190605

The

S outher n C ross www.scross.co.za

June 5 to June 11, 2019

Priest was ordained in hospital bed

Page 5

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5139

R12 (incl VAT RSA)

Why Church needs a new Pentecost

Holy Land and Rome pilgrimage in pictures

Page 9

Page 8

Catholic soccer star wants to score big for SA

BY DALuxoLo MoLoANToA

A

CATHOLIC football star is hoping to score big for South Africa at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, which kicks off on June 7.

Thembi Kgatlana is a star player for the national women’s team, known as Banyana Banyana.

The centre-forward from Johannesburg’s West Rand is a parishioner of Our Lady of Africa in Mohlakeng township.

The 23-year-old, the current African Woman Player of the Year, currently plies her trade in the Chinese Women’s Super League with Beijing Phoenix. She is one of only two South African players in the top-flight Asian women’s league.

She believes that her talent is God-given, and credits her Catholic faith for playing a significant role in her success, on and off the pitch.

“My Catholic faith has a huge role in my life because whatever I do or engage in, I start with a prayer,” Ms Kgatlana told The Southern Cross.

“Whether it is a single word or a long intense prayer: Every time before I step onto the field of play for a match or a training session, I always pray and call upon the Virgin Mary to guide and lead me.”

She noted that her parish has also played a crucial part in her career’s progression.

“My parish has been my strongest support base. They always pray for me. They have helped me with votes when necessary, and they have encouraged me to keep using my talent to glorify God by being a good role model to the youth of the Church.”

Ms Kgatlana is particularly enthusiastic about her role as a motivator to the youth of her parish, and her community at large.

She does this alongside her fellow Our Lady of Africa parishioner, South African track and athletics team member Itumeleng Sesiko, who is 20 years old.

“It is a privilege to use my success, and that of other athletes like Itumeleng, to motivate

Fr John Masilo Selemela (right) was officially installed as rector of St John Vianney Seminary in Waterkloof, Pretoria, by Bishop Vincent Zungu of Port Elizabeth. He is congratulated

by Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha, himself a former rector of the national seminary. Fr Selemela, a priest of Polokwane diocese, previously was the seminary’s vice-rector. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma) Thembi Kgatlana (front), football star and devoted Catholic. (Photo via SAFA) the youth of our church, our community and South Africa at large to be active, and to make use of their God-given talents to make a difference in their lives, their families’ lives and those of their communities,” Ms Kgatlana said.

She issued a message to girls and young women especially: “Focus on your dreams because they are valid. And by focusing on your dream and purpose you will be letting God lead you to where he intends you to serve him.”

Among all her achievements, Ms Kgatlana rates playing for the national team as the enduring pinnacle of her career—one which she hopes to spur on to greater heights at the World Cup. “I aim to play a significant role in Banyana Banyana’s overall performance at the World Cup. “It is our first time in the World Cup for the national women’s team, and I hope to leave a lasting mark for our country.”

Last year was a big year in her career, having scooped up every top prize on offer in continental African women’s football, including Cup of Nations Player of the Tournament Award.

The World Cup takes place from June 7 to July 7. South Africa is drawn in a tough group with twice-winners Germany, China and Spain.

Witbank bishop dies at 72

BY ERIN CARELSE

B

ISHOP Giuseppe Sandri of Witbank will be remembered as a fine pastor with an irrepressible sense of humour.

Bishop Sandri died at the age of 72 on Ascension Thursday, May 30, at Midstream Mediclinic in Centurion, where he had been hospitalised for two months for a stomach ailment.

Born in Faedo, northern Italy, on August 26, 1946, he made his first profession as a Comboni Missionary of the Heart of Jesus in 1968 and his solemn vows exactly three years later.

Ordained on May 27, 1972 at Maria Trost Pastoral Centre in Lydenburg, Mpumalanga, he began his priestly ministry in Acornhoek., He was parish priest in Waterval from 197278 and in Lydenburg from 1981-86, and then served as director of Maria Trost Pastoral Centre from 1986-1992.

From 1993-98 he served as provincial of the Comboni Missionaries in South Africa and from 1999-2007 as secretary-general of his congregation in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI named him bishop of Witbank on November 6, 2009, with the episcopal ordination taking place on January 31, 2010.

Bishop Giuseppe Sandri of Witbank, seen here greeting Pope Francis, has died at 72.

He was the second Comboni bishop of the diocese, after Bishop Anton Reiterer (195683).

Bishop Sandri served the bishops’ conference as liaison bishop for Justice & Peace, and then as chair of board Catholic Institute of Education from (2013-15) and president of the Catholic Board of Education (2016-18).

Continued on page 2

Southern Cross • Radio Veritas • Spotlight

See Pope Francis at the Papal Mass!

Explore Catholic Mauritius 7 - 14 September 2019 • Led by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ

...and pray and relax a little

For more information or to book, please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours.co.za/mauritius

2

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

LOCAL

Love wins out over apartheid at NZ anniversary

W

ARREN and Gloria Firth are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in their home in Christchurch, New Zealand, where they had to move due to apartheid laws. They met in 1978 in London.

He was a Kiwi in England to work and travel, and she a South African, also working and touring Europe.

Their love and marriage overcame different national backgrounds and the apartheid-era laws of the time, for Warren was classified white and Gloria coloured.

Young Catholic Gloria was settled in a London flat, went to St Thomas of Canterbury parish, and got involved with the Lighthouse Group, run by the Mercy Sisters, a place for

young people, often from many countries, to meet and socialise.

Warren remembers meeting Gloria when he went to the salon she worked at for a haircut.

“There were many adventures in England, but nothing to equal the amazing thing that happened then.

The luckiest haircut ever!” he said.

After his haircut, Warren immediately asked Gloria for a date.

“Being a dancer, I was looking forward to going dancing but much to my surprise, we went to the movies and saw a film called The Unmarried Woman,” she recalled.

Some time later, Warren asked her to marry him. Gloria said yes.

“I found in Warren qualities that I admired, such as respect for my

Warren and Gloria Firth at their wedding (left) and with their daughters and grandsons in 2011 (from left) Valerie, Gloria, Helen, Warren and Lorna, with Lorna’s sons Jaiden and Ashwin. faith as a practising Catholic, honesty, and commitment to a good relationship,” she recalls.

“Fr Baxter of St Thomas suggested that, as my wedding would be illegal in South Africa because of the apartheid laws, we should move to New Zealand. This would enable our

parents to be present, and my father would be able to give me away,” Gloria said. “We had a full Nuptial Mass and my father read in church.”

The couple raised three daughters: Lorna, now 38 with two sons in Melbourne; Valerie, 35, who has just had a daughter and lives in Auckland;

and Helen, 31, who is engaged and lives and works in London.

“I thank God, my parents, family and friends, and the wider community, for their love and support over the past 40 years,” said Gloria, who still has many contacts in South Africa.

St Joseph’s academic at e-world conference

BY ERIN CARELSE

A

Among the groups of men at the Catholic Men’s Forum event in Johannesburg was the Men’s Forum of the church of the Resurrection in Dawn Park, Boksburg. Standing (from left) are Thabo Mosia, Siboniso Maseko (co-programme director), Mothusi Mogari (president of the Catholic Men’s Forum), Mali Mangcele, Deacon Simon Koenane, Sello Kekana (PPC chair), Steven Reddy, Godfrey Kupi, Patrick Pududu, Ntate Sikhosana, Bongani Buthelezi, Martin Molobi, Vusi Maphoso. Kneeling (from left) Lefa Moeketsi, Arthur Mhlongo, Martin Mfokwane, and VM Baba Ndawo.

(Insert) priest in charge Fr Peter Wilson.

N academic from St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal, was among 76 leaders who presented papers at a conference in Mauritius on the e-world.

Dr Mfazo Cliford Madondo, head of development studies at St Joseph’s, participated in the e-MIG Conference hosted by the Open University of Mauritius (OUM).

The international conference, titled “Global Trends in Management, IT and Governance in an e-World”, was a joint project between the OUM and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) academic teams.

“The e-MIG 2019 was an opportunity to participate and engage in an insightful, inclusive and multidisciplinary international-level conference,” Dr Madondo said.

“As a warm, impressive and en-

couraging environment with high involvement of postgraduate student delegations and paper presentation from across Africa, e-MIG 2019 demonstrated that the future of research is alive,” he said.

Expert academics and novice academics from various institutions, and captains of industries across the world, presented a total of 76 papers.

Dr Madondo presented a paper titled “Digital platforms: exploring security, privacy and trust concerns among South African celebrities and professionals”.

Keynote addresses, plenary session papers, and academic papers shared insights on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the future of educational technology, governance and sustainable development, and the next digital storm.

“Academic institutions and industries need to collaborate and

Ball gives Hope

Catholic Men’s Forum groups gather for annual meeting

T

HE Catholic Men’s Forum held its fifth anniversary celebration on Africa Day at the cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg.

The theme for the 2019 conference was “Men’s response to mitigate violence against women and children, let us galvanise children to end violence against women and children”.

Participants committed them-

selves to a need to join hands with civil society to curb violence against women and children.

Female guest speakers addressed issues of gender-based violence.

The event also included Mass, the Rosary and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Among the groups at the conference was the Men’s Forum of the church of the Resurrection in Dawn Park, Boksburg.

network for sustainable research teaching, creativity and innovation in Africa,” Dr Madondo said.

Attending the e-MIG 2019 in view of St Joseph’s Theological Institute was important, as it broadened knowledge and awareness of Industry 4.0 and how it is influencing the e-world today, he explained.

“The e-world brings optimism and opportunities more than perceived threats,” he added.

“This conference increased the understanding that St Joseph’s needs as it goes into the future; research responsiveness is the way to go,” Dr Madondo noted.

“As a Church institution, this opportunity entails enhancing skills-development and developing teaching curricula for best practice in pastoral management and administration that the Catholic Church in Southern Africa requires,” he said.

H Celebrity and HoPE Cape Town ambassador Katlego Maboe singing “The Banana Boat Song” with the senior choir of Holy Cross Convent Primary School, Brooklyn, at the 19th Ball of HoPE.

OPE Cape Town Trust and the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted the 19th Ball of HOPE. HOPE Cape Town’s roots are deeply in the German-speaking Catholic Community of Cape Town.

The community’s compassion for infants and children with and affected by HIV/Aids led to the founding of HOPE Cape Town in 2001.

This year’s ball, MCed by TV star Katlego Maboe, was attended by more than 300 people at the city’s Westin Hotel The keynote address was by Matthias Hansen, the consul-general of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Mr Hansen spoke of HOPE Cape Town’s holistic approach and strengths, describing its work as “transforming lives, and especially young lives, for good”.

Witbank’s Bishop Sandri remembered Continued from page 1 “His commitment, wisdom and generous spirit was a source of support to us all,” the CIE said.

“Bishop Sandri was a great pastor, a true father to his priests, a man imbued with the spirit of justice, and a good and enthusiastic friend of this newspaper,” said Günther Simmermacher, editor of The Southern Cross.

“He was going to lead our pilgrimage to France in October. It will

1 Plein Street, Sidwell, Port Elizabeth

still go ahead, and we will remember him in a special way on that journey,” he said.

“Those who were with him on the Southern Cross pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Italy in 2013 spoke so highly of him as a man of faith and good humour,” he said.

“Bishop Sandri passed away in the early morning of the feast of the Ascension. God had a good sense of timing for his faithful servant, Mr Simmermacher said.

