170913 by The Southern Cross

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September 13 to September 19, 2017

Pope Francis reveals his mind in long interview

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Do private lives of politicians matter to us? BY ERIN CARELLSE

EPUTY PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s alleged affairs do not make him ineligible for higher office, and if the allegations are indeed part of a “deliberate smear campaign”, the public should treat them with caution, Catholic political commentator Mike Pothier has said. In recent weeks, Mr Ramaphosa—who is standing for the presidency of the African National Congress at its national conference in December—has been accused of having had affairs with as many as eight different women, based on leaked e-mails. The e-mails, which were not from an official government server but from Mr Ramaphosa’s private accounts, listed the names of eight women who, the deputy president, said were students whom he and his wife Tshepo were assisting financially. Mr Ramaphosa has admitted to an extramarital affair which ended eight years ago, saying he had dealt with it with his wife. “There is a difference between someone who had morally taken steps to resolve past issues and was upfront about it and worked on it with his wife, and someone who tries to hide it,” said Mr Pothier. “The women he has been accused of having the affairs with have all said that it’s not true, with some saying they’d never even met the man. People need to think critically about who is behind this,” he said. Speaking on the moral conduct of political leaders in general, and independent from the allegations against Mr Ramaphosa, a Catholic bishop said the public should expect a high standard of ethics from them in both public and private lives. Bishop Abel Gabuza, chairperson of the Justice & Peace Commission for the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, said that political leaders must be expected “to be people who conduct themselves in an acceptable moral manner”. “They must be people of integrity, the

Thandeka Msweli (left) and Melita Vurden welcome spring in Durban’s Botanic Gardens. Thandeka and Melita are part of the Conference Company team which is planning the Mini World Youth Day, a highlight in the calendar of young Catholics across Southern Africa, taking place in December in Durban. (Photo: Val Adamson) Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has been accused of extramarital affairs—allegations which he has rejected. type that manifests in their conduct no scandals of whatever kind. These leaders are role models,” Bishop Gabuza told The Southern Cross. “One is not saying that leaders should be perfect, but we expect leaders to maintain a high standard of ethical leadership in all areas of their lives, private and public. The personal morality of a leader in his private space, house or home should not contradict how or she conducts himself or herself in public. Once there is a contradiction, it leads to many questions, suspicions and lack of trust in that leader,” the bishop said. The public must ask: “ When a person makes a clean confession about his past, shows remorse and commits himself to the challenge of being a moral heroic leader, does it qualify him to lead the people of South Africa?” he said. In a statement Mr Ramaphosa said that he and his wife provide monthly financial assistance by bank transfer to 54 students, both men and women. He said it was “unfortunate that evidence of these bank transfers has been used to make scandalous allegations against me and, worse, to make public the names of some of the people assisted”.

Catholic Ireland

A pilgrimage with Bishop Victor Phalana

Feast day at shrine of Our Lady of Knock, PAPAL MASS in Dublin*, and much more * subject to confirmation

Bishop resigns over health STAFF REPORTER

OPE Francis has accepted the resignation for reasons of health of Bishop Michael Wüstenberg of Aliwal North. The pope has appointed Bishop Adam Musialek of the neighbouring diocese of De Aar administrator of Aliwal until a new bishop is installed. German-born Bishop Wüstenberg, 63, was appointed to head Aliwal North diocese in December 2007. He succeeded Bishop Fritz Lobinger, also a German, who had headed the diocese from 1987 to 2004. In a letter announcing his resignation, Bishop Wüstenberg said that a medical checkup in June had revealed that his diabetic condition had deteriorated. “Adjustments of medicines and diet would not be sufficient. Due to the impact of the pressures of my professional life, various doctors advised me to resign from my present ministry to at least slow down or perhaps to stop the—as one called it—life-threatening development,” Bishop Wüstenberg said. “After consulting various people and seeking advice, I accepted the inevitable and asked Pope Francis to release me from my office as bishop of Aliwal. It is a sad decision.”

The

He told The Southern Cross that he would “go to Germany for some further treatment. And then I will see, what I can still contribute, where and how.” He called on the faithful of Aliwal to support Bishop Musialek so that the mission of being a “Community serving Humanity” may be perpetuated in that Bishop Wüstenberg poor region. He gave thanks to those who supported him during his 25 years in South Africa. “I am convinced that what we practise here with the Small Christian Communities and leadership, as well as biblical ministry, can give inspiration for developments in the Church elsewhere,” Bishop Wüstenberg said. He had been appointed bishop of Aliwal in December 2007 and ordained in February 2008.

S outher n C ross

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The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

LOCAL

6-year-old master of four languages BY ERIN CARELSE

SIX-YEAR-OLD Catholic school pupil in Grade 1 is the master of four languages at Grade 5 level. Johannesburg-born Keith Mashiane, learner at St Anthony’s Primary School in Heathfield, Cape Town, has a natural affinity for reading and languages, enabling him to fluently speak and read four languages at Grade 5 level: Sepedi, English, Afrikaans and Zulu. And not only does Keith have an impressive capacity for languages but also a pleasant disposition, and always ready to add a kind word— in any of those languages. “Keith speaks freely, easily and very honestly to staff and learners alike. He is a beautiful child who

regularly dishes out hugs whenever he sees you,” said Colleen Rustin, principal at St Anthony’s. Keith, who joined St Anthony’s this year, passed Grade 1 in Zimbabwe last year. He initially joined the Grade 2 class at St Anthony’s, but Ms Rustin and his teachers felt he was battling with the pressure to keep up. They decided that Keith, who turned six only this year, would be better suited for Grade 1, where he is excelling. His teacher, Nina Benjamin, said that on entering the classroom, Keith always sits down quietly and immediately takes out a book from which to read. She praised him for the passion he has for reading and encourages him to continue.

His sound set of values is largely due to the warm relationship he shares with his mother, single-parent Nosipho Ngwende, from Wynberg. “She always spends time talking to him about his responses and his daily activities. She, too, is a warm soul,” Ms Rustin said. “Keith has a habit of coming into the office and somehow he manages to politely and sweetly turn the conversation towards the treats cupboard. He was once rewarded with an Easter egg and has never forgotten that,” the principal said, adding: “The cupboard, unfortunately, doesn’t always open.” Children like Keith motivate teachers. “It’s little beings like Keith who keep us buoyant and enthusiastic,” Ms Rustin said.

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria, a Franciscan, celebrated Mass in the Porziuncola in Assisi—on his 74th birthday. The Porziuncola is the little chapel near Assisi which St Francis restored after hearing Christ’s call, now within the basilica of St Mary of the Angels and just a few metres from the place where the founder of the Franciscan order died. For Archbishop Slattery it was the first opportunity to celebrate Mass in the chapel. He was in Assisi with a group of Southern Cross pilgrims who also visited the Holy Land, Rome and Greccio, another important Franciscan site. See next week’s edition for a selection of photos from the pilgrimage. (Photo courtesy of Fowler Tours)

Mass to honour care of creation BY ERIN CARELSE

TAFF at Khanya House in Pretoria, headquarters of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, celebrated World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation with a Mass.

S part of the 200th anniversary of the Church in Southern Africa, the second Festival of Nations event in Cape Town will see people of different nationalities gather in celebration. Chaplains coordinator Fr Gerardo Garcia has extended an invite to all parishes to participate in the Festival of Nations on Sunday, September 17 at Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Lansdowne at 13:00. There will be a celebration of Mass in different languages followed by a food “bring and share” after Mass. Tea and coffee will also be provided. The Festival of Nations was first celebrated last year when Archbishop Steven Brislin decided to officially call the archdiocese’s immigrant chaplaincies together

in union. Since then, regular gatherings have taken place to include refugees and migrants. The immigrant chaplaincies serve Nigerians, Germans, Zim-

babweans, Koreans, Malawians, Polish, Italians, Cameroonians, Portuguese, Francophone Africans, Indians, and Dutch. In May this year, the chaplaincies organised a march to support refugees which was not as well attended as Fr Gerardo had hoped. “We didn’t have a very good response from people, as we know this is not a very popular issue, but with the archbishop and about 100 people, we marched to parliament to deliver a memorandum, and did manage to make some news in the media,” he said. “This second festival will give us the opportunity to once again celebrate ‘unity in diversity’. This will help us build a stronger Church and more hospitable country, and to live Christian values, which are very much alive and inclusive,” Fr Gerardo said.

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

The day was created last year as an annual event by Pope Francis. The homily at the Mass was given by Fr Sakhi Mofokeng, secretary-general of the SACBC’s department for formation, life, and apostolate of the laity.

SACBC staff at Khanya House in Pretoria attended a Mass in celebration of World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

Cape Town festival of diversity BY ERIN CARELSE

Keith Mashiane at St Anthony’s Primary School in Cape Town may be only six, but has already mastered four languages—Sepedi, English, Afrikaans and Zulu.

He emphasised the important role human beings have in caring for God’s creation. Fr Mofokeng said man’s responsibility for the earth involves wise use of the earth and its resources, raising godly children, and converting nations. He highlighted the negative impact human beings have had on God’s creation, instead of taking care of it. “Human beings are created in the image of God, to resemble God by loving creation and have the responsibility of communicating with others and encouraging them to take care of creation,” he said. Fr Mofokeng quoted Pope Francis in his encyclical letter Laudato Si, which highlights the importance of caring for all creation. “In it, Pope Francis refers to the earth as a “sister whom we share our life with, and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us,” he said.

Veritas launches revamped logo

ADIO Veritas has unveiled its revamped logo, which makes some changes to the previous one. The new logo is intended to evoke “emotions of faith, patriotism and belonging”, the Catholic station said. “Being a faith-based radio station, we cater to a niche audience and we are hoping that with our new look we can grow our listenership quite significantly,” said Fr Emil Blaser OP, executive director of Radio Veritas. “It’s time that more people got to hear the Good News. For a change.” Radio Veritas wanted to ensure that the new logo portrays Catholic symbolism, South Africa and the station’s values and goals. The white centre of the logo represents the Body of Christ in the host. The vertical staff with cross and hook represents a bishop’s crozier. The R in the word radio is the letter Rho in Greek while the V in the word Veritas forms the top of the X. The bottom arms of the X represent either the nails which pierced the hands of

Christ on the cross—or the vuvuzela, symbolic of proclamation. The X and R are, of course, the first two letters of the word Christ in Greek. The curved lines represent sound waves which take the message of Christ to the corners of the earth. n Radio Veritas broadcasts on 576AM in Gauteng and DStv audio channel 870, and is streamed on www.radioveritas. co.za

Germans celebrate 60th BY ERIN CARELSE

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

HE German-speaking Catholic community of the Cape Peninsula will celebrate its 60th anniversary with a Mass and music concert on September 24. The celebrations will begin with a Mass at 15:00 at Nazareth House chapel, followed by a festive musical ceremony arranged by organist and musical director Adolf Thelen. Former German chaplain Fr Stefan Hippler and Frs Peter-John Pearson, David Anderson and Roger Hickley

are scheduled to be in attendance. The German-speaking community of the Peninsula serves German-speaking Catholics from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Namibia, as well as their families, who live in the area of the archdiocese of Cape Town. Many South Africans are also part of the congregation, which celebrates Mass on Sundays at 10:15 am, mainly in German, at Nazareth House. Their website is www.kath.org.za n RSVP to Renate Blank at 021 423 2188 or e-mail admin@kath.org.za by September 18.

