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No 5119

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Ways to stop drain to Pentecostals

Heartbreak as church burns down

Fr Pollitt: People deserve better liturgy

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Priest: WYD needs more promotion

BY CHrISTEN TorrES

on their way to World Youth Day in Panama, the group of the diocese mariannhill stopped over in the Spanish city in Salamanca, where they where hosted by the local Congregation of mariannhill missionaries. They are seen here in the city’s Plaza mayor. The group also had the opportunity to visit nearby Alba de Tormes, where the tomb of St Teresa of Avila is kept. With the group are Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba of umzimkulu (right) and mariannhill provincial Fr Bheki Shabalala Cmm (front left).

Pope ‘has grasp of Africa’

BY Fr PAul SAmASumo

S

OUTH Africa’s ambassador to the Holy See, George Johannes, has said that he is very impressed with Pope Francis’ grasp of events in Africa.

Recalling the pope’s annual address to members of the diplomatic corps in the Vatican this month, Mr Johannes said the pope spoke passionately about Africa.

“What touched me the most is that Pope Francis has a very good feeling and understanding of what is happening in Africa,” the ambassador, who himself is a Catholic, told Vatican Radio.

“I spoke to Pope Francis, and I said to him: ‘Your Holiness, we need you in Africa…

Your presence carries a certain message for Africa.’”

Mr Johannes hopes that another visit to African countries by Pope Francis would boost peace efforts and encourage national cohesion that is under threat from a new type of fractionalism.

Africa faces a new type “of fractionalism where communities and societies of Africa are being broken down. These need to be mended”, the ambassador said. He hopes the presence of Pope Francis in Africa would contribute significantly towards this healing.

The Holy Father is aware of the severe situations from which most migrants arriving in Europe are fleeing, Mr Johannes observed.

“When we look at the scenes of those coming on the boats, you mainly see Africans— African black people who are coming—and there is a reaction in EuAmbassador George Johannes. rope against them.

“I don’t want to be(Photo: Vatican come too political about News) it [but] we were very accepting when the colonial masters came to our countries, and in many cases, they even deprived people of their land and culture and imposed their way of life on the people of Africa,” he said.

“People need to be reminded about where we come from,” Mr Johannes added.

These migrants “are running away from real, serious problems in Africa, and these are the things that the Holy Father is making us aware of”, the ambassador said.

“One could feel in the way that he was speaking, when he addressed issues of Africa, that he felt very passionately about them.”

T

HE national youth chaplain has urged World Youth Day pilgrims to speak about their experiences and promote future events.

“What I have discovered is that many parishes do not know much about World Youth Day, including priests, adults and youth,” said Fr Mthembemi Dlamini CMM. “I hope that when groups return from Panama, they will be able to go around their dioceses to give testimonies of their experiences and to encourage parishes to send at least one young person to the next one.”

World Youth Day (WYD) is held this week in Panama City, closing with a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on January 27.

Among the expected 200 000 WYD pilgrims from around the world are around 160 from South Africa. Most of them attended the Week in the Dioceses in various areas of Panama before moving to the capital for the main festival.

Most of the Southern African pilgrims are from the archdioceses of Johannesburg (86 pilgrims) and Durban (31), with other groups representing the dioceses of Mariannhill, Manzini in Eswati, and Gaborone and Francistown in Botswana.

A group of around 40 from Namibia is also attending.

Among clergy representing the SACBC region, besides Fr Dlamini, are Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba of Umzimkulu as liaison bishop for the youth, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp (leading the Johannesburg group), Fr Bheki Shabalala CMM (leading the Mariannhill group).

Fr Thulani Mbuyisa, the superior-general of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill, is also attending.

Cardinal Napier and Bishop Dziuba have been invited to lead catechesis sessions, which are open to all WYD pilgrims.

Bishop Dziuba was to lead Holy Hour for

S outher n C ross Pilgrimage

The WYD group of the archdiocese of Durban, led by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, was interviewed by Panama’s national TV on arrival in Panama City. all SACBC pilgrims on January 22, with the theme “Praying for Vocations”.

Fr Dlamini said attending WYD is a learning experience for him. “Hopefully it will assist us in the future as we prepare our Mini World Youth Day,” he said, referring to the local youth festival which was last held in Durban in December 2017.

Fr Dlamini noted that there is a problem with people’s understanding of World Youth Day, and with the follow-up by pilgrims themselves.

“It’s unfortunate that some groups, after attending the WYD, do nothing to promote the next one, and sometimes such information is kept within the group,” Fr Dlamini said.

“Our SACBC region has sent 160 people to WYD this year, but with more vigorous promotion we can send more than 500,” he noted.

Fr Dlamini advised dioceses and youth leaders to start planning for the next WYD early, especially to keep flight prices down and to give ample time to fundraise for pilgrims.

The theme for this year’s World Youth Day derives from Luke 1:38—“I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

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2

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

LOCAL

Durban gears up to receive Gabuza T Senior school students at CBC St John’s Parklands in Cape Town helped pack 25 000 meals for rise Against Hunger at Table Bay mall. Three students and one teacher joined SABC3’s Espresso morning show team in the studio to help with the last 1 000 meals, to reach the final target of 100 000. Seated on the Expresso couch with presenter Graeme richards are (left to right) Isabella Pietersen, John Graayenstein, Paije Flood, and staff member Kaylee lewis.

HE new coadjutor archbishop of Durban will officially take his new position at a Mass on February 10.

Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberley will be received as coadjutor archbishop in the presence of the bishops of Southern Africa—who will gather that week in Mariannhill for their biannual plenary session— at a Mass of Reception at 10:00 in the grounds of St Henry’s Marist College in Mayville.

Pope Francis appointed the bishop as coadjutor of Durban in December.

This position means he will help run the archdiocese with incumbent archbishop Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, with the right to succeed him.

Cardinal Napier, who turns 78 in March, submitted his resignation to Pope Francis at 75, as is canonically required.

When the pope accepts his resignation, Bishop Gabuza will automatically succeed Cardinal Napier.

At the February 10 Mass of Reception, at which a letter from Pope Francis will be read out, the clergy of Durban archdiocese will greet the new coadjutor archbishop. The

Bishop Abel Gabuza (Photo: mathibelaSebothoma. apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Peter Wells, will be present.

This will be the first time in South Africa’s history that there will be a coadjutor archbishop. n See next week for an interview with Bishop Gabuza.

Parishioner saved tabernacle from burning church

BY ErIN CArElSE

A

QUICK-THINKING and brave parishioner rushed into a burning church to retrieve the tabernacle before the flames could reach it.

This was one of the small comforts Catholics could draw from after Our Lady of Montserrat church in Betty’s Bay, near Hermanus in the Western Cape, was totally destroyed in the devastating fires that tore through parts of the Overberg.

At least 31 properties were destroyed by weeks-long wildfires that started when a flare was shot off and landed in Kogelberg nature reserve during New Year’s Eve celebrations.

All that remains of Our Lady of

Montserrat is the walls, a few metal structures and candle stands.

Fr Roger Hickley, former parish priest of Hermanus, said the destruction of the small church had left him “tearful and heartbroken”.

He described the chapel as “surely the loveliest” in its setting in the archdiocese of Cape Town.

It was also used by Anglicans for many years.

“I fervently pray that Catholics and Anglicans will come together to rebuild, and that the thousands of holidaymakers who prayed there down the long years will contribute to its restoration,” Fr Hickley said.

The site was initially bought by Fr Jack Swan in the 1960s when he built his holiday home there. The

church was later built attached to the side of his house.

From the 1970s the priest welcomed the Anglican community using the chapel for its liturgies.

“The house was not intended as a church. Initially Fr Swan began saying Mass on the veranda for the three Catholics who lived in Betty’s Bay then,” Fr Hickley said.

The Dutch Reformed parish in Betty’s Bay has offered its facilities to the parishioners of Our Lady of Montserrat to celebrate Mass.

Shelton April, 34, who allegedly set off the flare that started the fires, resulting in damages of millions of rands, faces a charge of contravening the National Environmental Management Act.

The small church of our lady of montserrat in Betty’s Bay near Hermanus in the Western Cape was destroyed by the weekslong wildfires that ravaged the overberg area.

(Photo from Anthony Harris)

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

3

Priest: people deserve better liturgy F OR all the reasons we can muster to explain why people stop coming to Mass, “There comes a point when we have to stop and ask ourselves an important question: what is the quality of our liturgical service or pastoral care?” according to Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute.

“In the last few weeks I have been to at least three parishes incognito. Two of the three would fail a quality test if one took the Sunday Eucharistic celebration and ‘measured’ it against the liturgy documents of the Church and its local

implementation,” Fr Pollitt wrote in an article, “Liturgy: the bar is low, sadly”, on the Jesuit Institute website (www.jesuitinstitute.org.za).

“A number of things are inflicted upon Massgoers: Christmas carols sung like funeral dirges—or songs and hymns irrelevant to the liturgical season; endless words—‘mini-sermons’—outside often long-rambling, out-of-touch-with-reality homilies; and in some parishes the insertion of private devotions at different points that are not proper to the liturgy,” Fr Pollitt said.

“There were also badly prepared Adrian Gore from Discovery participated in little Eden’s 2018 CEo Wheelchair Campaign, spending one working day in a wheelchair. mr Gore said he got home mentally and emotionally exhausted, and gained an insight into what the wheelchair-bound go through every day. little Eden will launch its 2019 campaign on February 27.

