190619

S outher n C ross

June 19 to June 25, 2019

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

New bishop is Durban’s gift to Cape Town

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No 5141

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P r o v i n c e Schools Act and y many ch th African Medica r u a r y n a classr d v e curing accreditati s e i s c e n t r a l t o b Children i t of them state-fun nom ican en recei The Sou udy in Fe S o w e lls cour iciSouth Afr v e a l e v e l o f a u t o ng to e childr frica, mos shed a st A life ski ent of the part e es wher i a n a l p u b l i w e d t h a t 9 9 % o f n ex- A h c e n t r ation and care. policy,, h n proves challeng lopm o th bee l sho chers wit te t h e d e v e e n t r e s e a rc h i n t t h i s e q u i p t e a c h o o l s t o stimu w h i c h o f i n g i n e d u c a t i o n . o u n d w h i c h dren sur veyed had r m s o f that risis . Rec s me is to r il o rk Literacy c en done and pangtsramme had shownyoung peot h o s e w o n u a l j a m b o r e e a i n c e s t an ch t o “ e x t r e m e f s i n t h e g r a m k i l l s w h i c h e n a b l e and peace. t s o The an pits prov a t - p o s e d of justice p e r s o n a l ch has be ct on the as gunsho n c e b e - t h e on, p r a 12 results me places While mu spent on educati n - h a s a n i m p a ho ce”, such le i t h e G r a d e c h o t h e r t o s e e w i n g - v i o l e n b u l l y i n g a n d v i o t h e r a p e beco t h i s r e q u i r e s b o t h r o g r e s s i s y e s t n s . o e p ark t a an r ’s lives uch m As street, change, a g a i n s t e ” p r o v i n c e , a m e ion. embers, o friends. in- m r n a t i o n a l b e n c h m u t h A f r i c a n ple h mind-set family m e r p at me is beg olic Churc t a i n s “ t o r e o f q u a l i t y e d u c who t w e e n u a l a s s a u l t o f t h e i o l s h a s a n d b u t t h e p r o g r a m s e C a t h o l i c i n t t e t h a t 7 8 % o f S o r m e a n i n g The Cath cation , o x u o le dica ad fo l e s s m e a s alf of young peop t u n - a n d s e v i o l e n c e i n s c h a s a r e s l o w t o b e a r f r u i t i n t h e m e n t e d . cannot re and edu ave Grade 4s uage. impl The m e a r e h i c h ning About h e t e s c h o o l a r e l e f llenges le here it is in the ng g their cets. So w these cha i n S o u t h mpl schools w h a s b ee n s h a r i n n de- in any la ans that children submany fa y gang violence Where do do not co nd unskilled. rc h a d b shows ls.

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T h i s c a m c h o o l s — p u p i l - o n l - o n - c h o l o g i c a i r e c t v i o l e n c e ( s u a n d o T h e l a c k o f p r o v i s a jor de t er min the le tor of i s d t of mpacts o en. It requires am p u t y d i re c o n olence in - p u p i l a n d p u p children er is the dep also of in unequal treatmen harschools i verty. dr fectively,, n co me s, e f e r g e n e r a t i o n a l p o c e n - a b i l i t y o f t h e c h i l i n t h e i r m o t h e r Bak ducati ere e t or E s h n u f n w j o A n — teacher-o e u ) t t e u D n c n s EC e ev- n a n t o f i n lear violen c Instit after e galnumerou try. at childre -3, there e C a t h o l i a). teacher. ter seems to hav tion, cultural social justice becom T h e r e a r e s around the coun t o t h g u e f o r G r a d e s 1 h i s s e r i o u s l y t h ac rg.z The lat mony and ns into she ed ton www.cie.o English. T velopment (w o keep the unio P o l i c y tres at pari e s e a r e o u t s o u rc o r e itching to de dent. uarding v a n i s e d challenging task t h d n o t i T h e C h i l d S a f e g o l s t o u n d e r - M a n y o f t members and are m C D sw c t s t h e i r l i t e r a c y E and it is a o n a l l v i o l e n c e a n ho y affe nctional ommunit atholic sc o prot h e f o c u s against teachers. S u m - enables C deep obligation t f the c b y s i t t i n g t h a n f u a o ir ls just pupi n a l S c h o o l S a f e t y r e v i - stand the n, while the aim P r o - b A N a t i o l o w - u p t o t w o p 6 . tect childre h o l i c S c h o o l s l t 1 a o 0 f C 2 a mit was 2 0 1 5 a n d ade in B u i l d i n g mits in o u s s u m mitments were m m While co

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Highlights of Holy Land pilgrimage

Page 22

New Jesuit film focuses on SA’s murder capital STaFF REPoRTER

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HE Jesuit Institute has launched a new documentary on people’s experience of crime in one of Cape Town’s most notorious townships.

Titled Cape Town Exposed Beyond the Beaches, the film is freely available on YouTube.

According to the Jesuit Institute, “the documentary reveals the despicable reality of the crime and desperation lived in Nyanga”.

“In stark contrast to the Cape Town known to many—as a tourists’ paradise—we wanted to highlight the inequality and the multitude of problems faced by its people.”

Fatalities due to crime in the township amount to one almost every day, making it the murder capital of South Africa.

“This revelation alone should bring politicians and our national government to act definitely and with haste,” the Jesuit Institute said.

“Sadly, it appears little is being done. The latest statistics reveal an upward trend in criminal activity in the region of almost 10%—especially in sexually-related offences and murder.”

With almost a quarter of those who live in Nyanga being between the ages of 15 and 24, “young people in the area [are] perhaps the most susceptible to crime. In many cases, it is these very young people who are the perpetrators and victims of such odious crimes,” the Jesuit Institute said.

The media team of the Johannesburgbased institute, in collaboration with the Jesuits, visited Nyanga for a week to shoot the “8-minute snapshot of daily life”, directed by Sr Katleho Khang SMJM, with contributions

by Ricardo da Silva SJ and Francis Tuson SJ. The latter also composed the musical score.

In the film, Jesuit Father Matsepane Morare, former parish priest in Nyanga, notes that Nyanga “is an extraordinary violent place with a huge number of problems”—

F Rampe H obo a Nyanga pa sh n he doc umen a y Cape Town Exposed Beyond he Beaches The m s ee y ava ab e on YouTube and, he adds, “it has been like this for decades”.

“This palisade-fenced area of the province encloses people as though they were caged zoo animals,” Jesuit Father Rampe Hlobo of St Mary’s church in Nyanga said.

“If one tries to abide by the law, one may just end up being a victim and a crime statistic as well,” he said on the Jesuit Institute’s website.

“The problem is not that people do not want to obey the law but that those who do not want to obey the law terrorise the rest of the community—and there are no policing and law enforcement agencies to protect lawabiding community members who want the rule of law. Consequently, lawlessness flourishes and reigns,” Fr Hlobo said.

But the documentary also shows the flipside to the world of crime.

“Beyond the blood-splatter and filth-lined streets, there is an incredible joy and hope among those who live there. It was encouraging to see young children playing in the Continued on page 2

Students of the Grade 11 geography class of Brescia House School in Bryanston, Johannesburg, took the cableway to the top of the Magaliesberg for a practical lesson on climatology, landscape development and settlement. This week, The Southern Cross places a special focus on Catholic schooling, with articles on education as well as some that give useful tips to parents, such as how to recognise anxiety in children, how to teach kids to pray, the dangers of online pornography, and more.

Pope news now in Latin A

BY CaRol GlaTz

WEEKLY news programme about the pope and the Vatican is now being offered in Latin, the official language of the Holy See. The five-minute news flash “will be an actual, real news broadcast with news and news reports”, said Andrea Tornielli, editorial director for the Dicastery for Communication.

The programme is not meant as “a nostalgic look at the past, but as a challenge towards the future”, giving new life to the Catholic Church’s official language, he said on Vatican News.

The programme, Hebdomada Papae (“The Pope’s Week”) airs every Saturday and is rebroadcast on Sundays on Vatican Radio’s Italian channel. It also will appear as a podcast on the Vaticannews.va website.

Mgr Waldemar Turek, head of the Latin section at the Vatican Secretariat of State, told Vatican News that the programme will

hit the highlights of the pope’s activities and what is happening at the Vatican.

His office is the one in charge of translating all official papal texts and the pope’s Latin Twitter account, @Pontifex_ln.

The news flash “will be an opportunity for young people and adults to be able to have direct contact with contemporary Latin”, Mgr Turek said.

For example, many modern-day words have Latin translations, thanks to the work of some staff at the Vatican and pontifical universities in creating a two-volume Lexicon of modern words, he said.

If the lexicon, which was compiled 30 years ago, does not have the word, they still come up with an appropriate equivalent, he said, such as certaminibus mundialibus sphaeromachiae for World Cup football champions, exterarum gentium odium for xenophobia, or rerum inexplicatarum volantium studiosus for a person who studies UFOs. n The podcast can be found at www.bit.ly/ 2KCvg77

Southern Cross • Radio Veritas • Spotlight

See Pope Francis at the Papal Mass!

Explore Catholic Mauritius 6 - 13 September 2019 • Led by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ

...and pray and relax a little

For more nformat on or to book, p ease contact Ga at nfo@fow ertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours.co.za/mauritius

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The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

LOCAL

Rosary walk for a reflective journey Brescia House School in Johannesburg has opened the St angela’s Rosary Walk on its property.

Pupils Georgia Borges (left) and Naledi zhungu are seen at the start of the walk, with the statue of St angela Merici behind them.

B

RESCIA House School in Bryanston, Johannesburg, recently opened its St Angela’s Rosary Walk. It is named after Angela Merici, who founded the Ursulines in 1535 in Brescia in Italy.

The Ursuline Sisters started and run Brescia House.

The walk is laid out to symbolise the rosary and runs around the entire campus, connecting all three schools.

It is designed to bring a sense of togetherness to all those connected by the Catholic and Ursuline ethos.

Fittingly, the walk starts in the centre of the school on St Angela’s lawn, adjacent to St Angela’s statue.

As with the rosary, there is a crucifix at the start and then there are six “beads” in the form of steppingstones before the first decade begins.

The crucifix is a replica of the distinctive Ursuline crucifix designed by an artist while in a con-

centration camp during World War II. Mother Felicia Pastoors, then Ursuline prioress general, said in 1966: “On Holy Thursday we chose the crucifix that we will now wear; it was especially made for us and in

this image, we see Christ glorified with an attitude of profound peace that expresses the joy of having done the will of the Father.”

Today, the Ursuline Sisters wear the crucifix chosen in 1966 as a symbol of faith and consecration.

The St Angela’s Rosary Walk is provided to encourage meditative walks and contemplative thinking points along the journey, making use of the five decades of thoughts which Brescia House’s religious education department conceptualised at each of the beads.

It stands as a visual and active representation of the rosary at the school, and is sure to be used by pupils, staff and the community for years to come, the school said.

It also provides a good form of exercise as the route is about 2km long.

Brescia House encourages pupils, staff and the greater community to try the walk. The hope is to provide many future occasions to take a break and enjoy a calm meander around the whole school,on a journey of faith. n To join in on a rosary walk, contact marketing@brescia.co.za

Shop with Little Eden

L

ITTLE Eden Society’s charity shop in Edenvale, Johannesburg, is in urgent need of gently used clothing and furniture.

The recently relocated and upgraded shop has been a treasure box for bargain hunters from Edenvale and surroundings for over 40 years.

But donated items, especially clothing, have become scarce and the organisation is turning to the community for support.

The charity shop helps fund the Little Eden homes for those with profound intellectual disability.

To donate new or gently-used items contact 011 609-7246 to arrange for collection or drop them at the Littler Eden offices at 79 Wagenaar Road in Edenglen. n For more information, contact Nichollette Muthige at marketing@ littleeden.org.za or visit www.little eden.org.za

Apostleship of the Sea’s SA head on first year STaFF REPoRTER

A

LITTLE over a year ago, Nicholas Barends became the national director of Catholic seafarers’ charity Apostleship of the Sea (Stella Maris) South Africa.

The former printer is based in Cape Town, where he goes on board ships to meet sailors who arrive at the port to provide pastoral and practical support when it’s needed.

Before becoming national director, he had been an active volunteer ship visitor for more than ten years.

“One of the best things about working for Stella Maris and our ministry supporting seafarers is to see the gratitude of those we’ve either rescued or helped in some way, and the fact that they trusted us enough to help them,” Mr Barends said.

“Seafarers come from all over the world, and sometimes English isn’t their first language, which can make understanding each other difficult. But we never let that get in the way,” he explained.

To get around the language barrier he uses a translation app on his phone which, Mr Barends said, “comes in handy in such situations”.

Talking of his start as national director, he recalls that the first few months were eventful.

“I was overwhelmed with the difficult cases that were presented to me almost immediately,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if we, the Stella Maris team in Cape Town, were able to help the seafarers who came to us as we had to learn very quickly how to deal with each case, often without the help of the authorities, as time was of the essence before the seafarers and their ships left the port.”

One case that Mr Barends said will always stand out in his mind was that of a 35-year-old seafarer: “He burst out crying in my office as he told me of the abuse he and several of his colleagues had to endure from their senior officers.”

This case had a happy ending, as disciplinary action was taken immediately after intervention. “Within one hour we had the captain on a

Nicholas Barends, national director of Catholic seafarers’ charity apostleship of the Sea, in discussion with a sailor on board ship in Cape Town. final written warning with six months’ salary deducted, and the chief mate was fired and lost six months of his salary. The seafarers were ecstatic when they heard the

outcome,” Mr Barends said.

“The best part of my job is how my colleagues and I manage to gain the trust of seafarers in a short space of time, as most are very shy and

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also a bit suspicious of strangers trying to help them and not doing it for any financial gain.”

The main challenge is how to still be able to help seafarers once they leave port. “But we are blessed to have our Stella Maris global network of 227 chaplains in 339 ports across 59 countries who are able to provide follow-on care and support to those seafarers,” Mr Barends said.

Another challenge is to get more people, young and old, in all the major ports of South Africa to volunteer in some way with the ministry to seafarers.

“We need dedicated people, especially in the ports of Durban and Richards Bay,” he said.

The Apostleship of the Sea, the national director explained, “is the only welfare organisation that focuses on the spiritual and practical needs of the seafarers without infringing on any other religions on board the various vessels we visit”. n For more information contact Nicholas Barends at nicholas.barends @stellamarismail.org or visit www. apostleshipofthesea.org.za

Jesuit docu on SA murder capital Continued from page 1 parks, albeit accompanied by their parents for fear that they may be kidnapped or enticed into a life of crime by local ganglords,” the producers said.

“Nyanga residents also braai openly on the streets, sharing their food generously with one another, amid township song and sips of the finest brew from the local shebeen. The sense of community is undeniable.”

The documentary interviews mothers at St Mary’s who come together to support each other through the grief and pain of losing their children to gang violence.

One mother notes that the root cause of the crime wave is poverty.

“Young people are growing up without a sense of escaping this cycle of poverty, violence and death,” Fr Morare says in the documentary.

