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August 22 to August 28, 2018Reg No. 1920/002058/06

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Businesswomen: Catholic faith is our foundation

Author: Why I reopened old wounds

Fr Townsend asks: What is a ‘Good Catholic’?

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Bishops want a ‘creative’ land solution STAFF REPORTER

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HERE is “no such thing as the absolute ownership of land” and in land distribution, “priority has to be given to the poor and the landless”, according to a pastoral statement by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).

The debate over the “vexed matter” of land ownership touches “a nerve with strong historical roots and which cries out for healing and the restoration of justice “, the bishops said in the statement.

The bishops of the country deliberated over land reform at length in their plenary session earlier this month. Their statement was expected to be issued at the end of their meeting in Mariannhill, near Durban, but its release was delayed.

According to a source, the bishops’ discussions were thorough and impassioned.

The statement, signed by Archbishop Stephen Brislin as conference president, draws from biblical teaching and the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church.

“We affirm that the land is meant for all the peoples of the earth and is held by us in a sacred trust. There is no such thing as the absolute ownership of land,” the bishops said.

“Human beings are always at the centre of our social and economic life. It is a matter of human and divine justice that people have access to the land and that it be equitably distributed. In this perspective, priority has to be given to the poor and the landless,” they noted.

The bishops warned that “to ignore these fundamental realities is to invite a backlash that can only be harmful to all the citizens of our land”.

They counselled against simplifying the land issue: “There is no easy or simple solution to this vexed matter.”

They noted that expropriation of the land without compensation—as a proposed constitutional amendment would facilitate—”is at best only the beginning of the process, at worst the opening of a Pandora’s box”.

The issues are complex, the bishops said,

involving consideration for the magnitude of the demand for land; the shortage of land in sought-after urban areas; concurrent claims to the same land; the problem of long and drawn-out litigation; the reality and danger of corruption in the process; the limited capacity of the state in dealing with the whole process, among other questions.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the present situation calls for a great leap of creativity.

At this crucial time in our history we have to make this leap,” the bishops said.

That creative response requires that the debate be broadened beyond expropriation without compensation and take into account “the unacceptable gap between the rich and the poor; a pervasive greed both old and new—a stubborn holding on to and a relentless pursuit of privilege; the collapse of the rural economy and the influx of people into our cities; the involvement of traditional leaders and security of land tenure; the productivity of the land; the building of capacity and access to markets; a destructive and dehumanizing consumerism” and so on.

A creative response would involve: • respect for “human life and human dignity; a democracy at the service of the common good; transparent and incorruptible leadership; responsible dialogue; non-violence; respect for the Constitution and the judicial process; practical wisdom and the rejection of populism”, and so on • The reviving and re-imagination of “both old and new ideas, such as the publication of successful models of shared ownership; the active encouragement, development and incentivisation of such models; the generous involvement of civil society and business; renewed economic decentralisation and the revival of rural areas; the opening up of marketing bodies; support for socially responsible entrepreneurial initiatives; the encouragement of voluntary initiatives and the promotion of simple and selfless lifestyles” and so on.

“We, the bishops of the Catholic Church, Continued on page 3

Pope Francis prays in front of a copy of the Marian icon “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people) during an evening meeting with Italian young adults at the Circus Maximus in Rome this month. Before and after each foreign trip, Pope Francis prays at the icon in its chapel in the basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, as he will do as he Ieaves for Ireland for his August 25-26 visit. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Minister hails Catholic centre FR PAUL TATU CSS

T

HE minister of Higher Education hailed the Good Shepherd Community Learning Centre, run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, during a visit to the facility in Madidi, North West Province.

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria welcome minister Naledi Pandor, stressing the importance and impact of basic skills in our society.

He told the minister that while the centre is Catholic, “it is for everybody. The people who are here are from different faiths. They are all very welcome here. Our task as the Catholic Church is to enrich humanity and give people an opportunity.”

Ms Pandor in her address praised Sr Colleen Simpson and the centre staff for putting up excellent programmes.

She was intrigued that the youngest student at the centre is 16 years old and the oldest student is 85. This, she said, is exactly what a community centre should do.

She said she was particularly happy to see so many young people taking charge of their lives, and encouraged them to be committed to their mission.

“If we can develop effective community education and training programmes we will

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be able to fight poverty, inequality and exclusion, which are a very huge set of challenges for our country”.

Noting that there are 9 million people who have never had education at all, Ms Pandor said: “I believe that well-structured, well supported community education and training centres are the answer to this problem.”

Ms Pandor pledged that her ministry will work closely with the centre to ensure that the programmes are accredited.

5-17 May 2019

HOLY LAND & ROME Led by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ with

Higher education minister Naledi Pandor (right) with Sr Colleen Simpson at the Good Shepherd Community Learning Centre.

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The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

LOCAL

Centre named for late priest School starts art fest A F

By FRANK NUNAN

IRE and flood, these “elements seem determined to mark major events surrounding the late Fr Paul Fahy, making sure that we remember them vividly”, guests at the opening of a new community centre in Jeffreys Bay named after the priest were told.

Master of ceremonies and project manager Dennis Mauer recalled that the great fires of June 2017 had almost prevented the celebration of Fr Fahy’s golden jubilee, shortly before his death.

And the day before the opening and blessing of the new Paul Fahy Catechetical Community Centre at St Clare of Assisi church, a cloudburst dumped 75mm of rain on Jeffreys Bay, causing a flood which threatened the church and the new centre.

The new centre was blessed and officially opened by Fr Joe Slattery, Fr Fahy’s successor as priest-incharge of the Kouga Catholic community. The Mass which was concelebrated with Capuchin Father Matt Gormley.

The opening was attended by Fr Fahy’s sister, Nora Flaherty, who unveiled the commemorative plaque, accompanied by family, all from Ireland.

After the blessing and Mass, more than 120 parishioners and guests attended a gala luncheon inside the new centre, which prima-

Fr Joseph Slattery blesses the new centre in Jeffreys Bay, named after the priest who inspired it. rily consists of a hall and five classrooms.

In her tribute to Fr Fahy, chief fundraiser Diana Alberts recalled that he had always stressed that it was the function of this generation to plant the seeds of trees under which future generations of believers would find shade. This centre, she noted, is one such tree.

In her address, parish pastoral council chair Cecile Heather paid tribute to all those who had been instrumental in the successful completion of the project, especially Mr Maurer, Diana Alberts and architect Willem Mostert.

The new Catechetical Community Centre, or CCC as it is known in the parish, had its origins in the days when the present Church of St Clare of Assisi was itself a commu-

nity hall which played host to many memorable parish events.

Following its conversion into a church a need was felt for a new community centre.

The project was given impetus by the growing number of catechism-age children in the parish, who were being given instruction in various rooms and corners of the church.

After much deliberation, the project was launched in 2015, with Fr Fahy enthusiastically seeking funds for the project to add to the intensive fund-raising efforts within the parish driven by Ms Alberts. A plot adjoining the church in Jeffreys Bay belonging to the diocese was sold, and the funds made available for the project by Bishop Vincent Zungu of Port Elizabeth.

Grants were received from the Loyola Foundation in the United States and from the Pontifical Mission Society in Rome to enable the parish to complete the project.

Architect Mr Mostert drew up the plans, at no cost to the parish and shepherded them through official channels for approval.

Construction work for the first phase of the project was completed near the end of 2017, and the second phase is 98% complete.

Fr Fahy left the parish a financial bequest in his will, and these funds will be used for a fence to provide security for the St Clare of Assisi church complex.

By ERIN CARELSE

CATHOLIC school in Johannesburg is launching an art festival next week to make art appreciation, learning and buying more accessible to people.

St Teresa’s School in Rosebank is launching the inaugural St Teresa’s Art Festival (START) on Saturday, September 8.

START is an opportunity for students seeking guidance on how to pursue a career in art, be it as a curator, an auctioneer, a buyer or an artist, organisers said. It is also is a platform for aspiring art collectors looking for affordable art, prints, illustrations and ceramics “It provides a space for families wanting to foster an appreciation for art in their children and enjoy a great day out filled with food, fun and fearless creativity.”

Various art mediums will be on show: from painting to virtual reality, and from production to curating. There will be workshops and activities in printmaking, screenprinting, etching, origami, watercolour, graffiti, paintball art, clay

and so on.

Guest speakers from the local art industry will include sculptor Marco Cianfanelli, who created the portrait sculpture of Nelson Mandela at the Mandela Capture Site in KwaZuluNatal; senior art specialist Wilhelm van Rensburg; and Laura Windvogel, a visual artist whose artistic expression revolves around the themes of gender roles and feminism.

St Teresa’s school’s partnership with the Keyes Art Mile and the proximity to established galleries in Rosebank make it the ideal location to host an event of this nature.

The festival will take place on from 9:00 to 16:00 at 18 Keyes Avenue in Rosebank. Entry tickets bought before August 31 are R80 and children (ages 4-11) R40; thereafter R120 and children R60.

General admission tickets and special workshop tickets must be bought before the event, as there will be no tickets sales at the door.

Tickets are available online at Quicket (www.quicket.co.za). n For more information visit www. startfestival.co.za or contact Catherine Ohlson de Fine on start@stteresas.co.za

Young leaders run retreat

By SIyABONGA MKHIZE

A

GROUP of four young people from Ingwavuma vicariate in KwaZulu-Natal, though nervous at first, led a successful retreat for their community.

The four, attached to the St Lucia Retreat and Training Centre, had received training in Ignatian spirituality from the Jesuit Institute before becoming retreat leaders.

Ignatian spirituality is seen as a way of life, applying a contemplative and reflective view of the world.

The five-day retreat involved a group of parishioners, aged 21 to 50, from Khula Village near Mtubatuba, north of Richards Bay. Called “Tsotsoletsa” (seSotho for “Revival”), the retreat offered reflection on each participant’s faith history as part of reviving their personal spiritual journeys.

Although participants and retreat leaders were somewhat nervous about this new experience of personal prayer, all engaged enthusiastically, and those attending were able to share freely on their

Four young people, trained in Ignatian spirituality, led a retreat for parishioners of Khula Village, in KwaZulu-Natal’s Ingwavuma vicariate. prayer lives as well as their faith journeys.

The leaders said they had benefited from the experience too.

“The retreat was fruitful for me, as I had time to engage with God,” said Thamsanqa Vumase, 24.

Nontobeko Mhlongo, 29, said the experience was humbling for

her in the sense that known concepts and principles were affirmed by the working of the Holy Spirit among the group.

The four retreat leaders said they are confident Ignatian spirituality will spread in Ingwavuma, with the support of the Ursuline Sisters at the St Lucia centre and parish priests.

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Gus Galante celebrated 60 years as organist at St Agnes parish in Woodstock, Cape Town, by receiving a papal certificate—his third. Three women tutored him as a child: his mother as well as Mother Sebastian and then Mother Benignus at St Agnes Convent School. After matriculating he received a bursary at the Metropolitan church in Cape Town’s Greenmarket Square and learned how to play the organ under Lesley Arnold.

Mr Galante has played in many Catholic and other denominational churches, including St Mary’s cathedral. He has played and worked with 22 priests at St Agnes.

