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S outher n C ross

October 10 to October 16, 2018

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no 5104

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Cardinal hails new Hurley book

r10 (incl Vat rSa)

How Pope John Paul II was elected

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Month of the Rosary

Starting Next Week:

Countdown of world’s TOP 40 Marian shrines

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Pope: Let’s not waste youths’ time Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba of Umzimkulu, who heads the youth ministry of the Southern african Catholic Bishops’ Conference, is seen in St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican during the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment which will run until October 28.

Priest built house for poor family

By Sr PhatSimO ramOkgweBana SC

A

PRIEST built a house and then handed it over to a single mother of ten children.

Fr Foster Olator is stationed at Lwapa la Lerato parish in Jwaneng, in the diocese of Gaborone, Botswana. Seeing a need, the missionary priest from Ghana built the house in Betesankwe village, about 20km from Jwaneng.

The key handover ceremony of the house was held in the presence of government dignitaries, priests, religious and the congregation at large.

The story goes back to Fr Lator’s predecessor, Fr William Horlu.

“At one point in 2013 Fr Horlu expressed his concern that every time while doing shopping in town he met some boys who always looked very hungry and unkept,” said Ango Ramsden, the Safe Space Project coordinator at Lapa la Lerato parish. The priest tasked the project to look into their situation.

“We established a mutual relationship of trust with the boys. Although it was not a keen experience, we eventually invited them to our church where they would receive clothing, food and bathing necessities,” Ms Ramsden recalled.

As the relationship developed, the Catholic group became interested to know where exactly these boys resided. They located the children, living with their mother, Ketshwaraemang Nato, in a small makeshift

Fr Foster Olator hands over the keys of the house which he built for an indigent family. shack of plastic in the heart of the bush just along the fence outside Jwaneng town.

From there on, the church decided to improve the welfare of the family. Not long after, Fr Horlu was recalled to his native Ghana to serve as his diocese’s vicar-general.

He was replaced by Fr Olator.

Upon his arrival, the new priest was introduced to the family of Ms Nato. Soon he revealed to the Safe Space Project his dream of building a house for the family.

But obstacles soon appeared. It turned out that none of the family possessed any formal documentation such as birth certificates or national identity which were necessary for the family to be allocated land. The children Continued on page 3

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DULTS should “overcome the temptation to underestimate the abilities of young people and should not judge them negatively”, Pope Francis has told the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican.

“I once read that the first mention of this fact dates back to 3000 BC and was discovered on a clay pot in ancient Babylon, where it is written that young people are immoral and incapable of saving their people’s culture,” the pope noted.

Young people, too, must “overcome the temptation to ignore adults and to consider the elderly ‘archaic, outdated and boring’, forgetting that it is foolish always to start from scratch as if life began only with each of them”.

The synod is meeting this month until October 28 to discuss how the Church can better respond to the needs of young people, and how to foster vocations among them.

It is attended by 267 bishops and priests as voting members of the synod, eight fraternal delegates from other Christian churches and another 72 young adults, members of religious orders and lay men and women observers and experts.

Listening to the Spirit, listening to God in prayer and listening to the hopes and dreams of young people are part of the Church’s mission, Pope Francis told the synod.

He thanked the thousands of young people who had responded to a Vatican questionnaire, participated in a pre-synod meeting in March or spoke to their bishops about their concerns.

With the gift of their time and energy, he said, they “wagered that it is worth the effort to feel part of the Church or to enter into dialogue with her”, the pope said.

They showed that, at least on some level, they believe the Church can be a mother, teacher, home and family to them, he said.

And they are asserting that “despite human weaknesses and difficulties”, they believe the Church is “capable of radiating and conveying Christ’s timeless message” the pope said.

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“Our responsibility here at the synod is not to undermine them, but rather to show that they are right to wager: It truly is worth the effort, it is not a waste of time!”

Pope Francis urged synod fathers not to be crushed by “prophets of doom”, but to be the signs of hope and joy for which today’s young people yearn.

The goal of the synod, Pope Francis said, is not to prepare a document—synod documents, he joked, generally are “only read by a few and criticised by many”—but to identify “concrete pastoral proposals” that will help all Catholics reach out to, walk with and support the faith of young people.

In other words, the goal is “to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands and inspire in young people—all young people, with no one excluded—a vision of the future filled with the joy of the Gospel”, Pope Francis said.

The synod got off to a controversial start when Italian police broke up a peaceful protest against a decision to give male religious voting rights at the synod, but not religious Sisters.

The group of about 20 protesters, who were in Rome for a Catholic Women Speak conference, were warmly greeted by two Irish bishops before police arrived to break up the protest, roughly manhandling one woman and demanding to see participants’ passports—all as cardinals were filing past the scene.

The police dealing with the protest were reinforced by the arrival of a police van with ten additional officers, wearing bulletproof vests.

Dr Nontando Hadebe, theology lecturer at St Augustine College, South Africa’s Catholic university, was part of the protest. She said she was “traumatised by the ‘show of power’ against unarmed peaceful, singing protest by women”.

2

the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

LOCAL

Cardinal lauds new Hurley letters book StaFF rePOrter

A

NEW book which collects 251 letters written by the late Archbishop Denis Hurley has been endorsed by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier.

A Life in Letters: Select Correspondence of Denis Hurley, to be launched in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Johannesburg and Cape Town over the next few weeks, was edited by Br Philippe Denis OP, Jane Argall and Paddy Kearney.

In a message for the October 8 launch in Virginia, Durban, Cardinal Napier said that “this collection will be a fount of information about and a source of understanding of what made Archbishop Denis the outstanding person he was�.

The cardinal said the book might contribute to the cause for the canonisation of his predecessor as archbishop of Durban. “It will have lightened the burden which invariably falls on the shoulders of the his-

torical commission which has the responsibility of examining all significant documents written by or to the candidate for canonisation.�

Cardinal Napier described Archbishop Hurley as “a master in the English language� whose moral theology insights still find application to current social and political questions. “For those who have had the privilege of working with, or simply being associated with, Archbishop Denis, it will be no surprise to discover how much of his character, his intellectual capacity, his deeper inner self, is revealed in his writings,� the cardinal said.

The book was partly sponsored by the Catholic Georgetown University near Washington DC, which in 1987 awarded Archbishop Hurley an honorary “doctorate in humane letters�.

John J DeGioia, president of Georgetown University in Washington DC, described A Life in Letters as “an extraordinary resource for en-

young adults who successfully completed the international Computer Driving Licence certificate celebrate. training for the certificate is offered at three Catholic missions in Limpopo and kwaZulu-natal.

gaging with the legacy of Denis Hurley‌This collection offers important insights into his ideas, impact, and lifelong commitment to the belief that Catholic values can enrich and deepen our political discourse.�

The book’s publication was also supported by Dr Vincent Maphai, who knew Archbishop Hurley well from his days as a staff member of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Further book launches will be in Durban on November 9 at 17:30 at St Joseph’s parish in Morningside; in Johannesburg on November 21 at 19:00 at Immaculate Conception parish in Rosebank; and in Cape Town on November 27 at 18:00 at Springfield Convent School, Wynberg; Pietermaritzburg on November 15 at 17:30 (venue to be confirmed).

The launch price will be R200 per copy. The normal sale price of the books will be R250.

the three editors of A Life in Letters: Selected Correspondence of Denis Hurley are seen with guy Savy’s portrait of archbishop hurley, which appears on the cover of the book. (From left) Jane argall, Br Philippe Denis OP, and Paddy kearney. (Photo: Justin waldman)

Missions offer rural youth IT training

T

HREE Catholic missions in Limpopo and KwaZuluNatal are the sites for successful computer schools for disadvantaged rural youth, established by the Netherlands’ HomePlan Foundation.

Students study for six months to sit exams for the International Computer Driving Licence, a skills certificate that is globally recognised, and so far 267 young people have graduated.

The computer schools are at St Scholastica in Mulima, Limpopo; uMusa woMsinga of the Augustinian Sisters in Pomeroy, KZN; and Duduza Care Centre at the Maria Ratschitz mission in Wasbank, KZN. Local management has worked hand in hand with Ricus Dullaert, public affairs director of the HomePlan Foundation.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s Aids Office in Pretoria has provided administrative support.

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The first computer school to open was Pomeroy in 2015, and one year later the schools in Mulima and Wasbank.

Since then, the three schools have enrolled 382 students. Each school is equipped with 12-24 computers and has two teachers to help the students master the seven modules of the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL).

Teachers also help students with their English if it is found to be insufficient to understand the syllabus and to write the exam.

The next challenge for graduates is finding a job. Many students opt for internships at companies, including IT and construction firms, as most employers ask not only for a certificate but also for work experience.

So far, 48 students have found work either in the formal or informal sector, 21 are doing internships, and 11 have received

bursaries to further their studies.

The results of a study to evaluate the impact of the three computer schools, done by Emilinah Namaganda, were shared with managers and teachers of the schools.

Ms Namaganda, employed by the Shared Value Foundation of Utrecht in the Netherlands, found that: • 85% of the enrolled students are female. • Students’ self-esteem is greatly boosted by the training. • The chances of finding a job, or furthering a career or studies, are greatly enhanced by getting the ICDL certificate. • Spending time at the computer school is a great alternative to crime; early pregnancies, in some instances to obtain a grant; and substance abuse. • Finding work remains a challenge, and internships are the route most likely to result in long-term employment.

Catholic tertiary student heads called on to be ‘servant-leaders’

C

ATHOLIC student leaders need to be “servant-leaders, as Jesus taught his disciples�, said Fr Peter Chungu, chaplain to the Association of Catholic Tertiary Students in the Eastern Cape.

The region includes Nelson Mandela University, the University of Fort Hare (East London and Alice), Rhodes University and Walter Sisulu University.

These branches came together for a meeting to hand over to the new provincial executive committee.

They aim to promote ACTS across the province to increase members, especially active ones, and to work hand in hand with the diocese to achieve this.

Branches are encouraged to interact with youth groups in parishes around their campuses.

This, the association said, will not only help ACTS grow but also assure Catholic Grade 12 learners that they will have a “home away from home� when they get to university.

At the handover meeting, Fr Chungu urged ACTS to provide leadership rooted in Christ. “Catholic students, you need to embark on a paradigm that transcends the barriers and ‘acceptable culture of violence’ when presenting your issues or demands,� he said.

Branches of the association of Catholic tertiary Students in the eastern Cape gathered to hand over to the new provincial executive committee. “The virtues of leadership require each of you, as office bearers, to be accountable, to emulate the model of a servant-leader which Jesus taught his disciples on Holy Thursday, and to constantly seek his grace to guide you,� Fr Chungu said.

Outgoing provincial chair Lerato Mohlokoana said serving her term had been “an honour and privilege�. “Let us always respond to the signs of the time in a manner that will bring us closer to the love and grace of God. Let us be firm and proud of our Catholic

faith, in the way we speak and behave,� Ms Mohlokoana said.

