170906

The

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

September 6 to September 12, 2017

Archbishop: Hate speech is ‘vocal porn’

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

R8,00 (incl VAT RSA)

R40 million donor uplifts ill kids’ home

How Catholic Church came to South Africa

Page 4

No 5048

Page 2

Page 10

How to do mission like the Apostles STAFF REPORTER

I

NSPIRED by the first Apostles, 72 members of Neocatechumenal Way of South Africa went on a ten-day itinerant mission, journeying without means in pairs.

Travelling throughout Southern Africa to announce the Good News of the Gospel, they went on foot, two by two, without money, food or a place to sleep—like the Apostles following Jesus’ command in Matthew 10—for ten days.

The group was blessed for their mission by Archbishop Stephen Brislin during a sending retreat in Cape Town.

“Through our baptism we share, as did the apostles, in the ministry of Jesus Christ of the proclamation of the Kingdom of God,” the archbishop told the missionaries.

“Evangelisation in the modern time is not only to take Christ to those who have not heard of him but also to people for whom Christ is no longer relevant, to rekindle their faith. We proclaim hope. Because no matter what we have done in life, Christ always offers us his forgiveness, his salvation.”

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria sent a message to the group: “Go with Jesus.

Go to the towns and villages, go to the rich and poor. Share your beautiful faith with all.

You remind me of Galilee, you remind me of Assisi. May your faith set many hearts alight.”

Archbishop Peter Wells, the apostolic nuncio to Southern Africa, also sent a greeting, promising his prayers.

This same mission was concurrently held in all parts of the world, as announced last year during the World Youth Days in Krakow, when more than 150 000 youth of the Neocatechumenal Way gathered for a vocational meeting.

“This mission was not just for consecrated people,” said Dino Furgione, who is responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in South Africa.

“There were married people, single, young and old, priests and seminarians. This is the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the body

S

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria (second from right) stands next to Catholic Palestinian tour guide Rimon Makhlouf and a group of Southern Cross pilgrims on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The Old City is in the background. The pilgrimage took the group to the Holy Land, Rome and Assisi. On the Franciscan archbishop’s birthday, September 6, they were scheduled to be in Assisi, the place of St Francis’ birth and death. (Photo courtesy Fowler Tours) Dino Furgione (left), national coordinator for the Neocatechumenal Way, with Rustenburg’s vicar-general Fr James Juma, Bishop Kevin Dowling and Manuel Ortiz, missionary in Witbank. of the Church as a true presence of Christ,” he said.

“We have experienced the fact that Christ accompanies us,” he said, adding that “we can testify that we didn’t lack anything”, giving answer to Jesus’ question in Luke’s Gospel: “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?”

This doesn’t mean that there were no problems. “Some [missionaries] indeed suffered some deprivations, but we all experienced the ‘perfect joy’ of St Francis who also used to send his friars two by two’,” said Mr Furgione.

When the group gathered to share their experiences, “everyone had the light of the risen Christ in their eyes”, he said.

Mr Furgione highlighted the experience of encounter on the mission.

“Along the way we spoke with many people from different backgrounds and cultures who were suffering, looking for answers to the existential questions that life presents to them. They were like sheep without a shepherd,” he said.

“We see in this the need to evangelise, to continue going out announcing Jesus Christ.

It is true that today, everywhere is a land of mission.”

Marriage proposed before pope

W

HEN 80 politicians met with Pope Francis in late August, romantic gestures were not on the agenda. That changed when a Venezuelan human rights activist was introduced to the pope.

Dario Ramirez fled his home country three years ago as an opponent of President Nicolás Maduro. He was in Rome to attend the conference of the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN).

Mr Ramirez told Pope Francis about the political conflict in Venezuela and how since fleeing to Panama he has been helping a youth theatre group perform Catholic plays, the National Catholic Register reported.

“I told him that we’re looking forward to him visiting Panama in 2019 for World Youth Day and he was very happy,” Mr Ramirez said. “I then asked for a special blessing.”

Mr Ramirez ‘s girlfriend, Maryangel Espinal, who was accompanying him, “had no idea” what was going to happen next.

“She thought we were just going to talk about Venezuela and the theatre group. But I then said to the pope: ‘There’s a third thing I want to ask you’,” he said.

“I could see that Maryangel was thinking: ‘What’s he going to do? Is he going to ask for a selfie?’ She was shocked. I explained to the Holy Father that the woman next to me is the woman of my life. I met her in church, that God put her in my life, and I want to propose

to her. So I got down on one knee and asked.”

Pope Francis asked: “Wow, in front of the pope?”

Mr Ramirez recalled. Then the pontiff turned to Ms Espinal and said: “She’s not speaking—he Dario Ramirez and fiasked you to marry ancée Maryangel Eshim, what do you pinal. (Photo courtesy say?”

Dario Ramirez) Of course she said “yes”, and the pope then blessed the couple.

The fellow delegates erupted in applause.

“Everyone was excited,” Mr Ramirez said.

“The African delegates made the loudest noise, singing and cheering.”

Before springing the surprise on his fiancée and the Holy Father, Mr Ramirez had obtained permission to propose in front of the pope from ICLN patron Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

“The pope was very surprised; the people from protocol were a little mad, but in the end we all laughed a lot,” Mr Ramirez said.

He met Ms Espinal 18 months ago in a Panamanian church.

A new way of helping your Catholic newspaper

ometimes a good idea is so obvious! “Why,” we were asked, “don’t you invite people to make a monthly contribution to the Associates Campaign by debit order?”

“I can’t afford to give R1 000 in one go, but I can afford to give R100 a month. Some might be able to contribute R50 a month, and others maybe R250 or more.”

Many people would love to support The Southern Cross’ Associates Campaign, but don’t have lump sums avail-

able. So last year we have set up a debit order option whereby supporters can join the Associates Campaign through a monthly contribution.

And with that we added a new patron to the Associates Campaign in the form of Dorothy Day, the US Catholic social activist and newspaper publisher who is pictured above.

After almost 100 years of surviving exclusively on self-generated revenue— The Southern Cross is fully independent and not subsidised—we are going through tough times.

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

This is where our Associates Campaign can help ensure the survival of South Africa’s only Catholic weekly.

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

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

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).

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.

2

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

LOCAL

R40 million donor uplifts home for ill children A

BY ERIN CARELSE

SINGLE donor has given R40 million to a Catholic home for chronically ill children, funding a much-needed overhaul.

The building renovations funded by the generous overseas benefactor are transforming St Joseph’s Home for Chronically Ill Children in Montana, Cape Town, and are in the final phase of completion.

The 40-million project will see modernisation of the existing five wards, establishment of a therapeutic hub, a family/visitors’ area, and upgrading of the nurses’ home and reception/admin area.

Provision has also been made for landscaping of the gardens and outside areas.

Renovations at St Joseph’s took

two years of intense planning: working with a wide range of experts defining the scope of the project, refining the design of the upgrade, and still keeping within budget.

Thea Patterson, director of the home, explained that the main intention of the project is to create a safe and happy “container” for the children, with the wellbeing of carers also being pivotal. The home cares for 140 vulnerable children.

“We were fortunate to have had excellent input,” said Ms Patterson.

“We are confident these renovations will contribute considerably to the improvement of our facilities, which are nearly 50 years old.”

In 2013 the home approached CCNIA—a practice of two principal architects, being Nicola Irving, a Catholic, and Charlotte Chamber-

St Joseph’s Home for Chronically Ill Children in Cape Town is undergoing major renovations, thanks to an overseas donor, which include landscaping of the gardens and outside areas.

lain—and asked them to help conceptualise what modernisations might be possible. After months of planning, a proposal of R22 million was submitted and accepted.

When the home presented the proposal to the donor, it was told to add other essential upgrades, arriving at the sum of R40 million.

St Joseph’s, a registered nonprofit organisation, is one of the most innovative and progressive institutions pioneering in the field of paediatric intermediate palliative care for vulnerable children.

In its in-patient facilities, the home provides a wide range of paediatric and intermediate health care, and related services.

This holistic approach includes, among others, a rehabilitation (pilot) project, a nursing school, St Joseph’s Primary School, a crèche, and logistical and pastoral support for families.

Children cared for at St Joseph’s have all been diagnosed with lifethreatening or life-limiting illnesses and are referred there from state hospitals.

Prevalent illnesses include HIV/Aids, cancer, diabetes, respiratory and heart-lung-kidney failures, congenital abnormalities and neurological impairments.

The home employs around 92 staff, of whom more than 80% come from historically disadvantaged communities, many being female and single-household breadwinners.

Family members are accommodated free of charge at the home to receive the necessary support.

Bible Sunday was celebrated at Mahobe mission in Umzimkulu diocese, KwaZulu-Natal. Fr Thokozani Masina combined the occasion with installing a new reader in the parish.

Gogo Ngcobo celebrated her 100th birthday at St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto. Gifts and cash were handed over to her by parish PFC chair Puseletso Kwatsha on behalf of the parish. (Photo:Sello Mokoka)

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

LOCAL

3

Youth choirs sing out for bicentennial B ICENTENNIAL projects involving the youth are underway as part of the year-long celebration of the Southern African Church’s 200th anniversary in 2018.

A large crowd attended the bicentennial Catholic School Choir Festival at the Cape Town City Hall.

Fifteen Catholic school choirs, as well as 40 archdiocesan liturgical dance troupes, participated in the celebration.

A number of parishes, clergy and religious also joined the school communities for an afternoon of entertainment.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin delivered a bicentennial address in which he lauded the founders of Catholic schools for their selfless contribution to building the Church over the past 200 years.

The highlight of the afternoon was the massed choir of 400 children delivering a medley of Disney

movie songs. This was conducted

by Alison Dunn, accompanied by Adolf Thelen and Andrew Bentley.

The Catholic Schools Office, in collaboration with the archdiocese’s Catechetical Department, has also launched the Bicentennial Heritage Project, in which participants are invited to share their story.

Parishes and Catholic schools will invite the youth to participate.

To enter, participants must research the history of their school or founding mother/father, or tell the story of someone who has played a special role in their school.

The project may be presented in any of the following ways: An interview with a “wisdom figure” in their community who can tell them about the history of their community; an essay or report sharing their schools story or a chapter in the life of their school; a poem or song which captures the spirit of the his-

tory of their school; a picture, collage, photographic album or visual timeline which tells the story of their community; or an essay titled, “If these walls could speak”.

The project may be embarked on as an individual or a group, and the entries will be judged under the categories of group, individual, juniors (foundation phase), intermediates, seniors, and further education and training.

All entrants and participating schools will receive a certificate of participation signed by Archbishop Brislin.

The best three entries in each category will be invited to an awards ceremony at which the archbishop will preside, and will receive a cash voucher/book prize. n The closing date for entries is Monday, October 16, 2017. Submit by e-mail to the Catholic Schools Office at admin.cso@telkomsa.net

As part of the Church’s bicentennial year, a Catholic schools choir festival was held at the Cape Town City Hall. The highlight was a massed choir of 400 which performed a medley of Disney movie songs.

Raffle winner off to Portugal

A

Pilgrimage raffle tickets were spun in a container at the Radio Veritas studios before associate station manager Fr Brian Mhlanga dipped in his hand to choose the winner on station director Fr Emil Blaser’s breakfast shiow. (Photo: Khanya Litabe)

LATE surge in entries saw Radio Veritas’ competition for two tickets on an October pilgrimage to Fatima reach a successful conclusion.

“Our goal was to receive at least 1 000 entries for the competition,” said station director Fr Emil Blaser OP, “but one day before the deadlines for entries we had only 700.”

The final push created so much excitement that more than 300 entries were received in one day.

“We are very grateful to everybody who worked to make the competition a success,” Fr Blaser said.

The competition winner was drawn by Fr Brian Mhlanga OP, associate station manager of Radio

Veritas, on Fr Blaser’s breakfast show.

After Fr Mhlanga, who will lead the pilgrimage, drew her winning ticket, Maggie Robertson of Randburg, Johannesburg, was phoned live on-air by Fr Blaser.