Raising funds to heal memories A GALA dinner will be held on September 7 in support of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of a healing institute founded by an Anglican priest who was maimed by an apartheid bomb.

The Institute for Healing of Memories was founded by Anglican Fr Michael Lapsley 20 years ago. Fr Lapsley, a prominent human rights activist, lost both his hands and an eye in a letter bomb attack by the Civil Cooperation Bureau, a covert outfit of the apartheid security forces.

In 1998 Fr Lapsley started the Healing of Memories workshops to run parallel with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The Institute for Healing of Memories in KwaZulu-Natal focuses on healing of memories processes, restoring-humanity projects with young people, and community-healing dialogues.

“The Institute finds a heightened application in community programmes that address traumatic, civil and physical issues like political violence, domestic and gender-based violence against women and children, bullying in schools, addiction as well as many other issues relevant in our communities around the province,”

said the institute’s Kurt Holmes.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa, at the funeral of Winnie Mandela, spoke about us all as a hurting people, wounded by our past, numbed by our present and uncertain about our future,” Mr Holmes said.

“The president’s words have brought into focus our unhealed wounds and the desperate need for healing that we, as a nation and as a province have,” he said.

“The work of the Institute for Healing of Memories is grounded in the belief that we all need healing because of what we have done, what we have failed to do and what has been done to us.”

That work is, however, hampered by financial constraints. “We are in need of funding and partnerships with businesses interested in the work of the institute, especially here in KZN,” Mr Holmes said.

The September 7 fundraising gala dinner at the Protea Edward Hotel will raise funds for its work in KwaZulu-Natal. Fr Michael Lapsley and Anglican Bishop Dino Gabriel of the diocese of KwaZulu-Natal will be the speakers. n For details on how to support the institute, contact Alphonse Niyodusenga or Bridget Phillips at 031 301-0419 or Kurt Holmes at 062 119-7668.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

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Faith the basis for Catholic businesswomen

By DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA

C

ATHOLIC women are faced with one choice in pursuing financial freedom: a dual capitalist and socialist agenda.

This was the message delivered

by Dr Anna Mokgokong, chief executive officer of Community Investment Holdings in her keynote address at the Catholic Business Forum Women’s Month Power Breakfast Seminar in Johannesburg.

Held under the theme, “Ethics, Excellence and Empowerment”, the seminar was meant to promote networking and dialogue among Catholic women in business.

It was broadcast live on Radio Veritas.

Dr Mokgokong, South African Businesswoman of the Year 2017, said that Women’s Month was not just about the celebration of womanhood but also a time to take an audit of women’s role in society.

“We as Catholic women cannot be swimming in wealth when just

Bishops on land Continued from page 1 maintain that these and other broad human and divine values are imperative. To ignore these would be dangerously irresponsible, morally unacceptable and harmful to human persons and the common good,” the bishops said.

“Our call is addressed not only to our own Catholic leaders and communities but also to all people of goodwill who are passionately concerned to see a true and just flourishing of our Beloved Country—and indeed of the whole Southern African region and further afield.

“At this critical time and recalling the best of decisions leading up to 1994, we believe we are once again called to respond to the critical challenge of this time,” they said.

“Guided by the noblest of human values and divine truths we pledge ourselves to be a part of this creative process.”

Seen at the Catholic Business Forum Women’s Month Power Breakfast in Johannesburg are (from left) Dr Anna Mokgokong, Ursula Chikane and Connie Motshumi. outside our doors we see abject poverty. We are called to do something about it”, she said.

Dr Mokgokong said that it is time

Catholic women take patronage of their financial affairs. “Our Catholic rand should be moving from one Catholic woman to the next in sup-

port of each other.”

Her speech was followed by a broadcast of a delayed televised message from United Nations Women executive director, former deputy-president Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, also a Catholic.

Dr Mlambo-Ngcuka urged women to assert themselves not only in the household but also in corporate boardrooms.

“As women, we must sit in those boardrooms like we belong there.

We must end being apologetic about our presence in the male dominated corporate world”, she said.

She further urged women to define for themselves what good corporate citizenship is for themselves, and to nurture integrity in their business dealings.

A panel discussion followed her keynote address. Moderated by media personality Ursula Chikane, the discussion centred around the question, “Do you consider yourself a Catholic first, or a businessperson of Catholic persuasion?”

Dr Mokgokong pointed out that she considered herself a Catholic first, saying that this guides her in all her business dealings.

Panellist Lindiwe SangweniSiddo, CEO of City Lodge Hotels, said that she sees herself as a Catholic businesswoman, because she promotes Catholic ethics and values in her business dealings.

Connie Motshumi, chair of the Red Cross and communications head of the Premier Soccer League, said: “In football men chase not only the ball, but they chase the deal as well.

It is an environment in which I summon my Christian ethos on a daily basis in order to process it.”

For Lindiwe Mamashela, executive director at Global Aviation, her foundation as a Catholic is the bedrock of everything that she does, more so in her professional affairs.

Fr Lawrence Ndlovu, convenor of the Catholic Business Forum, encouraged those present and those listening on Radio Veritas to spread the word about the forum.

Papal medal for accountant who saved diocese

By GRAHAM WILSON

A

T an evening Mass at the parish church of St James, Cape Town, Archbishop Stephen Brislin presented archdiocesan accountant Anne Stafford with the Bene Merenti Medal, conferred on her by Pope Francis for her years of selfless service to the Church.

The ceremony was attended by 50 family and friends, including Mrs Stafford’s husband of 50 years, Bert, her children and grandchildren, Mgr Jock Baird, Fr Hugh O’Connor, Fr Robert Bissell, and St James parish priest Fr Mark Pothier.

Mrs Stafford qualified as a chartered accountant in Britain in 1965, winning a prize in partnership accounts, at a time when few women entered the field.

Afterwards, she worked as an accountant in London and Zambia, before moving from Qatar with her husband to Cape Town in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Mrs Stafford was asked to help the Catholic Wel-

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town presents the Bene Merenti Medal to former archdiocesan accountant Anne Stafford as her husband Bert looks on. (Photo: Pippa Jones) fare Bureau (now CWD) with its finances.

She worked at CWD as financial

director for ten years, during which time the organisation grew tremendously.

In 1997 she was asked by Bishop Reginald Cawcutt and Archbishop Lawrence Henry to take on an even bigger task: to help the archdiocese of Cape Town recover from bankruptcy.

At the ceremony, Archbishop Brislin commended Mrs Stafford for her selfless efforts, far beyond the call of duty, in which she helped lift the archdiocese out of bankruptcy and set it on the course of financial stability and self-sustainability that continues to today.

For the next 15 years Mrs Stafford worked in the finance department of the archdiocese until her retirement in 2014 at age 70.

Among many things, she has served as a trustee of the Catholic Schools Trust, making an invaluable contribution to the good governance, maintenance and ethos of Catholic schools in Cape Town.

Mrs Stafford continues to serve on the Archdiocesan Finance Council, where her advice and good sense are valued by the archbishop.

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The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

INTERNATIONAL

Sister Clara of CAFOD, the British bishops’ international relief and development agency, is seen surrounded by shoes outside the Westminster cathedral in London.

Hundreds of shoes left at the cathedral are part of a campaign launched by Pope Francis and supported by tens of thousands of people across Britain The campaign, led by CAFOD and the Catholic Social Action Network, calls for world leaders at next month’s UN General Assembly to back global agreements aimed at assisting refugees and migrants.

(Photo: Andy Rain, EPA/CNS)

Abuse whistleblower, Richard Sipe, dies 85

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HE former priest whose research exposed the clerical sex abuse and their cover-up in the US Catholic Church, has died at the age of 85.

A former Benedictine monk and a psychotherapist, AW Richard Sipe submitted his research that found 6% of US priests to be sexual predators to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It was ignored, and Mr Sipe was widely blacklisted in the US Church.

An author and advocate for clerical sex abuse victims, he was vindicated when The Boston Globe discovered his research in 2001 and used it as the basis for its Spotlight exposure.

Mr Sipe consulted on or testified in some 250 trials on behalf of abuse survivors.

Born on December 11, 1932, in Minnesota, Mr Sipe was ordained to the priesthood in 1959 and left it in 1970 to marry his wife Marianne Benkert Sipe, a former nun.

“When he wasn’t listened to [by the US bishops], and wasn’t believed,

it was really hurtful to him, because he cared about the Church,” Dr Benkert Sipe said.

His warnings were ignored even after the abuse scandal broke in 2002. Since 2008 Mr Sipe had warned about the sexual activities of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, the former head of Washington archdiocese who had to resign as cardinal last month following several credible allegations of sexual abuse.

In response to that case, some leading US bishops began calling for reforms in how allegations against bishops are investigated.

Among Mr Sipe’s key findings were that statistically homosexual and heterosexual priests were equally likely to break their promise of celibacy; and that mandatory celibacy is a factor in the cover-up of abuse cases.

He argued that failures of celibacy among Church leaders, even when consensual and with adults, created a system of secrecy in which the abuse of minors could take place and be covered up.

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How Vatican sex abuse trials work

By CINDy WOODEN

A

NY member of the clergy accused of the sexual abuse of a minor is tried according to procedures outlined in the Code of Canon Law and specific norms spelled out in Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (“Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments”).

Normally those trials take place in the diocese where the crime occurred, but still under the direction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. However, when the accused is a bishop, it is up to the pope to determine the way to proceed.

When the Vatican press office announced that Pope Francis had accepted Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals, it also said the pope “ordered his suspension from the exercise of any public ministry, together with the obligation to remain in a house yet to be indicated to him, for a life of prayer and penance until the accusations made against him are examined in a regular canonical trial”.

The “regular canonical trial” for an accused bishop, canon law experts said, usually would be a trial conducted by the apostolic tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. However, the phrase in the original Italian announcement referred to the “regolare processo canonico”, which could be translated as “regular canonical process”.

The regular process described in “Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments” includes the option of an “extrajudicial decree,” an administrative process by which the accused is presented with the evidence and given an opportunity for self-de-

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fence, but there is no trial.

Two canon lawyers experienced with how the apostolic tribunals of the doctrinal congregation work spoke with Catholic News Service, but requested their names not be used because they are not congregation staff members and cannot speak for the congregation.

Both lawyers said canon law also would view as a crime the sexual abuse or harassment of an adult by his superior, for example, in the case of a bishop abusing adult seminarians. The crime could be prosecuted as an “abuse of office”, one of the canon lawyers said. The other said it also could be prosecuted as a “delict against the Sixth Commandment”, which says, “You shall not commit adultery”. The phrase in Church law, he said, may sound vague, but it leaves room for prosecuting a variety of sexual crimes. And the punishment prescribed is to be commensurate with the offence.

A

canonical trial differs in many ways from secular criminal trials.

An apostolic tribunal of the doctrinal congregation has at least three and as many as five judges. In the past, accusations against bishops have been tried before a five-judge panel with all of the judges being bishops.

In canon law, there is a basic presumption of innocence. The accused has the right to defend himself and the right to counsel. But the promoter of justice, a role similar to a prosecutor, does not have to prove motive, means or criminal intent.

The prosecutor and defence counsel do not question the witnesses.

