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The

S outher n C ross www.scross.co.za

August 16 to August 22, 2017

Why reading the Bible is important

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Ntabeni on writing his debut novel

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The power of praying the Rosary

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Bishops: Church can help in SA’s racism debate

BY ERIN CARELSE

T Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy, a Catholic, addresses the bishops of Southern Africa on how to improve their media during their plenary session in Mariannhill. Seen with her are (far left) Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria, who serves as the SACBC liaison bishop for social communications, and next to him Jesuit Father Russell Pollitt, director of the Jesuit Institute.

Also part of the media panel were Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher and Radio Veritas associate director Fr Brian Mhlanga.

Bishops hear about media

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T their mid-year plenary in Mariannhill, KwaZulu-Natal, the Catholic bishops of Southern Africa set aside a session to discuss their relationship with the media.

Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy, associate editor at Tiso Blackstar (formerly Times Media) and a Catholic, and Jesuit Father Russell Pollitt addressed the bishops on the need to get the Church’s message into the secular media.

They advised the bishops on the benefits of doing so, but also pointed out pitfalls and how to avoid them.

The Catholic media was represented by Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher and Radio Veritas’ associate director, Fr Brian Mhlanga OP. Mr Simmermacher told the bishops that the local Catholic media, especially The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas, must be strongly promoted because they are among the very few “meeting places” for all Catholics in a Church that is still racially divided.

Noting the reality that often white Catholics do not attend Church events which they perceive as “black, and vice versa, he

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said that the Catholic media is “one of the few places we have where South Africa’s Catholics can see one another”.

“We can see how we bridge the racial divide in The Southern Cross in things like the “Community Pics” page, to which Catholics send in their photos, and in the news pages, as well as in the diversity of the bookings that are received for our pilgrimages and in our followers on Facebook,” Mr Simmermacher said.

“It is not true any longer, and hasn’t been for some time, that The Southern Cross is a predominantly ‘white newspaper’. Some of the greatest enthusiasm for our Catholic newspaper is in township parishes.”

On Radio Veritas this inclusive spirit is evident in the call-ins, he said.

“So it should be the mission of every diocese to strongly encourage parishes to promote The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas, as a resource for an inclusive Catholic Church and as part of the bishops’ media strategy,” Mr Simmermacher said.

The session was arranged by Fr Paul Tatu, communications officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

HE Catholic bishops of Southern Africa spent two days in their mid-year plenary meeting in Mariannhill to discuss racism.

“Now is the kairos moment for genuine healing in the area of our national racism,” Archbishop William Slattery, spokesman of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), told The Southern Cross.

The bishops discussed the incidence and continual presence of racism in our society.

This included a session in which they spoke openly about their personal experience of racism in society and the Church.

The bishops noted that a response to racism in South Africa, which is still evident more than 25 years since the fall of apartheid, must have three dimensions: acknowledgment, apology, and atonement.

Acknowledgment involves listening to the victims of racism and seriously hearing their pain. This cannot be brushed under the carpet; it is present and must be acknowledged.

Apologising means acknowledging the victim as a “real person”. Under apartheid, people had their dignity constantly eroded.

One manner of apology is to give them attention by listening to their experiences.

Atonement raises the question about compensation and land restitution—and, the bishops found, this problem must be resolved to the satisfaction of the victim and not the beneficiaries of apartheid and the colonialism that preceded it.

If the economy is not fixed, then the resulting problems will destroy all, the bishops warned.

Bishop João Rodrigues of Tzaneen set the scene for the discussions in a homily during the second day of the plenary. In it he emphasised that “racism is not only a problem but a sin”.

But, he counselled, it is also the aggressor who needs healing.

“Those who are racists are sick and are injured people who need healing, as much as those who were affected by racism. South Africa should be healed from the memories of the past, and this does not mean forgetting the past events—instead they should approach the events of the past experience with a new spirit,” Bishop Rodriguez said.

“Life should not be seen in terms of race distinction. We are all equal in dignity before God. There is no distinction of race,” he said.

Bishop Rodrigues said that in order to tackle the problem of racism there needs to be fraternal sharing and confrontation about the past experience.

The Church, he said, is the first agent to address the problem because it understands better the dignity of a human being, who is made in the image of God, and the meaning of the Kingdom of God. He took the example of the 1993 ethnic genocide in Rwanda. It began with one group undermining the dignity of another group. At root was the sickness of perceiving another person as not equal in dignity to the other.

Bishop Rodriguez said that South Africans should treasure the idea of the “Rainbow Nation”, which was proposed by Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Archbishop Slattery also took an optimistic view. “We’re now at a wonderful and hopeful time in society to face and acknowledge the reality of racism.”

He reiterated the view that churches are the ideal places for healing to take place.

“The churches are in every corner of our country; they offer a platform for people to share their stories, and they place us before a God who is forgiveness, mercy and love,” the archbishop of Pretoria said.

“In the gospel of Luke, the leper says to Jesus, ‘You can cure me if you want to’ (5:1216). That challenge of the leper is addressed to the churches today; we can cure South Africa if we want to, by the Power of God,” he said.

How we offer a key towards a better life

n the gospel of St Matthew, Jesus says: “I was in prison and you came to see me” (25:36) At The Southern Cross we have taken to heart the Lord’s message and deliver the nation’s Catholic newspaper weekly to all prison chaplains who request it for distribution among inmates.

That way we not only visit those in jail, but also help inspire them towards living a better life.

Many former prisoners can testify to how being visited by Catholics and

reading the Catholic newspaper has changed their lives.

One even reported back to us that he had decided to convert to Catholicism after being inspired to change his life by reading The Southern Cross.

This outreach programme, one of several conducted by The Southern Cross, is made possible by our Associates Campaign.

Other programmes include the free distribution of the newspaper to seminaries, hospitals and army bases.

The Associates Campaign is also a

way by which readers can help safeguard the future of The Southern Cross

by building up reserve and cover the newspaper in times of crisis.

And it is a way for Catholics to be part of the Church’s response to visit, as commanded by Christ, those who are locked up, and thereby offering them a key to turning their lives around.

To do so is easy: choose one of the categories of Associates you would like to join—Cardinal McCann Associate (R1 500 and above), St Maximilian Kolbe Associate (R500-1 499), St Francis de Sales Associate (R100-499), or Dorothy Day (any amount by debit order or once-

off payment).

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

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

Or visit www.scross.co.za/associ ates-campaign for details.

Two annual Masses are said for the intentions of our Associates and the repose of those who have passed on.

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The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

LOCAL

How the Bible gives us hope STAFF REPORTER

The two spiritual directors of this year’s Southern Cross pilgrimages to Fatima and Avila, Fr Brian Mhlanga OP and Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, seen in Mariannhill during the plenary session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Archbishop Brislin led the pilgrimage in May; Fr Mhlanga is going to take the group of the now fully booked pilgrimage, which this newspaper is running in association with Radio Veritas, in October.

The only way to still get on this very special pilgrimage is by winning two seats on it in Radio Veritas’ competition, which closes on August 31. Tickets cost R250 and the winning ticket will entitle two people to travel free of charge on the pilgrimage.

To enter, send an SMS to 41809 beginning with the word FATIMA followed by your name.

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HIS year, Bible Sunday will be celebrated on August 27. Through the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), the local Church is calling the faithful to look at the Bible “as the first source of our spirituality”.

It “recommends a greater biblical apostolate, not alongside other forms of pastoral work but as a means to inspire all pastoral work”.

“Go to the Word ‘for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’,” said Christian Brother Mike Chalmers of the Catholic Bible Foundation of South Africa, quoting 2 Timothy 3:16.

The SACBC prays for communities and the country to find trust and hope needed to embrace everyday life and face its challenges.

The theme for this year’s celebrations is “Hope for our communities”.

“Hope for our communities is a re-

HOPE

FOR OUR COMMUNITIES Bible Sunday 2017 27th AUGUST

le l i f ace r g a Have

Catholic Bible Foundation of SA www.catholicbible.org.za

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ality when we celebrate the Word of God by our lives,” Br Chalmers said.

“How do we do that? We embody the Word; we embody the risen Christ who dwells among us” he said.

“When we embrace his teachings together as a community and strive to live his ideals, moving beyond the selfinterested isolation of private lives and the superficial social contacts that pass for ‘Christian fellowship’, we live the life we are called to as Christians.”

This year, the faithful are called to be true witnesses of Christ in a practical way, he noted.

“We cannot fully experience the power and delight of life with God without being drawn into life together with our sisters and brothers in Christ,” Br Chalmers said.

“Without experiencing such life together, we will not discover how wonderful the Good News about Jesus really is. “When we embrace Christ’s teachings in the Word, we see Christ in others. As a community of faith when we share, we serve others,” he said.

“Without judging, we watch out for each other. “We share the Word and grow deeper in our knowledge and relationship with God; we borrow from each other; we forgo a ‘date night’ so that we can buy books for the less fortunate,” Br Chalmers said.

“We pay for a spiritual retreat for a member drained by the demands of a ‘hectic’ life; we repair a leaking roof for a member; we spend time with the elderly.

“We love one another, forgive each other and regard each other more highly than ourselves.

“We teach and correct each other, encourage each other, pray for each other, bear each other’s burdens, be friends with one another, we become kind, compassionate, and generous in hospitality,” he said.

“When we pray for others’ brokenness, they will know we are sharing in the healing work of Jesus. We serve one another and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

“When we surround each other with compassion and encouragement, the load lightens; we strengthen and give others courage to keep on trying.

“When we do this for each other, the community will know that God loves it too. Such actions reflect the glory of God and offer a compelling testimony that he is Lord,” Br Chalmers said.

He then posed a challenge: How are you going to celebrate this year’s Bible Sunday in your parish?

i on t a br e l e c Fr Welcome Maluleke was ordained by Bishop Jeremiah Masela for the diocese of Polokwane. Fr Molewe Machingoane, former rector of St John Vianney Seminary, described Fr Maluleke as “joyous, ever-smiling and trustworthy, with an ability to reach out beyond cultural divides”. Fr Maluleke is a self-taught IT specialist who can fix computers and anything digital and electronic. He is the chaplain of Motse Maria High School and the diocesan youth. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma)

The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

LOCAL Fr Thomas Weston SJ led the Winter Living Theology series entitled “Finding God in Addiction: A pastoral response to addiction and recovery”.’