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

LOCAL

DHC opens outreach clinic BY ERIN CARELSE

Br Jared Jamie of Corpus Christi parish in Wynberg, Cape Town, will make his first religious profession as a Capuchin Friar Minor at St Mary of the Angels parish in Athlone on September 23, the feast of the Capuchin St Pio of Pietrelcina (or Padre Pio). Br Jamie spent a year and a half in postulancy at St Mary’s and has just completed his novitiate in Kilkenny, Ireland.

ARDINAL Wilfrid Napier of Durban has blessed a container clinic for the homeless, run by the Denis Hurley Centre (DHC). The new outreach clinic was formally opened with a blessing ceremony in the Dalton Beer Hall complex near Umbilo in Durban. The DHC’s clinic team has been offering healthcare at Dalton for two years, with an evening clinic once a week under a gazebo or from a bakkie. The clinics have provided urgently needed healthcare to those living in poor conditions with a lack of sanitation. Now, with a permanent clinic, better healthcare is possible. “Finally, we can provide healthcare whatever the weather and can treat people with the dignity they deserve,” said clinic coordinator MaryAnne Carpenter. At the official opening, Cardinal Napier blessed the clinic, its patients, staff and volunteers, and thanked the partners who made this project possible. “From the first time I came to Dalton and saw the work of the Denis Hurley Centre clinic team I was moved by the plight of these neglected citizens of Durban, living in squalor and with no access to healthcare,” he said. “They are children of God and deserve our loving care.”

Some of the stakeholders who made the new Denis Hurley Centre clinic possible are (from left) Container World MD Christopher Lee, former Councillor S Zungu, SCI manager at Container World Terri Clapperton, Dalton Hostel committee chair Mthembiseni Thusi, Councillor Mpumelelo Zuma, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Hurley Centre director Raymond Perrier, eThekwini municipality representative Eurakha Singh, and Container World financial director Craig Roodt. Thanks to Container World, which donated and converted a container into the four-room clinic, people can be treated in a clean, safe and private environment. Support also came from the Umbilo Business Forum, Lead Architects, We Are Durban, and

University of KwaZulu-Natal medical students. The local eThekwini municipality and the South Durban Area Management team prepared and secured the site, and will soon be connecting up water and electricity supplies. The municipality has provided

fencing and temporary toilets. The Dalton clinic means that the DHC healthcare team can see a further 400 patients in the community, in addition to the 600 they already see on the streets and the 2 000 they serve at the clinic at the Denis Hurley Centre. The new clinic provides the only source of healthcare accessible to many local Dalton people, including those with TB and HIV. UKZN medical students will join clinic staff to provide daily health service. The eThekwini municipality has also committed to creating a drop-in centre for social services, to be run by Safer Cities. Members of the Umbilo Business Forum have supported the project too, and the yard of the clinic has been converted into a vegetable garden. DHC director Raymond Perrier acknowledged all the partners involved. “This project is a model for Durban. We have shown how we can bring together a neglected community with NGOs, corporates, the university, media and municipal departments to make a real difference in the city,” he said, adding: “If only it didn’t take two years to get done.” n For more information, contact the Denis Hurley Centre on 031 301 2240 or MaryAnne Carpenter on 073 681 7766.

Theologians to focus on ecumenism and local history STAFF REPORTER

N the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation, this year’s annual conference by the Catholic Theological Society of Southern Africa will be looking at ecumenism as well as local history. The conference, which is themed “Re-formation. Whose history? Voices from the South”, will be held from September 29 to October 1 at Koinonia Centre in Johannesburg. This year’s keynote speaker is

Professor Rothney Tshaka, acting director of the School of Humanities of the University of South Africa. A line-up of other speakers will also address the conference, said the society’s president, Itumeleng Daniel Mothoagae. There will also be plenary panels. The first, on “Church and Active citizenship: The signs of the times”, will include the South African Council of Churches, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, and Bishop Victor Phalana, the bishops’ head of ecumenical relations. It will be chaired by Fr Tha-

bang Nkadimeng OMI. The second plenary panel will be chaired by Dr Ruth Mampane on “Creating a space for the Africanisation of theology and training”. Admission to both panels is free. Prof Tshaka’s keynote address will be on “The Reception of Karl Barth in South Africa during the Apartheid Struggle”, outlining how some sections of the South African reformed faith tradition, inspired by the Swiss Protestant theologian Karl Barth, “were able to find hermeneutical grounds for debunking [the] arbitrary usage of the Bible

to support apartheid”. Panel presentations will also be chaired by Dr Nontando Radebe on “Inherited ecumenical divisions”, Dr Laurence Anselm Prior OFM on “Post-colonialism and the gender question”, Professor Sue Rakoczy IHM on “The history of oppression in the Global South”, and Dr David Tutty on “Radical and prophetic voices to the Catholic Church in Southern Africa”. Papers will be delivered by theologians including Mr Mothoagae, Fr Nkadimeng, Dr Stuart Bate OMI, Prof Rakoczy, Bruni Lephoto, Pro-

fessor Graham Duncan, Dr Kelebogile Resane, Professor Kudzai Biri, Professor Vuyani Vellem and Fr Emmanuel Mosoeu. Full conference registration is R1300 per delegate; day registration is R500. These fees cover the cost for accommodation, meals and conference material. n For registration forms and payment details go to www.caththeo.co.za For any inquiries on the conference, please contact Fr Anselm Prior OFM at prior. laurence@gmail.com or Itumeleng Daniel Mothoagae at itumeleng. mothoagae@gmail.com

Pilgrimage to The Holy Land

Led by Fr. Bogdan Wilkaniec

Students at St Francis Xavier Orientation Seminary in Cape Town were delighted to receive a lecture by Archbishop Thabo Cecil Makgoba, primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

Anglican primate visited Catholic seminarians BY EMMANuEL MABELANE

OUNG Catholic seminarians said they were privileged to listen to the primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Archbishop Thabo Cecil Makgoba of Cape Town visited St Francis Xavier Orientation Seminary in Cape Town as a guest lecturer. The event highlighted for the seminarians the importance of church unity. They also were enlightened about the life journey of Archbishop Makgoba, who hails from rural Limpopo, and how he became the leader of the Anglican Church

of Southern Africa. The archbishop spoke about his vocation journey to ministry, which included the challenges he had to face and how he made a habit of keeping things in balance. He also said solid support structures kept him going. The seminarians had the opportunity to ask the archbishop questions about how things are run in the Anglican Church. They described the encounter as “really humbling”. The day concluded with lunch served at the seminary dining hall, where the archbishop said grace before the meal.

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

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

INTERNATIONAL

Britain: 53% say they have â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;no religionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; BY SIMON CALDWELL

ORE than half of the people in Britain say they no longer belong to a religion, said data released by NatCen Social Research. Fifty-three percent of nearly 3 000 adults interviewed for the British Social Attitudes survey, 53% said they had â&#x20AC;&#x153;no religionâ&#x20AC;?, NatCen reported. That figure, covering 2016, is up from 48% in 2015. The centre said in a statement that the data reveals the proportion of people in Britain who describe themselves as having no religion is at its â&#x20AC;&#x153;highest-ever levelâ&#x20AC;?. The proportion of non-believers has increased gradually since the survey began in 1983, when 31% of those surveyed said they had no religion. Most of the decline in religious affiliation has been among people who previously belonged to the Church of England. The survey found that 15% of people in Britain consider themselves to be Anglican, compared to about 30% in 2000. The proportion of people who say they are Catholic has remained consistent, however, at about 10%

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor (left) and Cardinal Carlo Caffarra died within days of each other. (Photos:â&#x20AC;&#x2C6;CNS)

People are seen in London. Sample research done shows that the majority of Britons say they have no religion. (Photo: Toby Melville, Reuters/CNS) for the past three decades. About 6% belong to non-Christian religions, an increase of 2% since 1983. Seventy-one percent of people ages 18-24 said they had no religion, up from 62% in 2015. Roger Harding, head of public attitudes at NatCen, said the increase in non-believers â&#x20AC;&#x153;follows the longterm trend of more and more of us

not being religiousâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The differences by age are stark and, with so many younger people not having a religion, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to see this change abating any time soon,â&#x20AC;? he said. He said although the decrease in â&#x20AC;&#x153;those belonging to the Church of England is the most notable... these figures should cause all religious leaders to pause for thoughtâ&#x20AC;?.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;CNS

Pope to South Korea: Work against fear and hatred BY CINDY WOODEN

OPE Francis urged religious leaders from South Korea to dedicate their words and actions to building peace and harmony. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are called to be heralds of peace, proclaiming and embodying a non-violent style, a style of peace, with words clearly different from the narrative of fear and with gestures opposed to the rhetoric of hatred,â&#x20AC;? the pope said. The 20 South Korean leaders on pilgrimage to Rome included Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Confucians, followers of Cheondoism, and several native Korean religions. Pope Francis told them progress on the path to peace is made â&#x20AC;&#x153;not just by raising our voices but by rolling up our sleeves, to sow the hope of a future in which humanity becomes more human, a future which heeds the cry of so many

People look toward North Korea from an observation platform near the demilitarised zone in Paju, South Korea. (Photo: Kim Hong-Ji, Reuters/CNS) who reject war and implore greater harmony between individuals and communities, between peoples and statesâ&#x20AC;?. Religious leaders, he said, should initiate and support programmes dedicated to promoting the common good, which includes

respect for the sanctity of human life and human rights, including religious freedom and freedom of expression. The role of interreligious dialogue, Pope Francis said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is precious and pleasing to Godâ&#x20AC;? because it, too, promotes the common good through â&#x20AC;&#x153;contacts, encounters and cooperationâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The world is looking to us,â&#x20AC;? the pope told the religious leaders. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It looks to us for answers and a shared commitment to various issues: the sacred dignity of the human person, the hunger and poverty which still afflict too many peoples, the rejection of violence, in particular that violence which profanes the name of God and desecrates religion, the corruption that gives rise to injustice, moral decay, and the crisis of the family, of the economy and, not least of all, the crisis of hope.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D; CNS