CEOs to test day in wheelchair

L

ITTLE Eden Society’s annual CEO Wheelchair Campaign to raise funds for the 300 people it cares for, challenges business executives to spend a day at work in a wheelchair, reliant on others for many needs.

Adrian Gore from Discovery participated in the 2018 campaign, and confirmed that he found the experience to be profound.

“It was incredibly hard in every way—I got home exhausted mentally and emotionally,” he said.

“I cannot begin to imagine the complexity and difficulty of being in a wheelchair, or living with any substantial disability, whether physical or mental,” Mr Gore noted.

“I don’t know how they do it, but they do—it’s a testimony to their grit and resilience, and the

power of the human spirit,” he said.

Little Eden, which has two homes for those with serious intellectual and physical disabilities, will launch its 2019 CEO Wheelchair Campaign on February 27.

Participants choose any day in March to spend their day in a wheelchair.

The campaign is open to CEOs, business leaders or influencers with a donation of R50 000. Small businesses may also participate, with a R30 000 donation. n To participate in the Little Eden CEO Wheelchair Campaign, contact Mary-Anne Wright at perfect word2@trinitas.co.za. For more information, visit www.littleeden.org.za.

Also see next week for the first in a four-part series on the life of Little Eden’s founders.

proclaimers of the Word and, embarrassingly, presiders who had clearly not looked at the Eucharistic Prayer (especially the first Eucharistic Prayer) and so landed up butchering it,” he noted.

“One gets the feeling that in many parishes little time is spent on liturgy preparation. In some places choirs are well prepared, but the rest of the liturgical ministries are poor.

“Often people (especially presiders) are quick to jam all sorts of irrelevant extras into the liturgy, but the very basics are done badly,” he wrote, adding: “The quality bar,

sadly, is very low.”

Fr Pollitt noted that at a time when the notion of Sunday Mass as an obligation is waning and other Churches offer alternative spiritual food, “Bad liturgy does not inspire.”

“For the most part, the quality of preaching in Catholic pulpits is abysmal,” he said.

“Sadly, for many young people, the fact that the Catholic Church has the Eucharist does not keep them coming back when everything else is done half-heartedly,” Fr Pollitt noted.

“The Church has a beautiful litur-

gical tradition which, if done accordingly, is full of symbol and wisdom which conveys simply and beautifully the Good News of salvation.

“Why, in so many places, do we ignore the books, and think that DIY liturgy is more meaningful?” Fr Pollitt asked.

He also questioned why we jam all sorts of things not proper to the celebration of the Mass into the Sunday liturgy.

“If we just did what the liturgical books prescribe, we might immediately up the bar and raise the quality of our services,”Fr Pollitt said.

Deaf pupils score in first matric with sign language as home language

BY ErIN CArElSE

W

ITH sign language having been recognised as a home language several years ago, the South African Sign Language (SASL) curriculum was implemented for the first time as a matric subject in the 2018 National Senior Certificate examinations. A total of 58 learners from ten schools wrote.

Cindy Rutter, principal of the Dominican School for the Deaf in Wynberg, Cape Town, said the first matric exams in sign language as a home language finally gave deaf community students the same status as all others.

During the matric exam, pupils worked in closed-off booths.

There was a “written” copy of the signed paper, which ensured that if signs were different because of dialect, the interpreter would be able to provide the sign in this region or province.

The question paper was loaded onto computers and learners signed the answer, recorded with a webcam or a laptop with a built-in camera.

The answers were then placed in files and loaded onto a disc which was sent to the relevant education department and marked by people proficient in sign language.

Ancilla Julius, one of three pupils from the Dominican School for the

Ancilla Julius of the Dominican School for the Deaf in Cape Town came third nationally in South Africa’s first-ever matric exam in sign language.

Deaf who passed, ranked third in the country for the sign language exam.

Earlier, the Dominican school teaching the deaf followed the philosophy of oralism, communicating by the use of speech and lip-reading rather than sign language.

“Ancilla had to learn to read and write, and acquire intelligible speech.

This was a difficult task, but she managed well,” Ms Rutter recalled.

The principal noted that the school later introduced sign language. “We all initially did Signed English and Total Communication (spoken language, sign language, gesturing, and so on),” she said.

“It’s only four years ago, when Ancilla was in Grade 9, that SASL was introduced as a subject and she had to learn the syntax, the semantics, and be exposed to SASL literature.”

Ms Rutter said Ancilla prepared well for the examination.

“Her main focus was to do well in SASL. She was pleasantly surprised to have the third-highest result nationally, and we’re very proud of her.”

Ms Julius was invited by basic education minister Angie Motshekga to the Top Achievers’ Awards in Johannesburg, where she met the learners who achieved the first- and secondhighest results in SASL. The top two pupils were Maria Mabokodo Morgan from Sizwile School for the Deaf in Soweto, and Thabile Busisiwe Qondani from Kwa Thintwa School for the Deaf in Durban.

Kwa Thintwa was founded by the late Archbishop Denis Hurley.

4

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Brislin on Holy Land: The Church cannot stay silent

BY JuDITH SuDIloVSKY

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DDRESSING Palestinian Christians in the West Bank town of Zababdeh, Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town said the Church cannot be silent or neutral in the face of injustice.

Archbishop Brislin and Fr Peter-John Pearson, director of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, were part of an annual Holy Land Coordination visit of Catholic bishops to Israel and the Palestinian territories, which is intended to foster dialogue and show solidarity with Christians of the region.

In his homily at the church of the Visitation in Zababdeh, Archbishop Brislin told parishioners that the bishops understood the challenges they face and the importance of their presence in the Holy Land. “We know and understand the difficult circumstances in which you live, and we also understand the important vocation you have of keeping the flame of Christianity alight in the place of the Messiah’s birth, ministry, death and resurrection,� he said.

Catholics cannot remain silent in the presence of untruth, injustice, hatred and violence, Archbishop Brislin said. “The promotion of truth, love, justice and peace are integral to the mission of the Church. In the presence of untruth, injustice, hatred and violence we cannot remain silent. We have an obligation to witness to the kingdom.

We cannot be silent, nor can we be neutral,� he said.

Visiting Christian communities in northern Israel and the northern Palestinian territories has helped bishops participating in the Holy Land Coordination see “the great need� to promote an understanding between Israelis and Palestinians, said Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor, Ireland.

He said that a “permanent and sustainable solution is needed�, adding: “It does not

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town (right) listens to uS Archbishop Timothy Broglio at the latin Patriarchal Seminary in Beit Jala, West Bank. This year's solidarity visits of bishops from South Africa, Europe and North America focused on the challenges and opportunities for Christians in Israel. (Photo courtesy marcin mazur via catholicnews.org.uk) make sense that people living in such close proximity should be a source of conflict.�

The annual Holy Land Coordination includes bishops from North America, Europe and South Africa. Based this year in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, it focused on the challenges and opportunities for Christians in Israel.

The bishops visited Christian hospitals, schools and villages in Israel. They also met with Christian religious leaders, Christian mayors from Israeli towns, members of the Israeli Knesset, academics and internal refugees from the Melkite Catholic village of Ikrit.

The diverse meetings have helped highlight the “incomprehensible complexity� of the situation, said Bishop Treanor. “We have also seen people working for peace and justice and the promotion of mutual understanding. Those are the ingredients for a sustainable solution and hope,� he said.

The bishops also visited the Jenin refugee camp and a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine.

The school has been adversely affected by the US government’s withholding of funds to UNRWA, noted Archbishop Timothy Broglio, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Job promotion is critically important in helping young Christians remain in the Holy Land, he said.

He also noted the importance of meeting with the Christian community in Israel to learn about their perspective.

Archbishop Broglio said that while Christians in Israel—the great majority of whom are Palestinians—have opportunities, they also face challenges and discrimination such as the newly passed Nation State Law, which recognises Israel as “the national home of the Jewish people�. Opponents say the law reduces non-Jews to second-class citizens.

The bishops’ visit also inspires hope in the local Christian community that people abroad care about them and will advocate for them to their governments.— CNS

Duterte backtracks after ‘death threat’

A

GOVERNMENT spokesman said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is open to dialogue with the country’s bishops, after the president recently suggested that citizens of the country kill the Church leaders.

Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon and Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga condemned the statement, describing the comments as dangerous and inappropriate remarks that cannot be dismissed as an attempt at humour.

According to the president’s spokesman, the context for Mr Duterte’s insults is the sexual abuse he underwent in Catholic school. Mr Duterte has said he was molested

by Fr Mark Falvey, SJ, who has been accused posthumously of serially sexually abusing children. —CNA

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

5

Call to name guilty Women deacons experts: bishops at summit There are precedents A O BY mICHAEl KEllY

PROMINENT survivor and advocate for those affected by clerical abuse has urged Pope Francis to publicly name bishops who have been found guilty of negligence by Church tribunals.

Marie Collins—who was a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors from 2014 to 2017—also said that, during the Vatican summit on safeguarding in February, the pope should set out comprehensive procedures to hold bishops accountable.