Jesuit Institute turns 10: ‘Integral part of SA Church’ STAFF REPORTER

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Living Theology series offers addiction help

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HE Winter Living Theology 2017 on addiction was “the best in living memory”, a participant said on an evaluation form, noting that presenter Fr Thomas Weston SJ, who is himself a recovering alcoholic, “is one who speaks from the inside and knows the struggle”.

This year’s Winter Living Theology series was entitled “Finding God in Addiction: A pastoral response to addiction and recovery”. US-based Fr Weston presented workshops in Johannesburg, Manzini, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Durban.

He also led weekend retreats in Port Elizabeth and Durban. The Durban retreat, at St Dominic’s at The Bluff, was fully booked.

With much humour and many stories, Fr Weston told participants that addiction is an “allergy of the body and obsession of the mind”.

He said alcoholics, for example, don’t drink more than others but drink differently, and that symptoms of alcoholism include blackouts, dramatic personality changes and intolerance for the substance.

Fr Weston noted that, for addicts and their families, there are many losses, which include “loss of opportunities, loss of friends and loss of self-dignity”.

The priest’s message resonated with his audiences.

“South Africa has an ever-increasing substance abuse problem. Our community has been ripped apart by drugs, and Fr Weston taught me that I need to get help too—not just my son,” said a participant.

Another participant called Fr Weston’s talks “a breakthrough for

me”, but lamented: “So few priests were present at the workshop— why? Don’t they want to know how much our communities are suffering? Have they abandoned our families?”

Fr Weston said addicts themselves must want to change. He said if you are family or friends of an addict, it is imperative to look after yourself.

“It is very important that the loved ones of addicts get help and support. There are meetings for loved ones and friends, and in these meetings, you can be with people who understand your situation and they help you cope. You listen, and in that safe space allow yourself to feel and trust,” he said.

Fr Weston said that it is common for families who have an addict within them to follow three dangerous rules: don’t talk, don’t trust and don’t feel. “This is dangerous as it means loved ones don’t seek help, they bottle it all up. Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) help loved ones overcome this.

“AA’s Twelve-step Programme has helped millions of addicts and is one of the most successful ways of recovery. It’s not just a programme, it’s a way of life,” the priest said.

An addict at one of the workshops said that Fr Weston “showed much insight and wisdom; so much of what he said spoke about my experience and my continual struggle to keep clean from narcotics”. n Recordings of Fr Weston’s talks are available on CD or in MP3 format at R200 per set. Order from admin@jesuit institute.org.za or 011 482 4237.

Sr Alison Munro has the Bene Merenti papal medal pinned to her lapel by SACBC secretarygeneral Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS.

Papal medal for SA Aids leader

BY ERIN CARELSE

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OMINICAN Sister Alison Munro has been awarded the papal Bene Merenti medal in recognition of her service to the Church.

Sr Munro headed the Aids office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) for 17 years, until earlier this year.

In that time she oversaw the first antiretroviral programme in South Africa, at a time when the government was still resisting doing so.

She also spearheaded the creation of clinics and centres for home-based carers all over the country.

Sr Munro motivated funders overseas and supervised the spending. On her watch, more than R1 billion was spent with total transparency.

After the government, the Catholic Church is the biggest organisation in responding to the Aids crisis, catering for 27% of people who live with HIV/Aids in South Africa.

Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, who worked with Sr Munro, said she was a compassionate, efficient and most merciful person.

SACBC president Archbishop Stephen Brislin presented the Oakford Dominican with the medal at a Mass in St Joseph’s cathedral in Mariannhill.

OW an integral part of the local Catholic Church, the Jesuit Institute South Africa marked its tenth anniversary with a lecture by a leading US theologian.

Professor Patrick Hornbeck, chair of theology at Fordham University in New York, spoke on “Pope Francis, student of St Ignatius Loyola?”, referring to the founder of the Jesuits, of whom the pope is a member.

Prof Hornbeck said the key to understanding Pope Francis’ approach is rooted in the spirituality of Loyola.

The Jesuit Institute South Africa was founded in 2007 under the directorship of first Fr David Smolira SJ and, less than 18 months later, Raymond Perrier, now director of the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban.

It is currently headed by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ. The institute was established in response to a call by the then-general of the Jesuits, the late Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, Fr Pollitt said.

“The Jesuits had been present in South Africa since 1875. They had been assisting in various ministries, including work in parishes, chaplaincies to universities, giving retreats, and helping the bishops form clergy in local seminaries,” he said.

“However, there was no identifiable Jesuit work or institution in South Africa since the 1973 closure of St Aidan’s College in Grahamstown. Fr Kolvenbach wanted the order to have its own visible work, and after a process of reflection, the Jesuit Institute was established.”

When it was set up, the institute incorporated the existing Centre for Ignatian Spirituality.

Professor Patrick Hornbeck, chair of theology at Fordham University in New York, was the guest speaker at the Jesuit Institute South Africa’s tenth anniversary event.

Spirituality, theological education and adult faith formation were initially part of the work the new institute sought to develop. Increasingly, through weekly bulletins, the Jesuit Institute started to take on a socio-political commentary role.

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ublications have, therefore, all expanded over the years to incorporate an increasing array, from annual Lent books to workbooks, academic publications in journals, and chapters in books,” Fr Pollitt said.

The institute has also developed a profile in local and international media, offering commentary and analysis on both Church and state.

Its spirituality work now offers several training programmes, from basic prayer and spiritual formation to more intensive ones like the

Gaborone’s Bishop Seane resigns

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OPE Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Gaborone, Botswana, of Bishop Valentine Tsamma Seane.

He has appointed Bishop Frank Nubuasah, apostolic vicar of Francistown in Botswana, as apostolic administrator of Gaborone until a new bishop assumes his duties.

Bishop Seane, 50, was appointed to head Gaborone diocese in February 2009 to succeed Bishop Boniface Setlalekgosi.

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training of spiritual directors, Fr Pollitt said. It is also developing resources specifically for the African context in local languages.

“Like all institutes of this nature, the Jesuit Institute is shaped by the needs around it,” Fr Pollitt said. “We are often asked to assist on projects, offer training, and assist in all sorts of different capacities.”

The institute also facilitates the annual Winter Living Theology programme for Southern Africa in partnership with the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

It has done work with other partners too, like the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action, the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, and the Catholic Schools Office.

International partners include the New York-based Jesuit weekly America, the Nairobi-based Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa, and Vatican Radio.

“The institute has a growing relationship with Fordham University,” Fr Pollitt said. The roots of Fordham are in the Jesuit order.

“Every year, with the University of Pretoria, the Jesuit Institute helps direct Fordham’s Ubuntu Programme for undergrads who come from New York to South Africa for six months,” Fr Pollitt said.

The institute hopes to engage in its social justice work through, among other things, developing a national food basket survey based on the successful Zambian project.

“Food basket monitors the real cost of basic foodstuffs among the poorest of the poor. This can be used for further study and advocacy,” Fr Pollitt said.

The institute is working on what Fr Pollitt hopes will be “a new and exciting online publication offering news, commentary, and analysis on issues of Church and state”.

This will initially be launched in South Africa but with a view to expanding beyond its borders, he said.

At the tenth anniversary celebrations, the Jesuit Institute recognised and gave awards to volunteers it works with in the area of spirituality.

Pilgrimage to The Holy Land

Led by Fr. Bogdan Wilkaniec Bethlehem, Cana, nazareth, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Salem, Gethsemane, Qumran, Jericho 14 – 23 April 2018 R24 995.00 incl. Airport taxes

Pilgrimage to Europe Led by Fr Henry Gonsan

Lisbon, Fatima, Salamanca, Garabandal Burgos, Lourdes, Rome 10 – 22 June 2018 R36 995.00 incl. Airport taxes

Pilgrimage to Knock, Ireland

Knock Shrine Museum, Knock Feast of Assumption, Masses, Confessions, Chapel of Reconciliation, Private devotion, Concelebrated Mass, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary Procession to the Shrine 13 – 23 August 2018 R 33 995.00 incl. Airport taxes Tel: 012 342 0179/Fax: 086 676 9715 info@micasatours.co.za

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The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22 2017

INTERNATIONAL

Birthplace of apostles Peter and Andrew found?

BY JUdITH SUdILOVSkY

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FTER decades of searching, Israeli archaeologists working on the shores of the Sea of Galilee believe they have uncovered the lost Roman city of Julias, birthplace of the apostles Peter, Andrew.

Mordechai Aviam, head of Galilean archaeology at Kinneret Academic College, said that the remains uncovered at Beit Habek, in the Bethsaida Valley Nature Reserve, have led them to believe that this was a significant Roman city and not just a simple fishing village.

The ruins included artifacts characterising a bathhouse and a building wall next to a mosaic floor.

“The discovery of dozens of golden glass mosaics...attests to the fact that the Church was an important and magnificent place,” he said.

“This is a discovery that will arouse great interest among early Christian scholars, historians of the New Testament, and scholars of the Land of Israel in general

Palestinians gather on al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem at the compound known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, after Israel removed all security measures it had installed. (Photo: Muammar Awad, Reuters/CNS)

Archaeologists believe they may have uncovered the city of Julias, birthplace of apostles Peter and Andrew, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. and the Jewish Galilee during the Second Temple period, in particular.”

The lost city of Julias was named after the daughter of Roman Emperor Augustus. According to the Roman-period Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Julias was a great city built by the

son of Herod the Great on or near the fishing village of Bethsaida.

Previous excavations have yielded a complex of buildings from the Byzantine period, and Mr Aviam vowed to continue excavation on the site until the city of Julias can be positively identified.—CNS

‘Thirsty priests’ have own beer now

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OW does a pub make up for mistakenly trying to kick out a group of celebrating seminarians? By naming a beer after them and calling it the “Thirsty Priests”.

Tim Lewis is the PR manager for Brains, the company which owns the City Arms Pub in Cardiff, Wales.

He said that renaming one of the seminarians’ favourite beers was a small thank you for the group’s good humour in being mistaken as a bachelor party in fancy dress and nearly kicked out of the City Arms.

