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Now we really want a World Youth Day

BY ERIN CARELSE

A

Some of the 4000 Mini World Youth Day pilgrims from all over Southern Africa get into the exuberant spirit of their pilgrimage. See our special report and photos on pages 2-3.

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

FTER the successful Mini World Youth Day (MWYD) in Durban, Cardinal Napier has raised the possibility of South Africa hosting a World Youth Day (WYD), but warned that more work still needs to be done on infrastructure.

With the positive experience of MWYD— which went off smoothly after initial problems with the registration process—the Church in Southern Africa is looking at the option of bidding for a future WYD. Cardinal Napier told the Spotlight Africa website that it is his dream to see a WYD hosted in South Africa.

“The initiative has to come from us; I think we will make an inquiry.”

He added that before WYD can come to South Africa, more youth events will need ro be organised by local dioceses.

Fr Paul Tatu CSS, communications officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, said MWYD could be seen as a trial run to see whether or not there is the potential and necessary infrastructure to host a WYD. It was also an opportunity to give the young people a sense of what they might expect.

MWYD gathered 4 000 people, but the challenge for World Youth Day would require a gathering of more than a million people,, he noted.

The mandate for young people now is to go out and try to inspire other young people for future MWYDs as a build-up to hosting the bigger event, he said.

Durban mayor Zandile Gumede said that the city is ready to support the Catholic Church in bringing WYD to Durban, saying the location is ideal for such an event.

While no cases of serious crime were reported, some pilgrims were reportedly victims of petty crimes. Organisers and bishops advised pilgrims to go out only in groups for protection.

Much preparation and planning would

The

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (right) with Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria at Mini World Youth Day in Durban. (Photo: Hugh Mdlalose) need to take place in order to possibly host WYD, SACBC president Archbishop Stephen Brislin said.

Fr Tatu declared WMYD a resounding success. “This event far exceeded my expectations, and I was very impressed,” he said.

“This was a true Rainbow Nation coming together. The spirit of the young people has shown us that they are capable and ready for WYD to come to Southern Africa. They have also shown that they are mature and willing to work to be the leaders of the Church in the country, he said.

“Being a part of this event, one feels that the young people are the Church of today and they have a new culture of enriching their faith as Catholics.”

The theme of MWYD “The Almighty has done great things for us, and Holy is His name” has brought unity among the South African youth, he said.

They feel that they need to be with the pope in Africa, hosting this event, and are pushing the leadership of the Church in Continued on page 2

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MWYD

Young Catholics join Among the 4 000 young people at Mini World Youth Day in Durban was reporter SANDILE NGIDI. Here is what he saw.

O Participants carry flags during the opening night ceremony of MWYD. (Photo: Hugh Mdlalose)

Pilgrims from Oudtshoorn advertise their diocese on their T-shirts. (Photo courtesy of MWYD)

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, president of the SACBC, greets the MWYD pilgrims. (Photo: Sheldon Reddiar)

VER 4 000 young Catholics who attended the Mini World Youth Day (MWYD) in Durban this month vowed to use their experience to help their peers appreciate that today’s societal ills require a God-centred way of life.

Participants came from the Southern African pastoral region— South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland—as well as delegates from other countries, including Zimbabwe, Mozambicans and Malawi.

All of the pilgrims received a complementary copy of the week’s Southern Cross. Some used social media to give thanks.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, the archbishop of Durban, called on Catholic youths to be a good example in their communities.

“Young people must ask themselves: ‘How do I witness rather than preach?’,” the cardinal said.

Young people, he urged, must set out to be missionary evangelists to each other first.

Poignantly, the cardinal quoted the late Bishop Barry Wood, the auxiliary bishop of Durban who died suddenly in May and had been looking forward to MWYD.

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Swazi pilgrims get moving with a cultural performance. (Photo: Fr Paul Tatu CSS)

Pop star Daniel Baron was among the performers at MWYD. (Photo: Hugh Mdlalose)

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Linton Govender, 22, and Caitlin Richards,19, of Chatsworth, Durban, said they felt blessed to have managed to attend MWYD. Mr Govender said they had purposely opted for a Church event instead of various youth-focused and sometimes wild entertainment offerings scheduled for the schoolshutdown weekend.

“This is better than rage, which can happen many times in different forms,” he said. “I am here to solidify my faith, and I see this as an op-

portunity of a lifetime.”

Ms Richards agreed: “We are here to get spiritual direction, to be better human beings and better citizens. Africa needs more young people who fear God, and have a bigger purpose in life.”

Ibeh Ariwze, 29, and Ntselleng Moletsane, from Pretoria and Cape Town respectively, agreed.

“The Catholic Church is viral and its growth will be enhanced when we follow the teachings and be exemplary,” said Mr Ariwze, a seminarian of Nigerian origin.

The carefully curated MWYD programme married informative sessions (such as testimonies, lessons, and presentations by environmental, anti-human trafficking and drug awareness activists) with times of faith and retrospection (including daily Mass, catechetical sessions, a specially adapted staging of the Stations of the Cross, and an all-night vigil) and lively cultural and musical activities (“Catholics Have Talent”, praise and worship sessions, and a Youth Cultural Festival.)

Many of the young people enjoyed “Days in the Parishes” ahead of the main event, hosted by parish families organised in the dioceses of Mariannhill (at Mhlathuzana, Umlazi and Ugu) and Eshowe, and in Durban’s Empangeni deanery.

Young people are chosen “The essence of World Youth Day is young people being chosen, called and sent to be missionary evangelists to each other first in this intense retreat, during which they testify to each other how God is inspiring them, giving them a deeper insight into what ‘the Almighty has done’, and what that demands so that they may in their turn declare, ‘Holy is his Name’,” Cardinal Napier told the MWYD pilgrims.

“In a very real way we are gathered here because we believe that the work which God began with Mary, has not ended,” he said.

“God is making the same call to young people of Mary’s age. He is telling them that it is now their

Buskers get going with guitar and vocals. (Photo courtesy of MWYD)

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Priests hear confessions at Mini World Youth Day. The sacrament of Reconciliation, and important component also of the international World Youth Days, was available to all. (Photo courtesy of MWYD)

turn to discover their deeper calling, to do so using the gift of faith.

That calling is to see witnesses living their faith, rather than preachers who tell others what they should do!”

During the week young people held catechetical sessions in which bishops shared their life experiences and how these had helped strengthen their faith.

Bishops led sessions In some sessions a bishop was joined by others bishops and priests in an effort to empower the youths as much as possible.

The catechetical sessions began with a morning prayer, followed by an hour’s lesson and an hour for sharing, questions and answers. It ended with praise and worship.

Bishop Jan de Groef of Bethlehem, chair of the department of laity of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told the young pilgrims to adhere to their faith and spread the Gospel to their peers.

“We can only grow when we share with others. The Lord calls on us to share with others,” the bishop said.

Bishop Stanley Dziuba of Umzimkulu, the SACBC liaison bishop for youth, said the Catholic Church realised that it was critical for young people to have a voice in the Church.

“There are so many benefits if young people meet and express themselves. They are the life and future of the Church.”

National youth chaplain Fr Mthembeni Dlamini CMM said the youth had to use the pilgrimage to their advantage and grow their own faith and, hopefully, that of those they will later meet afterwards.

“We are doing all of this for young people,” he said. “We are happy to see a great deal of joy in their faces and indeed God calls on all of us to bring the Good News to people.”

“Catholics Have Talent” showcased just what young pilgrims at MWYD can do. (Photo: Sheldon Reddiar)

Now for a WYD in South Africa?

Continued from page 1 South Africa to stand for the campaign in 2025—and feel that there is nothing holding them back,” Fr Tatu said.

In his thanksgiving address at MWYD, Archbishop Brislin stressed that this had not been just an event but a pilgrimage, “and this pilgrimage must change us, it must invigorate us to be the bearers of Jesus Christ”.

He urged the youth to let

MWYD be a reminder that they are called to be witnesses to the light, to be bearers to the light of Jesus Christ, and to take that light into the darkest places of the world, to those who live in the shadows, to those who are abandoned, who are lonely and in pain, and to bring the light of Christ to them.

“Let what we have experienced here not remain here; let us take it to others, to parishes

and to those with whom we interact,” Archbishop Brislin said.