That is the task of the judges.

Both the prosecutor and the de-

fence counsel propose a list of witnesses, but the judges must approve them. The judges have access to the report of the preliminary, diocesan investigation and are likely to use that to determine which witnesses are essential.

In accordance with canon 1728,2, no oath is administered to the accused. One of the canon lawyers said that the oath is so sacred to the Church that it would not risk putting a person in the position of violating it with perjury.

The promoter of justice and the defence counsel are given copies of all the testimony, and it is their duty to summarise it and make their case based on the evidence presented.

Each lawyer sees the other’s submission and comments on it, pointing out where they see weaknesses or inconsistencies in the testimony or the other’s case.

The judges deliberate in private, usually at the Vatican. Three verdicts are possible: guilty, not guilty or not proven. The last indicates that while there is no condemnation or penalty, the accusations raised enough questions that Church officials should be cautious in the future about assigning the accused to unsupervised ministries with minors or vulnerable adults.

In a canonical trial, everything is covered by confidentiality, usually referred to as “pontifical secret.” The phrase does not indicate a refusal on the Church’s part to report a crime to the police—in accordance with local laws, such reporting already should have occurred when the crime was first reported to the diocese before the allegations were forwarded to Rome, one of the canonists said.— CNS

Rwandan bishops urge religious rights as govt close churches

By JONATHAN LUXMOORE

T

HE Rwandan Catholic bishops’ conference has urged the government of President Paul Kagame to preserve religious rights after government officials closed thousands of churches and mosques.

The buildings remained locked because of what the government said were health and safety issues, including lack of toilets, plastered walls and paved access roads.

“Most Catholics are shocked and disappointed; they don’t understand what’s happening and why there’s been no explanation,” said Fr Martin Nizeyimana, the Kigali-based bishops’ conference secretary-general.

“If measures are taken to protect the safety of people, this is good, but they should be explained, so people don’t just arrive and find their church closed,” he said.

He said the sudden closures had “deeply affected” Rwanda’s Catholic Church, especially in rural areas, forcing the suspension of Masses and priestly ordinations.

He added that Catholics had continued to pray in the open air for good church-state relations, while Church representatives negotiated with government officials to “bring the situation under control”.

“Certainly, religious freedom is proclaimed under our constitution. But if they start closing churches without any warning, we quickly see a gap between law and reality. What’s most important now is to ensure our Church’s mission can continue here,” he said.

Catholics make up around half the 12 million population of

Parishioners at Mass in Kigali, Rwanda. The Rwandan bishops’ conference urged steps be taken to ensure religious freedom after the government closed thousands of churches. (Photo: Noor Khamis, Reuters/CNS) Rwanda, where religious groups have proliferated since a 1994 genocide of more than a million members of the Tutsi minority. A government statement said recognised religious denominations had grown from 50 to more than 1 000 since 1994.

The government said the safety measures had been agreed upon at a meeting between government officials and “Church leaders”, following an “extensive consultation process”.

Fr Nizeyimana said Rwandan Catholic leaders had been represented at the talks but given “no warning or information” about the forced closures.

The government statement confirmed that 1 381 Pentecostal prayer houses had been closed under the decree, and 15% of all mosques, as well as more than a third of the 71 Catholic churches in Rwanda’s western Rusizi dis-

trict alone.

“These closures do not infringe on freedom to worship, but rather address the alarming proliferation of places of worship in dilapidated and unhygienic conditions, as well as troubling behaviour by unscrupulous individuals masquerading as religious leaders,”the statement said.

“The latter have, among other abuses, defrauded innocent followers, broadcast insults against women and other religions, and forced followers to fast to the point of death from starvation.”

Fr Nizeyimana also said that the bishops were dismayed that promises made during Mr Kagame’s March 2017 talks at the Vatican with Pope Francis had not been honoured.

The official said the bishops would meet soon to adopt a “more muscular position” on current developments.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross,August 22 to August 28, 2018

Seeking justice for victims key to a brighter future

Twitter will again create pope emoji’s for online use during Pope Francis’ trip to Ireland.

(Image: Twitter)

By PHILIPPE VAILLANCOURT

A

RCHBISHOP Valery Vienneau of Moncton in Canada, said for the Church to continue, it must seek justice for the many victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Archbishop Vienneau was bishop of the diocese of Bathurst, New Brunswick, from 2002-12 when he was first confronted with the reality of sexual abuse in the Church, when many victims began asking compensation for what they endured at the hands of some priests.

“When I arrived in Moncton in 2012, I knew that I was coming into something like that because it had started in 2011. But I did not know the extent of the issue,” said Archbishop Vienneau.

The previous year, revelations of abuse committed by Fr Camille Leger in the coastal village of Cap-Pele, sparked a wave of indignation.

“What I found most difficult is that I am a native of Cap-Pele. It means that the victims are my age or younger,” said the archbishop, who was ten when Fr Leger came to his village.

“With all that I live, sometimes— I have to be honest—I would like to leave,” said Archbishop Vienneau.

“But I don’t want to leave this to another. I want to try to resolve this issue so that another bishop can come and focus on pastoral issues.”

Archbishop Vienneau estimated that the archdiocese of Moncton will pay between $8-10 million (R88-110 million). “The victims have compensation rights. Their integrity was

(Left) Archbishop Valery Vienneau of Moncton, Canada has said that the Church must seek justice for victims of clergy abuse. (Right) Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, head of the US Bishops’ Conference has apologised in the wake of a damning report issued on clergy abuse in the state of Pennsylvania. (Photos: Philippe Vaillancourt/CNS and Bob Roller/CNS) hurt. We have a justice to repair as a Church.”

“Because of everything that happened, we lost credibility. When you don’t have that pride, it hurts the vitality of the Church,” the archbishop said. “But I don’t blame people: People are not to blame for what happened. But that’s reflected in everyone. We’re still lucky that people continue despite everything that happened.”

M

eanwhile the US bishops “are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops” that have led to sexual abuse and caused great harm to many, in the wake of a grand jury report in the state of Pennsylvania.

The report covers a span of over 70 years. Many of the claims go back

Chaldean synod thankful for return of displaced Christians

By DALE GAVLAK

The

Pope emoji for Ireland trip

T

WITTER users will have access to special emojis commemorating Pope Francis’ visit to the Ireland this month.

The emoji, which can be accessed by use of the hashtags #popeinireland, #pápainÉirinn, and #festivaloffamilies on Twitter, will feature an image of Pope Francis in front of the Irish flag. Another will feature the pope in front of Ireland’s Knock shrine, the Irish Daily Mail reported.

The emojis were created to mark the pope’s visit to the island on August 25-26 to attend the World Meeting of Families.

Special emojis were also created during Pope Francis’ visit to the United States in 2015. Twitter has also launched customs images for events such as the World Cup and the Olympics.

Twitter will also curate a list of recommended accounts to follow during the World Meeting of Families and the papal visit.

Officials from the World Meeting of Families told the Irish Daily Mail that they were “very happy” about

S outher n C ross Pilgrimage to

T

HE Chaldean Catholic Church has offered thanks to God for the return of numerous displaced Iraqi Christians to their hometowns in the Ninevah Plain and for pastoral achievements in their dioceses.

A synod in Baghdad, Iraq, brought together Church leaders and participants from Iraq, the United States, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Canada, Australia and Europe to discuss issues vital for the Church’s future both in Iraq and among its diaspora.

A key discussion point focused on the need for “a larger number of well-qualified priests, monks and nuns” to work in Chaldean Catholic churches to “preserve the Eastern identity and culture of each country and its traditions”.

Synod participants decried the suffering experienced by Christians and other Iraqis over the past four years following the ISIS takeover of Mosul and towns in the Ninevah Plain as well as the deterioration of Iraq’s political, economic and social institutions. They also praised the humanitarian efforts by the Churches and Christian organisations to help those displaced to return home and re-establish their lives.

The synod expressed “sincere thanks to all the ecclesiastical institutions and international civil organisations that supported them during their long ordeal”.

Church officials and the international community have expressed growing concern that unless Iraq’s ancient religious minorities are supported in their rebuilding, many will seek a new life elsewhere.

Observers believe that 400 000500 000 Christians now live in Iraq, compared to 1,5 million before the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.

Chaldeans are the indigenous people of Iraq, whose roots trace back thousands of years.

decades.

“The report again illustrates the pain of those who have been victims of the crime of sexual abuse by individual members of our clergy, and by those who shielded abusers and so facilitated an evil that continued for years or even decades,” said Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the US Bishops’ Conference in a statement.

“We are grateful for the courage of the people who aided the investigation by sharing their personal stories of abuse,” they said. “As a body of bishops, we are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops.”

“We are committed to work in determined ways so that such abuse cannot happen,” said Cardinal DiNardo.—CNS

CATHOLIC Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad, Iraq, brought together Chaldean church leaders from all over the world to discuss issues in Iraq and the diapora. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) The synod said that Iraqi Christians still aspire to see the government establish “a strong national civil state that provides them and other citizens equality and a decent living, as well as preserves them in an atmosphere of freedom, democracy and respect for pluralism”.

The religious leaders also expressed support for Cardinal Louie Sako’s multiple efforts to encourage and build national unity in Iraq.

In addition, they urged Iraqi government officials to help the displaced to “rebuild their homes, rehabilitate the infrastructure of their towns and maintain their property” as most of the reconstruction efforts have been at the initiation of the Church, international donors and foreign governments. They appealed to the international community to assist them in “a dignified and safe return”.

The synod called for an end to the war in Syria and in other Middle East countries. It also called on the US and Iran to engage in diplomacy to resolve their differences and to avoid punitive measures, saying that “wars and sanctions only result in negative consequences”.—CNS

5

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Twitter creating the emoji, describing it as “exciting.”

“Social media didn’t exist when Pope John Paul II visited [in 1979], so this is a new era in technology for such trips.”

Pope Benedict XVI was the first pope to have his own presence on Twitter. He joined the social media platform in December 2012, about three months before he stepped down from the papacy. His handle, @pontifex, was passed on to Pope Francis after he was elected.

Pope Francis has since been an active Twitter in nine languages: Latin, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Arabic, French, and Polish.

Pope Francis will be in Ireland for about a day and a half, and will celebrate Mass at Dublin’s Phoenix Park on August 26.

The Southern Cross pilgrims with Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp are scheduled to attend that papal Mass, alongside an expected 400 000 people. They will have visited the Knock shrine earlier that week.

6

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

In crisis, keep hope

A

S Catholics are hit by wave after wave of old and new abuse scandals, many people are facing a crisis of faith: How can all this evil be reconciled with the Good News of the Gospel?

But we must not lose sight of Christ and his promise of salvation, for to do so is to yield to the devil’s work.

We are Catholics not because of the men who lead the Church but because we subscribe to the truths of the Creed.

While priests, bishops and popes are called to guide us to salvation and feed the faithful on their earthly pilgrimage—as most do in selfless and virtuous service—our faith resides not in men but in God. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Church founded by Christ. We believe in the Church as the perfect Bride of Christ, not the institution which has always been subject to human failure.

And regardless of human failings in the Church, Christ is still present in the Eucharist.