“This is not how people are supposed to live in one of the wealthiest countries in Africa,” he adds.

“The Church becomes a necessary and indispensable haven, not least for its young community members. We find ourselves journeying in solidarity with the people of Nyanga…giving hope to many, especially the young” through various programmes offered by the parish.

One student interviewed at the church noted: “No one pays attention to us.”

The documentary is a response to that observation.

Cape Town Exposed Beyond the Beaches follows another recent documentary by the Jesuit Institute, Denied Access: Stories of Forced Migrants in South Africa, which is also available on YouTube. n Cape Town Exposed Beyond the Beaches can be viewed at www.youtube/copYrQvNWrQ

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

LOCAL

3

New bishop Durban’s gift Spiritfest to host lecture on to Cape Town archdiocese student protests at Rhodes

BY SaMaNTHa CaRoluS

BY ERIN CaRElSE

T

C

APE Town was one of Fr Sylvester David’s favourite places to visit for a holiday.

Now he will live there as the new auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese.

“I’m getting used to this idea,” he told The Southern Cross. “Bear in mind I’m an Oblate missionary, and we normally get sent to different places and would stay in an Oblate community, so this is going to be a bit different, my community life will be rearranged.”

But, “I’m a man under obedience; I go wherever the Church sends me,” said Fr David on his appointment by Pope Francis.

Previously vicar-general of Durban archdiocese until last year, he has been assigned the titular see of Gunugo.

Fr David was president-elect of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, and was due to take up the position of president on August 1 to succeed spiritual writer Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The bishop-elect said he would be meeting with Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio for discussions before packing his things.

“I need to give the archbishop the courtesy of saying goodbye, as he welcomed me very warmly on arrival, and got me to introduce myself to the local clergy,” he said.

Fr David received many messages and wellwishers around the world.

“I used to do parish work in Durban where I was really in touch with the laity and worked well with the clergy, and because of that, I made many contacts and friends.

Overall there has been a general allround sense of goodwill,” he said.

Fr David has ties to Cape Town, having holidayed there several times with the late Bishop Barry Wood, his fellow Oblate.

He has also been to Cape Town to give retreats for clergy, and preached a mission in Pinelands some years ago.

And the new auxiliary bishop is looking forward to forging further relationships in Cape Town.

“I’m not going to be doing my work in a vacuum, I’ll be working

Fr Sylvester David has been appointed auxiliary bishop of Cape Town by Pope Francis.

Bishop Frank Nubuasah SVD, the new bishop of Gaborone. (Photo: Sheldon Reddiar)

with Archbishop Stephen Brislin, whom I know reasonably well and is someone I really admire, and of course with the chancery staff, deans, clergy and laity. And on a national level, I’ll be a part of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).”

and when I was in formation, we formed our scholastics for community life and lived in a community, and I found that to be a driving force behind my leadership style.

“Even when I worked with laity, I was always listening and trying to get us all together to make the most appropriate response,” Fr David said.

The bishop-elect said he is looking forward to making Cape Town his new home, and “I ask that during this transition, that everyone pray for me as I will pray for them”.

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orn in 1953 in Durban, Fr David has an undergraduate bachelor of arts degree, studied psychology at Unisa, and did a postgraduate specialisation in community psychology at the Jesuits’ Creighton University in the US. He also holds a licentiate in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

In 1984 he entered the Congregation of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was ordained a priest in 1991. Since his ordination, Fr David has held a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar, parish priest, formator at the Cebula House of Formation, and lecturer at and subsequently president of St Joseph’s Theological Institute.

Of his leadership as auxiliary bishop, he said: “My style all along has been collegial, I’m a firm believer in collaborative ministry.”

Fr David explained: “I was formed in Durban archdiocese and the catchphrase was ‘community serving humanity’. That was during Archbishop Denis Hurley’s time,

A

t the same time as Pope Francis appointed Fr David as auxiliary in Cape Town he named Bishop Frank Nubuasah SVD of Francistown to the diocese of Gaborone, which he had already administrated since the sudden resignation of Bishop Valentine Seane in 2017.

Bishop Nubuasah, 70, was ordained in Ghana in 1980 and was missioned to Botswana as one of four Divine Word Missionaries.

He spent the next eight years in Maun trying to establish the Church. He did two postgraduate courses at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in the US where he received a masters arts degree.

Bishop Nubuasah has served Francistown as its vicar-apostolic since 1998 and bishop since 2017, when Francistown was elevated to the status of a diocese.

HE student protests at Rhodes University in 2015-16 will be the subject of a lecture and discussion by an Anglican minister as part of Spiritfest during the National Arts festival in Grahamstown.

Speaker Rev Andrew Hunter, Anglican dean of Grahamstown, received a doctorate in April from Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth for a thesis on the student protests at Rhodes.

“Student protests, and the protests that form so much of our current South African reality, continue to be with us. My research helps to give some insight into the nature of the protests, and suggests, through the lens of conflict transformation, ways to address these,” Rev Hunter said.

Distinct waves of protest will be explored in the lecture and discussion: #RhodesMustFall, which protested on issues of transformation and decolonisation, within university structures and policies; #FeesMustFall, which highlighted the demand for free tertiary education; and the #ReferenceList protest against rape and a rape culture existing within the university space.

“Each protest had its own dynamic, and provided to a greater or lesser extent the potential for resolution,” Rev Hunter said.

He will deliver the lecture on July 4 at 11:00 at Grahamstown cathedral’s coffee shop.

There is no entrance charge for Spiritfest events, but a collection is taken to support the programme. n For more about Spiritfest see www. grahamstowncathedral.org/spiritfest

Street Stores offer it all

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ORE than 200 volunteers worked in partnership with the Denis Hurley Centre and Grace Family Church to run Street Stores in Durban.

Through Street Stores, quality second-hand clothes were distributed to over 1 000 people, who also benefited from manicures, haircuts, footwashing, breyani (courtesy of Hindu organisation Food For Life) and advice given by Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, UKZN Street Law and St John Ambulance.

“Street Stores are a great example of how much can be achieved when people of faith work together for the poor,” said Raymond Perrier, director of the Denis Hurley Centre.

“Another example of this is the national Winterhoop campaign which encourages people to ‘give hope to the poor this winter’,” Mr Perrier said.

The Denis Hurley Centre is the coordinator of Winterhoop for KwaZulu-Natal and has partnered with Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Dutch Reformed, Methodist and Evangelical churches to create

Charmain Bestel (far right) and her daughter Danielle Simpson, parishioners from Blessed Sacrament church in Durban, are among the volunteers who help run Street Stores. drop-off points.

Donations are being accepted until June 30 of warm, clean second-hand clothes, blankets, scarves and shoes.

For a full list of drop-off points around the country see www.winter hoop.org

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

ALU E L G N I S D .00 ST 0 5 9 6 R ON @ A U T O M AT I

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

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The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Nuns support Nigerians traumatised by traffickers

BY PaTRICk EGWu

G

LORIA Omoresewua was just a teenager in 2003, when a Nigerian woman brought her to Spain and forced her into prostitution. To escape her predicament, Ms Omoresewua made an agreement with the woman, who had promised her a better life in Europe: The young woman was to pay her 45 000 euros (R760 000) before she could gain her freedom.

For every man she was with for 30 minutes, Ms Omoresewua earned 20 euros (R340). Every month, she sent money home to her family in Nigeria.

After paying back about 30 000 euros (R500 000), Ms Omoresewua grew tired of prostitution and decided to quit. The woman threatened to turn her in to police if she didn’t pay back all that she was owing.

“I didn’t have a job and was sleeping in the streets,” Ms Omoresewua, now 33, told Global Sisters Report. “I was tired and wanted to come back home.”

“My father said I should come back, but my mother didn’t agree when I told her I wanted to come back,” she recalled. “My brothers said I should not come back. I decided to return when an NGO in Spain paid for my flight.”

Since Ms Omoresewua’s 2015 return to Nigeria, Sisters from the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul have been helping her reintegrate into society.

The Daughters of Charity, joined by members of other congregations, have banded together to fight human trafficking. Their hope is to dissuade girls and women from taking a dangerous route across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, where they can be trafficked into prostitution or slavery.

The United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration since 2017 has flown home more than 10 000 Nigerians who made it only

Sr Bibiana Emenaha of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul speaks to students in February at a rural school in Edo, Nigeria, on the dangers of trafficking.

(Photo: The Committee for the Support of Dignity of Women/CNS) as far as Libya, Mali or Niger. A 2017 report from the agency said of the 181 000 migrants who travelled by sea from Libya to Italy in 2016, more than 37 000 were Nigerian, including 11 009 women and 3 040 unaccompanied children. 80% of women and girls who head to Europe are likely to become victims of sexual exploitation, the agency said.

Since 2015, Daughter of Charity Sister Bibiana Emenaha has been the coordinator of the Committee for the Support of Dignity of Women, which oversees efforts to fight human trafficking in Nigeria.

With headquarters in Benin City, an inland town in a state where trafficking is rampant, the committee has established projects and training programmes that help reintegrate Nigerians who return home.

“We make them feel at home here

and take them in as members of our family,” Sr Emenaha said.

She and others from her congregation provide professional counselling to the returnees and visit schools to raise awareness of trafficking dangers.

“The first thing we do is to give them one week just to sleep and rest.

Then after that we begin to listen to their stories and counsel them, both religious and psychological counselling,” Sr Emenaha said.

“We provide some form of education because most of them cannot even write their names. We visit their families through family tracing and reconcile them, especially those who came back when their families did not want them to come back or those who went without letting their family members know.”

The UN agency Caritas Nigeria and other nongovernmental organisations provide financial support for those who return. Those who opt to enrol in school are offered scholarships by religious congregations.

More than 400 trafficking victims have been rehabilitated, reintegrated and supported since the committee’s inception.

When Ms Omoresewua returned, the Daughters of Charity trained her in hairdressing. After 18 months, the Sisters provided funds so she could open a hair salon.

“We do prevention, protection, evaluation and monitoring to know how they are coping,” Sr Emenaha added.

The work of the Sisters is having an impact. In 2017, the government passed an anti-trafficking law that punishes traffickers with prison terms and the sale of their properties, with the proceeds going to the federal government.

“Presently, we have about 23 cases in court waiting for prosecution against offenders,” said Sr Florence Nwaonuma, who helped draft the law.—CNS

a group of tourists from a cruise ship walk through a street in Havana, Cuba. after the Trump administration announced it was placing new restrictions on uS travel to Cuba, a uS archbishop Timothy Broglio criticised the policy, saying the survival of the Church there, depends on outside contact. (Photo: alexandre Meneghini, Reuters/CNS)

Trump sanctions ‘harm the Church in Cuba’

BY RHINa GuIDoS

A

FTER the Trump administration announced it was placing new restrictions on US travel to Cuba, a US archbishop issued a criticism of the policy, saying the transformation of the island —and the survival of the Church there— depends on outside contact.

“A half-century of rigid isolation has consolidated only one thing: the very political structures US Government policy seeks to change,” said Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the archdiocese of US Military Services in Washington, who is chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

The US bishops voice “concern that the strengthening of the embargo against Cuba is, ultimately, counterproductive to the development of civil society on the island”, he said in a statement.

Archbishop Broglio’s statement came two days after the Trump ad-

ministration announced that it was putting a halt to what are known as “people-to-people” trips to the island, mainly cultural excursions that bring Americans into contact with the Cuban citizenry and culture on the island-nation.

The restrictions do not affect religious travel to the island, which is one of several ways to visit and often used by members of the US Catholic Church.

“The very survival of the Church in Cuba is dependent on the freedom of religious travel and donations from abroad,” Archbishop Broglio said. “The Holy See and US bishops have long held that the key to Cuba’s transformation depends not on isolation, but on greater cultural exchange between freedomloving people on the island and the US,” he said.

Archbishop Broglio also urged maintaining religious travel to the island and ensuring the ability to send religious donations to the Church in Cuba from abroad.—CNS

Pope: Catholic education key to fighting indifference

BY JuNNo aRoCHo ESTEVES

ism,” the pope said in a video message to participants at a three-day conference sponNDIVIDUALISM and consumerism under- sored by the International Office for mine the most basic rules of coexistence Catholic Education. and challenge the principles of cooperaA “synergy of the various educational retion and mutual understanding promoted by alities” is needed to confront this challenge, Catholic education, Pope Francis said. he said, and particularly requires working “The culture of indifference, which en- with families where one “learns to come out velops relations between individuals and of one’s self and place oneself in front of the peoples, as well as the care of the common other, to listen, to share, to support, to rehome, also corrodes the sense of humanspect, to help, to coexist”.

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Pope Francis and pupils at the Vatican.

Catholic schools and families are where children must learn how to coexist with others, the pope has told educators.

(Photo: Vatican Media) promotion of every man and woman in their entirety”.

“This humanistic perspective today cannot fail to include ecological education, which promotes a covenant between hu-

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manity and the environment, at the different levels of ecological balance: the interior one with one’s self, the one in solidarity with others, the natural one with all living beings and the spiritual one with God,” the pope said.

Applauding the conference participants’ efforts to develop a humanistic approach to education, he said that it was a difficult challenge, “which certainly cannot be tackled alone and in isolation” but must be confronted through “a work of discernment” as well as by “drawing from the great testimonies of the saints and holy educators, whose example is a beacon that can illuminate your service”.

Pope Francis said that Catholic educators are called to collaborate in “the growth process of humanity” through their professionalism and the consistent witness of their lives “to help young people become active builders of a more fraternal and peaceful world”.

“In a particular way,” he said, “Catholic educational institutions have the mission of offering horizons that are open to transcendence so that Catholic education can make a difference by cultivating spiritual values in young people.”—CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

Pope’s in-flight Q&As yield personal nuggets

BY CINDY WooDEN

P

OPE Francis’ in-flight news conferences are arguably less newsy than when his pontificate began, mostly because he has been insisting for the past few years that most of the questions refer to the trip that is concluding.

But, looking back over the news conferences just this year, there are tidbits that reveal things about Pope Francis. They did not make the “news”, but they are included in the transcripts which the Vatican posts online.

For instance, not even touching the debate about citizenship based on place of birth vs parentage, Pope Francis told reporters travelling back from Romania with him that as the child and grandchild of Italian immigrants, he qualified for an Italian passport.

“My brothers and sisters all had Italian citizenship,” the pope said.

“I didn’t want to have it because at the time they acquired it I was a bishop and I thought, ‘No, the bishop must be of the country,’ so I didn’t want to get it, which is why I don’t have it.”

Pope Francis had told reporters at the beginning of his pontificate in 2013 that he did not expect to travel much. But, a little over six years into his papal ministry, he has made 30 trips outside of Italy.

And just in the first six months of 2019, he has made five trips, travelling 36 839km and spending 13 days, 17 hours and five minutes on travels abroad.

Pope Francis responds to questions from journalists aboard his flight from Sibiu, Romania, to Rome. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) Journalists try on every trip to ask questions about neuralgic issues in the life of the Church or Church-state relations. But beginning with the news conference on December 2, 2017, at the end of his trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh, Pope Francis has been increasingly insistent that most of the questions focus on the trip.

