowly but not necessarily at the expense (Lk 1:39-45). this regard. Men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, of the rich and mighty. Within Mary’s The Magnificat captures not only Mary’s Hosea and Micah spoke with the authority words of prayer we are invited to submit awe and wonder at God’s intervention in of God in a period of history that saw the ourselves to God’s vision of the world. her life, it also speaks of God’s saving deeds While it might cause us discomfort, we for the world and, in the process, draws nation states of Israel and Judah unravelling are being instructed to bend to God’s plan, each of us to experience that same wonder. from within and without.

There were powerful kingdoms outside to beg for God’s mercy, and to begin to imThe prayer opens with Mary’s personal their borders gobbling up smaller nations itate God’s care for those on the fringes. We experience of God who has done “great are also being urged to count ourselves things” for her (1:46-49) but quickly shifts and nipping at their sovereignty until they among the poor and lowly, to discover our finally crumbled. to the great things God has done for all: Within the communities of God’s people own poverty that can only be filled with the “His mercy is from age to age to those who there was an additional kind of collapse richness of God’s mercy. fear him” (1:50).

If we approach the words of Mary’s going on—a collapse of covenant living. n This is the 12th column in a 13-part series prayer with honest curiosity, we might ask, This means that God’s people were neglect- of reflections on the Year of Mercy. This article ing the covenant demands of living justly, was originally published in Arkansas Catholic.

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8

The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

COMMUNITY Newly confirmed young people of St Thomas Aquinas parish in Ngwathe, Edenville, are seen here with Bishop Peter Holiday of Kroonstad.

Sacred Heart Sodality members met at Maria Mabasotho Pastoral Centre in lesotho.

Marilyn Cilengi from Assumption Convent School in Germiston was selected for the South African Schools Netball U17 squad. Marilyn will represent South Africa in Fiji next year.

Joseph and June Rehman of St louis in Clairwood, Durban, received an apostolic papal blessing for dedicated service to the Society of St Vincent de Paul for 93 years collectively at the 160th celebration of SVP. Seen here at the parish with some of the conference members are (from left) Marcus Mariah, Mr and Mrs Rehman, Michael Chendriah and Ridone Baroochi.

Holy Rosary School in Edenvale alumnus and Olympics golfer Ashleigh Simon was the guest speaker at the matric prizegiving and valedictory service. She encouraged the matrics to follow their dreams, and to pursue their passions. Seen here (from left) are high school principal Belinda Damhuis, head of school Jacinta lucas, headgirl Toni latré), dux scholarum Karin lee and Ms Simon.

A retreat for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion was held at Our lady of lourdes parish in Rivonia, Johannesburg. it was presented by Fr Sakhi Mofokeng from the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za

PILGRIMAGE TO THE PROMISED LAND 2017 21-29 OCT 2017

A wonderful spiritual and informative journey to where Christianity began, Israel. Walk in the footsteps of Jesus and Mary. Christian sites to include Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Galilee to name but a few. Well known Bible stories will become clear.

Short stop in Old Constantinople (Istanbul) en route.

Organised and led by Rev Fr Stephen Tully.

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St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, welcomed new members to the Daughters of Mary Sodality during Mass.

Michael Stoher of Atlantis parish (left) and Deon Mckie in the grounds of the pilgrim church of St Francis de Sales in Malmesbury, after a special year of Mercy celebration in the church.

Fr laszlo Karpati is the new parish priest at St Joseph, Primrose, Germiston. Greeting parishioners after Mass are (from left) Deacon Richard ludwig, Fr Karpati and Deacon Doug Boake.

St Dominic’s Priory School in Miramar, Port Elizabeth, has elected its head students for 2017. (From left) head of ethos Fr Michael Theron CO, headgirl Jonel Roos, deputy headboy Sinebongo Willem, deputy head of school Anne Jeal, headboy Cole Foong, deputy headgirl Tiffany Rogers and head of school Fr Grant James CO.

Sacred Heart College learners in Johannesburg received their First Holy Communion.

(From left) yethu Gqola, Moitshepi Masebe, Nothando Michaels, Mulenga Masaki Mwansa, Joanna Nembalemba and Jay Nembalemba. Pictured with the learners are Fr David Dryden and religious educator ivana Marais.