The pilgrimage to France will now be led by Fr Lawrence Ndlovu of Johannesburg, who knew Bishop Sandri well.

“I got to know Bishop Sandri when he was one of the bishops in the liturgy commission of the SACBC in which I serve as member.

He was so funny and was always off topic. He was a wonderful man,” said Fr Ndlovu.

Bishop Sandri was fluent in English, Sotho, Sepedi, Tsonga, Italian and French.

Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp said that he had asked Bishop Sandri last year to help with the translations of liturgical books into Sepedi and Xitsonga.

Bishop Sandri had said that he was just about to retire and promised to dedicate his retirement to that work.

Bishop Sandri’s funeral is scheduled for June 6 at 10:00 at the Emalahleni City Hall, followed by his burial in Witbank’s cathedral of Christ the King.

Fr Runaine Radine (centre) was ordained to the priesthood at St James parish in Schauderville, Port Elizabeth, by Bishop Vincent Zungu. The Southern Cross columnist is pictured here with two of his former classmates from St John Vianney Seminary, Frs Wandile Cagwe (right) of Durban and Johny Mphatse (left) of Kroonstad, who at the age of 27 may be the youngest priest in South Africa at present.

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

LOCAL

3

Vatican, SA mark 25 years of diplomatic ties

BY ERIN CARELSE

H

South African ambassador to the Vatican George Johannes (back centre), Archbishop Stephen Brislin (back left), Bishop Duncan Tsoke (back third from right) with a group of fellow South Africans living in Rome at a special event marking 25 years of democratic South Africa and 25 years of diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

ONOURING the 25 years since South Africa’s first democratic elections, South African ambassador to the Holy See George Johannes, a Catholic, organised a special evening in the Vatican.

Joining the celebration were Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town and Bishop Duncan Tsoke, auxiliary bishop in Johannesburg, who were in Rome for meetings.

Mr Johannes said the event marked two milestones: the unforgettable year of 1994, when South Africans stood in long queues to vote for their very first democratic government; and 25 years of diplomatic relations between South Africa and the Holy See. On June 15, 1994, Pope John Paul II and President Nelson Mandela signed the diplomatic protocol between the two states.

M

BY ERIN CARELSE

A

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier and priests proceed at Maris Stella School’s 120th anniversary thanksgiving Mass. (Photo: Derryn Schmidt) of the school—dedicated to the Star of the Sea, Maris Stella—on May 22, 1899.

This was thanks to the vision of the congregation’s founder, Fr Pierre Bienvenue Noilles, and an inspired group of Sisters who travelled from France to Durban to answer the need girls’ schools in South Africa.

Victor and Maureen (née Campbell) Blair have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. They were married on May 8, 1954, in Emmanuel cathedral in Durban.

Engage with us online Tweet us twitter.com/ScrossZA

instagram.com/southerncrossmedia

facebook.com/thescross

Turning to care of the environment, Mr Johannes said Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ resonates powerfully with the South African government’s social and peoplecentred policies and outlook.

“We fully support Pope Francis’ call to build bridges and assist our human family wherever we can,” he added.

The aim is respecting each other, promoting our common, integral humanity, and making a lasting contribution to the human family,” Mr Johannes noted.

The ambassador also confirmed the South African government’s commitment to fighting abuse of women and children, and taking care of the poor and elderly.

Referring to peace in the world, Mr Johannes appealed to other countries to abandon their nuclear and chemical weapons, thereby following the example of a decision made by South Africa in 1995.

Slattery hails Neocatechumens

Maris Stella celebrates 120 S Maris Stella School in Durban celebrated 120 years, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier honoured it for transforming love into service.

Speaking at a thanksgiving Mass concelebrated with Frs Peter Lafferty and Sean Mullin, the cardinal reminded the school community that God was not finished with them yet, and recalled the words of Pope John Paul, who said that we should remember the past with gratitude, live in the present with enthusiasm, and embrace the future with confidence as we realise that God is in control.

Maris Stella religion coordinator Karen Bodley said when we are filled with the love of God, we grow as followers of Christ, which inspires us to serve and connect to others.

“Our love is then transformed into service— to God, our school, our community, our planet and our own destiny. It is through service that we become the person God wants us to be, and become co-creators with God in building his Kingdom here on Earth,” she explained.

The Holy Family Sisters opened the doors

Previously the Holy See had no relations with South Africa. Pope John Paul II was known to be a fervent opponent of apartheid.

From 2009-15, Mr Johannes was the ambassador to Switzerland, from where he maintained diplomatic relations with the Vatican State. He arrived in Rome in May 2017, taking his position as the first permanent ambassador of South Africa to the Holy See. “South Africa’s decision to have a permanent embassy to the Holy See is a reflection of our government’s commitment to consolidating and elevating our relations with the Holy See into a powerful and strategic partnership,” Mr Johannes said.

He noted that the embassy is working towards deepening cooperation in all spheres with Holy See institutions, among them the fight against HIV/Aids, poverty eradication, and peace mediation.

www.scross.co.za

EMBERS and leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way of Pretoria, plus the Gauteng regional team of Marco and Marta Malacaria of Italy with their three children and Fr Boulos Roy Micail from Lebanon, joined Archbishop William Slattery at the city’s Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary.

Rector Fr Juan Jesus and all the seminarians were also present. Archbishop Slattery established Redemptoris Mater in September 2017.

The seminary trains Neocatechumenal priests.

“The Neocatechumenal Way is rediscovering the power of the Christian community...a journey that leads people to fulfill the words of Christ, ‘Love one another as I have loved you,’” the archbishop said in his homily. He said this was the most beau-

Archbishop William Slattery with members of the Neocatechumenal Way of Pretoria. (Photo: Dino Furgione) tiful gift of the Way. Archbishop Slattery, who will be succeeded by Archbishop-elect Dabula Mpako, ended his address with the words: “Go forward, I am with you! One of the most

beautiful joys in my apostolate was to welcome the Neocatechumenal Way; this celebration is not a farewell, as I am sure that in the future we will continue to work together...this is my desire!”

CE I R P L A I C PE S R E T N I W R C/W O O D C N I Z U-

AL E L G N I S D 00 .

ST 0 5 9 6 R ON @ A U T O M AT I

4

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Notre Dame to be rebuilt as it was T

HE French Senate has passed a bill on the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, the city’s cathedral, adding a clause that it must be rebuilt as it was before last month’s fire which destroyed its roof and spire.

The bill mandates that the rebuilding be faithful to NotreDame’s “last known visual state”.

The government of president Emmanuel Macron had begun an architectural competition to submit a variety of suggestions for the restoration. Mr Macron had called for “an inventive reconstruction” of the cathedral.

The Senate also removed from the bill a clause allowing the government to override planning, environmental and heritage protection, and public tenders regulations, which would have hastened the rebuilding.

It modified a tax break, allowing

donations for reconstruction made from April 15, the day of the fire, to be tax-deductible. An earlier version of the bill had allowed donations made from only April 16.

The modifications of the bill made by the Senate means that it must be reconciled with a version passed earlier by the National Assembly before it can become law.

Since the adoption of the 1905 law on separation of church and state, which formalised laïcité—a strict form of public secularism— religious buildings in France have been property of the state.

A fire broke out in the cathedral shortly before 19:00 on April 15.

The roof and the spire, which dated to the 19th century, were destroyed. The cathedral’s main structure was preserved from collapse.

The major religious and artistic treasures of the cathedral were re-

The LARGEST Catholic online shop in South Africa!

"

We specialise and source an extensive variety of products, some of which include: *Personalised Rosaries *Priest Chasubles *Altar Linen *Church Items *Bells *Chalices *Thuribles *Personalised Candles, etc.

Tel: 012 460-5011 | Cell: 079 762-4691 | Fax: 0123498592 Email: info@catholicshop.co.za 2øæ­¸Ø "ı̇øߺ̋ø̋¸"¬Æß̶" "

moved as the fire began, including a relic of the crown of thorns.

Originally built between the 12th and 14th centuries, the landmark cathedral in the French capital is one of the most recognisable churches in the world, receiving more than 12 million visitors each year.

The cathedral was undergoing some restorative work at the time the fire broke out, though it is unknown if the fire originated in the area of the work.

Officials had been in the process of a massive fundraising effort to renovate the cathedral against centuries of decay, pollution, and an inundation of visitors.

French conservationists and the archdiocese announced in 2017 that the renovations needed for the building’s structural integrity could cost as much as R1,6 billion to complete.—CNA

A burned portion of Notre Dame Cathedral is in full view, after a massive fire devastated large parts of the Catholic Gothic structure in Paris.

(Photo: Philippe Wojazer, Reuters/CNS)

‘Startling inaction’ on climate change

BY JuNNo ARoCHo ESTEVES

I

F the world is to win the fight against climate change, its leaders must stop profiting from fossil fuels that threaten the survival and wellbeing of the planet and its inhabitants, Pope Francis said.

Addressing a Vatican climate change conference for finance ministers from around the world, the pope said that the current crisis is “caused by a confusion of our moral ledger with our financial ledger”.

“We live at a time when profits and losses seem to be more highly valued than lives and deaths, and when a company's net worth is given precedence over the infinite worth of our human family,” he said.

The conference, “Climate Change and New Evidence from Science, Engineering and Policy”, was sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Among the issues discussed during the event was the fulfilment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a list of 17 major commitments that the world's nations and UN agencies will be asked to pursue until 2030.

The pope gave his address after a private meeting with Raoni Metuktire, chief of the Kayapo indigenous group in the Brazilian Amazon region, to discuss the Synod of Bishops on the Ama-

Pope Francis embraces Raoni Metuktire, chief of the Kayapo indigenous group in the Brazilian Amazon region, during a private audience at the Vatican. The indigenous chief met with the pope to discuss the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, which will be held at the Vatican in october. (Photo: Vatican Media/CNS) zon, which will be at the Vatican in October.

“This meeting attests to Pope Francis’ care for the Amazonian people and

environment, as well as to his commitment to safeguard our common home,” said Alessandro Gisotti, interim Vatican spokesman.

The climate change conference featured reports from climatologists and experts on the dangerous effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment.

Despite the commitment by world leaders to meet the UN goals, the pope lamented that an increase in investments in fossil fuels and a decrease in clean energy investments indicate that “the signs today are not good”.

“We continue along old paths because we are trapped by our faulty accounting and by the corruption of vested interests,” he said. “We still reckon as profit that which threatens our very survival.”

Pope Francis said the “effects of global inaction are startling” and cited recent extreme global meteorological events, such as heat waves, droughts, fires and floods, as “a dire premonition of much worse things to come, unless we act and act urgently”.

“It is my prayerful hope that, as stewards of the world’s finances, you will agree upon a common plan that accords with climate science, the latest in clean energy engineering and, above all, the ethics of human dignity,” he told the finance ministers.—CNS

Pope: Guilty handouts, soulless bureaucratic aid are fake charity

BY CARoL GLATZ

C

Contact Vocation Coordinator on 072 989 2286 nardvocprom1855@gmail.com Facebook: Franciscan Nardini Sisters of the Holy Family

HARITY should be given freely and lived humbly with the poor, never letting it become hypocrisy, a slick business or a way to soothe a troubled conscience, Pope Francis said.

“Not only does charity that doesn’t ‘reach the wallet’ end up being fake charity, so does charity that doesn’t involve the heart, soul and our whole being,” he said during an audience at the Vatican with delegates attending the general assembly of Caritas Internationalis.

The Vatican-based confederation of more than 160 Catholic national charities was holding its 21st general assembly in Rome, electing new officials, reviewing polices and focusing on the theme, “One Human Family, One Common Home”.