“I would like some more questions about the trip because otherwise it would seem as if it hadn’t been very interesting, wouldn’t it?” he asked reporters flying back to Rome with him from Bangladesh.

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ccepting only trip-related questions is no guarantee that the pope can avoid tough questions.

For instance, the trip after Myanmar and Bangladesh was to Chile

and Peru in January 2018. All the questions during the news conference were related to the trip and fully half of the queries were about the clerical sex-abuse scandal.

When the questions are not triprelated, sometimes Pope Francis responds, but other times he’ll do a general call for “any other questions about the trip?” first.

Or, he’ll do his own summary of trip highlights, while reporters take notes and nervously tap their feet waiting for him to get to their questions.

A fair percentage of the formal speeches the pope makes are at least based on drafts written by staff members. Sometimes he sets the drafts aside, sometimes he adds to them and sometimes he reworks them completely.

But a good hint that someone else was involved in the speech’s preparation is a direct quote from the pope himself, complete with the name of the document and paragraph number or the occasion of the speech and the date.

However, the pope remembers what he has said, especially in major speeches.

So, when asked on the flight back from Romania about European unity, the pope basically referred the questioner to three in-depth speeches he had given on the subject in the past.

But he prefaced his remarks by saying: “Forgive me for citing myself; I do it without vanity, only for its usefulness.”—CNS

a Blessed Sacrament procession at the shrine of our lady of lourdes in south-western France. Pope Francis has appointed a special delegate for the pastoral care of pilgrims at the shrine.

New pastoral caretaker for Lourdes shrine

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OPE Francis has named a special delegate for the pastoral care of pilgrims to the French shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The pope had appointed French Bishop Antoine Herouard, auxiliary of Lille, to the post .

The Lourdes shrine welcomes more than 3 million pilgrims a year. According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, the shrine has an annual budget of close to $34 million (R500 million).

It relies heavily on volunteers to care for the hundreds of thousands of sick people who arrive each year seeking healing in baths filled with water from a spring near the grotto where St Bernadette Soubirous said

Mary appeared to her in 1858.

The shrine has struggled with a 30% decline in the number of organised diocesan pilgrimages over the past ten years. An increase of individuals visiting Lourdes has not made up the difference.

According to the website Vatican Insider, Bishop Nicolas Brouwet of Tarbes and Lourdes hired a new business manager in 2016 to try to balance the shrine’s budget given the drop in pilgrims.

While the business manager did turn the situation around, “the shrine has risked becoming almost a business and losing its identity as a centre of spirituality”.—CNS

Vatican doc slams ‘gender ideology’

BY CINDY WooDEN

SCHOOl PriNCiPAl

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ATHOLIC schools must help parents teach young people that biological sex and gender are naturally fixed at birth and part of God’s plan for creation, said the Congregation for Catholic Education.

In a document, the congregation said the Catholic Church and those proposing a looser definition of gender can find common ground in “a laudable desire to combat all expressions of unjust discrimination”, in educating children to respect all people “in their peculiarity and difference”, in respecting the “equal dignity of men and women”, and in promoting respect for “the values of femininity”.

And while great care must be taken to respect and provide care for persons who “live situations of sexual indeterminacy”, those who teach in the name of the Church must help young people understand that being created male and masculine or female and feminine is part of God’s plan for them.

The document, “Male and Female He Created Them: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education”, recognised a distinction between “the ideology of gender”, which it said tries to present its theories as “absolute and unquestionable”, and the whole field of scientific research on gender, which attempts to understand the ways sexual difference is lived out in various cultures.

While claiming to promote individual freedom and respect for the rights of each person, the document said, those who see gender as a personal choice or discovery unconnected to biological sex are, in fact, promoting a vision of the human person that is “opposed to faith and right reason”.

“The Christian vision of anthropology sees sexuality as a fundamental component of one’s personhood,” the document said.

“It is one of its modes of being, of

with effect from the 1st Term 2020.

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Catholic schools must help parents teach young people that biological sex and gender are naturally fixed at birth and part of God's plan for creation, the Congregation for Catholic Education said. (Photo: Tyler orsburn/CNS) manifesting itself, communicating with others, and of feeling, expressing and living human love.”

The document insisted that modern gender ideology and the idea that one chooses or discovers his or her gender go against nature by arguing that “the only thing that matters in personal relationships is the affection between the individuals involved, irrespective of sexual difference or procreation, which would be seen as irrelevant in the formation of families”.

The theories, it said, deny “the reciprocity and complementarity of male-female relations” as well as “the procreative end of sexuality”.

When the “physiological complementarity of male-female sexual difference” is removed, it said, procreation is no longer a natural process. Instead, recourse must be taken to in vitro fertilisation or surrogacy, with the risk of “the reduction of the baby to an object in the hands of science and technology”.—CNS

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Applications are invited from passionate educationalists who will be committed to building on the school’s past and current successes by taking it to the next level of its educational development.

The responsibilities of the successful candidate will include, but not be limited to, the following: • The achievement of a clear vision and mission for the school • Inclusive leadership of the whole school community • Oversight of all operational aspects of the school • Ensuring that the Catholic Christian ethos is maintained and enhanced through effective and authentic spiritual leadership.

Applicants are required to have at least the following qualifications, experience and skills: • Appropriate professional qualifications as an educator. A senior post graduate degree will be advantage, • A minimum of 5 years experience as a Deputy, Head or similar school position • Ability to work under pressure and interact directly with demanding parents • A lived personal Christian faith, and an ability to relate strongly to the Catholic ethos as the heart of the School • A traceable history of passionate contribution to schooling and education • SACE registered • Interpersonal, management, communication and leadership and innovative skills.

• Excellent self-management and planning skills and ability to display a high level of conceptual reasoning.

Applicants are invited to email their comprehensive CVs with contact details of three referees to: principal.stthomas2019@gmail.com no later than 30 June 2019. Shortlisted candidates may be expected to undergo psychometric/psychological assessments during the selection process.

St. Thomas Aquinas School reserves the right not to proceed with filling this post. An application will not in itself entitle the applicant to an interview or appointment and failure to meet the minimum requirements of the post will automatically disqualify the applicant.

If you receive no correspondence from the school within 30 days, please consider your application unsuccessful.

6

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial: Raymond Perrier

Who teaches the teachers?

T

HE Roman poet Juvenal asked: “Who guards those who do the guarding?” In the same way, in this special education edition, we might ponder to ask “Who educates those who do the educating?”

As a society—and as a Church community—we put great emphasis on education and we expect a lot from those whom we entrust as educators. But do we really give them the value and the support they need to do their jobs?

In the first instance, we should all ask ourselves tough questions about the way in which we treat educators, especially if we are parents with school-age children, or priests with a connection to a local school.

Do we treat our educators as people to whom we have entrusted a sacred duty? Or do we regard them as “suppliers” from whom we, “the customer”, can make whatever demands we like?

Shockingly, some teachers are bullied via WhatsApp groups by parents who blame teachers for all the failings of their children—never taking any responsibility themselves.

There is a growing tendency, especially among the comfortable middle classes, to treat teaching as a second-division profession—something graduates do if they cannot be “real professionals” (like doctors or lawyers or accountants). And the pity extended is even worse if someone should choose to be a primary-level educator.

We often fall into the trap of regarding the key foundations of reading, arithmetic and social behaviour as somehow less important than higherlevel maths.

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ll of us have a role to play in making sure that teaching is regarded once more as the most honoured of professions, rewarded in financial terms but also in terms of status and trust.

But there is also an important responsibility for those who run our schools—the principals, the boards of governors, the owners and bishops, and the communities in which schools operate. This is the need to ensure that our teachers are equipped to do the critical task we lay on their shoulders.

This does not mean only the task of handing on the mysteries of calculus, explaining the complexity of South African history, or helping a child write in a way that someone else can actually read, but to ensure that they have the skills to form young people as evolved, sensitive, selfless, active citizens.

In the same way that teachers cannot hand on technical skills they have not learnt, they cannot be expected to hand on human skills they have not

learnt and internalised.

We think fondly of an age when teachers in our Catholic schools had been to Catholic schools themselves, were influenced positively by the (usually women) religious who worked in those schools, went on to Catholic teacher-training colleges, and then returned to contribute to the system that had created them.

If this ever really happened, it no longer does and is unlikely to return.

But that means we have to find other ways of forming our teachers, especially the younger ones. We can expect universities to have taught them the technical skills of how to teach their subjects, but we demand so much more than that from our educators.

We expect our schools to play a role in instilling values in the next generation. In fact, we increasingly rely on them to do the bulk of this when many parents are so busy, when extended families are too extended, and when the influence of the media is often instilling the wrong kind of values. But the educators in our schools need help if they are to fulfil this task.

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hat is more, our Catholic schools have a role even beyond educating the significant number of young South Africans they directly touch.

They can continue being a beacon of what is possible in modern education—they can provide a counter to the public schools focused on bureaucratic targets or, on the other hand, private schools principally focused on commercial targets.

We have a unique opportunity in our network of Catholic schools to create a new generation of values-driven teachers who in turn will help us to mould future generations of values-driven leaders.

This is work already being done by the Catholic Institute of Education and the Catholic Schools Offices, but it needs the support of parents and clergy.

The opportunity we have is manifold: to attract young educators who have these values or aspire to have them; to encourage these values in the workplace and give teachers structured opportunities to develop them; to ensure that newer teachers are mentored by older teachers (active and retired, lay and religious) who have themselves lived these values; to reward the teachers who show that they live out these values, and to promote them in time to be the leaders of our schools.

But none of this will happen by accident or osmosis. It takes commitment, time and investment. We still have an opportunity to do this. If we do not act soon, it may be too late.

Catholic news that COUNTS Print or Digital

Children should be seen and heard!

T

HERE is an old adage that, at times, is still used by parents and other adults: “Children should be seen and not heard.”

This appalling saying was obviously conceived in ignorance by unthinking and rather narrow-minded folk of old.

It is unfortunate that this proclivity satisfied many as being the way of good and proper (perceived) discipline.

It may well have disciplined and gagged the child, but at what cost? How can a silent, still child grow? How oppressive it is to stint or withhold the ability of a child to learn and progress?

What a waste of such necessary study time.

From the moment of birth, children are like sponges for

Do the bishops bother to read our comments?

T

OM Kent (May 29) makes some important points and suggestions, perhaps prompted by the ancient saying that “to persist with the same old thing and expect change, is madness”.

On the same page—perhaps both literally and figuratively speaking—Mervyn Pollitt points out that, broadly speaking, the bishops seem to sadly lack any interest in The Southern Cross or its survival—in fact, quite the opposite.

Perhaps some bishops deem the many letters and suggestions as negative criticism? Or perhaps they couldn’t care less?

Either attitude would be very sad indeed.

If our bishops ever bother to read The Southern Cross, they remain strangely silent when important matters are raised.

For my sins, I have been an occasional contributor to the letters page for many, many years and cannot recall anyone taking umbrage at various points I have tried to make. In fact (and here’s the rub!) I cannot see that anything I, or anyone else for that matter, has written in good faith to The Southern Cross has made the slightest visible dent in our various bishops’ indifference to what their captive flock is feeling.

Hands up any bishop who has reacted to or even has an opinion on my suggestions over time of using Toastmasters International to improve priestly homilies?

Mr Kent’s letter prompts a positive suggestion: Why not

learning. All you need to do is observe an 18-month-old child for a short period of time. Anything longer would exhaust the average adult.

You get excited when you think you have taught your child to say “mama” and “papa” but forget that the child will soon learn the rest of a very complicated vocabulary all on its own.

Much needs to be assimilated in every waking hour. How to hold things, how to eat and drink, learning a language, climbing stairs, getting to know people, and remembering things and names. Their research is endless yet very achievable and to which most children aspire rather effortlessly. opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

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

have a SACBC column where the bishops provide their sheep with some fodder, and specifically respond to applicable letters published?

Our bishops could reveal what they are doing to clean up our Catholic act, and make our Church a warmer, more welcoming place for all, instead of us being viewed as the “Frozen Chosen”.

Where better place to start than in our own backyard, opening up conversations and honouring Communications Sunday all the year round?

Geoff Harris, Rooiels, Western Cape

Southern Cross does a great job

I

REFER to your editorial about the future of The Southern Cross (May 8) and the response

by Tom Kent (May 29).

As a reader for more than 12 years, the editorial on the future of the paper has worried me a lot as I do enjoy it very much. Without The Southern Cross, my week is incomplete. I would also gladly pay R15 or even R20 for it.

Your newspaper is professionally presented and always very interesting. I wish it was promoted more in our parishes.

Unlike Mr Kent, I like every

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Further to the above, it is essential that part of respecting the child is allowing its development to flourish in a happy and pleasant environment and where proper discerning discipline is key.

To this end, diligent nurturing of their spirituality—including the understanding of right and wrong, and respect for themselves and others—must be a priority.

However, never underestimate the potential and importance of every child in all its endeavours, and always ensure its right to respect thereof.

After all, they are the future of our Church, our country and the world!

Tony Meehan, Cape Town

page, even if not every article appeals. But it’s the same with every newspaper or magazine. It cannot appeal 100% to everyone.

I am always interested to see what other Catholics are doing across the country, and reading about all the different activities I feel proud of my Catholic Church, which is so involved in the life of South Africa.

Like Mr Kent I find the International pages depressing at times. But bad things are happening in our world and our Church is trying to respond to these things, which we should be informed about.

We must also know about the problems in our own Catholic Church. The Southern Cross has been very balanced about the scandals in the Catholic Church, which we don’t get in the mainstream media.

And you also report about positive and interesting things, for example, the article about a priest ordained on his deathbed.

I agree with Mr Kent that Fr Ron Rolheiser’s articles are sometimes challenging, but I also find that they deepen my faith. After reading Fr Ron’s column I can always have a good laugh about the Conrad cartoon or the weekly “Church Chuckle”.

All sections in The Southern Cross are very good; I also appreciate that you let young writers have their say.

The only thing that bothers me is some of the letters to the editor. Maybe you should rather not publish some of them?

So, all around, I think The Southern Cross is doing a great job. I hope this first-class newspaper will stay with us for a long time. Keep up the good work.

Paul Collins, Johannesburg

Special Focus on CATHOLIC EDUCATION edited by erin carelse

Special supplement to The Southern Cross, June 19-25, 2019

The state of education in 2019 Education in South Africa faces many challenges, and the Catholic Church has a role to play in meeting them, as aNNE BakER explains.

T

HAT all is not well in South African schools is common knowledge. Basic education minister Angela Motshekga’s task is not easy.

Provinces, while following the South African Schools Act and the policy, have a level of autonomy which often proves challenging to those working in education.

The annual jamboree around the Grade 12 results pits provinces against each other to see who attains “top” province, a meaningless measure of quality education.

About half of young people who do not complete school are left uneducated and unskilled.