A group of 57 candidates were confirmed at St Charles parish in Victory Park in Johannesburg, presided over by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale. Parish priest Fr James Ralston OMi acted as the MC.

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youngsters at Assumption Convent School in Germiston received their First Holy Communion at Blessed Sacrament parish. Grade 3 An Ngome year of Mercy pilgrimage was led by Fr Mari girls sang in the choir as a special gift to the Joseph from St Joseph’s in Goodwood, Cape Town. communicants.

De la Salle Holy Cross College in Johannesburg has announced its 2017 councillors. Pictured are new headgirl Deena Martin and new headboy Philani Mpofu.

WORLD AIDS DAY

The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

9

What it takes to kill Aids by 2030 Earlier this year, experts on HIV/Aids from around the world met in Durban to discuss the pandemic. For World Aids Day on December 1, SR AliSON MUNRO OP recalls some of the important outcomes.

H

UNDREDS of journalists were present at the 21st International Aids Conference in Durban in July to ensure that the world was kept informed of the developments in HIV/Aids—and to make sure the crisis does not vanish from our radar.

They reported on scientific research into new drugs and vaccine trials, and of gains made in programmes reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and of concerns around the adolescent epidemic now being experienced in sub-Saharan Africa.

There were sessions on the need to scale up prevention efforts alongside doubling the numbers of people on treatment, on the dangers of complacency, on TB co-infections and the simultaneous presence of non-infectious diseases such as hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes, and certain cancers.

The conference looked at why girls in particular are vulnerable to HIV, at how stigma and discrimination is an obstacle to effective prevention and treatment, and at difficulties in treating children.

Common themes were the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids’ (UNAIDS) 90-90-90 strategy (more on that in a moment); where the money will come from to scale up programmes; human rights issues; and providing services to so-called hard-to-reach populations.

Once a pariah The first time when the International Aids Conference was held in Durban, in 2000, South Africa was a pariah in the field. Now South Africa is a leader in the response to Aids on various fronts.

A session on the role of faith communities highlighted some of the difficulties such organisations face in their particular responses to Aids, as well as at how the faith community response is viewed by others.

This coincided with a well-attended interfaith service at Durban’s Catholic Emmanuel cathedral. It was an aptly chosen venue given the late Archbishop Denis Hurley’s commitment to human rights and to the Aids agenda.

There is a recognition that in the faith community as a whole,

services are often poorly documented and researched, that faith leaders and community workers need to be more knowledgeable regarding HIV, that the use of sacred texts, the understanding of gender laws and of the concerns of people of different sexual orientations can be problematic.

We need gender justice, and we need to break down stigmas.

UNAIDS and PEPFAR—the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief—are looking to faith communities to help deliver services to reach the 90-90-90 targets.

The strategy targets that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status; 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV-infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy; and, 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

Work of religious bodies In some countries, faith-based organisations provide most of the health care services.

But the world of faith is highly complicated, not homogeneous.

Communities of faith need better connections with health care systems.

Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town suggested that “HIV has exposed gaps in our teaching, and we face a challenge to blend theology and practical implications—a theology of compassion blended with human rights”.

HIV, he said, “has challenged the church to break its heart”.

Faith leaders and representatives of faith communities are called to particular action in reducing stigma and discrimination, increasing access to health services, defending human rights and ensuring treatment for children.

According to UNAIDS statistics there were 2,1 million new infections in 2015, bringing to 34 million the number of people infected with HIV and living with Aids globally. Of these, only 17 million are on antiretroviral treatment, and the challenge is to get another 17 million people on treatment.

Every day about 4 000 people die from TB, a common co-infection with HIV, often not diagnosed and not treated early enough.

Men, so-called key populations (which include commercial sex workers, gay people, prisoners and drug users), and young people are missing at every level along the continuum of care and treatment.

There are new challenges around HIV in migrant populations. And while between 2000— when South Africa first hosted an International Aids Conference— and 2016 there were successes regarding treatment and the

around adherence.