Her successor, Salome Dube, said: “In everything we do, let us always have an ACTS mirror to look at ourselves in, to evaluate where we are.�

Ms Dube and the new provincial treasurer, Nomfundo Sabela, aim to work for sponsorships and donations to help members unable to attend provincial events.

The new provincial executive is Ms Dube (chair), Hazel Singende (secretary), Ms Sabela (treasurer) and Lerato Lehema (media officer).

LOCAL

the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

3

Legalising prostitution a tough issue

By ChriSten tOrreS

W

ITH renewed moves to decriminalise prostitution and the African National Congress at last year’s national conference pledging support for that, the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) has warned that there are no easy policy solutions.

The Catholic Church condemns prostitution from a moral perspective. “Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure,” the Catechism says.

The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants notes that “the Church has a pastoral responsibility to promote the human dignity of persons exploited through prostitution, and to advocate for their liberation and economic, educational and formative support. The Church must take up the defence of the legitimate rights of women.”

In a paper titled “Prostitution and Sex Work: Is it Work or is it a Choice?”, CPLO researcher Lois Law notes that prostitution is “a consequence of a broad range of socioeconomic and psycho-social power relationships” within society.

The call to legalise prostitution follows a recent South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) report on adult prostitution. After the reform report was released, parliament’s Multi-Party Women’s Caucus held hearings earlier this year and advocated for the legalisation of prostitution.

“Underpinning laws that legalise prostitution is the belief that, since the phenomenon is inevitable, the mainstreaming thereof is pragmatic and will provide for its regulation,” Ms Law said.

“However, this approach arguably gives the practice a veneer of respectability and creates the impression that transactional sex takes place between equals. It obscures the reality that in the business of

prostitution, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, and rape cannot be avoided.”

Noting that the debate on the legalisation of prostitution is highly polarised, Ms Law noted three main stances: complete decriminalisation, partial criminalisation, or retaining current legislation that criminalises prostitution.

Complete decriminalisation, adopted by Germany and New Zealand, would mean the sex industry would be regulated as work. Sex workers would have to pay taxes and be able to form trade unions.

However, Ms Law noted that in Germany, a side-effect has been criminal acts such as forced prostitution and human trafficking becoming harder to identify and prosecute.

“Concerns have been expressed regarding the prevalence of underage prostitutes found to be working in the industry. Similarly to the South African experience, there is disquiet considering the incidence

of domestic rural to urban trafficking in young girls…The intersection between human trafficking and prostitution is difficult to avoid,” Ms Law said.

Partial criminalisation—a policy which Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Canada, France and others have adopted—advocates the criminalisation of purchasing sex but not of selling of sex.

Pimps and clients are targeted and held accountable.

However, this policy normalises the continued objectification of women, Ms Law observed.

Continued criminalisation of prostitution “would mean that both parties to the transaction, as well as any pimp or brothel-owner involved, are guilty of a crime,” she said.

“There would be diversion processes in place to assist those wishing to exit the industry. This is the preferred option of the SALRC. However, the strict implementation of such an approach would be

costly and unlikely to achieve the eradication of the practice of prostitution,” she said.

“Furthermore, there is a contradiction between the enforcement of the law on the one hand, and prosecuting offences committed against prostitutes, including rape, assault and theft, on the other. This model perpetuates the status quo.”

Ms Law raised a major concern that legalising prostitution would imply transactional sex is a practice which equals engage in.

At the same time, the current policy of total criminalisation has failed to regulate prostitution. Ms Law also questioned whether total decriminalisation would actually provide the protection women need.

Although the debate affects those in sex work the most, Ms Law said prostitution “says a great deal more about the socio-economic injustice of our society than it does about the women engaged in the trade”.

Late family ministry activist inspired Christian witness

F

AMILY ministry activist Buyisile Patronella Nkosi died on September 25 after a long illness.

Buyi Nkosi, with her husband Jabu, worked tirelessly for the Catholic Church Family Ministry, both nationally and in the diocese of Witbank.

Mrs Nkosi was one of the representatives of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference during the Synod on Family in Rome in 2015.

“During this time Mrs Buyi was already not well, but she had the courage to represent the local Church during the synod,” said SACBC secretarygeneral Sr Hermenegild Makoro at a memorial Mass at the conference’s Pretoria headquarters, Khanya House.

Mrs Nkosi and her husband

were very generous with their time in serving the Church, Sr Makoro said. She applauded Mrs Nkosi for her firm faith: “During the last moments of her life she stood by her faith and requested a priest for anointing. She died still being connected with Christ.”

Sr Makoro said Mrs Nkosi had touched her own faith: “She has challenged me to see

Bicentenary to be shown on TV

A

TV programme on September 21 will reflect on this year’s bicentennial of the Catholic Church in South Africa.

The programme, part of the weekly Hosanna show, will include footage of the Bicentennial Mass at Cape Town’s Belville Velodrome in June and music by the Holy Trinity Catholic Youth Choir in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Personalities appearing in the programme include Nqobile Ngcobo of Catholic Alpha; Ursula Collings, principal of Holy Family College in Durban; and Raymond Perrier, director of the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban.

It will be broadcast on SABC 2 on Sunday, October 21 at 10:00.

Priest built house for poor family Continued from page 1 were naturally born and raised in the bush.

Fr Olator and Ms Ramsden tried to obtain a birth certificate and ID for Ms Nato but encountered problems since the family had no relatives who could witness for them.

Consequently, Fr Olator liaised with the government as a representative for the family. Eventually the Land Board offered to give the family a plot. Now he could kickstart his building plan.

At the handover ceremony, Fr Olator noted that the name Ketshwaraemang means “who will come to my aid”.

“I extend my gratitude to Almighty God for having sent me to Botswana to be an instrument of his mercy in helping alleviate this family’s struggle,” the priest said.

the importance of remaining connected to Christ always.”

Bishop Joe Sandri of Witbank, in a letter, said: “We are very grateful for all Mrs Nkosi did with such generosity and dedication, for her family, the Church and the community at large. She has been a shining example of a wife, mother and Christian values.”

Mrs Nkosi was a parishioner at Witbank’s cathedral of Christ the King parish, under the care of Fr Molewe Simon Machingoane, who worked with her in the family ministry.

She is survived by her husband, children and grandchildren.

Mrs Nkosi’s Requiem Mass was celebrated on September 29 at Christ the King cathedral.

St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, celebrated its 90th anniversary with a jubilee mass, the pinnacle of a series of events held over the previous weeks.

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the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

INTERNATIONAL

Women must fight against clericalism ‘with holy rage’

By CarOL gLatZ

I Pope John Paul ii is in bed at gemelli hospital in rome after being shot in 1981 by turkish gunman mehmet ali agca. the famous picture was taken by arturo mari ((inset)), St John Paul’s chief photographer. (Photo: arturo mari, L’Osservatore romano/CnS)

Papal photographer’s life behind the lens By mark PattiSOn

W

HILE Arturo Mari might have started his professional photography career in the Vatican taking pictures of Pope Pius XII when he was just 16 years old, Mr Mari’s work commanded the world’s attention when he accompanied history’s most travel-minded pope, St John Paul II, on more than 100 pastoral visits outside Italy.

Mr Mari was first drawn to the Polish pontiff during the Second Vatican Council and a young Bishop Karol Wojtyla was making interventions from the floor during the council’s deliberations.

“He was very delicate,” Mr Mari said during the conference “Ronald Reagan & Pope John Paul II: The Partnership That Changed the World”, “but he was very firm.”

He might not have had another close encounter with the Slavic prelate until October 6, 1978, when Mr Mari was assigned to take photographs of the new pope elected by the College of Cardinals. “The doors of the Sistine Chapel opened, I was on the other side of them, and there he was, dressed in white,” he recalled.

“He treated me like a son, and I considered him my father.”

The days were long during St John Paul’s 26-year pontificate. “I had to be at work at 6:20 in the morning, because the first event every day was morning Mass at seven. And then there were the audiences,” Mr Mari said. His typical day would not end until 22:30pm or so.

“When people like Ronald Reagan came, I would work until 23:30 or midnight, or three in the morning, in one swoop,” Mr Mari said.

The photographer remained impressed with “the humility of John Paul II, his charity, his piety”, as he snapped countless photos of him engaged in prayer, in conversation or in service either inside the Vatican or throughout the world.

Mr Mari, who retired in 2007 at age 67 after serving for 51 years as a Vatican photographer, recounted story after story of the pope’s encounters on his travels. With each story, Mr Mari marvelled at the mercy and humility of his boss, who was the subject of his photos.

But he may have been moved most by St John Paul’s suffering in his last days, as Parkinson’s disease ravaged his body. Yet it was, Mr Mari said, “a suffering he shared with the world”.—CNS

N response to current scandals, clericalism and the need for reform, Catholic women must take the initiative and make their voices be heard, according to a series of articles in a Vatican magazine.

The October edition of Women Church World, published in conjunction with the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, dedicated its monthly issue to “Women Confronting the Crisis of the Church”.

“We wanted to give voice to a critical reflection from the point of view of women,” Lucetta Scaraffia, the magazine’s director, wrote in the opening editorial.

The first article, titled “Holy Rage”, was a Q&A with Sr Veronique Margron, a moral theologian who works with abuse victims, is president of the Conference of Religious in France, and is provincial superior of the Dominican Sisters of Charity of the Presentation.

She said one major factor behind the “omerta” or culture of silence in the Church lies in the image the Church often has of itself as being a family, which, when it comes to incidences of sexual abuse, “has disastrous consequences”.

The image of a family is meant to describe the beauty of reciprocal care and love for each member, she said. However, just like when abuse is experienced in a family, that abuse is rarely talked about and finds support in sayings that warn against “airing your dirty linen in public”.

Just being angry or upset about abuse is not enough, she said.

“Courage is a virtue” and is needed to get people to do something about what they hear and know.

“A holy rage is needed,” she said, as well as a clear awareness that “the difficulties that we will have to face if we speak out are nothing compared to what the victim has suffered”.

Sr Margron spoke about the problem of abuse of power and con-

women at mass. Deeply entrenched and outdated traditions often keep women out of the decision-making process in the Church.

(Photo: tyler Orsburn/CnS) science, which affects men and women equally.

A kind of “incestuous environment” can affect a religious community, she said; it distorts and abuses the vow of obedience as one person puts another under his or her control.

“When you enter religious life, you are trusting and your guard is down, something which is entirely normal,” she said. For these men and women who have given their lives completely to God, any act of abuse “gives rise to a tragic sense of shame”, so deep that it becomes impossible to talk about it.

Christian life is built on faith, trust and promises, which is why suspicion is “poison for a community. The challenge is to establish procedures and checks, exactly for safeguarding the quality and decency” of relationships.

I

n an article titled “Feminism and Clericalism”, Ms Scaraffia, a historian, wrote that women have to be given more leadership roles if their voices are ever to be heard or have any authority.