The self-employed winner was puzzled at first, and then excited as Fr Blaser congratulated her on winning two places worth about R60 000 on the pilgrimage, which will take her to Fatima for the centenary celebrations of the Marian apparitions there.

Mrs Robertson will take her daughter Bonnie on the pilgrimage, in memory of the winner’s late mother, Bessie, who had longed to

visit Fatima. Between the two, they had bought five tickets.

The pilgrimage competition has been an important annual fundraiser for Radio Veritas since 2013.

“Taking part in the competition gives listeners the chance of winning places on a special pilgrimage, of course,” said Fr Blaser, “but it is also a very important way of supporting Radio Veritas.”

The pilgrimage, headlined by The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas, will take the group from October 1-10 to Fatima, Lisbon, Coimbra and Santarém in Portugal, and to Avila, Salamanca, Alba de Tormes and Madrid in Spain.

Seminarians ‘adopted’ for parish feast

A

PARISH celebrated its feast day by “adopting” a seminarian from the national orientation seminary.

The celebrations by St Ninian’s parish in Kuils River, Cape Town, with the theme “Adopt a Seminarian”, was an idea of parish priest Fr Raphael Thomas.

In keeping with the theme, orientation-phase seminarians of St Francis Xavier Seminary in Crawford, Cape Town, were adopted for the day by various families of the parish.

Seminarians from all over Southern Africa spend a year at St Francis Xavier before they continue their studies

at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria.

The families spent time with the seminarians, finding out about their lives, and shared a meal together.

After Sunday Mass, in which the seminarians participated, a soccer match was played, a tradition for the past four years. The youth of the parish outplayed the seminarians, and won 2-1.

Fr Thomas believes seminarians’ vocations were strengthened by the love and support they received from his parishioners.

St Ninian’s parishioners are looking forward to adopting more seminarians next year.

Seminarians at St Francis Xavier Seminary in Cape Town joined parishioners at St Ninian’s in Kuils River for a fun parish feast day, including a community braai.

GET YOUR CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER EVERY WEEK The Southern Cross mailed to you in the post or

ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

on your computer or tablet in digital format

OUR GIFT TO YOU!

Subscribe now to the digital or print edition, for yourself or for someone you love, and we will send you a beautiful

Olive-Wood Jerusalem Rosary Angela Amorim, a pupil at De la Salle Holy Cross College in Johannesburg, regularly sells The Southern Cross at the repository at St John’s parish in North Riding. We love receiving your photos of parishioners selling The Southern Cross—and so do our readers! Please keep them coming. Send photos to pics@scross.co.za

made by Christians in the land of Christ in Jerusalem.

*Offer valid while stocks last. For new subscriptions only.

Go to www.scross.co.za/subscribe Or e-mail subscriptions@scross.co.za or telephone 021-465-5007

Digital subscription R385 a year Postal subscription R450 a year (SA rate)

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

4

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

Tony Wyllie & Co. Catholic Funeral Home Personal and Dignified 24-hour service

469 Voortrekker Rd, Maitland, Tel: 021 593 8820

48 Main Rd, Muizenberg, Tel: 021 788 3728 carol@wylliefunerals.co.za andrew@wylliefunerals.co.za Member of the NFDA

1 Plein Street, Sidwell, Port Elizabeth

576AM

in Johannesburg & beyond

DStv Audio 870

www.radioveritas.co.za streaming live

SMS 41809 MASS followed by Mass Intention 41809 VERI followed by comments

PO Box 4599, Edenvale, 1610 (t) 011 663-4700 eblaser@radioveritas.co.za

INTERNATIONAL

Pope: Catholic social teaching can build a more just society

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

C

ATHOLIC politicians should be guided by the Church’s moral and social teachings when crafting legislation, Pope Francis said.

Meeting with participants in the annual meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network, the pope said that Church teachings can contribute to a more humane and just society, but only if the Church is allowed a voice in answering “the great questions of society in our time”.

“The laws that you enact and apply ought to build bridges of dialogue between different political perspectives, also when responding to precise aims in order to promote greater care for the defenceless and the marginalised, especially towards the many who are forced to leave their countries, as well as to promote a correct human and natural ecology,” the pope said, according to Vatican Radio.

Founded in 2010 by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna and British parliamentarian Sir David Alton, the Catholic Legislators Network meets annually “to discuss the promotion of Christian principles in the political arena”, according to the organisation’s website.

“Every year, the network brings together about 120 people, including toplevel politicians from a wide range of countries spanning all continents, to discuss urgent policy issues in different regions of the globe,” the website said.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Schönborn said that although Catholic politicians “are a minority”, they raise important arguments and values, and “intend to serve as Catholics”.

The cardinal said that among the issues discussed during the four-day meeting was the persecution of Christians, which “unfortunately has become a phenomenon on a global scale”.

Both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI, he added, have supported the organisation and “have always encouraged us”.

“These Catholic parliamentarians find great encouragement from the Church’s approval of their commitment, because many times they feel quite alone in their parliaments and find themselves in difficult situations.

Thus, they feel encouraged by these annual meetings, both in personal faith and political action,” Cardinal Schönborn said.

Before concluding his speech, Pope Francis prayed that in the midst of people’s sufferings, Catholic legislators would “look to Christ” so that they may be “led ever more towards the truth and goodness”.

The pope also urged the lawmakers to make sure their actions always reflect the teaching of Jesus that “no one is insignificant, that no one should be discarded at any stage of life”.—CNS

Bishop on surge of US racism: hate speech ‘vocal pornography’ T HE first black archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia, has said that racism must be solved through encounter, and stressed that ignorance is the fuel to bigotry and hate speech, which he likened to a type of pornography.

“We should call such speech what it is: pornographic violence,” said Archbishop Wilton Gregory in an interview with the Georgia Bulletin.

“We need more opportunities to encounter one another, and thus our metropolitan community provides a unique environment to counter the ignorance that fuels and too often ignites racism and violence.”

Last month a white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, drew members of neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan groups, as well as other white supremacists. One of them killed a counter-protester and injured 19 others when he drove his car into a crowd of people.

President Donald Trump has been criticised for claiming that the violence was caused by “many sides” and for saying that there were “good people” among the white supremacists at the rally.

The US bishops have condemned the violence and announced the creation of

Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo: Georgia Bulletin/CNA) a new Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism to focus on galvanising the Church and society to fight the evil of racism and minister to its victims.

Archbishop Gregory identified the racial violence in recent events as part of a “post-polite world where rude and offensive language—that too frequently has led to brutal behaviour—has been given free rein”.

Likening certain types of illegal pornographic material to hate speech, he said individuals and organisations must take a stand against such violent speech, and he drew special attention to “civil discourse”.

Archbishop Gregory pointed to some of the multicultural festivals which parishes throughout his archdiocese have hosted. When good food, family, music, and dance come together, he said, there is a universal love which not only exposes the uniqueness of individuals and cultures, but also our “similar dreams, needs and fears”.

“We really are the same,” he said, stressing that ignorance of each other is the oxygen which allows racism to thrive.

“Wherever people are disconnected from one another, there is the possibility that they will begin to develop misconceptions about one another—flawed fantasies that have no bearing in reality.”

Archbishop Gregory lamented the stories he has heard of people ostracised in his parishes for the colour of their skin, their religion, or their struggle with same-sex attraction, and he expressed a particular concern about the xenophobia that sometimes accompanies discussion on immigration.

He called it “especially concerning when this despicable behaviour comes from fellow Catholics who should well remember how we Catholics were victimised in the recent past, simply because we were Catholic”.—CNS

Terror threats: ‘The Swiss Guards aren’t just a photo op for tourists’

BY ELISE HARRIS

F

ROM Barcelona’s revered Sagrada Familia basilica to Germany and even the Vatican, churches across Europe are taking measures to increase security following several acts of terrorism in recent weeks.

Churches and other highly symbolic Christian landmarks have been a prime target for terrorists, and with the number of vehicle attacks increasing, many churches are taking new measures to ensure their area is protected.

Although so far neither Italy nor the Vatican have been hit by terrorism, Swiss Guard Commander Christoph Graf said: “We are prepared.”

The Swiss Guards aren’t just a photo op for tourists, he said, but highly trained with the most modern military techniques, and adapt their training to meet current challenges.

In fact, in light of recent attacks, the Guards—charged with watching over the personal safety of the pope—have increased their initial training from two to four months.

Swiss Guard recruits at the Vatican.

(Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) In collaboration with the police of Ticino, an Italian-speaking region in southern Switzerland, they are focusing specifically on marksmanship, fire protection, first aid and maintaining tight security.

Last month’s attacks in Spain prompted police in Germany to take new security measures, especially in areas that see heavy tourism.

Cologne has taken several specific measures to protect its historic cathedral against possible terrorist threats.

Rather than putting up typical metal barricades in front of the cathedral, a key tourist stop in the city, security has placed barricades made up of large stones weighing several hundred kilogrammes around the perimeter of the church.

In order for emergency vehicles and vans to get through, a “mobile barrier” in the form of a police vehicle has also been placed in the area.

Barcelona’s basilica of the Sagrada Familia is also holding discussions to see what more can be done to protect the structure, its visitors and those carrying out the construction of the church.

One of the suspects arrested following the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils said that the ultimate plan had originally involved a much larger attack, which included bombing the Sagrada Familia.

A representative of the basilica said that the Sagrada Familia “has a system of security, of prevention, which has been adapted to the characteristics of the church, which has always worked well” for both visitors and employees.—CNA

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

Oldest Latin commentary on the Gospels rediscovered M ISSING for more than 1 500 years, the earliest known Latin commentary on the Gospels was rediscovered at the Cologne Cathedral library, and has now been published in English.

The biblical commentary, penned by 4th-century Italian bishop Fortunatianus of Aquileia, was originally rediscovered in 2012

by Dr Lukas Dorfbauer, a researcher from the University of Salzburg, Austria.

Fortunatianus’ manuscript was widely known to have existed, although many scholars believed it had either been destroyed or permanently lost. St Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin between AD 382 and 405, had also pointed to the existence of this commentary in his work Lives of Famous Men. Dr Dorfbauer found the 100-page document in an unmarked manuscript dating back to about 800 at the Cologne Cathedral library, which had been digitised in 2002.

While other scholars were aware of the document, the majority of its biblical content was overlooked.

But Dr Dorfbauer’s curiosity persisted, and he further researched the manuscript to find that it was not just an anonymous document but rather seemed to date back further than the 9th century.

He began to take notes on the document and cross-checked some of its contents with St Jerome’s writings on Fortunatianus.

His findings were confirmed by experts in England.

“I was able to compare the biblical quotations in the Cologne manuscript with our extensive databases,” said Dr Hugh Houghton, deputy director at the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic

The official logos for Pope Francis’ November trip to Bangladesh and Myanmar. (Photo: CNS/Holy See)

Pope’s visit to Myanmar, Bangladesh confirmed

The rediscovered Fortunatianus manuscript is now regarded as the oldest Latin biblical commentary, predating the late 4th-century writing of St Jerome.

Editing (ITSEE) at the University of Birmingham.

“Parallels with texts circulating in northern Italy in the middle of the 4th century offered a perfect fit with the context of Fortunatianus,” he said, according to the academic journal The Conversation.

D

igital technology was then enlisted from the University of Birmingham’s ITSEE department. Dr Houghton, a specialist in the Latin New Testament, began to pull quotes from the rediscovered manuscript and compared it with other 4th-century texts by using the university’s mega database.

He found that the comparison “seemed to preserve the original form of Fortunatianus’ groundbreaking work”.

“Such a discovery is of considerable significance to our understand-

ing of the development of Latin biblical interpretation, which went on to play such an important part in the development of Western thought and literature,” Dr Houghton said.

The biblical text of the manuscript is of particular significance, as it predates the standard Latin version known as the Vulgate and provides new evidence about the earliest form of the Gospels in Latin.

The 160-chapter commentary focuses mainly on the gospel of Matthew, but also includes brief references to the gospels of Mark, Luke and John.