Difficulties around treatment because of stigmas are real, and drug resistance among adolescents is set to become a major problem.

The ageing of people on antiretroviral treatment and the associated non-communicable diseases are also being studied in different countries.

People on ARV treatment are living longer, but there are co-morbidities, with cardiovascular disease seen as a leading cause of death. The need for good nutrition, and exercise, for reducing drug intake, alcohol consumption and obesity, is as important in people living with Aids as it is in the general population.

A new treatment paradigm

Messages like these aim to destigmatise HiV/Aids, which in turn encourages testing. While the administration of ARVs and greater awareness have made a positive impact, the crisis remains acute, as Sr Alison Munro OP explains. reduction in rates of mother to child transmission, “the face of the epidemic is becoming younger” and there is still “a long way to go to eliminate HIV infections”, according to Luis Loures, deputy executive director of UNAIDS. In South Africa, we are faced with these statistics: l There are 7 million people living with HIV. Of these 4 million are women aged 15 and over. l Prevalence among adults 1449 is at 19,2 %. l The number of children under 14 and living with HIV is less than 250 000. l The percentage of orphaned children under the age of 17 is 2,1%.

Vaccine trials We need vaccines—the single most effective tool to prevent HIV transmission—while recognising that vaccine efficacy decreases over time, influenced by “distracting” antibodies.

Vaccine trials are “open for business” with a new trial due this year in several countries, including South Africa. Some vaccines have failed, and some trials have regrettably had to be stopped.

South Africa, in partnership with UNICEF, is “embarking on the last mile” in the quest to eliminate the transmission of HIV to infants, according to Dr Yogan Pillay of the Department of Health.

South Africa’s Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission programme has had great successes, leading to a great decline in the transmission rate, now at 1,1%

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at birth.

There are 800 000 mothers in support groups on the Mom Connect Programme. Exclusive breastfeeding as a means of protecting infants, and adherence on treatment, are being promoted, and stigma being addressed.

But at the same time children under 15, undiagnosed and untreated, are falling through the cracks.

Aids is the leading cause of death among adolescents. We are experiencing an HIV cascade among adolescents.

Why girls are so vulnerable to HIV infection has been shown to be associated with bacteria in the genital tract which facilitate inflammation and genital tract infection.

In Southern Africa men in their 30s are exposing young girls to HIV, the same men themselves infected by women in their thirties.

Testing and treatment needs to be scaled up to break the cycle of HIV, as well as medical male circumcision rolled out to men by the age of 25.

Education and the changing of community norms are key.

In Durban there were passionate pleas for and by young people that they not be left out. They want recognition as agents of change and as partners in the fight against Aids.

There were calls for stigma and discrimination to be addressed, for infections in young people to decrease, for more adolescents to go on treatment, for issues of sexuality to be talked about, for support

A new treatment paradigm is needed. Because it is not easy for someone to take medication daily over the course of a lifetime, it is recognised that long-acting drugs would help ease the pill burden that many patients struggle with.

There are viral reservoirs in the body which never forgets its exposure to HIV. Aids rebounds within two to three weeks when treatment is stopped, no matter how long one has been on treatment.

TB is a leading cause of death among people with Aids, and there is a need to start TB/HIV treatment quickly. While antiretroviral treatment prevents TB, patients should be given drugs for both Aids and TB to maximise prevention.

It is estimated that the funding needed globally to end Aids by 2030 is $26 billion a year. That figure stands against the stark reality of the funding gaps.

There were calls at the Durban conference for the repoliticisation of the Aids agenda since while we know the solutions—prevention, treatment, adherence, vaccines— governments are aligned to private sector interests; services are privatised and denied to 90% of the people.

The next four years, it was said, are critical if Aids is to end by 2030, and we are not to revert to where we were in 2000 when the benefits of treatment arrested the numbers of deaths among people with Aids.

And at the same time governments must deliver on human rights and gender equality and do away with laws that criminalise Aids.

“We need enraged activists,” said Justice Edwin Cameron, the Constitutional Court judge, and “we have to test, test, test—the gateway to knowledge and treatment.” n Dominican Sister Alison Munro is the coordinator of the Aids Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

10

The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

FAITH

Advent and Christmas: A season of feasts The Advent and Christmas seasons are marked by a series of great feast days that are celebrated in the Church, though some only regionally, as CAROl ZiMMERMANN explains.