Speaking at a public talk in Dublin, Ms Collins said the Vatican meeting—which will include the presidents of the world’s episcopal conferences as well as senior Vatican officials—should prioritise making child safeguarding policies and procedures universal. “You can be sure there is abuse of minors in every country where the Church has a presence, as it is in every society,� she said.

Ms Collins, who met with Pope Francis during his trip to Ireland in August, said she believed that attempts to tackle abuse are being undermined because there is no clear universal agreement on what constitutes sexual abuse of a minor. “The Vatican has not clearly set out what actually constitutes sexual abuse of a minor in the view of the official Church,� she said. “At the moment the vagueness of canon law in regard to abuse often leads to canon law trials not being able to bring in a guilty verdict in cases where most people would see clearly abuse has occurred.

BY BETH GrIFFIN

marie Collins (Photo: CNS) “If there is no consistent agreement across the Church as to what is sexual abuse of a minor, then how can we have any hope of consistent handling of the issue?� she asked.

Ms Collins also expressed the view that the term “zero tolerance� means different things to different people within the Church. She said the Rome meeting should agree on a clear definition of the term. “This would bring a consistency to the way sexual abuse of minors is dealt with internationally. Any episcopal conference leader who refuses to comply should be named and his explanation made public.�

On the issue of accountability for bishops accused of not responding appropriately to claims of abuse, Ms Collins said she believed that “the pope should make a clear statement at this meeting outlining what is the accountability process being used by the Church to hold bishops accountable if accused of negligence, protection of abusers or cover-up. Who is investigating? Who are the judges?

What are the penalties?�—CNS

RDAINING women to the permanent diaconate now, when the Church is “crying for ministry�, is a logical way to fulfill its obligation to bring the Gospel to all people, according to panellists at an event at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York.

There is incontrovertible evidence that women served as deacons in the early Church, they said.

Two speakers at the event on “The Future of Women Deacons� are members of a commission on the diaconate of women established in August 2016 by Pope Francis to review the theology and history of the office of deacon. The group met over a two-year period and submitted its report to the pope in late 2018.

Scholar and writer Phyllis Zagano, a member of the papal commission, said women served as deacons until the 12th century in the Western Church and somewhat longer in the Eastern Church. “While there is no doubt that women deacons existed, there are differing opinions about the nature of their ordination,� Dr Zagano said.

The terms “ordained� and “blessed� were used interchangeably in reference to both deacons and priests, she said.

Dr Zagano’s research included examination of Church manuscripts from the fourth to 16th centuries that are housed in the Vatican Library. She said the liturgical ceremony used by bishops to create women deacons included all the el-

Catholic scholar and author Phyllis Zagano (centre) and Fr Bernard Pottier SJ (second from left) at a symposium on the history and future of women deacons in the Church. (Photo: Gregory Shemitz/CNS) ements of sacramental ordination according to the criteria established by the Council of Trent. “If a bishop is laying hands on a woman, invoking the Holy Spirit, putting a stole on her, giving the chalice for her to self-communicate and calling her a deacon, I don’t know what else to say,� Dr Zagano said. “As I say to many people, ‘If she wasn’t a deacon, he would call her something else.’� “Self-communicate� refers to the reception of holy Communion without the assistance of a minister.

Dr Zagano said men and women deacons performed different duties in different places. Women deacons baptised people and anointed the sick, but men deacons did not, she said. If a woman accused her husband of beating her, a woman dea-

con examined the bruises and “gave testimony to the bishop, who could render a judgment of nullity. To me, that’s an annulment�, she said.

The diaconate was restored as a permanent sacramental ministry by the Second Vatican Council. “Many scholars never questioned the received wisdom that women had never been ordained,� said panellist Jesuit Father Bernard Pottier, a member of the papal study commission and a permanent member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission.

Research has provided “more and more evidence that it was so� and as more scholars and laypeople learn about the new findings, the argument that women were never ordained “is not sustainable anymore�, he said.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Abortion rates point to a crisis in society

E

ARLIER this month a young man who should never have been born died aged 21.

In July 1997, the young man, known only as Tim—or the “Oldenburg Baby”, after the city of his birth in Germany—survived a botched late-term abortion, in the 25th week of pregnancy.

Though he survived the abortion, doctors left the baby untreated for nine hours, expecting him to die.

The parents had decided to abort their son after tests revealed that he would be born with Down syndrome (they rejected him after he survived the abortion).

These tests, designed to give parents the option to kill a baby in the womb should it be diagnosed as having Down syndrome, are fundamentally immoral not only because of the choice they offer, but also because they designate people with disability as so worthless as to justify the prevention of their birth.

No rational parent caring for a child with Down syndrome would regard their child as “worthless”.

Aborting a foetus because it has a genetic deviation smacks of eugenics. Society would not allow the killing of a born child because it has a cognitive disability, therefore society should not allow the killing of an unborn child because it has a cognitive disability. Alas, it does.

In Germany, public and political opinion converged on lateterm abortion after the survival of the Oldenburg Baby. Aborting a baby with Down syndrome was criticised as discrimination of people with disability (though today activists would be less inclined to term Down syndrome a disability).

Notably, the main political parties on the right and left agreed to work together to decrease the demand for abortion, and to put limitations on lateterm abortions.

How well these initiatives have worked is subject to due revision, but the lesson we can draw from this experience is that it is possible to find common ground between those who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice.

There is no benefit in an all-ornothing strategy; one in which the victor wins the whole policy, as was the case in South Africa, which will mark the 22nd an-

niversary of the Termination of Pregnancy Act becoming law on February 1, and as seems to have become the case in Ireland, where last year a referendum voted for the legalisation of abortion.

We may pray that these laws will be overturned one day, but for now they are firmly entrenched.

It would be naive and indeed negligent not to engage with policymakers in order to identify and implement ways of reducing the need for abortion. But this requires finding common ground, even as we may hold irreconcilable basic positions on the moral admissibility of abortion.

One area of common ground towards which we must work is an acknowledgment that high abortion rates constitute a social failure which is fed by poverty, inequality, patriarchy, sexual violence, and an erosion of sexual morality.

Higher abortion rates, it must be clear, do not constitute a victory in the empowerment of women.

Rather than celebrating increased numbers of abortions as a success in the roll-out of clinics, government should see abortion statistics as a sign of crisis, and place a priority on addressing the sources of that crisis. The solutions must include the provision of alternatives to abortion.

In seeking and finding common ground, neither side needs to abandon its basic principles.

When there is no sign that an abortion law will be reversed, it is the lazy option to only protest against it, though protest—and prayer—obviously have a place as well in any strategy intended to protect unborn lives. Our pro-life activism must include concrete action to save unborn lives.

We can do so by supporting the various homes that offer pregnant women in difficult situations an alternative to abortion, such as the various Mater Homes and similar institutions.

And the Church can do so by seeking engagement with those who are in charge of abortion policy, with a view to persuading them to see abortion as a point of crisis in our society, and to act on that.

We owe that to the Oldenburg Baby and the memory of all those lives killed before they could be born.

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.

Pope is right: True brotherhood is needed A LTHOUGH I am in the United States, I read The Southern Cross online. I especially liked the news article “Pope Prays for New Year Marked by Tenderness, Brotherhood, Peace” (January 1). This should be the wish of all Catholics, indeed of all humanity.

Unfortunately, our fast-paced society has led many people to crave instant information, instant gratification, and instant rewards, without verifying the truth, veracity and merit of any given topic.

Before cruise, ask for ship chaplain

I

N her letter in the Christmas issue of The Southern Cross (December 19), Sylvia Reed shared her experience of cruise travel and in particular her concern that crew be helped to celebrate their Catholic faith.

Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) deploys cruise chaplains from its British branch (www.apostle shipofthesea.org.uk/cr uise-chap laincy) for this very reason.

In South Africa we also endeavour to visit the crew of cruise ships when they are in port, and have arranged for priests to celebrate Mass onboard for crew members, as well as offer them practical aid.

To extend this service, it would help if passengers like Ms Reed contacted their cruise companies and asked if they could provide an AoS chaplain.

Companies take passenger feedback seriously, and the opportunity to deploy more priests on cruise ships would be welcomed by AoS. We would also be pleased to have Ms Reed contact us with any suggestions she might have to help us in our pastoral care of seafarers.

We can provide this care onboard only if we are invited by shipping companies via their agents, as we are restricted to certain berths due to security concerns within our ports.

We will be adding additional information to our AoS website as Ms Reed also so rightly suggested.

Nicholas Barends, National director: AoS

There are more than three parties

I

COMMEND The Southern Cross for supporting the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) and Justice & Peace in their joint awareness campaign for voter registration for our impending 2019 general election.

Yet, sending out a 100 000 pamphlets seems to be an exercise in fu-

Catholic news that COUNTS Print or Digital

SUBSCRIBE Digital: R420 • Print R500 • Call Michelle 021 465 5007 or email subscriptions@scross.co.za • www.scross.co.za/subscribe The Catholic Newspaper, Standard Bank, Thibault Square Branch Code:020909, Acc No: 071534342

People on highways are in such a (supposed) hurry, they turn to “road rage” if they feel sloweddown or impeded.

Modern people may have 1 000 Facebook “friends” yet they may only have five “real friends”.

These people could benefit from experiencing true brotherhood in a personal setting, which is eyeballto-eyeball and the touch of an individual handshake.

Then we have people who may go to fast-food restaurants and feel

tility in relation to the number of unregistered new voters in the country.