Cardinals die within days of each other E NGLISH Cardinal Cormac Murphy-Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor, a longtime leader in Catholic-Anglican relations and former archbishop of Westminster, died on September 1 at the age of 85. Italian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, retired archbishop of Bologna and founder of the Pope John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, died on September 6 at the age of 79. Cardinal Murphy-Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor was once described by the British Catholic journal The Tablet as â&#x20AC;&#x153;everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favourite bishop: human, genial, collaborative, imposingâ&#x20AC;?. A leader in ecumenical relations, Cardinal Murphy-Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor served as Catholic chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission for two decades. He was born on August 24, 1932, in Reading, England, the fifth son of Irish parents. Two of his brothers also became priests. He was educated at Presentation College, Reading, and Prior Park College, Bath. He trained for the priesthood at the English College in Rome and earned degrees in philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest on October 28, 1956, and was appointed bishop of Arundel and Brighton in 1977. Pope John Paul II inducted him into the College of Cardinals in February 2001 and he retired eight years later. After retiring as archbishop of Westminster, he continued his work in Rome, taking up new posts on the congregations for Bishops and for the Evangelisation of Peoples. On several occasions, he acted as papal representative to places such as Sweden, India, Bangladesh and Norway. In June 2010, he was named as the apostolic visitor to the archdiocese of Armagh, Northern Ireland, in the aftermath of the Ryan and Murphy Reports on clergy abuse of children. After he turned 80 he partici-

pated in the conclave of 2013 as a non-voter. Throughout his life, the cardinal remained interested in music and sports, especially rugby and golf. He occasionally performed on the piano at charity events and celebrations. His publications include The Family of the Church (1984), At the Heart of the World (2004) and a volume of memoirs, An English Spring (2015).

talian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, retired archbishop of Bologna and founder of the Pope John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, died on September 6 at the age of 79. Born June 1, 1938, in Samboseto di Busseto, Carlo Caffarra attended the seminary in Fidenza and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961. He earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome with a thesis on the purpose of marriage. He also earned a diploma in moral theology. He was teaching medical ethics at Romeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sacred Heart University in 1974 when Pope Paul VI named him a member of the International Theological Commission, a membership he held for ten years. In 1983, Pope John Paul II named him a consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and in 1995 named him bishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, and head of the archdiocese of Bologna late in 2003. In March 2006, he was inducted into the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI and was outspoken in his defence of Catholic teaching on marriage, contraception, abortion and homosexuality. Cardinal Caffarra was one of four cardinals who formally asked Pope Francis to clarify his teaching on Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried in a dubia. Another of the four, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, died in Julyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

The Ku Klux Klan used to burn Catholic churches BY MARK PATTISON

G Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the bishops’ conference of England and Wales. (Photo: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk)

England transfers feasts back to original dates

HE Vatican has approved a decision from the Catholic bishops in England and Wales to move two Holy Days of Obligation back to their original dates. Effective from the new liturgical year, the Catholic dioceses in England and Wales will celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord on January 6, and the Ascension of the Lord on the Thursday after the 6th Sunday of Easter. The celebration of Epiphany will be moved to the adjacent Sunday when it falls on a Saturday or Monday, asper a norm established by the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales in 1984. The decision was announced in a decree from the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales, signed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Bishops’ Conference. “In 2006, the Bishops’ Conference decreed that the Solemnities of

the Epiphany of the Lord, the Ascension of the Lord and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) be transferred to Sunday in accord with the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar 7,” Cardinal Nichols said in the decree. The idea to move the celebrations of the Epiphany and the Ascension of the Lord back to their original dates came after “having considered further the significance and observance of Holy Days of Obligation, in accordance with canon 1246”, the decree notes. According to the decree, the decision of the bishops was reached during the November 2016 Plenary Assembly of the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales and then submitted to the Apostolic See for approval. The Solemnity of Corpus Christi will still be transferred to Sunday, according to the 2006 decision.—CNS

IVEN the US white supremacist movement Ku Klux Klan’s historical animus towards Catholics, one of the most unusual stories that emanated from the aftermath of the “Unite the Right” march and its deadly aftermath in Charlottesville, Virginia, was the selfpenned admission by a priest in the diocese of Arlington, Virginia, that he had been a member of the Klan 40 years ago, before his entry into the seminary. The revelation came shortly after a freelance journalist—who, as a child, was a member of a Virginia parish where the priest was assigned —connected the dots and linked him to a cross-burning conviction and civil judgments for this and other racial terror tactics. The priest’s recent request to take a temporary leave from active ministry was granted by the diocese. The intersection of the KKK with Catholics came to an ugly head in the 1920s, when the second version of the Klan was making inroads not just in the US South but throughout the country. In the 1920s, the Klan mushroomed in membership. Estimates put its number at between 3 million and 5 million—staggering numbers when the total US population in 1920 was just over 100 million. Subtract Catholics, Jews and AfricanAmericans from that total—they were the groups most despised by the KKK—and the Klan’s always-secret membership could have been equal to 15% of the eligible population. A 1923 dispatch from Bastrop, Louisiana, by NCWC News Service —the initial name of Catholic News Service—spoke of a “crack troop of cavalry” ready to defend townspeo-

White supremacist organisations such as the National Socialist Movement and the Ku Klux Klan gather in Temple, Georgia. The Klan used to burn Catholic churches. (Photo: Erik Lesser, EPA/CNS) ple from the Klan, and described a process used by the KKK called “selling out”: “killing as many as possible before a person is killed himself, in other words, trading one’s life for the highest price possible”. Also that year, the Missionary Sisters of the Most Blessed Trinity declared they would ignore Klan threats in Sterling, New Jersey, and open a retreat house there.

1924 story noted how Catholic teachers were blaming the KKK for being discriminated against in hiring in public schools. It was the mission of women in the Klan to protest the employment of Catholics as teachers. In 1924, denunciations were collected from newspapers in Georgia after then-Gov Clifford Walker addressed a Klan “konvocation” in Kansas City, Missouri. A Dalton Citizen editorial said Walker’s charges against Catholics in the remarks were “back alley gossip about papal con-

trol of America, originated by a certain class of people who are selling their souls for money, and who have no more regard for America than for Borneo.” Two decades later, in 1946, Ellis Arnall, by this time Georgia’s governor, tried to drive a stake through the heart of the Klan in its birthplace. As the world learned of the extent of the Third Reich’s campaign of extermination of Jews in Europe, Mr Arnall called the Klan “Hitler stuff”. In Indiana, where the Klan may have been at its strongest in the 1920s, a sensational deposition was given by David Stephenson, once the second in command in the KKK but by 1928, was serving a life term for murder. “Catholic churches were burned and pillaged, riots were incited and political officials bent to corrupt ways through orders of the Klan chiefs,” Stephenson said. “One Klansman travelled all over the US burning Catholic churches.”—CNS

Priest murdered Vatican: Lack of legal channels A for migration helps traffickers M CATHOLIC priest was kidnapped and found murdered in Nigeria, local sources have confirmed. According to Vanguard, Fr Cyriacus Onunkwo was kidnapped from his car by gunmen in the village of Orlu in the state of Imo in southern Nigeria. Police report that earlier that day that another priest—Fr Jude Udokwu—was also attacked by kidnappers in the same village, but managed to escape. Within 24 hours, the body of Fr Onunkwo was found in the bush close to a nearby village, according to police. Priests of the local Orlu diocese were called to scene immediately to help identify the body. Fr Onunkwo’s body reportedly did not show any outward wounds, and so local authorities suspect that he may have been strangled to death. No arrests have been made in connection with the death thus far, though local police have said the investigation is ongoing. The news comes just a few weeks

after Vanguard reported that three men were arrested in connection with the death of Fr Raphael Pankyes, who was found murdered in Plateau State in the centre of the country in July. Jesuit Father Sam Okwuidegbe also recently shared his story of being kidnapped by armed Fulani herdsmen in April. The Fulani herdsmen are a notoriously violent group whose clashes with farmers have killed thousands of people in Nigeria over the past two decades. They are considered one of the most violent groups in the world, according to the Global Terrorism Index. Violence against Christians in general has significantly increased in the country in recent years, with the Islamist terror group Boko Haram threatening safety in the north, and smaller violent gangs threatening security in the south. In 2016, one Nigerian bishop lamented that Christians had essentially become “target practice”.— CNA

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ANY people become more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation when safe, legal and affordable opportunities for immigration or asylum are lacking, a Vatican official told global leaders. Since human traffickers “can easily take advantage of the desperation of migrants and asylum seekers”, such people on the move can end up “in an irregular or undocumented status”, which puts them “at a very high risk of abuse and exploitation, including trafficking and enslavement”, said Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, undersecretary of the migrant and refugee section of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. That is why the Vatican believes it is very important countries guarantee “adequate legal frameworks

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and reliable pathways to prevent migrants from becoming victims of human trafficking”, he said. The priest spoke at a meeting in Vienna that was part of the UN process for developing and adopting a Global Compact for Migration and a Global Compact on Refugees. Fr Czerny led the Vatican delegation at the meeting where other Catholic organisations also have been participating in discussions and hearings to formulate the compacts. He told the assembly that “despite the great achievements of international agreements, asylum seekers and migrants, who risk their lives in search of safety and a new home, are still and ever more vulnerable, especially to criminal organisations”. “Since safe, regular and afford-

able routes are generally not available, many migrants employ smugglers,” he said. Since smugglers are sometimes involved or connected with human trafficking, migrating to start a new life “can go disastrously wrong”. While victims and potential victims need more protections, he said, receiving communities need to recognise the role they play as part of fuelling the demand for forced and slave labour, particularly in prostitution and work that does not meet legal standards in terms of pay or safety. With human trafficking now being a multibillion-dollar industry, “slavery must not be an unavoidable aspect of economies. Instead, business should be in the vanguard in combating and preventing this travesty,” Fr Czerny said.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Clerical arrogance mars Church