“It is true that women, even the most obedient, do not truly feel part

of the Church, but at most they feel like obedient daughters,” she wrote.

If they did feel they were a welcome part, then they would fight no matter what their role “with all the weapons they possess, which are not trivial things”, for the Church to follow Christ’s teachings.

But, she said, clericalism is also when the people of God sit at closed doors waiting to be called in.

“This is the clericalism Catholic females must heal because the condition of women in the Church will change only if women have the courage to begin to change things from below, with denunciations if necessary, with questions that are never asked.”

So often the absence of women in leadership or decision-making is not because of dogma or canon law, she said, but just deeply entrenched and outdated traditions.

Anne-Marie Pelletier, a French biblical scholar who won the Ratzinger Prize for her contributions to theology, advocated in her article for a Church guided by the “two voices” of all men and women.

Ms Pelletier wrote that getting the entire people of God dedicated to living a life of conversion and holiness is the “exact antidote to the venom of clericalism that lies behind the criminal abuses of power”.

While recognising there are women who are “ready to adopt clerical behaviours”, all too often it is women who see and experience the abuse of power in the Church, in which the hierarchy is predominately male, she wrote.

Religious or laywomen, Ms Pelletier wrote, “know all too well the haughty, condescending, disdainful gaze turned their way” and they daily experience an obedience imposed by men who jealously hold for themselves “the prestige of knowledge and authority”.

The Church needs two voices, male and female, if it is to “rediscover a truly evangelical intelligence of power as service” and for change to really happen, she wrote.—CNS

Pope defrocks abuser Karadima

By JUnnO arOChO eSteVeS

P

OPE Francis has expelled from the priesthood a Chilean who gained notoriety for sexually abusing young men in his parish.

In a statement, the Vatican said that Fernando Karadima was dismissed from the clerical state by the pope, who “made this exceptional decision in conscience and for the good of the Church”.

Citing canon law, the Vatican said the pope “exercised his 'supreme, full, immediate, and

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universal ordinary power in the Church’ aware of his service to the people of God as successor of St Peter”.

Pope Francis signed the decree and Karadima was informed of the decision the next day.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said it is a sign of the pope's “hard line against abuses”.

“We were in front of a very serious case of rot that needed to be yanked by its root,” Mr Burke said. “This is an exceptional measure, without a doubt, but the serious crimes of

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COORDINATOR

Karadima have done exceptional damage in Chile.”

Known as an influential and charismatic priest, then-Fr Karadima founded a Catholic Action group in a wealthy Santiago parish and drew hundreds of young men to the priesthood. Four of Karadima's protegés went on to become bishops, including retired Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno.

However, several former seminarians revealed in 2010 that the Chilean priest sexually abused them and other members of the parish community for years. —CNS

The CIE is a dynamic, creative NGO serving Catholic schools in South Africa.

The position of National Religious Education Co-ordinator has become vacant and we are looking for an innovative, passionate Religious Educator to fill the position. The CIE invites applications for this post to start as soon as possible.

The successful applicant must have: • A teaching qualification and registration with SACE • A qualification in Theology, Scripture or Religious Education • Experience of teaching RE in a South African Catholic school • An understanding of the place of Religious Education in Catholic schools In addition the candidate must be able to travel extensively across South Africa, have a driver’s licence and excellent writing skills. This is a Johannesburg based position.

Applications, together with a CV and contactable referees, to be sent to portia@cie.org.za by 30 October 2018.

INTERNATIONAL

the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

5

Vatican’s social media call: networks, not division

By CinDy wOODen

C Palestinian Catholic Diana Babish pets a dog being held by younis Jubran outside ms Babish’s animal shelter in Beit Sahour, west Bank. (Photo: Debbie hill/CnS)

Palestinian, like St Francis, cares for abused animals

By JUDith SUDiLOVSky

G

OD gives everyone a mission, Diana George Babish said as she fielded a phone call about a dog which had been shot in Hebron. The mission God gave her is to take care of the abused and abandoned animals in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, she said.

“God is pushing me to do this work. I believe it is something sacred,” said Ms Babish, who uses an image of St Francis surrounded by animals for her online profile.

Ms Babish, a Catholic, admitted that it is not an easy mission in a place where, traditionally, society gives little importance to treating animals with compassion and routinely considers government-approved shooting and poisoning of stray animals as the best solution to population control.

“It is very difficult for me with the culture here; it is a very closed mentality,” she said. “They continue to poison and shoot dogs because they don't consider their lives to be of value.”

A few years ago, she travelled to Assisi, Italy, and she said she continues to draw strength for her work from the pilgrimage.

Last year Ms Babish quit her day job as a bank manager to dedicate herself full time to running the first

animal shelter in the West Bank, the Animal and Environment Association–Bethlehem Palestine.

In addition to money she received in donations, Ms Babish used her own money to build the shelter.

Currently it is run solely on donations and other forms of assistance.

She has rescued more than 400 dogs and more than 100 cats from the streets of West Bank cities. Recently she sent 15 dogs for adoption to Canada.

Ms Babish has many critics within Palestinian society, including members of her own family, who complain that she is working with Israelis and spending her efforts on animals rather than people. Some charge her with profiting from the donations she receives, she said.

Still, Ms Babish brushes off the insults and accusations thrown at her.

“If we had vets here in Palestine who had the proper equipment and treatments to care for the animals, I would leave them here. We in the rescue community put aside politics for the wellbeing of the animals. I tell my critics God gives each one of us our mission, and there are a lot of organisations taking care of people.

My mission is to take care of the animals, the most vulnerable beings in the world”, Ms Babish said.—CNS

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HRISTIANS must do more to make sure the media, especially social networks, are places of dialogue and respect for others, rather than instruments for highlighting differences and increasing divisions, said the prefect of the Vatican communications office.

“The risk in our time is that of forming tribes instead of communities—tribes based on the exclusion of the other,” said Paolo Ruffini, the new prefect of the Dicastery for Communication.

The Vatican released the theme Pope Francis chose for World Communication Day 2019: “We are members one of another: From network community to human communities”.

The theme is a call for “reflection on the current state and nature of relationships on the internet, starting from the idea of community as a network between people in their

By JUnnO arOChO eSteVeS

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ARING for the sick, especially those near death, cannot be reduced simply to giving them medicine, but must include providing healing and comfort that gives their lives value and meaning, Pope Francis said.

“Serene and participatory human accompaniment” of terminally ill patients is crucial at a time when there is a “nearly universal” push for legalising euthanasia, the pope said.

“Especially in those difficult circumstances, if the person feels loved, respected and accepted, the negative shadow of euthanasia disappears or is made almost nonexistent because the value of his or her being is measured by the ability of giving and receiving love and not by his or her productivity,” he told participants at a five-day con-

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Christians must do more to make sure the media, especially social networks, are places of dialogue and respect for others rather than polarisation, the Vatican has said.

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wholeness,” the Vatican said. “The metaphor of the web as a community of solidarity implies the construction of an ‘us’ based on listening to the other, on dialogue and consequently on the responsible use of language.”

The Vatican and many dioceses mark World Communication Day on the Sunday before Pentecost; in 2019 that will be June 2. Pope Francis usually issues a message on the theme, which the Vatican publishes on January 24, the feast of St Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists.

Social media can nourish “true, beautiful, solid relationships”, Mr Ruffini said, but it also can “feed hatred and a friend or enemy mechanism. When this happens, there is no real relationship”.

Pope Francis, he said, wants people to use social media as a network, not a web, “not something that traps you, but something that frees you and that you make an instrument of freedom”.—CNS

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ference on ethical health care at the Vatican.

The conference was sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Health Consensus Foundation, an Argentina-based organisation comprised of local and international health care providers, according to the conference website.

The meeting, it said, focused on helping health care managers develop a “concept of bioethics in decision-making”.

In his address, the pope told participants that although doctors and health care providers may agree that miracles aren’t feasible when it comes to health care, the true miracle is “finding a brother in the sick, in the abandoned person in front of us”.

“We are called to recognise in those who are on the receiving end

the immense value of their dignity as a human being, as a child of God,” he said. “It isn’t something that can, on its own, undo all the knots that objectively exist in systems, but it will create in us the disposition to untie them in the measure of our possibilities and, additionally, make way for a change of mentality within us and society.”

The primary inspiration for people working in the field of health care, the pope added, should be the “search for the common good” which isn’t an abstract ideal but “a concrete person, with a face, whosuffers many times”.

“We must continue to fight to keep this link of profound humanity intact,” the pope said, “because no health care institution can replace the human heart or human compassion.”—CNS

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the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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

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

This violence is not who we are!

The future of sex work W Editor: Günther Simmermacher

W

HEN Jesus ministered to and even socialised with prostitutes, he gave his followers a mandate to aid these most widely reviled women in society.

The popular image of sex workers as women of loose morals engaging freely in sinful behaviour very rarely corresponds with reality.

Most women (and some men) in the sex trade enter that life not out of free choice, but through circumstances. There is little allure in a life of prostitution.

Though some high-earning prostitutes might contend that their prosperity beats the alternatives, the inherent sinfulness of prostitution damages all involved in it.

While we must regard transactional sex—even if it is between two consenting adults (often it isn’t)—as sinful, we may not disown those who offer it.

For some women, transactional sex is the only way of feeding their family. For them, selling sex for survival, whether practised casually or professionally, trumps morality and even the risk of violence or contracting diseases.

Some impoverished families sell their daughters’ bodies in acts of desperation to secure money, goods, services, remission of debts or favours. Thus despoiled, the marriage opportunities for such misused girls diminish. Some continue a life of transactional sex.

Likewise, many prostitutes emerge from a childhood of sexual abuse. While not everybody who suffered such abuse becomes a prostitute, for some the degradation of their sexuality has compromised the scruples which might otherwise have deterred them from entering a life of sex work.

Others sell their bodies to escape a ruinous homelife or to feed an addiction, often falling into the clutches of pimps or organised crime syndicates who exploit and often debase them.

Crime syndicates are behind the most distressing form of prostitution, that which involves human trafficking. Women are lured under false pretexts to strange cities or countries where they are then systematically brutalised and forced to submit their bodies in inhumane conditions.

While some sex workers claim agency in their choice, behind most stories reside chronicles of anguish and desperation, and a future without much hope. Such women need our compassion, not contempt. The Christian re-

sponse is to find ways of helping and empowering them, not to condemn and marginalise them.

Skills-training programmes for women wishing to escape sex work are therefore commendable.

Ideally these also include ancillary but necessary services, such as counselling and, where required, drug rehabilitation.

But even if implemented widely and nationally, as it should be, such programmes would reach only a small proportion of sex workers, and then only those who are in a position to extricate themselves from prostitution.

Those who are trapped in prostitution—be it by controlling pimps, crime syndicates, their families, or a lack of alternative survival options—must not be discarded by government or society. The Church has a part to play in this, as do many NGOs. Parliament will likely revisit the possible revision of legislation governing the sex trade. In that pursuit, the government and parliamentarians are likely to place a priority on practical measures, not moral considerations, to provide for greater protection of vulnerable women and children engaged in sex work.