“We have experienced God’s grace, and let us now be bearers of that grace. Let our faith be something we show in action, in our deeds, and in our love and compassion for other people. Let us learn to be like Christ, forgiving, generous, willing to sacrifice and bringing goodness into the world. That is now the task,” he said.

MWYD

The Southern Cross, December 20 to December 26, 2017

up for faith and fun Music and faith Among the performers at MWYD was pop star Daniel Baron, who said that whenever he had encountered challenges in his life, he knew that God was speaking to him.

A highlight of the event was the special theme-song, “The Mighty One”, written and performed by Durban’s Justin Nanak and Thandeka Dube-Ndhlovu.

The theme-song was accompanied by a world-class video produced by Raise Your Voice was shown, featuring Cardinal Napier as well as an array of talent from parishes across the city, including the choir from the Kwa Thintwa School for the Deaf and the Durban Gospel Choir.

The song and accompanying video is in English, isiZulu and sign language. It is available on YouTube.

The event ended with a Mass celebrated in the early hours of Sunday morning by Archbishop Peter Wells,

the apostolic nuncio to Southern Africa.

The papal representative challenged the young people: “Will you leave as men and women who are complacent with a world filled with corruption, war, trafficking of your brothers and sisters, hunger, poverty and greed, or will you leave as brothers and sisters who will no longer blindly accept these things as ‘normal’ but who will, as Pope Francis has asked you to do, stir things up, pushing all of us to rethink, redo and renew?

“Will you be people of the past or people of the beginning, ready to recreate a tired world together with our Lord? In other words are you ready to take up where he left off?

Will you be men and women of the dusk or brothers and sisters of the dawn?” Archbishop Wells asked.

WYD for SA? Speaking on behalf of eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, Councillor

Ntando Khuzwayo said the mayor was concerned about “youths that seem to have no sense of direction”. Mr Gumede also gave assurances that eThekwini would support a bid for Durban to host World Youth Day once the bid is opened.

World Youth Day was first introduced by Pope John Paul II in 1983.

A small event held in Rome, it grew enormously and has been held around the world, drawing hundreds of thousands of young Catholics. The final Mass for the 1995 World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines, drew a world-record crowd of 5 million.

Southern Africa’s MWYD formed part of a global build-up to the next World Youth Day, which will be held in Panama in January 2019. A World Youth Day has not yet taken place on African soil.

The “mini” version was to give African Catholics a taste of the global event, and serve as a test-run for a South African bid.

Young pilgrims get to know each other. (Photo: Tatiana Wickham)

One of many Sisters participating reads her free copy of The Southern Cross. All pilgrims received a copy of South Africa’s national Catholic newspaper. (Photo: Lebo Majahe) A highlight of the event was the special theme-song, “The Mighty One”, written and performed by Durban’s Thandeka Dube-Ndhlovu (above) and Justin Nanak (below).

(Photos: Sheldon Reddiar)

The youth event included a specially staged Stations of the Cross. (Photo: Sheldon Reddiar)

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The concelebrated closing Mass was led by the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Peter Wells. (Photo courtesy of MWYD)

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LOCAL

Thieves steal consecrated hosts at shrine

BY ERIN CARELSE

T

HE Schoenstatt Sisters in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, are still recovering after becoming the latest religious building in the area to fall victim to crime—which included the theft of consecrated hosts.

Thieves broke into the Aurum Patris shrine and stole the entire tabernacle with the consecrated hosts, the ciborium and chalice, and broke two statues of St Peter and St Paul. The woodwork at the back of the altar was damaged.

The criminals had accessed the shrine by removing the glass panel of a side window close to the altar.

Sr Marian Dunn, who discovered the break-in, said the Sisters were saddened, and disappointed that people would break into a place of worship and do such damage.

Items like chalices and tabernacles are of value to thieves, as they are broken up and sold to scrapmetal yards for money.

Police warned that they have noticed an increase in burglaries of religious buildings in the area.

Sr Marian said the Schoenstatt Movement would upgrade its security by fitting stronger burglar bars and adding additional beams to the tabernacle area.

Dedicated in 1975, the Aurum Patris shrine was built by Schoenstatt members. They came together every Saturday for a year to lay the bricks and plaster the walls, and also contributed financially. More importantly, there were many spiritual sacrifices offered, so the shrine could become a place of grace for many.

They felt it fitting that the only

such shrine in Gauteng—the economic powerhouse of the country and home to the goldmines that gave it its claim to fame—should also carry the name Aurum Patris, which means “Gold of the Father”.

Its name comes from a comment

by Schoenstatt founder Fr Joseph Kentenich when he visited South Africa in 1948.

Upon seeing the goldmines that lined the Johannesburg landscape, he looked at the fledgling Schoenstatt community and said: “These are my goldmines.”

The Schoenstatt shrine in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, was robbed of its tabernacle, ciborium, chalice and consecrated hosts.

Brothers renew simple profession Class of ’67 reunites

BY ERNEST MWAPE OP

BY MICHELLE JOSEPH

F

OUR Dominican brothers renewed their simple profession during the first vesper of Advent before God and the Emaphetwelweni Dominican community in Pietermaritzburg.

Reflecting with the brothers, prior Br Georges Alahou OP said the best way to live their vocation was to let God tell himself to people through them.

“At the very moment we pronounce the formula of our profession, we use the name of St Dominic to mean that we want to remain faithful to his purpose,” he said.

“We should not forget that we take vows in order to bear witness to the Gospel in the manner of St Dominic whose life we emulate.

Br Alahou added: “He was a compassionate and merciful man, who taught people to seek God with zeal and knowledge.”

T

Professed Brothers Walter, Georges, Kelvin and Clement (wearing black cloaks) with Brothers Wilbroad, Evans, Moses and Ernest, who are from Zambia and studying at St Joseph’s Theological Institute at Cedara.

HE class of 1967 of Mayfair Convent School in Johannesburg held a reunion, with many flying in from different parts of South Africa and even from abroad.

About 50 alumni, including current principal Amalia Filiantris, gathered several of the Sisters involved in the school: Srs St John, Dolores, Claire, Declan and Goretti.

The appearance of the “girls” might have changed over the past 50 years, but they were delighted to rediscover their old schoolmates.

The former pupils visited the chapel, finding that it had not changed at all. There they included in their prayers the Sisters who had taught them and the souls of past pupils who had died There was great excitement as the class of 1967 walked again through the corridors, stairways

and classrooms of the school, and much amusement as stories were recalled and experiences relived.

Mrs Filiantris used the intercom to call the “girls” to the hall—in the past a big brass bell did that job— where they were updated on the school, which now goes up to Grade 7 and serves 650 pupils, boys and girls.

A thanksgiving Mass was celebrated in what the alumni knew as the hall but is now St Joseph’s parish church. Fr Joachim Malunga gave a special blessing during Mass for all past pupils.

Some spouses joined the group for a dinner at the Killarney Country Club, where the chatting continued and friendships were renewed.

The class of 1967 thanked all who participated in the reunion, either by their presence, contributions or their participation in WhatsApp and Facebook chats.

The St Kizito’s children’s group of St Mary Magdalene parish in Lentegeur, Cape Town, held a Christmas party for children from the surrounding areas in Mitchells Plain as well as children from the parish community. Isabel Oliver and her team of St Kizito volunteers organised the party, and St Mary Magdalene parishioners were also asked to donate a Santa box including items such as clothing, stationery, toiletry and toys.

Book explores faith and migration

BY ERNEST MWAPE OP

I

N a new book, the Dominicans articulate the issue of migration from a faith perspective, an angle few historians have so far explored.

The book, Faith and Migration, is an initiative of the Dominican vice-province of Southern Africa in conjunction with Cluster Publications, a non-profit publishing enterprise in Pietermaritzburg.

It includes contributions from 24 authors and was edited by Br Philippe Denis OP. Faith and Migration stems from a Dominican study week held in Maritzburg in 2016. Unusually, few speakers were academics; most were Dominican students, priests, pastors, and NGO workers.

In their presentations, the participants discussed the spiritual and theological reasons that

challenge Christians and people of others faiths to recognise that migrants are our brothers and sisters and can contribute immensely to their new home.