The Church is the source of salvation, instituted by Christ and built on Peter, who himself was an imperfect man. The Church is not an association, a political party or a club from which we can simply resign in disillusionment or protest when the leadership fails.

Indeed, we—the People of God—are the Church, and we are distressed and angry because in country after country those in leadership whom we were supposed to trust betrayed us. The Body of Christ, including the multitudes of good priests and bishops, is hurting.

The never-ending scandal over the cover-up of sexual abuse within the Church must impel the laity to demand new systems of oversight, and induce the clergy on all levels to accept with humility the necessity of not just greater lay involvement in running the Church but also greater lay leadership.

The Church needs a purge of the toxic clericalism which created the conditions in which abuses could take place without threat of consequences; the kind of clericalism in which the primary concern was not for the

victims of abuse but for personal and institutional reputation.

This is the kind of clericalism in which abusers could rise up the ranks, even up to that of cardinal, as long as they had the right patrons and passed the right ideological litmus tests.

All those who perpetrated abuses and all those who enabled these abuses by covering them up—actively by moving predators around or passively by their acquiescence in a culture of silence—have betrayed not just the victims of these abuses, not just the faithful, not just all the good bishops and priests, not just the Holy Father, but also the very God whom they promised to serve.

Though they might not have intended it, these people have done the devil’s work by shrouding Christ in the smoke and dust of their destructive actions. And in doing so, they have created obstacles in the path of people’s salvation.

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord,” (Jeremiah 21:1). May God have mercy on them.

But it must also be acknowledged that much progress in diligence has been made in the past 15 years, with the Southern African Church often shining a light on the way globally.

The Church is not terminally corrupted, so we must not lose hope, nor must we abandon the Holy Spirit whose guidance we must seek in rebuilding the Church.

There is no arguing that our Church needs to be cleansed, morally and institutionally.

The old models of running the Church and the relevant codes of Canon Law must be thoroughly reformed to accomplish this, with some areas of authority—including and especially the investigation into abuse cases and their handling—invested entirely in lay people.

Even among many bishops there is a recognition that this would be a necessary reform as the Church is trying to rebuild its shattered credibility and reputation.

We must keep hope and always pray for the Church.

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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.

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SA’s Church deserves to be respected

I

SUPPORT in the strongest terms the view of Bishop Victor Phalana when he states the Church’s disappointment at the absence of politicians of the two main political parties at all three levels of government from the closing Mass to celebrate the bicentennial of the Church in South Africa (“Bishop : Our politicians don’t respect the Church”, July 4).

From humble beginnings, the Catholic Church has played a leading role out of all proportion to its size in the development of this country. The Church’s contribution to education, health and social services has been truly outstanding.

As Catholics we can all be

This time, no mistakes allowed

T

HE recent revelations from nuns about male violence in the Church dismantle the “veil of secrecy” that is so connected with the Catholic Church and challenges the core of its leadership authority.

Speaking out against powerful men is challenging. Perpetrators enjoy protection from the “brotherhood”. The mere fact that only a handful of women religious have now emerged is by no means a suggestion that it could only be “a few incidents”. Women survivors can take years before they speak out.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in the United States has now encouraged women religious to report incidents of abuse to civic and Church authority.

This is a very important step; however the LCWR should also implement a “safety net” for those who speak out—an immediate support structure that will protect nuns from further victimisation and also ensure that perpetrator clergy are held accountable.

Similarly, all Catholic dioceses in the world are challenged to provide the same support structure.

This is an opportunity for the Church to root out all traces of male violence in the Church—a time to dismantle denialism. It is a time for Church leaders to apply thought leadership and ethical, decisive action, with a bias towards the survivor who wants justice.

This time around mistakes are not allowed.

proud of these outstanding achievements—the more so when we consider that many nuns, priests and other religious left their homelands to come and perform mission work in South Africa.

Many of these dedicated missionaries were posted to rural parts of South Africa to bring the Gospel to these areas.

They had to learn the language and get familiar with the practices of these new members of God’s flock. These works were carried out with dedication and care, and they deserved to be recognised and applauded by our politicians of all persuasion.

That they were not acknowledged at the final Mass is disgrace.

Prevention of male violence in the Church should go beyond the rhetoric of “we have policies in place”. The culture of secrecy, denialism and cover-ups is not yet broken.

That can only happen if progressive support systems are put into place that will offer true protection to survivors who wish to speak out, and will offer true protection to survivors who wish to speak out. The scandal of sexual violence against nuns illustrates that male violence in the Church is a fact. One incident of sexual violence against a nun is already one too many. Violence is preventable.

The Church, in the spirit of true prevention of male violence, should also deal with a host of other issues that sustains male privilege—the behaviour of some clergy in contrast to their vow of celibacy.

Colleen Constable, SA Institute for Violence Prevention

Even today, in the 21st century, the Church continues to perform a leading role in so many areas.

Perhaps the most important role in present day South Africa is the Church’s role in the treatment of the HIV/Aids pandemic. Twenty years ago the Catholic Church was active in this field while government was vacillating about the disease and was a late starter in treatment.

This is but one of the many milestones that the Church continues to make in the health field.

Catholic schools in poor areas continue to produce fine young well-educated people. Surely some acknowledgement from our political leaders to what the Church has contributed would not go amiss.

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

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

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

the world. The Catholics of Africa would see a film about their pontiff in great numbers. If our cinema chains in South Africa were to request the movie to be shown here, I have no doubt that the international distributors would make it available.

Could it be that the chains, Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro in fact don’t want a film about the head of the Catholic Church in their cinemas?

Paul Collins, Johannesburg

Opportunities Why no pope film now in Zimbabwe is heavily endowed in SA’s cinemas? ZIMBABWE with farming, mining, energy

I

WAS very disappointed to learn from your front-page article (August 8) that director Wim Wenders’ critically-acclaimed “fly-on-thewall” documentary of our Holy Father, Pope Francis: A Man of his Word, will not be exhibited in South African cinemas, apparently because the international distributors are not bringing the film to Africa.

Your article points out, correctly, that Africa has the fastestgrowing Catholic population in

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The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

What’s a ‘Good Catholic’?

R ECENTLY I was told, as many parish priests are, that the person who disagreed with a decision I made was a “very good Catholic”, and that my decision challenged their ability to be Catholic.

Never mind the minutiae of the situation. Lets just say that it prompted a clear disagreement as to what “Good Catholic” meant. What does it mean to be “Catholic”? What does it mean to be a “Good Catholic”?

I look back a generation or two. I remember my grandparents and their generation. Of my four grandparents, three were Catholic, one a Christian Scientist. And of the three, one would have called himself an honest Catholic.

My grandmothers were “good” Catholics. In their generation, that meant that they had their children baptised, put them on busses to the nearest Catholic school—which often meant making great sacrifice—and it also meant decades of curry-and-rice suppers and Catholic Women’s League tea (you know the kind that strips the enamel off your teeth and could be used by Elon Musk as a fuel source).

Being Good Catholics also meant that prayer was a part of family, and family part of Church.

Those formative years in Rivonia, Johannesburg—both at the Carmelite Convent and the parish—were often deep symbols of the community we seek to emulate.

Theirs was a generation… My grandparents practised their faith. It was a lived and integral experience for them.

Which brings me to my question again.

What is a “Good Catholic”? As a parish priest, I’m hesitant to speak of the “Good Catholics”. In my experience that’s a double-edged sword—and it’s very sharp.

Migrants arriving on a rescue boat at the Spanish port of Algeciras. (Photo: Jon Nazca, Reuters/CNS)

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

For Africa’s youth Intention: That young people in Africa may have access to education and work in their own countries.

T is truly extraordinary what risks migrants will take to get into so-called developed countries.

Young West Africans, or their families, pay traffickers to get them across the Sahara into Libya and thence across the Mediterranean into Europe. A considerable proportion do not make it. Some die in the desert, abandoned by their traffickers. Others are arrested and languish in detention centres.

Some are sold into slavery.

The hazardous sea crossing in dangerously unseaworthy boats is perhaps the most hazardous leg of all.

Seeing those pictures of tightly-packed boats adrift or even sinking, one wonders what on earth could prompt anyone to take such foolhardy risks.

Is the fabled “better life” in the West worth it?

Even if they make it to Europe, the road can still be long and hard to becoming the family’s foreign currency wage-earner that many aspire to be.

One such young migrant has told of how he had to send home practically all that his menial job earned him in order to keep up the appearance that he was highly successful. He wrote a book about his experiences in order to warn other would-be fortune-seekers of what awaits them.

However, young people, especially young men, will always be risk-takers. A strong and healthy young man feels invincible and immortal. Even if some of his companions become casualties, a young soldier somehow convinces himself that it won’t happen to him.

There will always be adventure-seeking youngsters who move out of hearth and home to seek their fortune, but in some dire and desperate circumstances the numbers balloon.

During the Irish potato famine from 1845-49, it was the desperation of hunger that drove two million people from Ireland to the United States and other countries. Some were so weakened by hunger that they did not survive the journey. And, like the African migrants of today, they too were exploited by those arranging their passage.

I

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his type of “Good Catholic” loves the appellation “Catholic,” not by participation but as a space to negatively define their relationship.

What does a “Good Catholic” do?

What does he look like? How does she behave? I’m not sure I have honestly met a “Good Catholic”…

Catholics at prayer. What is a “Good Catholic”, and should we really try to be one? asks Fr Chris Townsend.

Pastor’s Notebook

You see, I think that to be a “good” Catholic, one needs to be an “honest” Catholic. Being honest means that I am able to say that in the world I live in, the Church doesn’t often smell like my life.

But I draw the Church, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the reality that I live in.

But I am also able to respect that the Church isn’t drawn down to my level to stay there. The Church (however you conceive that idea) must be in my culture to refine and purify it.

As Church we have to admit that wallowing is not where the Church should be. She (we?) have to make our efforts to make sure that in the life of the drug addict, we don’t become addicts too. We don’t see the adulterer and throw our lot in with him…

This is the most difficult part of being a Catholic. I am part of a faith-practice that was chosen for me by my parents at baptism, chosen for myself in confirmation, and lived out by my life choices. I choose to live my life orientated by faith to focus on the life of Jesus and what that has meant for the last 2 000 years of humanity.

So, what does this mean? Well, stop trying to be a “Good Catholic”. Join me in trying to be an honest Catholic, an incomplete Catholic. A misguided and curious and struggling Catholic. I am this type of Catholic, alongside many others.

When we are honest Catholics, our parishes then are gatherings of sheep that smell so different, but somehow begin to smell like each other—because we admit that we all smell.

Joy of families is the joy of Church Toni Rowland I ’M sure that in every one of the many years since I have been writing this column I have said similar things—with some slight variations, depending on the chosen theme—in August, which in South Africa is Women’s Month.

I haven’t too often focused specifically on gender violence or the rights of the oppressed. Should I have?

My direction is generally towards empowered women—strong and capable women from all backgrounds who are carers for others as well as themselves.

The Australian writer and gender activist GD Anderson observed of that empowerment: “Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”

This month we celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady—surely a strong woman. In the coming weeks we have the anniversaries of the deaths of Mother Teresa and Princess Diana, both women who made a lasting impression. We have the feast of St Monica, a widow and the mother of St Augustine. We women are not exactly victims, are we?