The government has not yet declared a position, but it will likely support partial or full decriminalisation of prostitution.

The experiences of countries that have innovated laws on transactional sex—with mixed results, as a research paper by the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office notes—will be helpful in guiding the discussion. But South Africa is not Sweden, Germany or the Netherlands: a local solution must address our realities.

What such legislation would entail must be a subject of widereaching dialogue. While the Catholic Church condemns transactional sex as immoral and degrading, the regulation of the sex industry through some measures of decriminalisation might address other evils, including the exploitation and violation of women. In its contribution to the debate, the Church will have to balance moral and practical concerns.

The CPLO’s Lois Law brings it to a point in her research paper: “We must be forever mindful that everyone has the right to dignity and respect.”

Like Jesus, we must make explicit our concern for women who sell their bodies, and remove their condition from the shadows of marginalisation.

HILE I was reading an article

by Ricardo da Silva SJ on Jesuit Institute Connect, titled “A Pain That We Must Hold”, my mind took me to the recent survey concerning the escalating level of violence in our country.

Paraphrasing Fr Da Silva, I could not but ask: “How can we live serenely and productively if 57 people are killed daily? How do we continue as a nation? Where is the hope for our country? I wonder why I remain a South African.”

The phenomenal level of violence that we witness daily cannot be wished away or explained simply: xenophobic attacks, bullying in schools, stabbing of teachers, domestic violence, violent demonstrations, burning of public facilities, mob violence, rape, burglary, robbery with violence, and so on.

In the same way that Pope Francis is taking bold steps and paying a heavy price to tackle the issue of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, we as a nation must also be

ready to take this long, arduous walk to address the root causes of violence in our society.

It is easy to immediately point out the old wounds of apartheid and racism, unemployment, immigrants, and drug abuse as the main causes of this violence.

Yet a closer look at the whole social fabric, starting from the way we bring up our children, may reveal to us some pertinent contributing factors to this escalating violence.

I believe that as a nation, we were not created for violence. This is not who we are! It is a path that we chose and elected to foment and the fruits are now evident all over.

If we chose to follow this path of violence and bequeathed it to our children, we can still choose to follow another path insofar as our freedom and will is not stymied.

This path will of necessity involve redefining ourselves as a nation before this scourge annihilates us.

This alternative choice requires bold steps at sanitising the whole

Our faith is not We must fight based on mystery the good fight

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FEEL I need to reply to Lynn Peterson’s letter (August 1) regarding my letter about devotion to Mary (July 18).

In her letter she says our faith is based on mystery and belief. The act of consecration requires belief and the Trinity is a profound mystery.

I don’t believe our faith was ever meant to be based on mystery, but on the clear and well-documented teachings of Jesus in the Bible.

The only incident related in the Bible that is a mystery takes place at the Last Supper, when Jesus institutes the Eucharist.

As regards the Trinity being a profound mystery, I do not agree: nowhere in the Bible does Jesus portray this as a mystery. He in fact does the exact opposite: he speaks on numerous occasions of the Father in heaven. He speaks about the Holy Spirit as a gift from his Father, and the Holy Spirit is reported appearing on several occasions in the Bible.

So there is a Trinity, but not a mysterious Trinity. Three distinct people make up the Trinity: God the Father; his Son Jesus; and the Holy Spirit, a gift from God to mankind.

Because the Church declares the Trinity a mystery, three persons in one God, we wrongly believe that Mary is the Mother of God, when in fact she is the Mother of Jesus.

As I stated in my letter, this makes Mary a special and Blessed woman, who should have a place of honour and love in our lives.

Peter Hoar, Waterfall, KZN

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TRULY do believe there is a very loving God who surrounds us and created all of us and the universe. We live in a wonderful and beautiful world, which literally has everything we could ever wish for, and we have been given complete freedom.

In addition, the fact we have such incredible love available to all of us, is enough to convince even the most simple-minded of the existence of a powerful loving presence.

So how is it we can claim to be Christians, but pay so little attention to the basic rules of Christianity, and why does Christianity play such a minor role in our lives?

It may seem a foolish comparison, but when it comes to sport, the rules are strictly obeyed. Yet, regarding the rules of Christianity, given to us as not as suggestions, but as Commandments by our Creator, we pick and chose what suits us.

At present we live in a turbulent world that is ever-changing, and people are subject to various stresses, possibly more so than ever before, and need guidance.

The Church is under dreadful pressure at present due to Satan and some of his followers, but we must not despair, and instead fight back, and drive evil out.

We have some wonderful priests within our Church and they deserve to be defended. As St Paul said, “We must fight the good fight,” so let’s drive the devil back.

Roy Glover, Knysna

Death penalty: whose rights?

P

OPE Francis has changed the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the subject of the death penalty, saying it can never be sanctioned because it “attacks” the inherent dignity of all humans.

The above statement is so confused. What of the common good, the inherent human dignity of the community, as opposed to the murderers’ inherent human dignity, those who kill innocents?

There can be no doubt that prison is a toxic, depressing, violent environment for wardens and prisoners.

How does this fit in with the inherent human dignity of prisoners?

Do we see those who follow the liberal ideology of individual rights volunteer to care for these incarcerated murderers, or should that be left to people whom some liberals call the dregs of society, who risk their lives to provide for their families?

What about the inherent human dignity of the unborn child who has committed no crime, yet is allowed by the state to be eliminated, as a “right of women”.

Would our Lord Jesus be guilty of

social fabric, beginning with the family, which, according to the teachings of the Church, is the first domestic Church that inculcates human values in our children in their malleable years.

As Nelson Mandela used to say, “No child is born racist”; it is taught by elders, and it grows in this way.

In the same vein, no one is born violent; we learn from the environment since we are products of nature and nurture.

We can unlearn violence we are associated with and show the world that we are different. We may need to be motivated by Martin Luther King, who rightly declared: “I believe that what self-centred men have torn down, other-centred can build up. I still believe that one day [South Africans] will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.”

This is because God did not create us for violence. This is not who we are!

Fr Robert Kinena Ndungu MCCJ, Pietermaritzburg Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

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

disregarding the inherent human dignity of unrepentant murderers, when banishing them to hell?

It appears that the inherent dignity of Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, and Mao, pathological killers, is of higher value than that of the community.

Many countries have abolished the death sentence, to the detriment of their people; however, the option should always be there, in extreme cases. That option has never contradicted Church teaching.

Malcolm Bagley, Cape Town

Let’s laud South Africans here

T

HERE is undoubtedly high praise for Beryl Crosher-Segers’ book A Darker Shade of Pale; indeed, also from South African writers whom I respect tremendously, such as Jonathan Jansen.

I first read about the book when I read the Southern Cross interview with Ms Crosher-Segers (August 22).

I think she used her talent to write this memoir in good faith.

However, I always experience an uncomfortable niggle when stories are written and published by people who have left South Africa for greener pastures—people who left to escape apartheid. As previously disadvantaged family and friends, we share these stories all the time, laugh till the tears roll, and its effects are cathartic.

Ms Crosher-Segers left this country many years ago and her stories of nostalgia appeal to many, but it ends there. There were millions of us who remained, continued to fight and die for our liberation and, yes, the struggle continues.

Please let South African stories be told by those who stayed, struggled and fought for our freedom.

What stopped those such as Ms Crosher-Segers and others from returning to the country of their birth after 1994?

We need people who are committed to making this country great, by God’s infinite grace and mercy, even though our situation seems desperate right now. Not persons who are profiting by musings from the outside, eloquently recalling sentimentality from yesteryear.

I remain committed to this country of my birth. God is great and he will never abandon us. He placed us here in Africa for a purpose, so I pray daily for the grace to not abandon him.

Mary Dantu, Cape Town

PERSPECTIVES

I like a touch of Gothic O NE of my hobbies is to research the links between the scholastic frame of mind and architecture. It goes back to my varsity days when I had to study the history of architecture.

Many credit scholasticism for giving rise to the Gothic cathedral. There’s no doubt that the scholastics, of whom St Thomas Aquinas is the most illustrious example, were intellectual system-builders. This is because scholars seek not just to answer this or that question but also to construct entire edifices of thought.

St Augustine is at the root of the scholastic tree of thought. It is small wonder that his De Musica became the most influential aesthetic treatise of the Middle Ages.

St Augustine considered architecture and music to be the noblest of the arts, because, he claimed, their mathematical proportions were those of the universe itself.

He liked quoting Wisdom 11:20, about God ordering all things by measure, number and weight. To him musical and architectural creation were the closest a human creature could get to participating in God’s act of creation. Hence they’re also able to lift minds to the contemplation of the divine order.

The Augustinian idea of God pouring light into the minds of men proved a potent metaphor for architects in the Gothic tradition, in which physical light was meant to evoke thoughts of its divine source.

Medieval Gothic architects developed their desire and influence for geometric precision and numerical meaning from St Augustine.

You don’t have to be an architectural expert to notice that the windows of a Gothic cathedral, with the emphasis on light flooding these enormous and majestic buildings, are their most salient characteristic. This is based on Augustinian teaching about God flooding the darkness of the

world/soul with Light.

Augustine conceived acquisition of knowledge in similar terms of divine illumination, with God enlightening the mind with knowledge.

In our country you need to go to the Eastern Cape to find proper specimens of Gothic architecture, most of which are not associated with the Catholic Church, but with English and Dutch churches.

T

he best example is the Anglican cathedral of St Michael & St George in Grahamstown. It is difficult not to be taken in by the splendour of this building’s structure, which clearly derives from the great Gothic edifices and Catholic ideas, which are traceable to the Church Fathers.

It is such a pity that Gothicism, by the 19th century, had also become the currency of colonialism.

For one, in front of St George’s altar is a monument to Colonel John Graham (1778-1821), after whom the town was named. Graham’s presence made it impossible for me to kneel and pay homage to God for the splendour of his work through the hands of man.

Was Graham alive today, there would

the gothic anglican cathedral of grahamstown. (Photo: tim giddings/wikipedia)

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closer to one’s death? I believe, now that I’m older, that it is important always to celebrate the gift of life. That on that day on which you were born an incredible power came upon you that gave you life to breathe your first and will carry you until you breathe your last.

To be another year older means that another year has been given to us, to dream more and do more to achieve those dreams. For though our good looks and charms may fade, imagination never disappears.

We must hope that as we move with time and as we see the world more differently from the ripening of our age, that our imagination will expand. t is also important to reflect on the brevity of life. Doing so prevents us from idleness and from waiting until a certain age to make good, morally upright choices—or in other words, to grow up.

But what does it mean to grow up and when does it happen? In the Hispanic tradition, a young woman’s maturity is recognised with a Quiceañera (a grand feast

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have been a strong case to charge him with genocide for the manner in which his troops cleared the area of KhoiSan and Xhosa people to make room for white settlers.