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Erasing the cross

HE secularisation of the West is gathering at a relentless pace. As we report this week, some 53% of people in Britain, especially the young, say that they have no religious affiliation. While in Britain the loss of religious faith is more advanced than in most other countries, the rest of Western Europe is not lagging far behind. But even as the Christian Church in European countries is diminishing in size, it remains at least a cultural marker for their societies, especially at a time when these cultures are perceived to be threatened by an influx of migrants from different cultural and religious backgrounds. But just as it is easy—and profoundly dubious—to use the cross as a supposed shield against cultural shifts, so it is also easy to deny the cross altogether. The latter option is one exercised recently by the German supermarket chain Lidl, which has some 10 000 branches throughout Europe. To illustrate an advertising campaign for and packaging of a new range of Greek delicacies, Lidl used the image of the emblematic blue-domed Orthodox churches on the Greek island of Santorini. Lidl then decided to digitally remove the crosses from the domes, denuding these churches from their very purpose. As a marketing exercise, the campaign backfired on the retailers. Obviously, Greek Orthodox Christians in particular were deeply offended, but the removal of the crosses drew protests from many Christians, and was widely condemned even by unlikely defenders of religion. Lidl said they excise all religious symbols from their branding in case they might cause offence and division. It is reasonable that a supermarket chain should maintain sensitivity on matters of religion. But, ironically, in trying to be sensitive about religion, Lidl ended up being crassly insensitive to it. Surely, if one wishes to maintain religious neutrality in branding, one should not use images of religious buildings to promote brands. And, it must be asked, to whom exactly is the cross offensive? Some national offices of Lidl have since apologised for the faux-pas, but it must be a source for alarm that nobody in a chain of decision-makers—from the graphic designer who photo-

shopped the images to the marketing director who approved them—thought to question the prudence of removing crosses from a photo of a church. It is a mindset that gives rise to a more chilling question: If it is seen as acceptable to remove crosses from photos of churches, will it one day be acceptable to remove crosses from actual churches? As it is, in some countries, even allies of the West, the public exhibition of the cross is restricted or even forbidden. When the Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic order, built a church at Migdal—the biblical Magdala—they were advised by the Israeli government that they may not display Christian symbols, including the cross, on the church’s facade. In Saudi Arabia churches may not even exist. In the West, the threat to Christianity is posed not by migrants from the East but from those who were raised in a Christian environment and now seek to erase it. In Western societies, including a significant section of South Africa’s, Christianity is being increasingly marginalised. Of course, Christian churches still have an influence on secular life in most Western countries— and not invariably for the good. But at the same time, the Body of Christ is treated with disrespect and indifference, even hostility and exclusion. No doubt, many of the “Nones”—those who declare to have no religion—reach that stage not by a process of philosophical introspection but by having been exposed to that disrespect, indifference, hostility and exclusion. The secularist worldview in the West seeks to marginalise and disempower religion—and in many cases that desire may be motivated by genuine, if misguided, intentions. But these four elements also comprise the recipe for prejudice against groups of people—and many Christians are themselves guilty of applying some or all of these to other groups. As Christians, our task is to fight against all prejudices, including and especially those we hold ourselves. And when we are prejudiced against, then we must act on that as well. And that is possible, as the Lidl supermarket chain has learnt.

READ with interest the thoughtprovoking article by Bishop Victor Phalana on inter-denominational dialogue (July 5). Yes, it is important to open a widespread dialogue with other Christian Churches. However, I do believe that we need to get our own house in order first. I say this as I am in a good position to see how the Catholic Church conducts itself towards the laity and how the people in the pew at the local Methodist church are treated by their clergy. The biggest single problem in the Catholic Church in South Africa seems to be communication, or the lack thereof. The laity in the local Church are still regarded as “thirdclass citizens”, notwithstanding the pope’s numerous calls for the laity to play a greater role. If we as Catholics are to open a meaningful dialogue, it is the laity who are best placed to meet with members of other Churches. Sadly, I don’t think the Catholic clergy see such a role for the laity. This was brought home to me about two years ago when I was in discussion with a senior member of the hierarchy about how the local laity could assist the bishops in playing a bigger role in the future. I highlighted locating those who had left the Church, such as divorced people and others who had lost the faith for different reasons. To this comment I received no response. The discussion covered Church finances too, where the laity could assist, and I named the Bishops’

Let us all be peacemakers

ITH the International Day of Peace to be celebrated worldwide on September 21, it is urgent that we reflect on praying for peace. Partly due to the “self-centredness” in all DNA from our basic instincts of “self-preservation” and “belonging to groups”, our planet earth and society are sick, suffering, “sinful and sorrowful”, so last year the appeal for prayer for South Africa and Africa was widened to include the entire world. Its title is “Be Peacemakers”. However, the spelling-check on the computer rendered this as “Be Pacemakers”. Before we are too amused, the deeply Catholic actor Jim Caviezel believes (as quoted in your interview of May 17) that “there are no coincidences for God”. So we find that “pacemaker” is the medical term for the vital regulation of the heartbeat, or a device to assist this. It is an “instrument” to “change hearts”. The “Peace Prayer” of St Francis

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Foundation as an example. Again no response. I also highlighted the need for The Southern Cross as the main “communicator”, to enjoy more support from the clergy, starting with ongoing support from the bishops. I was astounded when the response was that The Southern Cross supposedly did not reflect “the true message of the Church”. I again emphasised that there was a serious lack of communication between clergy and laity and that The Southern Cross was the ideal vehicle to carry communication. I came away shocked at the arrogance this senior member of the clergy had displayed. It was clear to me that some bishops are still preVatican II, when communication was one way, from the top down. Contrast this against the Methodist Church. My wife is a devout Methodist and we attend services in each other’s churches. The congregation all know I am a lifelong Catholic, but accept me as one of their own. We are members of a Methodist Bible study group, and again I am accepted. Our discussions have included the differing views of certain teachings of both Churches, in a constructive, respectful manner. As for communication, the Methodists do not have a weekly newspaper yet keep in touch. One clear example is that within a fortnight of the devastating fire that swept the Southern Cape, a circular letter was e-mailed from the ofOpinions 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. Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

of Assisi urges us to change hearts, attitudes and mindsets. Hearts have been regarded as the “seat of love” since earliest times. St Francis was one of many saints devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and St Thérèse of Lisieux wrote: “May prayer and sacrifice be your whole strength; they, far better than words, can move hearts.” Jesus (and Mary) came in selfsacrifice and service to teach us to overcome our “self-centredness”, to love one another, and to pray for God’s help to achieve this. Jesus urged us to be “peacemakers”. Was Pope Francis perhaps thinking of this during a meeting when he urged President Donald Trump to “be a peacemaker”, and when he made his worldwide appeal for “a minute of prayer”? Let us pray the Be Peacemakers Prayer for the world. Let us plead for the help of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who came in self-sacrifice and service to teach us to learn to love one another, our neighbour, our enemy, and ask his Mother Mary (who did the same) and the angels, saints, martyrs, holy souls and our brothers and sisters everywhere to pray with us for our troubled world. Let us say the rosary (or a decade, or Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be) and the Fatima prayer, followed by: “O God of justice and love, bless us, the people of (country), (continent) and the world, and help us to live in your mercy, love, justice and peace. Grant us gentleness of spirit and understanding of heart so that we may enfold your earth in lasting friendship and peace.” Sacred Heart of Jesus, we put all our trust in you. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Let us follow with the Peace Prayer of St Francis (as adapted in 1985 by the SACBC): “Lord, make me an instrument (channel) of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony. Grant that we may not so much seek to be understood as to

fice of the presiding bishop for South Africa to Church members, appealing for financial help for those less fortunate who had suffered losses. The financial response was, I am told, overwhelming. Another example is a further letter from the same source, highlighting the serious problems facing our country and appealing for each community to set aside a time to pray for a solution to these problems. A special prayer service followed. Turning to the administration of the Methodist Church, it is pleasing to note that democracy rules. Each community has an annual meeting to elect a church council. There is feedback on all matters by regular newsletters which include financial reports, details of birthdays, anniversaries, and calls for prayers for those who are ill or facing problems. Indeed I was recently invited by the local minister to assist in a financial/legal matter, and I attended a meeting of the church council to give advice. What I have experienced in the Methodist Church is a love and fellowship from both clergy and ordinary members that in my 75 years I have not found in Mother Church. If we are to start meaningful dialogue with other Churches, the Catholic laity must be involved. And first, there has to be true dialogue within the Catholic Church itself. To do this, there has to be deep reflection by our bishops. Here I quote the words of Pope Francis: “If we cannot as yet think alike in all things, at least we must love alike.” Mervyn Pollitt, Waterfall, KZN

understand, to be loved as to love, to receive sympathy as to give it—for it is in giving that we shall receive; in pardoning that we shall be pardoned; in forgetting ourselves that we shall find unending peace with others.” St Francis, help us to heal the earth and transform society not just by social justice but also by changing hearts, mindsets and attitudes, including our own. And the Prayer to St Thérèse of Lisieux: O St Therese, Little Flower of the Child Jesus, obtain for all nations the blessing of fraternal union. Exert your wondrous influence over hearts, so that, as we are all children of God, all the great human family may unite in love of the same Father in Heaven. Teach nations and individuals the great law of love so that with lasting agreement between nations and individuals the desire of our pope, the Vicar of Christ, may be realised: Peace as the fruit of mercy, love and justice. St Thérèse, pray for us. Come, Holy Spirit, fill all hearts with the fire of your love and renew the face of the earth. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Let us pray often, alone or with others, and pass the message on across the world. Let us be true peacemakers. Athaly Jenkinson, East London

I would finance Southern Cross

HE Southern Cross is a truly wonderful weekly newspaper, and so filled with fascinating contributions by some very interesting people, for example, the articles by Professor Emmanuel Ngara and your editorials are brilliant. If I were a wealthy man I would happily finance your newspaper and give it free to all those who want to have something worth reading and to feed their souls. One of our biggest problems today is the news media, because it focuses on bad news—and bad news sells. This constant input of bad news is bound to make us all rather negative. I am therefore avoiding newspapers apart from The Southern Cross which does one more good than harm. Roy Glover, Tzaneen

PERSPECTIVES

The Catholic heritage in SA T HE Cape Town archdiocese has begun a new Ecclesia series titled “Of The Lord’s Vineyard: 200 Years Of The Church In Southern Africa”. I love the Ecclesia groups because I find them to be great way to know my fellow parishioners, and to share my faith. In Ecclesia I also hear the invitation of the risen Christ to Peter, to “take into the deep”, thus intensifying my faith. I am particularly fascinated with the foundation history of our country. I also believe now is an opportune time to deal honestly with the unhealthy silences within our history that encourage the festering of resentment. Strictly speaking, Catholicism is part of Southern Africa’s foundations. It begins with the arrival on December 8, 1487—the feast of the Immaculate Conception—of Bartholomew Diaz at Walvis Bay, which he appropriately called the gulf of Santa Maria da Conceição. The first Mass on our soil was probably celebrated around late December of 1487 or early January 1488, on the island of the Holy Cross (named as such by Diaz), just off Port Elizabeth. Ten years later, Vasco da Gama, on his way to India, sighted on Christmas Day the land on the east coast of what is now South Africa, to which he gave the name Tierra de Natal. Those explorers also brought missionaries with them, but the priests did not concentrate on evangelising South Africa. Most of the priests on these ships were explorers, gathering scientific and geographical knowledge—and they were treated with virulent anti-Catholic sentiments of the era. They were often treated as underdogs and sometimes part of the indentured servants of the ships. Between 1652 and 1795, under Dutch East India Company rule, Catholicism was forbidden in South Africa. Only occasional visits of priests travelling on Portuguese or French boats were allowed. The same attitude prevailed between 1795 and 1802 under British rule.