A

LTHOUGH the four weeks of Advent focus on waiting for Christmas, the Church does not just sit around and wait for the main event.

It celebrates plenty of major feasts with lots of customs, traditions and even special foods during the month of December.

Early in the Advent season, December 6, the Church celebrates the feast of St Nicholas, a fourthcentury bishop from the region of modern-day Turkey, well known for his generosity.

The day has customs similar to Christmas—whose Santa Claus is based on St Nicholas—but with variations. Instead of gifts placed in stockings or under the tree, they are placed in children’s freshly polished shoes left outside their bedroom door the previous night.

The day is celebrated differently around the world and particularly emphasised in Eastern Europe. In the West, it is primarily focused on the shoe custom with an added emphasis on doing good things for others.

In the Netherlands, it’s St Nicholas Day, rather than Christmas Day, that is the traditional time for gift-giving.

Two days after the feast of St Nicholas, the Church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The feast is a holy day of obligation celebrating the belief that Mary was without sin from the moment she was conceived.

The day itself does not have anything to do with Advent but was chosen as the date nine months

from the date the Church celebrates Mary’s birth, on September 8.

The other Marian feast in December is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, which commemorates Mary’s appearance to St Juan Diego in 1531 at Tepayac, a hill northwest of modern-day Mexico City.

The Mexican celebration of the tradition also has been adopted by many people from all parts of the Americas. The feast day is celebrated with re-enactments of Mary appearing to St Juan Diego.

They also pray the rosary and present roses to statues of Mary, while mariachi bands sing Marian songs.

The very next day is the feast of St Lucy, particularly observed in Scandinavian countries and Italy.

Her feast day—near the winter solstice—and her name, which means light, has made celebrating the young girl martyred in the year 304 a festival of lights.

In festivals in Norway and Sweden, the oldest girl in the family traditionally wears a white dress, a red sash as a sign of martyrdom, and a wreath crown with lighted white candles. Other girls also dress as Lucy and walk in procession singing traditional songs and carrying rolls and cookies that are later shared.

O

ther major Church and cultural celebrations in December take place over a number of days such as the Latin American tradition of “posadas”: the re-enactment of the pilgrimage to Bethlehem by Mary and Joseph in search of a room that takes place from December 16-24.

The “posadas” traditions vary but usually involve groups going from home to home singing traditional Advent and Christmas carols and being turned down until they find one house that gives them shelter and a place to join in prayer and celebration.

In the Philippines, the large

Left: Sweets and gifts in boots placed overnight for St Nicholas to fill in a European tradition to mark the saint’s feast on December 6. Right: A man adjusts the crown on a statue of Our lady of Guadalupe outside the basilica named for her in Mexico City. The national patroness remains important in Mexico as a source of spiritual inspiration, but even non-religious people identify with her. (CNS photo/David Agren)

Left: People in traditional attire participate in a parade marking the feast of the Epiphany in St Peter's Square at the Vatican on January 6. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS). Right: Filipino Catholics hold up Christmas lanterns for a blessing. The lanterns are lit for the Simbang Gabi novena of Masses leading up to Christmas. (Photo: Mike Penney/CNS).

Catholic community there celebrates Simbang Gabi—a novena of early morning Masses from December 16-24.

After the Masses, families share traditional holiday sweets and desserts. According to the tradition, families hang lanterns on doors, windows and branches.

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The last major feasts of the Christmas season are the feast of the Epiphany, often called the feast of the Three Kings, followed a week later by the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

On the feast of the Epiphany, in many countries children leave treats for the wise men and their

camels and in turn, when the children are sleeping, gifts or sweets are left for them. In some countries, the feast of the Epiphany is the principal day for exchanging gifts.—CNS n Next week’s Advent article will suggest five ways to have a fruitful Advent season.