The pope thanked delegates for working to help those “left on the margins” and for building up in the world God’s kingdom where justice, love and peace reign.

He said charity, integral development and ecclesial communion were three key elements in Caritas' mission.

“Charity is not a sterile service or a simple donation to hand over to put our conscience at ease,” he said. “Charity is

Pope Francis leads an audience with delegates attending the general assembly of Caritas Internationalis, at the Vatican. The pope called for charity to be given with heart and soul. (Photo: Vatican Media/CNS) God our Father’s embrace of every person, particularly of the least and those who suffer.”

The Church is not a humanitarian organisation, the pope said. It is something so much bigger: “in Christ, it is the sign and instrument of God’s love for humanity and for creation”.

The pope urged the Caritas representatives to live out this charity freely, humbly and with a spirit of poverty.

“One cannot live charity without

having a personal relationship with the poor—to live with the poor and for the poor” so as to learn from them how charity is sharing.

“It is necessary to always be careful not to fall into the temptation of living a hypocritical or deceptive charity, identified with almsgiving” or fundraising or used as a “sedative” to relieve an uneasy conscience, the pope said.

“This is why one must avoid equating charitable activity with philanthropic strength or with well-planned efficiency or with over-the-top and flamboyant organisation,” he said.

Pope Francis told the delegates that of all the ways people could best imitate God, the most desirable virtue is charity.

This is why it is “scandalous” to see people working in charitable organisations become bureaucrats, executives or businessmen, he said. “They speak a lot about charity, but they live in luxury” or wasteful extravagance or else “they organise forums on charity and unnecessarily waste a lot of money.”

“That is why I would like to reemphasise that charity is not an idea or a pious sentiment,” but it is a real encounter with Christ, and it is wanting to live with the heart of God, the pope said.— CNS

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Pope Francis: Abortion is never an answer ‘A

BY CINDY WooDEN

BORTION is never the answer” to couples seeking a way to deal with a prenatal diagnosis of serious illness or disability, Pope Francis said.

“Human life is sacred and inviolable and the use of prenatal diagnosis for selective purposes must be strongly discouraged because it is the expression of an inhuman eugenic mentality, which deprives families of the possibility of welcoming, embracing and loving their weakest children,” the pope said.

Addressing participants at a Vatican meeting on medical care for “extremely fragile” babies and on the pastoral care of their parents, Pope Francis said the Catholic Church’s total opposition to abortion is not primarily a religious position, but a human one.

“Just two phrases, two questions, can help us understand this,” the pope said. “First question: Is it licit to eliminate a human life to solve a problem? Second question: Is it licit to hire a hitman to resolve a problem?”

“No,” he said, “it is not licit.

Never ever eliminate a human life

nor hire a hitman to resolve a problem.”

When there is a prenatal diagnosis of serious illness or disability, the parents need medical staff and pastoral workers to be close to them and support them, the pope told participants at the conference sponsored by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

While some may define the baby’s condition as “incompatible with life”, he said, the fact that there is movement and that the mother knows she is pregnant means there is life and the mother’s experience of that must be honoured.

Every child conceived in a mother’s womb “is a gift that will change the story of a family, a mother and father, grandparents and siblings”, he said. “And this baby needs to be welcomed, loved and cared for.”

“When a woman discovers she is expecting a baby, she immediately experiences a profound sense of mystery. Women who are mothers know this,” he said. “The awareness of a presence that grows inside her pervades her being, making her not

only a woman, but a mother.”

The baby inside her, he said, immediately becomes a son or daughter.

When a prenatal diagnosis reveals that the child has a malformation or illness, the serenity of the parents is disturbed and the experience of pregnancy changes, the pope said. “The sense of solitude and impotence and the fear that the baby and the whole family will suffer emerge as a silent cry, a plea for help.”

Fortunately, he said, advances in prenatal medical treatment are starting to catch up with the ability to make prenatal diagnoses.

When it is likely the baby will die, Pope Francis said, many people assume that the parents' suffering will be lessened if the baby is aborted. But welcoming the child, holding him or her and giving comfort and love helps bring “completion to a family’s love”.

“In fact,” he said, “Many times those few hours that a mother was able to cradle that baby leaves a trace in her heart that she will never forget,” the pope said. “She feels like a mother.”—CNS

Fr Paddy o’Kane surveys the damage at Holy Family Church in Derry city, Northern Ireland (Photo: Margaret McLaughlin/IrishNews)

Priest prays for arsonists

T

HE parish priest of Holy Family parish in Derry, Northern Ireland, has led prayers for the young people who committed an arson attack at the church. No one was harmed, but both the church and parochial house were damaged.

Security vide footage showed a group of young people starting a fire in a shed on the parish property.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland have said: “We believe two males may have been involved in starting this fire and we are keen to identify them.”

An event was being held at the time in the parochial house, and those in attendance were evacuated to safety.

Fr Patrick O’Kane told the Belfast Telegraph that “nobody was injured, and that’s the main thing, but there is quite a lot of damage”.

“The people who did it—they did it deliberately. We could see

Pope: I knew nothing about McCarrick

BY JuNNo ARoCHo ESTEVES

N

EARLY a year later, Pope Francis has denied claims made by a former apostolic nuncio to the United States who accused him and other Church officials of failing to act on accusations of abuse of conscience and power by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

“I knew nothing, obviously, of McCarrick. Nothing, nothing. I said several times that I didn’t know, that I had no idea,” the pope said in an interview with Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki published by Vatican News. “You know that I didn’t know anything about McCarrick; otherwise, I would not have stayed quiet.”

In an open letter first published in August, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as nuncio to the US from 2011-2016, claimed he told the pope of the allegations in 2013.

The pope, who was in Dublin for the World Meeting of Families at the time, refused to comment directly on the allegations and told reporters to “read that statement attentively and make your own judgment”.

Pope Francis outside St Patrick church in Washington with Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, then the apostolic nuncio to the uS. Pope Francis denied Archbishop Viganò’s claims that the pontiff failed to act on accusation of abuse by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. (Photo: Bob Roller/CNS) The pope told Ms Alazraki that response was “an act of faith” in people reading the document. “Maybe when a bit of time has passed, I’ll

talk about it,” he had said on his return flight to Rome.

At the time, he said, he had not read Archbishop Vigano’s entire letter and decided to “trust in the honesty of journalists” and asked them to make their own conclusions.

Pope Francis said the journalists reporting on inconsistencies in Archbishop Viganò’s testimony “was very good, it was better than me explaining to defend myself. Journalists judged with the proof they had in their hands”.

Another reason for remaining silent, he said, was to try to imitate the approach Jesus took on Good Friday, where in the face of “a climate of viciousness he closed his mouth”.

“The Lord taught us that path and I follow it,” the pope said.

“In front of a climate of viciousness, you cannot answer,” Pope Francis said. “And that letter was vicious as you later realised by the results, that it was—as some of you reported—paid for. I do not know if that is true but I look at the consequences.”—CNS

them on the cameras deliberately setting the fire. It wasn’t accidental,” he said.

“But we prayed for them at Mass today. I told them I had forgiven them, and we prayed for the young people, because anybody who does things like that has obviously a very disturbed mind.”

Gary Middleton, a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Democratic Unionist Party and a Presbyterian, commented that “it’s just such a sad act. How can people stoop so low? Never mind targeting any premises, but a church I think is particularly low”.

“So many people from all faiths and backgrounds have been united in saying that what happened at Holy Family was absolutely dreadful,” Mr Middleton added.

Last year, St Mary’s parish in Limavady, within 32km of Derry, was vandalised with sectarian graffiti.— CNA

Bishops condemn anti-Christian terror

B

ISHOPS’ conferences from Francophone West Africa have pledged solidarity with Christian communities after a spate of Islamist attack and urged governments and religious leaders to do more to counter “unlooked-for menaces, tragedies and catastrophes”.

“Terrorist outrages are sowing desolation and disorder, especially in Christians,” said the Regional Episcopal Conference of Francophone West Africa (CERAO).

“Religious leaders must rise up together to denounce any instrumentalisation of religion, particularly killings perpetrated in the name of God,” said the bishops.

At least 20 Catholics, including a priest, Fr Simeon Yampa, were killed

in extremist attacks on Catholic parishes during May in Burkina Faso. These followed other attacks on Catholics in February and March.

A Protestant pastor with five followers died in an attack on April 29 in Silgadji.

Overall, at least 400 people have died in attacks on churches, schools and government buildings in Burkina Faso, whose mostly Muslim-inhabited northern provinces have been targeted by extremists since the October 2014 ouster of President Blaise Compaore.

Attacks on Christian communities also occurred in neighbouring Niger and Mali, in what is widely seen as a drive by North African Islamists to extend control in the Francophone region.—CNS

PRICE CHECK

Priest ordained in hospital

T

HE ordination of Fr Michal Los was far from your typical ordination. Fr Los was ordained a priest in his Warsaw hospital bed.

The priest was diagnosed with cancer in April and in a critical condition, so Pope Francis granted a dispensation allowing him to be ordained both a deacon and a priest in the same Mass.

Fr Los, a member of the Orionine Fathers, was ordained in his hospital bed by Bishop Marek Solarczyk of Warsaw-Praga.

The day before his ordination, Fr Los made perpetual vows in his religious community.

Permission was granted to the director-general of the congregation, Fr Tarcisio Vieira, to whom Pope Francis sent a letter.

Fr Los’ parents and sister also came, along with other Polish members of the congregation.

“The ceremony took place in an atmosphere of great and profound spirituality. After the initial prayer, the litany for the intercession of the saints followed for the life of

5

For the price of one issue of The Southern Cross you get four cigarettes

Fr Michel Los, who was ordained by special dispensation from the pope in his hospital bed in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo: orionine Fathers) Michal and for his congregation,” Fr Fernando Fornerod, the order’s counsellor general, wrote on Facebook.

The day after his ordination, Fr Los celebrated his first Mass from his bed.

In a video posted on Facebook, Fr Los thanked Catholics who had prayed for him, asking for more prayers and offering a blessing with the sign of the Cross.—CNA

CASA SERENA The retirement home with the Italian flair.

7A Marais Road, Bedfordview, Jhb. Provides full board and lodging, medical services and transport.

Senior citizens wishing to retire in this beautiful Home, please phone

011 284 2917 www.casaserena.co.za

Th e

Southern Cross

May 29 to June 4, 2019

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5137

www.scross.co.za

Nazareth House Durban invites all to reopening

R12 (incl VAT RSA)

Requiem for a great Catholic organisation

Getting to know the Gospels

Page 2

Page 10

Page 7

Egypt bomb pilgrim: God protected us

or

BY ERIN CARELSE

D

EACON Carl Emmanuel, one of the South African pilgrims on board the bus hit by a roadside bomb near the Grand Egyptian Museum, next to the pyramids in Giza, Egypt, believes they had God’s protection over them, and is thankful to be home safely.

The 25 South Africans, travelling with MiCaSa Tours, had completed their pilgrimage to the Holy Land and were on their way home.

They had arranged to see the pyramids as they were stopping over in Egypt for several hours.

Deacon Emmanuel recalls the harrowing details of that day with The Southern Cross.

“We arrived in Cairo at midday on Sunday, May 19, and as we had prearranged the pyramids visit, we had a tour guide and bus waiting for us. On boarding, we noted a sniffer dog checking the bus, and were told there would a security person accompanying us,” he said.