Whenever the ships docked in harbours, and the nearby settlers heard there were Catholic priests, they would come for confession, and sometimes to clandestine impromptu Masses. But in 1660, a French bishop who was shipwrecked in Table Bay was forbidden to say Mass on shore. In 1685 six Jesuit fathers, on an astronomical mission, landed on the same spot. This is an extract from the journal of one of them, Fr Tachard: “Hardly had we taken possession of the Observatory, when the Catholics of this Colony, who are fairly numerous, got to hear of it and showed very great interest...” They could visit the sick in homes and hospital but they were not allowed to say Mass, other than privately on their ships.

hen I was writing my book, The Broken River, I took guilty pleasure in the Catholic Church’s absent voice during the mess of colonialism. That is because the book is written from the point of view of the Xhosa chief Maqoma, who was fascinated by the message of The Word but castigated the tendencies of what Kierkegaard termed Christendom, and the use of the Bible message to subjugate and exploit nations for colonialist gain. In 1804 the Dutch commissioner-general, Jacob de Mist, declared “religious toleration” in the Cape Colony, prompting

Cape Town’s St Mary's cathedral in 1908

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

The Public Square

three priests from Holland to come for the purposes of attending to the “scattered Catholic flock”—only to be expelled the following year when the British took over the government. In 1818, Pope Pius VII appointed the Benedictine Dom Edward Bede Slater as the first vicar-apostolic of the Cape. But he never set foot on South African soil as the government in London forbade him to go there, so he went to Mauritius. Likewise his successor, Dom William Placid Morris, resided in Mauritius, never putting foot on South African soil. Sir Benjamin D’Urban, the governor of the Cape Colony after whom Durban is named, feared “the papist riotous lot”, thus petitioned the pope to appoint a resident Catholic bishop for the region. Thus Bishop Raymond Griffith, third vicar-apostolic of the Cape, became the first resident bishop of South Africa in 1837. With this began the official history of the Catholic Church as a visible institution. I am often aware of his eminent presence whenever I go for Holy Communion at St Mary’s cathedral in Cape Town, which Bishop Griffith built. The spread of the Catholic Church into the Eastern Cape, Natal and beyond after that is detailed in Fr Anthony Egan’s article this week. During the decades of apartheid rule, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church initially adopted a conciliatory stance towards the Nationalist government. They were more concerned with maintaining the Catholic school, hospital and welfare institution networks. To their credit, the Church opposed the Bantu Education Act, and fought to retain the Catholic education system. As a beneficiary of Catholic education I am grateful it created a space for the likes of me to get something close to proper education during the apartheid era, even as I am a little Continued on page 11

My lesson from an unrequited crush Nthabiseng E Maphisa VERY woman knows all too well the stirrings within her that come from being attracted to someone and hoping to be noticed by them. I have not escaped such a treachery and soon found myself in love’s quarters. At first I laughed at myself for even finding him handsome. He was a friend and I had not had such feelings until then. It was not long before my uncensored imagination led me to the lonely lair of daydreaming. Here I entertained many visions until my heart was content: I was his best friend, then his girlfriend, and soon I was meeting the parents. There was an engagement to be followed by a marriage filled with unending happiness. Back in real life, the scarcity of his WhatsApp texts always brought me back to the reality that perhaps my affections were not to be returned. He was friendly, but never flirtatious, polite but never truly interested in the way I had hoped he would be. I was left to find my way through the maze of my confusion and unguarded thoughts and emotions. Still my phone never buzzed, the screen never flashed, save for the copious amounts of chatter from people I did not wish to hear. There were only so many LOLs and emojis that I could take before growing frustrated with the silence from his side of the chat. There was no “Hi” or “How are you doing?” or “Great skies today”. I resolved to think through every possible cause for this. I shuddered at the thought that there might be other girls only too keen to im-

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press this young banker. I was then ashamed of myself for not taking extra care to ensure that he indeed was single. I presumed he would not entertain my attempts at having coffee and lunch with him if he was in a relationship. But this in itself should have alerted me. I was often the one only too willing to make arrangements while he politely submitted to them. Unless I was oblivious to something, suggestions of a pursuit on his part was rare. I wondered how in wearing my sexy skirt and lipstick I had failed in making myself irresistible to him.

ut then, I know not when or how, I began to reason that I might not be the bounteous fruit he was searching for, if he was searching at all. I accepted that there would not be a future with Instagram couple’s selfies modified with just the right filter. There would be no likes, tweets or #Babe, #Missyou, #TheOne, #loveyoualways. I was embar-

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rassed that my insensibility had led me on a course to disillusionment. The feelings remained and I didn’t know how to discard them. His absence had at first evoked feelings of longing, but soon it was easy to forget that I had even thought of him in that way. On occasion I would see him, more muscular and athletic than before. Then, what had started as an innocent fascination had grown into an unsolicited admiration, and now my femininity wished to understand better his masculinity. Eventually time would give way to what it really was. There were no lunches, calls or texts. With the exception of a few “dates” the rest were all imaginings, conjectures, factions and make-believe. The mind, untamed and misbehaving, can cause agony to the heart it tries to guide. It leaves the heart to ponder the joys that could have been from a bridge left uncrossed. While it’s important to guard our bodies it’s so easy to forget to do the same with our hearts. We are not called to be cold, unsociable creatures or to be indifferent to the movements within us. It is, however within our power to use these feelings to help us understand what it is we really want—and why we’re “engineered” to want it.

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Julia Beacroft

Point of Reflection

Would you watch Jesus on Reality TV?

‘J

ERRY! JERRY! JERRY!” My then 17-year-old son chanted, along with the TV studio audience. “JERRY!” My son was, of course, watching The Jerry Springer Show. Television presenter, former lawyer, mayor of Cincinnati, news presenter, actor, and musician Jerry Springer remains well known for hosting his chat show, which continues to be ever popular. In fact, the current trend of reality TV, docusoaps and chat shows commands a huge proportion of airtime on our televisions, with soaring viewing figures. And there are so many of them. You name it, and there’s been a programme about it, whether it’s the armed forces, cookery, hairdressing, sugar or survival. Then there are the really well-known “big guns” such as Big Brother or Keeping up with the Kardashians. These days our screens seem to feature them all. Yet what does “Reality TV” really mean? The Internet, as ever, provides us with the answer: “Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations, and often features an otherwise unknown cast of individuals who are typically not professional actors.” These types of TV programmes usually feature a whole range of human emotions. And in our own daily living, these so-called “real-life situations” are also funny, emotional, humdrum, upsetting or angry—but, more importantly, they can also involve love. And without doubt, love makes the world go round. In fact, a child first learns about love in the home. And where there is love, there is God—I’m sure most of us are familiar with the expression “God is love”. Our own personal realities involve our relationships with each other and with the Lord. And in these relationships our emotions are always engaged. But, of course, the primary focus of Jesus’ reality was his Law of Love. There are many distractions in our world today but there are two things which will endure forever: love and the Lord Jesus Christ. Reality TV is cult entertainment for our time which we can tune into if we are so inclined. But we can be certain that Jesus Christ is the supreme reality for all time—and he is readily available for us to “tune into” whenever we want to. If Jesus were to appear on our screens today as a chat-show guest, would you follow my son’s example, but instead enthusiastically shout: “JESUS, JESUS, JESUS!”? n Julia Beacroft’s book Sanctifying The Spirit is published by Sancio Books. It is available on Amazon.

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

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

Parishioners at St Xavierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on the Bluff, Durban, went on pilgrimage to Fatima. On the way, they visited Our Lady of Garabandal in northern Spain. Pilgrims Charmaine Emmanuel and Therese Pottier are seen at a wayside shrine to Our Lady.

COMMUNITY

St Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cathedral in Cape Town celebrated the confirmation of five young men. (Back row from left) Deacon Stephen Armstrong, Archbishop Stephen Brislin and Fr Rohan Smuts. (Front row from left) Alex Baker, Alexandro da Silva Azevedo, Dale de Windt, Damian Hendricks and Zaine Perry. Dale is an organist at St Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cathedral. (Photo: Michelle Perry)

Fr Robert Mphiwe, vicar-general of Pretoria archdiocese, confirmed 11 young parishioners of St Augustineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parish in Silverton. Seen with Fr Mphiwe is acting parish priest, Comboni Father Harold Gomanjira, catechist Shanaaz Goa and Professor Callum Scott.

As part of the preparation for the ordination of Salesian Father Chris Sharpe, Br Clarence Watts and cleric Xolile Galata organised a youth festival to make known the Salesian charism and introduce Don Bosco to the young people of Port Elizabeth. The event was held at St Martin de Porres parish in Gelvandale, Port Elizabeth. Currently there is no Salesian presence in Port Elizabeth but the diocese has produced two Salesian vocations, Br Watts and Fr Sharpe.

The Catholic Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s League of Holy Trinity parish in Durban celebrated 65 years of service and invited parishioners to join them after morning Mass for a special tea. Seen cutting the birthday cakes are CWL members Cynthia Jones and Jean Deeley. (Photo: Eugenie Sabela)

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za New members of St Anneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sodality were inaugurated at St John Bosco parish in Robertsham, Johannesburg. Parish priest Fr John Thompson SDB officiated at the clothing ceremony, where the distinctive St Anneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purple cloaks and medals were blessed during Mass. This was followed by a celebratory lunch. The new St Anneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members are Thokozile Legodi, Kedibone Lucky Malange, Maria Emma Zulu, Mohlatleho Sekoaila, Khumbuzile Sotsaka and Matshediso Hilda Ndiweni. Senior member Agatha Zwane guided and tutored them in the past year.

Oudtshoorn diocese held a retreat for catechists at Dysselsdorp, with 52 catechists attending. Fr David Dettmer spoke at the retreat on the joy of being a Catholic.

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Website: www.tee.co.za E-mail: admin@tee.co.za Tel: (011) 683 3284 The Theological Education by Extension College is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a 3ULYDWH +LJKHU (GXFDWLRQ ,QVWLWXWLRQ XQGHU WKH +LJKHU (GXFDWLRQ $FW RI 5HJLVWUDWLRQ &HUWLĂ&#x20AC; FDWH 1R +( 1RQ 3URĂ&#x20AC; W &RPSDQ\ 5HJLVWUDWLRQ 1R

The congregation at St Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parish in Eersterust, Pretoria, held a rosary rally in honour of Our Lady. (Supplied by Clora Damons)

Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School in Durban North celebrated its Founderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day. The school was established in 1954. Sr Catherina, who turned 90 the week after the celebration, was honoured for her 55 years of service.

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

INTERVIEW

Pope: Biggest threat to the world is money In a new, far-reaching book-length interview, Pope Francis talks about sin, marriage, the Church, war, women and himself. CAROL GLATZ gives us the highlights.