If one believes the statistics of the last census, that the South African population is 70% Christian, we could unite to have a change of government tomorrow.

My questions are the following: 1. Are Christians ashamed to stand up for their Christian faith?

2. Do Christians want representation in government?

3. Are Christians satisfied with the corrupt ANC government?

4. Do Christians accept the abortion law promulgated by our parliament in 1996?

5. Will Christians continue to vote for corrupt parties (this seems to be the favoured option of the majority of Christians)?

In Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world, the word “Christian” is still relevant in the names of many political parties.

I am ashamed of the South African Christian community for not at least giving us Christians a strong voice in the governing of South Africa, with a return to honest and moral norms.

In his preview of politics in 2019 (January 2), the CPLO’s Mike Pothier appears to accept that there can only be three political parties in South Africa worthy of a mention.

I submit that Christians also consider the African Christian Democratic Party, which stands for Christian principles and, as far as I am aware, has not been accused of corruption.

Bernard Moat, St Helena Bay, Western Cape opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

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

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bitter if the cook or the waiter/waitress gets their “order” wrong.

So, I praise Pope Francis for telling all the faithful around the globe that we need more tenderness, brotherhood and peace in this world—and it all begins if each person would say the words “with me!”

Let brotherhood prevail. Let every moral and social virtue cement us. Let us meet on the level in harmony and equality.

James A Marples, Longview, Texas, USA

Sr Wendy Beckett was from SA

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HANKS for the obituary of renowned TV art critic Sr Wendy Beckett (January 9)—however, not a mention of South Africa.

Sr Wendy was born in Johannesburg and taught in convent schools in South Africa for 17 years.

Surely one of her many thousands of pupils could have added a personal touch?

Neil Pendock, by e-mail n Thank you, Mr Pendock, for pointing out the omission in the obituary.

Sr Wendy Beckett was indeed born in Johannesburg, in 1930. She was raised in Edinburgh and completed her novitiate as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur in England.

She then studied English literature at Oxford, earning a first-class honours degree. The president of her final examinations board was another South African-born personality, JRR Tolkien.

Sr Wendy returned to South Africa around 1954 to teach at the now-defunct Notre Dame Convent School for girls in Constantia, Cape Town.

Later she moved to Johannesburg as the superior of her congregation’s convent there, while also lecturing at Wits University.

She left South Africa for England in 1970. (See also Page 12)—Editor

PERSPECTIVES

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

7

What does our hair say about us?

Nthabiseng O Maphisa UR hair can reveal a lot about us. It can proclaim to the world that we are organised, confident and put-together. Or it can say that we are loud and extravagant.

I have observed from the discussions of others and from my own prejudice that the spending habits of a woman can be told by the quality of her hair extensions or her highlights.

I have also observed the positive relationship between the quantity of hair on a man’s head and his self-esteem.

Our hair can sometimes be a clue to others that we are wading through difficult waters as happens in life. This is noticeable when usually beautifully braided and bouncing locks are combed back into a quiet style.

Why does our hair bring up so much excitement and insecurity within us?

Maybe it is because it is symbolic of our childhood and our upbringing. Certainly, there are two types of parents: those who abide by the axioms of “Thou shalt shampoo and condition” or “Thou shalt cut it all off”, and those with an “anything goes” mentality.

When we page through photo albums, we are reminded of our school days and the strict code of conduct with regard to hair. Heaven knows only too well how elated we were when those days were over, because then we could finally dip our fingers into any box of dye we wanted.

Much like clothing, hairstyles are indicative of the tastes of the era. The decade before my birth, the ’80s, was a wild and raucous period. A great cloud of weirdness blanketed the people of this time. Many naturally beautiful strands were made to endure hours of heat by being ironed and crimped.

Let it not be forgotten that volume was

sought at all costs. “The bigger the better ,they said.” I’m not sure that I agree.

Earlier periods in history have also presented us with the weird and the wonderful. In the Victorian era, women styled their tresses in intricate braids and plaits and twists and curls that would seem far too elaborate for modern-day women. The same could be said for barrister’s wigs although strangely, they have stayed with us.

The manner in which we wear our hair may have more significance than we think.

This is through no fault of our own but arises from the stiff and over-gelled political atmosphere we have been born into.

A

llow me to give an example. In the late 19th century, hair relaxer was invented

our hair says a lot about who we are—but we are all made in God’s image, whatever our style, writes Nthabiseng maphisa.

Every family matters I T’S quite a number of years now that I have been submitting this column under the heading “Family Friendly”.

Apart from the feedback I get from time to time, I do sometimes wonder whether the local Church is any more family-friendly as a result of these contributions.

Most of my work for families is done under the Marfam banner, so to speak, and the Marfam theme for 2019 is “Every Family Matters”.

That’s not quite the same as being family-friendly. I am quite aware that a theme which says that every family matters could result in some raised eyebrows in Catholic circles where maybe only certain familytypes or situations are “approved”.

The 2019 programme consists of a Family Year Planner with monthly themes focusing on different areas of family life.

The explanatory overview of the year planner notes that “marriage is still widely accepted as the ideal basis for family life, a relationship of intimacy and commitment contributing to personal growth and fulfilment”, but it also observes: “The reality is that not all families in our day are built on marriage.”

In fact the White Paper on Families, developed by the Department of Social Development—and to which I contributed some of my time and input—recognises about 14 different family forms, such as single parent with children, cohabiting or childless couples, same-sex unions, and so on.

The US Catholic bishops’ manual “A Family Perspective in Church and Society” also notes the diversity of families and the fact that a family is a changing and developing system.

The nuclear family unit is just one model of family—our task is to care for every type of family.

Changes happen constantly. Some are progressive phases of growth in a couple or parent-child relationship, but many changes too are sudden and unexpected, caused by things such as illness, accident, death, marriage break-down.

T

he programmes and resources I have developed over the years take many of these eventualities into consideration. If the theme for the month is “Parenting”, then whoever plays that role—mom, dad, grandparent, sibling, carer, step-parent— needs to be supported in doing the best for the child or children involved. That is what the year’s theme “Every Family Matters” is all about, challenging as it could be.

Pop Culture Catholic

by Garret Morgan in the US. His product allowed for the kinks and curls in hair that was naturally so to be uncurled. Fast-forward a hundred years, and the industry is flourishing, despite the negative effects of using this chemical straightener.

On the question of sleeker and straighter hair, some opposing views have arisen. It is seen by some as an attempt to replicate the hair textures of other race groups as though one were abandoning one’s ethnic identity. Others argue that not using relaxers results in hair that is unkempt, and is sometimes harshly referred to as “slave hair”.

This idea is made worse by the horror stories of the use of the pencil test by the apartheid government. When it was found that the race of a person could not be determined by their complexion, a pencil was put into their hair. If the pencil fell through the hair to the floor, the applicants were considered to be white. It is no wonder then that this archaic idea of categorising ourselves into boxes of race is strengthened by determining our hair type.

But God made us all in his image—this includes our straight, curly, still, bouncy, colourful, grey hair. The diversity in our various hair textures should help us celebrate our humanity. It should not be a benchmark by which we draw lines of separation according to level of wealth or to determine race.

My hair says girly and sometimes lazy— what does your hair say about you?

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

January’s theme has been “Good Beginnings Matter”, February’s theme is “Loving Families Matter”, and March picks up the national theme of human rights but applies it as “Family Rights Matter”.

But the programme is not just about themes. The main resources in support of the themes in 2019 will be magazines, articles, newsletters and “Family Thoughts For The Day” built around a Scripture passage of the day with a life situation and a quotation, mainly from Pope Francis.

These can be used by any family person, but I wonder whether these couldn’t also be seen as a form of family catechesis?

Evangelisation or family faith-sharing and building up a spirituality of family life is being family-friendly, within the family as God and the Church are incorporated into family life.

Society and the Church are called to adopt the attitude of being family-friendly, too, rather than promoting elements in isolation, such as children or women or abuse or fathers. Work, education, sport, art, politics and so on are all areas that can be more family-friendly as that is where life begins and ends, and life lessons and skills are taught or caught.

Even those living alone or apart remain connected to a family in good times and in bad—hopefully mostly good—if and when we pray for and support the ideal that “Every Family Matters”! n Visit www.marfam.org.za or e-mail info@marfam.org.za if you wish to receive “Family Thoughts For The Day” by e-mail.

OMI STAMPS

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

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

High-profile case: madeleine mcCann pictured at three and as she might have looked aged nine.

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

See the human General Intention: For a generous welcome of the victims of human trafficking, of enforced prostitution, and of violence.

T is an extremely sad fact that people disappear every day and the world hardly seems to notice.

Some end up in the hands of cruel criminals who traffic them into bonded labour or prostitution.

However, occasionally the disappearance of a person, especially a child, hits and holds the headlines. The most memorable example was Madeleine McCann, the four-year-old British girl who went missing from a hotel room in Portugal in 2007.

It is presumed that she was kidnapped, and despite the huge publicity given to the case, and international police investigations, her whereabouts remains unknown.

Why some disappearances catch the world’s attention and some do not is one of the mysteries of the media. However, what the media coverage helped us to appreciate more deeply in the McCann case was just how terrible and traumatic it all was for her family, particularly her distraught parents.