For Deacon Emmanuel, who last visited Egypt about 12 years ago, seeing new developments en route was interesting. The guide on board pointed out that they were coming up to a new museum which, when it opened in October, would be the largest in the world.

“We could see it in the distance,” the deacon recalled. “I was sitting in the third row from the front next to my wife who was against the window. As we got closer, I remember turning slightly in my seat to speak to one of the other pilgrims and that’s when I experienced a gush of air, followed by a loud bang and things hitting me.” Deacon Emmanuel said he turned and grabbed hold of his wife.

The tyres of the bus had exploded and the driver, who was still in control, was trying to accelerate away from the situation.

“I was amazed that there was no screaming or shouting, everyone remained calm, partly due to shock, and then we heard the guide saying, ‘It’s OK, the aircon exploded,’ but I knew that was not the case,” Deacon Emmanuel said.

The bus then came to a standstill, and there

Two pupils at Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, have been selected to represent their age-level Gauteng schools’ provincial netball teams. U13 Zinhle Fakude (left) and U12 Tyraleigh de Bruin are the two chosen from Holy Rosary.

The bus carrying South African pilgrims that was damaged in a bomb blast near the Giza pyramids in Egypt. was confusion, as many were not sure whether to remain on the bus or exit. Eventually, they decided to get off, as they weren’t sure whether there were bombs on the bus itself.

It was only once they were off the bus that they could see the extent of people’s injuries: some had received the full impact of the blast on their faces, and others had minor injuries.

“This was when the frightening part began,” the deacon said. “We were standing on the side of a four-to five-lane freeway, and weren’t sure if we were still in danger.” Everyone was covered in glass; some were crying.

Deacon Emmanuel wasn’t sure how long they waited until the first emergency response, the army, arrived. “They didn’t know what to do, they couldn’t speak English, they didn’t know what to say to us,” he recalled.

Slowly, other emergency vehicles arrived, including an ambulance, and those with serious damage to their eyes and gashes in their heads were taken to the nearest hospital. Others were cleaned up at the scene.

Because the pilgrims had only light luggage with them as their main luggage was already booked in on their Johannesburg return flight, they decided to take everyone’s luggage off the bus and just keep it all together.

Eventually, someone arrived who could speak English, and told them arrangements were being made to take them to a safe place.

The group were taken to the nearest hotel under police escort, which Deacon Emmanuel says was also quite frightening, as this drew attention to them.

T

he pilgrims were concerned at this point about their passports, which had been taken away. Deacon Emmanuel and Fr Michael Foley, also on board the bus, were instructed to go to an office where ten officials, who said they were from national security, were waiting.

“They seemed very concerned that there were only 25 pilgrims on board as, initially, our pilgrimage had 28,” the deacon said. “The other three had chosen not to join the bus tour, which they found suspicious. The officials cross-examined us and didn’t want to return our passports until we signed statements in Arabic. We knew our flights to South Africa were booked, and we just wanted to leave.”

Eventually, the South African ambassador and the Minister of Tourism came to their aid.

Those discharged from hospital joined them and that night all were escorted to the airport.

“We are all so happy to be back with our families. For us as pilgrims, it was not what we expected, although when you go to the

S o u t h e r n C r o s s Pilgrimage

Middle East you are aware there is conflict,” Deacon Emmanuel said. “When we got to Egypt, we knew we were only going to be there a little while so I don’t think we really thought about the possible threats.

“But in hindsight, when we think about what happened, this bomb was intended to kill people, it was a powerful bomb, but the impact was at the bottom of the bus, not the top.

We are so thankful to God for his protection, and that there were no fatalities or critical injuries. Every single one of us was able to walk off that bus that day,” Deacon Emmanuel said.

South African tour operators expressed their shock and sadness on hearing of the attack.

Sandro Sfreddo, MiCaSa Tours director, said their prayers and thoughts were with everyone injured and affected by this cowardly act and they were also praying for speedy recoveries.

Gail Fowler of Fowler Tours said she was shocked at this senseless attack on pilgrims, whom she and her group had met just days earlier in the Holy Land, and gave thanks to God that all could return to their loved ones.

“We had our last tour to Egypt a year ago and had already cancelled the only one planned for this year. We won’t include Egypt in our plans for the foreseeable future. This attack will have a devastating effect on all the decent and dedicated people in Egypt’s tourism industry who are also victims of the terrorists,” she said.

Val Tangney of Tangney Tours said she was sorry for the people involved and will pray for all of them, including the attackers.

Led by Archbishop William Slattery OFM Book now! Only limited places left!

For more information or to book, please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours.co.za/passion

Feed your soul with

21 Aug - 2 Sept. 2020

HOLY LAND & OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY

The

S outher n C ross

IT’S WORTH IT!

6

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial: Michael Shackleton

Spirit’s searing grace can hurt and heal

A

N archbishop from Australia has unwittingly provided us with something to think about on Pentecost Sunday.

As president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane was interviewed by the Jesuit publication America after the conviction of Cardinal George Pell on charges of sexual offences.

In Australia, he said, the credibility of the bishops and clergy “has been largely damaged”, he noted. “You have a situation where if you do a word association and you say ‘Catholic Church’, ‘abuse’ would be the answer”.

He admitted that in consequence he now lacks the access and the public influence his predecessors had enjoyed.

Then, he says, he did some really serious reflection on what this disastrous turn of events means for the Church, which had never sought nor expected to be caught off balance. Likewise, though in a far more constructive context, the Church had never anticipated that Pope John XXIII would shock it with the calling together of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

In Archbishop Coleridge’s view, the Holy Spirit is now forcing us to recognise that divine grace is a searing grace that can hurt in order to cleanse and heal.

“We dare not fail because at stake… really is the mission of the Church; not only credibility and trust, which are central to that, but the whole effectiveness of the Church’s mission and the possibility of it,” the archbishop said.

T

he work of the Holy Spirit in the Church has a truly mysterious but strong influence on how we respond as the People of God to the world around us as time passes.

In the words of Jesus, the Spirit of Truth will lead the Church into complete truth (Jn 16:13), but naturally, the journey towards the complete truth is one undertaken by Christians

whose nature is still imperfect until Christ returns to his people.

The Spirit cannot abandon the Church. Jesus gave us his assurance that he would not leave us comfortless, but there is no harm to question why many of our approved leaders have landed us in an unholy and scandalous mess.

St Paul holds up a clue for us.

He wrote in Galatians 5 that our self-indulgence or sinking into non-spiritual practices would eventually cause us to lose the Spirit. This is a catastrophic loss because it reduces the people of God to comfortless lives.

A

re we and our spiritual guardians and teachers lately so embroiled in worldly business that we are without the comfort of the Spirit? Maybe not, but the fact that we are in trouble drives us to have a second thought about it.

St Paul writes that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace and more. Where these are in evidence, and plainly so, the Spirit is there.

Archbishop Coleridge recognises, despite appearances, that the breath of the Holy Spirit is always with us. Because the Spirit is not of this world, its activity is “a searing grace” which pushes the Church back towards what is good, true and beautiful—even if the fallout can be damaging to many.

Pentecost Sunday is not a day only to be happy and remember that the Spirit descended on the Apostles to our benefit nearly 2000 years ago.

Pentecost Sunday is a day on which we are also called to look into our communities and consciences.

The Spirit can yet surprise us if we are becoming a self-indulgent mob rather than being the People of God.

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.

We can’t attend events if we are not invited I N her letter (May 22) Sr Sue Rakoczy notes that at a recent meeting on sexual abuse in Durban, no one from the archdiocese attended.

The archdiocese of Durban prides itself on men and women who work within its commissions which deal with various issues.

For instance, issues of sexual abuse are matters for the archdiocesan Justice & Peace Commission. As

RENEW is great reflective process

W

ITH reference to Duncan Hyam’s letter regarding RENEW (March 13) and others, I have been involved since the first East London programmes, and it is very gratifying that it is flourishing as it is an excellent communitybuilding process.

A programme to be recommended for weekly groups is RENEW Prayer Time Cycles A, B and C, which give a short commentary on each Sunday’s Gospel together with suggestions for reflection, action and prayer, for individual or group use.

The Gonubie, East London, groups are studying Books 1 and 3: Luke “My Spirit Rejoices”, and it was helpful to find that not only was it recommended that we pray the St Francis Prayer, “Make me an instrument of your peace”, but the text also offered many explanations about it (we often pray it, or sing the hymn “Make me a channel...” without realising its power to change hearts, attitudes and mindsets, including our own).

For example, in an issue of The Tablet in 2008, Nigerian Professor PI Odozor wrote that ubuntu is often limited by traditional custom to one’s own family, tribe, ethnic group, and nation.

Also, looking at modern science, Professor DP Domning, in America and Worldwide in 2017, theorised that, due to the strongest basic instincts embedded in all DNA being “self-preservation” and “belonging to groups”, we are born self-centred.

Many leaders and peoples worldwide share this tendency to seek self-indulgence and self-importance.

The RENEW books explain this, and also help us realise that Christ’s new teachings were that, instead of hating others or passing them by in their troubles, we are to “love one another” (John 13:34) and “our neighbour” (Mark 10:21), even “our enemy” (Luke 6:27). All these are expressed in the prayer attributed to St Francis of Assisi, so needed in our world today.

Catholic news that COUNTS Print or Digital

coordinator of the J&P Commission, I never received an invite for such a meeting. In the absence of an invitation, how can there be a representative?

Just last week, there was a meeting on human trafficking that took place in the archdiocese, but regretfully the J&P Commission was not invited. Yet it is J&P that promotes campaigns against human trafficking.

Organisers of meetings or events

The RENEW reflections and prayers and the St Francis Prayer helped me to participate more deeply in the Christmas and Calvary stories: Christ’s birth in a stable, Mary’s kindness to others, Jesus hailed as a king but riding a humble donkey, Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet, Christ and Mary’s sorrow on meeting, Veronica’s compassion, Simon of Cyrene perhaps overcoming African xenophobia to help the Lord, Jesus’s total giving of all he had to give: his mother and companions, his new church, his body, blood, suffering, life—even his clothing...

RENEW and the St Francis Prayer have helped me to wonder: “What can I do to be worthy of so much love from my God?” Athaly Jenkinson, East London

Pope ducks and dives on abortion

D

AMIAN McLeish (March 20) and Fr Sean Wales CSsR (April 3) argue in their letters about Pope Francis’ approach to opposing abortion.

Mr McLeish found that the pope is not pro-life enough. Fr Wales countered by quoting the exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, where Pope Francis states that “our defence of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm and passionate”.

But many people don’t trust the pronouncements of the pope anymore as he does not seem to practise what he preaches.

Take the case of Italian politician Emma Bonino, who was instrumental in making abortion legal in Italy.

Pope Francis, though referring to her other work, called this lady “one of the nation’s forgotten greats”.

Another example is Dutch politician Lilianne Ploumen, a notorious pro-abortion advocate who collected more than $300 million for the international abortion lobby.

Pope Francis bestowed on her the Pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great.

Don’t these acts not contradict the above quoted passage? That is the paradox of the “People’s Pope”.

JH Goossens, Pretoria

ought to send invitations to the relevant bodies before our two bishops or the archdiocese are accused of ignoring these events. There are commissions established to represent the bishops and priests of the archdiocese.

I trust this clarifies why there was no archdiocesan official at the said meeting.

Kalie Senyane, J&P Commission, Durban n On a point of clarification: The Vatican has said that the conferral of the Order of St Gregory the Great on Ms Ploumen was part of an ordinary diplomatic exchange of honorific titles as part of a visit by the Netherlands’ King William Alexander and Queen Maxima, and did not imply that the Vatican supports her abortion campaigns.—Editor.