Y virtue of its very definition, marriage can be only between a man and a woman, Pope Francis said in a new book-length interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We cannot change it. This is the nature of things,â&#x20AC;? not just in the Church, but in human history, he said in a series of interviews with Dominique Wolton, a 70-year-old French sociologist and political communication. The 417-page book, Politique et SocietĂŠ (Politics and Society) was published this month in French. When it comes to the true nature of marriage as well as gender, there is â&#x20AC;&#x153;critical confusion at the momentâ&#x20AC;?, the pope said. When asked about marriage for same-sex couples, the pope said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s call this â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;civil unionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. We do not joke around with truth.â&#x20AC;? Teaching children that they can choose their gender, he said, also plays a part in fostering such mistakes about the truth or facts of nature. The pope said he wondered whether these new ideas about gender and marriage were somehow based on a fear of differences, and he encouraged researchers to study the subject. Pope Francis also said his decision to give all priests permanent

permission to grant absolution to those who confess to having procured an abortion was not meant to trivialise this serious and grave sin. Abortion continues to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;murder of an innocent person. But if there is sin, forgiveness must be facilitatedâ&#x20AC;?, he said. So often a woman who never forgets her aborted child â&#x20AC;&#x153;cries for years without having the courage to see a priestâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Do you have any idea the number of people who can finally breathe?â&#x20AC;? he asked, adding how important it was that these women can find the Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forgiveness and never commit this sin again. Pope Francis said the biggest threat in the world is money. In Matthewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gospel, when Jesus talked about peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love and loyalty being torn between two things, he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say it was between â&#x20AC;&#x153;your wife or Godâ&#x20AC;?, it was choosing between God or money. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear. They are two things opposed to each other,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Morality also above the belt When asked why people do not listen to this message even though it has been clearly taught by the Church since the time of the gospels, the pope said it is because some people prefer to speak only about morality. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is a great danger for preachers and lecturers to fall into mediocrity,â&#x20AC;? which is condemning only those forms of immorality that fall â&#x20AC;&#x153;below the beltâ&#x20AC;?, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But the other sins that are the most serious: hatred, envy, pride, vanity, killing another, taking away a life...these are really not talked about that much,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most minor sins are the sins of the flesh,â&#x20AC;? he said, because the

Pope Francis has talked about various topics in an interview book, including the time he went for psychoanalysis. flesh is weak. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most dangerous sins are those of the mind,â&#x20AC;? and confessors should spend more time asking if a person prays, reads the gospel and seeks the Lord. One temptation the Church has always been vulnerable to, the pope said, is being defensive because it is scared. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Where in the gospels does the Lord say that we need to seek security? Instead he said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Risk, go ahead, forgive and evangeliseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.â&#x20AC;? Another temptation, he said, is to seek uniformity with rules, for example, in the debate concerning his apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I talk about families in difficulty, I say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Welcome, accom-

pany, discern, integrate...â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and then everyone will see the doors open. In reality, what happens is you hear people say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;They cannot receive Communion.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;They cannot do this and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.â&#x20AC;? That temptation of the Church to emphasise â&#x20AC;&#x153;no, no and noâ&#x20AC;? and what is prohibited is the same â&#x20AC;&#x153;drama Jesus experienced with the Phariseesâ&#x20AC;?. This closed, fundamentalist mindset like Jesus faced is â&#x20AC;&#x153;the battle I lead today with the exhortationâ&#x20AC;?. Jesus followed â&#x20AC;&#x153;another logicâ&#x20AC;? that went beyond prohibitions as he did not adhere to customsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;like not touching lepers and stoning adulterersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that had become like commandments, he said. Church leaders are used to â&#x20AC;&#x153;frozen normsâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;fixed standardsâ&#x20AC;?, but when they ask, â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Can we give Communion to divorcees?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; I reply, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Speak with the divorced man and woman, welcome, accompany, integrate and discernâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;,â&#x20AC;? which opens a path and a way of communication to lead people to Christ. Encountering Christ is what leads people onto a path of living a moral life, he said.

No war is just When asked about the Churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;just-warâ&#x20AC;? theory, the pope said the issue should be looked into because â&#x20AC;&#x153;no war is just. The only just thing is peaceâ&#x20AC;?. Concerning the persecution of Christians, particularly in the East, and the question of why God would allow such tragedy, the pope said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I do not know where God is, but I know where man is in this situation. Men make weapons and sell them.â&#x20AC;?

It is easy for people to question God, he said, but â&#x20AC;&#x153;it is we who commit all thisâ&#x20AC;? and allow it to happen; â&#x20AC;&#x153;our humanity is corruptedâ&#x20AC;?. Speaking about women, the pope said they have an important role in society because they help unify and reconcile people. Some people mistake womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demands to be represented and heard in the world with a kind of â&#x20AC;&#x153;machoism in a skirtâ&#x20AC;?, but machoism is a form of â&#x20AC;&#x153;brutalityâ&#x20AC;? and does not represent what women should be. He said with the reform of the Roman curia, â&#x20AC;&#x153;there will be many women who will have decisionmaking powerâ&#x20AC;?, not just roles as advisers. While he said he believes he will succeed in opening up more positions to women in the curia, it will be difficult and there will be problemsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not because of misogyny, but because of â&#x20AC;&#x153;the problem of powerâ&#x20AC;?. When Pope Francis and the French interviewer talked about differences between the Argentines and the French, the pope said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Argentines are quite fond of psychoanalysis.â&#x20AC;? The pope praised those psychoanalysts who are able to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;open to humanism and to dialogue with other sciencesâ&#x20AC;?, particularly medicine and homeopathy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those whom I have known have helped me a lot at one point in my life when I needed consultation,â&#x20AC;? he said, describing how he met with a Jewish psychoanalyst once a week for six months when he was 42 â&#x20AC;&#x153;to clear up certain thingsâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She was very good. Very professional as a doctor and psychoanalystâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;she helped me so muchâ&#x20AC;?.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;CNS

In Commemoration o m m em emo o rat ration on of o

TEE College offers three DFFUHGLWHG +LJKHU &HUWLĂ&#x20AC; FDWHV WR equip Christians in these ministries:

Christian Proclamation

Enhance your skills in preaching, teaching the faith & making the Gospel known in different contexts

Christian Worship

Celebrating years of

Vincentian Charism

Venue:

Learn about leading and managing a local church RU FRPPXQLW\ EDVHG RUJDQLVDWLRQ

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Registration for 2018 opens on 1 November 2017. Theological Education by Extension College Website: www.tee.co.za E-mail: admin@tee.co.za Tel: (011) 683 3284 The Theological Education by Extension College is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a Private Higher Education Institution under the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997 5HJLVWUDWLRQ &HUWLĂ&#x20AC; FDWH 1R +( 1RQ 3URĂ&#x20AC; W &RPSDQ\ 5HJLVWUDWLRQ 1R

Conference President for details.

Contact

Wilson Letswalo Gauteng North 079 413 8227 wjlmim2@gmail.com Jerome Soobrayan Gauteng North 072 019 0235 jeromesoobrayan@gmail.com

Holy Trinity Catholic Church - Midrand

President Road, President Park AH, Address: 62 Midrand, 1685

Date:

Saturday, 30 September 2017

Grow as a worship planner and leader

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will be available. Transport: Buses Please contact your

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul will be hosting a Combined Gauteng Festival

Time:

SSVP

09:00 - 16:00

We call all Vincentian incentian Members in Gauteng to join us in this Jubilee Celebration of 400 years of Vincentian Charism as we build up towards our International Symposium to be held in Rome 12 - 15 October 2017.

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Is God calling you to ministry? Have you been dropped in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;at the deep endâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? Do you want to grow your ministry skills?

160 YEARS

Service to the Needy

Bheki Masondo Gauteng East 072 710 4186 Masondo2014@gmail.com Fritha Hennessy Gauteng South 083 380 8179 frithahennessy@gmail.com Joan Zaayman National Office 011 673 3204 ncadmin@ssvp.org.za

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

SA CHURCH 200

How SA Church spread In part 2 of his history of the Southern African Church, FR ANTHONY EGAN SJ looks how Catholicism spread eastwards.

AST week saw how the huge distances made it difficult for Bishop Patrick Griffith, the first resident bishop in what is now South Africa, to visit Catholics under his charge regularly, in a territory that stretched from Cape Town to Grahamstown. So in 1846 he petitioned Rome to split his territory into two vicariates, and on July 30, 1847, Pope Pius IX created the Eastern Vicariate. Fr Aidan Devereux, Bishop Griffith’s Irish-born assistant, was ordained as bishop, setting up his base of operations initially in Grahamstown. Bishop Devereux, realising that his territory was itself unmanageable—in effect it stretched as far as the Portuguese colony in the east— petitioned the pope in 1849 to set up another vicariate in Natal. This territory, established in its own right in 1850, would span not only the province later called KwaZulu-Natal but also the then Boer Republics (Orange Free State and Zuid Afrikaansche Republic/Transvaal), Basutoland and later extend into the eastern parts of the Northern Cape around Kimberley. Bishop Devereux also acknowledged that for the Church to grow, missionary religious orders were essential. He initially approached the Jesuits and the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (also known as Spiritans), both of whom were unable at the time to send men to southern Africa.

His luck changed when the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), a French congregation founded at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, agreed to come to Natal. He also encouraged congregations of religious sisters to come to South Africa to establish schools in particular. Communities from Germany, Ireland and France responded to his invitation and that of his successors: Dominicans, Assumptionists, Holy Cross and Sisters of Notre Dame, Franciscans and later Carmelites. Later congregations of teaching brothers—Marists, De La Salle and Christian Brothers—would add to what would become a major work of the Church in South Africa: primary and secondary education. The Oblates, already established in France and Canada, chose to give up a mission to Algeria to come to South Africa. It would prove to be a definitive decision for them—and for the Catholic Church in South Africa. From a fairly small contingent starting in Durban and Pietermaritzburg (where the vicar apostolic, Bishop Jean Francois Allard, was based), the Oblate presence in the country would create one of the largest parts of the congregation anywhere in the world. Their influence would spread from Natal westwards and northwards almost as far as present-day Zimbabwe. They virtually established Catholicism in present-day Lesotho, provided the backbone of the Church in the Northern Cape (shared in its western parts with the Oblates of St Francis De Sales), the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

Colonial influence Colonial politics inevitably influenced the expansion of the Catholic Church in “South Africa”. In British-controlled territories

Mariannhill monastery, which once was the largest Catholic monastery of any order in the world.