Because it was rediscovered only recently, it will take time for Fortunatianus’ writings to become “as widely known as the famous writings of later Christian teachers such as Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome”, Dr Houghton said.—CNA

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

A

FTER appealing for an end to the violent persecution of the Rohingya people, a Muslim minority in Myanmar, the Vatican confirmed Pope Francis will visit the country in late November.

After the visit on November 2730 to the cities of Yangon and Naypyitaw in Myanmar, the pope will travel on to Dhaka, Bangladesh, from November 30 to December 2.

After praying the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said he was saddened by the news “of the persecution of a religious minority, our Rohingya brothers and sisters”.

Most of the Rohingya population in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have been denied citizenship in

S

about 20 priests and nearly 2,000 laypeople gathered at the site.

Unable to carry on with their demolition order, the workers and security officials left the venue.

The former church property was demolished in 1992 and was rebuilt as a factory by local authorities. In 2012, the village committee decided to return the property to Changzhi diocese.

“But in April this year, the village committee suddenly said that they have to demolish the old factory and the fencing wall that now belongs to the church,” said Fr Shen.

The Wangcun village branch of the Communist Party and the village committee announced they would dismantle the remaining old factory buildings and fencing, claiming they were built illegally.

The old factory buildings were built by the village committee. The fencing was built by the church.

Fr Shen criticised the committee

for retracting its 2012 decision in returning the property to the church.

“We lodged a complaint in April.

The local authority set up an investigative team that was meant to negotiate with the diocese, but there was no right of reply about their proposal, and so they straight away tried to demolish it by force,” said the priest.

“If it is demolished, the authority would not give any compensation to the diocese. We surely will not agree,” he said.—CNS

OFFICE SPACE TO LET IN PINELANDS, CAPE TOWN

Are you a small business/NGO/NPO that require affordable rental (R6 500 – R7 500 + VAT neg.)?

Look no further. PCSN, a small Non-Profit Organisation has the following rental opportunity available:

• Two rooms, •Two Toilets/shower rooms, •A reasonable sized boardroom ( max 10 pax), •Small kitchenette, •Security system, including remote controlled access to premises as well as 24 hour armed response, •Water, •Ample parking opposite offices, •Access to the back garden, •Within walking distance from Pinelands, Mutual and Ndabeni stations as well as Howard Centre, •Electricity for your own account Premises available from 1 October, 2017.

If interested, please contact Bernadette Adams to arrange a viewing – prisoncarenetwork@gmail.com

BY MARK PATTISON

US court has ruled that a gas pipeline can be built on the land of an order of nuns The Adorers of the Blood of Christ and other landowners in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, lost their court case to keep a natural gas pipeline from being built on their property by Williams Partners and their Transco subsidiary.

Judge Jeffrey Schmel ordered that Transco can have permanent right of way to build the pipeline, as well as right of way on a temporary basis to build it.

The judge also ordered Williams to pay $329 000 to the Adorers and the other landowners for their property.

He discounted the freedom-of-religion argument posed by the Adorers; the landowners were defendants

Pregnant?

Need Help?

WE CARE

081 418 5414 079 742 8861

Myanmar, which is predominantly Buddhist. About 120 000 Rohingya are trapped in internally displacedpersons camps near the state capital, Sittwe. A further 400 000 live in the state’s north, which is under martial law.

Media are forbidden to travel to the region, but reports of atrocities by the military, including rape, murder and burning of villages, have leaked over the past year. The UN says more than 170 000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, in the past five years.

“I would like to express my full closeness to [the Rohingya],” the pope said. “Let us ask the Lord to save them, and to raise up men and women of goodwill to help them, that they may be given full rights.”—CNS

Nuns lose land to gas line

Priests injured defending church A property in Chinese village EVERAL priests and laypeople defending church property were injured during an assault by security officers and workers in China’s northern Shanxi province.

The incident occurred in Wangcun village, part of Changzhi diocese reported ucanews.com.

Frs Chen Jun, Gao Binglong, Ma Ning, Shen Xuezhong and several laypeople were assaulted by security officers and workers who came to demolish a building returned to the Church four years ago. Cui Hewen, a layman, was beaten by workers and suffered injuries to the head.

Prior to the assaults, the priests joined hundreds of laypeople sitting in front of heavy earth-moving equipment to block the demolition work.

News of the assault went viral on the internet, with some Catholics calling for prayers. Others asked for more laypeople to go to the site and provide support. By the afternoon,

5

www.birthright.co.za

NEW FOR 2018 29 MAY TO 10 JUNE

PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE

Visiting Old Constantinople, Dubrovnik and Medugorje.

Organised by Mrs Annie Dierx Cost from R16875

Tel: (031) 266 7702 Fax: (031) 266 8982 Email: judyeichhorst@telkomsa.net

in this case. The order allowed the construction of an outdoor chapel by opponents of the pipeline on their part of the property in question.

Judge Schmel rejected the nuns’ arguement that they would suffer harm to their fundamental rights to free exercise of religion and ownership of property if Transco was granted immediate possession.

The nuns claim that they exercise their “religious beliefs by, among other things, caring for and protecting the land they own”, and that their efforts to “preserve the sacredness of God’s Earth” are integral to the practice of their faith,.

Judge Schmel ruled that the nuns have failed to establish how Transco’s possession of the right of way on their land would “affect their ability to practise their faith and spread their message”.—CNS

6

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

A liturgical peace

P

OPE Francis set down a marker recently when he affirmed “with certainty and magisterial authority that the liturgical reform” which followed the Second Vatican Council “is irreversible”.

Addressing an Italian conference on liturgy, the pope ruled out the possibility of the Church reverting to the pre-conciliar Mass, in Latin and with priests turning their backs to the congregation.

Over the past five decades the liturgical reform has been subject to often bad-tempered debate.

Traditionalists often use the Latin term for the reformed Mass, Novus Ordo, as a pejorative, representing not only what they see wrong with the liturgy but everything else in the post-conciliar Church.

For many progressives, on the other hand, the Old Mass symbolises a move to roll back the reforms of Vatican II. But it is intolerable when the liturgy is being used as a proxy in ideological and theological conflict.

Pope Francis’ words seem to intend shutting down this battleground. The “New Mass” is here to stay, he is saying, and let’s concentrate on perfecting it.

The pope might also have addressed Cardinal Robert Sarah, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments, who has urged priests to celebrate the Eucharist ad orientem, that is, with their backs turned to the congregation. The Holy Father has implicitly repudiated that recommendation.

In truth, in the mainstream of the Church, the liturgical war has gone off the boil in the past decade. One reason for that is, of course, that the lived memory of the Old Mass is fading, due to time and generational change.

There has also been an increasing recognition that the reforms of Vatican II, including the liturgy, didn’t happen out of the blue but were the culmination of decades of deliberation about how to respond to the longstanding needs of the faithful, as Pope Francis noted at the liturgical conference.

For this reason, he said, the Church must continue to rediscover the reasons for the reform and “overcome unfounded and superficial readings, partial revelations, and practices that disfigure it”.

But perhaps the most important event in simmering down the liturgy debate was Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, which was issued ten years ago.

The document, at the time controversial, permitted and encouraged the limited use of the 1962 missal—the last one for the old Latin Mass—in a church community where there is a demand for it.

Rather than legitimising calls for a return to the Old Mass or a contest between rites, Summorum Pontificum provided for a compromise.

Pope Benedict confirmed the New Mass as the ordinary rite— that is, the normative liturgy for the Mass—and the Old Mass as an extraordinary rite, meaning that it cannot be the norm in parishes, or be imposed on those who don’t want it.

Summorum Pontificum provided for a pastoral need, and in doing so diluted the opposition to the New Mass. Indeed, it might even have set in motion a reconciliation between the two rites.

Pope Benedict was right to put into action a plan that would make the Old Mass part of the post-conciliar Church, without it competing with the New Mass. It could not be that the Latin Mass, which for centuries was the lifeblood of the Church, was suddenly not valid any longer.

By permitting it in limited circumstances, Pope Benedict depoliticised the Latin Mass. It has turned out to be what The Southern Cross predicted in an editorial in July 2007: “a pastoral masterstroke which will solve some thorny problems”.

The cycle of life is such that the number of priests who are able to celebrate the Old Mass is diminishing, as are the numbers of the faithful who request it.

Stripped of its ideological baggage, there should be a broad consensus that there is great beauty in the Latin Mass. The art of celebrating it should be preserved.

At the same time it must be acknowledged that the essence of the Mass does not reside in which language it is celebrated or which direction a priest is facing, but in the presence of Christ.

It is fundamental, therefore, that in the Mass due reverence is given to the presence of the Lord, and this can find expression in many ways—in Latin chant and in liturgical dance alike.

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.

No place ever for anti-Semitism NTI-SEMITISM continues to raise ument, which in Article 4 clearly A its ugly head, even in South sets out the relationship of the Africa, as recent press reports have Church with the Jewish people. shown. Yet, this year, we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Seelisberg Conference on anti-Semitism.

The agenda of the conference, which took place in Seelisberg, central Switzerland, in 1947, included finding reasons for the anti-Semitism which existed even after World War II, the horror of the Holocaust, and developing measures to combat it.

Looking back at the conference from the vantage of today, it is remarkable to note with what farsightedness and socio-political realism the participants were able to lay the foundation for theological dialogue between Jews and Christians.

Today it is acceptable to speak about a Judeo-Christian tradition; this would have been unimaginable in 1947.

A group of Jewish, Catholic and Protestant theologians produced a series of ten recommendations at Seelisberg which form the cornerstones of Jewish-Christian dialogue, and these are just as relevant today.

The recommendations were fully integrated into 1965’s Nostra Aetate, the ground-breaking Vatican II doc-

Shock at priests’ rank disrespect

I

WAS stunned and left feeling numb after reading Sr Sue Rakoczy’s column, “How some priests mistreat women” (August 23).

These allegations must be investigated by the Church authorities in Southern Africa and if they are found to be true, the priests must be harshly dealt with.

It would indeed be a sad day for our Church if ordained men who should be leading us to God by example, instead disrespect and treat women in such a manner.

We, the laity, must however bear in mind that there are thousands of good and faithful Catholic priests in the world and it is unfortunate that it is usually only those who are an embarrassment to the Church who make the headlines.

We must pray for all our priests.

Leo van der Sandt, Durban

No priest can excommunicate

S

ISTER Sue Rakoczy mentions how a parish priest excommunicated a woman for falling pregnant without being married. Parish priests have no jurisdiction to pronounce excommunication.

If the sheep-herding performance of a priest falls below the required husbandry level, a refresher

A donation of any amount to the St David’s Marist Foundation Father Bernard Brewer Bursary Fund will have a lasting effect on a young boy’s life – donations can be made via EFT (details below), the Foundation’s website (online donations) or via the Foundation’s Snapscan QR code above.

(Please drop us an email if you donate via Snapscan so that we can acknowledge your donation).

St David’s Marist Foundation Standard Bank Cheque account: 421028289 (Branch code: 019205) The St David’s Marist Foundation is a registered Trust (IT 4826/06) and PBO (930023385), founded in 2006 in support of St David’s Marist Inanda.

For any further information please contact Fiona Budd (Foundation Manager) Email: foundation@stdavids.co.za • Website: http://www.stdavids.co.za/foundation-home.html 36 Rivonia Road, Inanda, Sandton, 2196

Church teachings bind all of us

Y

OUR correspondent Dr Vincent Couling (July 26)—referring to the pope’s comment that he believes the Church owes an apology to those who are gay and whom it has offended—demands an apology from priests who teach that mandatory celibacy is the only option for people of a homosexual orientation.

Is your correspondent muddying the waters or misreading the comment? The Holy Father was working for reconciliation—not trying to bring the Church down.

Both homosexuals and heterosexuals are subject to rules in terms 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

of Catholic doctrine. When these are disobeyed—as they are by numbers of Catholics through passion or weakness—God-given free will comes into play.

The Church would disintegrate if it were to bend the teachings of the Decalogue to pander to the feelings of those of its members, gay or straight, who would like to see unpopular rules rewritten.

With reference to the call for an apology, our priests need not grovel for teaching the celibacy they practise. They have been called to teach the precepts of the Way of Salvation, from which no one is exempt.