Pro-life argument floors TV activist

T

HE US state of Alabama has banned the practice of abortion, with the only exception being when the mother’s life is endangered.

This has infuriated “pro-choice” activists in America and England, who contend that a major women’s right has been infringed.

However, when this issue was recently raised in a debate on England’s Sky News television, the pro-life activist submitted as follows, that if the child to be aborted was a little girl, this would be a major breach of her women’s rights, her right to life, without which the mother would not exist.

The “pro-choice” debater was confused, and patently unable to answer this submission.

In conclusion, in our country, where legalised abortion is the norm, the lack of pro-life sermons and activities in our parishes remains a grave cause for concern, which requires urgent attention.

Damian McLeish, Johannesburg 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

ST ANTHONYS CHILD and YOUTH CARE CENTRE Keeping Children safe within families

SUBSCRIBE Digital: R420 • Print R550 • 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

admin@stanthonyshome.org www.stanthonyshome.org

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

PERSPECTIVES

Why minorities fear triumph of Modi C Anto Akkara AUTION is the watchword among Christians and the secular groups in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi led his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to an increased majority to retain power in the country’s 17th national election in late May. The BJP won 303 seats, with allies chipping in with 46 more seats in the 542member Indian parliament, called Lok Sabha (People’s House).

Mr Modi quickly issued reassurances: “Whatever happened during the election is behind me. We have to move forward, we have to take everyone along for the good of the country. We must remember the constitution is supreme,” he told euphoric BJP workers.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told me that he was encouraged by the prime minister’s comment.

“When the government assures to uphold the constitution, we have reasons to be relieved,” said Cardinal Gracias, one of the advisors to Pope Francis.

“We hope the new government will make sure the progress and welfare of all sections of the people,” the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council said in a press statement However, John Dayal, an outspoken Catholic leader, said the return of the Modi regime, “in resonance with the global shift to extreme right-wing leaders”, calls for caution “in the complex demography of India”.

While nearly 80% of India’s 1,3 billion people are Hindus, the remaining minorities include Muslims (14%), Christians (2,3%), Sikhs (1,7%), as well as Buddhists, Jains and a sprinkling of Zoroastrians.

Both Christianity and Islam are branded as “foreign religions” by Hindu nationalists for their Semitic roots. Their followers have been victims of steadily worsening targeted violence at the hands of belligerent Hindu nationalist outfits, coinciding with the geographical spread of the BJP

which has widened its footprints beyond central and northern India with the latest results.

In as many as 224 seats, the BJP garnered more than 50% of the votes, showing how its election campaign, focused on a Hindu nationalist agenda, has trounced the secular opposition parties.

M

eanwhile, the antipathy to Hindu nationalist agenda of the BJP was manifest in the three southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where the BJP, failed to win a single of the combined 81 parliamentary seats at stake.

Alphons Kannanthanam—a Catholic politician who had been inducted into the Modi cabinet in 2017 as its Christian face following a series of attacks on Christians after Mr Modi assumed office in 2014—cut a sorry figure in the election.

As the BJP candidate in the Ernakulam constituency of Kerala, Mr Kannanthanam could register only one third of the nearly half a million votes against the successful candidate Hibi Eden, also a Catholic.

But, except in the southern peninsula and eastern fringe of the country, the socalled Saffron Surge, as the BJP landslide is dubbed, has taken hold throughout India.

Supporters of the Hindu nationalist BJP in New Dehli celebrate their party’s landslide victory in the May 23 elections. (Photo: Anto Akkara).

Letter from India

It has increased fears among religious minorities and secular groups that have been manifest since the Modi government took power in 2014.

As the acrimonious election drew to a close, the cover story TIME magazine portrayed Mr Modi as “India’s Divider-inChief”. It spoke volumes about the Modi Regime 1.

After his election win, an editorial in The Hindu, one of the leading secular English dailies in country, urged Mr Modi to add a third tenet to his mantra of “Sabka saath, sabka vikas” (with all, development for all) to make it meaningful: “Sabka vishwas” (the trust of all).

“These tenets must be felt in the daily lives of the marginalised sections of the population, and The Hindu hopes that Mr Modi’s second term will be more inclusive than the first, which was marred by arrogant pride and hateful prejudice,” the editorial counselled.

As if responding to the apprehensions of the minorities, Mr Modi seemed to endorse the advice from The Hindu the following day: “Minorities [are] made to live in fear. We must end this,” he said.

“We have worked for sabka saath, sabka vikas–now we have to strive for sabka vishwas.”

However, not everybody is convinced.

The popular news portals The Scroll noted: “After a poisonous election campaign and five years of enabling majoritarian violence, his words fail to convince.”

So, the question remains: Will the BJP government try to truly win the confidence of the minorities, or will Mr Modi’s words remain mere rhetoric?

What does really matter in life?

Sarah-Leah W Pimentel HAT really matters in the measure of a life? A few weeks ago, I attended the funeral of a 95-year

old lady.

It was a quiet affair, attended by a few of her family members who are still living in South Africa, and friends who respected and loved her.

Her eulogy told of a full life. In a time when many careers were inaccessible to women, she worked as an accountant and took on a man’s world at some large institutions in Cape Town. She was an artist. She loved to travel. Her inner journeys were guided by a life of deep faith.

It was an accomplished life. But both her eulogists skimmed over most of her adventures and achievements. Instead, they focused on her prayerful wisdom and her knowledge of the family history.

Faith and family. A life of relationship. A life of relationship with God and neighbour.

What a blessed life we will have lived, if at our funeral they speak of our relationships.

Accolades, achievements, material gains, good health and the things we build over the course of a lifetime are an important part of who we are and we should be proud of them. Yet, they are all meaningless if our relationships are not in harmony.

When we die, we leave behind all of our successes, all the photographs and mementos of every trip ever made, all the wealth we have accumulated. All our errors of judgement, our mistakes, our passions, our politics, our crusades are forgotten.

What is remembered is how we related

The Mustard Seeds

“When we die, we leave behind all of our successes, wealth, photographs and mementos. What is remembered is how we related to the world around us,” writes Sarah-Leah Pimentel. (Photo: Michael Alexander/CNS) to the world around us.

What struck me most at this funeral was how this lady’s great-nephew was touched by her faith. He related how for her, life and faith didn’t exist as separate entities. Life and faith were inextricably intertwined.

O

ne time, he said, as they were sitting on the beach watching the waves crashing against the rocks, he commented on their beauty and the grandeur of God’s creation. She responded by saying that God was not only in the crashing

REGISTER TO BE AN ORGAN DONOR TODAY www.odf.org.za

Toll Free 0800 22 66 11

waves. The God of crashing waves is the same God living inside each human heart.

This deeply personal relationship with God infused all of her relationships. Her family members noted how nobody knew the family history better than she did.

This has nothing to do with family trees or an amazing ability to remember all of the family stories. It has everything to do with a genuine interest in every person that she met. Relationship.

I met her six years ago as a newcomer to Cape Town. At our first meeting, this beautiful woman asked me about who I was, where I came from, what I did, and what I thought about various things. I was certain that she would forget most of it by the time I left.

We met infrequently, but whenever we did, and to my surprise, she would ask me something that touched on a previous conversation. She remembered.

For me, this was a sign that no matter how brief our meetings were, she took a genuine interest to get to know me. It was important enough for her to remember for the next time we met.

This simple gesture made me feel so loved and appreciated, not for anything I’d done, but for simply being me.

So as we said our last goodbyes, we were Continued on page 11

Tony Wyllie & Co. Catholic Funeral Home Personal and Dignified 24-hour service

469 Voortrekker Rd, Maitland, Tel: 021 593 8820

48 Main Rd, Muizenberg, Tel: 021 788 3728 carol@wylliefunerals.co.za andrew@wylliefunerals.co.za Member of the NFDA

7

Lionel Fynn

Point of Ministry

Guide believers to true faith

T

HE right to religious freedom has led to a diversity of religious denominations in South Africa—and that multiplicity has resulted in abuses, with religious leaders manipulating the faith of true believers for their own personal gain.

In doing so, these religious leaders diminish the faith of these believers and cause them to question the very relevance of their faith.

They are not pastors but mere leaders. We would do well, as a society, to distinguish genuine pastors from leaders in a time when scarce opportunities, high competition and limited resources force people to enter diverse fields, compromise beliefs, and adapt to unfamiliar conditions in order to survive.

As a result, many have managed to infiltrate the religious sector, preying on the vulnerability of honest and faithful believers, and leaving a trail of disgruntled disbelievers in their wake.

This trail has opened a variety of debates regarding the existence of God, the authority of pastors, and the necessity of faith. It has caused significant scepticism among faithful believers.

Assisting people in distinguishing between pastors and leaders is one way of overcoming the scepticism as the facts will reveal what are true churches and what are business ventures pretending to be churches. The faithful must be directed away from the latter organisations and the subsequent scepticism these breed.

A

mong others things, there are three attributes which best define a true pastor.

A true pastor does well to consider that the life of ministry is characterised by pure and honest simplicity, a moderation in the pleasures of the world, a firm resolve to be zealous for the things of the spirit and be completely dedicated to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

The life of a pastor also asks for a gentle and humble regard for the structure of the Church, a respect for those in authorities above their own in whom a larger responsibility is entrusted, as well as to assist and enhance those below them, imbibing within them a certain spirit of docility and openness to the service of healing, preaching, and teaching wherever this divine service can or may lead them.

And finally, the life of a pastor is to commit themselves with single-minded devotion to their ministry—not to be moved from their duty towards those entrusted to their care by the necessary demands of dependants.

Thus they exercise wisdom when they remain without dependants, sacrificing family-life for the urgency of the Gospel message, for the salvation of souls and the nurturing and up building of communities, that when finally our Lord comes on earth, he does indeed find faith.

Thus the true believer should not be swayed by the scepticism with which such modern debates as the existence of God, authority of the pastors, or necessity of faith brings. Their faith—their pure and true faith—will answer these.

Rather, they should be careful about where they choose to nurture this faith, such a fragile yet vital gift from God, that our churches may prosper and concern themselves with the important thing: shepherding our souls to heaven.

VIVA SAFARIS KRUGER PARK with

Send your overseas friends and family on an unforgettable safari with VIVA SAFARIS

www.vivasafaris.com Bookings: vivasaf@icon.co.za or 071 842 5547

8

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

PILGRIMAGE

Pilgrims take part in a candlelight rosary procession at Nazareth’s basilica of the Annunciation—the place where tradition places the origin of the first line of the Hail Mary.

The Southern Cross pilgrims at Dominus Flevit church on Jerusalem’s Mount of olives, the place where Jesus stood and wept for the city.

A painting is lowered above the tomb of St Ignatius of Loyola to reveal a statue of the saint in the Gesù church in Rome.

Holy Land & Rome pilgrimage in pics I Marisa Wijtenburg reads at an emotional Mass on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in Capernaum, a site located behind the remains of St Peter’s house.

N May, a group of 57 Southern Cross pilgrims, led by Jesuit Father Russell Pollitt with Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher, travelled to the Holy Land and Rome on a journey of faith and graces.

There were many highlights, not least seeing Pope Francis closeup twice at his general audience in St Peter’s Square, and praying in the tomb of Christ in the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In election month, the group had Masses concelebrated with South African priests based in Rome, and in the Holy Land repeatedly bumped into the Durban group of Catholic pilgrims who a few days later were the target of an evil terrorist attack in Egypt.