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The Southern Cross, November 23 to November 29, 2016

CLASSIFIEDS

Fr Thomas Maphosa

F

ATHER Mcindezelo Vusimuzi Thomas Maphosa of Witbank diocese died unexpectedly in his room at the priests’ house of Steelpoort on October 5.

He was 47.

Born on February 12, 1969 into a Xitsonga family from White City village near Acornhoek in Mpumalanga province, he did his seminary training in Cape Town and at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria.

He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Witbank on November 27, 2004 at Acornhoek.

After his ordination, he worked in the parishes of Burgersfort, Elukwatini and Kwaguqa Extensions (eMalahleni) and for the last few months in the parish of Steelpoort.

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • in memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,60 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

For a number of years he was the spiritual adviser of the Sacred Heart Sodality and responsible for catechetics and vocation promotion in the diocese of Witbank.

He was also a member of the executive of the Diocesan Council of Priests.

He is survived by his mother, Qinose Dodi Maphosa, a number of brothers and sisters and numerous nephews.

He was a well-known and active priest. He is sorely missed by his family, friends and the faithful of the whole diocese of Witbank.

His Requiem was celebrated on October 15 at Maria Trost Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Lydenburg/Mashishing.

Bishop Giuseppe Sandri

IN MEMORIAM

Fr Charles Ryan

F

ATHER Charles Ryan, formerly of Johannesburg and Cedara, died in Ireland on October 23 at the age of 78.

Fr Ryan, who had served as a missionary in Nigeria for many years, came to South Africa in 1999 to teach at St Joseph’s Institute in Cedara, near Pietermaritzburg.

He was based at Esigodini parish and later at Raisethorpe before moving to Merrivale and finally to Johannesburg.

He was very involved in adult faith formation and was widely sought after as a retreat master and a lecturer in all aspects of moral theology, especially medical ethics.

In 2014 he very successfully directed a three-month sabbatical course for priests and religious that was set up by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Charles Ryan was born in Cork, Ireland, on March 31, 1938. After his schooling he obtained a science degree at University College Cork in 1960.

After that he entered the seminary, and was ordained on Easter

Sunday 1964, two days before his 26th birthday.

Sent to Rome to study moral theology at the Dominican and Redemptorist universities, Fr Ryan gained licentiates in theology and canon law, and a doctorate in theology.

From 1968 he taught at his alma mater, St Patrick’s College in Kiltegan, Ireland.

In January 1971 Fr Ryan was appointed to Nigeria, where he taught at schools, colleges and universities, while also performing parish work. He left Nigeria in 1998 and came to South Africa the following year.

In 2009 Fr Ryan’s hearing failed suddenly and dramatically.

This left him dependent on hearing aids which improved matters only minimally.

He found deafness very difficult because of his love of conversation. It forced him to give up teaching in 2012 but he still gave many inputs to lay and religious groups, including the SACBC which sought his advice on many moral issues.

The other big loss due to his deafness was music. Fr Ryan

CLASSIFIEDS

loved music and listened to it continually but since he lost much of his hearing capacity he could never enjoy music again.

One of Fr Ryan’s great loves was the Camino and he made at least ten pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, including one in June this year.

Fr Ryan returned to Ireland at the end of 2015, but visited South Africa and Nigeria in April.

On October 4 he collapsed with a brain haemorrhage as he was going out for a walk. He was hospitalised but his situation continued to deteriorate. He died peacefully on the morning of October 23—Mission Sunday—in the presence of his sisters Nancy and Helen.

CLOETE—Samuel. in loving memory of my loving husband, our father, grand and great-grandfather who passed away 25years ago 20/11/1991. you are always in our prayers and thoughts. Remembered by your wife Catherine, children, grand and great grandfchildren. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.

PARIS—Joseph Albert. in loving memory of our grandfather and greatgrandfather (Oupa) who passed away on November 11, 1979. Many years may have passed but the wisdom you shared will remain with us forever. Always in the thoughts and prayers of Gloria, Ruben and children Randall, Grant, Nadine and Robert.

PARIS—Joseph Matthew. in loving memory of our father and grandfather who passed away on November 15, 1998. Fondly remembered and always in the prayers of your daughter Gloria, son-in-law Ruben and grandchildren Randall, Grant, Nadine and Robert.