The book’s launch was held at

Emphathelweni Dominican Priory in Scottville, Maritzburg.

Mervyn Abrahams, director of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA), said the role of the Christian faith in the humanitarian sector is to institute a spirit of hospitality towards strangers in a possibly hostile environment.

He said there is a need for theologians, biblical scholars and laity to discuss migration using the chronicles of the Christian faith, voice migrants’ faith experiences and the economic and political controversies they encounter while on the move, and assist in the preservation of their religious and cultural identity as they settle in foreign lands. n Faith and Migration can be ordered at R105 (plus p&p) from www.clusterpublications.com/ current-titles/160-faith-andmigration.html

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, Decemmber 20 to December 26, 2017

Pope’s trouble with ‘Lead us not into temptation’ I

BY ELISE HARRIS

N a video series for Italian television network TV2000, Pope Francis has said that “lead us not into temptation� is a poorly translated line of the Our Father. “I am the one who falls, it’s not God who pushes me towards temptation to see how I fall,� the pope said. “A father doesn’t do this, a father helps us to get up right away.�

He noted that this line was recently re-translated in the French version of the prayer to read “do not let me fall into temptation�.

The Latin version of the prayer, the authoritative version in the Catholic Church, reads ne nos inducas in tentationem, meaning “Don’t induce us to temptation�.

Pope Francis said that the one who leads people into temptation “is Satan; that is the work of Satan�. He said that the essence of that line in the prayer is like telling God: “When Satan leads me into temptation, please, give me your hand.�

Just as Jesus gave Peter his hand to help him out of the water when he began to sink, the prayer also asks God to “give me your hand so that I don’t drown�, Pope Francis said.

The pope made his comments in the seventh part of the “Our Father� television series being aired by Italian television network TV2000.

Filmed in collaboration with the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, the series consists of nine question-and-answer sessions with Pope Francis and Fr Marco Pozza, a theologian and a prison chaplain in the northern Italian city of Padua.

In each of the sessions, Fr Pozza asks Pope Francis about a different line in the Our Father prayer, and the pope offers his insights.

The show also led to the publication of a book titled Our Father, which was released by the Vatican Publishing House and Italian publisher Rizzoli late last month, and is based on Pozza’s conversations with the pope in the video series.

Each of the first eight episodes of the series begins with an excerpt from conversation between the pope and Fr Pozza, which is followed by a second conversation between Fr Pozza and another guest. The final episode will consist of the priest’s entire conversation with Pope Francis.

In his question to Pope Francis on the line “lead us not into temptation�, Fr Pozza noted that many people have asked him how God can lead someone into temptation, and questioned what the phrase actually intends to say.

The question is one of the reasons the French bishops decided to make a request for a new translation of the

Our Father that they believe conveys the meaning more clearly.

According to the French episcopal conference, the decision to make the change was accepted by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in June 2013.

The new translation, released on December 3 to mark the first day of Advent and the beginning of the new liturgical year, now reads ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation, meaning, “do not let us fall into temptationâ€?, versus the former ne nous soumets pas Ă la tentation, or “lead us not into temptationâ€?.

The pope’s remarks do not change the translations of liturgical texts.

Such a change would begin with a resolution by an episcopal conference in English-speaking countries.

In a previous episode of the “Our Father� series, Pope Francis said “it takes courage� to recite the prayer, because it means calling on someone else and truly believing that “God is the Father who accompanies me, forgives me, gives me bread, is attentive to everything I ask, and dresses me better than wildflowers�. “To believe is a great risk,� and means daring to make the leap of faith, he said. Because of this, “praying together is so beautiful: because we help each other to dare�.—CNA

New shepherds for Paris, Mexico P S OPE Francis sprung no surprises as he named Bishop Michel Aupetit of Nanterre as archbishop of Paris, and longtime ally Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes to lead the world’s largest diocese, Mexico City.

Neither appointment caused surprise among church anaysts.

Cardinal Aguiar, 67, currently of Tlalnepantla, was named archbishop of Mexico City to succeed Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, who submitted his resignation upon turning 75, as required by canon law.

Known for his collaboration with then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio on the Aparecida document on the marginalised for Brazil, Cardinal Aguiar’s appointment to the Mexico City archdiocese comes as the city of nearly 9 million people recovers from a devastating earthquake, which killed more than 300 people.

Jorge Traslosheros, a Catholic commentator and history professor at the Autonomous National University of Mexico, said of Cardinal Aguiar: “He has an intellectual finesse with a pastoral passion,� along

will be challenged to win back Mexico City Catholics; census data shows they are leaving the faith at a rate faster than the national average.

Archbishop Michael Aupetit of Paris (left) and Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City.

(Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) with a talent for talking with people of all social strata and moving in the world of politics. “Don Carlos Aguiar Retes is a man capable of speaking with the president of the republic and, half an hour later, he is in the poorest neighbourhood of Tlalnepantla, having a bite to eat with the woman selling tamales.� The cardinal also

ucceeding Cardinal AndrĂŠ Vingt-Trois, who turned 75 in November, Archbishop Aupetit, whose diocese is west of Paris, was often named as a potential successor to Cardinal Vingt-Trois, who headed the Paris archdiocese for more than 12 years.

Archbishop Aupetit, 66, was a doctor for 11 years before considering priesthood. He said he once dreamed of being a “travelling missionary�.

The installation of Bishop Aupetit is scheduled for January 6 at Notre Dame cathedral.

In a message to the Catholics in Paris, Cardinal Vingt-Trois thanked the pope for “relieving him of a burden that exceeded my current strength�. He said Paris “needs an archbishop with full capacity for action�.

In recent years, Cardinal VingtTrois’ health issues proved to be a challenge for him.—CNS

Pope: It’s good for youth to study Latin

I

N a message to the Pontifical Academies, Pope Francis praised the study of Latin, especially for young people, and encouraged scholars and teachers to promote its study as a positive guide for students as they navigate life.

Addressing academics and Latin teachers, the pope said that they should “know how to speak to the hearts of the young, know how to treasure the very rich heritage of the Latin tradition to educate them in the path of life, and accompany them along paths rich in hope and confidence�.

The session had as its theme, “In interiore homine: Research paths in the Latin tradition�.

The pope praised “the theme of interiority, of the heart, of consciousness and self-awareness�. “Significantly,� he continued, this theme is “presented with great urgency and strength even in our time, often characterised by concern with

appearance, superficiality, the division between heart and mind, interiority and exteriority, consciousness and behaviour.�

Moments of change, crisis, or transformation, whether in relationships or in a person’s identity, require reflection “on the inner and intimate essence of the human being�.

The pope also noted the many important figures, both in the classical and the Christian traditions, who have reflected on the dynamism of man, pointing especially to the Fathers of the Church and the Latin writers of the first millennium.

Highlighting St Augustine in particular, the pope quoted from his Tractates on the Gospel of St John, which say, “Return to your heart; see there what, it may be, you can perceive of God, for in it is the image of God. In the inner man dwells Christ, in the inner man are you renewed after the image of God, in His own image recognise its Author.�—CNA

The Nativity scene and Christmas tree after a lighting ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. This year’s Christmas tree and Nativity scene feature traditional designs and decorations centred on the theme of mercy. The scene was donated by the Benedictine Abbey of Montevergine in southern Italy. Traditionally the pope visits the Nativity on Christmas Eve.See page 11 for story. (Photo: Paul Haring)

Pope’s Amoris letter is now official record

BY CINDY WOODEN

D

ESCRIBING them as “authentic magisterium�, Pope Francis ordered the official publication of his letter to a group of Argentine bishops and their guidelines for the interpretation of Amoris Laetitia, his apostolic exhortation on the family.

According to a brief note by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, Pope Francis wanted his letter and the bishops’ document to be published on the Vatican website and in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAC), the official record of Vatican documents and acts.

The papal letter, dated September 5, 2016, was written in response to guidelines published by the bishops in the Catholic Church’s Buenos Aires region. Pope Francis said the bishops’ document “explains precisely the meaning of Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia. There are no other interpretations�.