A very rough estimate shows that about one million Catholic children are in schools (based on a 7% Catholic population). Only some 42 000 of these are in Catholic schools (24% of pupils in Catholic schools are Catholic).

This means that the majority of Catholic children are in state schools, as Catholic schools are widespread and relatively few— down to 330 after the closure or selling of some schools.

The Catholic Institute of Education was invited, over the course of 2018, to several national meetings on various education topics.

Violence in schools The most pressing of these was a meeting on safety in schools.

This came in the wake of serious violence in schools—pupil-on-pupil, teacher-on-pupil and pupil-onteacher.

The latter seems to have galvanised the unions into action, and it is a challenging task to keep the focus on all violence and not just pupils against teachers.

A National School Safety Summit was a follow-up to two previous summits in 2015 and 2016.

While commitments were made in

previous summits, it has become clear that the violence in society has greatly impacted schools.

South Africa has been ranked 147th out of 162 countries for the worst levels of what is called “societal and security” violence.

A paper circulated at the summits suggests that the breakdown of the family structure has affected the shaping of beliefs, attitudes and values of children.

Migratory labour patterns and high levels of poverty have led to the disintegration of families and the diminishment or absence of the parental role in the lives of many children.

The South African Medical Journal published a study in February which showed that 99% of Sowetan children surveyed had been exposed to “extreme forms of violence”, such as gunshots in the street, bullying and violence between family members, or the rape and sexual assault of their friends.

The violence in schools has many facets. Some areas are plagued by gang violence which spills over into the schools.

Sexual harassment or gender violence is common. Some teachers sexually harass and abuse learners in their care, face little or no consequence for their actions, and leave damaged children behind.

In addition to this, some teachers continue to beat children, also with impunity. These actions greatly affect the ability of children to learn and to feel safe.

Bullying remains another critical element of school violence.

Changing the school climate requires a whole-school approach, managing conflict and developing peace in meaningful ways.

The CIE aims to establish a positive peace—not only the absence of direct violence (physical or psychological acts of aggression), but also of indirect violence (such as unjust or unequal treatment and cultural violence)—where harmony and social justice become evident.

The Child Safeguarding Policy enables Catholic schools to understand their deep obligation to protect children, while the aim of the Building Catholic Schools Pro-

switching to English. This seriously affects their literacy development in both mother tongue and English. (Mother tongue Afrikaans speakers in some schools are able to continue learning in their mother tongue).

Researchers indicate two major constraints on the system: intergenerational persistent poverty, and organisational challenges.

The latter can be described as high levels of teacher resistance in poor schools, which researchers say can be traced back to the legacy effects of apartheid in the school system (linked to union interference).

Skills development Children in a classroom. There are currently 330 Catholic schools in South africa, most of them state-funded. gramme is to equip teachers with the skills which enable schools to become places of justice and peace.

As this requires both a personal and mindset change, progress is slow, but the programme is beginning to bear fruit in those Catholic schools where it is implemented.

The CIE has been sharing its programme with the education department and has been promoting restorative justice as a means of managing issues in schools

Early childhood The importance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) cannot be emphasised enough.

International and national evidence shows that permanent damage is done to children in the first 1 000 days of their lives if they don’t receive appropriate care and stimulation.

Research also shows that the majority of South African children aged between 6—23 months are stunted because they are not adequately fed. Simultaneously, our children experience multiple forms of deprivation.

The lack of provision of ECD becomes, effectively, a major determinant of intergenerational poverty.

There are numerous ECD centres at parishes around the country.

Many of these are outsourced to community members and are more

babysitting than functional ECD centres where children receive stimulation and care.

Literacy crisis While much has been done and much money spent on education, international benchmark tests indicate that 78% of South African Grade 4s cannot read for meaning in any language.

This means that children in the intermediate (Grades 4-7) and subsequent phases of schooling cannot read properly in order to learn.

This hampers their ability to progress, not only in school but in life. It further leads to the very high school dropout rate in high school which is approximately 50%.

Pope Benedict’s 2011 apostolic exhortation Africae Munus addresses the problem thus: “Illiteracy represents one of the principal obstacles to development. It is a scourge on a par with that of the pandemics. True, it does not kill directly, but it contributes actively to the marginalisation of the person—which is a form of social death—and it blocks access to knowledge.”

The current language policy in schools impacts on the learning ability of children. It requires that children learn in their mother tongue for Grades 1-3, thereafter

The CIE Thabiso Skills Institute supports 27 skills centres with accreditation and development of new skills course.

However, this is no easy task due to bureaucratic nightmares securing accreditation.

A life skills course is central to the development of the participants. Recent research into the programme had shown that this has an impact on young people’s lives.

The Catholic Church and education Where do these challenges leave the Catholic Church in South Africa?

Perhaps we need to tap into parishes to become resources for reading groups and after-school homework centres run by retired teachers or young unemployed volunteers in parishes.

Other ways: Actively promoting the vocation of the teacher and offering the many teachers in parishes affirmation and care.

Strongly encouraging parents to participate in their children’s education—teaching them to read with their children and serving schools where possible—such as on governing bodies.

With the Church and parish communities working together for the good of others, much could be achieved for the education of the children of South Africa. n Anne Baker is the deputy director of the Catholic Institute of Education (www.cie.org.za).

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The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

EDUCATION

Jesus provides the model for good schooling The Gospels and Catholic teaching provide the basic blueprint for a good, healthy school community, suggests kYlE lauF.

C

ATHOLIC Social Teaching emphasises the value of each human being in the social context.

Created in the image of God, humans—male and female—are endowed by the Creator with individual dignity as well as roles within social relationships.

As a person grows up, they acquire more roles: sons and daughters are also siblings, cousins, acquaintances, friends, and pupils.

They grow up to be students, employees, neighbours, life-partners; wives and husbands, citizens, taxpayers, mothers and fathers.

Schools prepare young people for

their future roles in society, and are in fact small societies in their own right.

While teachers and the academic programme prepare students to pass examinations, schools are so much more than that.

Schools, as social contexts, are microcosms of society where we are presented with the opportunity to build communities of social roleplayers who must learn to live together, not in isolation, but as fellow human beings and image-bearers of God. Schools teach so much more than the curriculum. We meet new people, make friends, learn to cooperate with authority and with each other. We learn to manage our time, manage conflicts, and we learn resilience.

School communities are places where we learn how to live and experience life together with people from other backgrounds and diverse communities.

The sum total of learning in

schools must contribute to the building of a common good for the benefit of society.

The concept of solidarity refers to the way people share their lives together in unity or fraternity. In schools this can be demonstrated in the unity of school spirit that is fostered by events like an inter-house sports day or a school singing contest.

Many schools observe Heritage Day by allowing pupils to wear traditional or cultural attire—this uniquely encourages unity in our country’s diversity.

Besides the spiritual aspect which is central in religion, praying together and attending Mass are opportunities and expressions of solidarity where learners and educators alike are equal under God.

Even members of the school community from other faith backgrounds are invited to participate in this solidarity.

The concept of subsidiarity refers to conditions in a Christian community where decision-making and the exercising of power is encouraged at the lowest level compatible with the common good.

This means that power must not be concentrated in the hands of the few—even if they are management or leadership.

Subsidiarity is a participatory delegation of authority that activates people, allowing them to flourish in their various positions.

In many respects, teachers in our schools are empowered in this way.

They act as educational roleplayers

imparting knowledge, skills and life wisdom to their learners. They act within the requirements of the national curriculum and the school’s ethos but make many independent decisions each day.

Subsidiarity, when applied to the educational staff of a school, means that teachers must be empowered to innovate and adapt to their learners’ specific learning needs by being relevant to each educational situation.

Where teachers are restricted by overly prescriptive conditions, whether in the curriculum or school environment, they feel they are mere cogs in a machine without freedom to make essential decisions.

But the practice of subsidiarity in the educational context also means that schools must stimulate conditions for every learner to have opportunities to exercise power. Not haphazard or unplanned power; not power that must be fought over and hoarded, but power in love and freedom to exercise rational and careful planning and decision making within school policies and ethos. It also means that we hold each other accountable.

Conditions to exercise power include student representative councils and learner-driven school activities. But it should extend beyond those things to the very teaching and learning situations.

Learners are engaged and active agents in the process of their own education.

Similarly, teachers do not need to live up to the false expectation that they alone are the all-knowing source of subject knowledge. Professional educators must be encouraged to keep learning how to teach their subjects and their pupils, and how to be present in the lives of their students in this particular role.

Our role model in this is of course Jesus Christ, whose disciples called him “rabbi”, meaning teacher.

The Gospels describe how the Lord taught and lived among those he came to save—teaching through parables, healing the sick, raising the dead and dwelling among us (Emmanuel: God is with us).

Christ’s incarnation is God’s solidarity with the fallen human race; growing up in a human community and culture, breaking bread, sharing redemption stories, sacrificing himself in his passion, death and resurrection.

It is also our model in the social context as the human form he took his poverty on earth, his sorrow and humiliation in life and death— teach us what it means to practise subsidiarity.

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EDUCAT ION

Faith at heart of SA Top 5 school A Catholic school in rural KwaZulu-Natal ranks among South Africa’s Top 5 schools. ERIN CaRElSE found out more about Inkamana High School.

S

ITUATED in the heart of Zululand, Inkamana High School in Vryheid has in successive years placed in the national Top 5 schools.

According to matric results based on pass rates, exemptions, averages and distinctions, in 2018 Inkamana was the fourth-best-performing high school in the country; the previous year, the school was ranked number two. Only one other Catholic school placed in the national Top 10 in that time: Springfield Convent in Wynberg, Cape Town.

Inkamana has also recorded a 100% matric pass rate every year since 1969; for half a century.

Almost all schools in the national top rankings are either urban private schools or highly-priced elite academies. By comparison with those schools, the fees for attending Inkamana High are modest.

The school was started in 1923 as an intermediate school by Benedictine missionaries from Germany and associated with their Vryheid abbey.

Today student enrolment at Inkamana High School stands at around 200, with one class for each grade.

The school also has boarding facilities.

Inkamana aims to educate learners to live as a community founded on mutual respect and responsibility. It is expected that learners look at their education not only as a means of personal and academic advancement but also as a responsibility to work for the good of others—a cornerstone of the Catholic ethos.

“As a Benedictine school community, we strive to live the mottos of the school: ‘Ausculta’ (to listen with the ear of the heart, and ‘Ora et Labora’ (to pray and work),” said Isabel Steenkamp, who has taught at the school since 1982 and has served as its principal for 21 years.

“Ausculta fili” are the opening words of the Rule of St Benedict. The words mean “Listen, my son”, urging the faithful to service and acknowledging the sanctity of life.

With the motto “Ora et Labora”, St Benedict stressed the indivisible complementarity of prayer and work.

Christian principles The Christian principles of the Catholic faith are at the centre in the school. Its mission statement undertakes, among other things, that “we pray with and for one another; we listen to God and to each other; we treat others as we would wish to be treated; we love one another as Christ loved us”.

The school believes “in educating the whole person—body, mind and spirit” Principal Ms Steenkamp said Inkamana is fortunate to have a team of people, including the parents, teachers, and hostel staff, who believe that the education of their children is very important, and that careful planning is needed to cover all aspects of a holistic education.

“Education is a process and not an easy one, but every positive input has a positive output,” she said.

“The basic needs for excellent ed-

ucation should all be in place, including punctuality, well-prepared lessons, utilising educational time, regular homework and tests, regular study, and the opportunity for students to learn from their mistakes and practise until they understand,” Ms Steenkamp said.

“We also encourage students to have goals and dreams, and to have a plan of action to make them a reality,” she explained, adding, “Alumni are encouraged to visit the school and to share their stories of challenges and success.”

Skills development plays a decisive role in excellent education.

“Students need the skills to study effectively, to think critically, and to listen with comprehension, to plan time well, to take decisions, to do presentations and use language effectively in their studies. Computer literacy is essential to prepare students for life after school,” Ms Steenkamp said.

She further noted that students have to take responsibility for their own education by attending class and understanding what’s being taught in class.

“Doing their homework will help them better understand the work they are doing, and making use of support from the subject teacher and classmates when needed is also to their benefit,” Ms Steenkamp said.

Inkamana does not offer extra lessons or holiday classes because the educational time provided during the term is fully utilised. However, she said, it is the development of personal skills that will contribute most to the success of a student.

‘Everybody is a leader’ “We believe that everybody is a leader and has the responsibility to lead themselves in daily choices and decisions,” the principal noted.

“Inkamana creates as many student leadership opportunities as possible and expects from the students that they also be assertive. Valuebased education is important and it is important to expect the students to maintain good manners at all times,” she said.

“It is an ongoing process and parents and teachers must never give up on setting good examples and expecting excellent behaviour.”

Ms Steenkamp feels that interpersonal skills should develop with maturity and that students have to learn to function well in a team. At Inkamana class groups are asked to organise some activities for the students like fun days. She emphasised that basic skills such as friendliness, honesty, and compassion are also important and should be part of every person, family, and community.

“Resilience, the ability to bounce back from failure and challenges is difficult for students, but surely a skill that must be enhanced all the time,” Ms Steenkamp pointed out.

“The self-confidence of students develops through basic things like expecting them to stand up and answer in full sentences in classes,” she said.

The principal added that life is not easy for so many students and they need support and encouragement.

“Education is no easy task, for teachers, parents or students,” she said. “At Inkamana we believe that through leadership and skills development, young people are empowered. The aim is always to create positive peer pressure in the school community for the good of all.”

Inkamana High School in Vryheid, in the heart of zululand, was established

by German Benedictines in 1923, associated with their abbey.

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

a classroom at Inkamana High School in Vryheid, kwazuluNatal, which has placed in the Top 5 nationally in the past two years. The school also has a longterm record of a 100% matric pass rate every year since 1969.

Celebrating Catholic Education, demands a reflection on the significance and critical contribution of Catholic schools to the growth of our country. We celebrate and salute Catholic Schools that are always ready to embrace the challenge of change in an ever-evolving society.

Proudly and holistically, they remain places of learning in the 21st Century • that are surrounded with the mysteries of the Universe • that bear witness to the constant love of God

Grade 12 Leadership Booster Evening

• that share true wisdom, courage, understanding and compassion May God, who calls those who have been chosen, and equips those who have been called, continue to journey alongside Catholic Schools across South Africa.

Celebrating & Supporting Catholic Education Today, will leave a lasting legacy for Tomorrow

9

10

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

EDUCATION

How porn puts our children at risk Easy access to pornography on the Internet is distorting young people’s views of sex, which can even lead to rape, as ElEaNoR kENNEllY GaETaN reports.

T

HE Internet facilitates sexual exploitation, a category of child abuse, according to experts in this field.

The Internet also, they say, enables near-universal access to violent pornography, with a range of negative implications. These include the normalising of sexual aggression, and a dramatic increase in children abusing other children.

Vanessa Bouche, a political science professor at Texas Christian University, found the Internet facilitated prostitution, through online ads, in 75% of the cases.