Luky Whittle, Kroonstad

Pregnancy take

J

ENNY Uebbing’s take on her pregnancy (August 9) was fascinating. Unfortunately (or fortunately), when you get married, your body becomes someone else’s, for better or for worse.

All ideas of being a Madonna for the world to admire your body in leather underpants and a garter need to be fully buried There is merit in this.

I often wonder how women who have exposed their bodies in magazines, on websites, on billboards, will one day feel when they find true love and contentment in childbearing or marriage.

Those pictures are for everyone to see—and their children too.

Lucy Rubin, Pretoria

Monday 25th September 2017

Give the Gift of a Catholic Marist Education

Help us to give the gift of a Catholic Marist education at St David’s Marist Inanda to a young boy for whom this would ordinarily be an unattainable dream, due to an absence of means.

course should be offered.

If this is to no avail, the bishop should ask himself how this priest could have been ordained in the first place. And in that case, the seminary and its lecturers should take the blame.

JH Goossens, Pretoria

SCHOENSTATT Shrine to Shrine Pilgrimage

ST DAVID’S MARIST FOUNDATION

±8S XIEGL GLMPHVIR ]SY QYWX ½VWX PSZI XLIQ ERH PSZI XLIQ EPP IUYEPP] ² St Marcellin Champagnat: Founder of the Marist Brothers

Seelisberg’s now-famous ten points should be studied in schools and other places of learning.

They are: 1. Remember that One God speaks to us all through the Old and the New Testaments.

2. Remember that Jesus was born of a Jewish mother of the seed of David and the people of Israel, and that his everlasting love and forgiveness embraces his own people and the whole world.

3. Remember that the first disciples, the apostles and the first martyrs were Jews.

4. Remember that the fundamental commandment of Christianity, to love God and one’s neighbour, proclaimed already in the Old Testament and confirmed

by Jesus, is binding upon both Christians and Jews in all human relationships, without any exception.

5. Avoid distorting or misrepresenting biblical or post-biblical Judaism with the object of extolling Christianity.

6. Avoid using the word “Jews”

in the exclusive sense of the enemies of Jesus, and the words “the enemies of Jesus” to designate the whole Jewish people.

7. Avoid presenting the Passion in such a way as to bring the odium of the killing of Jesus upon all Jews or upon Jews alone. It was only a section of the Jews in Jerusalem who demanded the death of Jesus, and the Christian message has always been that it was the sins of mankind which were exemplified by those Jews and the sins in which all men share that brought Christ to the Cross.

8. Avoid referring to the scriptural curses, or the cry of a raging mob, “His blood be upon us and our children”, without remembering that this cry should not count against the infinitely more weighty words of our Lord: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

9. Avoid promoting the superstitious notion that the Jewish people are reprobate, accursed, reserved for a destiny of suffering.

10. Avoid speaking of the Jews as if the first members of the Church had not been Jews.

Sr Marie Andre Mitchell SND, SACBC Department of Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue

CASA SERENA The retirement home with the Italian flair.

7A Marais Road, Bedfordview, Jhb. Provides full board and lodging, medical services and transport.

Senior citizens wishing to retire in this beautiful Home, please phone

011 284 2917 www.casaserena.co.za

07:00: Registration and Blessing at Schoenstatt Shrine, Constantia 07:45: Depart for Constantia Nek (by car) 08:00: Depart Constantia Nek 12 noon HOLY MASS – NEWLANDS FOREST [your picnic lunch afterwards] 16.45: Refreshments at Villa Maria 17:00: Benediction at Villa Maria,Tamboerskloof All pilgrims must have a signed indemnity form. The approximate distance of the walk is 25k.m.± 9 hours, therefore every pilgrim should be fit and in sound health.

Further Information please contact: Clement Nicolls: 021 715-1853 / 082 451-3286, Marcel Barry: 021 705-2119 / 083 454-2209.

The organisers retain the right to cancel the pilgrimage in the event of rain or any unforeseen circumstances.

PERSPECTIVES

How to respond to drug addiction I Raymond Perrier T’S a scourge in our cities and villages.

It wastes lives and it destroys families.

It’s a social problem, a medical problem and a moral problem. It affects every type of family, regardless of colour, religion or income level—but inevitably the poorest suffer more.

We are tempted to blame the victim even though we know that does not actually help address the problem. We feel helpless, and fear that there are no solutions. And so our usual response is simply not to talk about it, in the hope that it will just go away.

The words above were from Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, talking about the impact of drugs. But, as he pointed out, he could so easily have been talking about the impact of HIV and Aids 25 years ago.

Silence and misinformation held us back in our initial response to Aids. It meant that individuals did not get the help they needed for fear of being blamed; that families did not get support for fear of being judged; that communities did not get support for fear of being stigmatised.

We have made a lot of progress in our response to Aids (though it is still far from perfect). But we are only just beginning in responding to drugs.

Sadly, some religious leaders made the initial response to Aids harder by reinforcing the sense of blame and by applying ready-made moral rules to what was a wholly new social problem. But some religious leaders made a major contribution by breaking the silence: their willingness to speak realistically about the problem made it acceptable for others to do so too.

In the exhibition of the life of the late archbishop at the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban, we have a photo of him and a very young Zweli Mkhize, then KwaZuluNatal’s MEC for Health, wearing red ribbons and talking about Aids back in the mid-1990s.

Cardinal Napier has been standing alongside other religious leaders to do the same in tackling drugs: encouraging them to speak about it so that families will also speak out and ask for help without fear of being stigmatised.

At an initial event at the Denis Hurley Centre, Cardinal Napier shared a stage with Hindu, Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders, standing side-by-side and talking about drugs. They did not talk about addiction as something remote and alien that happened out there to other people. Instead, they bravely shared stories about how addiction had affected their own family members and their home communities.

If drugs are found even in their families, they were saying, don’t be afraid to ask for help when it happens in yours.

T

his approach is filtering down through the religious structures. For example, Durban’s hundred Catholic priests spent a day last year learning about drugs, and reflecting on what role they, as priests, should play as leaders in their local communities.

Fr Grant Emmanuel recounted a chilling story of his first arrival in Chatsworth.

He was told there was a big drugs problem but he didn’t see it. Perhaps, he thought, it was all an exaggeration.

Then he visited a family and discovered in their home not just the two children whom he had met at church but a third child who effectively had been locked away in an attempt to help him tackle his addiction. How many more

Adding finishing touches to one of the bedrooms in the new Napier Centre 4 Healing dormitory are (from left) Murray Leyden, Charmaine Emmanuel and SAPS Major-General Victoria Mekute. The centre will help homeless people overcome drug addiction. (Photo: Val Adamson)

Faith and Society

families, he wondered, are also hiding their drug problem for fear that their religious community and even their pastor might reject them?

Religious leaders who have their own problems of addiction—all too often to alcohol—are especially well placed to minister to those in need: if they can be open about it.

US Jesuit Father Thomas Weston recently toured Southern Africa to give courses and retreats about addiction as part of this year’s Winter Living Theology, the programme offered every year by the Jesuit Institute.

It is because he is a recovering alcoholic himself that Fr Weston can minister so effectively in this area. Having been sober for 40 years, he understands how challenging it is.

But he also knows it is possible to overcome any addiction with assistance from others and the help of God’s grace.

It is the ingredient he refers to as “God’s grace” that is key to the religious response to addiction. Many people will know of the 12-step programme that is taught by organisations like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous— both of which are doing wonderful work and often meet in our churches.

Although these are explicitly non-religious organisations, open to people of all faiths, one of the steps they ask addicts to take is the recognition that there is a “higher power” who can help them overcome their addiction.

We may call this higher power by different names (or by no name at all), but, they argue, we cannot ignore the key role it plays in the lives of addicts to help them move beyond themselves.

The most effective programmes for tackling addiction that I have seen are those that recognise the importance of spirituality in the life of the addict: Continued on page 11

Our heritage and our common home Toni Rowland ‘W

HERE on earth did you come from and where in heaven do you think you’re going?”

This question is the core of a little booklet with the title “Our Catholic Heritage”, produced by MARFAM some 15 years ago.

These questions are still as relevant but the situations of families and of our countries and our world are changing continually.

Populations are shifting. Countries in Europe that were overwhelmingly “homegrown” are becoming more multicultural and multireligious.

Among the many reasons for this is the low local birthrate resulting in foreign workers being invited in. Another related reason is the large influx of refugees.

Not exactly being invited, these migrants very often do not feel welcomed, in part because of natural differences and traditions they bring with them, as well as a sense of threat felt by people in the host country.

The news do not paint a clear picture of the African situation in respect to migrants.

Uganda reportedly received half a million refugees last year, the largest number in the world. People flee from war and conflict in neighbouring countries and because of their numbers, they are naturally a burden on their hosts.

In South Africa we experience spates of what we have come to call xenophobia.

Foreigners seeking a better life here can become or are seen to be a threat to locals.

Pope Francis speaks often of the world as our common home. In his message for the 2018 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, he lists four verbs as challenges for action: to welcome, to protect, to promote, and to integrate.

The themes of “Our Catholic Heritage”, “The World, Our Home” and Pope Francis’ four tasks can be worked through together for the good of all our citizens: those born here, those who have lived here for generations and those who have

Family Friendly

Migrants at a Red Cross refugee camp in Johannesburg. Pope Francis offers four words to instruct us on how to meet migrants: to welcome, protect, promote and integrate. (Photo: Kim Ludbrook, EPA/CNS) immigrated.

Yes, integration into a new country is important. However, a people’s identity also needs to be cherished for their sense of belonging, their psychological and social wellbeing.

H

ow do we describe identity and how can we recognise components making up a home?

There could be the way a home looks, structures and styles. A house is not a home without people so personalities and ways of acting and behaving of family members, appearances, foods and fads all contribute to a sense of identity.

Are these not still important in today’s globalised world? Maybe teenagers want to be clones of others, at least for a time, or maybe they want to rebel against the accepted mould, but a loss of a sense of identity is a loss nevertheless, and one that has consequences.

Of Pope Francis’ tasks, welcoming is our responsibility as citizens, and it can be the nicest part. It would include meeting one another as families of different kinds.

Learning about our backgrounds and life experiences, the foods and fads can be enjoyable.

Sharing faith experiences can also be interesting as well as challenging. In parishes it’s easier to match up a local family and a foreign one who are both Catholic, but possibly with a different way of living our faith.

Interdenominational sharing from different Christian backgrounds or even interfaith sharing with those who are not Christian requires an open mind and heart.

A few families I know responded to invitations from a Turkish community to share in a fast-breaking meal during the month of Ramadan. We Catholics felt warmly welcomed, but so far I am not aware of any reciprocation.

Protecting migrants is mostly out of our domain. Promoting and integrating are again for everyone but the more personal the better. It is hard to promote something we don’t know about. Integrating is also structural, involving school, church, health and welfare services too.

So where on earth do I come from and where in heaven do I hope to go?

My heritage as a first-generation immigrant Catholic is valuable to me, but sadly less so to my children and grandchildren.

On Grandparents Day I hauled out some beautiful photos of my Dutch ancestors but I can’t say there was a great deal of interest from the younger generations.

But I’m happy that at least there are some things—foods and sweets—that appeal to some of them. Zoute drop, that strange Dutch salty liquorice, is after all either an inherited or acquired taste, maybe with at least a touch of cultural predisposition about it.

Just imagine that being part of an

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

7

Patrick de Laroche

Point of Ministry

Who are the people in your parish?

M

OST people would understand a parish as a grouping of people who come to church on Sundays. But originally the word referred to a locality rather than a grouping of people.

In this case, your parish should consist of three groups of people within a geographical area: those in the pews; those who are house-bound and unable to make it into the pews; and those in the area who are not in the pews, for whatever reason.

Admittedly those in the pews are also there for various reasons that create their own challenges.

Jesus commissioned his disciples (church) to go and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19).

That is in essence what a Parish Pastoral Council is commissioned to do: to organise a community that builds up discipleship in the neighbourhood.