The letter is found on the Vatican website under letters written by the pope in 2016, and was published in the October 2016 edition of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said: “The fact that the pope requested that his letter and the interpretations of the Buenos Aires bishops be published in the AAS means that His Holiness has given these documents a particular qualification that elevates them to the level of being official teachings of the Church. “While the content of the pope’s letter itself does not contain teachings on faith and morals, it does

point toward the interpretations of the Argentine bishops and confirms them as authentically reflecting his own mind,� the cardinal said. “Thus together the two documents became the Holy Father’s authentic magisterium for the whole Church.�

The eighth chapter of Amoris Laetitia is titled, “Accompanying, Discerning and Integrating Weakness� is the most debated chapter of the document.

It urges pastors to assist those whose marriages have faltered and help them feel part of the Church community. It also outlines a process that could lead divorced and civilly remarried Catholics back to the sacraments.

Some Church leaders and theologians have insisted reception of the sacraments is impossible for such couples unless they receive an annulment of their sacramental marriage or abstain from sexual relations with their new partner.

The Buenos Aires document said the path of discernment proposed by Pope Francis “does not necessarily end in the sacraments�, but should, first of all, help the couple recognise their situation, understand Church teaching on the permanence of marriage, and take steps toward living a more Christian life. “While there is no such thing as “unrestricted access to the sacraments�, the bishops said, in some situations, after a thorough process of discernment and examination of the culpability of the individual in the failure of the sacramental marriage, the pope’s exhortation “opens the possibility� to reception of the sacraments.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, December 20 to December 26, 2017

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: GĂźnther Simmermacher

Let the Christmas season begin

I

N our secularised society, Christmas has long ceased to be mainly the feast of the Nativity of our Lord—if ever the main focus was on the birth of the Prince of Peace. Certainly modern society has adopted a multifarious approach to the event.

At its core, Christmas is, of course, the feast on which Christians celebrate the birth of our Saviour. But that meaning is in competition with the rampant commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas.

Christ himself, who gives the celebration its name, has been relegated to a sideshow by the ubiquitous figure of Santa Claus, the official spokesman for seasonal commerce. One can understand that: To people who have no belief in God incarnate, the implications of that birth in Bethlehem is meaningless.

The dominant understanding of Christmas has little to do with that momentous birth more than 2 000 years ago.

While society may still pay lip service to Christ’s birth as the “reason for the season�, generally it is not really the birth of God that is being observed. For many, the Nativity is secondary to the culture of shopping, consumption and the artificial nostalgia in dreaming of a white Christmas.

Instead of experiencing the grace and peace of Advent, we have mostly heard those strident bells, jingling all the way.

Practising Christians will, of course, duly remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord. For many, this will be the single important dimension of the feast.

But most Christians, even those of devout practice, will also have been caught up in the more secular patterns of the weeks leading up to Christmas.

And that is okay. Indeed, some of these secular patterns incorporate Christian values.

Christmas often is one of the rare occasions when families do come together. It is the one time of the year when most people do strive to exercise goodwill and beneficence, these essential Christian qualities which should really be practised all year round.

Indeed, there is something encouraging about the universality of Christmas. Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 noted this: “Even those who do not profess to be believers, in fact, can perceive in this annual Christian celebration something extraordinary and transcendent, something intimate that speaks to the heart. It is the feast that sings of the gift of life.�

Christmas is a time when even non-believers engage with Christ, even if in a token way.

Christmas is peace after the stressful season of Advent which is dominated by endof-year parties, planning and buying gifts, excessive consumption, maxing out the credit card, going on holiday. At that time it is easy to lose sight of God and difficult to treat Advent as a penitential season.

As Christians, we are causing no affront by engaging in the secularised celebration of Christmas, provided that we remain within the limits of suitable moderation. We are, after all, of this world.

And even if have failed to observe Advent well as a penitential season, we still have plenty of time to reconnect with Christmas as a faith-filled time.

While the secular world closes the annual chapter of Christmas on Boxing Day— when the sales signs go up in the malls and marketers turn their attention to back-to-school specials—for Christians the season of Christmas is only beginning.

The time to sing the popular carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas� starts when all the presents are unwrapped. For Catholics, the Christmas season is only beginning on Christmas Day, and continues to the day before the feast of the Epiphany on January 6.

And with the stress of preparing for the family festival out of the way, we can try to find the time and peace to reflect on God’s great gift to us in the Incarnation, a gift incomparably better than any technical gadget we might receive for Christmas—the gift of his love made concrete.

Let the Christmas season begin!

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion.

Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Mission of Church confused T HERE have been a few articles in The Southern Cross detailing challenges made by conservative Catholics to Pope Francis, accusing him of undermining the teachings of the Church.

While these charges have little merit, I do believe that Pope Francis and the whole Church need to be challenged about what is being done to counter the massive exodus from Catholicism and in fact from Christianity as a whole.

What the mission of the Church is and how it can be accomplished is not well understood or formulated. Rightly or wrongly, I feel that Pope Francis and other Church leaders seem to be unfocused and lack direction.

I think there is also a great ennui and an overbearing heaviness of spirit undermining the Church that we need to throw off.

At bottom, lots of Church institutions in many places do not seem to fully understand what the message of the Gospel as it applies to the modern world is; how it should be preached and taught, and how it should be lived out.

The work of Vatican II in rediscovering the nature and mission of the Church has not been energetically pursued and we are supporting an institution whose structures and ministry are largely ineffective in halting the slide towards religious indifference, agnosticism and atheism.

Mental illness and how best to treat it

I

WOULD like to comment as a psychiatrist on QX Nobin’s letter “Mental health and cultural mores�

(November 29) because unfortunately it tends to trivialise mental illness and undermine the effectiveness of evidence-based treatment.

Individuals and their families who have to live with the challenges of serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder would hardly agree with the statement that there is no clear distinction between mental illness and wellness.

There has been a great deal of research into the manifestation and diagnosis of mental illness in different cultures, including South Africa.

While counselling, support and rehabilitation need to take account of cultural differences, medication is the same in any culture. Serious mental illnesses, like all medical illnesses, require the same medication whatever the cultural background of the individual.

The statement that there is little consensus on mental disorders and

This does not mean that the Gospel is irrelevant: it means that in most of the Church’s ministries and activities what Christ offers to us and how we need to respond is not being properly grasped or effectively communicated. Neither is his teaching lived out in a credible fashion. And because of this, people find little reason to stay within the Catholic Church or even to be committed Christians.

There are in fact many immensely successful church groups that have enormous congregations and huge followings on TV and social media, and we would do well to see what these groups are doing and why people are attracted to them.

T

he truth is that the Gospel has a greater appeal and inspiration than ever. It is the Church that has distorted and ignored the most critical aspects of scripture while inordinately engaging on less important points of doctrine.

A balanced devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the saints is an essential part of Catholic spirituality but an example of exaggerated and distorted Catholic belief appeared in the enclosure in a recent edition of The Southern Cross, promoting a book on the message of Fatima.

Instead of explaining what the message of Fatima is, it seemed to promote Marian devotion, using the word “adoration� to describe

their treatment is misleading: international classifications and prescribing guidelines are widely accepted and used.

Finally, to state that receiving a disability grant maintains the client as mentally ill is an offence to the dignity of psychiatric patients.

Brian Robertson, Cape Town

Family remains key to values

I

MAGINE Mrs Jones relating the life of Christ to her children in 2025 in the following way: “The coming of Jesus Christ into the world was watched with great fear by many, including the vampire community. “Hitler, alert to this arrival, sent Opinions expressed in The Southern

Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of

the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372,

Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

the honour we Catholics give to Mary. It also asks us to look into “Her� eyes, using the capitalised pronoun that orthodox believers should apply only to the Deity.

Mary never focuses our attention on honouring her, but always points us to the redemptive work of her Son. She is constantly begging us to repent and purify our lives.

I am sure that the intentions of the promoters of this book were good, but the language used seems to indicate extreme and exaggerated Marian spirituality that is at odds with authentic Catholic teaching and can damage the Church.

What the Church needs to discover and preach is the love and power of God poured into Christ to heal and transform broken and lost men and women in every nation and culture.

We need to bring people to the Man who healed the sick, raised the dead, and releases us from satanic bondage. We need to do as St Francis of Assisi did: reexamine the Gospel and take it as the model for the mission of the Church and discipleship.

The One we need to encounter to discover and experience God’s mercy and restoration is Jesus, not Mary.