Graham went beyond the demands conquest into the realms of psychopathic behaviour. As such I totally support the change of that town’s name. There’s a reason why God refused to have an altar built by the bloody hands of King David.

My only issue with the name change is the name of Makhanda, aka Nxele. I go into detail in my book, The Broken River Tent, why I don’t consider Makhanda a hero; in fact I hold him accountable for leading the Xhosa nation to suicide.

My preferred new name would have been iQhoyi, which is what the KhoiSan and Xhosa people used to call that area which the British later named the Albany district. iQhoyi also has the advantage of being a neutral, natural name which recalls the flute-like sound the river makes as it meanders through the rocky cliffs to the sea.

From the name iQhoyi came the name Kowie River (because the colonialists couldn’t click).

Another great building of magnificent Gothic architecture is the Dutch Reformed cathedral in the town centre of Graff Reinet. Though perhaps towering above St Georges Cathedral in splendour it loses marks for being too much of a replica of Salisbury cathedral, the first Gothic cathedral in England.

There are other pretty Gothic architecture buildings in Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Strand whose distinguishing features are Dutch white-washed walls as opposed to earth stone of English heritage.

Pop Culture Catholic

in her column, nthabiseng maphisa reflects on the vagaries of birthdays.

I

the Public Square

Nthabiseng Maphisa

A happy birthday?

I HAVE always wondered who the original composer of the “Happy Birthday” song was.

Year after year, many people around the world will have this song yelled and screeched at them. It is a loud and buzzing reminder of how we’re “getting older”.

It’s as though the world has taken upon itself the duty of informing us of the new responsibilities that come with growing up or growing old.

There was a time when I did not think much about birthday candles on a cake.

Though each candle signified a year of my life, I was more interested in the two layers of vanilla sponge coated in a rich butter icing on which the candles stood.

Age and the process of ageing is a strange thing. At nine years old I could not wait to be ten. Upon reaching one age, I could not wait to reach the next. It was like climbing a ladder that would never end.

On each birthday, something funny would occur internally. I would always imagine what I would have achieved by that age, and then realise that I hadn’t achieved it.

For example, I was hoping that by 16 I would have lost all my puppy fat and found a boyfriend, and that I would have graduated by 22.

There are certain behaviours that should be adopted or discarded at certain ages. But who is the governing authority on these matters? Who decides at what age one should stop watching cartoons or eating cartoon-based cereal or wearing cartoon-patterned pyjamas?

How should one feel on one’s birthday?

Should there be an overwhelming excitement at now being more of an adult than before or should there be agony at getting

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

celebrated on her 15th birthday). In the Jewish custom, boys are received into their community as adults upon their Bar mitzvah at 13.

I still wonder, shall there be a trio of trumpets blasting signalling the arrival of adulthood? Does somebody write a cheque for adulthood allowance? I suspect that I’ll be given an invoice.

It is frustrating how one must pay more for almost everything now that one is “all grown up”.

There are no more cheap fares at amusement parks for being under a certain height. Indeed I do miss perusing the specialised children’s menus at restaurants; it goes without saying that I would choose the meal with the most appealing toy.

Now it seems on everything we incur an adult penalty—the worst of these being taxes!

So on your birthday, whenever it shall be, I hope that you will eat cake after a group of those who love you have sung (or sung) “Happy Birthday” to you.

Think of how, on the day you were born, your parents, doctors and nurses fought to bring you safely into this world.

Consider how that little baby whose eyes did not open until the second day has now grown into a car-driving, tax-paying, maybe even retired, adult.

May you have many more to come that you may remember and celebrate the gift of life.

Oh, and “Happy Birthday” was written by the American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893.

1 Plein Street, Sidwell, Port Elizabeth

the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

Christopher Altieri

7

Point of Debate

If pope is innocent of Vigano’s claim, let him say so

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HE Southern Cross editorial of September 12 in favour of a Truth & Reconciliation Commission for repairing the abuse scandal and restoring justice to the Church in the wake of the terrible crisis engulfing the whole Body of Christ, deserves grateful praise.

Arising from the unique experience of the people of South Africa, the suggestion deserves the careful consideration of Christians in other jurisdictions, and is a tool that ought to be in the repertoire of every portion of the faithful, everywhere.

Alike praiseworthy is the courageous frankness of the editor in framing the problem.

While too many Church leaders–including Pope Francis—continue to insist that the crisis is one of “safeguarding”, the editor notes: “The Church has had 16 years, and longer, to respond proactively to the scandal. There have been commendable developments in instituting safeguards, but very little progress in dealing with the past.

“There was an urgent need for a clearing of the tables and accountability already 16 years ago. That urgency is amplified by a decade and a half of persistent inaction.”

If there had been any doubt, there can be none after the northern Summer of 2018: the crisis arises from corruption in the moral culture of Church leadership—corruption that serves further to entrench a sense of privilege and expectation of impunity.

Those, in turn, become the breastwork of a fortress mentality. Not only a mentality: There is a real fortress of silence, which Christ’s faithful—whatever their state of life in the Church— have a duty to break.

H

ere, we come to the one point on which I take issue with the September 12 editorial.

The editor writes: “There must be censure for those who abuse the scandal in their prosecution of an ideological agenda, as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and his collaborators did in their devious and discredited attempt to implicate Pope Francis in a cover-up.”

I have no desire to defend Archbishop Viganò. I have compared him—publicly and on the record—with the infamous American gangster-turned-federal-witness, Joe Valachi.

Valachi’s motives were hardly pure.

Only a fool could believe Viganò’s are unalloyed. Even if Viganò’s motives are utterly rotten, it simply is not true that his “testimony” has been discredited.

Despite the media’s emphasis on Viganò’s claim of “sanctions” against the disgraced former archbishop of Washington DC, Theodore McCarrick—measures which I have described as likely “a sort of ecclesiastical ‘double-secret probation’”—the supposed and much-contended disciplinary measures are neither discredited, nor are they the lynchpin of Viganò’s dossier.

The central contention of Archbishop Viganò’s spectacular J’Accuse! is that Viganò himself told Pope Francis—in person and to his face, on June 23, 2013—that McCarrick was a bad man, and that the personnel jacket in the pope’s possession would bear the accusation out.

There is one man with power to dispose of that allegation, and that man sits, silent, on Peter’s throne. Interrupted by the grumbling and oblique references that pepper his many extemporaneous remarks—especially of late at morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae—Pope Francis’ silence does not reassure the faithful of his commitment to their cause. If he can deny Viganò’s allegation, he ought to do so.

In any case, the thing for Archbishop Viganò is to try him in open ecclesiastical court: let him prove his accusations, or not, and let the world see.

Quite apart from Viganò’s “testimony”, however, there is credible evidence of massive corruption reaching all the way to the Apostolic Palace and all the way back to the reign of Pope St John Paul II, if not further.

In some regional hierarchies, the corruption may well be systemic. In the US, for example, McCarrick ordained hundreds of priests, many of whom have gone on to achieve positions of honour and trust—and McCarrick did not rise unaided. n Christopher Altieri is the co-founder and general manager of Vocaris Media, and contributing editor at the Catholic Herald.

8

the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

PAPACY

Pope Paul VI changed the Church As the pope who oversaw much of Vatican II and its aftermath, Paul VI had to steer between continuity and innovation, as Fr VaLentine iheanaChO mSP explains.

I

N many respects, the 1963-78 pontificate of Paul VI, who will be canonised on October 14, is depicted as one of change and transition.

The post-Vatican II Church under Paul VI was a Church of change and transition, marked by numerous and courageous experiments, accompanied by tensions and uncertainties.

Paul VI is equally described as the first modern pope, called to the throne of St Peter to shepherd a Church which was also called to be proactive at the service of the modern world.

The Church was called to shun isolationism. She was forced by events, circumstances and developments to shed the cloaks of a spectator and a victim in the face of many challenges of the 1960s and 1970s.

Not one among the 80 cardinals who entered the conclave on June 19, 1963, better understood those challenges than Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini of Milan.

The majority of the “progressive” cardinals recognised this fact quite early as Montini had demonstrated great openness and understanding during the first session of the Second Vatican Council (October to December 1962).

From the perspective of the “progressives” and the mindset of Montini, the major preoccupations for the Church at the time were not necessarily those of restoring the Catholic State in many European countries; nor the fight against communism nor even the fear of watering down Church doctrines.

They were primarily about how to weather the storms of challenges posed by changes and developments of the modern world. Those challenges demanded three major

The

things of the papal ministry of Paul VI: committed and continuous teaching; fair dialogue; and faithfulness to the teaching and directives of the Second Vatican Council.

They demanded as well that all three must be done in the spirit of simplicity without recourse to the spirits of triumphalism and arrogance of the past.

Between two extremes One of Paul VI’s great qualities was his ability to steer the middle course between two extremes in the immediate postconciliar years. To put it mildly, the Church under Paul VI was highly polarised.

In the course of the Council, Paul VI saw his role as that of the supreme moderator of the Council—and not its glorified secretary.

He was convinced that it was incumbent upon him to intervene whenever he judged it necessary and opportune.

Both during and after the Council, he was under severe stress to avoid any fracture within the Church that would lead to schism.

He was often misunderstood in his reconciling role as the successor of Peter who must confirm his brethren in faith, govern with leniency, and strive to preserve apostolic charity and unity among the contending parties.

Among other things, the hardliners led by the personnel of the Roman curia accused him of weakening pontifical powers and authority for not wielding the heavy stick on their perceived enemies among the “progressives”. And as far as the “progressives” were concerned, Paul VI did not go far enough in the implementation of the directives of Vatican II, especially in terms of episcopal collegiality.

Those various attitudes towards Paul VI found outlets and reached their peak in the traditionalist intransigence of Cardinal Marcel Lefebvre (later founder of the Society of St Pius X) and in the so-called Dutch Pastoral Council in the Netherlands (six sessions from 1966 to 1970). The extreme positions of both groups tried the patience of Pope Paul VI to its very limit and even at that the pontiff showed a lot of restraint.

Pope Paul Vi is depicted in a tapestry on the facade of St Peter’s basilica during his beatification mass in 2014. he will be canonised there on October 14. (Photo: Paul haring/CnS) Lefebvre, in his obduracy, contested everything about the Council, from religious liberty and independence of Africa to liturgical reforms. After every attempt at dialogue and persuasion had failed, Lefebvre was only in 1976 suspended a divinis (an ecclesiastical punishment that consists in the suspension of the divine offices).

On the progressive side, the excesses of the Dutch Pastoral Council alarmed not only traditionalists but even some moderates who nursed some sympathy for their ideas.

Due to the confusion caused by the Pastoral Council in blurring the spheres of ecclesiastical functions between ordained ministry and the common ministerial priesthood of all the faithful, many priests and religious in the Netherland left the priesthood and the religious life.

As a consequence, the Church in the Netherland was one of the first local Churches in Europe to experience a vocations crisis, which has worsened in the past 50 years.