The photos on this page provide just some of the memorable scenes from this prayerful and holy pilgrimage, about which there will be more in The Southern Cross over the coming weeks. All photos

by Günther Simmermacher.

Sr Sylvester CPS of Mthatha touches the silver star that marks the place of Jesus’ birth, in the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

Pilgrims at Mass in Jerusalem’s church of All Nations, or Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of olives. The rock in front of the altar, enclosed by a wrought-iron crown of thorns, is reputed to be the Rock of the Agony on which Jesus prayed before his arrest.

Fr Russell Pollitt preaches at Mass in Rome’s basilica of St Sebastian, above the catacombs named after the 4thcentury martyr, which the group toured.

Pilgrims pray at the tomb of St Paul, which has been authenticated, in Rome’s basilica of St Paul outside of the Walls.

Fr Russell Pollitt blesses the pilgrims after the renewal of baptismal vows at the authentic site where John baptised Jesus, at Qasr el-Yahud. on the opposite bank is the baptismal site of the Kingdom of Jordan.

Mass in the church of St Ignatius in Rome was concelebrated by three South African priests currently studying in Rome: (from left) Frs Tulani Gubula, Russell Pollitt SJ, Emmanuel Nkofo CMM and Kabelo Mahemo.

Holy Land guide Gabriel Twelve couples renewed their wedding vows in the Francis- Makhlouf explains the church of can church in Cana which marks the Lord’s first public mira- the Transfiguration on Mount cle at the wedding feast.

Tabor in Galilee.

S outher n C ross Pilgrimage

6-16 October 2019

CATHOLIC FRANCE Led by Father Lawrence Ndlovu Visit Lourdes, Paris, Nevers, Paray-le-Monial, Avignon, Marseilles, Orleans and much more...

For more information or to book, please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours.co.za/sandri

FAITH

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

9

Why the Church needs a new Pentecost The problem the Church has in evangelisation are similar to those faced by the early Christians, writes DEACoN KEITH FouRNIER, and in alliance with the Holy Spirit, they can be overcome.

O

N Pentecost the early followers of Jesus gathered as their Lord had instructed them, expecting the fulfilment of the promise he had made to send the Holy Spirit.

We refer to Pentecost as the birthday of the missionary Church for a good reason. Their encounter with the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room changed them.

They were filled with the same Holy Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead. The Apostle Paul would later explain the experience. Even though he was not at that first Pentecost, he certainly experienced the same encounter, and came to know of its powerful, transformative effects (Rom 8:11).

The Holy Spirit capacitated the early followers of Jesus to go from being a frightened fraternity to a band of brothers and sisters of whom it was said "they turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

They were empowered to carry forward in time the ongoing mission of Jesus Christ until he returns to complete the work of redemption.

Every year, this celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is an invitation to each one of us to have the very same encounter. It is the Holy Spirit which makes it possible for us to live lives of sacrificial love, holiness and service in a world that God still loves—a world into which he still sends his Son, through the Body of Christ, the Church—of which we are all members (Jn 3:16).

We are, in this millennium, commissioned to carry forward the very same mission of those first disciples who gathered with Mary the Mother of the Lord. Jesus promised his followers: “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father" (Jn 14:12).

That includes you and me!

In that same chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus promised as well: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.

“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realise that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you."

That first Christian Pentecost is recorded in Acts 2: "When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”

There is little doubt from the disciples’ actions following that event, they were very different. They went forward and really did turn the entire world upside down with their preaching and the witness of their changed lives.

Will we do the same in this new missionary age? The choice is ours to make.

A new pre-Christian time It is time for all Christians to stop bemoaning the collapse of the culture, stop using the language of

The purpose of Pentecost was—and still is—the empowering of the Christian Church, with the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead! The Holy Spirit draws us into communion with the Lord and a participation in his divine life and mission. That communion is lived in the Church, according to Deacon Keith Fournier. "post-Christian" and look at this mo- reaching out, with all Christians, manifesting the character of Jesus ment, our moment, as pre-Christian. into an age which needs to hear the Christ through living lives of real It is time to get to work, empowered Good News of Jesus Christ and be set holiness. by the same Holy Spirit, today. free.

Pentecost is not about a one-time In many respects, the Holy In fact, it was an encounter with experience but about a way of living Spirit—the third person of the the Holy Spirit so many years ago in Christ by the power of the Holy Blessed Trinity—seems mysterious to which led me back home to the Spirit. We are led by the Spirit to live many Christians in our own day. Catholic Church into which I had in the heart of the Church, for the When I consider this reality, I am re- been baptised as a child. That same sake of that world. minded of one of the many mission- Holy Spirit which leads me to work The Church is meant to become ary stories recounted in the Acts of with other Christians, across con- the home of the whole human race. the Apostles. fessional lines, in evangelistic and Within the communion of the Chapter 19 of Acts begins with culturally engaging work and mis- Church we become leaven and seed these words: "While Apollos was in sion. in the loaf of human culture, in Corinth, Paul travelled through the Sometimes, people ask me, all order to lead the world into the "new interior of the country and came to these years later, when they hear of world", which is the Church.

Ephesus where he found my earlier identification We are called to live a unity of some disciples. He said to with that movement life, where our Christian faith is not them, ‘Did you receive It’s time to stop called the Catholic compartmentalised but rather inthe Holy Spirit when you Charismatic Renewal, forms and permeates our daily life. became believers?’ They "What happened to those The missionary mandate extends using the answered him, ‘We have Pentecostal/Charismatic to every state in life and every Chrislanguage of Catholics?" I guess my tian vocation. They all demonstrate never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit’" life is one of many an- that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are "post-Christian" swers (Acts 19: 1,2). to that question. I real and still available for every Too often we live our and look at this give them the following Christian. lives like those disciples answer.

There is no Plan B moment, our in Ephesus. We act as The Holy Spirit conThe purpose of Pentecost is the though we did not realise tinued to lead me into moment, as the heart of the Catholic birth—and continued rebirth—of there even is a Holy Spirit, still at work, still pre-Christian.

Church. My hunger for the Church. The Church is "Plan A", pouring out gifts and still more of God and my pas- and there is no "Plan B".

The notion of a Christian group making it possible for us sionate love for the Word to bear spiritual fruit. The same Holy of God, led me to continued theo- being "para" Church is far from the Spirit still changing each one of us, logical studies and to ordination as purpose of Pentecost. The Holy individually and collectively, into a member of the clergy, a deacon. Spirit was not poured out on the disthe Image of Jesus Christ. The same My heart for evangelisation led me ciples so that they could form moveHoly Spirit calling us to make disci- to assist in the myriad ministries, ments outside of the Church, or ples of all the nations. apostolates and works in which I compete with one another in movements within her.

An examination of the teaching have been involved for decades.

The Christian Church was emof Jesus and the New Testament reDo I still believe that the gifts of veals the essential role of the Holy the Holy Spirit are available for ordi- powered by the Holy Spirit to live Spirit in the life and mission of the nary Christians? You bet I do! I also differently in the midst of a world Church—and in the life and mission hope that they assist us all in grow- awaiting the fullness of redemption; of every individual believer. ing in the fruits of the Spirit and to lead the world back to the Father, A study of the tradition, the magisterial teachings of the Church and the Catholic Catechism underscores that this reality is meant to continue. It was not a one-time event.

The purpose of Pentecost was— 1-10 December and still is—the empowering of the 2019 Christian Church, with the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead! The Holy Spirit draws us S A N G I OVA A N N I RO TO N D O into communion with the Lord and L oreto, Lanciano, Cassino and more a participation in his divine life and mission. That communion is lived with Lighting of Vaatican Christmas Trree Ceremony in the Church.

Advent P ilgrimage to

I TA TALY

through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.

Can we live this kind of transformed Christian life in the stuff of our own daily lives?

Yes, by living them in the heart of the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is a lot of "bad news" in our contemporary culture. However, this culture is not all that different than the cultures into which the early Christians were sent on mission; cultures such as the one which the Christians in Ephesus confronted.

They needed the Holy Spirit to do their work—and so do we.

The answer for the malady of this age is the same as the answer of those early disciples for their broken and lost age, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like them we are called to present the new culture which is revealed in the heart of the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit to our own age.

We are living in a new missionary age and we are called into the whole world to preach the Gospel in both word and deed.

We need to pray for a New Pentecost for the whole Church in this hour! We need more of the Holy Spirit for the work of the New Evangelisation within the Church so she can take the mission to the whole world. We need to be baptised afresh in the Holy Spirit in order to take our role as a member of the Body of Christ in this new missionary age.

The Church needs to rise up in this hour with the same power with which she transformed the world of the first centuries. And she can...by the power of the Holy Spirit!—CNA

URSULINE SISTERS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

RO M E • A S S I S I •

The current of grace I am one of countless thousands whose life was profoundly changed decades ago by an experience, an encounter, with the Holy Spirit. I am old enough to remember when we who had this encounter were called "Pentecostal Catholics". That was before the more refined term "charismatic" took prominence.

Pope Francis has taken to calling the experience a "Current of Grace".

I do not really care for any adjectival description before the noun "Catholic". I am a Christian, standing by choice in the heart of the Catholic Church which stretches back to the earthly ministry of Jesus and forward to his return. I stand

LED BY FR KA APENA OMI

Contact Gail at 076 352-3809 or info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za/italy

576 AM in Johannesburg & beyond

DStv Audio 870

www.radioveritas.co.za streaming live

Catch our interviews with Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher every Friday on 8:30am 41809 MASS followed by Mass Intention • 41809 VERI followed by comments

011 663-4700 info@radioveritas.co.za

We are the Ursulines Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, caring for the sick, education and pastoral work.

Do you feel called? Contact us!!!

Sr Irene Shange Cell: 061 854 0890

Sr Cecilia Mavuthela Cell: 072 437 42 44

Email: zandileziningi@yahoo.com or Email: provincial@stursula.co.za

10

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

CHURCH

May this agency rise from the ashes In the second of two articles on the influential and now defunct Catholic Welfare & Development, SYDNEY DuVAL recalls the turbulent 1980s and hopeful 1990s.

M

Y personal association with Catholic Welfare & Development (CWD)— the welfare agency of the archdiocese of Cape Town which had to close its doors in November— makes me think of the 1980s.

It calls to mind the mass movement from Ciskei and Transkei into informal settlements around Cape Town, the troubles at Old Crossroads and KTC, the burnings and bulldozers and displacement of people, the 1976 student revolt reigniting in the streets and classrooms of cities and towns.

This was a time of great upheaval that required a bold response from CWD with frontline relief work—blankets, plastic, food, shelter and solidarity with a battered and hounded people.

The emergence of CWD coincided with a time of transforming change for the Church, the nation and local communities as the country moved through protest and turmoil to that historic moment of convergence in April 1994.

That first democratic election and the swearing-in of Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first representative president was the good news. That was soon followed by the harsh realities of complex and

A supplement of the CWD News in The Southern Cross in September 1996. difficult transition characterised by unemployment, violent crime and corruption, and the difficult, frustrating job of meeting expectations and basic needs.

Throughout this period CWD was an active and caring partner in efforts to build up a new society woven together as a constitutional democracy that would overcome the bad news.

Along the way it did splendid work, some visible and some not so visible, creating memories that illuminate the past.

For instance, the agency enjoyed the affectionate support of successive leaders in Cardinal

Owen McCann, Archbishop Stephen Naidoo, Archbishop Lawrence Henry and his auxiliary, Bishop Reginald Cawcutt, followed by Archbishop Stephen Brislin.