And if we look at any of the accepted Marian apparitions we will find that Mary is never self-serving but encourages us to embrace her Son with the same utter self-giving that she had herself.

Frank Bompas, Johannesburg

tanks to destroy this supposed world king, but the Holy Family escaped, warned by a message from Whatsapp, and became foreign nationals in Egypt. “Eventually, advised by a drone that the danger was over, they returned by Uber taxi. “Jesus went up a mountain and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He left a rule, that in any moral decision, one should Google the issue and make a decision from the first ten hits.�

We cannot but have the impression that family heads are not teaching their children much, if anything, at all.

We urge the police to act on crime yet the “supply side�, the formulator of values, the family, is seldom mentioned.

What has happened since the Family Synod?

At a recent priests’ indaba, Cape Town archdiocese members were informed by Fr Slattery of the need for families to be sources of morality.

If parents themselves do not teach children, there are only catechists and weekly Mass. This is not nearly enough.

Fr Pierre Goldie, Cape Town

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PERSPECTIVES

The Southern Cross, December 20 to December 26, 2017

7

Know who you are to be happy A KEY element of personal leadership development is self-awareness. An important element of self-awareness is purposeful living, and purposeful living entails consciousness of the ultimate purpose of life.

Do you just live from day to day, just receiving whatever comes your way; or just enjoying life or amassing wealth for wealth’s sake; or do you have a higher purpose?

Having a higher purpose entails knowledge of the fact that our lives have a purpose beyond our own intentions, beyond our preferences, wishes and desires. The Creator put each one of us on planet Earth for a purpose, and that purpose involves serving him and serving society in a special way. Having a higher purpose entails having a vision.

Among other things, this means asking yourself such questions as: Why am I here?

What is it that I want to do with my life?

What do I want to achieve for my family, my organisation, my church or my country?

This means having a goal or what is called a future vision, which entails developing the second of Stephen Covey’s seven habits, namely: “Begin with the end in mind.”

A future vision is not something that can be realised on the spur of the moment.

It entails purposeful and action-oriented planning.

Very importantly, having a future vision

involves being aware of the difference between what you are and where you are now (your current reality), and what you want to be and want to achieve (your future vision). In other words, you must be aware of both your strengths and your weaknesses.

Y

our strengths are those qualities, tendencies, skills and competencies, habits, circumstances and resources that help you to attain your future vision; while your weaknesses are those qualities, tendencies, habits, incapacities and limitations that hinder you from achieving your goal.

You must therefore work at enhancing your strengths and reducing your weaknesses.

A key element of personal leadership development is self-awareness, and knowing our purpose in life, writes Emmanuel Ngara.

Emmanuel Ngara

Christian Leadership

If, for example, you realise that one of the weaknesses that prevent you from achieving your goal is the lack of a skill or knowledge, then take a course or enrol for a diploma or degree that helps you acquire that skill or the requisite knowledge.

If you discover that what prevents you from attaining your future vision is a lack of financial resources, then try to get a job or to acquire a qualification that enhances both your chances of getting a job and your ability to cope with the demands of the career you have chosen.

A common problem in developing the discipline of self-awareness is the tendency to blame other people or what you might consider to be the unfavourable circumstance in which you find yourself.

True, you may have been born in a poor family or in a disadvantaged community, but the principles of personal leadership development tell us to take responsibility for all we do and to refuse to regard ourselves as victims of circumstances.

The more we know ourselves, and the more we are conscious of God’s purpose for us, the more purposely we will live and the happier we shall become.

Hope begins with Christmas Sarah-Leah Pimentel

T

HIS has been a long year. It's been a year where were bombarded by bad news at every turn.

I was thinking about all this as I was flying home over Zimbabwe and Namibia a few weeks ago. I looked down over the landscape and was saddened by how dry and barren it looked.

As I looked down, it occurred to me that I'm tired and need a holiday. Not from the daily routine, but rather a holiday from bad news!

A stream of consciousness got me thinking about a different kind of news: the Good News proclaimed in the Gospel.

It struck me that the entire New Testament and the story of hope and promise that Jesus came to bring us begins with his birth. Hope begins with Christmas.

As I watched the arid landscape, some vague words began to form in my head.

They became the verse below.

Dry rivers winding nowhere Barren farm land, yielding nothing but dust Its inhabitants long gone The scars of bloodied craters carved out of the earth For a gain none can see.

Sulphurous remains of artificial dams, Spidery dust roads vanishing into the horizon, Together with the memory of the trucks that once carried The nation's wealth to faraway places.

Not a house in sight, no sign of life.

The real treasure moved on to eke life elsewhere.

Torn from the earth, torn from themselves by the hopelessness.

The Mustard Seeds

He became a pilgrim in the desert, To lead us to the eternal river of life.

As a babe he was born, To remind us who we were before the womb And see ourselves engraved in his image, The beloved children of the Father.

I often wonder if this is what God sees When He looks down on the work of his hand: Valleys raped of their lush beauty to fill our insatiable appetite, Mountains razed to the ground to raise impersonal skyscrapers, Forests slashed and burned forever to make way for voracious industry.

Men and women used and misused to satisfy my imagined needs, Millions robbed of their dignity so that I can enjoy mine.

Yet, the more I search for the essence of me, the more it eludes me.

Into this brokenness, this hopelessness, God sent His Son. Into an abandoned land He came, To make it fertile once more.

Born into homelessness, So that we may find our true home.

As a refugee He suffered, To restore the barren homeland of the heart.

But still our eyes do not see.

In our brokenness, we are oblivious of the blood on our hands: The wounds of the macheted land and murdered souls.

Pride blinds me: I am both perpetrator and victim Of our collective suicide.

This is why the Child is born.

Each year He comes anew To remind me and you that the time is not yet worn; The Baby's cry an invitation to renew: To heal the brokenness inside of me and you, To hear the cries of our abandoned brethren, To rebuild the desecrated earth, To start again and fill the world with light.

I wish all the Southern Cross readers a Blessed Christmas and may the message of the Holy Birth inspire us to positively influence the reality around us not only at this time of year but all year round.

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Pope Francis greets a young Rohingya refugee from Myanmar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during his visit there in late November. (Photo: L'Osservatore Romano/Reuters/CNS)

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Bully or victim General Intention: That Christians, and other religious minorities in Asian countries, may be able to practise their faith in full freedom.

HERE are clearly some problem countries that Pope Francis has in mind with this prayer intention.

The forced expulsion of the Muslim Rohingya minority from Myanmar would be one. His diplomatically difficult visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh in late November was a courageous gesture of solidarity with a minority which seemed to have been left defenceless.

North Korea, where any form of faith other than atheism is suppressed, would be another place where religions, any religions really, are marginalised and actively persecuted by an atheistic state led by a bizarre and insecure young dictator.

Nor should we should forget the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines where there is a substantial Muslim minority, some of whom say that they want more political autonomy. Not that the Philippines is quite in the same category of dictatorship as North Korea, even though the present strongman, Rodrigo Duterte, is hardly a strong supporter of human rights or Catholic social teaching!

What these complicated Asian situations underline is that everyone is a minority somewhere and a majority somewhere else. Hindus are a minority in Pakistan even though they are an overwhelming majority in India. Buddhists are a minority in India, even though they are in the majority in Myanmar.

Christians are a minority in all Asian countries except in the Philippines.

One would think, therefore, that because organised religions in Asia all feel the burden of oppression where they are minorities, they would be more sensitive to other minorities where they are a majority. Often it is not so, unfortunately.

There is a human tendency to take out our vicissitudes of minority status in one place by pushing around other minorities in places where we are a majority.

T

A

lesson all faiths everywhere have to learn is how not to be bullies where they are strong and secure. We need to get together and agree that we will uphold and protect each other’s rights across the geographical board.

It sounds simple but there are a couple of complications.

Firstly, there are politicians, especially in this age of thug-like leaders, who are quite happy to exploit religious differences for their own political advantage. Here we believers have to show real greatness of soul and rise above the destructiveness and divisiveness of identity politics.

Secondly, there is the reality of competition. We must frankly acknowledge that competition is a fact of our religious faith.