Discipleship requires the participation and collaboration on the part of those in the pews. It is not a “spectator sport”.

Taking Communion to the home-bound, visiting the sick, bereaved and lonely within the community, taking them meals—those are essential parish ministries. This form of apostolate provides the home-bound disciples with a vital link with Christ’s body. We show that we care and think about them.

The third group of people are those who for whatever reason have no interest in being in the pews, who may be materially or spiritually poor, or may not even have a relationship with God. They may easily be perceived as being “outside” of the parish. They may be apart, but they really are a part of what a parish is. Pope Francis refers to them as being “on the fringes”.

They may view those in the pews as unaccepting and intolerant of differences, exclusive rather than inclusive, conditional in their acceptance of others rather than unconditional, part of a closed institution, stuffy, boring and self-righteous. People they cannot relate to. So they remain on the fringes.

This may be because of their marital or cohabitation status, their sexual orientation, their different beliefs, their chosen lifestyle and life choices, their social standing, their different views on the existence or non-existence of God, or whatever other reason.

The people on the fringes are the very people Jesus would have reached out to and engaged with. “I have not come to call the righteous,” Jesus said (Mk 2:17). He met them where they were at and without precondition to conform.

In imitation of Christ, we need to guard ourselves against the closed doors and walls of selfrighteousness.

What are we in the pews doing about this?

Hopefully not just staying in our pews.

Pope Francis refers to the Church as a “field hospital”. A field hospital is messy, and so is life.

It does not limit itself to primary-care medicine.

Maybe we are afraid of whom we might let in if we open our doors too wide. Perhaps Jesus himself may slip in with the crowd—and then, what will he ask us to change?

So when we think about who is in our parish, also think beyond our pews. n Patrick de Laroche is the chair of the Parish Pastoral Council in Victory Park, Johannesburg.

VIVA SAFARIS KRUGER PARK with

Send your overseas friends and family on an unforgettable safari with VIVA SAFARIS

www.vivasafaris.com Bookings: vivasaf@icon.co.za or 071 842 5547

8

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

COMMUNITY Holy Cross Primary School in Aliwal North diocese in the Eastern Cape celebrated Bible Sunday with activities in the week before.

Among them were a Bible quiz, each class performing a song from the Bible, and pupils dressing up as biblical characters.

Lydia Stober (left) and Martha Davids (right) are seen with Sr Mariclara Henneböle on the 55th anniversary of their consecration to Our Lady as part of the Schoenstatt Family Movement in Constantia, Cape Town. Sr Henneböle was their spiritual sister, introducing them to Schoenstatt in 1961.

The Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholic community at St Francis of Assisi parish in Yeoville, Johannesburg, welcomed its new chaplain, Fr Yoseph Yakob Guduno.

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za

Fr Tom Segami of St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, blessed parishioners’ personal Bibles during Bible Sunday Mass.

(Photo: Sello Mokoka)

Ballet pupils at St Anthony’s School in Heathfield, Cape Town, participated in a school arts festival held at the Artscape Theatre on the Foreshore. They are all students at Rhônel Stoltz Dance Studio, whose eponymous owner is a parishioner at St Pius X church in Plumstead.

PRICE CHECK For the price of one issue of The Southern Cross you get four cigarettes The

S outhern C ross www.scross.co.za

Priest’s lesson: Life can change in a flash

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

Page 8

No 5047

R8,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Comrades winner with rosary in hand

How much is right to give to the Church?

Page 10

Page 7

Child safety pilot policy to be tested

or

BY ERIN CARELSE

T

HE implementation of the Child Safeguarding Policy of the archdiocese of Cape Town, which was launched in April last year—a pilot project for the rest of the Southern African Church—will now be audited in every parish.

The Child Safeguarding Policy (CSP) applies to all clergy, religious employees, those involved in ministries and volunteers in the parish—including catechists—who interact with children on its behalf.

According to the policy, all such people now require a police clearance.

In the preamble of the policy, the archdiocese states its commitment to safeguarding all children who interact with the Church, and recognises that in all matters concerning a child, the child’s best interest is of paramount importance.

It also recognises that children have a right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, and abuse; and that the archdiocese has a duty to ensure that these rights are protected in all circumstances in which children interact with the Church.

Michael Baker, child safeguarding officer for the archdiocese, said that the first full audit of the state of implementation of the policy in every parish is about to take place.

“This audit will help to focus that support, which is so important. For the parish the concept of a formal safeguarding policy is new, and the Child Safeguarding Coordinator ministry is new,” he said.

“The growth of a culture of child safeguarding within each parish community can only truly occur with an understanding of the full motivation for the policy. We are safeguarding children within our parish; the law requires it; we can contribute to safeguarding children in our broader communities and lastly, we safeguard the Church, we heal the Body of Christ,” Mr Baker said.

The policy has also been distributed formally to other dioceses through the structure of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’

T

Conference. Each bishop will then adapt the policy to suit the circumstances of his diocese.

“The abuse of the vulnerable in our society, particularly women and children, requires action, requires taking responsibility. The Child Safeguarding Policy is the Church taking action, taking responsibility. It is now up to all of us to play our role,” Mr Baker said.

The 40-page CSP was launched in April 2016 with a full workshop comprising all parish child safeguarding coordinators as well as many members of the clergy.

Parishes are now at various stages of the implementation process with support from the chancery where it becomes evident that this is required.

The purpose of the policy is to ensure that all persons interacting with children on behalf of the Church—in parish or diocesan bodies— take every possible measure to prevent child abuse; to ensure generally the safety and wellbeing of all children; to provide an instrument for the upholding of the rights of children and to align the policies of the Church with the legal framework of the country.

The policy aims to ensure a transparent and effective response, if cases of abuse arise.

In the foreword to the CSP, Archbishop Stephen Brislin wrote that parishes should be a “home away from home” for children—a place where they will be safe, happy and experience the joy of belonging to a Christian community.

Seen in the corridor of the refurbished dormitory of Napier Centre 4 Healing are (clockwise from front left) Pearl Ramotsamai (member of centre’s executive), Major-General Victoria Mekute (patron), Carl Emmanuel (executive member and construction consultant), local parish priest Fr Paulus Ndlovu TOR, volunteer Charmaine Emmanuel, Murray Leyden (acting treasurer and legal advisor) and patron Cardinal Wilfrid Napier OFM, archbishop of Durban.

The drug rehabilitation centre aims to be fully operational by the beginning of 2018. See page 2 for our report on the centre. (Photo: Val Adamson)

Soccer club prays in cathedral

G

ERMAN football side FC Cologne hosted an annual ecumenical service in the Catholic cathedral of Cologne before its first home game of the season, against SV Hamburg.

Fans holding scarves in the club’s red and white colours filled the huge cathedral, singing along to the club anthem being played on the organ.

The badge of FC Cologne, who finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season, pictures the “Dom”, as the cathedral is known in German.

Cologne is a traditionally Catholic city.

This year was the fourth season-opening service in the cathedral. Remarkably, in each one of those four seasons the team improved from the previous year’s performance, though coach Peter Stöger anticipates a tough 2017/18 season.

“It has become a tradition in Cologne as the season begins to ask God for a fair sporting competition—and for calm in the case of defeats,” said Mgr Robert Kleine, representative of the archdiocese of Cologne.

He added that the service is an occasion

A flag depicts the badge of FC Cologne with the towers of the city’s cathedral and the mascot, a billy-goat named Hennes. for all football fans of whatever sporting or religious adherence to celebrate and pray— joking that even fans of Bayern Munich, the country’s most-supported and also mosthated club, are welcome.

Cardinal Rainer Woelki, archbishop of Cologne, is a keen fan of the club known in his city only as “Der FC”.

Feed your soul with

Thank you for helping your Southern Cross

HANK YOU! Thank you to the priests who speak about The Southern Cross from the pulpit to encourage their parishioners to buy the newspaper.

Thank you to the parishes that sell editions of The Southern Cross which the Post Office failed to deliver on time.

Thank you to the many people who take such great care that The Southern Cross is collected, unpacked, displayed and sold in the parishes—and a special thanks to those who stand in doorways, refusing to let anyone pass without

buying the weekly Catholic newspaper.

These good people, most of them unknown to us, are as important in the social communications apostolate of The Southern Cross as the editor.

Thank you to our advertisers, whether they advertise because they know it works or simply as a way of sup‐ porting The Southern Cross. As an inde‐ pendent newspaper we rely on circulation and advertising revenue— every advert that is placed helps us sur‐ vive.

Thank you, our loyal readers. While

the impact of the digital revolution has not exempted The Southern Cross from declining circulation, the effect has not been nearly as dramatic as that experi‐ ence by other newspapers. Our readers clearly love their Southern Cross, be it in newsprint or in the form of our digital edition.

Thank you to our volunteers who in‐ vest so much of their time in keeping the newspaper alive.

And thank you to those who support us through the Associates Campaign, such as the kind 90+ year old pensioner

who signed up to safeguard the news‐ paper’s future.

The Associates Campaign is tightly managed so that contributions can be used only for specified purposes. Most of it goes into outreach programmes and replenishing our depleted reserves.

There are many ways to support The Southern Cross to ensure its survival: by buying it, by promoting it in the parishes, by advertising in it, and by supporting our Associates Campaign with an annual contribution.

To do so is easy: choose one of the

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria blessed the new tabernacle at Holy Trinity Olifantsfontein, an outstation of Holy Trinity parish in Midrand, and said Mass for the community. The parish pastoral council team, the archbishop and Fr Joseph Wilson are seen before the lit tabernacle.

Frail/assisted care in shared or single rooms.

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

Rates include meals, laundry and 24-hour nursing.

Day Care and short stay facilities also available.

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

August 30 to September 5, 2017

Grade 8s at Holy Rosary High School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, competed in a dance competition, part of the life orientation and physical education syllabus. The Merge group winners were (from left at back) Sasekani Usiba, Electra Barbas, Arianna Lenghel, Theresa Mthembu and Nompumelelo Putuka and (from left at front) Rhema Khawaja, Zawadi Beseti, Moshibudi Rampedi, Bontle Mametse and Angelina da Silva.

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).

Make your contribution into the ac‐ count: 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.

The

S outher n C ross

IT’S WORTH IT!

Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Charism Then as a‘Loving Daughter of the Heart of and Mary this inImmacualte Suffering is your chance to rekindle the light of LOVE and of the GOOD NEWS to the: Mission’ We evangelise, nurse the sick and aged, catechise youth, children and old, outcast and neglected.

For more information contact The Vocation Directoress

P.O. Box 17204 Witbank, 1035; Tel: 013 656 3708; Cell: 082 838 5428 lekgala.m@gmail.com

P.O. Box 864, Glen Cowie, 1061 Cell: 076 923 8319

LIFE

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

9

Does SA need a hate speech law?

A new proposed law will make hate speech and incitement a prosecutable crime. Bishop VICTOR PHALANA sees the point of such a law—and big risks.

P

ARLIAMENT will debate a proposed law that will make hate speech illegal.

The draft of the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill still needs revision, especially in terms of conforming to the Constitution.

The Bill aims to: l give effect to South Africa’s obligations in terms of the Constitution and international human rights instruments concerning racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in accordance with international law obligations; l provide for the prosecutable offences of hate crimes and hate speech; l provide for appropriate sentences that may be imposed on persons who commit hate crime and hate speech offences; l provide for the prevention of hate crimes and hate speech.

Corrective rape, attacking and injuring a foreign national for being a foreigner, and racial murder will all be classified under hate crimes and carry hefty sentences.

Earlier this year, I participated in a round-table discussion organised by the Hanns Seidel Foundation with the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office in Cape Town. The guest speaker was John Jeffery, deputy minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. He impressed me as someone who is honest and truthful.

The state would like to prosecute those people who promote hatred.

It is meant to be a deterrent and a way of challenging historical racism.

Hate speech is a serious issue. It affects individuals and the society at large.

There are people in South Africa who advocate hatred for people of other groups, using social media, for example. Some people call for hatred of people because of their skin colour, disability, nationality, or age.

In some cases, people call for the annihilation of a particular group.