“We wanted to do something as a ‘thank you’ to the priests for taking the misunderstanding in such

West Bank priest urges non-violence

good spirits,” said Mr Lewis, according to Wales Online.

Described as a “rich, warming ale with a clean, rewarding finish,” The Rev James beer was renamed the “Thirsty Priests”, with the added slogan “saving souls and satisfying thirsts”.

While celebrating the ordination of Fr Peter McClaren, a group of seminarians dressed in their cassocks entered the City Arms, only to be turned away by staff members who mistook them for a bachelor party.

“The staff thought they were a stag. We do have quite a few issues on the weekends with parties wearing fancy dress so it is our policy to turn them away,” assistant manager Matt Morgan said.

But as the seminarians were about to leave the bar, the manager overheard them praying, and, realising the establishment’s mis-

take, invited the men back in for a round of beers on the house.

The seminarians took the error in good humour, and were warmly received by staff and customers for the rest of their time at the pub.

The whole affair was amusing, noted the seminarians, and the men were encouraged by the positive interaction with the community—which also enabled the locals to engage the seminarians in questions about the Church.

Archbishop George Stack of Cardiff, who is also a fan of the City Arms Pub, said he was happy to hear about the seminarians' interaction with the community, noting that “priests are of the community, and for the community they serve”.

Adding to the amusement of the evening, one member of the group, Rev Robert James—who was ordained a deacon last June—was partial to the beer resembling his own name, The Rev James, which has now been rebranded in honour of himself and his friends.

The archdiocese of Cardiff applauded the pub for its good humour over the viral news, jokingly adding that “a number of our clergy, including the archbishop of Cardiff, frequent your bar, so don’t turf any more out, please!”—CNA

ST ANTHONYS CHILD and YOUTH CARE CENTRE Keeping Children safe within families

admin@stanthonyshome.org www.stanthonyshome.org

BY JUdITH SUdILOVSkY

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ITH tensions high in the Old City of Jerusalem following weeks of conflict, Fr Firas Aridah completed his work at the Latin patriarchate early so he could leave Jerusalem for his West Bank parish before any possible violence began.

“There were many Israeli police and soldiers, closing many roads,” Fr Aridah said back in Jifna’s St Joseph parish.

Friday afternoon prayer in Muslim tradition is considered especially significant and is required of all Muslim men. Often during volatile periods, prayers at the contested Al-Aqsa Mosque compound have been followed by demonstrations. Sometimes the tensions spread to other sections of Jerusalem, or even to the West Bank.

For Fr Aridah and other parish priests in the West Bank, the challenge is to emphasise the Christian tradition of non-violence while supporting their young parishioners’ desire to oppose the Israeli occupation.

Fr Aridah said he counsels young people not even to throw stones at the young Israeli soldiers who sometimes come near their village on pa-

trols or in search of men wanted by the army.

“The problem is with the Israeli government, not with the soldiers,” he said.

“Violence is not acceptable from either side. With this conflict, Israel is losing its image as a democratic state. I tell the young men that we are not with this violence. If we do not accept for Israel to behave this way, then how can we accept it from our side? Wherever God is represented in our life, we should have no violence.”

If word that someone might be considering taking part in a violent demonstration reaches him, the priest makes a beeline to that home for a conversation. The way to best serve their society, he advises them, is to get an education, to bring a new vision to Palestinian life.

“I don’t want to see blood in my parish,” Fr Aridah said. “If we want to see real results, I tell the young people to be educated. I tell them to serve your people well, do well in university, then go get a job in society and tell the world about our situation, but do nothing with violence. If we want to resist, we resist with education.”—CNS

Pope to order’s hospitals: No more euthanasia

BY SIMON CALdWELL

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OPE Francis has given a Belgian religious order until the end of August to stop offering euthanasia to psychiatric patients.

Br Rene Stockman, superior general of the order, said the pope gave his personal approval to a Vatican demand that the Brothers of Charity, which runs 15 centres for psychiatric patients across Belgium, must reverse its policy by the end of August.

Brothers who serve on the board of the Brothers of Charity Group, the organisation that runs the centres, also must each sign a joint letter to their superiorgeneral declaring that they “fully support the vision of the magisterium of the Catholic Church, which has always confirmed that human life must be respected and protected in absolute terms, from the moment of conception till its natural end”.

Brothers who refuse to sign will face sanctions under canon law, while the group can expect to face legal action and even expulsion from the Church if it fails to change its policy.

The group, he added, must no longer consider euthanasia as a solution to human suffering under any circumstances.

The order follows repeated requests for the CASA SERENA group to drop its new policy of permitting The retirement home doctors to perform the euthanasia of “nonwith the Italian flair. terminal” mentally ill patients on its premises.

7A Marais Road, It also follows a joint investigation by the Bedfordview, Jhb. Vatican’s congregations for the Doctrine of Provides full board the Faith and for Institutes of Consecrated and lodging, medical Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Br Stockman, who had opposed the services and transport. group’s euthanasia policy, said that if the Senior citizens wishing group refused to bow to the ultimatum “then to retire in this beautiful we will take juridical steps in order to force them to amend the text [of the new policy] Home, please phone and, if that is not possible, then we have to 011 284 2917 start the procedure to exclude the hospitals www.casaserena.co.za from the Brothers of Charity family and take away their Catholic identity”.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

Excommunication a tool to combat corruption, crime?

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VATICAN consultation group will consider initiatives to bolster the fight against corruption and organised crime, including by looking at possibilities for excommunicating members of the Mafia and other criminal organisations.

The Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development published an outcome document highlighting anti-corruption proposals that came out of the Vatican’s first “International Debate on Corruption”.

Among the proposals made by the consultation group is the “development of a global response—

through bishops’ conferences and local Churches—to the excommunication of the Mafia and other similar criminal organisations and to the prospect of excommunication for corruption”.

Popes and local bishops, especially in Italy, have long warned members of the Mafia that by committing such grave sins, they, in effect, have excommunicated themselves from the Church.

In a June 2014 visit to Sibari, in Italy’s Calabria region, Pope Francis said that “those who follow the path of evil, like the mafiosi do, are not in communion with God; they are ex-

communicated”.

The meeting on corruption looked at corruption as a global problem and at its connections to organised crime and the Mafia.

Fighting corruption “will not be a simple road to follow”, the outcome document stated. Coming up with appropriate concrete action will require listening to the Church and entering into inter-faith dialogue.

“The group will not just come up with virtuous exhortations, because concrete gestures are needed. A commitment to education requires credible teachers, even in the Church.”—CNS

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People gather inside St Mary’s cathedral in Yangon, Myanmar. Pope Francis is expected to focus on trying to improve the troubles of about a million ethnic Muslim Rohingya when he visits Myanmar in the last week of November. (Photo: EPA/CNS)

Pope saddened after Milan’s Cardinal Tettamanzi dies at 83 church shootings

BY CINdY WOOdEN

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ARDINAL Dionigi Tettamanzi, whom Pope Francis described as one of the archdiocese of Milan’s “most illustrious sons and one of its most loving and beloved pastors”, died on August 5 at 83.

Born on March 14, 1934, in Renato, Italy, near Milan, he began his studies for the priesthood at a minor seminary at the age of 11.

He earned a degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood in 1957.

Returning to Milan, he taught moral theology in the archdiocesan seminary and served as an adviser to the Milan chapter of the Association of Catholic Physicians.

In 1987, he was named rector of the Milan archdiocese’s seminary in Rome. Two years later, Pope

John Paul II named him archbishop of Ancona. He led the archdiocese until being nominated general secretary of the bishops’ conference in 1991. After four years in that post, the pope named him archbishop of Genoa and, in 2002, appointed him archbishop of Milan.

Cardinal Tettamanzi was long considered one of the most authoritative voices in the Italian Catholic Church, and his appointment to the College of Cardinals in 1998 immediately put him near the top of Italian pundits’ list of possible future popes.

He retired as archbishop of Milan in 2011.

The cardinal was a prolific writer on themes related to family life and to bioethical issues and was described by Italian media as being “small in stature, but big in heart”.—CNS

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

P

Cardinal dionigi Tettamanzi died on August 5. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Malawi’s Catholic media praised

M

AWALI’S information, communications and technology ministry has praised the country’s Catholic media for their evangelisation efforts.

Information minister Nicholas Dausi, a Catholic, extended this support to the Church after touring the offices of Tuntufye FM, the diocese of Karonga’s radio station.

Later in the day, he addressed Catholic media outlets in Karonga, challenging them to not be brought down by negativity in their coverage.

“Using Church media is crucial for the evangelisation drive,” he said.

At a Mass, Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of Karonga issued a challenge to those gathered.

“We thank God for the gift of all communication tools. However, we are challenging ourselves to use them effectively. We can do much better than we are doing with our television stations, radio stations and newspapers,” he said.

According to the Nigerian newspaper The Vanguard, witnesses say a gunman entered during an early morning Sunday Mass and opened fire during the prayer of the faithful.

At least 11 people were killed and as many as 18 others wounded as they attempted to flee the carnage. While no suspects have been caught, authorities believe the target was a young businessman involved in a drug deal gone wrong.

The pope extended “heartfelt condolences” to the faithful of the diocese, especially “the families of the deceased and all those affected by this tragedy”.—CNS

At the same celebration, Bishop George Tambala of Zomba, the Malawian bishops’ social communications chair, reflected on Pope Francis’ message for World Communications Day. “Pope Francis challenges us all to break the vicious circle of anxiety and stem the spiral of fear that results from a constant focus on bad news such as war, terrorism, scandals and all sorts of human failure,” the bishop observed.

He noted that Francis’ message challenges that “all media practitioners should search for an open and creative style of communication that never seeks to glorify evil but instead to concentrate on solutions and inspire a positive and responsible approach on the part of its recipient”.

Malawi’s Catholic media outlets include the bishops’ social communications commission; Radio Maria Malawi; Radio Alinafe; Tigabane Radio; Tuntufye FM; Luntha Television; Montfort media; and Likuni Press.—CNA

OPE Francis sent his condolences to the victims and survivors of a deadly shooting that occurred during Mass at a parish in Nigeria and an attack at a mission in Gambo, Central African Republic.