This is stated in a recent report on the role of technology in sex trafficking by the US Justice Department’s Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking studies. It is based on interviews with 260 survivors.

The average age of entry was 15.

Young victims, from under one years old through age ten, were exploited by family members (76%), while older minors were exploited by members of their social network or strangers, far more often than by family.

According to Mary Anne Layden, director of the sexual trauma and psychopathology programme in the University of Pennsylvania’s psychiatry department, our society

is at the point of “almost universal exposure” of children to pornography, which gives them “massive mis-education about intimacy and sexuality”.

Children “learn that sex is nonintimate, violent, adversarial, that it is non-relational, it is degrading and it is narcissistic”, she told Catholic News Service.

“Almost 90% of pornography coded by researchers is violent, so boys are being taught: Women like to be forced, women like to be raped” or physically abused during sex.

Women are depicted as enjoying, or having a neutral response, to maltreatment.

“Everything pornography says is a lie, but it is a massively effective teaching tool—of toxic learning,” Prof Layden explained.

Porn is traumatic The US Catholic bishops addressed these harmful effects on children in their 2015 pastoral letter on pornography, “Create in Me a Clean Heart”.

“Being exposed to pornography can be traumatic for children and youth. Seeing it steals their innocence and gives them a distorted image of sexuality, relationships, and men and women, which may then affect their behaviour,” the US bishops wrote.

“It can also make them more vulnerable to being sexually abused, since their understanding of appropriate behaviour can be damaged.”

One result of exposure to this violence of pornography is an “explosive” increase in children who are assaulting other children.

group of children—caused by an immature brain’s exposure to pornography—could take years, even decades, to unravel.”

Treatment for abusers

Easy access to porn on the Internet has turned even young teen boys into sexual abusers. The good news is: these young offenders can be treated.

Prof Layden said it is more likely for a daughter to be assaulted by her brother than by her stepfather in a “blended” household.

Dawn Hawkins concurs with Prof Layden. Ms Hawkins is senior vice-president and executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE).

“NCOSE believes the increase in children with ‘harmful sexual behaviour’—a term that includes rape—is due to early exposure to hard-core porn,” she said.

Ms Hawkins said there’s little data, for one reason, why in school settings sexual abuse between children is not reported, but the damage to victims is real.

The lawyer for an 8-year-old girl, who was raped multiple times by a 13-year-old male neighbour,

consulted NCOSE recently. The boy was a consumer of violent pornography.

A data set released in late 2018

by Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, found that in almost half of its 2017 child abuse cases, boys aged 11-15 years were the perpetrators, physically and sexually attacking girls between 48 years old. Nurses traced the phenomena to exposure to pornography.

“We know child sexual abuse leads to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, self-harm, PTSD, risky sexual behaviours, poor physical health and other difficult struggles,” summarised Ms Hawkins.

“It often predates an individual’s entry into prostitution,” she added.

“So the trauma experienced by that

One potentially positive note in the disturbing trend regarding peer assault is that, unlike adult perpetrators, young offenders who receive treatment do not appear to re-offend into adulthood.

Ms Hawkins is excited that after “many meetings” with Google, the Internet giant has quietly added a “safe search” feature, allowing a setting that automatically screens out graphic sexual imagery from popping up.

Private companies as well are beginning to respond to evidence of the harmful impacts of pornography and to US law enforcement crackdowns on it.

The social networking site Tumblr has blocked all pornography and “adult content” from its site since December 17.

And coffeeshop franchise Starbucks in the US announced it would block customers from perusing pornography while on the shops’ free WiFi. Some of these changes are a result of consumer pressure, according to Ms Hawkins.

“The general public is becoming more aware of the public health harm,” she said. “Parents are concerned about the harm to their young kids.”

Ms Hawkins recommends the website protectyoungminds.org, for guidance on inoculating youngsters from harmful imagery online.

Another such site, and Catholic, is www.faithandsafety.org—CNS

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The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

11

12

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

EDUCATION

Teaching your child to pray Parents have a duty to teach their children the faith, including prayer.

ERIN CaRElSE offers some ideas about how to introduce prayer into the lives of our children.

T

EACHING our children to pray is a vital part of introducing and reinforcing their relationship with God. But knowing that prayer is important is not enough; we need to be deliberately teaching them how to pray.

Providing an example is one of the best ways you can get your child interested in prayer.

It’s important that your child understands that prayer is simply a conversation with God. Instilling in children important principles like praying when they are young, will stay with them for the rest of their lives. If you make it a priority, your child is equipped to do likewise; consistency is key.

Here are a few tips to help you to encourage your child to practise daily prayer:

Lead by example The best way to start teaching children about prayer is to pray in front of them. They aren’t going to learn heartfelt prayers until you pray heartfelt prayers with them.

Praying with your child is a great way to teach them how to pray; it gives you a glimpse into

The class of 2017 achieved a 100% pass rate with a 98,2% university exemption (the highest in 25 years and 10% above the national IEB average !!

what your child is thinking or is worried about.

Try to make your prayers easy by speaking in a comfortable way, as if you were talking to a friend.

Teach them to pray not only for what they want God to do for them, but also for what God wants them to do.

No ‘right’ way to pray

pened that day, things that frighten them, praying for a good day at school, and so on.

A prayer as simple as, “Lord be with me�, before writing an exam or, “Thank you, Father�, when something good has happened, is a good place to start.

Teach them to make a purposeful effort to think of others and the needs of others, as this will help them know how to pray not just for themselves but also for other people in their lives.

Children need to be reassured that God is always there and wants to hear what they have to say.

The most common time for prayer is usually in the morning, before bed, and at meal times.

These are obviously important.

However, it is also important for your child to know that they can talk to God about all things at any time. They must know that God is Point out answered prayers interested in everything that hapYounger children may not be pens in their lives. sure that God is actually hearing They don’t need to their prayers and somepray with certain words or times they may want Teach phrases, let your child see “proof�, so that they know you praying throughout that God is listening. children the day for a variety of This can be something things. whom to as simple as saying a quick There is also no preprayer if a friend or a famscribed length to prayers. turn to when ily member has a cold.

Quick prayers, especially could say a prayer they face They if you have a younger asking God to help them child, are a gentle way to feel better. trials in encourage praying.

When that person does Importantly, encourage their lives feel better, show them that your child to pray for othGod answered their ers. This will teach the prayer. child compassion, empathy, and Show them that your own selflessness. prayers are answered as well. Start with something like, when forgetNothing’s too big or small ting where you left your house Reassure your child that they keys, to stop and say a quick can talk to God about anything prayer out loud, “Lord please help that’s on their minds, and that no me to find my keys.� When you request is too small or insignifi- do locate the keys, remember to cant—whether it is asking for help, thank him. talking about things that hapThe same principle can apply

Children at prayer in a Soweto church. In teaching kids to pray, the important thing is to make sure they know that is God is always there and always listening. when your child is anxious about something. Let the child say a prayer, asking God to be with them and help them. Once they have overcome what they were anxious about, let them know that God listened.

Where to start Depending on the age of your child, you can introduce praying with something as simple as singing prayers, or colouring sheets featuring prayers. This is also a good time to teach them to pray the Sign of the Cross.

When they are a bit older, start off with a simple prayer like the Our Father and focus on that for a few weeks. This prayer will show the child how to ask for forgive-

ness, and teaches them respect and about doing God’s will.

The Hail Mary is also a good choice and then later on you could introduce the Rosary, even if it’s just one decade.

Remember that when you teach your child the importance of praying, you’re also teaching them whom they need to turn to when they face trials in their lives.

Parents have a responsibility to spiritually lead their children. A few words spoken from the heart, with a humble attitude, can say a lot.

And let us remember: The family that prays together stays together. n Erin Carelse is the mother of three children.

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EDUCATION

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

13

What your child’s sore tummy may tell you If your child complains of a sore tummy, it might be due to anxiety disorder, a mental problem that can have lifelong effects. The good news is that anxiety is treatable.

F

OR some parents, a child’s complaint, “My tummy is sore”, is a pointer that the kid is faking illness in order to dodge school or has been eating too many sweets again.

But the child’s complaint of stomach pain may signal something more serious: anxiety.

Adults know the feeling of anxiety: that knot in the pit of the stomach we have when we are anxious about something. We even have a name for it: nervous stomach.

As adults, we usually are able to identify the symptom; we can name the problem.

Fear. Nerves. Stress.

Anxiety.

Smaller children don’t have the experience or terminology to identify and verbalise the source of their sore tummy.

All they know is that their tummy is sore, and they tell us so in the hope that we can do something to ease the problem.

Their anxiety may have a logical explanation.

They may be unusually nervous about a test, or fear the consequences for not having completed homework, or stress about sports that day.

They might be anxious about an overly strict teacher or a bully in the school ground.

Or they may have an anxiety disorder, a condition the psychologist Dr Jerry Bubrick calls “the bully in the brain”, which may be triggered by tasks, people or situations such as tests, bullies or sports day.

The world has only just begun to identify anxiety as a mental disorder, sometimes debilitating, among adults. Sometimes it is still mistaken for ordinary fear.

Anxiety can devastate But statistics show that up to 30% of all kids develop an anxiety disorder. This comes on top of other childhood mental disorders and behavioural issues which, until quite recently, were unidentified and therefore untreated, such as ADHD.

At its worst, anxiety disorder can devastate the person dealing with it, adult or child. It can affect relationships and career or education.

If it is left untreated, anxiety disorder can lead to depression, low self-esteem, academic dysfunction, difficulty in forming and maintaining relationships, sleep disturbance and possibly even substance abuse.

But this doesn’t mean that the person with anxiety disorder can’t function. They are able to go through the day, but sometimes with greater difficulty than others.

This may not be immediately apparent. It might be a signal, for example, if a child takes twice as long as it should to complete homework.

People with anxiety disorder might not experience anxiety all the time but only when triggered (sometimes by things they cannot explain themselves).

A once carefree child might become an anxious teenager. This is because anxiety disorder is cognit i v e — i t develops along with one’s cognitive abilities.

It’s usually not just a “passing phase”.

Adults who are being treated for anxiety disorder now may recall felling anxious when they were children or teenagers. Had that condition been known and treated when they were kids, their life might have been improved immeasurably.

Your child may have an anxiety disorder if it shows signs such as these: • Frequent stomachor headaches, especially in the face of stressful situations • Agitation, inattention and/or restlessness • Avoiding people or situations • Tantrums over trivial issues • Adaptation problems • Extreme perfectionism and/or obsessive-compulsive behaviour • Self-harm These may be warning signs that the child may require treatment for anxiety.

How can parents respond?

“Essentially, anxiety in children tends to manifest as negative behaviours that you may have glimpsed briefly in the past, but that are becoming consistent and

intense,” according to psychologist Dr Liz Matheis.

“If any of these symptoms or behaviours persist, consult with a psychologist who uses a cognitive behavioural approach in treating anxiety,” Dr Matheis advises.

The good news is that anxiety disorder is very treatable, mostly through therapy and sometimes involving medication. The earlier the disorder is caught, the better the prospects for successful treatment.

But, psychologists warn, if a parent identifies anxiety disorder in

their child, the trick is to not dramatise the condition or to eliminate the situations that cause the child stress.

Apart from seeking therapeutic help, the parental strategy must be to help the child cope by “helping them learn to tolerate their anxiety and function as well as they can, even when they’re anxious”, according to psychologist Dr Clark Goldstein. “And as a byproduct of that, the anxiety will decrease or fall away over time.”

Dr Goldstein advises parents of

anxious children to “listen and be empathetic, help her understand what she’s anxious about, and encourage her to feel that she can face her fears”.

Don’t ask leading questions (“Are you scared of the test?”, rather ask: “How are you feeling about the test?”), don’t make unfounded promises (“Don’t worry, you’ll pass the test”), and don’t reinforce the fear (“That test really is something to be scared of”).

And when the child complains of a sore stomach…listen!

14

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

EDUCATION

How school learning can be child’s play The parental instinct is to get kids away from their digital devices —but these devices can also be used to learn. NEREESHa PaTEl explains.

C

ONTRARY to traditional beliefs, there are benefits to be gained from playing video games and using mobile apps.

While younger children should not be exposed to certain games such as Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto or World of Warcraft due to their graphic content, use of explicit language and mature themes, there are countless age-appropriate video games and apps available on the market that could help boost a child’s learning and developmental processes.

These can especially be beneficial for children who find it difficult or tedious to engage with their curriculum material via a textbook format.

In South Africa, access to mobile technology—smartphones and tablets—is increasing, enabling educational technology (edtech) businesses and non-profit organisations to broaden education and assist learners to engage with their curriculum inside and outside of school.

“A significant advantage of mo-

bile edtech apps is the ability to turn any device into a learning and revision tool, instead of just being used to communicate and to entertain,” said Adrian Marnewick of Learning Lab Apps.

“However, parents and teachers must be sure to find apps that are relevant to and compatible with the curriculum that these children are exposed to at school.”

According to Mr Marnewick, because children are exposed to so much interactive multimedia on a daily basis, learning from a textbook—coupled with what they may deem as uninspiring teaching methods introduced by educators— can become “boring”. This, in turn, could potentially result in a lack of focus and motivation, and/or a growing lack of interest in subjects such as mathematics and science.

And that, in turn, could cause them to fall behind in their studies.

“I still believe there is place for a good textbook as part of the learning experience, but children need to have their minds engaged with interactive curriculum content,” explained Mr Marnewick.

“Many educational games and apps help with this engagement.

Firstly, the children are using a device on which they already spend significant time—their cellphone, for example—and, secondly, children enjoy interactive content.”

As a result, said Mr Marnewick, the benefit is “engaging with a

child in a way a normal textbook can’t, and the result would be a more attentive child who retains knowledge better”.

The types of video games and apps that learners use can make a positive impact on children’s approach to learning as well as on their development. For example, puzzle games such as 2048 can build upon their problem-solving and logic skills, while sandbox games such as Minecraft can boost their creativity levels and technological knowledge.

Other benefits include improving coordination; enhancing memory and observation skills; improving attention and concentration;, bettering their multitasking skills; reducing stress and anxiety; developing their social skills when playing simultaneously with other children.

Altogether, these can make the learning process far less difficult, more engaging and more fun.

Choose wisely!

However, it’s important to note that parents—and teachers, where applicable—must choose video games and apps carefully as not all of them provide the same cognitive benefits. The age of the children and what skills need to be improved must be factored in when choosing.

They are also urged to set limitations on how often children can play them.

Edtech apps have been produced

Sometimes we must get our children off their electronic devices. But there are games and apps that can help them learn, which is when we actually might want to get them to use their devices! and are available for download on Android and Apple devices. Learning Lap Apps has developed two educational apps based on the South African school curriculum: MyMathsApp and WorksheetCloud.

MyMathsApp is a mathematics drill-and-practice app. Children can access the app for free from their device’s web browser and practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division for as long as they need. No sign-up is required.

WorksheetCloud is a premium service that provides parents and learners with access to hundreds of printable and interactive worksheets and practice exams.