SHARKEY—Brian. Went home to be with God 25/11/2010. Deeply missed and always loved by his wife Val. SNELL—Quintin. God has picked you the most beautiful flower from our garden; you are that beautiful flower in heaven too. All of us miss you dearly. We love you then, now and always.

Happy Birthday my angel, you would've been 37 today. RiP.

Sunday November 27, 1st Sunday of Advent Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalms 122:1-9, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:37-44 Monday November 28 Isaiah 4:2-6, Psalms 122:1-2,4-9, Matthew 8:5-11 Tuesday November 29 Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Luke 10:21-24 Wednesday November 30, St Andrew Romans 10:9-18, Psalms 19:2-5, Matthew 4:18-22 Thursday December 1, Bl Clementine Anuarite Isaiah 26:1-6, Psalms 118:1, 8-9, 19-21, 25-27, Matthew 7:21, 24-27 St Andrew Friday December 2 Isaiah 29:17-24, Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14, Matthew 9:27-31 Saturday December 3, St Francis Xavier 1 Corinthians 9:16-29, 22-23, Psalms 117, Mark 16:15-20 Sunday December 4, 2nd Sunday of Advent Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:1-12

SOLUTIONS TO 734. ACROSS: 2 Microphone, 8 South African, 10 Miser, 11 Riposte, 12 Shirts, 13 Bright, 16 Ennoble, 18 Amman, 19 Takes a chance, 20 Makes ready. DOWN: 1 Past master, 3 Inherit, 4 Reform, 5 Primp, 6 On assignment, 7 Question mark, 9 Went in fear, 14 Reached, 15 Behave, 17 Bless.

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

CAPE TOWN: Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Good Shepherd parish, Bothasig, welcomes all visitors. Open 24 hours a day. The parish is at 1 Goede Hoop St, Bothasig.

Phone 021 558 1412.

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

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

DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena

to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9:00. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30 on first Friday of every month.

Sunday Mass at 9:00.

Phone 031 309 3496 or 031 209 2536.

Overport rosary group.

At Emakhosini Hotel, 73 East Street every Wednesday at 18.30.

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

SWARDLING—Reece Dex “Miyagi”. in memory of a wonderful soul who works in Heaven now, defending against evil and being a Warrior of the lord, you were taken at the tender age of 24 and on this, the 4th anniversary of your passing (20/12), we remember you with love for the way you showed it to all, with gratitude for the time we had together and with faith and hope in a resurrected life when we will see you again. We miss you every single day and you will be forever in our hearts and minds. Dad, Mum, livy, Reagan, Tootoo and Trinity.

PRAYERS

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going?” let them be brave enough to question: “How have we failed?” let each be foolhardy enough to say: “For me, we come first.”

Help them, together, to reexamine their commitment in the light of your love, willingly, openly, compassionately.

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 ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelifeabortion isevil.co.za

Traditional Latin Mass

Liturgical Calendar Southern CrossWord solutions Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 2

11

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GOD BLESS AFRICA Guard our people, guide our leaders and give us peace.

Luke 11:1-13 The

Southern Cross

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

Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, News Editor: Mandla Zibi (m.zibi@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: yolanda Timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za) Directors: R Shields (Chair), J O’leary (Vice-chair), Archbishop S Brislin, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, J Mathurine, R Riedlinger, G Stubbs, Z Tom Editorial Advisory Board: Fr Chris Chatteris SJ, Kelsay Correa, Dr Nontando Hadebe, Prof Derrick Kourie, Claire Mathieson, Fr lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu, Palesa Ngwenya, Sr Dr Connie O’Brien i.Sch, Kevin Roussel, Fr Paul Tatu CSS

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2nd Sunday of Advent: December 4 Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:1-12

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EXT Sunday we continue our preparation for the Lord’s advent; and we may notice that the emphasis of the readings is on what God is doing.

In the first reading, Isaiah is dreaming of a time when God will once more be seen to act through a descendant of David; the prophet had, it must be said, a less than enthusiastic view of the performance of the Kings of Judah in his day.