Others call for the rape of lesbians and call it “corrective”, a term which makes the absurd assumption that after having been raped by males, a lesbian would thereafter prefer the sexual company of men.

Speech and the written word can hurt—and it can even cause a civil conflict. Some of those who engage in hate speech hide behind the principle of “freedom of expression” to provoke and hurt others.

The Hate Speech Bill, as I understand it, is meant to discourage people from propagating belligerent conflict.

The Bill purports to provide for the criminal prosecution of persons who commit the offences of hate crimes and hate speech.

Through this Bill, the state is trying to protect people from racism, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and so forth.

Preach as you like, except...

To us, as Church, the proposed law says that we can preach and write as we like, but we may not incite war or violence against others.

If a preacher, teacher or leader incites people to cause harm, for instance by saying that certain people must be killed or otherwise removed from society, then that is hate speech. Under the proposed law, such a demagogue would be prosecuted and sentenced.

Mr Jeffery at the round-table noted an inconsistency: when Christians are persecuted, they support the prevention of hate speech.

But when Christians preach hatred, they challenge the criminalisation of hate speech (though,of course, they’d not call their words that).

So there are concerns for religious leaders, and we Catholic bishops have discussed that.

There was a great reaction from the bishops earlier this year, when the CPLO representatives Mike Pothier and Fr Peter-John Pearson came to present the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill.

Some of the concerns of the bishops was that under the Bill there is a possibility that priests or preachers might be prosecuted for their sermons.

There was a fear that one might

face the might of the law for having preached against, for example, homosexuality, abortion and abortionists.

Are we not moving to a point where the Church can be taken to court for its teachings and homilies?

Some bishops feel that instead of introducing a new Bill, we need to start to behave and to relate well as compatriots.

Instead of a new Bill, which would overburden our already overextended criminal justice system, it would be better for the Church and the state to focus more on building our society.

We can help schools, faith-based communities and our nation at large to interact more, to dialogue, to be more tolerant of each other, to accept each other and to respect each other. Shouldn’t we be focusing more on social cohesion and nation-building?

The other concern is that this Bill might threaten the freedoms of expression, speech and religion.

Some of the participants at the round-table argued that we already have the Equality Act and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention

of Unfair Discrimination Act which ensure the “prevention, prohibition and elimination of unfair discrimination, hate speech and harassment”. Why do we need a new Bill?

Danger of the Bill Some argued that this Bill will actually lay the foundation for the stifling of unwanted criticism by the state or the limiting of the freedom of expression by groups or individuals who are unable to cope with criticism or views that may be different from their own.

We might see the persecution for “hate speech” of journalists, cartoonists, comedians and satirists for criticising the president and his or her government.

Many groups in the country, including faith-based organisations, have been consulted and they gave their feedback: asking that the Bill be withdrawn. They are ready to take it to the Constitutional Court and they believe it will not pass constitutional muster.

We still have to wait for it to be taken to cabinet and then, later this year, to Parliament. If it is passed by Parliament, there remains the option of the Constitutional Court.

Mr Jeffrey said that the ministry brought the Bill out for public comment because it believes that through that process, it will be refined and tightened up, and will address some of the fears of people.

According to him, what will go to cabinet and Parliament will change drastically from the original draft, as a result of the comments and criticisms.

A well-known choreographer and gay activist, Somizi Mhlongo, stormed out of the Grace Bible Church of Pastor Musa Sono in Soweto during what he called an “offending” sermon.

The guest preacher was a Ghanaian pastor whom I know personally, Dag Heward-Mills, who said that homosexuality was so disgusting even animals did not “practise” it.

Mr Somizi walked out during the sermon as a form of protest.

Whatever one may think about the content or tone of Rev HeardMills’ sermon, our fear is that in the future, an individual can drag a preacher to court and accuse him or her of preaching a homophobic sermon.

If the Bill is passed in its current form, it can criminalise a sermon or a speech that one finds “offensive”.

And some things are almost universally regarded by reasonable people as hate speech, but not every offending comment is objectively hate speech.

The question is: Can a judge be in a position to decide whether a sermon is objectively “offensive” or not? By what measures do you determine whether a talk or an article is dehumanising or not?

But then there is the converse concern. Sivu Siwisa, speaking on behalf of transgender groups, has said: “For religious leaders to preach homosexuality as improper or unacceptable puts the lives of many LGBTIAPQ+ at risk and promotes and normalises hate and discrimination, which may directly or indirectly result in hate crimes.

“In a country like South Africa, with a staggering number of LGBTIAPQ+ persons being murdered because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, it is important to caution religious leaders against promoting hate and intolerance in any way.” n Bishop Phalana heads the diocese of Klerksdorp.

Become an Associate - Your contribution makes a difference The Associates Campaign is an integral support to The Southern Cross ensuring that it continues its apostolic outreach, developing the means of transmitting our Catholic values in the new forms of media and safeguarding its future in these uncertain economic times.

BY BECOMING OR REMAINING AN ASSOCIATE YOu WILL:

C

N



SELECT

M PA I G

A

• Safeguard the future of The Southern Cross. The Associates Campaign is a bedrock in which the existence of The Southern Cross is rooted.

• Enable us to develop our presence on the constantly evolving technological platforms to meet young Catholics where they are. This is a substantial but absolutely essential undertaking which our income from sales and advertising simply cannot cover.

• Support our apostolate to prisoners to help them convert to a life with Christ. As St Paul admonishes us: “Keep in mind those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them… since you too are in the one body” (Heb 13:3). Our outreach currently serves 24 prisons (as well as six army bases); it is funded entirely by the Associates Campaign.

• Ensure that all our seminarians may have access to The Southern Cross so that they remain in touch with the events and thinking of the local and worldwide Church.

• Help us give young journalists a foundation in religious reporting at a time when the secular press covers our Church only in relation to bad news.

□ Cardinal Owen McCann Associate - annual contribution is R1500 or □ □ □

more. Cardinal Owen McCann Associates will receive a free postal or digital subscription to The Southern Cross St Maximilian Kolbe Associate - annual contribution of between R500 and R1499.

St Francis de Sales Associate - annual contribution of R100 or more.

Dorthy Day Associate - debit order or once-off payment

Title............... Name.....................................................................

Address........................................................................................ .................................................................................Code ...........

Tel/Cell..........................................................................................

E-mail..........................................................................................

Banking details: Standard Bank, Thibault Square Branch (Code 020909), The Southern Cross, Acc No: 276876016 (please fax or e-mail deposit slip or confirmation) l Fax Number: 021 465-3850, Email: admin@scross.co.za

10

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

SA CHURCH 200

How the Catholic Church came to SA For a long time the Catholic Church could not practise in what is now South Africa.

FR ANTHONY EGAN SJ looks at the beginnings of the Church in our region.

I

N June 2018 the Catholic Church will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its official foundation in South Africa.

The Church has participated— acted and been acted upon—in two centuries of our history, from the colonial to what we might call the post-colonial period.

It has played a major role in primary and secondary education through elite colleges and mission schools, working within “Bantu Education” while trying (ultimately successfully) to subvert it.

It has made a significant contribution to health care from mission hospitals to antiretroviral drug rollouts (the first in South Africa), engaging in the process in the development—and controversies— of medicine and public health.

Catholic scholars and public intellectuals have engaged with fellow South Africans on every manner of issue—from philosophy, theology, history and literature to areas as varied as Jan Smuts’ theory of holism and the politics of race, revolution and reconciliation.

Inevitably too, and perhaps most importantly, the Church has been a voice for justice, democracy and human rights, alone and in cooperation with other churches, faith communities and civil society.

It has also at times lived comfortably within colonial, segregationist, apartheid and democratic ideologies, turning a blind eye to injustice. Indeed it might more rightly be suggested that it often found itself on both sides of the divide because of its demographics, increasingly a mirror of South African society.

Before we embark on our historical journey we need to reflect on how the Catholic Church in South Africa came to be what it is today.

The legal entity we call the South African Catholic Church falls under the jurisdiction of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, an association of bishops established in 1951 serving in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland. For a number of decades it also included bishops in Lesotho and Namibia.

In the 19th century, before such states existed, the bishops served territories as far afield as presentday Zimbabwe: the whole of British Southern Africa and the Boer republics. At its “birth” in 1818 this whole territory was actually under

Bishop Patrick Raymund Griffith, South Africa’s first resident bishop. a “mega-diocese” (then called a vicariate) of Mauritius.

Why Mauritius? And why was Catholicism only established in what is now South Africa in 1818?

Roots of anti-Catholicism Four years before the Dutch colonised the Cape in 1652, the Thirty Years War in Europe was ended by the Treaty of Westphalia.

Since religion had been a key element in this war—between Catholic and Protestant states—one of the key points of the treaty was the principle of cuius regio, eius religio: that the religion of the ruler would be the official religion of the state. Whatever toleration of religion existed in any state was at the whim of the ruler.

About the same time the United Provinces of the Netherlands was finally established after a long war of liberation fought against Catholic Spain.

Though the new Netherlands was religiously mixed and relatively tolerant, this tolerance did not extend to its great mercantile enterprise, the Dutch East India Company—or to the territories it ruled on behalf of the Netherlands overseas.

The Dutch East India Company was strongly Protestant, Calvinist, in belief and made it policy that Catholicism in its territories was prohibited. No Catholic churches could be built, nor could priests or nuns live and minister, even informally.

This policy was ruthlessly enforced at the Cape until 1804, so much so that even shipwrecked priests or bishops temporarily at the Cape were forbidden to function.

This strongly anti-Catholic line was enhanced at the Cape by the arrival and integration of French Huguenots (Protestants) fleeing

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

from persecution in Catholic France.

A measure of the degree to which this was enforced is illustrated by an account of a visit to the Cape of French scientists and diplomats bound for Siam (now Thailand). One of the scientists, the Jesuit astronomer Fr Guy Tachard, recounts their arrival at the Cape on May 22, 1685, to acquire stores for the second half of their journey.

Their party was warmly welcomed by the governor, Simon van der Stel, and his committee. Over the next few days, the Dutch took Fr Tachard and his colleagues on a tour of the colony. They showed them wildlife, took them to the top of Table Mountain, providing them with a small makeshift observatory to study the stars.

Since Fr Tachard and his party were laden with the most advanced scientific equipment of the time— as befitting an expedition funded

by King Louis XIV—they used part of the time to calculate the longitude of Cape Town.

But one thing they were absolutely forbidden to do: celebrate the Eucharist or engage in any public ministry to what turned out to be a significant minority of Catholics in Cape Town.

“Hardly had we taken possession of our little observatory, when the Catholics of this Colony, who are fairly numerous, got to hear of it and showed very great joy,” Fr Tachard reported.

“Morning and evening they visited us secretly. They were of all countries and of all classes, freemen and slaves, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Flemish, and Indian. Those who could not express themselves otherwise, because we did not understand their language, knelt and kissed our hands. They drew their rosaries and medals from their necks to show us that they were Catholics; they wept, and struck their breasts.”

Since their ships were effectively French territory they could attend to services on board, but no citizen at the Cape was allowed to be present.

However much this offended the religious sensibilities of Fr Tachard and his fellow priests, they apparently kept to the bargain.

They were after all diplomats as well as clergy who thoroughly understood the risk of creating a diplomatic incident.

A Protestant headstart In 1686, shipwrecked Portuguese priests stayed at Rondebosch until they could return to Europe. They too were not allowed to say Mass.

In March 1739 Jesuit Father Loppin and two other priests celebrated a few Masses in Cape Town—but privately and in secret.

Anti-Catholic prejudice was so

Journey Through The Fifth Gospel Pilgrimage

7 - 19 May 2018

Holy Land & Cairo Led by Fr Keith Gordon-Davis • Guide: Rimon Makhlouf Book now - Full payment only in Feb 2018

Contact Gail now at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone 076 352-3809 or 021 551-3923

www.fowlertours.co.za/gospel

Engage with us online Tweet us twitter.com/ScrossZA

instagram.com/southerncrossmedia

admin@stanthonyshome.org www.stanthonyshome.org

facebook.com/thescross

www.scross.co.za

A painting of Cape Town’s St Mary’s cathedral by A Sturgis in 1903. It looked much like this in 1862, when Bishop Griffith died. severe that when it became known in 1780 that the new harbour master, Francois Duminy, was Catholic, he was dismissed.