Which brings me to sexuality. The August ubuntu family theme was “Sexuality Does Matter to All”. It matters indeed, whether we are male or female, married, or single, widowed, divorced, straight or LGBTI, living a consecrated or a celibate life. Sexuality is a great gift to humanise us in unique ways. Family Matters magazine has an article too, “Sexuality does matter.”

Much as it is gift, it is also a sadness when the issue of sexuality is narrowed down to perpetrators and victims of violence. It is sad too when it is about competitiveness and conflict over rights, power and influence.

Sexuality can and should be a source of

T

he factors pushing young Africans from their homes to risk death crossing deserts and seas are more numerous and more complex than straightforward famine (though poverty obviously does cause hunger).

In some parts of Africa, such as Eritrea, young men are desperate to escape the brutal, open-ended, compulsory military service established by a dictatorial government, described by a UN report as involving “forced labour”. Many South Sudanese want to get away from the seemingly endless cycle of violence that has gripped their new country.

Those who leave for economic reasons seem to have lost faith in their own countries to provide any meaningful educational or economic means of providing for their future. They see the better houses and lifestyles of their neighbours who have relatives abroad and opt to take the risk. Some migrants are as young as 14 or 15, an age at which peer pressure is a powerful force.

This is a long-term challenge and there are many difficulties to be faced. More and more it is climate change which is identified as putting huge pressure on the economies of the drier parts of Africa.

Even positive development can be problematic.

The experience in Mali, for example, suggests that development can even have the unintended outcome of increasing migration, at least in the short term, because a rise in income enables more people to afford the costs of migrating!

Some returnees who have endured the most appalling sufferings, decide to try again—an indication of the power of both the push and the pull factors.

Most observers say that the only sure way of stopping this terrible trade is through the leadership of Africa, in cooperation with the West, developing the immense potential of the continent for the benefit of those who live here.

As long as they are exploited by or excluded from the economy, they will continue to arrive on European shores.

Good Catholic might mean that you are practising your faith, living it out in life, a parish community, family, prayer and with a radical honesty like both my grandfathers who were honest Catholics—even the lapsed Christian Scientist.

“Good Catholic” can also mean that you’re very good at being a “buffet Catholic”. You’ve been given the plate in baptism and you’ve never got past the first offering. Or you have piled your plate and thrown most of the food away.

I’m not a fan of buffet offerings. Too much of too much. And when I get to the table, all the good stuff has been taken and all I’m left with is the broccoli.

Fr Chris Townsend

7

Family Friendly

“Sexuality at any age should be a joy. But how can joy be maintained? The answer is that attention needs to be paid—but that doesn’t just happen on its own,” writes Toni Rowland. joy in happy, committed marriages where couples are in love after years of marriage, have learned the skills to communicate intimately and meaningfully, and have learned that hurt is inevitable and healing matters. Sexuality is a joy if reconciliation can come about after disillusionment and possible separation.

Sexuality can be a joy even in widowhood, when we are invited to reflect on the shared life that was.

P

ope Francis writes in his exhortation The Joy Of Love: “The joy of families is the joy of the Church.” Conversely, therefore, divorce is a heartbreak not only for the couple and their children but also for the Church as family—and how often is there a sexual issue involved in the break-up?

Sexuality at any age should be a joy. But how can joy be maintained? The answer is that attention needs to be paid—but that doesn’t just happen on its own. Beyond the falling in love, staying in love is a life-time commitment.

This week during the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, Ireland, the apostolic

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exhortation of Pope Francis will be studied, reflected on and discussed.

The Joy Of Love was presented in 2016 after the 2014 and 2015 Synods of Bishops on the Family. In it, Pope Francis used the outcomes of the synod, other writings including those of Pope John Paul II, and added reflections of his own. It has caused some controversy mainly because of its pastoral approach to issues around divorce, contraception and same-sex unions.

Pope Francis himself credits couples with the ability to do their discernment: “We are called to form consciences, not to replace them.”

The local Church will hold its own sixweek marriage and family campaign from August 26 to October 7. It has been suggested that every third year, the 27th Sunday of the Year be proclaimed a Marriage Day. The family today needs support, and the resources for are available in the materials of the SACBC Marriage and Family Office and MARFAM, focusing on creation and the environment too. Who we are, what we do and how we live in relationship to the world, our neighbour, our families and spouses impacts on every aspect of life.

It is in the quality of ubuntu, the recognition of our common humanity, the love found in our relationships and the care for one another and our earth, that our future lies.

May the strength of women and families be recognised and supported for the good of their families, the Church and society.

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The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

COMMUNITY

First communicants at St Mary’s cathedral in Cape Town hold up their cupcakes at the tea after the ceremony. The Communion Mass was celebrated by Fr Celestine Okekeofojebe with Deacon Stephen Armstrong.

(Submitted by Michelle Perry)

Members of St Anne’s Sodality at St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, had lunch with children from the Orlando Children’s Home after Sunday Mass, and also spoiled them with goodies parcels. (Photo: Magadi Chapi) Student Mokgethwa Mkalipe of Brescia House School in Bryanston, Johannesburg, earned full colours in five disciplines and was awarded the school’s white blazer in recognition of her achievement.

Nyolohelo church in Sebokeng, Johannesburg archdiocese, celebrated the confirmation of young members of the parish. The celebrants were Archbishop Buti Tlhagale and Nyolohelo parish priest Fr Simphiwe Kheswa OFM. (Photo: Tankiso Nyelele)

The Salesians’ Bosco youth Centre in Walkerville, Johannesburg, held a vocations camp. The young men were introduced toSalesian founder St John Bosco by watching a movie on his life, and topics such as different vocations to religious life, a vocation to Salesian life, and the importance of prayer in discernment were discussed. (Submitted by Br Clarence Watts SDB)

PRICE CHECK

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za

For the price of one issue of The Southern Cross you get a chocolate bar – with a bite taken out T he

Southern C ross

August 15 to August 21, 2018Reg No. 1920/002058/06

New SACBC president: What it means

No 5096

www.scross.co.za

New focus on Church and media

Page 3

Pages 2& 7

Page 10

Bishops OK Ngome nun’s saint cause

or

STAFF REPORTER

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HE bishops of Southern Africa have approved the process of the sainthood cause for the Benedictine Sister whose visions of the Virgin Mary in the 1950s and ’70s are the source of devotion at the shrine of Ngome in Eshowe diocese.

The cause for Sr Reinolda May, who died in 1981, will join two other current sainthood causes: those of the martyr Bl Benedict Daswa and of Abbot Franz Pfanner, founder of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries and the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood.

Bl Daswa was beatified in 2015, the first South African to reach the final stage before canonisation as a saint.

For Bl Daswa’s canonisation, one Vaticanapproved miracle is necessary. For Sr Reinolda’s cause, a large amount of documentation and other bureaucratic processes are the first step.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference at its August meeting in Mariannhill heard a presentation, led by Bishop Xolelo Thaddaeus Kumalo of Eshowe, on the proposed cause for the German-born nun before approving it.

“With this approval the diocese of Eshowe will now request Pope Francis and the Vatican to examine the life of Sr Reinolda in the hope of declaring her a saint,” said SACBC spokesman Archbishop William Slattery in a statement.

“Sr Reinolda worked for 38 years as a midwife and tutor of generations of nurses. All who knew her spoke of her gentleness and her total dedication to women giving birth,” Archbishop Slattery said.

“One of the witnesses who it is hoped will give evidence is [Zulu] King Zwelithini whom Sister assisted into the world at his birth,” he said.

The German missionary was a very popular midwife at Benedictine Mission Hospital in Nongoma—many thousands of

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Bishops and officials of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference at their August plenary in Mariannhill at which they discussed economic transformation, elected a new leadership, and approved the sainthood cause for Sr Reinolda May of Ngome (more on pages 2 and 3). (Photo: SACBC)

Sr Reinolda May, whose sainthood cause was approved by the bishops of Southern Africa. Now Pope Francis must give the goahead for it to be formally launched. newborns went through her hands, from princes to the poorest.

Born as Franziska May on October 21, 1901, in Pfahlheim, near Stuttgart, she was professed as a Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing in 1925 and left for South Africa the same year. She made her final vows in 1928.

She worked for ten years in Mbongolwane in KwaZulu-Natal and at Inkamana Abbey, near Vryheid. Having obtained a diploma in midwifery in 1938, she opened the maternity section in the Benedictine Mission Hospital in Nongoma.

Nicknamed Mashiyane by the locals on account if her thick eyebrows, Sr Reinolda was fluent in isiZulu.

S

ister Reinolda reported ten apparitions of Our Lady between 1955 and 1971.

Eight of her apparitions took place in the 1950s; during one of them, Our Lady asked

for a shrine to be built at a place “where seven streams meet”. When Sr Reinolda identified Ngome—which was already sacred to Zulus—as that site, springs were found.

A small church was built there in 1966, with the reluctant permission of Bishop Aurelian Bilgeri.

First signs of devotion were evident already in 1966, but while the local bishop allowed a small church to be built there, he limited the devotion.

Almost 12 years after the last of the eight 1950s apparitions, the Virgin appeared for twice more, as Mary, the Tabernacle of the Most High, in 1970 and 1971.

The devotion grew after Sr Reinolda’s death at 79 on April 1, 1981.

In 1992, Bishop Mansuet Biyase, who had initially been reluctant, allowed the construction of a new church and encouraged pilgrimages to Ngome.

Ngome is becoming an increasingly popular Marian shrine with Catholics from throughout South Africa and neighbouring countries.

“Great numbers of people have found Ngome a place of peace, reconciliation with God and recovery of their faith,” Archbishop Slattery said.

Sr Reinolda “was renowned for her holiness, prayerfulness and total dedication as a nurse”, he said.

Many pilgrims who go to Ngome also include a visit to Sr Reinolda’s grave at Inkamana Abbey.

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HERE are four essential stages by which a cause for sainthood leads to canonisation, all including several smaller stages.

Step 1: The local bishop presides over an initial investigation of the candidate’s life to determine whether that person is worthy of further consideration. If the bishop and his conference decide to proceed with the cause, the Vatican is asked to grant a Nihil Obstat (Latin for “nothing hinders”). This is the stage of Sr Reinolda May’s cause. Once a Nihil Obstat is granted, the candidate is called a “Servant of God”.

Step 2: A Church official called “postulator” is appointed to coordinate the cause.

His or her job is to prove that the candidate lived heroic virtues by compiling documents and testimonies. These are presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. Approved candidates are given the title “Venerable”.

Step 3: To proceed to beatification, one miracle through the candidate’s intercession must be approved (except for martyrs, such as Bl Benedict Daswa).

Step 4: Canonisation requires a second miracle after beatification, though a pope may waive that requirement.

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Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, announced its high school leadership for 2018/19. (Back from left) Arianna d’Alessio, Monica Grispan, Kekeletso Masenya, Chloe Masters, and Tayla Barr. (Front from left) Georgia Hinckley, Sarah Kwan, Jacqui Hicks, and Reabetswe Marikela.