Now he is looking for something different, “a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch shall grow from his roots”, and this faraway monarch is going to be like none of the kings whom Isaiah knew: “His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord”, and the grounds on which he judges will be those of God: “Not by what his eyes see, and not by the hearing of his ears shall he judge, but he shall judge the poor in righteousness, and with uprightness for the needy of the land.”

This preference for the poor is a sure sign of God’s way of operating; and on the whole it was not the approach of monarchs in the Ancient Near East.

There is a new way of dressing: “Justice will be the belt about his waist, and integrity the belt of his loins.” Not only that, but this person is going to inaugurate a new world in which “the wolf shall live with the lamb…the

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Someone Else is coming nursing child shall play over the viper’s hole and the weaned child that put his hand on the adder’s nest”.

And the prophet continues: “They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain” (of all places), for the land shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” How are you being invited to imitate this approach in this Advent season?

The psalm for next Sunday is the prayer for just such a king, at his coronation: “Oh God, give to the king your justice, and your righteousness for the king’s son.”

There is nothing here about the pride or fame or self-interest of the celebrities beloved of our culture; instead: “May he judge your people with justice and your poor with uprightness.” It is not power or money that the psalmist prays for, but “righteousness and… peace”.

And the ideal king “has compassion on the poor and needy and saves the lives of the needy”. Only when that point is established does the poet pray as the king might have wished: “May his name be forever in the presence of the sun; may all the nations be blessed in him.”

Advent offers us a very different vision of

the present time.

In the second reading, Paul is encouraging his readers in the divided Church of Rome to pay attention to God’s word: “For whatever was written beforehand was written to teach us, for us to have hope through endurance and through the comfort that the writings bring.”

And the upshot that Paul prays for is that “you may glorify the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ in unison with a single voice”. Then he encourages them to mutual hospitality, “as Christ also gave you hospitality to the glory of God”. And it is all about unity between different races: “Christ became a servant of the Jews…so that in mercy the non-Jews might glorify God.” Where are you being called to bring about unity, this week, in preparation for Christ’s coming?

You may get a clue from next Sunday’s Gospel, where John the Baptist is uttering his challenging message “in the desert of Judea”.

And the message is: “Change your hearts—for the Kingdom of Heaven has approached.”

Once again there is an invitation to return to the scriptures, in this case Isaiah, and perhaps also to imitate John the Baptist’s cloth-

Why atheists are our friends A

Conrad

THEISM is a parasite that feeds on bad religion. That’s why, in the end, atheistic critics are our friends. They hold our feet to the fire.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Karl Marx, for example, submitted that all religious experience is ultimately psychological projection.

For them, the God we believe in and who undergirds our churches is, at the end of the day, simply a fantasy we have created for ourselves to serve our own needs.

We have created God as opium for comfort and to give ourselves divine permission to do what we want to do.

They’re largely correct, but partially wrong—and it’s in where they’re wrong that true religion takes its root.

Admittedly, they’re right in that a lot of religious experience and church life is far from pure, as is evident in our lives. It’s hard to deny that we are forever getting our own ambitions and energies mixed up with what we call religious experience.

That’s why so often we—you and I, sincere religious people—don’t look like Jesus at all. We’re arrogant where we should be humble, judgmental where we should be forgiving, hateful where we should be loving, self-concerned where we should be altruistic, and, not least, spiteful and vicious where we should be understanding and merciful.

Our lives and our churches often don’t radiate Jesus. Atheism is a needed challenge because far too often we have our

own life force confused with God and our own ideologies confused with the Gospel.

Fortunately, God doesn’t let us get away with it for long. Rather, as the mystics teach, God inflicts us with a confusing, painful grace called a “dark night of the soul”.

What happens in a dark night of the soul is that we run out of petrol religiously in that the religious experiences that once sustained us and gave us fervour dry up or get crucified in a way that leaves us with no imaginative, affective, or emotional sense of either God’s love or of God’s existence.

No effort on our part can again conjure up the feelings and images we once had about God and the security we once felt within ourselves about our faith and religious beliefs.

The heavens empty and inside ourselves we feel agnostic, as if God didn’t exist, and we are no longer able to create an image of God that feels real to us. We become helpless inside ourselves to generate a sense of God.