The 1966 Dutch Catechism equally caused quite a stir by its overt reduction of the Christian faith to mere anthropological and psychological aspects. Paul VI expressed his pain and disapproval about the turn of events in the Netherlands to Cardinal Bernard Alfrink of Utrecht, considered one of the leaders of the liberals at the time.

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Ecumenism and outreach The 1960s can rightly be termed the golden period of ecumenism in the contemporary history of the Church and other Christian churches.

Those years were the full springs of efforts and initiatives to heal centuries-old divisions, mutual suspicion and antagonism among the followers of Christ. A lot of enthusiasm was generated and complemented by concrete steps in terms of reciprocal visits and expressions of goodwill.

In this regard, the three famous journeys of Paul VI come to mind: Jerusalem in1964, Istanbul in 1967 to visited Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras, and Geneva in 1969 for the meeting of the World Council of Churches.

In his speech to those gathered in Geneva, Paul VI did not deny his universal Petrine office, which he articulated by pronouncing “Our Name is Peter”, but he quickly added that it was “a ministry of communion”.

Both within his own Church and in the ecumenical rapport with sister Churches, Paul VI often stressed that apostolic authority was sustained with

simplicity, service and trust. This explains why he was the last pope to use the papal tiara which had been worn by popes since the 8th century.

As the first modern pope, Paul VI was also the first one to travel outside Italy since 1870 when Pope Pius IX made himself “prisoner of the Vatican” to protest the annexation of Rome by the modern Italian state.

The international travels of Paul VI took him to the five continents of the world: the Holy Land (1964); Colombia (1964); India (1964); United States (1965, where he addressed the UN General Assembly in New York); Fatima, Portugal (1967); Turkey (1967); Geneva (1969); Kampala, Uganda (1969); and a two-week trip to Asia with brief stops at Teheran, Dhaka, the Philippines, Samoa, Australia, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on October 4, 1965, Paul VI called the Catholic Church an “expert in humanity” and in the name of all humanity implored the UN to work for a better world, to guarantee peace, justice, opportunities and liberty for everyone.

The international outreach of Paul VI meant that many countries became eager to establish diplomatic ties with the Holy See. And through his Ostpolitik, Paul VI inaugurated the Vatican’s policy of rapprochement with Eastern Europe which was then under the domination of the communist Soviet Union.

Pluralism in a vibrant Church Pope Paul VI both as a reformer and as the Supreme Pastor of the Church fostered theological freedom which flourished in terms of pluralism of opinions, although sometimes they generated doctrinal uncertainties and confusion.

Even when pushed to take drastic decisions, he restrained himself and rather preferred to suffer alone in his solitude as an intrinsic part of his ministry as the universal Pastor of the Church.

He chose the ways of persuasion and admonition in order to win those with divergent opinions that were not always orthodox. He was convinced that pluralism was a sign of a Church that was alive where innovations and renewals were not to be truncated but encouraged and directed.

In such an atmosphere of openness, Paul VI sought to direct the Church away from monologue to dialogue, to conversation and to plurality of voices.

However, his patience was not limitless and that brought about some dark spots in his pontificate.

One of the dark spots was the laicisation of Dom Giovanni Franzioni in 1976 for the public declaration of his intention to vote for the Italian Communist Party.

Another was the removal of Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro from the archdiocese of Bologna in some inexplicable circumstances. Lercaro was one of the leading progressive voices both during and after Vatican II.

With his 1975 apostolic exhortation, Gaudete in Domino (On Christian Joy), Paul VI asked the Church to bring optimism to a world where bad news travels faster than the good news. His optimism towards human labour and progress was religious optimism which reposed every trust and hope in the Holy Spirit.

His earlier documents—Populorum Progressio (1967), Octogesima Adveniens (1971), and Justice in the World (1971)—already set the tone.

With Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), Paul VI grouped every effort and initiative of the Church under evangelisation and mission as a service to the world.

As “the Church travels with humanity and shares its lot in the setting of history”, every local Church was encouraged to be autonomous and responsible in taking concrete initiatives and steps in working for justice, peace and the development of its immediate locality.

In terms of advocacy for social justice, the Church during the pontificate of Paul VI both at the universal and local levels was aglow with activities and emanation of documents that have enriched Catholic Social Teaching.

And that encyclical In his book published in July this year, La Nascita di un Enciclica (The Birth of an Encyclical), author Gilfredo Marengo discusses the existence of an already finished encyclical that was never published.

Entitled De nascendae prolis, it incorporated the report of the commission set up by Paul VI to study the question on birth control. After a thorough consideration of its content and recommendations, the pope imposed a veto on that document and forbade it from been published.

In its place, Humanae Vitae was published in 1968. The encyclical was instantly controversial for restating the Church’s prohibition of artificial birth control.

Despite his many reforms and openings in numerous areas, Humanae Vitae appeared to have defined the pontificate of Paul VI. Amid misunderstanding and the unpopularity it brought upon his pontificate, Paul VI was convinced that time would prove him right.

He told the Canadian priest Édouard Gagnon: “Don’t be afraid!

In 20 years time, they will call me a prophet.”

Beyond the controversies around Humanae Vitae, Paul VI was truly a prophet who displayed immense pastoral fortitude in his Petrine ministry. He was a man of vision who lived ahead of his time. There is no aspect of the life of the Catholic Church today that does not bear his imprints and prudent reforms.

Assailed by oppositions, especially from the traditionalist wing, he remained undeterred and gave the Church a Roman curia that was international in its composition and modern in its mode of operation.

With regard to the main bone of contention at the time—the correct interpretation of Vatican II—Paul VI remained unwavering in insisting that it should be understood in the light of the Council of Trent. That required a delicate balance between the tradition of yesterday and the innovations of today and tomorrow.

Paul VI will be canonised on October 14 in recognition of his heroic virtue lived in constant worries for the good of the Church of Christ like St Paul the Apostle, his patron.

His personal holiness cannot be separated from his overall mission as a “bridge builder”, encapsulated in his motto, Cum Ipso in Monte: With Him on the Mount. n Fr Valentine U Iheanacho MSP is a research fellow in the department of Historical and Constructive Theology of the University of the Free State.

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the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

9

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10

the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

CHURCH

How Pope John Paul II was elected When Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected pope 40 years ago on October 16, it was a big surprise to most people. gÜnther SimmermaCher looks at the conclave that brought us Pope John Paul II.

O

CTOBER 1978: The world’s cardinals gather in Rome to elect one of their own as the new pope, the second time they are called to do so in less than two months.

The August conclave, although regarded as an open race, had been fairly straightforward. In electing Albino Luciani as Pope John Paul I, the cardinals showed what sort of pope they were looking for: a pastoral pontiff, a good communicator, doctrinally a moderate conservative, one who is neither a member of the curia nor part of an old boys’ network.

The Holy Spirit provided one such, and God the Father took him away just over a full month later.

Now the electors will most likely look at a younger man, even a nonItalian—after all, there had been talk of a first non-Italian pontiff in 455 years before the August conclave.

The doyen of the Vatican press corps, the ex-Jesuit Peter Hebblethwaite, speculates that such a man could be the 54-year-old Brazilian Aloìsio Lorscheider (though Hebblethwaite concedes that Lorscheider’s young age and reportedly fragile health might count against him).

The Third World had been an important conclave issue in August.

Luciani’s concern for the poor nations of the world had helped secure the support of most Latin American, African and Asian bishops.

And if the cardinals go for an Italian, Hebblethwaite conjectures that Corrado Ursi of Naples (age 70) or Salvatore Pappalardo of Palermo (60) would be suitably non-curial and pastoral.

Of course, nobody discounts the Italian heavyweights: Giovanni Benelli (57), a former aide to Paul VI and archbishop of Florence, and the conservatives Pericle Felici (67), the prefect of the Apostolic Signature, and Giuseppe Siri (72), archbishop of Genoa. The latter had

the men who might have been pope: (above from left) Cardinals Lorscheider, Siri, Benelli; (below from left) Ursi, Felici and Pappalardo.

Cardinal Benelli was just five votes short of becoming pope.

Pope John Paul ii makes his first appearance as pope on the balcony of St Peter’s church following his election on October 16, 1978. (Photo: arturo mari/CnS) been eminently papabile in 1958 and 1963, and evidently could imagine himself wearing the papal tiara which John Paul I had eschewed in favour of a simple pallium (as would his successor).

Before the August conclave, the outspoken American priest-sociologist Andrew Greeley told US television that he expected Cardinal Franz König of Vienna to be the next “elderly interim pope” (König, it turns out, died at 98 in 2004; so much for “interim”). Now, in October, Fr Greeley doesn’t fancy König’s chances. Instead, he backs a computer analysis that has Ursi as the next pope.

König does not see himself as papabile either. An influential cardinal—he played a large part in securing Pope Paul VI’s election in 1963—he had backed his friend Karol Wojtyla, the 58-year-old archbishop of Krakow, in the first conclave of 1978.

In the run-up to Conclave II König has become even more excited at the notion of the next pope being Wojtyla—Wojtyla, who with Lorscheider and Bernardin Gantin of Benin had been a scrutineer (or counting officer) of the ballots in August.

In the run-up to the conclave, König makes sure that as many electors as possible will be acquainted with the book of Wojtyla’s 1976 papal Lenten retreat, Segno di Contraddizione (Signs of Contradiction). Across the spec-

trum, it appeals.

It also makes a deep impression on the editor of the Spanish edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Fr (later Bishop) Cipriano Calderon Polo, who buys up all the copies he can find, convinced that Wojtyla will become pope.

Many cardinals have a copy of the book in conclave (thoughtfully provided by König).

Wojtyla himself, roomed in cell 91, brings with him a Marxist philosophy journal.

Whom did Wojtyla back?

The Polish prelate is rumoured to be backing Benelli, speculation based purely on the two cardinals having been spotted lunching. But that is just the hacks playing their guessing games.

The Italian press, sensing that the new pope might not be an Italian (what a loss of prerogative!), throws its weight behind Siri, claiming that he already has 50 votes in the bag—forgetting that cardinals have a way of changing their minds once they are locked up in conclave.

Indeed, Siri makes it easy for the electors to do so by giving an extraordinary interview published (possibly against his wishes) on the eve of the conclave.

In his interview with the Gazetto del Popolo, Siri ridicules Pope John Paul I, spitefully attacks the secretary of state, Cardinal Jean Villot, and insults the interviewer in terms that do not evoke the image of a wise and kind shepherd.

Election Day

Cardinals are pictured behind a screen as they gather in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave of October 1978 which elected Cardinal karol wojtyla as the 263rd pope. (Photo: Catholic Press Photo/CnS)

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Monday, October 16, 1978: As the cardinals withdraw into conclave, it becomes apparent that Wojtyla now has four backers: König; Vicente Enrique y Trancón of Madrid; his fellow Pole and mentor Stefan Wyszynski; and the Polishborn archbishop of Philadelphia, John Krol.