For some faiths, especially Christianity and Islam, adherents have the duty to bear witness to and spread their beliefs and way of life. It is part of our Christian Gospel that God has commissioned us to preach to the unconverted and bring in new believers, and the same is true for Muslims.

This puts us in competition with each other and it adds to the temptation to restrict the freedom of other faiths when they are in a minority and cry foul when we ourselves are restricted.

What our pluralistic religious world needs, therefore, is an agreement—tacit or formal—that all faiths have the freedom to propagate themselves within the limits of respect for human rights and the good order of society. We need rules for this competition.

We also need a kind of referee, and in practice that referee will have to be the secular state. We may not like that very much, but it is probably the only reasonable referee we will get to prevent “foul play”.

Of course, this means that, as believers, we will have to work out a positive theology of the secular state. The theological leap is to consider the possibility that God has the power to work through secular rulers.

We can look to Isaiah and the startling reflection on how God was at work through the Persian imperial rulers.

8

The Southern Cross, December 20 to December 26, 2017

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REFLECTION

The Southern Cross, December 20 to December 26, 2017

9

African traditions can help build peace At Christmas the Gospel extends a peace greeting to all men of good will. FR PETER CHIMOMBE argues that traditional African methods of resolving conflict can serve as models for making peace.

E

VERY Christmas we are reminded of the angels’ song, “Gloria in excelsis deo” (Glory to God in the highest and peace to all men of good will (Lk 2:14).

From this song emerged the title of Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical Pacem in terris (Peace on Earth).

Pope John’s main concern was for nuclear non-proliferation at the height of the Cold War between the then Soviet Union and the West.

The encyclical lays bare the Church’s role as an advocate of peace throughout the world as Christ himself teaches in the beatitudes, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons [and daughters] of God” (Mt 5:9).

Since antiquity, the search for peace has been of paramount importance. This is true in our age, for governments, the United Nations, non-governmental organisations, civic groups and individuals like Nobel Peace prize recipients (including St Teresa of Kolkata).

The image of an Aleppo boy being rescued from the rubble after an aerial bombardment challenges our conscience to work for peace everyday—also here, on our African continent.

It can be argued that African people in general value peace, harmony, justice, family wellbeing and life itself which they consider sacred. However, conflict is an undesirable reality in communities due to persistent droughts, poverty and hunger, as well as religio-cultural, socio-economic and sociopolitical differences, among other factors.

Traditional conflict resolution strategies like village courts and inter-marriages between people

from rival clans usually result in peace.

There is consensus of opinion that justice is a precondition for peace. In my research I found it interesting to note that there has to be restitution before peace can be achieved.

For example, in the event that a person offends their mother, it was a traditional Shona practice that the offender makes restitution and shows remorse by engaging in the kutanda botso ritual. This involved begging for food and wearing torn clothes while publicly confessing the offence, even at the cost of public ridicule and laughter.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a person who offends a fellow human being is summoned before a traditional leader’s court and is made to pay back for the wrong done. The payment is usually in the form of goats or livestock, depending on the gravity of the offence.

However, in Zimbabwe and doubtless elsewhere, some headmen now prefer monetary payments, and there are extreme cases where restitution is done in form of a virgin girl who is given to the family of a murdered victim in order to avoid an avenging spirit (ngozi).

Look to the elders Peace is also achieved through the mediation of elders who command respect from both conflicting parties.

There is a popular adage among the Karanga people that “you can climb a hill by going in circles” (“kukwira gomo hupoterera”). Thus mediation and conciliation are critical in an endeavour to achieve peace.

But, interestingly, African justice is selective.

While Africans are very hospitable to strangers, these strangers are usually asked to go out when family or community issues are being discussed. Those who seem to go off-topic are assisted out of the traditional court proceedings and are required to kill and skin a goat. Their absence ensures peaceful resolution of the matter.

In extreme cases, the offenders

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A positive peace must have justice at its foundation, and traditional African ways of conflict-resolution can show the way in how to build a peace that is more than just the absence of war, argues Fr Peter Chimombe. would be manhandled and even beaten.

Also, when a matter has been settled and restitution has been made, the people cement their peaceful conflict-resolution through gathering and eating food together, drinking beer, exchanging tobacco snuff and cigarettes as well as shaking hands.

These are only external signs of peace and harmony among former conflicting parties, but they are not a guarantee of internal peace as a grievance can be generational and is passed on to grandchildren, even while it may appear there is peace from the outside.

Conflicts are a result of many differences in perspectives, perceptions, political ideologies, religious beliefs, ethnicity, norms and values. Conflict-resolution processes are against the total elimination of conflicts in human existence.

However, conflict -management (which is a progression of conflict resolution) advocates controlling conflict, considering its unavoidability as well as its negative and positive impacts. The nature and extent of the conflict determines whether the conflict can be resolved, managed or transformed.

The forms of conflicts range

from physical, economic, political, psychological, ecological and spiritual to cultural. Under these aspects come many types of conflict such as domestic violence, sexual violence, emotional violence, gender-based violence, politically motivated violence, crime-based violence and violence against minors.

Negative vs positive peace Albert Einstein said that peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice, law and order.

The Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who is regarded as the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies, points out that there is a difference between negative peace and positive peace.

Negative peace refers to the absence of violence, for example during a ceasefire. Conflict which is not desirable is stopped.

In positive peace there is the restoration of relationships, the creation of positive social systems that serve the needs of the population, and there is constructive resolution of conflict.

It is in this context that peace is understood as the absence of violence in all its forms and manage-

LOVInG FAThER bless us, the people of AFRICA, and help us to live in justice, love and peace Mary, Mother of Africa, pray for us

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ment of conflict is done in a constructive way.

When we as Africans, for example, are interacting non-violently, when restorative justice is exercised through traditional courts and perpetrators are given the chance to reform and reintegrate back into society, then positive peace takes root in society.

Hence peace education by the Zimbabwean Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace focuses on managing conflict positively with respectful attention to the legitimate needs of both the victims and perpetrators.

Reconciliation becomes necessary when negative or dysfunctional conflict has occurred and relationships have been damaged.

It involves restoration of relationships to a level where cooperation and trust become possible once again.

John Paul Lederach, professor of international peacebuilding at the American Catholic University of Notre Dame, raises three paradoxes: • Reconciliation promotes an encounter between the open expression of the painful past and the search for the articulation of a longterm interdependent future, • Reconciliation provides a place for truth and mercy to meet; where concern for exposing what happened and letting go in favour of a renewed relationship are validated and embraced; and • Reconciliation recognises the need to give time and place to justice and peace, where redressing the wrong is held together with the vision of a common connected future.

The is a need for contemporary peace-education strategies to complement traditional peace-making strategies. African traditional strategies have been proven to be very effective in many countries, such as the Gacaca in Rwanda, Bashingantahe in Burundi and Magamba in Mozambique.

Merry Christmas to all readers and best wishes for a peaceful new year! Let there be rain and an overflow of peace in our communities. n Fr Peter Chimombe serves in Masvingo diocese, Zimbabwe.

10

The Southern Cross, December 20 to December 26, 2017

FAITH

A visit to India’s great shrine to Our Lady A major shrine of Marian devotion is dedicated to Our Lady of Vailankanni in Southern India which draws huge throngs, even of nonChristian pilgrims. WALTER MIDDLETON writes about the shrine and recalls a personal miracle.

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VER the past year our focus was on the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima, Portugal. And linked to that was renewed interest in other Marian shrines and apparitions.

Indeed, The Southern Cross will lead a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Knock in Ireland in May 2018.

But one shrine of apparition and miracles that rarely gets a mention is that of Our Lady of Good Health in India, where three miracles took place.

The Latin-rite basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is located at the small town of Vailankanni in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Devotion to Our Lady of Good Health of Vailankanni can be traced to the mid-16th century and is attributed to three miracles at the sites around where the basilica now stands: • the apparition of Mary and the Christ Child to a shepherd boy, • the curing of a lame buttermilk vendor, and • the rescue of Portuguese sailors from a violent sea storm in the Bay of Bengal in the 17th century.

These accounts are based on oral

tradition and there are no written or attested records in support of them.

It should be noted that the Holy See has not approved these apparitions.

The first apparition is said to have occurred in May 1570 when a local shepherd boy was delivering milk to a nearby house. Along the way, he met a beautiful woman holding a child, who asked for some milk for the little one.