In short, Protestant Christianity (and later Islam) had a religious monopoly, and therefore a significant religious headstart at the Cape for roughly 150 years.

Colonists worshipped in Protestant, mainly Dutch Reformed, churches. Protestant churches started mission work among the KhoiKhoi and Xhosa they encountered. After the British permanently annexed the Cape in 1806, Anglicans and Methodists entered both the “colonial” and “mission” fields.

Catholicism had a brief look-in for two years, between 1804-06, during the era of the Batavian Republic in the Netherlands.

Inspired by Enlightenment ideas of religious freedom, the commissioner-general of the Cape, De Mist, allowed three Catholic priests —Frs Lansink, Nelissen and Prinsen—to minister as military chaplains to the Dutch garrison. Services were held in a room at the Castle in Cape Town—in effect the first Catholic chapel, however improvised it was.

This concession was swept away again after the second British occupation in 1806. The commander of the occupying forces, Sir David Baird, a Scottish Presbyterian, sent the chaplains packing together with the Dutch troops. Baird, who was generally generous, possibly did this to appease Dutch Calvinists.

Once the territory was confirmed as British by the treaty of 1814 that ended the Napoleonic Wars in Europe (barring 1815’s battle of Waterloo, of course), the Vatican tried to established a Cape vicariate (a territory under a bishop that in due time would become a diocese).

Fr Edward Bede Slater, a Benedictine monk, was made vicar apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope and surrounding islands—which included Australia and New Zealand—in February 1818. But Bishop Slater, who died in 1832, was forbidden by London to live at the Cape. Rome, then extended his territory to Mauritius and Madagascar.

Based on Mauritius, he visited Cape Town only once: for a few weeks in 1820 en route to Mauritius. He left behind Fr Patrick Scully, an Irishman who had arrived in the Cape the previous year, to set up a small chapel in Harrington Street, Cape Town.

Cape Town’s first church Started in October 1822, the chapel was badly built, and was washed away during torrential storms that hit Cape Town in 1837.

From accounts we have, the chaotic construction was a mirror of the conflicts Fr Scully faced with his congregation, most of whom were relatively unchurched and fractious.

Lawsuits over the church and disputes over who owned it must have worn Fr Scully down. He left

the Cape in July 1824.

Over the next decade a handful of priests—English, Irish and Dutch, plus a Spaniard, Fr Thomas Moral OP—engaged in itinerant ministry in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Grahamstown. Once again their ministry was confined to Catholic colonists and soldiers.

By the 1830s the political and religious climate in Europe, especially in Britain, was changing. The complex post-Reformation situation of the Catholic Church in Britain was eased. Greater toleration of the Catholic Church in Britain had a knock-on effect in the colonies.

A new bishop arrives By 1837 Britain was willing to allow a resident vicar apostolic at the Cape. The man chosen by Rome for the job was an Irish Dominican, Bishop Patrick Raymund Griffith, born in 1798.

It was Bishop Griffith who in 1841 began the construction of St Mary’s cathedral, which was dedicated ten years later.

Bishop Griffith’s was an onerous task. The territory of the vicariate— now split off from Mauritius and Madagascar—stretched west to east from Cape Town to Portuguese East Africa (today’s Mozambique), and northwards (in theory) as far as present-day Zimbabwe.

Covering this vast area, Bishop Griffith had a handful of priests at first. Even as the number of clergy from Europe increased, it was never enough to go around. For this reason, his focus was initially on ministry to Catholic colonists.

This was partly a result of a “five mile rule” which restricted the creation of new mission stations within five miles of existing ones.

Given that much of the colony had already been “colonised” by Protestant missionary societies, there was limited room for him to manoeuvre. Even if he’d had enough clergy.

As vicar apostolic, the bishop was supposed to visit Catholics under his charge regularly. Distances made it impossible.

The sheer problem of geography, rather than a sudden increase in Catholics (whether among colonists or from African missions), led Bishop Griffith to petition Rome to split his territory into two vicariates in 1846.

Moreover, the socio-economic conditions of east and west were dramatically different.

The western area included the growing city of Cape Town, the winelands and farms of the present-day Western Cape; the east was a frontier zone of cattle farming and periodic wars over land and cattle between settlers and the Xhosa.

In 1847 a new vicariate was established, and it would launch a new chapter in the story of the Southern African Church, as we will see next week. n This article is part of a series on the history of the Southern African Church, produced by the Jesuit Institute in association with the Daily Maverick.

CLASSIFIEDS

Sybil Muriel Adams

C

ATHOLIC community activist, educator, and musician and singer Sybil Muriel Adams died on August 10 at the age of 95.

She was a devout Catholic and an active member of St Mary of the Angels parish in Athlone, Cape Town.

Sybil was born in District 6 on February 26, 1922, the youngest of 13 children, and was academically gifted. She attended St Philip’s Primary and then Trafalgar High, set up for “coloured students of academic promise”.

She did her teaching diploma at Wesley Teachers’ Training College in the 1940s, where she met her husband, Leonard Adams.

Due to apartheid, the young couple wanted to emigrate to Canada, but their application for a passport was denied. This was a very difficult time for Sybil, as some of her siblings chose to be reclassified “white” and moved to other areas in Cape Town or immigrated to Britain.

Sybil was always a passive resistor and activist for political change. During the “heavier days” of apartheid, her home in Crawford, due to its proximity to Hewat Teachers’ College and Alexander Sinton High School,

was a place where protesting students could find refuge when fleeing from riot police.

Peggy Hollander, a close cousin and ex-deputy chair of the National Council of Provinces, recalls Sybil as being “someone who had the gift of discernment”.

Mahdie and Sharifa Kriel, neighbours of Sybil’s for 37 years, said she was extremely dedicated to teaching, highly respected by her neighbours, and always had something positive to say.

In 1966, at the age of 44, she was tragically widowed. She worked multiple jobs to keep the family going.

Education was key to her and she encouraged her children and grandchildren to pursue higher education. In her lounge was her “honour wall” of photos of her family’s graduation ceremonies.

Her teaching vocation spanned 40 years and she retired from Alicedale Primary School in Athlone in 1989. Ex-principal Gail Rossiter said she always admired Sybil’s strength and benefited from her experience.

Despite her work and large family, she still found time to nurture her great passion for singing, particularly opera. She joined the Eoan Group in 1969 and re-

tant way to move forward.

For people living on the streets, access to a good rehab programme is very hard. And so Cardinal Napier announced at the end of the Year of Mercy his plan to build a rehab centre specifically for people living on the streets.

It is to be called the Napier Centre 4 Healing—The Southern Cross reported on its launch last week— and will welcome addicts of all religions; spirituality will be integrated into the yearlong rehab and reintegration programme.

Alongside other religious leaders who have joined the cardinal as patrons, he recently launched an appeal to raise money to build and run this

DEATHS

mained a member until the early 1980s. Here she performed as a soprano in a number of operas. La Traviata, in which she played Flora, was her favourite role.

Sybil was a devoted mother to her 11 children, eight of whom are still alive today. She had 22 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and seven great-greatgrandchildren.

Sybil was also a parish leader.

She joined the Legion of Mary in 1950, and served on community and charity boards. She was a founding member in South Africa of the Universal Living Rosary Association of St Philomena.

She believed in the power of prayer, it was her remedy for everything. Her famous words were: “A family that prays together stays together.”

The Crawford nightingale is now silent. She lived a rich life, and the lessons she shared live on in those she touched.

Family of Sybil Adams

centre.

While faith is not the only solution to the problem of addiction, it certainly has a key role to play. Faith leaders, who have great influence in their communities, have a unique opportunity to show a sensitive and creative response to the problem of addiction which affects so many of our families.

And we can start that response by making sure that addicts and their families feel welcome and loved in their faith communities. n For CDs of the talks given by Fr Thomas Weston contact info@ jesuitinstitute.org.za; for more information about the cardinal’s project see www.napiercentre4 healing.org.za

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday September 10, 23rd Sunday of the Year Ezekiel 33:7-9, Psalms 95:1-2, 6-9, Romans 13:8-10, Matthew 18:15-20 Monday September 11 Colossians 1:24--2:3, Psalms 62:6-7, 9, Luke 6:6-11 Tuesday September 12, Most Holy Name of Mary Collosians 2:6-15, Psalms 145:1-2, 8-11, Luke 6:12-19 (or Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 1:46-55, Luke 1:39-57) Wednesday September 13, St John Chrysostom Colossians 3:1-11, Psalms 145:2-3, 10-13, Luke 6:20-26 Thursday September 14, Exaltation of the Holy Cross Numbers 21:4-9 (or Phillipians 2:6-11), Psalms 78:1-2, 34-38, John 3:13-17 Friday September 15, Our Lady of Sorrows Hebrews 5:7-9, Psalms 31:1-5, 14-15, 19, John 19:25-27 (or Luke 2:33-35) Saturday September 16, Ss Cornelius and Cyprian 1 Timothy 1:15-17, Psalms 113:1-7, Luke 6:43-49 Sunday September 17, 24th Sunday of the Year Sirach 27:30—28, 7 (or 27:33—28, 9), Psalms 103:1-4, 9-12, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 18:21-35

To advertise call

Yolanda Timm on 021 465 5007or e-mail

advertising

@scross.co.za

St Cornelius

St Cyprian

JONES—Elizabeth (Liz).

Our beloved daughter passed away peacefully on August 5, 2017, after a long illness very bravely borne.

We would like to thank all those who prayed for her during her illness and now ask that they continue their prayers for the repose of her soul. May God bless you all, Anne and Bert Stafford.

KNOBEL—Thomas Anthony (24.7.195726.8.2017). Died peacefully.

Lovingly remembered by his family. Grant eternal rest unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on him.

May he rest in peace.

Amen.

EVENTS

ST AUGUSTINE’S SECONDARY SCHOOL, Church Street, Parow, class reunion. Did you complete Standard 8JC (Grade 10) at the above school in 1968? If yes, please contact Christian Dryden on 021 931 7573 or 083 290 9930, or e-mail chris@drydendoors. co.za

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelife bortionisevil.co.za ABORTION ON DEMAND: This is legalised daily murder in our nation. Our silence on this issue is the reason why it continues.

Avoid pro-abortion politicians.

FELLOW CATHOLICS: Visit Pious Ponsiano Kintu’s official website www.ave aria832.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 Sr Josephine Sul of DR Congo and Padre Pio, among others. Share it with all your friends. Contacts:e-mail avemaria832@ gmail.com and avemaria832 @yahoo.com, phone cellphone (roaming within Africa) +243 99 0358275 or +243 81 6090071.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

CAPE TOWN: Looking for reasonably priced accommodation over the December/January holiday period? Come to Kolbe House, set in beautiful, spacious gardens in Rondebosch, nestled just under Devil’s Peak. Self-catering, clean and peaceful. Safe parking. Close to all shops and public transport. Contact Pat at 021 685 7370 or 073 263 2105 or kolbe.house@ telkomsa.net MARIANELLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God

Word of the Week Inquisition: The court established by the Church in the 13th century to punish heretics. If the individuals would not recant, they were turned over to the secular government for punishment, often resulting in death.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 775. ACROSS: 2 Act of faith, 8 Tower of Babel, 10 Nylon, 11 Eclipse, 12 Tetchy, 13 Spirit, 16 Nineveh, 18 Opera, 19 Eggs and bacon, 20 Heterodoxy. DOWN: 1 Set in stone, 3 Corinth, 4 Off key, 5 Frail, 6 Inexperience, 7 Twelfth Night, 9 Restraints, 14 Poor box, 15 Whined, 17 Visor.

OMI STAMPS YOuR uSED STAMPS

Please send them to: OMI Stamps, Box 101352, Scottsville, 3209

with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675, mjsalida@gmail.com

PRAYERS

FATHER, you have given all peoples one common origin. It is your will that they be gathered together as one family in yourself.