But, thanks to the unusual level of coverage, Madeleine McCann was always a person, never a statistic and so she and her family were given what most victims of trafficking do not receive—sympathy, solidarity and practical help.

More than ten years after her disappearance, there is still media interest in the case. Her parents say they will never give up the search to find her.

Our task as Christians is to resist making people who suffer in this way into mere statistics.

Of course, this is tremendously difficult given the huge numbers of people we are talking about.

Every year thousands of children disappear. Every year thousands of young people across the globe respond to some tempting online advert about a better life abroad which turns out to be a trafficking racket in which they end up as quasi-slaves. Every year thousands of people are forced by economic circumstances to take their chances crossing the Sahara and the Mediterranean.

We must look at the individual cases to remind ourselves of what happens to so many people.

I

I

n Denied Acess, a film recently released by the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Jesuit Institute, Holy Cross Sister Francis Grogan is interviewed in the centre that her community runs in Mussina. She cited the terribly tragic case of a young woman migrant from Zimbabwe who got lost in a game farm on the South African side of the border and was killed by lions. It is hard to imagine the grief suffered by her family and friends. (see the film at www.spotlight,deniedaccess).

We are dealing here with systemic violence, a whole diabolical structure which forces people to take terrible risks and which makes it possible for the most callous criminals to treat people in ways resembling the slave trade of earlier times.

A further element in our task as Christians is to examine the economic world that we have made, this system which makes these forms of modern slavery possible and profitable. We must be convinced that “another world is possible”—one in which there is neither the push of economic desperation nor the pull of organised criminal trafficking, and small children and vulnerable adults do not simply disappear.

As Christians we are being asked by God to stand out from the crowd of popular politics of today which would simply send these desperate people back to the misery from which they have escaped.

The example of the mayor of Palermo in Sicily, Leoluca Orlando, who courageously welcomes refugees and migrants to his city, is prophetic. In June 2018, in defiance of orders from the Italian government, Mr Orlando stated that he would allow a ship carrying 629 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya to dock in the city.

“We have always welcomed lifeboats and vessels which have saved lives at sea. We will not stop now,” he said. His example could well have inspired this intention. n A brief video on this theme, featuring Pope Francis himself, can be viewed at www.popesprayerusa.net/ category/pope-video/

8

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

COMMUNITY St Augustine’s church in Esterville, Paarl, Cape Town archdiocese, celebrated the First Communion of five young parishioners.

With them are Paarl area assistant parish priest Fr Shaun Addinall and catechist Jacqui Pretorius. (Submitted by Jaylene Pheiffer)

The Catholic Women’s league of St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, held an event to enrol two new members, Hilda Selamdela and Hadio Dlamini.

(Photo: Sello mokoka)

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za Sisters monica Phakathi and Blandine Kondo Nsele made their final vows as missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood in mariannhill diocese. With Srs monica and Blandine (centre with candles) are Bishops Pius mlungusi Dlungwane of mariannhill and Stanislaw Dziuba of umzimkulu, priests and Sisters of the order’s provincial leadership. (Photo: Sr marie Stella Choi)

The 2018 matric class at Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban, achieved a 100% pass rate.

Seen with principal ursula Collings are top matric students lungelo Nyoka (left) and ryan Paliem (right), both of whom received six distinctions.

Nyolohelo church in Sebokeng, Johannesburg, celebrated the First Communion of young members of the parish.

With them are Fr Sekabata Solomon mphela oFm and Deacon Simon mokoena.

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Catholic Women’s league members of our lady of Fatima parish in Durban North donated puzzles and men’s liners to the Bill Buchanan Association for the Aged in morningside, Berea. (Submitted

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The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

FAITH

9

Stop the exodus to Pentecostal churches In the second part of his article on Pentecostalism, ProF mICHAEl oGuNu discusses what attracts Catholics to Pentecostal churches, and what the Church can do about it.

cause they find the doctrines and teachings of the Church especially on marriage (indissolubility) too hard for them to follow.

There are also many who are looking for immediate solutions to their problems, and the Pentecostal churches promise to find these.

These Churches practise positive thinking, linked to the promises made by God in the Bible.

So by the time a few of the problems of the weak Catholics are solved by fasting and prayer, they then build up their own faith and confidence in the word of God by studying the Bible more.

L

AST week we looked at the origins of the Pentecostal movement, including the rise of the Catholic Charismatic Movement.

This week we examine why Catholics drift to Pentecostal churches.

Any serious attempt at assessing the effects of Pentecostalism on the Catholic faithful must begin not only with an understanding of what Pentecostalism is but also with the basic issue of why Catholics go to Pentecostal churches.

There are various reasons why some Catholics leave their Church and go to Pentecostal churches.

The instrumentum laboris for the Second Synod for Africa, issued in 2009, mentions the following “attractions”: • Healing and care for the sick; • Ability to deal with evil spirits and witches; • Search for palpable salvation; • Desire to know Scripture and the word of God better; • Attractive and persuasive preaching; • Quest for spiritual experiences of another kind; • Thirst for knowledge; • Strong sense of community and brotherhood; • Mutual help of a material kind given in a spirit of solidarity; • An inculturated liturgy, which gives free expression to feelings in prayer.

Fr Donatus Udoette in a 1997 paper titled “The Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria in the age of the New Religious Movements” observed that among the outstanding characteristics of the new religious movements (including Pentecostals) which makes it possible for them to continue to proliferate, expand and attract members from the old mission churches are: • Lively and dynamic mode of worship; • Centrality of the Bible; • Emphasis on healing and wholeness; • Prophecy and visions; • Brotherhood and togetherness.

Let us examine these factors.

Lively and dynamic worship Many well-meaning Catholics have posited that one of the most important reasons why Catholics leave the Church and go to Pentecostal churches is the latter's fulfilling mode of worship.

“Contrary to the rather dull, formalised and stylised mode of worship in the mainline Churches (including the Catholic Church), the new religious movements adopt a mode of worship which is dynamic and lively and which strongly appeals to Africans because it suits their socio-cultural context,” Fr Udoette said.

“Worship in these churches is uninhibited and exuberant; it can last for hours, and a large part of this time is spent shouting, singing, savaging, clapping, dancing, moving around the church.

“Some of the praying will be in tongues. Some congregants may be weeping, even in trance-like states.

The service is thoroughly experiential; it can truly be called a celebration.”

There is no doubt, said Fr Udoette, that such lively modes of worship are appealing to Africans who by nature are very lively and dynamic, and who have come to see the mainline Churches as dull, uninteresting, and incapable of carrying them along as Africans.

Centrality of the Bible Pentecostals place a very high

A Pentecostal worship service in Cancun, mexico. In his article, Prof michael ogunu explains what qualities make Pentecostalism attractive to Catholics, and what the Church can do to stop the exodus of Catholics to these churches. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons) premium on the Bible as the word of God and as the centre and foundation of their religious and daily life.

They read the Bible assiduously, devouring and savouring every word. Pastors in these churches preach with their bibles in hand, and members attend services with their bibles, marking, underlining, and quoting relevant passages as their pastors indicate to them from the pulpit.

Some Catholics do not know and understand the Catholic faith they profess. All they know is what they learnt at Catechism classes for their baptism or confirmation.

Many do not even understand the Holy Eucharist (Holy Mass) and do not actively participate in it.

For such Catholics, the Holy Mass is a dull routine they are obliged to attend every Sunday in order not to go to hell.

Healing and wholeness Many Catholics go to Pentecostal churches because of the emphases these place on healing and wholeness which tallies with the traditional cosmological conception of the universe.

Many Africans believe that sickness is caused not by bacteria or by defective organs but by spiritual beings which work through people and events and through objects.

Whereas the mainline Churches sometimes neglect this traditional understanding of the causes of illness and misfortune, says Fr Udoette, the new religious movements accept them entirely and try spiritually to offer solutions in order to free people from their problems.

They recognise the existence of malignant spiritual powers, especially witches, who afflict people with various kinds of ailments. They also hold witches and evil spirits responsible for incurable diseases, and if any epidemic breaks out in a village or town, they attribute it to these evil forces or the ill-will of some people against others.

In the urban areas, where individualism and anonymity reign, Pentecostal churches provide solace for the lonely and comfort for the broken hearted.

Members of these Churches are called to regard one another as brothers and sisters and to encourage, support and sympathise with one another in difficult circumstances.

Visiting of the sick members of these churches, for example, is not left to their pastors but is the business of anybody who feels called individually “to rejoice with those who weep”. In this way relationships are transformed and people really feel wanted and at home with one another.

People leave the Catholic Church because of lack of enough concern for Church members in times of difficulty. Sometimes, the impression is given that all the Church is interested in is to collect money (levies, dues, and so on) from members, and nothing more.

Closely allied to the above is bad leadership. Cruelty, insensitivity, gross materialism, tribalism, poor human relations, financial mismanagement or misappropriation and moral scandal are some of the ills that turn the weary pilgrim away from the Church to wherever else they believe salvation can be found.

Some leave because they do not see in the Catholic Church enough manifestation of the power of God. There are others who leave be-

Stopping the exodus hat can we do to stop the exW odus of Catholics to Pentecostal churches?

It seems obvious that Pentecostalism poses a real danger to the Catholic faithful in Africa, who are exposed to the various devices aimed at winning them over.