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Bishop Jean Francois Allard OMI (left), first vicar-apostolic in what is now KwaZulu-Natal, and a sculpture of Abbot Francis Pfanner, in the Mariannhill monastery which he founded. after the 1830s, the Church was generally tolerated and the nationalities of priests—and increasingly congregations of religious sisters and nuns—did not matter much. Given the mixed colonial demographic, it was generally a good idea to have British or Irish clergy, though Germans, Flemish, French or Dutch missionaries were also welcome. The latter, most of whom spoke passable to good English, were useful also for communicating with non-English colonists. In any case, worship at the time was conducted in Latin. In the Boer Republics, however, the non-English speakers were in fact essential. Prohibitions on Catholicism trekked with the Boers into the hinterland with varying degrees of intensity. Priests from England or Ireland were seen not only as Roomse gevaar but even perhaps as British spies. The bishops of both the Eastern and Western vicariates realised that non-English speaking clergy might have an easier time breaking through the religious and political barrier. A Flemish priest, Fr Hoendervangers, was sent to Bloemfontein to minister to Catholics in the Orange Free State, many of them British troops stationed there during a British occupation. Fr Hoendervangers was respected by Catholic and non-Catholic alike, and the idea—if not always the practice—of religious toleration grew in the Free State, continuing after the re-establishment of a Boer Republic. The Transvaal Republic held on longer to its prohibition of Catholicism until, as part of an economic treaty it struck between itself and Portugal (in effect giving the Republic a trade route to the sea that did not rely on going through British territory), it adopted a policy of religious toleration. The establishment of a convent school in Potchefstroom by Dominican Sisters—at one point the only school in the Republic—mirrors this development. Deep unease with the Roomse Gevaar was moderated by acknowledging the usefulness of such an establishment: some burghers sent their children to the school; they came back still good Calvinists and better educated. By the turn of the century, the Catholic Church in South Africa was growing. It

had also started to expand beyond serving colonists and was evangelising among African communities. One of the key moments in this transition came about almost by accident. Bishop James David Ricards of the Eastern vicariate from 1871-91, was one of the most energetic bishops of the period. A writer and scholar as well as a pastor, he strongly believed, like Bishop Devereux, in the need for religious orders to build the local Church. Apart from bringing in such congregations to run schools for boys and girls—the Jesuits to St Aidans College for boys, the Assumption Sisters to the girls’ convent, both in Grahamstown—he believed that the presence of contemplative orders inspired Catholics to greater holiness and provided an example that might evangelise non-Catholics. Contemplative orders of men and women do not engage in pastoral work. They do not teach in schools, run hospitals, lecture in seminaries, let alone establish institutes promoting social development or justice. They live together, pray together, and do work together such as farming to support themselves. More often than not this is done partly or fully in silence. Such an order is the Trappists, a network of monastery communities that was historically known for its austerity—and silence.

New mission for Natal Bishop Ricards, after much lobbying in Europe among abbots of the Trappists, recruited a group of them—mostly Germans, Austrians, Czechs and Croatians, some of them ex-soldiers, many from a farming background—to come to South Africa to set up a new monastery at Dunbrody on the Sundays River near Port Elizabeth. The community, under its Abbot Franz Pfanner, stayed there from 1880-82, when it moved to land near Pinetown, outside Durban. The Jesuits took over Dunbrody, making it the base for their new “Zambesia Mission”, which looped past the Boer Republics into presentday Zimbabwe and northwards to Zambia. In Natal the Trappists founded the monastery of Mariannhill, but soon Abbot Pfanner concluded that their contemplative life needed to be modified by extensive mission work among the Zulu people. From the monastery he and his congregation established a network of mission stations and schools. The Trappists, together with the newly-

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

Bishop Henri DeLalle OMI (front) with priests, nuns and confirmands at the Mariannhill “Native Mission” in November 1921.

A copy of the Southern Cross Daily, which appeared for three days in April 1951 to mark the Marian Congress in Cape Town and the establishment of the SACBC. founded Congregation of the Precious Blood, were in a few decades working very effectively throughout southern Natal and the Transkei. While this grew the Church in South Africa, particularly among Africans, it was not without difficulties. It flew in the face of the Trappist principle of silence, which divided the Trappist Order both at Mariannhill and worldwide. Though by 1900 Mariannhill had grown so big that it was the largest Catholic monastery of any order in the world, the Trappist Order decided that it could no longer remain within its fold: Fr Pfanner was ousted as abbot and the monastery was expelled from the Trappist community. It was reconstituted as the Congregation of Missionaries of Mariannhill (CMM) in 1909. Given its extensive work among the Zulu and Xhosa, it is worth considering here how the CMM reflected the Church’s attitude to race. In many respects the CMM clergy were a mirror of the Church’s complex attitude to Africans—and globally to indigenous peoples—in an age before it recognised the importance of cultural diversity. At Mariannhill and elsewhere, Catholicism came as a package: Christianity plus European culture. Though the universalism implicit in Catholicism suggested “fraternity” in the faith, and many missionaries produced grammars and ethnologies of local peoples, European racial views intruded as well. At best, and in the missionary work of the CMMs and OMIs (like many of their Protestant counterparts) one saw the best of intentions; the result was paternalism. This had uneasy consequences for the Church. Local African vocations to the priesthood and religious life were mostly discouraged. The careers in ministry of the first few African priests (ordained in the 1890s) proved disastrous. Most women religious created separate congregations for African sisters. African Catholic laypeople were largely a silent, if not silenced, group—though they were by 1950 the majority of the Church. Although many of the earliest churches and schools were not segregated in the 19th century, by the time the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference was established in 1951—the rapidly-expanded number of vicariates now dioceses, their vicars apostolic now bishops and archbishops—de facto segregation had occurred. In a local Church still plagued by the ghost of prohibition, consolidated by the anti-Catholic rhetoric of the victorious National Party in 1948, and caught in an international Catholic fear of communism, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church were confronted with tough choices as they faced the apartheid era. That they rose on many occasions to the challenge courageously, often at the cost of division within the Church, was both the result of seismic shifts within global Catholicism in the second half of the 20th century and the courage of many South African Catholics—clergy and religious, black and white. n This article was produced by the Jesuit Institute in association with the Daily Maverick.

The Southern Cross, September 13 to September 19, 2017

CLASSIFIEDS

The Catholic heritage of SA Continued from page 7 ambivalent by the Church’s lackadaisical stance against the system. Established in 1951, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) took its time to forcefully pronounce against racism, condemning apartheid as “intrinsically evil” only in the late 1950s. But its real acts of heroic defiance against the apartheid regime started in the early 1970s with its support of trade unions and in the late 1970s with the coming of the Soweto uprisings. In the 1980s the Church set up the New Nation newspaper as a

mouthpiece against apartheid. Many Catholic priests, religious, seminarians and Justice & Peace activists were detained without trial, and even subjected to torture. From the early 1990s the Church’s engagement in the public square has mostly been in areas such as conflict resolution, education, development and the strengthening of democracy. Through the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, a subsidiary of the SACBC, it aims to participate in the legislative process in parliament through dialogue and encounter towards the Church’s social teachings

and values. This important information is distilled in a wonderful manner through the videos and booklets of this season’s Ecclesia. I would encourage parents of young adults also to bring their offspring to these four sessions of our rich history, if they have access to it. It is also imperative that we give children the opportunity to understand why things are as they are now. n Read previous columns by Mphuthumi Ntabeni at www. scross.co.za/category/ perspectives/ntabeni/

Your prayer to cut out and collect

Prayer for Trust and Confidence in God’s Mercy by St Pio of Pietrelcina O Lord, we ask for a boundless confidence and trust in Your divine mercy, and the courage to accept the crosses and sufferings which bring immense goodness to our souls and that of Your Church.

CLaSSIFIEDS

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.

IN MEMOrIaM

LETOrD—Edna Madeline. In loving memory. Edna Letord passed away 15 years ago on September 19, 2002. Will always be remembered and loved by her family Helen, Stephen, Matthew, Thérèse and Kieran, Janet, Dean, Michael and Kyle, Anne, Basil, Sarah, Warren and Jessica and her sister Joan Swanson. May her soul rest in peace. SEraME—Dora. In loving memory of our dear mother, mother-in-law and grandmother who was called to higher service on 9/9/2016. Forever and always in our hearts, sadly missed and fondly remembered by the family. Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let your perpetual light shine upon her.

PraYErS

O Jesus, most adorable Heart and eternal fountain of Divine Love, may our prayer find favour before the Divine Majesty of Your heavenly Father. Amen.

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 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 Monday September 18 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Psalms 28:2, 7-9, Luke 7:1-10 Tuesday September 19, St Januarius 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Psalms 101:1-3, 5-6, Luke 7:1117 Wednesday September 20, Ss Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong HaSang & Companions 1 Timothy 3:14-16, Psalms 111:1-6, Luke 7:31-35 Thursday September 21, St Matthew Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13, Psalms 19:2-5, Matthew 9:9-13 Friday September 22, St Maurice & Companions 1 Timothy 6:2-12, Psalms 49:6-10, 17-20, Luke 8:1-3 Saturday September 23, St Pio of Pietrelcina 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Psalms 100, Luke 8:4-15 Sunday September 24, 25th Sunday of the Year Isaiah 55:6-9, Psalms 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18, Philippians 1:20-24, 27, Matthew 20:1-16

St Januarius

St Maurice

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 776. ACROSS: 4 Against, 8 Visits, 9 Evident, 10 Remark, 11 Relief, 12 Chessmen, 18 Narrator, 20 Mantra, 21 Balaam, 22 Giblets, 23 Healer, 24 Bernice. DOWN: 1 Avarice, 2 Ishmael, 3 Storks, 5 Governor, 6 Indult, 7 Sinner, 13 Monastic, 14 At fault, 15 Primary, 16 Famine, 17 Stolen, 19 Reaped.

Community Calendar

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

JOHaNNESBurg: St anthony’s church in Coronationville is calling for donations of tinned fish, peanut butter, jam, butter and juice for their soup kitchen. Contact Faried and Nadine Benn on 073 906 6037 or 083 658 2573. CaPE TOWN: Holy Mass in honour of St Padre Pio of Pietrelcina will be celebrated on Sunday, September 24 at St Mary of the Angel’s church in Athlone at 10:30. All welcome! retreat day/quiet prayer last Saturday of each month except December, at Springfield Convent in Wynberg, Cape Town. Hosted by CLC, 10.0015.30. Contact Jill on 083 282 6763 or Jane on 082 783 0331.

Perpetual adoration Chapel at Good Shepherd parish, 1 Goede Hoop St, Bothasig, welcomes all visitors. Open 24 hours a day. Phone 021 558 1412. DurBaN: Holy Mass and Novena to St anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9:00. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30 on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9:00. Phone 031 309 3496 or 031 209 2536. St anthony’s rosary group. Every Wednesday at 18:00 at St Anthony’s church opposite Greyville racecourse. All are welcome and lifts are available. Contact Keith Chetty on 083 372 9018.

everything and show me the way to reach my ideal, you who give me the divine gift to forgive and forget all the wrong that is done to me and you who are in all instances of my life with me. I, in this short dialogue, want to thank you for everything, and affirm once more that I never want to be separated from you no matter how great the material desires may be. I want to be with you and my loved ones in your perpetual glory. To that end and submitting to God’s holy will, I ask from you (mention your favour). Amen. Grateful thanks for prayer answered. D. THaNkS be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me, For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, May I know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, And follow thee more nearly, For ever and ever.