Fill the hearts of mankind with the fire of your love and with the desire to ensure justice for all. By sharing the good things you give us, may we secure an equality for all our brothers and sisters throughout the world. May there be an end to division, strife and war.

May there be a dawning of a truly human society built on love and peace. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

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

Traditional Latin Mass

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel 36 Central Avenue, Pinelands, Cape Town Call 071 291 4501 for details.

Email: sspx.capetown@gmail.com The

Southern Cross

Published independently by the Catholic Newspaper and Publishing Co since 1920

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Business Manager: Pamela Davids Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000

10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001 Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

Editorial: editor@scross.co.za News editor: news@scross.co.za Business manager: admin@scross.co.za Advertising: advertising@scross.co.za Subs/Orders: subscriptions@scross.co.za

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

Luke 11:1-13

can help in the education of South Africans for the PRIESTHOOD at St Joseph’s Scholasticate, Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal.

St John Chrysostom

CLASSIFIEDS

11

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,70 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

Responding to drug addiction Continued from page 7 whether it is the Christian-centred approach of the Harmony Retreat centre in Greytown or the Muslim tradition of RAUF operating in Chatsworth.

They are leveraging the concept that all religions have of “conversion”: not in terms of changing one’s affiliation but one’s life. Conversion recognises that a change of heart and mind is required if there is to be any long-term change of behaviour. And conversion is more than just a one-off event: it is a lifelong journey.

That is why a residential rehabilitation programme—appropriate for some addicts, when they are ready—is not a miracle solution but an impor-

The Southern Cross, September 6 to September 12, 2017

In tribute to Fr XA Kondlo (1978-2016) register today to be an Organ Donor

It’s easy at www.odf.org.za

Toll Free 0800 22 66 11

Website: www.scross.co.za Digital edition: www.digital.scross.co.za Facebook: www.facebook.com/thescross

Subscriptions:

Digital: R385 p.a. (anywhere in the world) Print by mail: R450 p.a.

(SA. International rates on enquiry)

The Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa. Printed by Paarl Coldset (Pty) Ltd, 10 Freedom Way, Milnerton.

Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

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

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

Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff, directors or advisory board of The Southern Cross.

the

24th Sunday: September 17 Readings: Sirach 27:30-28:7, Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12, Romans 14:7-9, Matthew 18:21-25

I

S outher n C ross

N the painful world that we live in, forgiveness is a matter of immense significance, very moving when we see it, but desperately hard to do. And yet the failure to forgive can weigh us down, almost without our noticing it.

That is the picture painted in next Sunday’s first reading, where the sinner “hangs on to anger and rage”, which the author describes as “abominations”. Vengeance can seem a perfectly obvious thing to go for, but the author says: “The one who carries out revenge will get vengeance from the Lord.” So the instruction to us is: “Forgive the wrong that your neighbour does—then when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.”

“Healing from the Lord” is what we seek, but it is not compatible with cherishing our anger against someone else; for if you do not offer mercy to others, then you cannot expect mercy yourself.

Our task is to “remember the last things and stop dealing in enmity, destruction and death”, because “a sinful man disturbs his friends and throws discord among those who are at peace”.

In the lovely psalm for Sunday, the poet is

well aware of who God is, “the one who forgives all your sins and heals all your ills, redeems your life from the Pit”.

That is why we have to forgive, because God “surrounds you with steadfast love and mercy”. This God is one who “is not angry for ever”. And, most important, this is a God who is utterly different: “As Heaven is high above the earth, God’s love is high above those who fear him.”

And our sins have indeed been taken away “as far as the East is from the West”. This is a very new world.

In the second reading, Paul, after his very difficult arguments of the earlier chapters, is trying to assist the Romans in the tensions that existed in that divided Church. The point, as he puts it beautifully, is that “none of us lives for ourselves alone and none of us dies for ourselves”. The answer is that “we live [and die] for the Lord”, because “we belong to the Lord”.

And as always with Paul, it comes back to Christ: “This is why Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” That is the context in which you and I are asked to forgive.

In the Gospel, Peter is not at all sure about all this forgiveness, and brings a question to Jesus: “How often?” He reflects on the largest number he can imagine and asks: “As many as seven times?” Jesus roars with laughter and says: “No—as many as seventy times seven” (which means, before you get out your calculator, that we never stop forgiving).

To make that point Jesus now tells a story about forgiveness; and it is a story at which we are supposed to laugh, about “a king who wanted to draw up accounts with his slaves”.

We only get as far as Slave No 1, who, we discover, owes “tens of thousands of talents”, which is a simply unbelievable sum of money, and any king who allowed such a debt to mount up deserves what he fails to get.

However, this king has no time for such considerations and simply “gave orders for the slave to be sold, along with his wife and children and all his possessions—and the money paid back”—[which is, of course, impossible].

Then we listen to the slave’s plea for mercy: “Have patience with me—and I’ll pay you everything back.” To our astonishment: “The slave’s Lord was gutted and he set him

You yourself are the traffic T

own, we are simply the unfortunate victim of circumstance and someone else’s carelessness, illness, dysfunction or sin.

We can, for instance, be born into a dysfunctional situation which leaves us stuck in a family and an environment that don’t make for easy freedom. Or, sometimes, simple circumstance can burden us with duties that take away our freedom.

So, metaphorically speaking, we can be stuck in traffic and not ourselves be part of that traffic, though generally we are, at least partially, part of the traffic we’re stuck in.

F

ather Henri Nouwen often highlighted this in his writings. We are not, he tells us, separate from the events that make up the world news each day. Rather, what we see written large in the world news each night simply reflects what’s going on inside us.

When we see instances of injustice, bigotry, racism, greed, violence, murder and war on our news we rightly feel a certain moral indignation. It’s healthy to feel that way—but it’s not healthy to naively think that it’s others, not us, who are the problem.

When we’re honest we have to admit that we’re complicit in all these things, perhaps not in their crasser forms, but in subtler, though very real, ways: The fear and paranoia that are at the root of so much conflict in our world are not foreign to us.

Conrad

HERE’S a famous billboard that hangs along a congested highway that reads: “You aren’t stuck in traffic. You are traffic!” Good wit, good insight!

How glibly we distance ourselves from a problem, whether it is our politics, our Churches, the ecological problems on our planet, or almost anything else.

We aren’t, as we want to think, stuck in a bad political climate wherein we can no longer talk to each other and live respectfully with each other. Rather, we ourselves have become so rigid, arrogant and sure of ourselves that we can no longer respect those who think differently from us. We are a bad political climate, and not just stuck in one.

Likewise for our Churches: We aren’t stuck in Churches that are too self-serving and not faithful enough to the teachings of Jesus. Rather, we are Christians who too often out of self-interest compromise the teachings of Jesus. We aren’t stuck in our Churches, we comprise those Churches.

The same is true regarding the ecological challenges we face on this planet: We aren’t stuck on a planet that’s becoming oxygen-starved and a junkyard for human wastage. Rather, it’s we, not just others, who are too careless in how we are using up the earth’s resources and how we are leaving behind our waste.

Admittedly, this isn’t always true. Sometimes we are stuck in negative situations for which we bear no responsibility and within which, through no fault of our

Neighbourhood Old Age Homes

We can use your old clothing, bric-a-brac, furniture and books for our second-hand shop in Woodstock, Cape Town.

Help us to create an avenue to generate much needed funds for our work with the elderly.

Contact Ian Veary on 021 447 6334 www.noah.org.za

Nicholas King SJ

Forgiveness is tough

Peninsula Funerals FUNERALS, CREMATIONS & WREATHS

For affordable and personal service

We ensure peace of mind Contact us at 021 948-9490 admin@peninsulafunerals.co.za

Sunday Reflections

free, and let him off the debt.”

Then the story takes a new twist, as Slave No 1 meets Slave No 2, who also owes money, but only 100 denarii, which is a big sum, but certainly not beyond repayment, unlike the tens of thousands of talents.

And when Slave No 1 demands the money back, Slave No 2 uses almost exactly the same words as we have already heard: “Have patience with me, and I’ll pay you back”, but is thrown into prison.

A committee of slaves then report the matter to their Lord, who simply makes the point: “You should have mercied your fellowslave, as I mercied you.”

We remember the line in the Sermon on the Mount: “congratulations to the merciful, for they shall be mercied”, and then we get it: God has let us off absolutely everything, and that is what we have to do in our turn.

That is far from easy, but it is the challenge to us today. Are you feeling weighed down by resentment?

Southern Crossword #775

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

We too find it hard to accept those who are different from us. We too cling to privilege and do almost everything we can to secure and protect our comfort. We too use up an unfair amount of the world’s resources in our hunger for comfort and experience.

As well, our negative judgments, jealousies, gossip and bitter words are, at the end of the day, genuine acts of violence since, as Fr Nouwen puts it, nobody is shot by a gun that isn’t first shot by a word. And nobody is shot by a word before he or she is first shot by a murderous thought: “Who does she think she is?”

The news just shows large what’s inside our hearts. What’s in the macrocosm is also in the microcosm.

And so we aren’t just viewers of the news, we’re complicit in it. The old catechisms were right when they told us that there’s no such thing as a truly private act, that even our most private actions affect everyone else. The private is political.

Everything affects everything.

The first takeaway from this is obvious: When we find ourselves stuck in traffic, metaphorically and otherwise, we need to admit our own complicity and resist the temptation to simply blame others.

But there’s another important lesson here too: We are never healthier than when we are confessing our sins; in this case, confessing that we are traffic and not just stuck in traffic.

After recognising that we are complicit, hopefully we can forgive ourselves for the fact that, partially at least, we are helpless to not be complicit.

No one can walk through life without leaving a footprint. To pretend otherwise is dishonest and to try to not leave a footprint is futile. The starting point to make things better is for us to admit and confess our complicity.

So the next time you’re stuck in traffic, irritated and impatient, muttering angrily about why there are so many people on the road, you might want to glance at yourself in the rearview mirror ask yourself why you are on the road at that time—and then give yourself a forgiving wink as you utter the French word touché.

OR FOR D

CONSTRUCTION

ACROSS

2. Only believers can make it (3,2,5) 8. Rate of wobble in language confusion (5,2,5) 10. New York letters to some London material (5) 11. Obscure the light of the heavens (7) 12. Bad-tempered, etc and gets thy embrace (6) 13. Trip is off because of the whisky (6) 16. Where Jonah was sent by the Lord (7) 18. Musical drama in cooperation (5) 19. They may break the fast (4,3,5) 20. Rode the ox badly with second-last letter on false doctrine (10)

DOWN

1. Unchangeable, like the Commandments (3,2,5) 3. City to which Paul wrote two letters (7) 4. Out of harmony with the choir (3,3) 5. Fail right inside, being delicate (5) 6. Unfamiliarity with how to do the right thing (12) 7. The Bard’s Epiphany (7,5) 9. Start resin mixture with limitations (10) 14. It collects alms in the church (4,3) 15. Hid new way around and complained (6) 17. Knight’s eye-protector (5)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

O

N his first pilgrimage to the Holy Land the cardinal came to Cana, site of the Lord’s first miracle at the wedding where the wine had run out.

Receiving a Prince of the Church is a special occasion, and the local priest marked it by presenting His Eminence with a glass of local wine.

The cardinal graciously took the glass of wine from the priest, smiling kindly as he prepared to taste it.

He took a swig of the wine—and with a grimace on his face he spat it out, exclaiming: “Oh Lord, please change it back!”

ESTABLISHED 1982

Professional Supervision

Project Management Specialists in:

New Houses • Renovations • Alterations • Additions • Painting • Plumbing

• Property Management and Care For Advice call Julian Orford B.Sc. (Civ.Eng) Tel: (021) 788 9321 Fax: (021) 788 4401 Cell: 082 493 0563 E-mail: julian@orfordconstruction.co.za www.orfordconstruction.co.za

For all your Sand and Stone requirements in Piet Retief, Southern Mpumalanga

Tel: 017 826 0054/5 Cell: 082 904 7840 Email: sales@eskaycrushers.co.za