A group of Grade 6 students at St Teresa’s School in Rosebank, Johannesburg, spent a day sandpapering and painting the jungle gyms at the school’s outreach Tulumtwana Crèche in Orange Farm township.

Marist Brothers and aides working in the Reygersdal Atlantis community on the West Coast north of Cape Town attended a fundraiser at St John the Baptist parish in Atlantis. (From left) Tony Clark (Australia), Maria Bobillo (Spain), Nnodu Onwotalo (Nigeria) and Pietro Bettin (Italy).

The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

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9

How Paul VI got caught up in ‘Days of Rage’ Last week FR ANTHONy EGAN SJ examined how Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae became controversial after its release 50 years ago. Here he looks at the context in which the document was produced, and how that relates to the Church.

C

RITICS of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) have said that it was over-optimistic about human nature. There could be some truth in that, but the 1960s was an age of hope, even optimism.

Despite the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the Cold War between the Soviet and Western blocs began to thaw (admittedly temporarily) by the mid-1960s.

In the Soviet Union Stalinism was denounced and the global left was experimenting with new forms of socialism that stressed personal freedoms and freedom of speech (the “New Left”).

In the United States the young President John F Kennedy was speaking of a “new frontier” and progress—and African Americans were taking to the streets to demand their political and civil rights guaranteed by the US Constitution.

At the same time decolonisation and the end of European empires was taking place—mostly peacefully, sometimes (as in French Algeria and Indochina) by force.

New ideas, celebrating Negritude (“blackness”) and the possibility of a Third World that adhered neither to Washington nor Moscow, were making the rounds; not simply in new countries but also in the northern hemisphere.

Post-war French existentialism celebrated freedom and responsibility. Old ideas from the 19th century about women’s equality (feminism) were being further developed, and (in the early ‘60s beneath the surface until the end of the decade) ideas of gay rights were being mooted.

In every sphere the main (but never exclusive) agents of this ferment of change were young people—students and workers, academics and activists. Everything seemed possible. Everything seemed desirable.

Source of protests Only the Establishment seemed in the way. It was the Establish-

porters, had declared war on them.

The hope and enthusiasm turned to despair. To borrow from the title of a book by academic and ‘60s activist Todd Gitlin, the “Years of Hope” turned into “Days of Rage”.

Years of rage, in fact. Protests and state reaction became more aggressive, even violent. Some activists even gave up non-violent resistance, opting for urban guerrilla warfare in groups like the Red Army Fraction (aka Baader Meinhof Group) in Germany, the Weather Underground and Symbionese Liberation Army in the US, and the United Red Army in Japan.

Other activists withdrew in disillusionment into alternative lifestyles, embracing the “hippie” movement that had already emerged and was living in “back to the land” communes.

Pope Paul VI greets children as he visits the church of St Leo the Great in Rome on March 31, 1968, less than four months before he released his controversial encyclical Humanae Vitae. (Photo: Giancarlo Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo/CNS)

The fall-out

ment that slowed things down. It (a past that looked beyond the last was the Establishment—the hundred years to the long tradiUnited States government—that tion of Catholicism) and change, was prolonging the war in Viet- the Council can even arguably be nam, which became a kind of uni- seen as an expression of the ‘60s versal symbol of everything that desire for the new without denywas wrong: the West, led by the ing the good things of the past.

US, was propping up yet another Some young activists, even seccorrupt dictatorship (South Viet- ular ones, found themselves quotnam); the “old” were drafting the ing (or sometimes plagiarising) the young to defend their economic words of John XXIII in maniand ideological interests. And a festoes. significant section of the young Everything started to unravel in was not having it any more.

1968.

As a result the 1960s In that year where were a decade of protest, protest reached its apex, a demand for a new The outcome the reaction became world. Marches, rallies, of the Synod most forceful. Hundreds “sit-ins” and “teach-ins” of student protesters were the norm, from on Youth will were killed in Mexico New York, Washington City by security forces determine weeks before the and Berkeley to Prague, Paris and London, from Games. how a new Olympic Cape Town to Bangkok, Riot police fought Mexico City to Tokyo. open battles with stugeneration dents Spurred on by dein Paris. colonisation and the suc- will see itself The “Prague Spring”, cesses of the civil rights an attempt by reformists movement by the mid- in the Church to create socialism with a 1960s, there was a mood human face in Czechoof hope for those who slovakia, ended with Sosaw change as both inevitable and viet tanks seizing control of necessary.

Prague.

Many young Catholics shared In what later was called a “poin this hope for renewal, both in lice riot”, Chicago police attacked society and the Church. Some protesters outside the Democratic were in it as individuals from the National Convention. start; others embraced it as an exEarlier that year Robert pression of the call of Vatican II for Kennedy, Democratic presidential the Church to be involved posi- candidate and opponent of the tively in public life, promoting all Vietnam War, had been assassithat advanced human dignity and nated in San Francisco by a mad freedom. gunman. And civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, who had Vatican II and the ‘60s also joined the resistance to VietIf we look at Vatican II, one way nam, was murdered by a white suof interpreting it was that it premacist. echoed, embraced and balanced It seemed to many activists these aspirations. By at once em- that, directly and indirectly, the phasising continuity with the past forces of the status quo or its sup-

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What has this to do with the Church and Humanae Vitae?

Whatever the inherent theological and ethical merits and limitations of both the Commission Report (which I discussed last week) and Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI’s encyclical can be seen as part of the 1968 reaction, the crackdown on the promise of change so deeply desired by many during the 1960s.

While many ordinary Catholics felt hurt by the seeming pastoral insensitivity of the encyclical, theologians felt that it betrayed the very principles of collegiality and dialogue Vatican II had established.

For Catholics in the social movements, it felt that the Church—which many felt was to a

large degree with them in their struggle for a better, more just world—had betrayed them, joined the riot police and the old men in government.

The effect of Vatican II, as I noted, paralleled the crackdowns of 1968. Hostility to the Church, anger, bitterness and a sense of betrayal felt by many, led to the reactions experienced across the world: defiance, defections and a culture of dissent from which the Church has never recovered.

Even the “crackdown” on open dissent from the late 1970s onwards, under the pontificates of one of the architects of Humanae Vitae and a Tübingen theology professor in West-Germany—Fr Joseph Ratzinger—whose experiences of student protest shifted him away from his earlier embrace of change in the Church at Vatican II, has not stemmed this. All in all, the Church is the weaker for it.

Though Humanae Vitae will almost certainly not be discussed at the Youth Synod in Rome later this year, many of the underlying issues behind it—personal responsibility vs following authority, scientific credibility of Church teachings, the balance between dogmas and experience—underpin the questions the Synod faces.

The outcome of the Synod will determine how a new generation—which around the world through new movements like “Occupy” show signs of stirring once again—will see itself in the Church. n Fr Anthony Egan SJ is a member of the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg.

This article was first published on Spotlight.Africa

young women and a man talk in London’s Carnaby Street in the 1960s.

Pope Paul VI wrote his encyclical Humanae Vitae in a context of the nascent sexual revolution and protests throughout the West against the establishment. So for some, the encyclical seemed to be an establishment crackdown on protests and changing attitudes. (Photo: National Archives UK)

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The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

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Author: Why I reopened old wounds A memoir by a Catholic author about growing up under apartheid has been a surprise bestseller in South Africa this year. GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER interviewed Beryl CrosherSegers.

categories for both kindle and print for several weeks.

Media interest both in South Africa and Australia have also contributed to the success of the book.

In Australia it has been of particular interest to around the centenary celebration of Nelson Mandela. It’s been four months since my book’s release and I am eagerly awaiting the US publisher’s first report.

One of the moving passages in HAT was supposed to be a the book is where you explain family memoir about how, after emigrating to Ausgrowing up in a coloured tralia, you felt that the flag of township under apartheid has be- your new home was one you could stand behind, in ways that come a bestseller in South Africa.

Beryl Crosher-Segers, a Catholic you obviously couldn’t behind from Cape Town who now lives in the apartheid-era flag.

Sydney, Australia, published her I embraced the new flag from the book A Darker Shade of Pale in April, moment I saw it. Anything other which The Southern Cross has re- than the apartheid flag would have viewed. Since then she has been satisfied me. widely interviewed by Australian What does the current South and South African media.

African flag mean to you?

A Darker Shade of Pale charts her It was a moving moment, during experience of growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s in Steenberg, a Cape the Rugby World Cup in 1995 to see Town township which served as a a stadium filled with South Africans dumping ground for coloured peo- of all races, united, draped in the ple who had been forcibly removed new flag.

I felt a tinge of sadness from areas that had at missing out on that mobeen declared white. but more so that my ‘at the rich ment father missed out. He inYour book has received parish we stilled in us an early disdain a lot of possible attenfor the flag and the antion in South Africa. were seen and them.

Did you expect it to do have travelled around made to feel theI world, so well? and spotting a When I wrote A Darker South African flag or hearlike the Shade of Pale the idea ing the anthem is always was to record our family labourers, special. South Africa will alhistory. ways be a part of me.

We have four genera- yet we were Revisiting painful memotions in Australia; the all children ries while you were writmatriarch of our family, ing the book must have my mother Sarah, is 87. of God’ opened many old Our children and grandwounds. Did you experichildren are mostly Ausence anger or bitterness as tralian-born or arrived here as you relived these memories? young children. They remember Many times during the writing very little about South Africa. My process I had to walk away and plan was to give them this resource leave it for a few days. Some of the to explain why we left South Africa. memories were painful, particularly During the writing process I those where I was vilified for being shared snippets on social media and coloured. soon gained expat followers from I felt an immense sadness for my around the world. Most could iden- older sister who missed out on the tify with my stories or wanted to career of her choice because of the know more. I realised then that our colour of her skin. In 1969, her story is also the story of so many heart was set on being a radiograother families who bore the brunt pher. Later, she was struck down of apartheid South Africa; the early with cancer and ironically during years when legislation was intro- the last few years of her life, she reduced and strictly policed. sponded positively to radium treatI knew then that my book would ment which kept her alive for be well received because many another 15 years. could identify with my stories.

For many of us, those missed opHowever, the level of interest did portunities live inside of us and sursurprise me. face at different times during our How is it doing in other markets? lives.

My first indication of the success of How does forgiveness work in my book was via online store Ama- your circumstances, as somebody zon. A Darker Shade of Pale has been who left their home because of listed as a bestseller in a number of apartheid but wasn’t here in 1994

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were predominantly of Italian background. We’ve seen this change over the years to a multicultural parish. We are one of three South African families in our parish.

We found it difficult in the beginning when as new parishioners we did not feel that sense of belonging. Having come from a community where everyone knew us, and then to find ourselves lost in a large parish, was tough.

Through our children attending Catholic schools and participating in youth and other activities we started feeling part of the community.

How has your faith influenced your life?

As a practising Catholic I live my life being part of a community.

These days I live my life attending Mass and sharing in Communion with other Catholics.

I love being at Mass with other people and sharing in that powerful moment when we all share in the Body and Blood of Christ. No matBeryl Crosher-Segers and the cover of her book A ter where in the world I travel, the Darker Shade of Pale. (Photo: Michelin Segers) Mass is where we all gather.