To little avail, it seems. After the first ballot, Siri leads with 23 votes, trailed by Benelli on 22, Ursi on 18, Felici on 17 and Pappalardo on 15. Wojtyla has only five.

After round 2, Siri is down to 11, while Benelli has taken the lead on 40, followed by Felici on 30. Ursi has held his 18 votes. Pappalardo has dropped, but Wojtyla has somehow gained four more votes.

Round 3: Benelli now has 45

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votes, needing 30 more. Felici has lost three votes, spelling an end to his challenge. Ursi still has his 18 loyal votes, Wojtyla still nine.

In the fourth ballot, Benelli, on 65 votes, edges closer to the required 75. All of a sudden, Wojtyla has 24—probably most of Ursi’s votes (he now has only four). However, a new challenger emerges with 14 votes: Giovanni Colombo, the 76-year-old archbishop of Milan, an apparent compromise candidate for the Italian Felici/Siri bloc.

Before the fifth ballot, Colombo asks not to be considered any longer. Benelli now has 70 votes, Wojtyla 40. Clearly, Colombo’s Italian bloc votes did not go to Benelli, who nonetheless is only five votes short of becoming pope.

The sixth ballot is decisive: Benelli down to 59, Wojtyla up to 52. It’s over for the Italian, but Wojtyla still needs another 23 votes— and it is not certain that he will get them.

‘Pensive over lunch’ As the cardinals break for lunch (cannelloni, since you ask), König observes his Polish friend. He later describes him as “pale and pensive”. During the break, Wyszynski and König gently but firmly persuade the reluctant cardinal-archbishop of Krakow that he must accept the will of the Holy Spirit.

After lunch, round 7: Wojtyla has 73 votes; Benelli 38. It’s now a mere formality.

Finally, at 17:20 (or 17:15, depending on your sources), the result of the eighth and final ballot: Wojtyla has 97 votes.

The newly elected pope—whose life has just been turned upside down in ways he could not have anticipated when he awoke that morning—sits with his head in hands, tears flowing. Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster later recalls feeling “desperately sad for the man”, now so irrevocably divorced from his old life.

After sustained applause and general elation (even Benelli is amiable in defeat), Cardinal Villot, the camerlengo, formally asks the pope-elect: “Do you, most reverend Lord Cardinal, accept your election as Supreme Pontiff, which has been canonically carried out?”

With tears in his eyes, the new, yet unnamed, pope intones: “With obedience in faith to Christ, my Lord, and with trust in the Mother of Christ and the Church, in spite of great difficulties, I accept.” He takes the name John Paul II.

Cardinal who? An African?

While Pope John Paul II is being dressed in his papal robes, Cardinal Felici steps onto the balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square and an-

nounces the papal election of Cardinal Wojtyla.

Cardinal who? A foreigner? An African? The crowd, 200 000 of them and mostly locals, are incredulous.

At 19:21, almost two hours after the result of the final ballot was announced, the first Slavic pope ever—and the first non-Italian in more than four and a half centuries—appears on the balcony: the world sees the new pope, a man most had not known even existed.

His inaugural words will be significant. It’s the moment when the straniero (foreigner) might win or lose the hearts of the Romans.

“All honour to Jesus Christ.” The crowd responds. The prayerful formalities out of the way: “Dear brothers and sisters”—echoes of John Paul I, and in flawless Italian, too. “We are still grieved after the death of our most beloved John Paul I. And now the most eminent cardinals have called a new bishop of Rome from a far-off land; far yet so near through the communion of faith and in the Christian tradition…” A foreign pope, but already at home in Rome.

Then an endearingly self-deprecating touch: “I don’t know if I express myself in your…our…Italian language well enough. If I make a mistake, you will correct me.”

The Polish pope has won the hearts of the Romans, and the world, in a matter of minutes.

South Africa’s Cardinal Owen McCann is said to have sat with the Benelli camp during the conclave.

Yet, interviewed after the conclave, he is, like his brother cardinals, full of praise for the new pope.

“I think he is going to be a fine pope,” he predicts. “I think he is a very spiritual man, and most certainly is pastorally minded.”

Cardinal McCann says that he expects John Paul II’s pontificate to focus on areas such as ecumenism, evangelisation, peace and collegiality. Three out of four ain’t bad.

Pope John Paul II’s eventful pontificate became the third-longest in history before it ended on April 2, 2005. But what if the Holy Spirit had chosen another cardinal?

Of the papabili mentioned, preconclave frontrunner Lorscheider and Pappalardo outlived Wojtyla— though there is no way of knowing whether their health might have withstood the pressures of being pope. Pappalardo died in December 2006, Lorscheider almost exactly year later. Both might have had an even longer pontificate than John Paul II. Benelli and Felici both died in 1982; Siri in 1989; Colombo in 1992; and Ursi in 2003. n This is an edited version of an article which was first published in The Southern Cross of October 15, 2003.

CLASSIFIEDS

Sr Agathana Trinkl FNS

F

RANCISCAN Nardini Sister Agathana Trinkl, known for the sun in her smile, magic in her fingers, and blessed service, died on September 27 at Richards Bay at the age of 86.

Sr Agathana, who was once praised by the late Bishop Pascal Rowland as a maestro of the Vryheid convent kitchen, which she ran for 45 years, was the second-last survivor of the congregation’s pioneers from Mallersdorf, having arrived from Germany in the second batch in November 1955. The sole remaining survivor, from the first batch in January 1955, is Sr Sola Schumann, 98.

As a seamstress at Nkandla, Sr Agathana could make just about anything with a sewing machine or just a needle, cotton and thimble. With great skill, she made a range of dresswear for Sisters of different convents, for the Nardini children’s home, and for the parish. With conscientious care she cleaned altar linen and liturgical vestments and refurbished them. She could make holes disappear from jerseys and jackets.

The Trinkl family, from Aichach outside Munich, has deep connections with the Franciscan Nardinis. Sr Agathana and her twin sister, Sr Fridolfa, were both Nardini nuns working in South Africa. Sr Fridolfa went on to become principal of a nurses’ training college until 1973, when she became ill and returned to Germany, where she died in 2008. A third younger sister, also a Nardini, was Sr Christburga, also predeceased Sr Agathana.

Sr Agathana’s brother Stefan, a primary school principal, became deeply interested in the work of the Nardinis at Nkandla, especially in their outreach to vulnerable children, and set up a trust to collect funds to support Sizanani and its comprehensive health, welfare and humanitarian outreach. He died in 2008, but in accordance with his wishes, the trust continues to this day to support Sizanani.

Sr Agathana was born Magdalena Trinkl on February 18, 1932. From her early years as a daughter of a farming family, Sr Agathana nurtured a lifelong sense of care for nature and animals, especially the Nkandla convent pets.

She was also known for her lively spirit, skill at card games, impatience to get going, and unquenchable eagerness for grapevine news. She seldom missed Nardini celebrations.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 832. ACROSS: 3 Embroider, 8 Away, 9 Altar rail, 10 Damask, 11 Strew, 14 Tense, 15 Lamb, 16 Smear, 18 Race, 20 Exert, 21 Anvil, 24 Duncan, 25 In a manger, 26 Writ, 27 Declaring.

DOWN: 1 Mandatory, 2 Harmonica, 4 Milk, 5 Roast, 6 Israel, 7 Evil, 9 Ashes, 11 Steel, 12 Water cure, 13 Obstinate, 17 Recur, 19 Enamel, 22 Inner, 23 Ante, 24 Dean.

In May 1981, Sr Agathana contracted the Guillain-Barré virus, which almost completely paralysed her muscles and was to affect her for the rest of her life. Specialist treatment at hospitals in Durban and Germany helped to rehabilitate her. With the aid of special lower limb supports, she was able to regain considerable mobility and returned with remarkable readiness to run the kitchen at Vryheid convent once more.

In 2000 Sr Agathana moved to Nkandla permanently, and was soon a friendly support for the younger African Sisters.

On September 13, Sr Agathana was taken to hospital in Richards Bay. She fell there on September 17 and fractured a leg, which needed surgery. She died of resulting complications on the night of September 27.

Sr Sola, her longstanding companion, recalled: “Sr Agathana was a deeply prayerful person. Whenever you got to chapel she was already there in fervent prayer.”

Regional superior Sr Ellen Lindner said: “Sr Agathana showed heroic fortitude in coping with her illness. She was a woman of spirit. She showed us how to live a good, creative and religious life while bearing her suffering with great dignity through her love of Christ and the work he called us to do through our founder, Bl Paul Joseph Nardini.”

Sr Agathana was buried from a Requiem Mass at Inkamana Abbey on October 8.

by Sydney Duval

Word of the Week

Laicisation: The process by which a priest is returned to the lay state. It is sometimes used as a penalty for a serious crime or scandal, but more often it comes at the request of the priest. A laicised priest is barred from all priestly ministry with one exception: he may give absolution to someone in immediate danger of death.

the Southern Cross, October 10 to October 16, 2018

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anniversaries • milestones • Prayers • accommodation • holiday accommodation Personal • Services • employment • Property • Parish notices • thanks • Others Please include payment (R1,80 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

HOLiDAY ACCOMMODATiON

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

Come to kolbe house, set in beautiful, spacious gardens in rondebosch, nestled just under Devil’s Peak. Selfcatering, clean and peaceful, with spacious gardens.Safe parking. Close to all shops and public transport. Contact Pat 021 685-7370, 073 2632105 or kolbe.house@ telkomsa.net MARiANELLA guest house, Simon’s town—“Come experience the peace and beauty of god with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views. Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. malcolm Salida 082 784-5675, mjsalida@gmail. com

PRAYERS

MY SOUL magnifies the Lord. and my spirit rejoices in god my Saviour; Because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid; For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed; Because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name; and his mercy is from generation to generation on those

who fear him. he has shown might with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly. he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. he has given help to israel, his servant, mindful of his mercy. as he spoke to our fathers, to abraham and to his posterity forever. glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. amen. Magnificat.

PRAYER TO ST JUDE for interceding—thank you, Lord, for your mercy and answering my prayer. thank you, St Jude, for interceding on my behalf, you helped me in a most trying time to find a suitable job. i will be forever thankful for your intercession. wS Black.

HEAR ME, LORD, on behalf of all those who are dear to me, all whom i have in mind at this moment. Be near them in all their anxieties and worries, give them the help of your saving grace. i commend them all with trustful confidence to your merciful love. remember, Lord, all who are mindful of me: all those who have asked me to pray for them, all who have been kind to me, all who have wronged me, or whom i have wronged by ill-will or misunderstanding. give all of us to bear each other’s faults, and to share each other’s burdens. have mercy on the souls of our loved ones who have gone before us. grant them peace and happiness. amen.

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.

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PARiSH NOTiCES

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

CAPE TOWN: retreat day/quiet prayer last Saturday of each month except December, at Springfield Convent in wynberg, Cape town. hosted by CLC, 10.00-15.30. Contact Jill on 083 282 6763 or Jane on 082 783 0331.