Pope Francis, in a message to Bishop Hilary Odili Okeke of Nnewi, said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury following the violent attack” in St Philip’s Church in Ozubulu, a town located in the Nigerian southern state of Anambra.

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The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

LEADER PAGE 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.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Clouds over the rainbow

I

N South Africa, racism is much like a rotten tooth: it needs treatment but many people are afraid of the dentist and leave the tooth to rot further.

So it is important that the Catholic bishops of South Africa devoted two days in their midyear plenary session to the subject of racism.

By all accounts, it was not an easy discussion. Close to 30 men from different backgrounds and experiences came together, all carrying the baggage of the past and facing the realities of the present from various perspectives.

Even as all were united in their condemnation of racism as an affront to God—in whose image we all are made—and in a consensus that racism is a corrosive evil, there could by force be no common understanding of race and racism, because everybody’s experience of it and response to it is different.

Apparently the bishops’ discussion was very honest and emotional. In the course of a candid discourse, old hurts tend to be revisited and festering resentments may be confronted. For the bishops, all this contributed to a greater common understanding.

This is what South Africa needs: a courageous dialogue in which issues of race can be addressed with brutal honesty, with the listeners hearing instead of becoming defensive.

There is a perception among many black South Africans—and here we refer to all groups that were discriminated against under apartheid—that their white compatriots have collectively failed to apologise for apartheid. There is merit to that perception.

For most whites, it seems to have sufficed to acquiesce in the transfer of power in 1994, and then let the past stay in the past.

The euphoria of the Rainbow Nation and Mandela in a Springbok jersey seemingly persuaded many that no further remedy was necessary.

Clearly, they were wrong. It was not enough to simply agree to what always was a legitimate demand—a democratic dispensation and correction of the socially-engineered imbalances— without a sense of atonement, nor even an acknowledgment that whites are in positions of intergenerational privilege and the black masses impoverished because of apartheid and the colonial regimes that preceded it.

Forgiveness was expected without it having been requested, but bygones couldn’t simply be bygones. South Africa never extracted the rotten teeth of its past.

A

nd racism remains with us today: in open attitudes of white supremacism and “them” vs “us” attitudes, and in little ways, almost imperceptible and often unconsciously perpetrated, such as when the black restaurant patron has to wait for service just a little longer than their white counterparts.

The bishops correctly identify three processes by which white South Africans need to respond to the legacy of the past, one from which these compatriots still benefit even if they were born after apartheid.

The first step is acknowledgment: listening to the victims of racism and not denying its existence. Along with that, there must be a consciousness that everybody is at times disposed towards some form of latent preju-

dice. When we are accused of racism or other forms of bigotry, as individuals or collectively, our first response must be introspection and, if necessary, remedy— not defensive denial.

And when racism occurs, it and the apologism that always accompanies it must be unambiguously condemned, whether it occurs in public or around the braai, whether physical or verbal.

The second step is apology. A blanket apology by a representative of all whites is obviously impossible—there is no such person or body. It is also not necessary for white South Africans to wear the proverbial sackcloth by way of stating their regret at apartheid.

The apology must take the form of giving respect to the sadness and anger of those who suffered under apartheid and the intergenerational effects of it.

The bishops suggest giving those who suffer racism—and that is every black South African—attention by listening to their experiences. That is a good start.

The third step, atonement, is the most complicated one. It concerns land restitution and other forms of correction and compensation. The bishops are correct that these processes must be resolved to the satisfaction of the victims—but it is not clear who are the legitimate representatives of the victims.

I

T is fair to say that the African National Congress has bungled the question of land restitution since it assumed power 23 years ago. Now, instead of addressing the issue seriously, it is deployed as a tool of populism and demagoguery, even as a diversion from the kleptocracy of the Zuma government, with dangerously racist undertones by those who apply it.

The rhetoric and actions of the Black Land First movement, the Gupta-driven diversion tank, are designed to ramp up anti-white sentiments. That form of racist conduct is reprehensible.

Indeed, while it is right to be concerned about white racism, the emergence of militant antiwhite reaction and language that intends to feed that prejudice must alarm all South Africans.

At the same time, whites are not innocent victims in this. The accumulation of racist actions by many—often even unconsciously—and a widespread reluctance to contend with the past have created the conditions which bigots now manipulate for political advantage.

The reciprocal hopefulness of 1994 has vanished, and the nation is now at a tipping point.

There are dark clouds where once we saw a rainbow.

White South Africans must change, and black South Africans must not let their legitimate grievances turn into blanket prejudice.

Racism is a sin, as the bishops point out. Those who preach the evil message of racial supremacy and racial conflict are acting in defiance of God. With this in mind, and in service to God and our nation, South Africans must hear one another.

Bishop João Rodriguez in his homily to the bishops this month proposes a “fraternal confrontation” by which South Africans of all backgrounds gather and tell their story of racism, in a forum of total honesty and respect.

And the churches are a good place to start that process.

Speed-points for Mass collection?

R

ECENTLY we parishioners were having a chat after Mass and discussed how difficult it is to put money in the collection box, basket or plate these days when increasingly people don’t carry cash.

Turn alcohol abuse around

A

LCOHOL abuse is one of the causes of violence against women and children. Even people who are normally gentle can become violent after too much alcohol.

Alcohol abuse has other risks too: • legal risks as drunk driving or violent behaviour can bring criminal charges; • health risks such as liver damage; • safety risks as drunk drivers or pedestrians can cause accidents; • work risks as a person who goes to work drunk or misses work due to being drunk risks losing his/her job; • money risks as a person who spends too much on alcohol may not have enough money to buy food or other essentials for his/her family.

Therefore it would be valuable for churches and other groups to help prevent and cure alcoholism by: • informing people about Alcoholics Anonymous and offering church halls for their meetings; • giving counselling and support to alcoholics and their families; • encouraging alcoholics to go to Alcoholics Anonymous, psychologists, psychiatrists and into rehab; • giving out leaflets with contact details of groups that can help, and setting up websites with this too; • having socials for youths and adults where people have fun without alcohol; • starting programmes to help the homeless alcoholics, as many have a very poor diet so a healthy meal would be a good start.

Such efforts would help to improve the lives of alcohol abusers and their families.

JM Thomson, Johannesburg

Church warns on homosexuality

V

INCENT Couling (July 26) would like the Church to apologise for offending gays. Less reticent homosexuals would rather blame the Bible for offending gay people.

But a warning is not an offence.

And that is what the Church has done for centuries: warn against the fallout of unnatural behaviour.

The Church bases its warnings on natural law. Ignoring those warnings means mischief, like ignoring the law of gravity.

Homo- and heterosexuals would

We have debit cards, credit cards and we are able to operate effectively without cash. All petrol stations, restaurants and shops accept these debit cards and credit cards.

Can’t the Church introduce Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

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

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

do well to acquaint themselves with Robert R Reilly’s book Making Gay Okay. The author discloses the workings of natural law without making a case from religion or revelation.

Dr Couling errs when he writes that the Church imposes mandatory celibacy upon gays. Mandatory celibacy is for priests only. What the Church strongly advises to homosexuals is chastity. And that is what the Church advises to everybody, especially married people.

JH Goossens, Pretoria

Time for apology over: action now

T

HE letter from Dr Vincent Couling and the editorial alongside it talk to each other.

I refer to the editorial on what seems to me a veiled criticism of Pope Francis by Pope Benedict for acknowledging changing conditions, and the case put by Dr Couling for an enlightened acceptance of gay people, and of the fact that they are as their Creator made them.

No doubt there were conservatives opposed to Galileo’s theory that the earth revolves around the sun, not vice versa, and no doubt enlightened Catholics who were appalled by the Spanish Inquisition.

Today the views of Fr Teilhard de Chardin SJ on the evolution of man, and the views of others whose works were once forbidden by the Church, are now widely accepted.

Action rather than just an apology is called for regarding gay men and women. The Church is fast losing credibility and congregants with its cruel, unyielding stance on homosexuality. Pope Francis needs us to “come out” and support him at grassroots level.

The untold suffering the Church’s treatment has caused our gay brothers and sisters, and continues to do, is appalling.

Attitudes to such ignorance and bigotry are changing fast. The Vati-

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speed-points at Mass so those who do not carry cash can swipe their cards at collection time, or use smartphone barcode-scanning services?

The option to use cash can remain.

Have other parishes tried that? If so, is the idea feasible and what has been their experience with it?

Tiro Amos Dinake, Rustenburg can agreed only in 1942 that it had been wrong about Galileo, 359 years after his death. I hope they don’t take as long to admit they are wrong about gay people.

Apart from books mentioned by Dr Couling, I recommend books by the late Jesuit Father John J McNeil, a psychotherapist expelled from the Jesuits in 1987 for refusing to cease his ministry to gay men and lesbians.

His books are available on Amazon.

Fr De Chardin once said: “The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.”

June Boyer, Johannesburg

Hellenism and Jesus’ death

C

HRIS Shelmerdine’s observation (July 19) that “surely a creature has no power to kill his infinitely powerful creator”, leads to only one conclusion—it cannot happen.

Death is not the final indictment, for the atoms in living and non-living matter are indestructible. Upon death, the trillions of atoms that constitute a person do not perish.

Where Mr Shelmerdine says, concerning the death of Jesus, “because he and his Father had decided from eternity that he [Jesus] should die”, is solely an imaginative view of the circumstances of Jesus’ death.

It is evident that certain elders of the Sanhedrin had issues with Jesus, and the evidence of Jesus’ trial and subsequent death is quite clearly spelt out by all four Gospel writers.

But why had Jesus become persona non grata? For a clue one needs to look at the history of the time.

The death of Alexander the Great heralded the Hellenistic period (32331BC). Greek influence was anathema to the Jewish religious hierarchy (mostly Pharisees) and Jesus’ followers included many women, foreign to Jewish religious ways.

But not the Epicurians, a school which followed the Greek philosopher Epicurus, and which included men and women, equally. The Epicurians also believed in the indestructible atom, proposed by two earlier Greek philosophers.

At the time of Jesus, Hellenistic Judaism did exist, combining Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture. The two main centres of Hellenistic Judaism were Alexandria and Antioch, and to a lesser degree Jerusalem.