I am guided by the Gospels and the way it has taught me to be to bury the racist system? actively involved in the Young open, tolerant and accepting of othThat is one of the issues I feel Christian Workers movement and ers. My faith keeps me going strongly about. We watched and these multiracial events brought us through difficult times and I am read from afar as the Truth & Rec- together, albeit for a couple of hours. grateful that I have the Church and But this did little to bring young community to draw on during onciliation Commission dealt with people together as friends because those times. some of the pain of the past.

I am not convinced that true rec- of the strict Group Areas Act legislaThrough the hardship in South onciliation is possible in our life- tion.

Africa, prayers formed an important One incident that I recall during part of life and for me it still does. time unless there is open dialogue and genuine acknowledgement that my time at St Anne’s [in Steenberg] Sydney has a large contingent of apartheid was evil and supported by was when the Constantia parish, the South African diaspora. You the majority of white South which ran an annual fair, invited regularly stage events for which our parish to participate in the Africans. you bring over entertainers from I certainly don’t live with the event to raise much needed funds.

South Africa. How did that start?

The task of erecting the fence past in my daily life. However, I am During a major event in Sydney in was given to our parish.

I viewed conscious of the wealth that white 2002, I was given the task of assistSouth Africans were able to acquire the disparity between those parish- ing a choir from Gugulethu in Cape ioners and us as so huge, with no under the brutal reign of the Naway of ever bridging that gap. The Town to come and perform in the tional Party. This astonishing dislikelihood of friendships or any in- Sydney Opera House. I failed to parity in wealth among South vitations to attend Holy Mass at the raise the necessary funds and deAfricans is still evident today in and parish was not forthcoming. We cided then to work on bringing preoutside of South Africa. were seen and made to feel like the viously disadvantaged entertainers In Australia and no doubt else- labourers, yet we were all children from Cape Town to Australia. where in the world, there are South of God. For the next 16 years I toured varAfrican expats who believe that There was some light at the end ious artists in Australia and New hardship only started in 1994. of the tunnel when Sasha, our Zealand. Because it was financially I can never forget the extent of daughter, was able to attend St risky I stuck to artists who would be the abuse of our human rights and Anne’s school in Southfield in the a sure to attract an audience. I sehow it changed the course of our early 1980s, before we left lected familiar names and lives. entertainers who could for Australia. While some bring us some of the You were a very active Catholic in parents removed their chil‘i hope that music from yesteryear.

Cape Town and have remained dren to protest against this This has proved to be somewhere highly one in Sydney. In South Africa, decision, the majority were successful but it did you experience apartheid in accepting and it was hearta young girl limited my capacity to ening to see the bonds bethe Church? expand because of the While I was conscious of segrega- tween the children. who looks like risky financial outlay. tion in the church communities, I How does the experience knew that the Church played an ac- of being a Catholic in me will fulfil Do SA expats in Sydney stick together, or is tive role in the dismantling of South Africa differ from being a Catholic in Aus- her dream to there a racial divide? apartheid. is much larger In my book I detail some of the tralia? write much Sydney than Cape Town. The ways some priests in the 1970s tried The Church in South metropolitan stretches to use the church to bridge the gap, Africa, particularly at the sooner than an hour’s drive from the which may seem futile now. I was parish of St Anne’s in i did’ city centre. Some areas Steenberg, had a vibrancy have a higher populaabout it—something that I tion of South Africans, missed when I came to dependent on wealth.

Australia.

There is still a clear divide as to In St Anne’s parish there was so much hardship and need in the which South Africans can afford to community, and the majority of the live in affluent areas of Sydney.

The racial divide is difficult to Let us arrange your spiritual parishioners were actively involved journey as a community to in activities. I taught catechism at St close. Our reasons for leaving South the holy Land, Lourdes, Rome, Anne’s and St Mary’s [in Retreat], Africa are different and there is still a Fatima, Medjugorje etc but due to work commitments dur- lot of pain. We left to get away from apartheid and those who voted for it. ing the week, I was unable to do so.

I hold more respect for those who Contact Gail at [In Sydney] I felt lost in the first left South Africa because of apartheid couple of years and searched for when life was good for them.

076 352 3809 or ways that I could get involved in info@fowlertours.co.za Your debut book has been very parish activities. www.fowlertours.co.za Here we have Catholic schools in well received. What’s next? each suburb and that alleviates the I am finally living my dream—50 need for weekend catechism years later. There is no stopping me classes.The difference here is that now from producing more books.

In my next book I explore the catechism is taught during school settling in process and how my past hours and catechists go to public schools during those hours. Here impacted my future and how I overconfirmation is held at the end of came that.

I hope that somewhere in Cape primary school years.

Tweet us twitter.com/ScrossZA Here the schools take over the re- Town, a young girl who looks like me who has a dream to write will sponsibilities that we parishioners fulfil it much sooner than I did. I offered the children at St Anne’s. instagram.com/southerncrossmedia hope she overcomes her fears and And what is your parish like? picks up her pen to write. facebook.com/thescross We are part of a large parish with n See The Southern Cross’ review of seating for approximately 1 000 A Darker Shade Of Pale at www. parishioners. When we first arrived scross.co.za/2018/04/darker-shadeabout 30 years ago, the parishioners of-pale/

Would you like to have a parish pilgrimage?

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CLASSIFIEDS

Deacon Peter Venter

D

EACON Peter Venter of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Durban North, died peacefully, aged 79.

Born in 1939 in Glencoe, KwaZulu-Natal, Deacon Venter was the eldest of two sons born to Alf and Hilda Venter. Alf was a fireman by profession.

Educated at King’s School, Nottingham Road, the boys moved with their father and stepmother to Durban after Alf and Hilda divorced, and Alf remarried.

Peter completed his schooling at Mansfield Boys’ High School. The family took up residence in the suburb of Red Hill, Durban North.

It was there that Peter, aged 18 and working as an apprentice on the railways, met the “love of his life”, Lucy Coward, who was then just 14! They courted for five years, and in 1964 were married.

By then, Peter had followed in his dad’s footsteps and become a fireman.

Lucy was a good Catholic girl, and Peter was then a member of the Dutch Reformed

Church.

However, in 1966, he joined the Catholic faith; he and Lucy brought five beautiful children into the world, two daughters and three sons; and the family became staunch members and supporters of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Durban North.

Peter changed career path twice more in the ensuing years, becoming an air-conditioning mechanic, and then an engineering-equipment salesman.

Around 1996, he began talk-

ing about the possibility of his becoming a deacon, so as to serve the Lord in the Church more fully.

Encouraged by the parish priest, he applied to the Diaconate Board studied hard for the next five years, and was ordained by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier in 2002.

Peter served as a permanent deacon in the parish where he had entered the faith, for 13 years, until laid low by a severe stroke in 2015.

Those 13 years of service saw him involved in every possible way, and the parish was quite devastated when he was no longer physically able to take part or be present.

His warmth and generosity endeared him to all. He particularly loved social events, was a great dancer, and loved music, from rock ’n roll to Tchaikovsky.

He also served on the Diaconate Board of the archdiocese of Durban for several years.

Deacon Venter is survived by his wife, Lucy, his two daughters, three sons, three daughtersin-law, and four grandchildren.

Sr Bernadette Dorfs OP

O

AKFORD Dominican Sister Bernadette Dorfs died on August 4, just six days before her 80th birthday.

Born Johanna Maria Dorfs on August 10, 1938 in the diocese of Essen, western Germany, she was the eldest of seven children.

As a young child her life was disrupted by WW2, which forced the family to evacuate their home and her father to leave home to join the army.

After ten years of schooling in Glandorf and Essen, she worked as a florist when she met the Dominican Sisters.

She received the habit in Neustadt and received the name Sr Ruthilde, later changed to Sr Bernadette.

Part of her novitiate was spent at Oakford, KwaZuluNatal. She made her first profession on July 16, 1960, and final profession in 1963.

After training as a nurse she worked at Osindisweni Hospital for 16 years. She was later transferred to the clinic at Bendell and then worked as an assistant in the Boputhatswana Department of Education. Subsequently she lived in Magaliesburg, caring for the health of the local people, teaching religious education at Boys Town, and serving as local superior. Her final years of nursing were in KwaNdebele.

In 2002 she trained in clinical pastoral education at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, returned to Johannesburg and served as chaplain at the general hospital, while living at Villa Maria with the junior professed Sisters. When the house in Chatsworth was opened in 2005 she moved there with the junior professed Sisters and served as chaplain to the RK Khan Chatsmed Hospital and as local superior.

After a move to the Bluff, she worked at St Dominic’s House of Prayer and served on the committee for vocation promotion and initial formation.

In 2012 she was transferred to Johannesburg as part of the support staff at her order’s generalate.

In her many years as a Dominican Sister, Sr Bernadette took the opportunity to study

for a diploma in theology, trained in nursing, midwifery and community health. She used all her training experience to serve God’s people in her loving, gentle way and served the congregation in leadership roles as prioress and on the regional council.

In the many and various communities where Sr Bernadette lived and worked, she brought a deep, gentle spir-

itual influence. She was a good listener and brought out confidence in those who confided in her. She was a perfectionist and recognised God’s beauty in people, obviously influenced by her training, her work as a florist and by her deep love for Jesus.

The nurse and the chaplain in her urged her to seek out those who needed care of body and soul and this was made clear in the way she ministered to the housebound and those in the hospitals.

She was very close to her siblings and kept up communication with them, regardless of where she found herself living.

She accepted life as it unfolded and regarded all that happened as a manifestation of God’s genuine love for her.

When she heard how serious her health condition was, she considered it the perfect opportunity to prepare herself to meet her God whom she had spent her life serving.

Liturgical Calendar Year B – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday August 26, 21st Sunday of the Year Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18, Psalm 34:2-3, 16-23, Ephesians 5:21-32, John 6:60-69 Monday August 27, St Monica 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12, Psalm 96:1-5, Matthew 23:13-22 Tuesday August 28, St Augustine 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-17, Psalm 96:10-13, Matthew 23:2326 Wednesday August 29, Passion of St John the Baptist

YOUR CLASSIFIEDS

IN MEMORIAM

HOUGHTON—William (Bill), husband of the late Agnes and dad of the late Mary, passed away on August 29, 1990. Lovingly remembered by his daughters, Margaret, Bridget, Barbara, sons-in-law, Walter, Derick, grandchildren, Stephen, Jeannine, Ryan, Lauren, Catherine, Elizabeth, Susan and great-grandchildren. May His Dear Soul, Rest in Peace.

HOUGHTON—Bill. Always fondly remembered by The Southern Cross team.

THOMAS—Jason. A prayer goes up to our Heavenly Father to be merciful to our son, brother, uncle who passed away on September 2, 2017.

Have mercy on his soul dear Lord, as he celebrated his first heavenly birthday on August 21, 2018. A humble and kind soul we will always remember. From Ruth, Pinky, John-Paul, Jessica, Mariah, Brian and Mikhail.

HOUSES FOR SALE

PENNINGTON KZN—Large 4 bedroom House & 2 Bedroom Cottage R1.500 000 neg! Beautiful Beach Town of Pennington KZN! This home needs love and joy restored to it and to become a Home of Prayer! Koi Pond &Lapa.