The following measures are recommended to stop the drift:

Counselling services There should be greater involvement of priests in the lives of the faithful.

Efforts should be made to reach out to Church members and help fill the void in the various areas of their lives.

To this end, counselling centres should be set up in each parish and a sound counselling programme installed to enable priests to attend to the spiritual and other needs of parishioners.

The Church should show more concern for the needs of its members. To this end, time should be created for counselling and prayers.

There are many Catholics who flock to prayer houses and prophets for counselling and prayers. Some of the conditions include that they should change their faith.

As part of the concern, there should be visitation teams and the Small Christian Communities should be made more active.

Bible and theology study The Church should make it mandatory for all parishes to have Bible classes for children and adults outside the Scripture reading periods at Mass.

Only Catholics of unquestion-

able orthodoxy should be in charge of such classes.

The Bible classes should be used as avenues of explaining the Mass and Catholic faith and doctrine.

There should be a continuous study of the Catholic doctrines, especially during the Mass and other Church celebrations. Emphasis should be placed on those controversial aspects of the doctrine.

Also, seminars and workshops on the Catholic faith should be encouraged in Catholic churches.

Priests and Church leaders should spend more time talking about the Word of God, especially at Mass, rather than focusing on other things such as money, tithes and seed-sowing.

The Sunday-to-Sunday word of God which Catholics hear when they attend Mass is totally insufficient. Bible reading/study should be a mandatory part of all zonal meetings and Church societies.

Church bulletins should carry not just Bible readings but also explanations of the readings, or periodicals which publish these (such as The Southern Cross) should be vigorously promoted.

The faithful should be given adequate education on the teachings of the Church. Short-term programmes (ranging from three months to a year) designed to give theological education to the laity should be set up or encouraged.

Reaching out Outreach programmes—such as Rosary crusades and carnivals, seminars, workshops, and so on— aimed at the spiritual enrichment of Catholics should be organised at parish, deanery and diocesan levels.

Integrate the youth There should be greater integration of youths in the life of the Church, especially at the parish level.

Marian devotion Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary should be intensified.

More positive encouragement should be given to the daily recitation of the Rosary and the practice of Five First Saturdays devotion of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Rosary walks, crusades and carnivals should be regular features in the programme of parishes and deaneries. n Prof Michael Ogunu is the president of the executive board of the World Apostolate of Fatima in Africa.

Living the joy of the Gospel as a Franciscan Friar!

Prophecy and visions Prophecy and visions are elements in the Pentecostal churches which appeal very strongly to some Catholics.

These churches regard prophecy and visions as a means of looking into the future or of revealing the causes of what is actually happening in the present, such as sickness or misfortune.

“Prophets” in these churches claim to be specially inspired by God, and so act as God's messengers or vice-regents to the people. Their words are not doubted since they are believed to be agents of God who speak with the authority of God himself.

Fellowship Some Catholics go to Pentecostal churches because of the seeming inability or unpreparedness of their Church to fill the void in their lives.

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10

The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

CHURCH

Pope Francis at World Youth Days Next week, Pope Francis will preside over his third World Youth Day. In the final article in his five-part series on past WYDs, GÜNTHEr SImmErmACHEr looks at the festivals in Rio in 2013 and Krakow in 2016.

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OPE Francis inherited the location of his first World Youth Day, in Rio de Janeiro, from his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. It is said that the thought of making the long journey to Brazil, with the packed itinerary of a World Youth Day, was one factor in Pope Benedict’s decision to renounce the papacy in February 2013.

In Rio, Pope Francis announced the location of the following WYD as the city in which Pope John Paul II had served as cardinal-archbishop before his 1978 election to the papacy.

2013: Rio de Janeiro

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HE host for WYD 2005 had been appointed by Pope John Paul II as Cologne in Germany. He died a few months before the event took place. Instead his German successor, Pope Benedict XVI, went— poignantly—to his home country.

The host for WYD 2013 had been set by Benedict XVI as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

He resigned a few months before the event took place.

Instead, his Argentinian successor, Pope Francis, went—poignantly to his home continent.

For the new pope, this was the first foreign papal trip. For Rio, it was the first of three global events in the space of four years, ahead of the football World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Before he went to Rio, Pope Francis made a stop at the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, regarded by many as the spiritual centre of South America’s Church.

At the shrine, he challenged parents, priests and other adult Catholics to give the young people

Top left: The World Youth Day cross is set in place during the opening ceremony for WYD 2013 on rio’s Copacabana beach. Centre: South Africans are among the pilgrims at a mercy Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, during the Days in the Dioceses that preceded WYD 2016 in Poland. Right: Pope Francis hears a confession as he visits the Divine mercy Shrine in lagiewnicki, a suburb of Krakow. (Photos: ricardo moraes, reuters/CNS • lebo lentsoane • l’osservatore romano) things that the world, with all its wealth, cannot offer: faith and values.

In Rio, Pope Francis demonstrated his powers of communication: in his words and in his appreciation for the impact of wellchosen symbolisms.

It started before he even left: the pope carried his own well-worn briefcase as he boarded his flight to Brazil. And in Rio, he was driven not in a limo but in a modest Fiat.

At one point the car got stuck in Rio’s traffic and was mobbed by enthusiastic people. Pope Francis rolled down the window and engaged with the crowds—to the horror of his bodyguards.

“Security lies in trusting people,” the pope later explained. “It’s true that there’s always the danger that a crazy person will try to do something, but there’s also the Lord,” he said. And, he added, sealing off a bishop behind bullet-proof glass “is also craziness”.

Everywhere he went, the pope repeated his basic message: for social justice (his visit to a Rio favela was a moment that touched many hearts), the need for a more humble and empathetic Church leadership, and a more active and engaged laity.

Perhaps more than any words, it was the concrete witness of visiting impoverished shantytowns that gave substance to the theme of WYD 2013: “Go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19)”.

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nlike Madrid in 2011, Rio experienced few organisational problems. Timothy Harris of Cape

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Town, who attended both WYDs (as well as Sydney’s in 2008) noted: “Everything ran smoothly. The Brazilians did an impressive job of coordinating the whole week.”

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lthough official registrations were lower than expected, the number of pilgrims who did turn up was spectacular.

More than a million young people came to Copacabana beach on the Friday to meditate on the Stations of the Cross.

And 3,2 million people—the number calculated by the mayor’s office—attended the final WYD Mass on Copacabana beach, making it the biggest such event since

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1995, when an estimated 5 million attended Mass with Pope John Paul II in Manila in the Philippines.

Copacabana was not the original venue for that event, but after three days of rain, the overnight vigil and closing Mass had to be moved from Campus Fidei in Guaratibato, 30km outside the city, which had become a giant mud pit.

The weather wasn’t much kinder on the beach, where pilgrims suffered wind and rain.

But just as they gladly suffered the heat in Madrid two years before, the pilgrims to Rio were not fazed by the inclement elements.

Katlego Ramoshaba of Atteridgeville, Pretoria, spoke for many when he told The Southern Cross: “There’s just something special and even divine when so many young people are gathered in one place for one reason—Christ. One can even feel it around you when you are standing there; it’s an emotional outer-body moment, realising how truly great and awesome God is.”

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n 2016, Poland became the first country to host a WYD twice (if one regards the 1984 and ’85 festivals in Rome as unofficial WYDs).

In 1991 it was held at the Marian shrine of Czestochowa, with Pope John Paul II presiding. Now, a quarter of a century later, WYD was held in the city where he had been archbishop before becoming pope.

And St John Paul II, who had been canonised two years earlier, loomed large over it. The Divine Mercy devotion, based on the reported apparitions by St Faustina Kowalska and promoted tirelessly by the late pope, featured prominently.

And that was fitting: 2016 was the Year of Mercy, and the WYD theme drew from that: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Mt 5:7). This meant that the focus was on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, with Pope Francis calling on young people to model mercy for adults.

“Today we adults—we adults— need you to teach us, like you are doing now, how to live with diversity, in dialogue, to experience multiculturalism not as a threat but an opportunity,” the pope told the youth at the prayer vigil.

He called on the youth to be builders of bridges in an age when it is easy to sit on the couch and tweet popular stereotypes like “All Muslims are terrorists” or “Immigrants steal our jobs”.

An estimated 2 million young people attended WYD 2016. Nearly 50 cardinals, 800 bishops and 20 000 priests from around the world were also there. Eight Southern African bishops came to Krakow, including Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban,

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg, Bishops Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp, Stanislaw Dziuba of Umzimkulu, Adam Musialek of De Aar (the latter both Polish by birth), José Ponce de León of Manzini in Swaziland, and Frank Nabuasah of Francistown, Botswana.

In a poignant note, the graphics for WYD 2016 were designed by a young man who didn’t live to see the event. Maciej Szymon Ciesla, 22, died of cancer just a couple of weeks before WYD started.

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s part of his visit to Poland, Pope Francis visited the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz, where he met with survivors of the Holocaust and prayed in front of the wall of the crematorium. He then entered Block 11 where St Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Franciscan martyr, was starved and eventually killed.

Afterwards Pope Francis noted that humanity’s cruelty did not end with the Holocaust but goes on in the suffering of those living through war, homelessness and persecution. Christ, he said, not only “suffered 2 000 years ago” but continues to suffer in today’s world.

WYDs are events of encounter.