Patrick Dacey, Johannesburg

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PERSPECTIVES

How my father’s death led to a book Mphuthumi T Ntabeni HE beginnings of this century found me in the clasp of the spirit of Mephistopheles. It felt, in Bob Dylan poetic song language, like “a time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need”.

I don’t know why in my mind the Dylan song “Every Grain of Sand”, with its explicitly Christian lyrics, particularly is associated with the events of that epoch in my life, but it fits well with what the philosopher Immanuel Kant said about music being the “quickening art” of the soul.

Looking back now, at a remove of a decade and a half, I can see that my spirit was finding its way into the depths of things. Like Dylan in his song, I can even see the “master’s hand” in the events of my life then and in what was happening within me—including how they also led to my conversion to Catholicism.

In retrospect, I now understand that the “dying voice within me”, the void that brought St Augustine’s restlessness, is what the Catholic spiritual tradition terms “the dark-night of the soul”.

My father’s life didn’t trigger that condition but it sure put a cherry on its top, so to say. His death, after almost a lifetime of absence, seems to close the yawning chasm between us. I feel him closer in death than when he was alive. Didn’t Christ also tell his apostles that he would be closer to them when he returns to his Father?

The Yoruba culture of Nigeria, though matriarchal, believes a child inherits its mother’s biological body but gets its spirit from the father.

I inherited my father’s melancholic disposition and stoic tendencies, even took them to the edge of depression. I didn’t know him enough to judge if he was a depressive, but if the solitary life he led after he was divorced from our family is anything to go by, then yes, he too had a tendency of, to return to Dylan, “toiling in the danger and the morals of despair”. He was a natural solitary.

I was in the grips of a depression that morning as I stood next to Fort Frederick, at Prospect Hill in Port Elizabeth, when my sister called to inform me our father had died in the early hours.

The contrast between the sheer magnificence of overlooking the shimmering silence of Algoa Bay’s Baakens river mouth and my internal emotions at that

moment is something that will take a lifetime to mine from my spirit. I am often troubled by nature’s indifference to our concerns.

Characteristically, my mind avoided collision with the reality of the news by concentrating on the expanse of the ocean down below, the self-surrendering ease by which Baakens waters silently collapse into the arms of the shimmering bay; the industry of the harbour... I kept imagining how it must have been for the first Xhosas as they watched what they thought to be “floating houses” at sea land, since this is the scene which British settlers arrived on.

The seed of an “inclination to look back on history” was planted that day.

T

his month I am harvesting that seed with the publication of my book. Titled The Broken River Tent, it’s the first in a trilogy I call “The River People”.

The Xhosas like to refer to themselves as “the river people”. They associated river mouths in particular with clairvoy-

The cover of Mphutumi Ntabeni’s debut novel The Broken River Tent, the first in a trilogy, which is published this month.

The Public Square

ance, a door to what they called “shadowland”, where ancestors live.

The title of my book alludes to TS Elliot’s poem “The Fire Sermon”.

Sitting at the banks of River Thames— perhaps with emotions similar to mine at the Baakens’ river mouth, since, as the preacher says, there’s nothing new in the world—the poet laments the departure of nymphs, the breaking of the clairvoyant grip of mythical powers in the nature of things.

The Broken River Tent, which is published by Black Bird Books (a subsidiary of Jacana Media) is a novel of inner dialogues and stream of consciousness, of trying to tarry one’s life, paretic eccentricities, through the eye of history.

And it is a retelling, with the purchase of imagination, of the epic struggle for land between the Xhosas and the British in the 19th century that took more than a hundred years to resolve—if indeed it is resolved.

It is told through the eyes of a contemporary young man, Phila, who enters into the analeptic memory of his people.

Fresh from his studies in German he hears “the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea”. Sometimes when he turns there’s Maqoma, the chief at the centre of Xhosa resistance, whose mind he mines.

Other times it’s only him who must engage the chronicle of historical interrogation, of Xhosa culture encountering Christendom.

It all ends as the kaleidoscopic view of South African lives, both past and present.

Phila, like Cain in Dylan’s song, and not so different to the biblical one, must follow “this chain of events...to ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay”.

As I wrote the book, I sometimes shared the realisation of the ancient Roman poet Livy: “While I write down these ancient events, I do not know through what connection my mind grows old and some religion holds me.”

The endless battle of the sexes W HEN I was growing up I had a healthy dose of Cartoon Network on a daily basis. One of my favourites was The Powerpuff Girls, about three winged girls with superpowers to fight crime in Townsville.

In one episode, a villain named Femme Fatale menaces the people of Townsville by robbing its banks. The Powerpuff Girls are notified at once and upon stopping her they are puzzled that the stolen stash comprises only coins.

It turns out that the coins pictured the 19th-century suffragette Susan B Anthony (these were coined between 197981, and were discontinued because of public opposition!).

Femme Fatale then reveals that she refused to steal bank notes as the paper dollars featured only pictures of men. Feeling empowered by this show of girl-power, they let Femme Fatale go and live out their own version of feminism.

But researching Anthony they discover that this feminist pioneer did not wish to be treated differently because she was a woman but demanded equality with men. The girls arrest Femme Fatale and Townsville is safe once again.

And they say cartoons weren’t educational!

There are some women who see men as the source and root of all evil, as there are men who see women as nothing more than temptresses, seductresses, models for lads’ magazines and child bearers.

The argument is often that if Eve hadn’t eaten the fruit then she wouldn’t have tempted her Adam and we wouldn’t be in this mess right now. Men and women always seem to blame each other.

In fact, there always seems to be some kind of tugging, pulling and fighting between the sexes. Even in primary school the girls are irritated by the boys who pull at their ponytails. Nothing changes.

Nthabiseng Maphisa

Pop Culture Catholic

Cartoon characters Powerpuff Girls gave Nthabiseng Maphisa a helpful lesson in the history of feminism.

There are scores of women complaining about boyfriends, husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles and granddads. It is perhaps from here that the disappointment arises and turns to resentment and later bitterness which festers in the heart.

And the men? They are unaware of the revolt rising against them and that before the sun dawns, they’ve become the enemy of the world.

The war of the two powers is played out especially in the area of sexuality.

Much of the lyrics of today’s pop songs are littered with words of domination.

Sex is a game of who can overpower whom. It’s also a competition of trying to “perform” better than the other person’s last sexual partner.

The plot thickens as women fight for reproductive rights, specifically in respect to contraception and abortion—areas that are the most widely criticised of all of the Church’s teachings.

On this topic men wave the flag of “equality”. But they aren’t the ones dealing with the side-effects of the Pill and

other contraceptives; never mind the trauma of abortion. Being on the Pill means that women are easily available to men all of the time, even when they don’t feel like it. No wonder men are for it!

The best type of feminism is the one that calls men to love. It calls them to welcome their sexuality as a gift.

The world needs men who are loving, tender, chaste, kind and honest.

As St Josémaria Escriva said: “There is a need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and nullify the savage work of those who think man is a beast.

And that crusade is your work.”

Thank you to the men that have already seen this.

Thank you for holding doors open and pulling out our chairs. I thank you not because we are physically incapable of doing so but because you acknowledge that every woman is entitled to respect.

You love us in the way Jesus honoured women, even those deep in sexual sin (such as the adulteress who was almost stoned to death) and women who had not sinned (such as Mary).

In September, the US speaker Christopher West, who focusses on life, love and sexuality, will be in South Africa. He will address issues of sexism, the effects of which he is all too familiar in his home country. I’m looking forward to hearing his views on the subject. n For more information on the conference visit www.tobsa.co.za or call 078 5840886.

The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

7

Michael Shackleton

Open door

Who’s Melchizedek?

I attended the ordination of a priest and heard Genesis 14:18-20 quoted wherein Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, blessed Abram. He brought bread and wine, presumably to offer as a sacrifice. Who was this Old Testament man and how can he be associated with Christ and the priesthood today? Ricardo

M

ELCHIZEDEK was the priest and king of Salem (Jerusalem) in the land of Canaan, the first priest named in the Bible. He is a strangely odd character because his appearance in Genesis 14 interrupts the flow of the story of Abram and the king of Sodom.

In the narrative, Melchizedek brings bread and wine to Abram, blesses him and receives tithes from him. Then he abruptly and completely vanishes from the text and the story carries on without him.

Early Christian writers, such as St Cyprian in the 3rd century, understood this mysterious moment as a scriptural foreshadowing of Christ, who is also priest and king, who would sacrifice his life and give us the Eucharistic memorial of that event in the consecration of bread and wine.

This has its roots in the epistle to the Hebrews.

Here the writer tells how the Levitical priests among the Jews were many in number. They offered daily blood sacrifices for their sins and the sins of the people, and they died. Christ is immortal, however, holding a permanent priesthood, not needing to offer such sacrifices. He was without sin and shed his own blood in one sacrifice for sin, once and for all.

The author of Hebrews was addressing Jewish converts struggling to grasp how the established hereditary Levitical priesthood could be superseded by Christ’s unique and everlasting priesthood. He indicates that Christ’s priesthood, like Melchizedek’s, is not subject to the Law of Moses.

It would help you to read the epistle and follow the author’s reasoning where he shows that the mysterious Melchizedek had no ancestry, therefore his priesthood was not hereditary as in the case of the Levitical priests. Christ’s priesthood, too, has no ancestral link because he is divinely appointed to his role.

Also, when Melchizedek blessed Abram and received tithes from him, he demonstrated that his priestly role was greater than the role of the priesthood of Abram’s descendents.

The bread and wine are also important symbols in this explanation, which the Church accepts.

Melchizedek prefigured Christ the high priest who is the only intermediary between God and man.

Ancient rabbinical tradition identifies Melchizedek as Shem, the son of Noah. As a priest of the Most High God he blessed Abram and received tithes from him. In so doing, he passed on his priesthood to Abram and his descendants through the Levites.

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

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8

The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

COMMUNITY

St Ninian’s parish in kuils River, Cape Town, celebrated the installation of its new men’s group, Men Of St Ninian. The group focuses on upholding the Catholic faith in their families, parish and outside communities through the example of St Joseph. deacon Johan Baartzes is shown with the men’s group members.

The Salesians’ don Bosco Centre in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, hosted 49 boys from St Matthew’s Secondary School in Soweto for the LoveMatters programme.