Huge Garden.Double Garage. Pool (TCL). 079 250 1617.

SOUTH COAST KZN—Pennington Golf Estate South Coast KZN R350 000. Land +-590 sqm. Build your dream home. Tranquil with Impala, wild life walking around Surrounded by 3 beaches and lots of outdoor activities.083 253 8984

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

CAPE TOWN—Looking for reasonable priced accommodation over the December/ January holiday period?

Come to Kolbe House, set in

1 Corinthians 1:17-25, Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11, Matthew 25:1-13 Saturday September 1 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Psalm 33:12-13, 18-21, Matthew 25:1430 Sunday September 2, 22nd Sunday of the Year Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8, Psalm 15:2-5, James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

beautiful, spacious gardens in Rondebosch, nestled just under Devil’s Peak. Selfcatering, clean and peaceful with spacious gardens.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.comPARISH NO-

TICES

JOHANNESBURG: St Anthony’s church in Coronationville is calling for donations of tinned fish, peanut butter, jam, butter and juice for their soup kitchen.

Contact Faried and Nadine Benn on 073 906 6037 or 083 658 2573.

CAPE TOWN: Retreat day/quiet prayer last Saturday of each month except December, at Springfield Convent in Wynberg, Cape Town. Hosted by CLC, 10.0015.30. 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.

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town.

Followed by vigil at abortion clinic. Contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP on 078 739 2988.

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

month. Sunday Mass at 9:00.

Phone 031309 3496 or 031 209 2536.

St Anthony’s rosary group.

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

NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to 16:45, followed

by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30.

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING:The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelifeabortionisevil.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.

COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST—Fellyn Collins. I offer individual therapy to children, adolescents and adults; as well as couples therapy. My therapy rooms are located in Northcliff, Randburg; Northmead, Benoni; Lambton, Germiston. Please contact me should you require further details: 076 110 9164

THANKSGIVING

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 had recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly begged you to come to my assistance. you helped me in my need and granted my petition. In return I promised to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. Very sincere and grateful thanks to St Jude and Our Blessed Lady for prayers answered. Maureen

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The Southern Cross, August 22 to August 28, 2018

Neighbourhood Old Age Homes

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

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

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

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the

22nd Sunday: September 2 Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8, Psalm 15:2-5, James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27, Mark 7:18, 15-15, 21-23

O

NE of the tricky questions in the matter of religion is how you handle what you might call the “rules and regulations”.

The difficulty lies in the fact that “the rules” are an accumulation of society’s wisdom that enables us to negotiate the tricky demands of life; but on the other hand, no set of “rules” ever covers every possible situation.

So are we to obey the biblical precepts or not? This tension is something that surfaces in the readings for next Sunday.

In the first reading, Israel is at last on the point of entering the Promised Land, after the 40 years of wandering in the desert. The question before them is how they are to handle this new situation.

As we listen, God is giving them (“Now, hear O Israel”) “statutes and decrees, which I am commanding you to do”. It seems that if they observe them “the nations will say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people, for what great nation like this has its gods so near to it as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call upon him?’ What great nation has decrees and statutes as just as all this Law that I am giving you today?”

The point here is that you reject God’s word at your peril; but that may leave open

S outher n C ross

Tricky to apply the Law the question—and it is a very contemporary question, of course—of whether the law is to be applied rigidly or with intelligence.

For the poet who wrote the psalm for next Sunday, a song sung as they entered the Temple, this is apparently not a problem, for the people who are allowed into the sanctuary are those who “walk in perfection, and do what is right and speak with integrity in their heart”.

We applaud, of course, while recognising that this may not solve all our problems about how and when to apply the law, excellent though it doubtless is as a basic guide. So we do not “slander a neighbour with our tongue, do not do evil to a neighbour”.

On the other hand, we “honour those who fear the Lord”; we do not “lend money at interest” (not something we worry too much about now, it seems) or “take a bribe against the innocent”; and the poet concludes that “those who act like this shall never be shaken”; and we applaud the general exhortation to integrity.

In the second reading, we are starting a month’s worth of reading that eminently Jewish work, the Letter of James.

Here the attitude to Law is detectably less rigid, reminding us of the centrality and om-

nipresence of God: “Every good gift and every perfect donation is coming down from the Father of lights,” and we are encouraged to “give a welcome to the word planted in you which can rescue your souls/lives”.

Then we hear the important exhortation to be “poets of the word and not just hearers”. We are given some examples of what that might look like: “looking after widows and orphans in their tribulation”, those, in other words, who find themselves at the bottom of the heap, “is what it means to keep yourself unstained by the world”.

That is to say, that you need to think a bit about what it means, in this case or that, to obey the Law. In the Gospel for next Sunday, Jesus’ opponents—“the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem”—are quite clear that “rules are rules”, and are complaining about the anarchic tendencies of Jesus’ disciples.

The disciples are failing to wash before meals; and the context makes it quite clear that it is not so much a matter of their turning up to table with dirty hands as failing to obey the ritual commands. “Why do your disciples not behave as the elders have handed down?”

The power of praising T

that “giving praise comes out of the roots of our existence.” What does he mean by that?

In complimenting and praising others, we are tapping into what’s deepest inside us, namely, the image and likeness of God. When we praise someone else then, like God creating, we are breathing life into a person, breathing spirit into them. People need to be praised. We don’t live on bread alone, and we don’t live on oxygen alone either.

The image and likeness of God inside us is not an icon but an energy, the energy that’s most real inside us. Beyond our ego, wounds, pride, sin and the pettiness of our hearts and minds on any given day, what’s most real within us is a magnanimity and graciousness which, like God, looks at the world and wants to say: “It is good! It is very good!”

When we’re at our best, our truest, speaking and acting out of our maturity, we can admire. Indeed, our willingness to praise others is a sign of maturity, and vice versa. We become more mature by being generous in our praise.

B

ut praise is not something we give out easily. Mostly we are so blocked by the disappointments and frustrations within our lives that we give in to cynicism and jealousy and operate out of these rather than out of our virtues.

We rationalise this, of course, in different ways, either by claiming that what we’re

Conrad

HOMAS Aquinas once suggested that it’s a sin to not give a compliment to someone when it’s deserved because by withholding our praise we’re depriving that person of the food that he or she needs to live on.

He’s right. Perhaps it’s not a sin to withhold a compliment but it’s a sad impoverishment, both for the person deserving the compliment and for the one withholding it.

We don’t live on bread alone. Jesus told us that. Our soul too needs to be fed and its food is affirmation, recognition, and blessing. Every one of us needs to be healthily affirmed when we do something well so as to have resources within us with which to affirm others. We can’t give what we haven’t got! That’s self-evident.

And so, for us to love and affirm others, we must first be loved, first be blessed, and first be praised. Praise, recognition and blessing build up the soul.

But complimenting others isn’t just important for the person receiving the compliment, it’s equally important for the person giving it. In praising someone we give him or her some needed food for their soul; but, in doing this, we also feed our own soul.

There’s a truth about philanthropy that holds true too for the soul: We need to give to others not just because they need it but because we cannot be healthy unless we are giving ourselves away. Healthy admiration is a philanthropy of the soul.

Moreover, admiring and praising others is a religious act. Benoit Standaert submits

They stain windows, it’s called art. But when i stain windows, they call me a vandal!

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

This is an important question, because a society that has forgotten its traditions is liable to collapse. But not every single tradition retains its validity for all time, and that is why Jesus uses such surprisingly strong language: “play-actors!” he calls them (which goes into Greek as “hypocrites”!).

The key thing, you see, is not being able to say, “I have kept all the rules”, like a selfsatisfied adolescent, but listening to what God is saying—and that is that “what makes a person unclean is not what comes into that person from outside, but what comes out of the person”.

Then he gives some examples: “Evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, theft or murder, adultery, coveting what belongs to others, wickedness, trickery, licentiousness, the evil eye, blasphemy, arrogance, moral folly—all these things come from within and make a person unclean.”

So we are to take God’s commands with the utmost seriousness, but never to turn our “rules and regulations” into idols that are not God.

Southern Crossword #825

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

supposed to admire is juvenile (and we’re too bright and sophisticated to be impressed) or that the admirable act was done for someone’s self-aggrandisement and we’re not going to feed another person’s ego.

However, more often than not, our real reason for withholding praise is the fact that we ourselves have been insufficiently praised and, because of that, harbour jealousies and lack the strength to praise others.

I say this sympathetically: all of us are wounded.

Then, too, in some of us there’s a hesitation to praise others because we believe that praise might spoil the person and inflate his or her ego. “Spare the rod and spoil the child!” If we offer praise it will go to that person’s head.

Again, more often than not, that’s a rationalisation. Legitimate praise never spoils a person. Praise that’s honest and proper works more at humbling its recipient than spoiling him or her. We can’t be loved too much, only loved wrongly.

But, you might ask, what about children who end up self-centred because they’re only praised and never disciplined? Real love and real maturity distinguish between praising those areas of another’s life that are praiseworthy and challenging those areas of another’s life that need correction.

Praise should never be undeserved flattery, but challenge and correction are only effective if the recipient first knows that he or she is loved and properly recognised.

Genuine praise is never wrong. It simply acknowledges the truth that’s there. That’s a moral imperative. Love requires it. Refusing to admire when someone or something merits praise is, as Thomas Aquinas submits, a negligence, a fault, a selfishness, a pettiness, and a lack of maturity.

Conversely, paying a compliment when one is due is a virtue and a sign of maturity.

Generosity is as much about giving praise as about giving money. We may not be stingy in our praise. The 14th century Flemish mystic John of Ruusbroec taught that “those who do not give praise here on earth shall be mute for all eternity.”

ACROSS

1. Be advised it’s a bit of the rosary (4) 3. Personal follower of Christ (8) 9. Live in religious dress?

(7) 10. Without people in afternoon eastwards (2,3) 11. I raise Simon’s conversion to those spreading the Gospel (12) 13. Nag one during time of youth (6) 15. Like the Church embracing the earth (6) 17. Like an honest person getting a loan (6-6) 20. Instrument that could be upright (5) 21. The New World (7) 22. Acts about the monarch are mounting up (8) 23. Depressed by the colour? (4)

DOWN

1. At the point of overflowing (8) 2. Mount of the Greek monks (5) 4. Camping with determination (6) 5. Does the airport chaplain ring chapel bells from here? (7,5) 6. A saying from a book of the Bible (7) 7. Utilise, it’s said, the sheep (4) 8. What you’d call a shortened Bible (8,4) 12. One who shares toys or the stage drama (8) 14. Final beatitude for the Buddhist (7) 16. Strenuous effort from right saint (6) 18. Test for Jesus (5) 19. Work that could be magnum size (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

n old billionaire was approaching death, and prayed to God that he could take his wealth with him. Eventually God agrees, so the billionaire changed all his wealth into gold bricks and packed them in a suitcase.

Soon the rich man died and arrived in heaven with his suitcase. St Peter met him at the gate and asked: “What’s in the suitcase?”

“Take a look,” the man replied.

St Peter opened the suitcase, looked inside, and in astonishment asked: “You brought a pavement?”

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