In Krakow a group of Palestinian Catholics and a contingent of Hebrew-speaking Catholics from Israel found themselves in the same sector at the Field of Mercy for the closing programmes.

“We can’t really meet each other in our country. We can’t talk faceto-face because there are walls and checkpoints,” said Israeli Catholic Danielle Maman of Jerusalem.

Michael Abusada, 26, a Palestinian living in Jerusalem, said: “We should all, as Palestinians and Christians, be one together. All of us can bring home peace, love and the mercy of Jesus.”

In a meeting with 20 000 volunteers, Pope Francis talked about the next WYD, in Panama City in January 2019.

The pope stressed the importance of memory—”of my people, of my family, my history”—for those who aim to be the “hope for the future”.

“Promise me that when you prepare for Panama, you are going to speak to your grandparents! They are the wisdom of the people.”

The pope, then 79 years old, said he did not know whether he would be in Panama. But Peter—the first pope—would be.

“And Peter will ask you if you have talked with their grandparents, if you have talked with the elders” in order to have this memory. He will also ask “if you’ve had the courage and boldness to deal with situations, and have sown seeds for the future”.

“And to Peter, you will give a clear answer—is that clear?” the pope asked. The youth replied with a resounding: “Yes!”

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The Southern Cross, January 23 to January 29, 2019

Fr Larry McDonnell SDB

S

ALESIAN Father Larry McDonnell of Manzini, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) died on December 25 at the age of 83.

Born in Ireland in 1935, Fr McDonnell was ordained in 1962. He spent 48 years of his long priesthood serving the poor in Eswatini.

So often we hear of scandals and bad examples within the priesthood. In reality, these priests constitute but a small percentage of the priesthood.

Rarely do we hear about one of God’s faithful servants who (like the majority of priests) day in and day out fulfils his ministry in quiet fidelity and love.

Fr Larry—Inyoni, as he was fondly called by most of us who were his students—faithfully fulfilled his ministry up until the last few months of his life, when ill health finally overcame him.

He was well known and loved by us students and the entire Eswatini nation. Fr Larry was an extraordinary person, and his accomplishments and impact on the country will be felt by many generations to come.

He was not the sort of a priest who gave brilliant homilies from the pulpit. Nevertheless, he gave an inspiring witness of his love for God and self-sacrificing service in his priestly ministry.

It is the union with Christ that guided and shaped the life of Fr Larry. In his case this was so much so that it would be difficult to define his personality,

even to conceive of his life, apart from the priesthood.

Always dignified, courteous, humble and kind, he seemed to inhabit a different world from ours—certainly different from the godless one that inspires ambition, greed, lust and all the capital vices to which so many, priests included, have succumbed in our day.

Fr Larry stood out from the corruption of the times and seems to have passed his days among us as a visitor of a bygone time when civility and holiness were more the rule than the exception.

Yet we know so well that virtues such as these are not native to any of our fallen race; they are rather the fruit of self-discipline and prayer, exercises Fr

Larry was well-acquainted with.

I find it remarkable that this man—who did not call attention to himself or accomplish feats regarded as great by the world—was so deeply appreciated and loved by so many.

Fr Larry spoke to people through his priestly life. And here, I would say, is where the greatness of the man shone forth. I would like to mention some qualities, not to eulogise him—that’s for the Lord to do— but to spur us on to attain a higher degree of sanctity.

The thing that stands out in my own mind about Fr Larry was his commitment to social responsibility and charity.

Also, he was not attached to worldly possessions. He had little and seemed to need little.

But he was generous.

We will all miss Fr Larry, but will rely on his continued help from the next life. We still have much to learn within our time of life as Christians-in-the-making.

In the meantime, we will remember Fr Larry in our prayers, never presuming upon his merits, imploring the good Lord soon to grant him fellowship with the saints, and unbounded happiness and everlasting union with Jesus and his beloved Blessed Mary Virgin.

Fr Larry was buried at St Joseph’s mission cemetery after a Requiem Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption cathedral in Manzini.

By Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini

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GLOVER—Agnes Valerie (née Anderson). Passed away peacefully on 12/01/2019. Daughter of Frank and Jean, and sister of Janet and the late Tom and rex. mother of Jenny, Cheryl and rodney. A gentle and compassionate lady who will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

PRAYERS

PRAYER TO ST JUDE IN THANkS: Holy St Jude, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I had recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly begged you to come to my assistance. You helped me in my need and granted my petition. In return I promised to make your name known and publish this prayer.

Amen. Very sincere and grateful thanks to St Jude for prayers answered. BS.

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This pattern of engagement with people on the margins continued in Sr Linda’s life as she taught at Loreto Skinner Street in Pretoria; Guardian Angels College in Glen Cowie, Limpopo; and Holy Trinity School in Atteridgeville, Pretoria.

In the mid-1980s it led her to pastoral ministry, firstly in Acornhoek with Mozambican refugees and in the 1990s in

Kwaguqa, Witbank.

She was also involved in pastoral counselling, especially with those affected by HIV/Aids.

Another key aspect of Sr Linda’s life was her deep appreciation of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius as a guide on our pathway to God. She believed these exercises were suited to all sorts of people.

She committed herself, especially in the last 25 years of her life, to accompanying people in their personal growth through spiritual direction and retreat giving.

She was also province leader for the Loreto Sisters for five years, and in that time worked consistently with others in developing the Catholic Schools’ Trust.

Sr Linda’s generous spirit, her skills in various fields, and her sense of humour touched many lives.

To advertise call Yolanda Timm on 021 465 5007or e-mail advertising@scross.co.za

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: January 27: Bishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein on his 75th birthday January 27: Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg on the 28th anniversary of his episcopal ordination January 28: Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town on the 12th anniversary of his episcopal ordination January 31: Bishop Joe Sandri of Witbank on the 9th anniversary of his episcopal ordination February 1: Bishop Siegfried Mandla Jwara, Vicar Apostolic of Ingwavuma, on his 62nd birthday

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 847. ACROSS: 3 Euphrates, 8 Thaw, 9 Dissenter, 10 Pulpit, 11 Death, 14 Demur, 15 Euro, 16 Yokel, 18 Toss, 20 Inane, 21 Scams, 24 Shekel, 25 Observant, 26 Anna, 27 Paragraph.

DOWN: 1 Stupidity, 2 Daily Mass, 4 Unit, 5 Haste, 6 Agnate, 7 Eyes, 9 Diary, 11 Dykes, 12 Humankind, 13 Come clean, 17 Light, 19 Schema, 22 Mover, 23 Abba, 24 Snap.

of light and fountain of wisdom! Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance.

Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself.

Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion. This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with you and the Father, forever and ever. Amen.

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Sr Linda Prest IBVM ORETO Sister Linda Prest, aged 78, died peacefully on December 28 at Holy Cross Home in Pretoria, where she had been lovingly cared for in recent years.

Sr Linda was born in Cape Town in 1941. Having been schooled at Loreto Sea Point, she qualified as a teacher at the University of Cape Town before entering religious life in 1962.

From her early teaching days in Loreto Strand, she was firmly committed to Care of the Faith, which is central to the charism of the congregation’s founder Mary Ward.

Sr Linda was always very sensitive to justice needs in South Africa and was involved in outreach to the needy from her young days.

She encouraged her pupils to do likewise, and many of them remain committed to the needs of others to this day.

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ST THOMAS AQUINAS PRAYER: Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, true source

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PARISH NOTICES

NEW PARISH NOTICES MOST WELCOME: If any parish notices listed are no longer valid, call us on 021 465-5007 or e-mail us at m.leveson@scross.co.za so that we can remove them.

Also, we’d welcome new notices from parishes across Southern Africa to run free in the classifieds.

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.

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset road, Cape Town. Followed by vigil at abortion clinic. Contact Colette Thomas on 083 4124836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP on 078 7392988.

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.

GOD BLESS AFRICA

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1

Guard our people, guide our leaders and give us peace. Luke 11:1-13 The

Sunday January 27, 3rd Sunday of the Year Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10, Psalm 19:8-10, 15, 1 Corinthians 12:12-30, Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Monday January 28, St Thomas Aquinas Hebrews 9:15, 24-28, Psalm 98:1-6, Mark 3:22-30 Tuesday January 29 Hebrews 10:1-10, Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 10, 11, Mark 3:31-35 Wednesday January 30 Hebrews 10:11-18, Psalm 110:1-4, Mark 4:1-20 Thursday January 31, St John Bosco Hebrews 10:19-25, Psalm 24:1-6, Mark 4:21-25 Friday February 1, Bl Benedict Daswa Hebrews 10:32-39, Psalm 37:3-6, 23-24, 39-40, Mark 4:26-34. Proper readings for the memorial: Wisdom 2:12-20 or Ephesians 6:10-17, Psalm 27:1-4, John 12:24-26 Saturday February 2, Presentation of the Lord Malachi 3:1-4 or Hebrews 2:14-18, Psalm 24:7-10, Luke 2:22-40 Sunday February 3, 4th Sunday of the Year Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19, Psalm 71:1-6, 15, 17, 1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13, Luke 4:21-30

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: Po Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: michael Shackleton, Local News: Erin Carelse (e.carelse@scross.co.za) Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), mary leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: Yolanda Timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za), Directors: r Shields (Chair), Archbishop S Brislin, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H makoro CPS, J mathurine, G Stubbs

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

the

4th Sunday: February 3 Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19, Psalm 71:16, 15, 17, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13, Luke 4:21-30

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HE only thing worth doing is to discover how God wants us to spend our lives; but as next Sunday’s readings remind us, that is not necessarily going to be the most comfortable option.