After giving her the milk, the boy continued on his way, and upon making the delivery discovered that the jug was inexplicably completely full of fresh, cool milk.

A small shrine was built near the site where the boy encountered the woman, a location that came to be called MathaKulam, which means Our Lady’s Pool.

The second apparition is said to have happened in 1597, not far from MathaKulam.

A beautiful woman with a young boy in her arms appeared to a young crippled boy selling buttermilk. The woman’s little boy asked for some buttermilk, which the vendor gave him.

After the child drank it, the woman asked the boy selling the buttermilk to visit a man in the next town and ask him to build a chapel in her honour at that location. The buttermilk boy set out quickly and realised that he was no longer lame.

A small thatched chapel was quickly built in honour of Our Lady of Health, called in Tamil ArokiaMatha.

The third incident occurred when a Portuguese ship sailing from Macao to Sri Lanka was caught in a storm in the Bay of Bengal.

The crew invoked the help of the Blessed Virgin under her title Star of the Sea. The storm subsided and the

A prayer card of Our Lady of Vailankanni and the basilica of Our Lady of Good Health lit up during its feast in September this year. Another festival there is at Christmas. (Photo: Tiven Gonsalves/Creative Commons) 150 men on board were saved.

It was September 8, the feast of the Nativity of Mary. In thanksgiving, the sailors rebuilt the shrine to Our Lady of Good Health, and continued to enhance it whenever their voyages brought them to the area.

The shrine that started as a thatched chapel in the mid-16th century became a parish church in 1771 when Catholics in India were under persecution from the Dutch.

Much later, in 1962, it was granted the special status of a minor basilica by Pope John XIII.

When the pilgrims come At the shrine Mary is depicted wearing a sari.

The usual time for pilgrimage is during the annual festival from Au-

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gust 29 to September 6 and at Christmas.

Some pilgrims, instead of using a mode of transport, perform “walking pilgrimages” to it.The pilgrims sometimes shave their heads as an offering and perform ear piercing ceremonies, both being Hindu traditions. Another ritual considered sacred is to dip in the pool.

I first visited the shrine in February 1969, along with my uncle and aunt. I was young and unemployed, and prayed at the shrine for a job.

Within three month, I got a good job with an international organisation.

Since then I have visited the shrine 27 times as I have received many favours and experienced miracles.

One which I would like to mention took place when my wife was expecting our first child.

My wife was in labour for 36 hours. Eventually, the nurse came out to the waiting room—these were the days when the fathers had to wait outside while their children were being born—and told me that since the baby was not being born naturally, they would have to do a Caesarean section. A doctor qualified to perform that procedure was on his way.

I immediately prayed to Our Lady of Vailankanni, asking her to intercede on behalf of my wife so that she could have a normal delivery, especially since this was our first child.

In fewer than three minutes the nurse was back to congratulate me and give me the good news that my wife had delivered a beautiful baby girl—by normal delivery.

I couldn’t believe it. Of course I gave thanks to our good Lord and to Our Lady of Vailankanni.

I have heard the testimonies of miracles experienced by people who went to Vailankanni. The museum in Vailankanni is testimony to the miracles: one will see offerings of gold and silver legs, hands, eyes, babies in cradles, lungs, hearts, brains—all the witness of people cured of various diseases.

Annually several million pilgrims make it to Vailankanni, some from overseas. Surprisingly 80% of these pilgrims are non-Christians.

One has to be there to witness the devotion people have to Our Lady of Vailankanni.

More information can be found at www.vailankanni.com. n Walter Middleton writes from Johannesburg.

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The Southern Cross, December 20 to December 26, 2017

CLASSIFIEDS

Pope: Christmas trees symbolic

BY JuNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

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ATIVITY scenes and Christmas trees, like those in St Peter’s Square, are visible reminders of God’s benevolence and closeness to all men and women, Pope Francis said.

“Every year, the Christmas Nativity scene and tree speak to us through their symbolic language. They make more visible what is captured in the experience of the birth of the Son of God,” he said.

The centrepiece of the Vatican’s Christmas holiday decorations is a towering 28m spruce tree, nearly 10m in diameter, from Poland. It was transported

Your prayer to cut out and collect

to the Vatican on a flatbed truck across central Europe.

Thanking the members of a Polish delegation, the pope said the tree’s soaring height “motivates us to reach out ‘towards the highest gifts’”.

The Nativity scene was donated by the Benedictine Abbey of Montevergine in southern Italy. Created in a traditional 18th-century Neapolitan style, it covers over 80m2 and features 20 terracotta figures, some as tall as 1,8m.

“The crib is the evocative place where we contemplate Jesus who, taking upon himself human misery, invites us to do the same through act of mercy,” Pope Francis said, thanking an

Italian delegation.

As it was last year, the Christmas tree was adorned with ornaments made by children receiving treatment at several Italian hospitals. Children from the central Italian Spoleto-Norcia archdiocese, devastated by earthquakes in 2016, also made ornaments for the Christmas tree.

Pope Francis thanked the children and told them that after the lights of the Nativity scene and the tree are turned on, “pilgrims and visitors from around the world will be able to admire your work”.

The tree will remain in St Peter’s Square until the feast of the Lord’s Baptism on January 7, the Vatican said.—CNS

Christmas Prayer

Father, you make this holy night radiant with the splendour of Jesus Christ our light.

We welcome him as Lord, the true light of the world.

Bring us to eternal joy in the kingdom of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Liturgical Calendar Year B – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday December 24, 4th Sunday of Advent 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16, Psalms 89:2-5, 27, 29, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38 Monday December 25, Nativity of Christ Midnight Mass: Isaiah 9:1-7 (1-6), Psalms 96: 1-3, 11-13, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14 Mass at dawn: Isaiah 62:11-12, Psalms 97:1, 6, 11-12, Titus 3:4-7, Luke 2:15-20 Mass during the day: Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalms 98:1-6, Hebrews 1:1-6, John 1:1-18 Tuesday December 26, St Stephen Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59, Psalms 31:3-4, 6, 8, 16-17, Matthew 10:17-22 Wednesday December 27, St John 1 John 1:1-4, Psalms 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12, John 20:2-8 Thursday December 28, Holy Innocents 1 John 1:5--2:2, Psalms 124:2-5, 7-8, Matthew 2:13-18 Friday December 29, St Thomas Becket 1 John 2:3-11, Psalms 96:1-3, 5-6, Luke 2:22-35 Saturday December 30 1 John 2:12-17, Psalms 96:7-10, Luke 2:36-40 Sunday December 31, Holy Family Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3, Psalms 105:1-6, 8-9, Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19, Luke 2:22-40

Nativity of Christ

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IN MEMORIAM

DONNELLY—Eugene.

Long-time managing editor of The Southern Cross, died on December 18, 2011.

Fondly remembered and missed by Southern Cross staff.

MAYES—Steve, Patrick, Kieran and Joshua. So, so sadly missed and lovingly remembered by Maureen, Simon, Siobhan, Chris and families. (mayesmaureen @gmail.com) MURDOCK—Michael. Died on 20/12/2012. We miss him as well as his funny disposition, especially this time of the year. Ilona, family and friends.

SNELL—Quintin. Constable Quinton Snell died at 13h45, 25/12/2012 in a tragic accident. My angel in heaven, it is five years since God called you home, that day you took a part of me with you. Just thinking of you always brings tears to my eyes. Then I feel the love and joy that we shared, something we will never forget. It’s hard, sometimes I still see you in uniform, coming and going to do what you loved best, protecting others. The day God gave you to us, we felt so blessed and still do. You really were and still are one of a kind, very unique. May your soul rest in peace.

PERSONAL

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LORD, inspire those men and women who are husband and wife. Help them to look to You, to themselves, to one another to rediscover the fullness and mystery they once felt in their union.

Let them be honest enough to ask: “Where have we been together and where are we going?” Help them, together, to reexamine their commitment willingly, openly, compassionately.

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the

Feast of the Holy Family: December 31 Readings: Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3, Psalm 105:1-6, 8-9, Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19, Luke 2:22-40

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EXT Sunday is New Year’s Eve, and for us it is also the feast of the Holy Family; perhaps no bad thing, after the stresses that Christmas places on family life.