The spiritual scaffolding has been matched by the commitment of its staff, the generosity of local Catholics, and the magnificent solidarity of Catholic donor agencies from overseas who understood what had to be done to build up a society free of apartheid and racism. Leadership and support of such quality makes things possible.

Of immense importance was CWD’s breaking new ground in making it possible for laity, religious and clergy to work together in a shared mission.

The agency got going at a time when several religious communities were moving into outreach, exploring new ways of serving the poor and deprived.

This collaboration shows what can be done when the local Church community joins forces— and passion—to live out the Church’s option for the poor and to be a community serving humanity in the spirit of Christ.

CWD developed a close relationship with grassroots communities which enabled it to recognise and respond to the harsh realities and causes of their living conditions.

And because it understood the value of networking with organisations sharing an affinity of interests, CWD—as a “thinking agency”—was able to grow into a

Passion Pilgrimage 2020

Holy Land & Oberammergau Passion Play Performed only every 10 years!

Led by Archbishop William Slattery OFM

Sacred Heart church and the headquarters of Catholic Welfare & Development in Somerset Road in Green Point, Cape Town. (Photo: Sydney Duval) major NGO involved in welfare and development. That work helped give birth to the groundbreaking Rural Development Support Programme (RDSP), to DOCKDA Development Agency (dioceses of Oudtshoorn, Cape Town, Keimoes and De Aar) and to Youth Unlimited in partnership with the archdiocese of Cape Town, Salesian Institute, RDSP, St Kizito and Sizanani Outreach Programme at Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.

other long-serving board members: Sr Eleonora Dittrich of Schoenstatt and Nello Battiston, who represented the St Vincent de Paul Society for many years until he retired in 1999.

Peter Templeton left CWD at the end of 1998 to start Goedgedacht Trust to help alleviate rural poverty. He was succeeded as coordinator by Jasper Walsh, Lungisa Huna, Malcolm Salida and Kevin Roussel.

Theology of giving

Crucial and relevant

In the tough business of fundraising, CWD encouraged a better understanding of the theology of giving.

While the wider Church in South Africa had the profound task of educating the faithful in social justice, CWD had to conscientise them to give in a Christian context—to understand why we give and why we receive.

In development and welfare work, justice and compassion go together.

Then there was the day Peter Templeton told us of a young man arriving at his desk late one afternoon. He was desperate for help.

The man had Aids, his family had shunned him, and he had nowhere to go with his sole possessions—his car, his clothing and his dog.

Peter’s immediate response was: “The buck stops here!”

This was the day the Catholic Church in South Africa began to engage in an organised, structured and holistic Aids ministry that destigmatised those who had been infected, while supporting those who had been affected.

A stream was flowing that led into the SACBC Aids Office session on “Responsibility in a Time of Aids” in February 2003, and the launch of its comprehensive Aids outreach at Regina Mundi church in Moroka, Soweto, on January 30, 2005, attended by 10 000 faithful.

From those years the agency had a special affection for two

The release of Mr Mandela and the birth of the “new South Africa” ignited a surge of new hope in communities served by the agency. However, in spite of its best intentions and promises of “a better life for all”, the new government was unable to provide real solutions to some of the problems it inherited from the apartheid regime.

Poverty, unemployment and the lack of facilities in impoverished communities remain an oppressive reality for millions of people.

In such a situation, the work of CWD remained both crucial and relevant.

The initial idea for this two-part narrative began as my “rest in peace” for CWD. But when we recently watched Notre Dame cathedral in Paris burning, and with it hearts around the world, “rest in peace” sounded too final when President Emmanuel Macron was soon saying the cathedral would be rebuilt within five years.

It is a hope shared by many that CWD will rise from the ashes of its implosion, but long before five years.

The good work it did in reading, understanding and responding to the signs of the times is a mission that should continue. n Sydney Duval is a veteran journalist and retired personal assistant to the late Archbishops Stephen Naidoo and Lawrence Henry. He served on the board of CWD for 27 years, including terms as chairperson.

It is a hope shared by many that CWD will rise from the ashes of its implosion

21 Aug to 2 Sept 2020 To book contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone 076 352-3809 www.fowlertours.co.za/passion

CWD relief supplies are unpacked at the Pink House in Masiphumelele, Cape Town. (Photo: Sydney Duval)

The Southern Cross, June 5 to June 11, 2019

Sr Rose-Noelene Lundall OP

D

OMINICAN Sister RoseNoelene Lundall died on April 26 at the age of 71.

Born in Durban on December 23, 1947, the fifth of eight children to Charles Kenneth and Magdalene Lundall, she attended St Theresa’s Primary School for nine years and completed her Secondary Schooling at Oakford, KwaZulu-Natal, obtaining a matric exemption in 1969.

After her final vows as an Oakford Dominican in 1971, she trained in general nursing and midwifery at RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth, Durban, where she received a gold medal for “Best Nurse of the Year”.

She continued studying through UNISA where she completed a nursing science diploma. She later obtained a certificate in theology and a teacher accreditation in Natural Family Planning.

She ministered in various communities of the congregation: in Durban, Pretoria, Oakford, Empangeni, Magaliesburg and Kimberley before her retirement to Pietermaritzburg.

She enjoyed a sabbatical in Rome and completed a course in youth leadership at Khanyisa, Mariannhill.

In August 1979, while working at Marifont Maternity Hospital in Pretoria, she developed a brain tumour and underwent brain surgery at St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban. She made a miraculous recovery and served the congregation and the Church in various ministries for a good number of years until

she could no longer work.

Sr Rose-Noelene was an example of a woman of deep faith and fervent prayer. She had a direct line to God and often told her fellow Sisters what God wanted us to do!

An avid reader, she was not shy to share her opinion and had no time for dishonesty or injustice. She was short-tempered but quick to forgive and to ask for pardon, and that is what made her so lovable.

The latter years of her life were a time of intense suffering for her as she was conscious of the deterioration of her body.

She lost her balance and could no longer walk, could no longer go to the kitchen and had to abandon the idea of ever knitting again.

Her beloved reading and studying was taken away from her as the effects of the tumour began to take their toll.

But she remained strong due to the love for the God she had given her entire life to and had spent herself serving. She recognised him in the many people he had brought into her life.

Br Hermann Engelhardt MCCJ

C

OMBONI Brother Hermann Engelhardt died on May 6 at the age of

74.

Born on December 16, 1944, in Bad Mergentheim, southern Germany, Br Hermann made his first profession as a Comboni Brother in 1964.

He worked in Germany until 1976 when he was appointed to South Africa.

Up until 2017, he worked tirelessly in South Africa in three different missions of the Comboni missionaries: Glen Cowie in Witbank diocese from 1976-99, then Mount Frere mission in the Eastern Cape, Kokstad diocese.

In 2012, when the Comboni missionaries handed the mission of Glen Cowie to the diocese of Kokstad, he was assigned to the Comboni community of Maria Trost in Lydenburg, Witbank diocese.

He left South Africa in November 2017, always thinking about returning. His health unfortunately rapidly deteriorated.

Br Hermann had a great love for vegetable gardens. It was through his mentor, the late Comboni Brother Paul Zeller,

that Br Herman found his passion for the soil. Anything he planted came to bear fruit in abundance.

The Mount Frere mission was open all day, from 7:30 in the morning until 16:30, when Br Hermann closed the garden at the end of the day.

People flocked to the mission garden every day either in search of grown vegetables or for seeds to be planted in their home gardens.

Others came asking for advice on how to start a local garden in the villages, and some simply came to have a good chat. He always felt very re-

laxed with the local people.

Br Hermann made sure that the people who came asking for vegetables never left the mission empty-handed.

He would supply them with seeds, plants, fertilisers and vegetables. He was never short of patience to start afresh when some of the local gardens failed.

He achieved all this with the help of two, sometimes three local workers and even a fourth in times of great demand.

He trained them well, and often left them in charge of the garden, so that together with a local worker, he was able to go out to the villages in the Eastern Cape and help the people start their own gardens in the backyards of their homes.

There were days when he drove more than 200km to start local gardens in the Eastern Cape where unemployment was high and the local resources were scarce.

Br Hermann was a humble person and never pretended to be anything he wasn’t. Those of us who lived with him found great joy and benefited greatly from knowing him.

By Fr Mariano Pérez MCCJ

What does really matter in life?

Continued from page 7 saddened by her passing, of course, and by knowing that there would be no more conversations, no more stories, no more history.

But behind all that, there was a deep gratitude that we, in some small way, were a part of this deep and rich life.

Her life and her passing stand as a testimony to what is really important.

In a world of fleeting encounters and a thousand dis-

tractions, places to be and things to do, we too often get hung up on the things that don’t really matter in the span of a life.

If I make millions of rand but am poor on the inside, what was it all for? If I am known and praised for my actions but don’t know God who lives inside me, all the accolades are meaningless. If I have travelled the world and met countless people but those who share my life remain as

strangers, then I have missed the point.

Yes, dear lady, you lived an incredible life. You leave behind a legacy and a message for us moderns. You remind us to put things into their proper perspective.

What really matters in the measure of a life? n For more columns by Sarah-Leah Pimentel, see www.scross.co.za/category/perspectives/sarah-leah-pimentel/

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

YOUR CLASSIFIEDS

11

Anniversaries • Milestones • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday accommodation Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Parish notices • Thanks • others Please include payment (R1,90 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

IN MEMORIAM

OSBORNE—Katy. Died May 30, 2016. Three years later you are still missed and fondly remembered by Solly, Sally and family. RIP.

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

BLAIR—Victor and Maureen (née Campbell) are celebrating their 65th. Congratulations Mom and Dad on your 65th wedding anniversary, with all our love and best wishes, from all your children, grandchildren and great-grandsons, David.

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelife abortionisevil.co.za ABORTION WARNING: The Pill can abort. All Catholic users (married or cohabiting) must be told, to save their souls and their unborn infants. See www.epm.org/ static/uploads/downloads/ bcpill.pdf PEOPLE OF THE CEDARS is a book on the South African Lebanese community written by Ken Hanna. It is available on Amazon at https://msteve.kartra.com/ page/inheritance CALL FOR LAY PEOPLE: Moses Maren Mission is situated south of Johannesburg and is Christian/Catholic in its outlook. We are in need of lay people who are called to a life of prayer to join our Sisters in

the spiritual work in the school and children’s home and to give the place a Christian/Catholic ethos and outlook. The mission has been in existence for the past 31 years. Phone Pastor Maren 074 889-6598.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

MARIANELLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped, with amazing sea views. Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy.

Malcolm Salida 082 7845675, mjsalida@gmail.com

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: A Holy Hour Prayer for Priests is held on the second Saturday of every month at the Villa Maria shrine from 16:00 to 17:00. The shrine is at 1 Kloof Nek Road in Tamboerskloof. The group prays for priests in the archdiocese, and elsewhere by request.

Retreat day/quiet prayer

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 866. ACROSS: 4 Vatican, 8 Unique, 9 Cantata, 10 Talent, 11 Hunter, 12 Doctrine, 18 Chalices, 20 Achaia, 21 Quorum, 22 Classic, 23 Delete, 24 Isolate. DOWN: 1 Custody, 2 Dialect, 3 Burner, 5 Anathema, 6 Intent, 7 Anthem, 13 Iscariot, 14 Scarlet, 15 Ishmael, 16 Scalds, 17 Tassel, 19 Lauded.