In the first reading we are privileged witnesses to Jeremiah being told by God how he is to spend his life: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came out of the womb, I consecrated you; as a prophet to the nations I gave you.”

That sounds great, but read on: “Put on your kit…up you get and tell them everything I order you…I am going to make you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a brass wall against the entire land, and against the kings of Judah and its princes and its priests, and the people of the land. They are going to make war against you, and they shall not be able to cope with you because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”

So he has his vocation, but it is going to be far from an easy ride.

The psalm for next Sunday is apparently uttered by someone who has heard God’s call, and finds it heavygoing: “In your justice deliver me [Jeremiah had used the same word]

S outher n C ross

…be my rock and my refuge.” Things are tricky, and he is begging God: “My God, deliver me, rescue me from the hand of the wicked…You are my hope, Lord. Lord, from my mother’s womb you are my strength…in you I have hoped continually.”

Our poet is well aware of the difficulties, but he is game and will keep going.

In today’s second reading the difficulty is that the Corinthians (as always) are fighting.

To try to stop them, Paul composes for them the hymn to love that you hear at almost every wedding you have ever attended. It is a beautiful piece of writing, with the point being that love is all that matters.

The Corinthians pride themselves on their ability to “speak the languages of human beings and angels”, but without love they are no better than “echoing bronze and clashing cymbals”.

They are likewise very impressed with their own spiritual gifts: prophecy, knowledge of mysteries, faith strong enough to get mountains on the move, even generosity with giving gifts to the poor.

Then Paul draws a picture of what love really looks like; and if you listen closely you

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documentary on television and was an immediate hit with a wide audience. She soon began to host her own BBC show, Sister Wendy’s Odyssey, which was so popular it sometimes attracted one quarter of the British television audience.

Anyone who watched her programmes was soon taken by three things: The absolute joy present in her as she discussed a piece of art; her capacity to articulate in simple and clear language the meaning of a work of art; and her earthy appreciation of sensuality and the nude human body which she, as a consecrated virgin, could describe with disarming appreciation.

All those qualities—her joy, her simplicity of language, and her pure gaze of admiration for the nude human body—were what endeared her to her audience but also brought scorn from a number of critics.

They mocked her simplicity of language, censured her for not being more critical of the art she presented, and were put

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI Final reflection

off by that fact that she, a consecrated virgin, could so comfortably discuss sensuality and the nude human body. They found it difficult to digest that this pious woman, a consecrated virgin, clad in a traditional religious habit, sporting thick glasses and buck-teeth, could be so much at ease with sensuality.

Robert Hughes of Time magazine once mocked her as a “relentlessly chatty pseudo-hermit with her signature teeth” whose observations were “pitched to a 15-year-old” audience. Feminist Germaine Greer challenged her competence to describe erotic art given the fact that she was a consecrated virgin.

Sr Wendy mostly smiled at criticisms and countered them this way: “I’m not a critic,” she would say, “I’m an appreciator.”

Conrad

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s to her comfort with sensuality and the nude body, she would answer that just because she was committed to celibacy did not mean that she was not fully appreciative of human sensuality, sexuality, and the beauty of the human body—all of it.

There are of course different ways in which the unclothed human body can be perceived, and Sr Wendy was a smiling, unapologetic appreciator of one of them. An unclothed human body can be shown as “nude” or as “naked”. Good art uses nudity to honour the human body (surely one of God’s great masterpieces) while pornography uses nakedness to exploit the human body.

Sr Wendy was also unapologetic about the fact that her

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Sunday reflections

will see that it is a portrait of what the Corinthians are not doing, and even more, it is a portrait of Paul’s beloved Jesus: “patient, kindly, not jealous, not grudge-bearing, not ‘puffed up’, not acting indecently, not seeking one’s own self-interest, not getting provoked, not counting up evil or rejoicing at immorality, but rejoicing along with the Truth”.

It is a beautiful picture, brought to an end by one of Paul’s striking climaxes: “As it is, there remain faith, hope, love, these three things. And the greatest of these is love.”

Paul may have already known that his plea had fallen on deaf ears; but perhaps we can listen to him today and see how God wants us to live. It is undeniably the greatest way to go.

The Gospel offers us the uncomfortable aftermath of Jesus’ first sermon.

At first the reaction seems favourable: “They testified to him, and were stunned at the graceful words that came out of his mouth.”

But then remember that he is “only the boy next door”: “Isn’t this Joseph’s boy?”

He then quotes a familiar proverb: “Doctor, cure yourself”, and continues in a way that really annoys them, reminding them that other “men of God” from Galilee, like

Remembering TV star nun O community should botch its deaths. The renowned anthropologist Mircea Eliade suggested this, and its truth applies to communities at every level. No family should send off a member without proper reflection, ritual and blessings.

On December 26 the family of art and the family of faith lost a cherished member. Sr Wendy Beckett, aged 88, famed art critic, committed woman of faith, and nurturing friend to many, died.

Since 1970, after leaving South Africa, Sr Wendy had been living as a consecrated virgin and hermit on the grounds of a Carmelite convent in England, praying for several hours a day, translating religious tracts, and going to daily Eucharist.

Early on, after choosing this way of life, she began to study art history, started writing articles for magazines, and published the first of more than 30 books on art.

In 1991, she did a short BBC

Nicholas King SJ

Game for the difficulties

Elijah (looking after the widow from Sarepta of Sidon) and Elisha (healing the leper Naaman from Syria) went not to their fellow-Jews but to Gentiles.

This first outline of Jesus’ vocation to the Gentiles causes a murderous fury in his hearers: “They were all filled with rage when they heard this…and they rose up and expelled him outside the city; and they led him to the brow of the mountain on which their city was built, so as to push him down the cliff.”

And just when you are thinking, “I don’t think that I want a vocation today, thankyou”, it turns out that all is well: “And he went through the midst of them and went on a journey.”

However, that is not, as we know, the end of the story, and at the climax of the journey there will be another, and successful, attempt on his life.

Nevertheless, the deepest truth for us remains that the only way for us to go, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem, is to follow the Lord’s leading.

Southern Crossword #847

consecrated virginity did not disprivilege her from appreciating the erotic. She was right.

Somewhere we have developed the false, debilitating notion that consecrated celibates must, like little children, be protected from the erotic so that even while they’re supposed to be doctors of the soul they should be shielded from the deep impulses and secrets of the soul.

Sr Wendy didn’t buy that.

Neither should we. Chastity is not intended to be that kind of naiveté.

F

ull disclosure: I had a personal link to Sr Wendy.

Many years ago, when I was young and still searching for my own voice as a spiritual writer, she sent me a large, beautifully-framed print of Paul Klee’s famous 1923 painting “Eros”. For the past 29 years it has hung on a wall behind my computer screen so that I see it every time I write— and it has helped me understand that it’s God’s colour, God’s light, and God’s energy that inform erotic longing.

In 1993, while visiting the monastery where Sr Wendy lived, I had the opportunity to go out to a restaurant with her.

Our waiter was initially taken aback by her traditional religious habit and timidly asked her: “Sister, might I bring you some water?” She flashed a smile and said: “No, water’s for washing. Bring me some wine!”

The waiter relaxed and much enjoyed bantering with her for the rest of the meal.

And that was Sr Wendy, an anomaly to many: a consecrated virgin discoursing on eros, a hermit but famous art critic, and an intellectually brilliant woman who befuddled critics with her simplicity.

But, like all great minds, there was a remarkable consistency at a deeper level, at that place where the critic and the appreciator are one. n See also Page 6.

ACROSS

3. The fourth river (Gn 2) (9) 8. What a change from frozen solid (4) 9. Diners set for one who’s not orthodox (9) 10. The preacher’s platform (6) 11. O, ... where is your victory? (1 Cor 15) (5) 14. In wide murals you show reluctance (5) 15. Currency of the Vatican (4) 16. Bumpkin (5) 18. Fling to the steamship (4) 20. Turn Annie around till she’s silly (5) 21. Modern frauds (5) 24. Money in Israel (6) 25. Franciscan following the strict rule will notice everything (9) 26. Daughter of Phanuel (Lk 2) (4) 27. A separate part of the text (9)

Solutions on page 11

DOWN

x1. Lack of common sense (9) 2. Liturgy every day of the week (5,4) 4. Individual (4) 5. If you hurry, you’ll make it (5) 6. Descended from male ancestor (6) 7. Sight organs that are heard to be dotted (4) 9. Record of events (5) 11. They keep floods from the Dutch church (5) 12. The people of the world (9) 13. Tell the truth and arrive spotless (4,5) 17. It was created on the first day (Gn 1) (5) 19. Outline of a plan by McShea (6) 22. One on the go is also a shaker (5) 23. Jesus’ name for his Father (Mk 14) (4) 24. Period of cold weather that can break (4)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE Requiem Mass was about to begin when a visitor approached the usher.

“What’s the WiFi password here?” he asked.

“Respect the dead!” the usher replied.

“Great,” the visitor said, “is that all in small letters?”

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