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Assumption Convent School in Germiston, Johannesburg, announced its prefects for 2017/18. The headgirl is Gabriella dunn, the deputy headgirl katie-Meg Weinerlein, and head of religion kyanda Tshipamba. (Back row from left) Tyla de Freitas, Annalisa Taffara, Carnia Adams, kimberley klette and principal Neville Workman. (Third row from left) Natasha kasambira, Jessica kitching, kiana van der Schyff and Gabriella Horn.

(Second row from left) kyanda Tshipamba, Nontuthuko Nyembezi, Tamryn Peel and Mikaela Simoes. (Front from left) katie-Meg Weinerlein, Gabriella dunn and Emilie Godwin.

Members of the daughters of St Anne Sodality in the diocese of klerksdorp are seen after their investiture with their spiritual director Fr Tom Maretlane.

The women of Our Lady of Fatima parish in durban North took 40 jackets for mothers of newborn infants to king dinizulu Hospital. Marj Oliver is shown with one of the young mums.

deacon Anthony Venter of St Michael’s parish in Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape, baptised 14 infants. deacon Venter is shown with one of the infants and family.

The confirmation group of St Joseph’s parish in Goodwood, Cape Town, went on a spiritual retreat at CBC Stellenbosch under the leadership of Clint van Nelson and Shehaan Hendricks.

About 30-40 children aged three to nine gather each week at St dominic’s parish in Boksburg, Gauteng, for a children’s liturgy. The older children go into Mass after the homily.

The Gospel is read and explained in children’s language, and the older children are taught about the Mass with dVds and YouTube videos.

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Parishioners of St Clare’s parish in Elsies River, Cape Town, took to the street after Sunday Mass to demonstrate against human trafficking.

The annual knitted teddy bear campaign at Brescia House School in Bryanston, Johannesburg, produced well over 1 500 teddies. Recipients will include children from the Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children, Childline and the Witkoppen Baby Clinic. Brescia intermediate phase pupils are shown with some of the teddies.

FAITH

The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

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The rosary: a weapon to win all battles Catholic leaders throughout many centuries have encouraged the praying of the Rosary. Prof MICHAEL OGUNU looks at some of these voices and lists the promises Our Lady made to those who pray it devoutly.

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CCORDING to tradition, the Rosary devotion was revealed to St Dominic, founder of the Dominicans eight centuries ago, by the Blessed Virgin Mary who commanded him to spread it throughout the world.

It soon became a popular Christian prayer, and was furthered by other saints, such as St Catherine of Siena.

In the 15th century, Bl Alan de la Roche had visions of Our Lady, in which she promised special spiritual favours to those who devoutly recited the Rosary.

In our times, the Blessed Virgin herself has recommended the Rosary: at Lourdes, Fatima and in several other apparitions approved by the Church.

According to Sr Lucia, one of the three shepherd children to whom Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917, she said: “There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”

The great French preacher St Louis de Montfort (1673-1716) saw the Rosary as a weapon against evil.

“When people say the Rosary together it is far more formidable to the devil than one said privately, because in this public prayer it is an army that is attacking him,” he said.

“Somebody who says his Rosary alone only gains the merit of one Rosary, but if he says it together with 30 other people he gains the merit of 30 rosaries. This is the law of public prayer.”

He saw even the material rosary itself as “a terrible thing for the devil”, saying that is why “the saints have used it to enchain devils and to chase them out of the bodies of people who were possessed”.

For Padre Pio, the saint of Pietrelcina, the Rosary also “is a weapon in our hands with which we can overcome the devil’s attacks”.

“Our Lady has never refused me a grace through the recitation of the Rosary,” he said, adding: “The Rosary is the weapon that wins all battles.”

The 18th-century founder of the

Redemptorist order, St Alphonsus Liguori, was another proponent of the Rosary: “How many, by its means, have been delivered from sin? How many led to a holy life?

How many to a good death, and are now saved?” he asked, rhetorically.

Fr Patrick Peyton, the 20th century Irish founder of the “Family Rosary Crusade, proposed that “the Rosary can bring families through all dangers and evils”.

Popes and the Rosary St Pius V, one of the greatest popes who ever ruled the Church (from 1566-72), said the Rosary every day.

Four Piuses later, the 19th-century Pius IX advised that “if you desire peace to reign in your hearts and families, gather together each evening to recite the Rosary”.

Pope Leo XIII even wrote an encyclical on devotion of the Rosary in 1883. In it he called the Rosary “the most excellent form of prayer and the most efficacious means of attaining eternal life... There is no more excellent way of praying”.

Pope Benedict XV, who headed the Church from 1914-22, describes the Rosary as perfect prayer “because of the grace it obtains and because of the triumphs it achieves”.

His successor, Pius XI, also wrote an encyclical on the Rosary, issued in 1937. In it he noted with admiration “the innumerable multitude of holy men of every age and every condition who have always held the Rosary dear” and urged bishops to see to it that the Rosary is more highly esteemed by all the faithful under their care.

The pope after him, Pius XII, prayed the 15-decade Rosary daily.

And he also wrote an encyclical on the recitation of the Rosary, in 1951.

His successor, John XXIII, spoke out 38 times on the Rosary in his pontificate of only five years.

Like Pius XII, he revealed that he prayed the 15-decade Rosary daily.

John XXII said that “the years have made Mary’s Rosary all the dearer to us. And he too wrote an encyclical on the Rosary, issued in 1959.

Pope Paul VI in his Marialis Cultus described the Rosary as “the compendium of the Gospels”.

And in his 1966 encyclical Christi Matri he repeated Pius IX’s call to the bishops to encourage people to pray ardently to Mother Mary by saying the Rosary.

Pope John Paul II called the Rosary his favourite prayer. “From my youthful years the Rosary has held an important place in my spiritual life,” he wrote in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, which

An olive wood rosary from Bethlehem is seen near a beach in Cape Town.

(Photo: Günther Simmermacher) declared 2003 the Year of the Rosary.

“The Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of difficulty. To it I have entrusted a number of concerns; in it I have always found comfort,” he said.

He led the Rosary on Vatican Radio on the first Saturday of the month.

Pope Francis in a tweet said that “the Rosary is the prayer that always accompanies my life: it is also the prayer of simple people and saints...it is the prayer of my heart”.

At a general audience he said: “With Mary, in the mysteries of the Rosary we contemplate the life of Jesus which irradiates the mercy of the Father.”

He has also commended the Rosary to young people as well as to the sick: “May this simple Marian prayer show you, young people, the way to give life to God’s will in your lives; dear sick people, love this prayer because it brings consolation for the mind and the heart; and dear newly wedded spouses, may it represent a privileged moment of spiritual intimacy within your new family.”

And before he left for Fatima in May to attend the centenary of the apparitions there, he told pilgrims at his Sunday Angelus: “Please, let us pray the Rosary for peace, as the Virgin of Fatima asked us to do.”

The promises of the Rosary In 1945 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a small community of eight Jesuit Fathers, only eight blocks from the epicentre, remained unharmed—the people and the building itself—while almost everyone else in a radius of 1,5km from the centre was killed or badly harmed.

One of the eight priests, Fr Huber Schiffer, reported in 1976 that 200 scientists had carried out investigations for several years in search for a scientific explanation for the Jesuits’ survival.

He told them that there was only one thing that made their house different to the others: they had recited the Rosary together every day.

The statements by these various saints, popes and witnesses should not surprise us. In her revelations to Bl Alan de la Roche, Our Lady made the following 15 promises to all Christians who recite the Rosary devoutly daily: 1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.

2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.

3. The Rosary shall be powerful armour against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin and defeat heresies.

4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for

souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.

5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.

6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in his justice; he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he is just, he shall remain in the grace of God and become worthy of eternal life.

7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacrament of the Church.

8. Those who recite the Rosary faithfully shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of his graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.

9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.

10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.

11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.

12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.

13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.

14. All who recite the Rosary are my sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.

15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

According to Fatima’s Sr Lucia, “the Rosary is the prayer which God, through his Church and Our Lady, has recommended most insistently to us all, as a road to and gateway of salvation”.

We should therefore hold fast to the treasure of the Rosary, the inestimable gift of Our Blessed Mother. n Professor Michael Ogunu is the supreme chancellor of the Knights of St Mulumba in Nigeria, the provincial president of the Secular Carmelites in Nigeria and Ghana, and coordinator of the Fatima Apostolate in Africa.

How to pray the Rosary

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HE first part of the Hail Mary is the angel’s words announcing Christ’s incarnation and Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary. Pope Pius V officially added the second part of the Hail Mary.

The Mysteries of the Rosary centre on the events of Christ’s life. There are four sets of Mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and––added by Pope John Paul II in 2002––Luminous.

The repetition in the Rosary is meant to lead one into restful and contemplative prayer related to each mystery. The gentle repetition of the words helps us to enter into the silence of our hearts, where Christ’s spirit dwells. The Rosary can be said privately or with a group.

The Five Joyful Mysteries are traditionally prayed on Mondays, Saturdays, and, during the season of Advent, on Sundays.

The Five Sorrowful Mysteries are traditionally prayed on Tuesdays, Fridays, and, during the season of Lent, on Sundays.

The Five Glorious Mysteries are traditionally prayed on Wednesdays and, outside the seasons of

Advent and Lent, on Sundays.

The Five Luminous Mysteries are traditionally prayed on Thursdays.

To pray the Rosary: • Make the Sign of the Cross.

• Holding the Crucifix, say the Apostles’ Creed.

• On the first bead, say an Our Father.

• Say one Hail Mary on each of the next three beads.

• Say the Glory Be • For each of the five decades, announce the Mystery (perhaps followed by a brief reading from Scripture) then say the Our Father.

• While fingering each of the ten beads of the decade, next say ten Hail Marys while meditating on the Mystery. Then say a Glory Be. • After finishing each decade, some say the prayer requested by the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins...”

• After saying the five decades, say the Hail, Holy Queen, followed by the “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God” dialogue.

• Conclude the Rosary with the Sign of the Cross.