Perpetual adoration Chapel at good Shepherd parish, 1 goede hoop St, Bothasig, welcomes all visitors. Open 24 hours a day. Phone 021 558 1412.

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.

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11

The

Southern Cross

Published independently by the Catholic newspaper and Publishing Co since 1920

editor: günther Simmermacher Business manager: Pamela Davids

St teresa of avila

St Luke

St margaret mary alacoque

Liturgical Calendar Year B – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday October 14, 28th Sunday of the Year

Wisdom 7:7-11, Psalm 90:12-17, Hebrews 4:12-13, Mark 10:17-30 Monday October 15, St Teresa of Avila Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31--5:1, Psalm 113, Luke 11:29-32 Tuesday October 16, St Hedwig, St Margaret Mary Alacoque Galatians 5:1-6, Psalm 119:41, 43-45, 47-48, Luke 11:37-41 Wednesday October 17, St Ignatius of Antioch Galatians 5:18-25, Psalm 1:1-4, 6, Luke 11:42-46 Thursday October 18, St Luke 2 Timothy 4:10-17, Psalm 145:10-13, 17-18, Luke 10:1-9 Friday October 19, Ss John de Brébeuf & Isaac Jogues & Companions, St Paul of the Cross Ephesians 1:11-14, Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 12-13, Luke 12:1-7 Saturday October 20, Bl Daudi Okelo & Jildo Irwa Ephesians 1:15-23, Psalm 8:2-7, Luke 12:8-12 Sunday October 21, 29th Sunday of the Year Isaiah 53:10-11, Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22, Hebrews 4:14-16, Mark 10:35-45

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29th Sunday: October 21, Mission Sunday Readings: Isaiah 53:10-11, Psalm 33:4-5, 1820, 22, Hebrews 4:14-16, Mark 10:35-45

W

HAT is your mission? (And, by the way, it is no good your saying to yourself that “missions are for other people”. For next Sunday is Mission Sunday; and that means You).

Certainly it is not going to be comfortable.

The first reading comes from the fourth of the “Songs of the Suffering Servant”, and it is not easy to translate, but it probably means something like “the Lord was pleased to crush him, if you make his life a sin-offering”.

But there is also hope there: “He shall see his offspring and make his days long; in his hand the Lord’s will shall prosper. Out of his anguish [there shall be] light; by his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, shall make the many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

Your mission may not be a dramatic success. But the point is, as the psalmist well knows, that you can trust God: “Because the Lord’s word is upright, and all his deeds are done with integrity.”

Then we have a list of God’s qualities: “Lover of righteousness and justice, the love of the Lord fills the earth.”

And God is attentive, too: “Look, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, and on

S outher n C ross Nicholas King SJ

Mr Big and his sorry fate those who hope in his love, to rescue their souls from death, to give them life in famine…he is our help and our shield.”

Then we have a final prayer to give us courage in the mission: “Let your love be upon us, Lord, just as we hope in you.”

The constant reference to love is what gives us the assurance to keep going on our mission.

It goes without saying (or it should) that our mission is to imitate Jesus, and that we should find confidence in that thought.

That is certainly the view of the author of the second reading, the Letter to the Hebrews: “Since we have a Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.”

The point is, you see, that without Jesus our mission is empty and impossible: “You see, we do not have a High Priest who is incapable of feeling with our weaknesses—he has been tested in every respect, in just the same way. But without sin.”

That ought to give us confidence in the mission: “So let us confidently approach the Gracious Throne, to receive mercy and find grace, for help at just the right time.”

How can I be more helpful?

I

all of us, suffer.

That’s his indubitable truth, suffering is real. That cannot be doubted: “Nihilists cannot undermine it with scepticism. Totalitarians cannot banish it. Cynics cannot escape its reality.” Suffering is real beyond all doubt.

Moreover, in Peterson’s understanding, the worst kind of suffering isn’t that which is inflicted upon us by the innate contingencies of our being and our mortality, nor by the sometimes blind brutality of nature.

T

he worst kind of suffering is the kind that one person inflicts upon another, the kind that one part of humankind inflicts upon another part, the kind we see in the atrocities of the 20th century—Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and countless others responsible for the torture, rape, suffering, and death of millions.

From this indubitable premise he submits something else that too cannot be disputed: This kind of suffering isn’t just real, it’s also wrong!

We can all agree that this kind of suffering is not good and that it is something that is (beyond dispute) not good. And if there’s something that is not good, then there’s something that is good. His logic: “If the worst sin is the torment of others, merely for the sake of the suffering produced—then the good is whatever is diametrically opposed to that.”

What flows from this is clear: The good is whatever stops such things from happening. If this is true, and it is, then it is also clear as to what is good, and what is a good way of living.

Conrad

N A book, 12 Rules for Life–An Antidote to Chaos, that’s justifiably making waves in many circles today, Jordan Peterson shares his own journey towards truth and meaning. Here’s that story.

At one point in his life, while still young and finding his own path, he reached a stage where he felt agnostic, not just about the shallow Christianity he’d been raised on, but also about almost everything else in terms of truth and trust.

What really can we believe in? What’s ultimately to be trusted?

Too humble to compare himself to one of the great minds in history–René Descartes, who, 500 years ago, struggled with a similar agnosticism—Peterson nonetheless could not help but employ Descartes’ approach in trying to find a truth that you could not doubt.

So, like Descartes, he set off in search off an “indubitable” (Descartes’ term), that is, to find a premise that absolutely cannot be doubted.

Descartes, as we know, found his “indubitable” in his famous dictum: “I think, therefore, I am!” Nobody can be deceived in believing that since even to be deceived would be indisputable proof that you exist.

The philosophy that Descartes then built upon the indubitable premise is left for history to judge. But history doesn’t dispute the truth of his dictum.

So Peterson sets out with the same essential question: “What single thing cannot be doubted?” Is there something so evidently true that nobody can doubt it?

For Peterson, it’s not the fact that we think which is indisputable, it’s the fact that we,

“Father has decided not to fix the roof so that he can catch the water.”

Sunday reflections

If Jesus has been there first, then it is all going to be alright on this mission of ours.

That is just the thought that we should be taking into our reading of the Gospel for next Sunday.

But the sons of Zebedee have not quite understood what their mission is. For James and John come bouncing up to Jesus, demanding a blank cheque: “Teacher, we want you to do for us anything we ask you.”

Not unreasonably, Jesus enquires what they are after; but it turns out not to be a request for a really demanding mission or anything like that.

Instead, they are making a bid for power (“to sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory”). The alert reader will perhaps look ahead and notice that those who will sit on Jesus’ right and left are going to be a couple of thieves.

James and John have got their mission wrong. Jesus gently interrogates them about their readiness for the mission: “Are you able to drink the cup that I am going to drink?

And will you be baptised with the baptism with which I am being baptised?”

They are too drunk with ambition to re-

flect on what this might mean, and say, in their enthusiasm for ecclesial promotion: “Yes—we can.”

So they have to have it explained to them that it is not in Jesus’ gift to assign that sort of thing.

Then the rest of the Apostles lose their tempers, not because Zebedee’s sons have got it so badly wrong, but because they got their bid in first.

So none of them really understands the nature of the mission to which they are committed. And Jesus gently (perhaps a shade wearily?) explains that it is not to be like that: “Anyone who wants to be Mr Big among you, will be your servant, and anyone who wants to be Number One, will be the slave of all.”

Then comes the key reminder of what the mission is like, that of Jesus, and that of the Twelve, not to mention our own mission: “You see, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Are you ready for your mission, this week?

Southern Crossword #832

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final reflection

If the most terrible forms of suffering are produced by egotism, selfishness, untruthfulness, arrogance, greed, lust for power, willful cruelty, and insensitivity to others, then we are evidently called to the opposite: selflessness, altruism, humility, truth-telling, tenderness, and sacrificing for others.

Not incidentally, Peterson affirms all of this inside a chapter within which he highlights the importance of sacrifice, of delaying private gratification for a greater good long-range.

His insight here parallels those of René Girard and other anthropologists who point out that the only way of stopping unconscious sacrifice to blind gods (which is what happened in the atrocities of Hitler and what happens in our own bitter slandering of others) is through self-sacrifice.

Only when we accept at the cost of personal suffering our own contingencies, sin, and mortality will we stop projecting these onto others so as to make them suffer in order to feel better about ourselves.

Peterson writes as an agnostic or perhaps, more accurately, as an honest analyst, an observer of humanity, who for purposes of this book prefers to keep his faith private. Fair enough. Probably wise too. No reason to impute motives. It’s where he lands that’s important, and where he lands is on very solid ground.

It’s where Jesus lands in the Sermon on the Mount, it’s where the Christian Churches land when they’re at their best, it’s where the great religions of the world land when they’re at their best, and it’s where humanity lands when it’s at its best.

The medieval mystic Teresa of Avila wrote with great depth and challenge. Her treatise on the spiritual life is now a classic and forms part of the very canon of Christian spiritual writings.

In the end, she submits that during our generative years the most important question we need to challenge ourselves with is: How can I be more helpful?

Jordan Peterson, with a logic and language that can be understood by everyone today, offers the same challenge.

ACROSS

3. Bride more inclined to do needlework (9) 8 and 25. Where Little Lord Jesus is in the carol (4,2,1,6) 9. It may divide the sanctuary from the congregation (5,4) 10. Fabric mother will request (6) 11. Scatter like confetti (5) 14. Time past, present or future (5) 15. See 5 16. Reams about false accusation (5) 18. Competition that may be human (4) 20. Make an effort yourself (5) 21. Block concealed in Dominican village (5) 24. Macbeth’s victim (6) 25. See 8 26. Put in writing, it could be holy (4) 27. Announcing in the customs shed (9)

DOWN

1. Drama Tony makes compulsory (9) 2. Wind instrument that’s on your lips (9) 4. It flows in the Promised Land (Ex 3) (4) 5 and 15 Meal for first Passover.

Or Sunday? (5,4) 6. You will find Hebrews here (6) 7. I will fear no ... (Ps 23) (4) 9. They may be left by the fire (5) 11. Metal for those who are well nerved (5) 12. Hydropathy at Lourdes?

(5,4) 13. Saint to be stubborn (9) 17. Like Easter, the feast will come again (5) 19. Glossy paint for the statue (6) 22. The circle of the elite (5) 23. It could be upped when gambling (4) 24. Made angelic with the clerSolutions on page 11 gyman in it (4)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE parish priest was preaching the homily at a children’s Mass.

He told them that Jesus saw the harvest was so big that he needed helpers, so he called a group of people and named them apostles.

“Jesus said: ‘Come, follow me. Don’t be afraid, from now on you will catch men.’ What do you think he meant by that?” the priest asked the children.

Little Jimmy raised his hand and replied: “Jesus meant that all the apostles should become traffic cops.”

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