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ut that’s precisely the beginning of real faith. In that darkness, when we have nothing left, when we feel there is no God, God can begin to flow into us in a pure way.

Because our interior religious faculties are paralysed, we can no longer manipulate our experience of God, fudge it, project ourselves into it, or use it to rationalise divine permission for our own actions.

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

ing (“camel-hair and a leather girdle”) and unattractive diet (“locusts and wild honey”).

We may be startled to learn that it was evidently a very attractive message: “Then there went out to him Jerusalem and all of Judea, and all the surrounding area of the Jordan.”

And there may also be a message in what they did: “They were being baptised in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.”

Among these were the good religious people; but instead of welcoming them, John addresses them as “offspring of vipers”, and warns them not to claim, “we have Abraham as our father”.

There is trouble coming: “The axe has already been laid to the root of the trees.” And then, but only then, John points beyond himself to Someone Else: “The one who comes after me is mightier than I am; I am not fit to carry his sandals…his winnowingfork is in his hand and he will cleanse his threshing-floor, and gather his wheat into the store—but the chaff he will burn with an undying fire.”

And who is this Someone Else, to whom the season of Advent points?

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Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

Real faith begins at the exact point where our atheistic critics think it ends, in darkness and emptiness, in religious impotence, in our powerlessness to influence how God flows into us.

We see this clearly in the life of St Mother Teresa. As seen in her diaries, for the first 27 years of her life she had a deep, felt, imaginative, affective sense of God in her life. She lived with a rock-like certainty about God’s existence and God’s love.

But at age 27, praying on a train one day, it was as if someone turned off some switch that connected her to God. In her imagination and her feelings, the heavens emptied. God, as she had known him in her mind and feelings, disappeared.

But we know the rest of the story: She lived out the next 60 years of her life in a faith that truly was rock-solid, and she lived out a dedicated, selfless commitment that would disempower even the strongest atheistic critic from making the accusation that her religious experience was selfish projection and that her practice of religion was not essentially pure.

In her religious darkness, God was able to flow into her in essential purity; unlike for so many of us where a faith-life that’s clearly self-serving belies a belief that we are listening to God and not to ourselves.

Even Jesus, in his humanity, had to undergo this darkness, as is evident in Gethsemane and his cry of abandonment on the cross.

After his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are told that an angel came and strengthened him. Why, we might ask, didn’t the angel come earlier when seemingly Jesus most needed the help?

God’s assistance couldn’t come until he was completely spent in terms of his own strength; his humanity wouldn’t have let the divine flow in purely but would have inserted itself into the experience. He had to be completely spent of his own strength before the divine could truly and purely flow in. So, too, for us.

Dark nights of faith are needed to wash us clean because only then can the angel come to help us.

ACROSS

2. Does it make the preacher a “loudmouth”?

(10) 8. Local citizen (5,7) 10. Tightwad who ignores the collection plate (5) 11. Clever reply may stop ire (7) 12. Garments for hairy penitents? (6) 13. all Things ... and Beautiful (hymn) (6) 16. Confer papal knighthood on Ben and Leon (7) 18. Catholic from Jordan may live here (5) 19. Puts yourself at risk (5,1,6) 20. Puts preparations in place (5,5) Solutions on page 11

DOWN

1. Former teacher who is very experienced? (4,6) 3. Get what’s coming to you willingly (7) 4. Luther set out to do it (6) 5. Parish priest will go around rim to look nicer (5) 6. Sings amen not about fulfilling your mission (2,10) 7. interrogate the evangelist about punctuation (8,4) 9. Few in NT are those who walked terrified (4,2,4) 14. he’d care about where he’d fetched up (7) 15. Conduct yourself (6) 17. invoke God’s favour (5)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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T the pearly gates, St Peter welcomed a priest and a politician, and gave them their room keys.

“Father, here are your keys to the dormitory room,” he said, and turning to the politician: “And for you the keys to our finest penthouse suite.”

“But that’s unfair!” the priest protested.

“Look,” St Peter replied, “priests are a dime a dozen up here, but this is the first politician we’ve ever seen here!”

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