(Source: USCCB)

PRIESTS OF THE SACRED HEART “Here I am Lord” Cell: +27 72 769 7396, +27 83 471 6081 E-mail: vocation.office@ dehonafrica.net

Founder: Fr. Leo John Dehon (1843-1925)

10

The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

CHURCH

Behind the scenes of ‘Humanae Vitae’ Next year the Church will mark the 50th anniversary of the release of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, which among other things reaffirmed the ban on artificial birth control.

ANdREA GAGLIARdUCCI looks at how that document came to be.

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S its 50th anniversary approaches, the story of how Pope Paul VI arrived at the final text of his encyclical Humanae Vitae will be a focus of discussion.

Paul VI issued his encyclical in 1968, after a commission of theologians and experts spent four years meeting to study in-depth whether the Church could be open to the contraceptive pill or other artificial forms of birth control.

In his encyclical, Pope Paul VI reaffirmed that sexual relations cannot be detached from fecundity.

The event was a watershed moment in the Church.

A study group from the Romebased John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family aims to produce a paper on the development of the encyclical. The group is led by cultural anthropology professor Monsignor Gilfredo Marengo, who teaches at the institute.

Prof Marengo told Vatican Radio in July that the commission in the end “was not able to give Bl Paul VI what he needed to draft the encyclical”, and so the pope “had almost to start again”.

He underscored that Paul VI’s work was made even more difficult by the fact that “public opinion in the Church was very much polarised, not only between in favour and in opposition to the contraceptive pill, but also among theolo-

gians, who presented the same polarised counter-position.”

While the discussion was still ongoing, a document favourable to Catholic approval of the birth control pill was published simultaneously in April 1967 in the French daily Le Monde, the English Catholic journal The Tablet, and the American National Catholic Reporter.

The report emphasised that 70 members of the Pontifical Commission were favourable to the Pill.

But, according to Prof Bernardo Colombo, who was a member of the commission, the document was “just one of the 12 reports presented to the Holy Father”.

When Paul VI published Humanae Vitae, public opinion was thus already oriented against the Church’s teachings which the pontiff reaffirmed, and the Church’s teaching was strongly targeted.

Prof Marengo told Vatican Radio that Humanae Vitae deserves an indepth study.

The professor’s first impression is that when the study group’s research is complete “it will be possible to set aside many partisan readings of the text” and will be easier to “grasp the intentions and worries that moved Paul VI to solve the issue the way he did”.

The story of the encyclical dates back to 1963, when Pope John XXIII established the commission to study the topics of marriage, family, and regulation of birth.

Pope Paul VI later enlarged the commission’s membership from six to 12 people. Then he further increased its numbers to 75 members, plus a president, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, the conservative head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and two deputies, Cardinals Julius Döpfner of Munich, a progressive, and John Heenan of Westminster, a conservative.

After the end of the works of the commission, Paul VI asked a restricted group of theologians to give further examination to the topic.

Bl Pope Paul VI, who wrote the encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968, and the front-page of The Southern Cross carrying the different reactions of various South African bishops to it. Archbishop denis Hurley of durban was disappointed by it, Archbishop John Garner of Pretoria welcomed it, Cardinal Owen McCann noted that the pope’s word is final, and Bishop Gerard van Velsen of kroonstad was not surprised by the encyclical’s content but noted that the encyclical had the weight of a Church discipline, not doctrine.

Paul’s ‘prophetic genius’ Pope Francis has shown his appreciation for Bl Paul VI and for Humanae Vitae several times, such as in an interview on March 5, 2014 with the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, ahead of two synods on the family.

Asked if the Church was going to take up again the theme of birth control, Pope Francis replied that “all of this depends on how Humanae Vitae is interpreted. Paul VI himself, at the end, recommended to confessors much mercy, and attention to concrete situations”.

Pope Francis added that Pope Paul VI’s “genius” was “prophetic”, because he “had the courage to place himself against the majority, defending the moral discipline, exercising a culture brake, opposing present and future neo-Malthusianism”.

“The question,” Pope Francis concluded, “is not that of changing the doctrine but of going deeper and making pastoral [ministry] take into account the situations and that which it is possible for people to do.”

Prof Marengo said that it would also be “very useful to piece together the path to the drafting of the encyclical, which developed in different phases” from June 1966 to its publication in 1968.

He said the encyclical must be placed in the context of “everything important and fruitful the Church has said on marriage and family during these last 50 years”.

Prof Marengo’s study group includes John Paul II Institute president Prof Pierpaolo Sequeri; Prof Philippe Chenaux of the Pontifical Lateran University, an authority regarding the Second Vatican Council and the history of the

contemporary Church; and Professor Angelo Maffeis, president of the Paul VI Institute based in Brescia.

When the news of the study group first broke, it was described as a “pontifical commission” aimed at changing the teachings of Humanae Vitae. Prof Marengo dismissed this as an “imaginative report”.

For his part, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, chancellor of the John Paul II Institute and former president of the now restructured Pontifical Council for the Family, confirmed that no pontifical commission had been appointed.

He maintained that “we should look positively on all those initiatives, such as that of Prof Marengo of the John Paul II Institute, which aim at studying and deepening this document in view of [next year’s] 50th anniversary of its publication”.—CNA

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The Southern Cross, August 16 to August 22, 2017

CLASSIFIEDS

Pope saddened by ‘perfect’ Catholics

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

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OD did not choose perfect people to form his Church, but rather sinners who have experienced his love and forgiveness, Pope Francis has said.

The Gospel of Luke’s account of Jesus forgiving the sinful woman shows how his actions went against the general mentality of his time, a way of thinking that saw a “clear separation” between the pure and impure, the pope said during his weekly general audience.

“There were some scribes, those who believed they were perfect,” the pope said. “And I think about so many Catholics who think they are perfect and scorn others. This is sad.”

Continuing his series of audience talks about Christian hope, the pope reflected on Jesus’ “scandalous gesture” of forgiving

Pope Francis kisses a child during his weekly audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican. (Photo: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano) the sinful woman.

The woman, he said, was one of many poor women who were visited secretly even by those who denounced them as sinful.

Although Jesus’ love towards the sick and the marginalised

“baffles his contemporaries,” it reveals God’s heart as the place where suffering men and women can find love, compassion and healing, Pope Francis said.

“How many people continue today in a wayward life because they find no one willing to look at them in a different way, with the eyes—or better yet—with the heart of God, meaning with hope,” he said. But “Jesus sees the possibility of a resurrection even in those who have made so many wrong choices”.

Often, the pope continued, Christians become accustomed to having their sins forgiven and receiving God’s unconditional love while forgetting the heavy price Jesus paid by dying on the cross.

By forgiving sinners, Jesus doesn’t seek to free them from a guilty conscience, but rather offers “people who have made mistakes the hope of a new life, a life marked by love”, the pope said.

Your prayer to cut out and collect

PRAYER TO ST BARTHOLOMEW

O

GLORIOUS St Bartholomew, Jesus called you a person without guile and you saw in this word a sign that he was the Son of God and King of Israel.

Obtain for us the grace to be ever-guileless and innocent as doves.

At the same time, help us to have your gift of faith to see the Divine hand in the events of daily life.

May we discern the signs of the times that led to Jesus on earth and will eventually unite us to him forever in heaven.

Liturgical Calendar Southern CrossWord solutions Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday August 20, Assumption of Our Lady (Patronal Feast of South Africa) Revelations 11:19 and Revelations 12:1-6, 10, Psalms 45:10-12, 16, 1 Corinthians 15:20-27, Luke 1:39-56 Monday August 21, St Pius X Judges 2:11-19, Psalms 106:34-37, 39-40, 43-44, Matthew 19:16-22 Tuesday August 22, Queenship of Mary Isaiah 9:2-7 (1-6), St Pius X Psalms 113:1-8, Luke 1:26-38 Wednesday August 23, St Rose of Lima Judges 9:6-15, Psalms 21:2-7, Matthew 20:1-16 Thursday August 24, Feast of St Bartholomew Revelation 21:9-14, Psalms 145:10-13, 17-18, John 1:45-51 Friday August 25, Ss Louis, Joseph of Calasanz Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22, St Bartholomew Psalms 146:5-10, Matthew 22:34-40 Saturday August 26, Saturday Mass of Our Lady Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17, Psalms 128:1-5, Matthew 23:1-12 Sunday August 27, 21st Sunday of the Year Isaiah 22:19-23, Psalms 138:1-3, 6, 8, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

SOLUTIONS TO 772. ACROSS: 1 Dali, 3. Discerns, 9 Gershom, 10 Milan, 11 Ancient Latin, 13 End off, 15 Adagio, 17 Marriage vows, 20 Sushi, 21 Petrine, 22 Staggers, 23 Rear. DOWN: 1 Degraded, 2 Lyric, 4 Inmate, 5 Commandments, 6 Rolling, 7 Sink, 8 Sheep farming, 12 Forswear, 14 Dead Sea, 16 Pauper, 18 Olive, 19 Uses.

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)

JOHANNESBURG: St Anthony’s church in Coronationville is calling for donations of tinned fish, peanut butter, jam, butter and juice for their soup kitchen. Contact Faried and Nadine Benn on 073 906 6037 or 083 658 2573.

CAPE TOWN: Retreat day/quiet prayer last Saturday of each month except december, at Springfield Convent in Wynberg, Cape Town. Hosted

by CLC, 10.00-15.30. Contact Jill on 083 282 6763 or Jane on 082 783 0331.

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

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 abortion clinic. Con-

tact 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.

St Anthony’s rosary group. Every Wednesday at 18:00 at St Anthony’s church opposite Greyville racecourse. All are welcome and lifts are available. Contact keith Chetty on 083 372 9018.

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.

CLASSIFIEDS

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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 (R1,70 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

CONGRATULATIONS

WULFF—Ron. Congratulations and God's richest blessings on your 90th birthday on August 21. We love you. Cleone and children Rodney, Collette and Warren, and spouses and grandchildren. 083 651 6765.

PRAYERS

O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me where you are, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity.

There is none who can withstand your power, O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands. Leon and karen.

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

THANKS

THANKSGIVING to Ss Jude and Rita, to Jesus, Mary and Joseph for prayers answered. Jenny Randles.