They can also access the app from their device’s web browser and are able to practice content in English, Afrikaans, maths, natural science, history, geography and more.

As a motivation, learners can earn points and move up the ranks in the WorksheetCloud Hall of Fame.

WorksheetCloud has a monthly cost attached.

“We’ve kept it very low, starting

Assumption Convent Primary School

300 Jan van Riebeeck Street Pretoria North, 012 565 5234, Po Box 18349, Pretoria North, 0116

“Be it known to all who enter here that Christ is the reason for this school, the unseen but ever-present teacher in its classes, the model of its staff, the inspiration of its students.”

Assumption Convent Primary School was established in 1952 by a group of missionary nuns –the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption, at the request of the Archbishop of Pretoria, Archbishop Garner.

Since its humble beginnings with a handful of learners and one pre-fabricated classroom, the school is now boasting over twenty air-conditioned classrooms with large television screens, a modern computer centre and a well-equipped media centre, art room and music room. A therapy centre with resident remedial therapist and educational psychologist provides support to learners, parents and teachers.

Assumption Convent Primary school offers quality education to boys and girls from Grade RR up to Grade 7. Apart from the standard subjects offered in the CAPS curriculum, learners also get exposure to religious education, music and art, as well as media and computer technology.

Physical education includes activities such as Athletics, Netball, Soccer, Swimming, Karate and Play-ball. Junior and Senior Choir, Revue, Speech and Poetry Festivals and School Concerts are also being offered.

Being a Catholic school, learners are exposed to Christian-Catholic education. All learners attend Church on a regular basis and join in special festivities as celebrated by the Catholic Church throughout the year. Learners of all faiths are welcome in our school, provided they are willing to accept the Christian ethos of the school.

We strive to create a community where all are respected. Even though learners, educators and parents are drawn from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, each person is valued as an individual. Co-operation rather than competition is encouraged.

Based firmly on Gospel values, education at Assumption Convent Primary School is not only a duty, but also a calling, one which our dedicated staff takes very seriously.

Our mission statement is as follows: We commit ourselves to serve God, our pupils and the wider community, by imparting quality education based on Gospel values and sound educational principles. We strive to nurture individual children in totality, to foster their spiritual, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, ethical and emotional development, in keeping with their dignity as children of God in the spirit of the school motto: EX SOLA VIRTUTE HONOUR (Honour From Virtue Alone).

at only R60 per month in order to allow as many parents as possible to afford it. We also have discounts available for disadvantaged schools,” said Mr Marnewick.

“The app is one of the easiest ways for parents to become involved with their child’s education, helping them to prepare for their tests and exams.”

Other free apps available in South Africa include Khan Academy (maths-based), Toca Lab (science) and DuoLingo (language).

Indeed, the possibilities are endless in meeting a child’s learning needs. Utilising educational video games and mobile apps can ultimately make learning easier, fun and interesting—and it can result in a better academic performance. n For information on these apps or to enquire about discounts for disadvantaged schools, visit www.mymaths app.com or www.worksheetcloud. com. For school subscriptions, go to www.worksheetcloud.com/schooltour. To contact Learning Lab Apps, visit www.learninglabapps.com.

EDUCATION

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

15

Finding right paths in digital world The new digital world has expanded our horizons, creating opportunity but also hazards. Two Catholic organisations teamed up to help schools teach their learners how to live in that world with integrity, reports RICaRDo Da SIlVa SJ.

Y

OUNG people need to earn a new kind of passport, the kind which gives them digital citizenship.

They need to acquire the knowledge, skills and tools to become responsible citizens in the exciting landscape that is unfolding and presenting them with new possibilities.

There is no need to instil fear in parents and educators, or discourage young people from the advantages of modern technology, or to demonise technology.

It is important to ensure that today’s young are well-informed, protected and adequately equipped to deal responsibly with the world within which they’ve been born and have come to inhabit.

Our young people need to have roots of digital resilience and be aware of the possibilities and vulnerabilities of the digital world.

They need to build the confidence to use digital devices more critically.

They must grow wings of digital literacy that allow them to keep real, genuine and authentic relationships and connections.

This was the advice given by Fr Hugh Lagan, a priest of the Society

of African Missions and a clinical psychologist, at a landmark seminar in Johannesburg last September.

The seminar was jointly hosted by the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) and the Jesuit Institute South Africa as part of an initiative by the two Catholic organisations.

The seminar was themed “Empowering Young People 2B e-safe”.

Fr Lagan quoted Canadian forensic psychologist Michael Seto, an expert in young people’s online safety, who when studying the impact of technology on young people said: “We are living through one of the largest unregulated social experiments of all time.”

Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute, invited those gathered at the seminar to consider that the new digital world has brought us a new and unchartered commodity.

“Data,” he said, “is like the new oil: there are massive opportunities that open up to us—but it is also important to remember that pollution is possible.”

Fr Pollitt has for a number of years been studying the impact of technology on our lives, especially the effects it has on our spiritual lives.

With Justine Limpitlaw, an law expert in electronic communications, he has designed a training programme entitled “Living with Integrity in the Digital World”.

This programme is offered to schools by the Jesuit Institute and is intended for teachers, parents and learners.

Through this programme with school communities, Fr Pollitt has amassed important experience which has led him to the conclusion

The Internet is impacting on our children in ways we are only beginning to understand. a Johannesburg seminar sought to help schools to navigate the rapidly evolving digital world. (Graphic: Gerd atmann) that much more needs to be done to prepare children for the digital world.

In October 2017, he and Ms Limpitlaw were invited to attend an international congress on child dignity in the digital world at the Jesuits’ Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. There they heard first-hand of the devastating effects that ignorance of online safety can have on young people.

The statistics presented were alarming and South Africa’s abuse statistics were on average among the highest in the world.

Inspired by Pope Francis Pope Francis addressed the Rome congress, leaving Fr Pollitt and Ms Limpitlaw with a poignant reflection

as they returned to Johannesburg.

“To see children looking us in the eye is an experience we have all had,” the pope observed.

“What are we doing to ensure that those children can continue smiling at us, with clear eyes and faces filled with trust and hope?

“What are we doing to make sure that they are not robbed of this light, to ensure that those eyes will not be darkened and corrupted by what they will find on the Internet, which will soon be so integral and important a part of their daily lives?”

After his trip to Rome, Fr Pollitt and CIE communications manager Kelsay Corrêa spoke about the possibility of offering something concrete to schools to help them

navigate this rapidly evolving, exciting and fearful digital world.

The Digital Pathfinding Seminar was born with the intention to bring together schools and civil society to ask critical questions, to learn about our use of technology, its impact on our children, and the many dangers that accompany life on the Internet.

Delegates to the seminar came mainly from Catholic schools across South Africa. Some also attended from other private and government schools and educational institutions.

Presentations ranged from psychosocial aspects to the physical and neurological effects that technology has on all—but especially on the developing brains of young people.

Plenary sessions included also a practical element. These were focused on exposing participants to tools that could be used to teach, regulate and design technologies to ensure young people’s safety and active critical engagement when online.

Top tech companies—the likes of Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft—lent their tech-education specialists and policy officers to upskill delegates in these more practical inputs during the seminar.

“From participants’ reviews of the seminar, it is clear that a need has been met,” said Ms Corrêa.

“We very much hope that this is the first in a series of initiatives that the CIE-Jesuit Institute partnership can offer to schools so that they can act confidently, responsibly and respectfully within this area which is so key in the lives of our children today,” she said.

16

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

EDUCATION

Should we abolish homework?

Homework can be a point of stress for learners and parents—and it might even be ineffective as a teaching tool in a child’s education.

DR MaRk PoTTERToN did some research on the subject and shares his insights.

L

AST year parents at the school where I work raised a number of questions about the effectiveness of homework.

The debate was triggered by a number of radio phone-in programmes which debated the efficacy of homework.

Since then I began to scour the literature to find a satisfactory answer to the question of whether homework should be abolished— and, believe me, there is a lot of research out there supporting both

sides of the argument!

Supporters of homework argue that it improves achievement and fosters independent learning out of the classroom and life skills.

They also say that homework gives parents a chance to monitor their child’s learning and see how they are doing academically.

The opponents of homework say that too much may be harmful for pupils.

They say it increases stress, reduces free time, and sometimes

even sleeping time.

Some researchers have shown that it widens social inequality and is not at all beneficial for younger children.

In search of a more scientific explanation I turned to a book called Visible Learning, published by New Zealand education researcher Prof John Hattie in 2008.

Prof Hattie synthesised over 800 meta-analyses relating to the influences on achievement on schoolaged pupils. He covered the influence of pupils themselves, home, curricula, teacher and teaching strategies, for example.

The author developed a way of synthesising various influences in different meta-analyses according to their effect size. He ranked 138 influences that are related to learning outcomes from “very positive effects” to “very negative effects”.

T

he following are some of the areas that Prof Hattie said made a real difference: • reciprocal teaching (.74), • feedback (.72), • teaching self-verbalisation (.67), • meta-cognition strategies • direct instruction (.59), • mastery learning (.57), • goals-challenging (.56), • frequent/ effects of testing (.46).

The numbers in brackets refer to effect sizes in Prof Hattie’s study. The bigger number, the higher the effect size of the intervention.

Examples of the practices which have a low impact on pupil learning are: • class size (.18), • individualised instruction (.22), • retention (keeping children back for a year) (-0.13), • homework (.29).

In looking at homework, Prof Hattie defined it as tasks assigned to pupils by school teachers to be performed after school hours.

The positive effects of homework were larger in high schools than in primary schools. The worrying thing in his study was that the effects in primary school were almost zero.

Prof Hattie’s work is not without its controversy, and there are a myriad criticisms. One key criticism is that he was too closely con-

a girl does her homework. Research, albeit controversial, suggests that assigning homework might have a no or even a negative effect on learning, especially in primary school. nected to the New Zealand government and that his preferred interventions favour government (for example, whole class teaching).

Another criticism relates to Prof Hattie’s statistics, with some researchers saying that he made major mistakes in his statistical analysis.

Nevertheless, his conclusion was that homework made very little difference to pupil achievement at school.

The US researcher Robert Marzano offers some good advice, which might give thought especially to teachers who give homework: • Assign purposeful homework.

Appropriate purposes can include introducing new content, practising a skill or process that pupils can do independently.

• Design homework to maximise the chances that pupils will complete it. For example, ensure that homework is at the appropriate level of difficulty.

Pupils should be able to complete homework assignments independently with high success rates.

• Involve parents in appropriate ways, but without requiring parents to act as teachers or to police pupils’ homework completion.

In other words, don’t make homework another family stress point! n Dr Mark Potterton is the principal of Sacred Heart College Primary School in Observatory, Johannesburg.

EDUCATION

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

17

Meditation gardens: Sabbath spaces for schools There is a need for ‘Sabbath spaces’ in the midst of our busy lives, writes Paul FallER. He visited two schools which have developed meditation gardens for their students.

B

Y the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work (Genesis 2:2).

What does it mean to say God rested? Is it an anthropomorphism that recognises our need for the Sabbath? Perhaps in God there is no difference between work and rest. As Eastern wisdom has it: “The Way is ever without action, yet nothing is left undone” (Tao Te Ching, 37).

Whatever the truth, our busy, sometimes frenetic, lives need a break from work. The need for the seventh day rest, or Sabbath, predates Judaism.

According to some commentators it was even known and practised in ancient Babylon. In fact, the word “Sabbath” or close variations thereof appear in many of the oldest known languages.

We usually think of the Sabbath in terms of time but there is an equal need for Sabbath spaces to which we can retire for conscious or prayerful rest. And there is no place more conducive to rest than a garden.

Jesus promises one of those crucified with him: “Today you will be

with me in paradise.” The Qur’an repeatedly promises the believers that they will be “the Companions of the Garden, remaining in it timelessly, forever.”

What about our schools? Do they have any “Sabbath spaces”?

The chapel or prayer room are such spaces, but some of our schools have developed a further place for restful contemplation—the meditation garden.

I have visited two of these gardens. Both are in Pretoria, but they vary markedly in their character and intention.

Inspired by Benedict XVI The garden at St Paulus Primary School in Brumeria is situated on an outcrop in the school grounds and forms a Way of the Cross inspired by the Good Friday Stations of Pope Benedict XVI. The large iron crucifix that over-

looks the Way utilises a no-longer functioning Telephone pole. Specially selected plants with religious significance, both indigenous and exotic, illustrate each station. The nature of the surface on which one walks changes to symbolise that particular part of the Way. A 24-page Eco Guide produced by St Paulus School has a detailed map of the Way and information on the ecology of the area.

Room in the Father’s House While the garden at St Paulus takes us from Gethsemane to the Cross, the one designed and curated by landscape designer Carl Kruger at Assumption Convent School in Pretoria North, has quite a contrasting character.

It is more like the rooms in the Father’s house that Jesus tells his disciples of.

In fact, covering an L-shaped piece of formerly unused ground, it is divided into a number of “rooms”, including an entrance hall, and places for meeting and relaxation.

A walk through the garden culminates in a shrine—a place for intentional meditation, prayer or worship.

Colours in the garden, including those in the sculpted objects, have a significant connection with a set of values that the school fosters and upholds: respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship.

I encourage schools to give some thought to creating a meditation garden.

The meditation garden at assumption Convent, which has sculpted objects which connect with the values of the convent.

The presence of these will have a marked affect on their environment.

They will be a place for students, teachers, parents and visitors alike where silence is the language spoken, and peace the gift to all who enter there.

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sunscorched land and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.- Isaiah 58:11

The Board of governors of Nardini Convent School, an independent Catholic primary school situated in Vryheid, invites suitable applicants to apply for the position of

DEPuTy PriNCiPAl Commencing duties in January 2020

The ideal candidate will be a practising Catholic or Christian who understands, identifies with and contributes to the Catholic Ethos and values of the School and will furthermore:

• Have appropriate academic and professional qualifications of at least REQV14 • In addition, have pursued a certificate/degree in managerial course or willing to do so.

• Have at least 5 years teaching experience, plus at least 3 years credible record of relevant and successful leadership and management experience in a school • Have extensive knowledge of curriculum activities; • Be fluent in English; • Be computer literate; • Be registered with SACE; • Have knowledge of and experience with current education trends; • Have Police clearance certificate • Be able to lead a strong team;

Application forms may be downloaded from www.nardinicschool.co.za Application forms must be accompanied by certified copies of relevant qualifications and ID documents. Applications must be delivered to the office of Nardini Convent School at 227 Boeren Street or, for applicants outside of Vryheid town, be emailed to nardcoschool@bundunet.co.za.

Completed application forms will be accepted up to 17h00 on Wednesday July 10 2019.

Shortlisting may apply. Canvassing will disqualify. Shortlisted candidates will be informed about interviews at a later stage.

NARDINI CONVENT SCHOOL

Offering Catholic ethos, sound christian values & academic excellence 227 Boeren Street Pvt Bag X9309 Tel: 034 981 6157 Fax: 034 982 2393

PeAce AND HARMONY WItH GOD, SeLF, OtHeRS AND OUR eNVIRONMeNt

18

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

EDUCATION

Benefits in serving on the altar Not sure if being an altar server is a good choice for your child? ERIN CaRElSE gives five reasons to consider encouraging your child for this meaningful role.