PErSONaL

Help us to love You with a pure and contrite heart, and to humble ourselves beneath Your cross, as we climb the mountain of holiness, carrying our cross that leads to heavenly glory. May we receive You with great faith and love in Holy Communion, and allow You to act in us as You desire for your greater glory.

HOLY ST JuDE, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depths of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Please help me now in my urgent need and grant my petition. In return I promise to make your name known in distribution of this prayer that never fails. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be forever blessed and glorified. Holy Mary Mother of God, Pray for us and grant my request (name your request). Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be. Dermot PE. MIraCuLOuS prayer to the Holy Spirit—Holy Spirit, you who make me see

aBOrTION WarNINg: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelife abortionisevil.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 maria832.simplesite.com This website has been set up to give Glory to the Most Holy Trinity through the healing power of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. View God’s marvellous work of healing and deliverance in various African countries since 2007. More than 20 video clips have been uploaded onto YouTube (simply go to Google and type Pious Kintu YouTube). Also you will read about African stigmatic Sr Josephine Sul of DR Congo and Padre Pio, among others. Share it with all your friends. Contacts: avemaria832@gmail. com and avemaria832

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@yahoo.com plus via cellphone (roaming within Africa) +243 99 0358275 +243 81 6090071. rETIrED CaTHOLIC LaDY looking for a separate entrance/1-bedroom apartment/granny flat to rent from November 1, 2017. Rental R1 500 to R1 700. Can also serve as carer. Area: Claremont/Kenilworth/Rondebosch/Bothasig/Edgemead/ Milnerton in Cape Town. Contact 083 308 5839.

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 021 685 7370, 073 263 2105 or kolbe.house@ telkomsa.net MarIaNELLa Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God 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 MONTagu: Self-catering cottage in central area. Sleeps three in lovely garden setting. Braai patio and secure parking. Pets and children welcome. Phone 082 975 8049.

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

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the

25th Sunday: September 24 Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9, Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18, Philippians 1:20-24, 27, Matthew 20:1-16

OOK for God, praise God, and expect the unexpected. That is more or less the message from the readings for next Sunday. The first reading, from almost the end of the Babylonian prophecies of Isaiah, is an invitation: “Seek the Lord when he can be found, call on him when he is near.” We also have to reform our lives, of course (“Let the wicked abandon their way”), but much more important is that we should “turn to the Lord and he will have mercy, and to our God, for he is full of forgiveness”. What is there to lose here? However, we have to recognise that God is different: “And “my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” Once we have grasped that, we can have confidence in our search for the Lord. That is the attitude of the author of Sunday’s psalm: “All day long I shall bless you and praise your name for ever and a day”, he sings, “The Lord is great and to be praised”; but, as always throughout the Old Testament, he emphasises that “the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in steadfast love; the Lord is good to all, and merciful on

S outher n C ross

all that he has created”. So if you find yourself thinking that this is a bad-tempered god, who is out to get you, then just recite those words to yourself. And above all see how it ends: “You are near, Lord, to all who call upon you, to all who cry out in integrity.” The second reading for next Sunday starts us on a brief run through Paul’s letter to the Philippians, written from a Roman prison from which he might well not emerge alive. Notice his obsession with Jesus: “And now Christ is going to be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. You see, for me life is Christ, and death is a gain.” The great thing is that he is equally willing to “dissolve and be with Christ” or to “remain in the flesh”. Whatever happens, the important thing is that the Philippians should “behave as citizens in a way that is appropriate for Christ’s gospel”. That is quite a challenge for us, this week. The Gospel is a notoriously tricky one, and certainly it reveals the unexpectedness of God. Here we have one of Matthew’s many parables, where the “Kingdom of the Heav-

ens” is compared to a “householder”. He starts off, very much as you might expect, going out to look for day-labourers for his vineyard. Then there is a contract agreed—“one denarius for the day”—and they are sent off to work. You may have some sympathy for these workers, and some reservations about the nature of a society that operates in this way, but given all of that, he is doing them something of a favour (as well as getting his vines picked). Then, for no reason that we are given, he ventures out a second time, at 9am, and repeats the action at 12 and 3pm. To these latecomers, he does not promise a denarius but “I’ll give you whatever is appropriate”. Then, and entirely unexpectedly, he goes out one last time, at 5pm, just before shutting up for the day, and gets some more workers, asking them (slightly aggressively?): “Why have you stood here all day long without working?” They make the perfectly reasonable reply that “no one hired us”, and they are told to get to work. At the end of the day the next unexpected thing happens, which is that the payment is

Achievement vs fruitfulness T

those around me more peaceful rather than more restless? This is different from asking: How have my achievements made me feel? How have they given me a sense of self-worth? How have my achievements witnessed to my uniqueness? It’s no secret that our achievements, however honest and legitimate, often produce jealousy and restlessness in others rather than inspiration and restfulness. We see this in how we so often envy and secretly hate highly successful people. Their achievements generally do little to enhance our own lives but instead trigger an edgy restlessness within us. The success of others, in effect, often acts like a mirror within which we see, restlessly and sometimes bitterly, our own lack of achievement. Why?

enerally there’s blame on both sides. On the one hand, our achievements are often driven from a self-centred need to set ourselves apart from others, to stand out, to be singular, to be recognised and admired rather than from a genuine desire to truly help others. To the extent that this is true, our successes are bound to trigger envy. Still, on the other hand, our envy of others is often the self-inflicted punishment spoken of in Jesus’ parable of the talents wherein the one who hides his talent gets punished for not using that talent. And so the truth is that we can achieve great things without being really fruitful, just as we can be very fruitful even while achieving little in terms of worldly success

Conrad

HERE’S a real difference between our achievements and our fruitfulness, between our successes and the actual good that we bring into the world. What we achieve brings us success, gives us a sense of pride, makes our families and friends proud of us, and gives us a feeling of being worthwhile, singular and important. We’ve done something. We’ve left a mark. We’ve been recognised. And along with those awards, trophies, academic degrees, certificates of distinction, things we’ve built, and artifacts we’ve left behind comes public recognition and respect. We’ve made it. We’re recognised. Moreover, generally, what we achieve produces and leaves behind something that is helpful to others. We can, and should, feel good about our legitimate achievements. However, as Fr Henri Nouwen frequently reminded us, achievement is not the same thing as fruitfulness. Our achievements are things we have accomplished. Our fruitfulness is the positive, long-term effect these achievements have on others. Achievement doesn’t automatically mean fruitfulness. Achievement helps us stand out, fruitfulness brings blessings into other people’s lives. Hence we need to ask this question: How have my achievements, my successes, the things that I’m proud to have done, positively nurtured those around me? How have they helped bring joy into other people’s lives? How have they helped make the world a better, more loving place? How have any of the trophies I’ve won or distinctions I’ve been awarded made

Nicholas King SJ

That puzzling denarius

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Sunday Reflections

done “starting with the last ones”. To our complete astonishment, they get the full amount, “a denarius each”. We hear nothing about what happens to those who were employed at the middle hours, but go straight to those who were employed first. When they get a denarius each, they are furious to be classed with the latecomers: “You have made us the same as them—and we bore the heat and burden of the day!” To them the employer (addressing their spokesman as “friend”, a term that Jesus will later use for Judas in Gethsemane), says: “I’m not doing you any injustice—it is what we agreed. Take what is yours and go.” The brute fact is that before God we are all the same, and we do not deserve any better than anyone else; we are all creatures, and our task is to be grateful for God’s goodness, and not keep count of how much we have done. This unexpected God is one to look out for, all day long, and to praise when we glimpse him.

Southern Crossword #776

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

and recognition. Our fruitfulness is often the result not so much of the great things we accomplish but of the graciousness, generosity and kindness we bring into the world. Unfortunately our world rarely reckons these as an achievement, an accomplishment, a success. We don’t become famous for being gracious. Yet, when we die, while we may well be eulogised for our achievements, we will be loved and remembered more for the goodness of our hearts than for our distinguished achievements. Our real fruitfulness will flow from something beyond the legacy of our accomplishments. It will be the quality of our hearts, more so than our achievements, that will determine how nurturing or asphyxiating is the spirit we leave behind us when we’re gone. Nouwen also points out that when we distinguish between our achievements and our fruitfulness, we will see that, while death may be the end of our success, productivity and importance, it isn’t necessarily the end of our fruitfulness. Indeed, often our true fruitfulness occurs only after we die, when our spirit can finally flow out more purely. We see that this was true too for Jesus. We were able to be fully nurtured by his spirit only after he was gone. Jesus teaches this explicitly in his farewell discourse in John’s gospel when he tells us repeatedly that it’s better for us that he goes away because it’s only when he’s gone that we will be able to truly receive his spirit, his full fruitfulness. The same is true for us. Our full fruitfulness will only show after we have died. Great achievement doesn’t necessarily make for great fruitfulness. Great achievement can give us a good feeling and can make our families and loved ones proud of us. But those feelings of accomplishment and pride are not a lasting or deeply nourishing fruit. Indeed, the good feeling that accomplishment gives us is often a drug, an addiction, which forever demands more of us and sets loose envy and restlessness in others as it underscores our separateness. The fruit that feeds love and community tends to come from our shared vulnerability and not from those achievements that set us apart.

ACROSS

4. Sing at a movement in opposition (7) 8. Calls to the chapel (6) 9. This is obvious (7) 10. Comment about the gospel (6) 11. Easing when fielder loses 500 (6) 12. Bishop is among them on board (8) 18. Story-teller (8) 20. Some human traits have meditative repetition (6) 21. This prophet had a talking ass (Nm 22) (6) 22. Don’t roast Sunday chicken with them in (7) 23. One who can cure you (6) 24. She arrived with Agrippa (Ac 25) (7)

DOWN

1. Sinful greed (7) 2. Hagar’s son (Gn 16) (7) 3. They take flight when baby is delivered (6) 5. Pilate’s status in Judea (Lk 3) (8) 6. Papal authority to exempt you (6) 7. One who needs absolution (6) 13. Most I can change in religious life (8) 14. You are in the wrong here (2,5) 15. The school that comes first (7) 16. It lasted seven years (Gn 41) (6) 17. Robbed from St Noel (6) 19. Gathered the harvest (6) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

FTER a wedding rehearsal, the groom approached the priest. “Look, Father, I will give you R1 000 if, when you get to the part where I promise to ‘love, honour and obey, and forsake all others and be faithful to her forever’, you just skip it.” He gave the priest his R1 000 offering and left. When the wedding day arrived, the priest looked the young man in the eyes and said: “Will you promise to prostrate yourself before her, obey her every command, and swear that you will never, ever, even look at another woman?” The groom froze, then said in a whisper: “I do.” After Mass, the groom pulled the priest aside and hissed at him: “I thought we had a deal.” The priest slipped the R1 000 back into the groom’s hand and whispered: “The bride’s father made me a much better offer.”

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