One slightly unexpected feature of the readings for the feast is that they all make use of Abraham, whose family may be regarded as as dysfunctional as any out there, given the age at which the patriarch and his wife Sarah produced their first offspring, and the old man’s attempt to kill his son.

In the first reading, he is still known only as Abram; God tells him, “Don’t be afraid”, and promises that he will have a family, to which Abram responds that he does not see much sign of it, just at present, thank you; so he is told to count the number of the stars, to get a clue about the size of the family that God is promising him.

Abram then does the right thing: “He put his trust in the Lord, and he credited it to him as an act of justice.”

Then we take up the story of the family several chapters later, and God does what he said he would: “Sarah became pregnant, and bore a son for Abraham in his old age…and

S outher n C ross

The family of God is us Abraham called the name of his son whom Sarah had born to him, ‘Isaac’.”

Read the next few chapters of Genesis, and see just how odd the family into which the child was born was, but also, and at the same time, notice the unfailing faithfulness of God. Abraham reappears in that portion of the psalm that has been chosen for next Sunday, but only at the end.

However, it is good to see the context, in the family of the people of God, who are exhorted to “give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make his deeds known among the peoples”. The family is asked to “sing, make music, proclaim, praise his holy name, and rejoice, hearts that seek the Lord”.

Then they are called by their family name: “offspring of Abraham his servant, children of Jacob his chosen one”, and are reminded of what makes them a family: “[God] remembers his covenant for ever…for a thousand generations, which he made with Abraham and swore to Isaac.”

This is very much a family affair. Knowing where you belong gives you a strong sense of security.

In the second reading, Abraham appears once more (you will not be surprised); here he is represented as part of the “family of faith”.

It was faith that enabled Abraham to “obey, to go out to the place which he was going to receive. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Then, of course, Mrs Abraham must have a mention, and it was by faith that she, though she was barren, received power to found a dynasty, though she was long beyond the age—because she thought that the One who Promised was trustworthy.

That is what our family is about. So Abraham became the ancestor of a family “like the stars of heaven in number, uncountable like the sands on the seashore”, and was even able to make an offering of Isaac. This is quite a family to belong to.

The Gospel does not mention Abraham; but the family that it depicts is, once more, the family of faith.

That appears right at the beginning, when Luke starts “when the days of their purification were fulfilled, according to the Law of Moses”, giving it a properly biblical sound,

We give birth to Christ too ‘B

LESSED is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” Picture the scene: Jesus has just impressed a crowd and a woman, probably a mother, shouts out: “You must have had a wonderful mother!”

Jesus responds something to this effect: “Yes, I had a wonderful mother, though in ways you don’t imagine. She was wonderful not because she gave me biological birth, all mothers do that. What made her a great mother is that she gave me birth in the faith” (Luke 11:27-28).

Here, as in others places, we have to be careful to understand what Jesus is really telling us about his mother. We see places in the gospels where he seemingly does not speak highly of her when in fact the reverse is true.

For example, the instance when he is approached and told: “Your mother is here, trying to see you,” and he answers, “Who is my mother?” Then, pointing to the people sitting around him, he says: “Those who hear the word of God and keep it are

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mother and brother and sister to me.”

Is Jesus distancing himself from his mother here? No. He’s pointing out the real link between them, namely, among all the people in the gospels, Mary is the pre-eminent example of the one who hears the word of God and keeps it. For this reason, more than because of biological motherhood, Jesus claims her as his mother. Giving birth to Christ is something more than biological.

Moreover, it’s also something we’re asked to do. How?

L

ooking at how Mary gave birth to Christ, we see that it’s not something that’s done in an instant. Faith, like biology, also relies on a process that has a number of distinct, organic moments.

What are these moments? What is the process by which we give birth to faith in the world?

First, like Mary, we need to get pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We need to let the word take such root in us that it begins to become part of our actual flesh.

Then, like any woman who’s pregnant, we have to lovingly gestate, nurture, and protect what is growing inside us until it’s sufficiently strong so that it can live on its own, outside us.

This process, gestation, as we know, is often accompanied by nausea, morning sickness, and a stretching of the flesh that permanently scars the body.

Eventually, of course, we must give birth. What we have nurtured and grown inside of us must, when it is ready, be given birth outside.

This will always be excruciatingly painful.

There is no painless way to give birth.

Birth, however, is only the beginnings of motherhood. Mary gave birth to a baby, but she had to spend years nurturing, coaxing, and cajoling

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Sunday Reflections

and emphasising that Joseph and Mary got it exactly right (“as it was written in the Law of the Lord…according to what is said in the Law of the Lord”).

Then we are introduced to Symeon, who is very much a member of the family of faith: “just and pious, waiting for the comfort of Israel—and the Holy Spirit was on him”. He now meets the child Jesus, and sings a song that makes him very much a part of the family of faith: “Now, Lord, you are letting your slave go…in peace.”

Also part of this family is Hanna the prophetess, who “never left the Temple, worshipping day and night with prayer and fasting”.

And, at the end of the story, we gaze upon the latest addition to the family of faith: “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon it”. That is what families are for.

And is your family, this week, a holy family?

Southern Crossword #790

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

that infant into adulthood. The infant in the crib at Bethlehem is not yet the Christ who preaches, heals, and dies for us.

Every mother needs to give birth twice, once biologically and once in faith, once to an infant and once to an adult.

Finally, motherhood has still one more phase. As her child grows, matures, and takes on a personality and destiny of its own, the mother, at a point, must ponder (as Mary did). She must let herself be painfully stretched in understanding, in not knowing, in carrying tension, in letting go. She must set free to be itself something that was once so fiercely hers.

The pains of childbirth are often gentle compared to this second wrenching.

All of this is what Mary went through to give Christ to the world: Pregnancy by the Holy Spirit; gestation of that into a child inside her; excruciating pain in birthing that to the outside; nurturing that new life into adulthood; and pondering, painfully letting go, so that this new life can be its own, not hers.

When the woman in the crowd told Jesus, “You must have had a wonderful mother!”, his answer had precisely this in mind. Mary was a wonderful mother, but in ways that went far beyond the simple fact of motherhood. She heard the word of God and kept it. That obedience, more than biological motherhood, gave both an infant Jesus and an adult Christ to the world.

And in this, Mary wants imitation, not admiration. Our task too is to give birth to Christ.

Mary is the paradigm for doing that.

From her we get the pattern: Let the word of God take root and make you pregnant; gestate that by giving it the nourishing sustenance of your own life; submit to the pain that is demanded for it to be born to the outside; then spend years coaxing it from infancy to adulthood; and finally, during and after all this, do some pondering, accept the pain of not understanding and of letting go.

Christmas isn’t automatic, it can’t be taken for granted. It began with Mary, but each of us is asked to make our own contribution to giving flesh to faith in the world.

ACROSS

1. Information from four points (4) 3. They are at the top of government (8) 9. Having the strength of the old shipwreck? (7) 10. Famous Czech novelist (5) 11. They plot together about sporran topics (12) 13. How Daniel was put to death? (6) 15. Calm, like Her Highness?

(6) 17. Worshippers who use Holy Spirit's gifts (12) 20. Fool right in the middle of the moon (5) 21. Extreme sacramental oil (7) 22. Came together in the assembly (8) 23. Lazy-sounding effigy (4)

DOWn

1. Becoming aware of mixing gin and tonic (8) 2. A town for ancient god (5) 4. Disc the athlete wants to break (6) 5. The marriage-arranger will do it (4,3,5) 6. See that the law is applied (7) 7. Past little quarrel (4) 8. Our Lady sometimes puts one in (2,10) 12. How to describe the relationships in the Trinity?

(8) 14. Receive as a bequest (7) 16. Take up, like Mary (6) 18. I dial up story of siege of Troy (5) 19. Self-satisfied (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

B

ARRY was leaving church after the Christmas Mass when Fr McCarthy took him aside. “Barry, my son,” he said, “it’s time you joined the Army of the Lord. We need to see you every Sunday.”

“I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Father,” Barry replied.

“Then why do we only see you on Christmas and Easter?”

Barry looked to the right and the left, and then leaned over to whisper in Fr McCarthy’s ear: “I’m in the Secret Service.”

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