EVENTS

ST AUGUSTINE’S SECONDARY SCHOOL, Church Street, Parow, Cape Town. Class reunion. did you complete Standard 8JC (Grade 10) at the above school in 1968? If yes, please contact Christian dryden on phone 021 931 7573 or cell 083 290 9930, or e-mail chris@dryden doors.co.za THE ST BONIFATIUS CATHOLIC COMMUNITY is presenting its annual Spring Basar on Sunday, August 27. Holy Mass at 10:00, basar opens at 11:00. St Bonifatius Community Centre, cnr Puttick Ave and kowie Road, Sundowner Ext 8, Randburg, Johannesburg. Phone 011 795 3651.

PERSONAL

LORD, inspire those men and women who bear the titles “husband” and “wife”.

Help them to look to You, to themselves, to one another to rediscover the fullness and mystery they once felt in their union. Let them be honest enough to ask: “Where have we been together and where are we going?” Let them be brave enough to question: “How have we failed?” Let each be foolhardy enough to say: “For me, we come first.”

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelife abortionisevil.co.za ABORTION WARNING: The Pill can abort. All Catholic users (married or cohabiting) must be told, to save their souls and their unborn infants. See www. epm.org/static/uploads/ downloads/bcpill.pdf FELLOW CATHOLICS: Visit Pious Ponsiano kintu’s official website www.ave maria832.simplesite.com.

This website has been set up to give Glory to the Most

Holy Trinity through the healing power of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

View God’s marvellous work of healing and deliverance in various African countries since 2007. More than 20 video clips have been uploaded onto YouTube (simply go to Google and type Pious kintu YouTube). Also, you will read about African stigmatic Sister Josephine Sul of dR Congo and Padre Pio, among others. Share it with all your friends. Contacts: e-mail avemaria832 @gmail.com and avemaria 832@yahoo.com, cellphone (roaming within Africa) +243 99 0358275 or +243 81 6090071.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

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the

21st Sunday: August 27 Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23, Psalm 138:1-3, 68, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

W

E live in an age when politicians are not widely trusted, and next Sunday’s readings offer a few reflections on what they ought to stand for.

In the first reading, we are witnesses to the dismissal from office of Shebna, “master of the palace”, who has been going in for various luxury items, and is told: “I shall thrust you from your position.”

His successor is appointed: “Eliakim, son of Hilkiah”. And what is his claim to honour?

“He shall be a father to those who live in Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.” That is the kind of politician whom we urgently need today, not those who are out for themselves or their own comfort or luxury.

Politicians, and anyone else who aspires to leadership, could usefully make their own the words of Sunday’s psalm: “I shall thank you with all my heart—I sing to you in the presence of the gods; I shall worship in your holy Temple, and praise your name above all, your name and your promise, because of your faithfulness and your integrity.”

And our God is not a god of the big battalions, but: “The Lord is high and cares for the

S outher n C ross

Reflections on politicians lowly; and he knows the proud from afar.”

Then comes the triumphant conclusion: “Lord, your steadfast love is for ever.” We long to be able to say that about our current leaders.

In the second reading, the conclusion of Paul’s argument about God’s plan for the Jews, the mood is where it should always be in life, gazing bewitched at what God is doing. Paul is beside himself with joy: “O the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God”.

That is what we should long to see in politicians. And, in a time when transparency is, very properly, all the rage, there is an appropriate note of caution: “How untrackable are God’s judgments, and how beyond investigation are his ways!”

The point is that God is quite beyond us: “Who knew the Lord’s mind? Whoever became his counsellor?” That is true of God in a way that is not and cannot be true of human beings, including our politicians.

And Paul sums up his exclamation of joy with a powerful sense of God-in-everything: “For from him and through him and into

him is everything: to God be glory for ever.

Amen.”

The Gospel for next Sunday is another for politicians to read about. It is the episode at Caesarea Philippi, right up at the top of the Holy Land, where the source of the Jordan, fed by the melting snow on Mount Hermon, comes pouring out of the mountain, and traditionally a great place of religious experience.

This setting, named after both the current emperor, Tiberius, and one of the family of Herod the Great (the tetrarch Philip), now becomes an appropriate place to ask, halfway through Matthew’s gospel, who Jesus is.

And there is almost a sense of insecurity in Jesus as he asks his disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

The disciples gallantly try out one or two hats on him: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets; but when they are forced to give their own views, it is Peter, as so often, who speaks in their name, and he comes right out with it: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

Keeping faith as adults T

sion of a writer, and that irrepressible energy naturally drove her beyond the safety and shelter of the Church circles of her youth, in her case, to literary circles in New York and Paris.

Halford soon found out that living the faith while surrounded by a strong supportive faith group is one thing; trying to live it while breathing an air that is almost exclusively secular and agnostic is something else.

The book chronicles that struggle and how eventually Halford was able to integrate both the passion and the vision of her childhood faith into her new life.

Among many good insights, she shares how each time she was tempted to cross the line and abandon her childhood faith as a naiveté, she realised that her fear of doing that was “not a fear of destroying God or a belief; [but] a fear of destroying self”.

That insight testifies to the genuine character of her faith. God and faith don’t need us; it’s us that need them.

T

he title of her book, My Utmost, is significant to her story. On Halford’s 13th birthday, her grandmother gave her a copy of a book which is well-known and muchused within Evangelical and Baptist circles, My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers.

The book is a collection of spiritual aphorisms, thoughts for every day of the year, by this prominent missionary and mystic.

Halford shares how, while young and still

Conrad

HE complexity of adulthood inevitably puts to death the naiveté of childhood.

And this is true too of our faith.

Not that faith is a naiveté. It isn’t. But our faith needs to be constantly reintegrated into our persons and matched up anew against our life’s experience; otherwise we will find it at odds with our lives.

But genuine faith can stand up to every kind of experience, no matter what its complexity.

Sadly, that doesn’t always happen and many people seemingly leave their faith behind, like belief in Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny, as the complexity of their adult lives seemingly belies or even shames their childhood faith.

With this in mind, I recommend a recent book, My Utmost, A Devotional Memoir,

by Macy Halford.

She is a young, thirty-something writer working out of both Paris and New York and this is an autobiographical account of her struggle as a conservative Evangelical Christian to retain her faith amidst the very liberal, sophisticated, highly secularised, and often agnostic circles within which she now lives and works.

The book chronicles her struggles to maintain a strong childhood faith which was virtually embedded in her DNA, thanks to a very faith-filled mother and grandmother.

Faith and Church were a staple and an anchor in her life as she was growing up.

But her DNA also held something else, namely, the restlessness and creative ten-

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Sunday Reflections

For this he gets congratulated, more effusively than in either Mark or Luke, and told: “It was not flesh and blood that revealed it to you. No—it was my Father, the one in the heavens.” Then he gives Simon bar Jonah his nickname: “You are ‘Rock’, and on this ‘rock’ I am going to build my church. And the gates of Hades will have no power against it.”

Then comes the gift of authority: “I am going to give you the keys of the Kingdom of the Heavens, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens. And whatever you untie on earth shall be untied in the heavens.”

That sounds like power beyond the wildest dreams of our politicians; but it does not work like that, and his wide-eyed disciples have to be told not to tell a soul: “Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”

How would that go down with any politician of your acquaintance?

Southern Crossword #772

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

solidly anchored in the Church and faith of her childhood, she did not read the book daily and Chamber’s spiritual counsels meant little to her. But her reading of this book eventually became a daily ritual in her life and its daily counsel began, more and more, to become a prism through which she was able to reintegrate her childhood faith with her adult experience.

At one point in her life Halford gives herself over to a serious theological study of both the book and its author. Those parts of her memoir will intimidate some of her readers, but, even without a clear theological grasp of how eventually she brings it all into harmony, the fruit of her struggle comes through clearly.

This is a valuable memoir because today many people are undergoing this kind of struggle, that is, to have their childhood faith stand up to their present experience.

Halford simply shows us how she did it and her struggle offers us a valuable paradigm to follow.

A generation ago, Fr Karl Rahner famously remarked that in the next generation we will either be mystics or unbelievers. Among other things, what Rahner meant was that, unlike previous generations where our communities (family, neighbourhood, and Church) very much helped carry the faith for us, in this next generation we will very much have to find our own, deeper, personal grounding for our faith.

Macy Halford bears this out. Inside a generation within which many are unbelievers, her memoir lays out a path for a humble but effective mysticism.

The late Irish writer John Moriarty, in his memoirs, shares how as a young man he drifted from the faith of his youth, Catholicism, seeing it as a naiveté that could not stand up to his adult experiences.

He walked along in that way until one day, as he puts it, “I realised that Roman Catholicism, the faith of my childhood, was my mother tongue.”

Macy Halford too re-grounded herself in her mother tongue, the faith of her youth, and it continues now to guide her through the sophistications of adulthood.

The chronicle of her search can help us all, irrespective of our particular religious affiliation.

ACROSS

1. Laid out the Spanish artist (4) 3. Recognises signs of a vocation (8) 9. Son of Zipporah (Ex 22) (7) 10. City of St Ambrose (5) 11. You hear no word of it in Rome now (7,5) 13. Come to a conclusion (3,3) 15. The choir will take it slowly (6) 17. Solemn promises at the matches (8,4) 20. Jesus hid some eastern dish inside (5) 21. The pope’s privilege (7) 22. Shocks when you egg back among the stars (8) 23. Bring up to the back (4)

DOWN

1. Greed dad turned to lost him his dignity (8) 2. Cyril is the saint with a word for the song (5) 4. One in an institution (6) 5. The ten that came down with Moses (12) 6. Gill and Ron are going round (7) 7. Fall in the kitchen? (4) 8. Breeding the lambs for the Passover (5,7) 12. Give up or far worse (8) 14. Water in Holy Land mortuary? (4.3) 16. He needs your alms (6) 18. Her branch is peaceful (5) 19. Employs Sue’s changes (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

I

N a bar one night, Van der Merwe and a British and American pilot were boasting about how high they had flown during their careers.

The British pilot said: “I once flew so high that the earth looked like a soccer ball.”

The American pilot said: “I once flew so high that the earth looked like a golfball.”

Van der Merwe retorted: “That’s nothing! I once flew so high that there was only darkness and in my fear I shouted Liewe Vader!

“A loud and stern voice then came through my earphones and said: ‘Yes, Van der Merwe, what can I do for you?’ ”

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