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: June 11: Bishop Emeritus Francisco de Gouveia of Oudtshoorn on his 68th birthday

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday June 9, Pentecost Sunday Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34, Romans 8:8-17, John 14:15-16, 23-26 Monday June 10, Our Lady, Mother of the Church Genesis 3:9-15, Psalm Jud 13, 18, 19, John 19:25-27 Tuesday June 11, St Barnabas Acts 11:21-26, Psalm 98:1-6, Matthew 10:7-13 Wednesday June 12 2 Corinthians 3: 4-11, Psalm 99:5-9, Matthew 5:17-19 Thursday June 13, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest Isaiah 6:1-4, or Hebrews 2:10-18; Psalm 23:2-3, 5-6, John 1-2, 9: 14-26 Friday June 14 2 Corinthians 4: 7-15, Psalm 116:10-11, 15-18, Matthew 5:27-32 Saturday June 15 2 Corinthians 5: 14-21, Psalm 103:1-4, 8,9, 11-12, Matthew 5:33-37 Sunday June 16, Trinity Sunday Proverbs 8: 22-31, Psalm 8:4-9, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

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 0313093496 or 031 209-2536.

St Anthony’s rosary group.

Every Wednesday at 18:00 at St Anthony’s church opposite Greyville racecourse.

All are welcome and lifts are available. Contact Keith Chetty on 083 372-9018.

NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to 16:45, followed by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30.

Pray that AFRICA and THE WORLD may draw closer to the HEART OF CHRIST 2 Chron 7:14 Matthew 7:7-12

The

Southern Cross

Published independently by the Catholic Newspaper and Publishing Co since 1920

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Business Manager: Pamela Davids Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000

10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001 Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

Editorial: editor@scross.co.za News editor: news@scross.co.za Business manager: admin@scross.co.za Advertising: advertising@scross.co.za Subs/Orders: subscriptions@scross.co.za Website: www.scross.co.za Digital edition: www.digital.scross.co.za Facebook: www.facebook.com/thescross

Subscriptions:

Digital: R420 p.a. (anywhere in the world) Print by mail: R500 p.a.

(SA. International rates on enquiry)

The Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa. Printed by Paarl Coldset (Pty) Ltd, 10 Freedom Way, Milnerton.

Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

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

Trinity Sunday: June 16 Readings: Proverbs 8:22-31, Psalm 8:4-9, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15

W

HAT kind of God do we celebrate on the first Sunday after we have ended the Easter season? What the ancient doctrine that God is Three-in-One does is alert us to the fact that, though God is One, there is also an astonishing richness in God. In the first reading, the unknown Hebrew poet sings of personified Wisdom, who tells us that “the Lord formed me at the beginning of his way”. That is to say, that there was An Other present to God when creation was taking place; but still only one God. “When there were no deeps I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water.”

And indeed, it seems that Wisdom was God’s partner: “I was at his side, as a craftsman; and I was his delight, day by day, playing in his presence, playing on the surface of the land, and I delighted in the sons of men.”

This is a profoundly enriched view of the One God; and it is this sort of language that enabled Christians in the early centuries to suggest the apparently inconceivable idea that there are Many in the One. The psalm for next Sunday is that lovely hymn to the creator God: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you established”; and the

S outher n C ross

poet is well able to distinguish between the One God and his creation.

But then he uses a phrase that struck the early Christians as useful if they were to speak about Jesus in the context of their belief in that One God, for they applied to Jesus the line in the psalm that says: “You made him for a little while lower than the gods (or: “than God”); with glory and honour you crowned him.”

And if this works for talking about Jesus, what about the next line: “You gave him rule over the works of your hands—you put everything under his feet”? At least we can dimly see how those good Jews who were our Christian forefathers were able to use that sort of language that implied a richness in the One God. The second reading for the feast comes at the beginning of a section where Paul is explaining to the Christians in Rome why they have grounds for hope in what God has done for them; and he uses his (as yet only obscurely articulated) sense of the richness of God. It starts with God and Jesus: “So [summing up the previous difficult arguments] we have been justified by faith, and we have peace with God through Our Lord Jesus Christ.” He

Sunday Reflections

expands that a little, using the idea of “access to this grace in which we stand, and in which we boast in the hope of God’s glory”.

So it is not an irrelevant piece of mindboggling mathematics, but actually has to do with what God has done for us in Jesus. And that means we can be at ease, or as Paul expresses it, “we can boast of our trouble, knowing that tribulation gives us steadfastness”, and then he explains that this leads to character, and so to hope.

But the vital thing is that there is another element in the richness of God, not just the Father and Jesus, but also this: “God’s love is poured out in our hearts, through the Holy Spirit that was given us.”

You see, Paul—that great thinker of the early Church—found that he simply had to use language that spoke of this richness in the One God, but at the same time sought to do justice to our experience by speaking of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Let me note here: it does not matter if you do not quite understand this; indeed it would be odd if you did. The vital thing is that you grasp that whatever we can say about God is always going to be beyond anything that we

Here was a true disciple

can possibly comprehend.

The Gospel for next Sunday pushes us further in this direction. It comes from the Last Supper Discourse, when Jesus is trying to explain to his baffled disciples why his imminent departure is not the disaster that it might appear to be.

We start by noting that they are not expected to understand everything, as Jesus tells them: “I have still many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the moment.”

And that of course applies to us; don’t worry if you don’t “get” the Trinity, just worship the one God and understand that God is a richness.

Then notice the vital, third element: “The Spirit of Truth will guide you in all Truth”; and see, above all, how everything that is true of Jesus is true also of the Spirit and of the Father: “He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine and announce it to you. Everything the Father has is mine.”

Just sit with these profound statements and let them speak to you of God.

Southern Crossword #866

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

‘O

Final Reflection

Jean Vanier was a man whom one could follow, writes Fr Ron Rolheiser. (Photo courtesy Jean Vanier Association)

B

ut Vanier’s person, message and charisma, through all his years, suffered from no such ambiguity. The transparency, simplicity, depth, wisdom and faith that were contained in his person and his word beckoned us only in one direction—towards all that’s one, good, true and beautiful, which are the properties of God. Meeting him made you want, like the disciples in the Gospels, to leave your boats and nets behind and set off on a new, more radical road. Few persons have that power.

Perhaps the best criterion by which to judge Christian discipleship is to look at who’s moving downwards, who fits this description of Jesus: “Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped at.

Rather he emptied himself and took the

form of a slave.”

Jean Vanier was born into a world of privilege, blessed with exceptional parents, a gifted intelligence, a handsome body, enviable educational opportunities, financial security, and a famous name. Those are a lot of gifts for a person to carry and that kind of privilege has more often ruined a life than blessed it.

For Vanier, however, these gifts were never something to be grasped at. He emptied himself by immersing himself in the lives of the poor, letting his gifts bless them, even as he received a rich blessing in return.

He modelled a true discipleship of Jesus, namely, stepping downwards into a second baptism, among the poor, where community and joy are found. And to this he invited us.

In her poem “The Leaf and the Cloud”, Mary Oliver wrote: “I will sing for the broken doors of the poor, and for the sorrow of the rich, who are mistaken and lonely.”

Jean Vanier, through all the years of his life, stepped through the broken doors of the poor and found community and joy there.

For him, our differences were not a threat but a treasure.

ACROSS

4. Vacant? I come inside to meet the pope here (7) 8. It’s the only one of its kind (6) 9. Sacred music sung and played together (7) 10. Natural aptitude for biblical coin? (6) 11. Nimrod was a mighty one before the Lord (Gn 10) (6) 12. The teaching of the Church (8) 18. Ice clash disturbed vessels on the altar (8) 20. Gallio was the proconsul here (Ac 18) (6) 21. Smallest legitimate group of members of parish council (6) 22. Timeless, like great music (7) 23. Erase (6) 24. Quarantine tea oils (7)

DOWN

1. Safekeeping of the Holy Land by the Franciscans (7) 2. Spoken parlance of the locals (7) 3. Bunsen’s one can warm the laboratory (6) 5. The Church’s condemnation of a teaching (8) 6. There is purpose in the camp shelter (6) 7. National hymn (6) 13. The man who was to betray him (Mk 3) (8) 14. Car lets off a brilliant colour (7) 15. Son of Abraham (Gn 16) (7) 16. Gets into hot water painfully (6) 17. Tuft of threads at less (6) 19. Praised highly (6) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

Conrad

UR differences are not a threat but a treasure.” Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, who died in Paris on May 7, wrote those words, but their truth is far from self-evident.

One might question whether those words are simply nice-sounding poetics or whether they contain an actual truth.

Our differences, in fact, are often a threat.

Moreover, it’s one thing to mouth those words; it’s quite another to have the moral authority to speak them. Few have that authority. Jean Vanier did.

His whole life and work testify to the fact that our differences can indeed be a treasure and can, in the end, be that precise element of community that serves up for us the particular grace we need.

Vanier saw differences—whether of faith, religion, culture, language, gender, ideology, or genetic endowment—as graces to enrich a community rather than as threats to its unity.

And while he gave witness to this in all aspects of his life, he was of course best known for how he appropriated that apposite among the differences that have, seemingly since forever, separated people with intellectual disabilities from the rest of the community, isolating them, assigning them second-class status, and depriving the rest of us of the unique grace they bring.

Someone once described Vanier as initiating a new Copernican revolution in that, prior to him, we used to think of our service to the poor one-sidedly; as in we give to them.

Now that we recognise our former arrogance and naiveté, the poor bring a great service to us.

One of the persons who gave a powerful personal testimony to that was Fr Henri Nouwen, the renowned spiritual writer.

Tenured at both Yale and Harvard, an immensely respected speaker and a man loved and adulated by a large public, Nouwen, nursing his own disabilities, was for most of his life unable to healthily absorb very much from the immense amount of love that was being bestowed on him.

He remained deeply insecure within himself, unsure he was loved, until he went to live in one of Vanier’s communities.

There, living with men and women who were completely unaware of his achievements and his fame, and who offered him no adulation, he began for the first time in his life to finally sense his own worth and to feel himself as loved.

That great grace came from living with those who were different. We have Jean Vanier to thank for teaching that to the rest of us as well.

I first heard Vanier speak when I was a 22-year-old seminarian. For many of my colleagues he was a spiritual rockstar, but that idolisation was a negative for me. I went to hear him with a certain bias: “Nobody can be that good.” But he was!

Admittedly that’s ambiguous. Talent and charisma can seduce us towards selfishness just as easily as invite us towards nobility of soul.

Someone can be a powerful speaker without that charisma witnessing at all to that person’s human and moral integrity and without that seductiveness inviting anyone to what’s more-noble inside him or her.

Nicholas King SJ

Many in the One God

T

HE Marriage Encounter weekend was going well until the speaker pointed out that communication between spouses is so bad that according to the latest research, 92,8% of husbands do not know what their wife’s favourite flower is.

To prove his point, the speaker asked the men in the group to name their wives’ favourite flower.

Immediately Freddy’s hand shot up, and with the confidence of a man who truly knows and cherishes his wife, he replied: “Self-raising!”

Retirement Home, Rivonia, Johannesburg Tel:011 803 1451 www.lourdeshouse.org

Frail/assisted care in shared or single rooms.

Independent care in single/double rooms with en-suite bathrooms.

Rates include meals, laundry and 24-hour nursing.

Day Care and short stay facilities also available.

For all your Sand and Stone requirements in Piet Retief, Southern Mpumalanga

Tel: 017 826 0054/5 Cell: 082 904 7840 Email: sales@eskaycrushers.co.za