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ITH a child’s busy weekend schedules—all the sports, cultural and social activities—being an altar server has to compete.

We know the benefits that extramural activities promise, so what does serving have to offer?

Serving during a church service or Mass can be a gift to a child, not an obligation. It should be seen as a special honour and a great privilege.

Your child will do and learn things that others may never, and see the Mass in ways that others don’t.

Pope John Paul II, in an inspiring address to altar servers in 2001, encouraged them to understand the responsibility they have in this service

to the Church.

“The altar server has a privileged place in liturgical celebrations.

Those who serve at Mass present themselves to a community. They experience from close at hand that Jesus Christ is present and active in every liturgy,” John Paul said.

“In the liturgy, you are far more than mere ‘helpers of the parish priest’. Above all, you are servants of Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest.”

Any child who has received the sacraments of baptism and First Holy Communion in the Catholic

Church can be an altar server. It is a great opportunity for them to grow in their faith and become more active in the Church.

Just as you involve your child in activities at home—whether it’s setting the table for supper or tidying up the kitchen together after—inviting your child to join in activities at church, such as becoming an altar server, will help them increase in skill and interest.

The sanctuary is very sacred, and serving there requires the utmost respect. To be an altar server requires discipline and conscientiousness.

Your child will have to pay more attention to the whole Mass to help remember sequences, and will also learn to follow instructions. Altar servers have to pay attention as to when to give the wine and hosts, ring the bell, or process back to the entrance of the church.

The discipline and attention to detail which a child learns as an altar sever provides valuable skills they need to become responsible adults.

Understanding the Mass Altar servers assist the priest and deacon during Mass.

As an altar server your child will begin to learn the names of objects used during Mass, like the thurible, cruet, ablution cup, chalice, vestment pieces, and other liturgy-related terms.

Altar servers carry the cross and the processional candles; hold the book for the priest when he is not at the altar; carry the incense and censer; present the bread, wine and water to the priest during the preparation of the gifts, or assist him when he receives the gifts from the people; wash the hands of the priest; and assist the priest celebrant and deacon as necessary.

When appropriate, a server may also ring the bell as a signal to the faithful.

It makes all the symbols of the Mass so much more understandable and interesting.

Fostering a future vocation Another reason to become an altar server is that it helps your child to discern their vocation better, whether they choose a religious

vocation, one of married life, or of some form of service.

Every vocation helps to further their faith life and leads to a greater and deeper understanding and relationship with God. If a religious vocation isn’t something your child chooses, being an altar server might encourage them to want to do more in the church, like becoming a reader.

Leadership and life skills Serving on the altar is a great place to start building skills.

Altar servers learn skills such as communication and teamwork, and gain in self-confidence.

Some children may start off a little anxious but often this changes, and parents notice their children taking pride in what they do, and in turn, this encourages them to mentor younger servers.

It’s a great way to build friendships and self-esteem.

Being an altar server is a meaningful way for your child to stay connected with their faith, and it makes learning about their religion more “fun”. Reading about something or even watching something doesn’t compare to actual hands-on learning experience. To participate offers something more.

In discussing the option of a child becoming an altar server, choices involving faith should never be forced; rather have an open discussion with your child.

And if the above-mentioned motivations aren’t enough, you could always let the reluctant child know that an altar server always has the best seat in the house!

PRE-SCHOOL TO MATRIC

We are a small Independent Catholic School situated in Cheltondale, NE Johannesburg with 70 years experience.

MARYVALE COLLEGE

Space available for 2019.

2020 registration is open.

Next Open Day 14 Sept 2019

Pre-school & Primary: Cnr. Louis Botha Ave & Cheltondale Road, Orchards (011) 485 1210 primaryadmin@maryvalecollege.co.za High School: 10 St Mary’s Road, Maryvale, 2192, (011) 640 3061/9 admin@maryvalecollege.co.za, www.maryvalecollege.co.za We are on a bus/transport route

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Proudly achieving a 100% matric pass rate.

FEES ARE HIGHLY COMPETITIVE, OFFERING EXCELLENT VALUE.

PERSPECTIVES

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

19

Couples must be each other’s servants Rob & Mahadi W Buthelezi HY do you want to get married?

This is the question we often ask our couples who are preparing to get married as we prepare them to receive the sacrament of matrimony.

We receive answers like, • It is the next natural step • I cannot imagine my life without him or her • He is the love of my life • She completes me These no doubt sincere responses often sound clichéd, as if not much thought is given to how they truly understand the purpose and spiritual calling of marriage.

It seems that most people have a certain expectation towards their partners in marriage: people want or need someone who will fulfil their needs, so they marry for selfish gain and not so much to serve one another.

They want someone who will make them laugh, make them feel secure and safe, bring excitement and adventure into their lives. They look for someone who will serve their needs, and not necessarily consider serving or fulfilling the other person’s needs.

In our ministry, we define marriage differently—and that often shocks the couples intending to get married.

We believe and know that marriage is hard work. Marriage is not self-centred but more about supporting each other.

We promote the idea of interdependence and creating an environment of giving of yourself and talents for the betterment of your spouse and children.

Of course, we also acknowledge the fact that no person is perfect in a marriage, and there is no smooth road without hard work.

A couple that gets married has to be a team, forming a bond that no one can break.

T

he greatest misconception about marriage is that we marry someone who should make us happy. We have this unfair expectation for someone to make us complete and heal all our hurt and childhood problems.

This is a recipe for disaster: the only person who can make you happy is yourself.

We have learnt that marriage is about serving each other and putting your spouse first above all. This concept or idea of marriage is foreign to many of the en-

a couple is getting married. Will they look for the other to make them happy, or will they seek to always serve one another?

Couples to Couples

gaged couples we minister to. They have a different expectation.

Partners serve one another emotionally, spiritually, physically, and psychologically.

This idea of serving each other is not very popular as it debunks the idea of equality and rights as defined by law. We often come across great resistance by people who say things like, “I am not a servant”, suggesting that they lack the understanding and willingness to serve the other.

We teach these ideas to strengthen the relationships in marriage with sound and practical solutions and try by every means to destroy stereotypes and myths about marriage.

We are challenged by social media and friends of the couple who bombard the engaged pair with ideas of what marriage should be.

In simple terms a successful marriage comes into effect as soon as we place the other person first in our lives, and take care of their basic needs in a loving manner.

We have seen that by implementing these ideas in our own marriage, we are more fulfilled and happier than if we are self-serving and self-centred.

Luke introduces us to ‘favoured’ Mary Cackie Upchurch M OST of what we know about Mary’s early life comes to us through the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke.

There we are introduced to the angel Gabriel and the promises of God to work in the life of Mary for the salvation of all.

We learn of Mary’s pregnancy and the time she spent with Elizabeth. And in these stories we discover that God does extraordinary things through very ordinary people.

When we meet Mary, she is not yet mature enough to enter into the marriage with Joseph that her parents no doubt arranged for her, as was the custom of the time.

She is not known to be particularly learned, nor is she famous before Gabriel arrives on the scene. But she is steeped in her religious tradition and she recognises that God has sent the angel to her.

The New Testament Mary, particularly Luke’s Mary, is not yet cloaked in the many titles assigned to her over the centuries. Nor is she yet the subject of doctrine and dogma. She is, quite simply, a young Jewish virgin who shows us how to say “yes” to God and what that “yes” requires.

Mary’s encounter with Gabriel (Lk 1:26-38) becomes a conversation. She somehow expresses her fear and he assures her that God is with her.

She expresses her puzzlement, asking how it could happen, and Gabriel invites her to believe that God can conquer seemingly impossible things. He even offers the example of the elder and barren cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant. Mary finally says yes: “I am a handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me...”

It is striking that God does not command that Mary bear Jesus but gives her the wisdom to ponder and ask questions, and the courage to cooperate with God’s plan for her life and for the world.

Saying yes to God requires an ongoing assent to God’s will, and Mary demonstrates this well as she sets out to be with

lessons From luke

Elizabeth and Mary meet in a sculpture outside the church of the Visitation in Ein kerem, in the Judean hill country near Jerusalem. on the wall behind, the Magnificat is rendered in several languages.

Elizabeth (1:39-45).

This time between the two women will be a time of affirmation and mutual encouragement, a time that will come to be associated with the proclamation that we know as the Canticle, or Magnificat, of Mary (1:46-56).

T

he hymn that Luke records demonstrates just how fully Mary’s life will change as she carries God’s son in her womb, raises him in the tradition of her ancestors, and follows him along the way of the cross that leads ultimately to the resurrection.

Mary’s hymn begins with a focus on what God has done for her, the words being full of gratitude and awe. Quickly, though, the attention shifts to the mercy God has shown throughout the ages to

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those who are humble, lowly, and poor.

Her words echo the words of Isaiah that her son will later proclaim in the synagogue as he begins his public ministry (4:16-21): “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to being glad tidings to the poor…liberty to captives…recovery of sight to the blind…to let the oppressed go free.”

Mary walks the way of discipleship throughout her life, saying yes to God as she raises Jesus, taking him to the temple as an infant and again as a young man.

In one early encounter outside the temple, Mary is told by Simeon that her son Jesus will embody the hopes of his people. He will also be a sign of contradiction that will cause her pain: “You yourself a sword will pierce” (2:35).

The name Mary is a derivative of Miriam which means “sea of bitterness and sorrow”. The yes she spoke to Gabriel, and ultimately to God, will not be without trials and suffering.

When she was but a young girl herself, Gabriel told Mary that she was favoured

by God. Mary would recognise that when God showed favour to her ancestors, much was required of them. Noah, Joseph, Moses, Hannah, Samuel, and all the prophets knew that God’s favour was never cheap.

Mary would know that being favoured

by God is a sure sign that more would be asked than she could imagine, and grace would be given to meet the challenge.

We pray for such grace and favour in our lives. n This is the third in a ten-part series of articles on the Gospel of Luke produced by Little Rock Scripture Study and first published in the Arkansas Catholic.

Fr Ralph de Hahn

Point of Reflection

Why Sacred Heart of Jesus matters

O

N June 28 this year, the Church will mark the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with that beautiful image in so many homes around the world. The Sacred Heart issues a call for recognition, gratitude and reparation.

God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah, “I have loved you with an everlasting love”(31:3) and again he cries, “I will put respect for me into their hearts so that they will no longer turn away from me” (32:40).

The prophets remind us that a loving God seeks some acknowledgement of his eternal, ever outflowing love.

Prophets and saints have over the centuries sought to convey to us the unquenchable love of the invisible God—a truly unconditional love that is neither deserved nor earned.

And so we have the Lord himself displaying his heart ablaze with a fire—blazing not to be consumed—surrounded by thorns, noting the “coldness and ingratitude of men’s hearts”.

Like the undying flame of the bush which confronted Moses on the mountain, the non-consuming flame burns in the heart of Jesus (Ex 3).

When the voices of the saints and prophets were no longer heard or listened to, God chose St Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun in the French town of Paray-le-Monial, in 1674 to carry his message to the Church and to the world.

Jesus exposed his human-divine heart to her on several occasions; her diary recalls at least 13 apparitions. He was grieved over “their lukewarm and slothful hearts that dishonour me in the Blessed Sacrament.” (I see that The Southern Cross’ pilgrimage to France in October includes a visit to Paray-le-Monial.)

Already in the 13th century, the Franciscan friar St Bonaventure was mindful of the blood and water that flowed from the dead Christ.

He preached that “God’s providence decreed that one of the soldiers should open his sacred side with a spear so that blood and water might flow to pay the price of our salvation-blood from the secret recesses of his heart, and living water welling up to eternal life”.

Jesus himself declared: “If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (Jn 7:37).

E

arly Christianity was ever-conscious of the heart being pierced on Calvary, although it was only with St John Eudes (1601-1680) that the public devotion to Jesus’ sacred heart was advanced.

Pope Leo Xlll (1878-1903) raised it to the status of a feast which we now celebrate on the Friday following the Sunday feast of Corpus Christi.

The brilliant preaching of St Paul pleads that “nothing can separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8). But why the heart? Why do the psalms so often speak to the heart? Why did the prophet Ezekiel so beautifully express: “I shall remove your hearts of stone, and give you a heart of flesh” (36:25)? What is it about the heart?

Jesus’ human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love for us all. We understand the human heart to stand for the inner reaches of our human personality.

It connotes the mind, soul, will, spirit, the core of our being. It is that place where a person thinks, remembers, feels, decides and makes decisions.

Mary “stored all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51). Mary’s immaculate heart was totally absorbed by God’s love with the inexhaustibility of a mother, pondering deeply the mysteries of Jesus’ life.

The apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St Mary Margaret in the 1600s now seem very appropriate: as it was then, the cold-hearted world is forgetting the power of loving and being loved.

How sad to learn that the gentle Lord has sometimes to break hearts in order to enter them. This is one powerful devotion, one which promises to help us understand the great commandment of love and how to live it in a very cold and troubled world. n Fr Ralph de Hahn is a priest of the archdiocese of Cape Town.

20

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

COMMUNITY

Junior debaters at assumption Convent School in Germiston, Johannesburg archdiocese, won two debates at the SaCEE Championships.

The student debaters were (from left) Nomfundo Mthembu, Nsingi lunanga, Tshiamo Seema, Meghan Vetten, kayla Wyngaard, and Naomi Natu.

as part of Catholic Schools Week, Brescia House School in Bryanston, Johannesburg, teamed up with Pick n Pay Epsom Downs to serve freshly baked Chelsea buns to passers-by. The supermarket chain also matched Brescia’s donations one-for-one.

De la Salle Holy Cross College in Victory Park, Johannesburg, held its 2019 Highland Gathering on the school’s sportsfields. The day included traditional dancing, market and food stalls, and giant inflatables and a climbing wall for youngsters.

St Theresa’s Convent School in Coronationville, Johannesburg, hosted a family Colour Fun Run. (Submitted by Raylene Nadasen)

Grade Rs at lollipopz Pre-Primary School visited Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban, for a reading and discussion of the book A Bug Collection. They then all had a picnic on the school field and received A Bug Collection bookmarks.

The u-16 and u-18 rugby teams at Marist Brothers linmeyer in Johannesburg played against Hoërskool Die Burger, with Marist winning both matches. The u-16 team won 45-12 and the u-8 team 49-0.

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PRICE CHECK

as part of Catholic Schools Week, St Teresa’s Junior Primary School in Craighall Park, Johannesburg, held a special assembly and brunch to show appreciation of the school’s support staff. (From left) principal lynne Elfick with support staff Buyi Hadebe, Percy Chidi, lesley Sephuma and Fraction khumula at assembly with pupils.

The Salesian Youth Movement in Gauteng is holding a series of monthly gatherings as part of reflections on the Salesian Strenna or theme for 2019.

Each month members will reflect on one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they connect it with #HolinessForYouToo. (Submitted by Br Clarence Watts SDB)

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The highlights of a pilgrimage to Rome

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Two inmates of Brandvlei Minimum Prison in Worcester, Western Cape, received the sacrament of confirmation from Norbertine Father Francis Malaka (centre) of St Maria Goretti church in Worcester. (From left) Sponsor Violet Roberts, confirmand Isaac Arendse, confirmation candidate Lucky Choga, Fr Malaka, confirmation candidate Jerome Mitchell, confirmand Dawid Franke and sponsor Julia Noble.

Runners raise R280 000 for Radio Veritas

Bradburne cause to launch R

T

HE group that is working towards the beatification of John Bradburne is looking to raise R377 000 to help finance the investigation into the English-born Zimbabwean martyr’s life.

The cause for John Bradburne’s sainthood will be officially launched on September 5, the 40th anniversary of his murder.

The bishops of Zimbabwe gave their approval for the cause last month.

Bradburne’s niece Celia Brigstocke had worked tirelessly towards launching the sainthood cause for her uncle until her death last August. Her eldest daughter, Kate Macpherson, now leads the efforts.

According to Independent Catholic News in Britain, two people have claimed miraculous cures through Bradburne's intercession: a South African woman who regained the use of her legs, and a man in Scotland cured of a brain tumour.

Bradburne was born in 1921 in England, the son of an Anglican clergyman. He served in the British army in World War II, and he converted to Catholicism in 1947 after staying with the Benedictines of Buckfast Abbey.

He wished to become a monk at Buckfast, but had not been long enough in the Church.

Instead he became a wanderer throughout Europe and the Middle East.

A prolific poet, he became a Third Order

John Bradburne and a leprosy patient at Mutemwa.

Franciscan in 1956.

Through a Jesuit friend in present-day Zimbabwe, Bradburne came to serve at the Mutemwa leper settlement, spending the last ten years of his life there.

During the Bush War, ZANU forces kidnapped Bradburne and murdered him on September 5, 1979.

The John Bradburne Society in England is staging ongoing events to make his life of better known (www.johnbradburne.com).

BY ERIN CARELSE

ADIO Veritas raised R280 000 in its Comrades Marathon telethon—at which Fr Emil Blaser OP made surprise appearance.

The #runforradioveritas campaign saw seven priests and five lay people run the Comrades to raise funds for the station.

The Comrades Marathon Sponsorship fundraiser was initiated last year by Mahadi Buthelezi with “Radio Veritas Warriors” Boyce Ntlwane and Collins Mokgohlwa. The latter two with Frs Zweli Mlotshwa and Teboho Matseke took part in the 2018 marathon.

This year the “Radio Veritas Comrades Marathon Bus” was expanded to include five more priests—Frs Lehlohonolo Tapole, Mbulelo Qumntu, Thembalethu Mana, Moruti Ntholeng and Derrick Thungo—and three lay people: Ella Kungwana, Leona Chetty and Nomusa Shelembe.

The campaign was going to see them doing the 90km “down run” from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on June 9.

The theme for the telethon was “I have fought the good fight, I have run the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7), speaking both for the runners and for the radio station’s journey over the past 20 years.

Listeners were invited to phone in throughout the day and sponsor the runners, with the funds going towards the station. Some of the runners were also interviewed in studio.

The entire Radio Veritas team participated in the planning and organising of the telethon, with the preliminary work done by

Fr Emil Blaser with some of the volunteers on the telethon day. (From left) Lehutjo Thobejane, Moira Mpama, Zee Kubheka, and Vincent Mokoena.

Mahadi Buthelezi.

A surprise on the day was the presence of Fr Emil Blaser, who had just been discharged after two months in hospital. He was clearly energised to be back behind the microphone again and listeners expressed their happiness and appreciation, Radio Veritas deputy director Olinda Orlando said.

Other special guests included Mgr Barney McAleer and Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria.

Many listeners called in to share what Radio Veritas has meant in their lives and to their faith.

Continued on page 3

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The equestrian team at Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg archdiocese, attended its first inter-schools qualifier at kyalami Equestrian Park. kate Metzer (pictured) was chosen for the Dressage Sa lead Programme, which develops young athletes to improve their riding and build the future capacity for dressage in South africa.

The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

FAITH

21

Is this the Church Christ wanted?

In preparation for the June 29 feast of Ss Peter & Paul, FR RalPH DE HaHN asks if the Church today is what Christ had in mind when he entrusted it to Peter.

A

MEANINGFUL story comes down to us from the early Church, about the third century, when the prefect of Rome was made aware that the Christians in their religious celebrations were actually using gold and silver vessels for their offerings and golden candlesticks in the evening.

He believed the Christian community, though small, was hiding great treasures.

He charged St Lawrence, a deacon, to bring these treasures to the emperor within three days. At the appointed time Lawrence appeared before the prefect with a disappointing crowd of men and women—the lame, the blind, deaf, some crippled and handicapped, beggars, orphans and widows.

“These,” he proudly proclaimed, “are the treasures of the Church!”

That is exactly the mind of Pope Francis who so clearly declared “I want a Church which is poor and for the poor!”

The Holy Father went on to remind us that not only do the poor share our faith but, in their hardships and difficult lives, they know the sufferings of Christ…they can teach us so much.

We must allow ourselves to be evangelised by them, he insists. At Vatican II, Pope John XXIII asked us to open the windows, let in some fresh air. Now Pope Francis presents an image of an open door as opposed to a Church shut in with false security, while beyond that door the majority of the world’s population is crying and dying for the bread that falls from the rich man’s table.

The Father Creator has provided enough for all his children on the earth. But the distribution of wealth and land is deplorable; there is such an increasing lack of compassion and justice; the powerful feed upon

The Risen lord with St Peter at the Sea of Galilee before Christ entrusted the Church to the apostle. the powerless.

Francis decries the wastefulness in our modern society. With Jesus he begs the wealthy to acknowledge that what riches they possess are not merited, but given them only to share with those who cannot repay.

(Lk 14:14).

He calls for an open door and open hearts. Psalm 62:9 clearly states that “great men are only an illusion, and placed on the scales they rise”.

St John Chrysostom writes: “Not to share one’s wealth with the very poor is to steal from them and to take away from them their livelihood.”

A bruised Church Pope Francis has said that there is an inseparable bond between our Catholic faith and the poor. He prefers a Church that is bruised, dirty and hurting to one that is clothed in scarlet, purple and rich garments; he wants a Church with a passionate missionary heart, aware of our human limitations, to be weak with the weak, to be everything to everybody (cf 1 Cor 9:22).

And he is fearless despite this “weakness” because “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is

at its best in weakness…so let me glory in my weakness so that the Power of Christ may show itself in me” (2 Cor 12:10).

Humility is power! Poverty is power! Pope Francis is prepared to take risks, to bring about a reformation within the Body of Christ we call the Church.

To be the kind of Church envisaged by Jesus himself: “I have come not to be served, but to serve” He came to us poor to enrich us with his poverty (2 Cor 8:9-10). He was born in a borrowed stable and died on a wooden bed, was buried in a borrowed grave.

No Church without Cross We are so wrong if we envisage a Christian Church with a beautiful spiritual Christ, without flesh and without his cross, says Pope Francis.

We are being challenged by the suffering poor of the world. The poor should be at the very centre of our ministry; we will be evangelised by the poor. His Gospel of the poor must permeate all levels of our society otherwise we will most certainly lose sight of his Church.

Look again at the Invitation parable to the Heavenly Banquet (Mt 22 or Lk 14). Since those who

have so much and are so busy reject his invitation: “Go out quickly to the street and alleys of the city and bring in the poor, the cripples, the blind and the lame…so that my house may be full.”

That is not the voice of the “prosperity gospel” being preached today, for that is the church of the mighty rich. It preaches that by faith alone a believer is enriched and blessed by God while the poor and the sick are punished for their lack of faith and are not loved by the Father.

The prosperity gospel is the church of the chosen rich, while the church of the poor is crushed and detested.

The prosperity gospel is a total reversal of the teaching of Jesus and certainly not in accord with the words of sacred scripture, which clearly speak to those who hoard up great wealth on this earth, “they have had their reward” (Mt 6:2).

Treasure for all The Catholic Church, although itself wounded, is here to serve the poor and the wounded, or else it cannot be Christ’s Church.

The treasures of this earth belong to all God’s children; but those

Why St Paul wasn’t a chauvinist T

BY MGR M FRaNCIS MaNNIoN

HE reading from Paul to the Ephesians (5:21-32) on the relationship between husbands and wives probably causes more argument and irritation than any other text in the lectionary.

I would argue, however, that the problem people have with this passage is a false one, for the reason that it is not actually saying what it appears to say at first hearing. In fact, its real message is almost the opposite of what we imagine it to be.

In the passage, Paul says: “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” He continues: “As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.”

The problem is that we often hear only the first part of Paul’s advice: “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands.” We tend to interpret this admonition to mean that wives should do what they are told, that they should be subservient and childlike. So we hear the passage as an excuse for husbands to be bossy and generally rule the roost.

But this sort of thing is not at all what Paul intends. The word “subordinate” has to be interpreted in authentically Christological terms.

What does it mean to say that the Church is “subordinate” to Christ? It means that the Church is open to all the love, grace, and mercy offered in Christ, and is willing to cooperate with Christ for the salvation of the world.

So, the admonition that wives should “be subordinate to their husbands” means that wives should cooperate with their husbands in all those things that are important for the good of the marriage and the family, as well as for the good of

St Paul, in a statue outside Rome’s basilica of St Paul outside the Walls. the wife herself.

Be of one heart and mind with your husband, Paul is saying. Truly listen to your husband, allow him to do the good of which he is capable. Be open to all that is Christ-like in him.

P

aul goes on to say in this passage: “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the Church.”

Of course, we are inclined to think that the admonition, “Husbands, love your wives”, is weaker than “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands”. This is not the case. No less is de-

manded by Paul of husbands than of wives.

Paul tells husbands to “love your wives even as Christ loved the Church”. This is strong language.

Christ’s love for his Church is undying, eternal and without limit. It is truly sanctifying, and full of grace, forgiveness, and compassion. There is no element of oppression or degradation whatsoever in Christ’s relationship to the Church.

We can, of course, still object to one more phrase in Paul’s advice: “The husband is head of the wife.”

This assertion can seem oppressive and demeaning in our modern cultural context. But, again, listen to the total statement: “The husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the Church”.

So we have to ask: What is the practical meaning of Christ’s headship of the Church? It is that he serves his Church with complete devotion, love, and selfsacrifice. Christ died for his Church.

Christ’s headship of the Church subverts, revolutionises, and replaces every cultural notion of headship.

Christ is head of the Church not as overlord, führer, tyrant, dictator, top dog.

He is head of the Church as servant. This point is made over and over again in the New Testament, and it cannot be emphasised enough here.

Paul is calling husbands to undying service of their wives and children in the model of Christ.

All in all, then, in this passage from Ephesians, Paul is presenting a most noble dignified, and loving vision of Christian marriage.

Paul places Christian marriage on the highest spiritual plane and he sets out an elevated view of how husbands and wives should love each other.—CNA

many millions born in places of fewer resources and utter poverty should not be allowed to lose their dignity.

Isaiah 58 already maps out the basic function of the Church, and the Books of Psalms and Proverbs loudly support him.

“He who shuts his ears to the poor man’s cry shall himself plead and not be heard” (Prov 29:7). “The good man is concerned for the rights of the poor, the wicked have no such concern” (Prov 29:7). “In his pride, the wicked persecute the poor” (Ps 10:2).

Then we have the warning of the apostle James: “Whoever acts without mercy will be judged without mercy”(2:12). And there is Peter’s assurance that if you persevere in love for the poor, that “ love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8).

The disciple John speaks from reason, saying: “If a man rich enough in this world’s good saw a brother in need, and closed his heart to him, how could the love of God be in that man! “(1 Jn 3:17).

That is a shattering truth! There is a worldly spirituality, hiding behind a false piety and so-called “love for the “Church”, that aims only to feed one’s own human glory, certainly not God’s (Jn 5:44; Phil 2:21).

But the spirituality of the poor is so very different. How will a rich and powerful Church ever understand?

The disciple John makes it very clear that when a serious crisis hits the Church, when the anti-Christ acts within the Christian community, it is the believing poor who remain faithful—but “those of our own number who have left us had never ever really belonged”(1 John 2:18-19) “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”; blessed are you who are abused, and persecuted, and have absolutely nothing to offer Rejoice and be glad, for the reward is very great in heaven (Mt 5).

Pope Francis has begun the reformation within the Church. It is just the beginning. The Holy Spirit is at work.

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The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

TRAVEL

The Southern Cross group in a cave at Shepherds’ Field near Bethlehem of the kind shepherds might have used when they received the news of the Messiah’s birth • Pilgrims pose with a statue of the Blessed Virgin outside the basilica of the annunciation in Nazareth • Fr Russell Pollitt SJ preaches during an outdoor Mass in Capernaum at the Sea of Galilee.

Highlights of Holy Land on pilgrimage In May Southern Cross pilgrims travelled to the Holy Land and Rome. GüNTHER SIMMERMaCHER reviews the highlights of the Holy Land leg of the pilgrimage.

L

AST week’s article on The Southern Cross’ pilgrimage in May looked at the highlights in Rome. Here are some of the many remarkable things our group of 57 experienced in the Holy Land.

History of Jesus For the first-time pilgrim, all the sights and experiences in the Holy Land can be a little overwhelming.

And how could it be different when one travels through the actual places of the lives of Jesus, of Mary, of the disciples and prophets?

In the Holy Land, one experiences a physical connection with the Lord, with the Scriptures which had been familiar only through words and visual art. Here, the Bible becomes real. This is why the Holy Land is sometimes called “The Fifth Gospel”.

The believer can’t but survey in wonder the places where we know for certain Jesus stood or walked, such as the house of St Peter in Capernaum or the flight of steps on Mount Zion next to the church of St Peter in Gallicantu, maybe visualising the scenes that played out there.

We can also be sure that the church of the Holy Sepulchre is the true location of Golgotha and the tomb of the Resurrection. But where places like the Sea of Galilee are pastoral, that church in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City is crowded and chaotic.

Often groups queue for a long time to get into the tiny chapel of the tomb. Along the way, one may encounter rude people trying to push in, and at the end of the line, there’ll be a rather unpleasant Greek Orthodox monk guarding the tomb like a humourless bouncer standing watch outside an exclusive nightclub.

One can see why over time these men might have lost their tender touch, and I suspect they find it a nuisance that all these people are

trampling all over what these monks regard as their property.

But when these monks act like the security police in a totalitarian state, they fail to reflect the love of the very Christ whom they seek to guard.

In short, visiting the church of the Holy Sepulchre when it is full can be a less than pleasant experience. But—and this is the crucial point—one must not let the chaos detract from the indefinable wonder we must feel when we touch the rock on which the Cross stood or pray in the place where our Lord rose from the dead.

It is these brief moments that we must lock in our hearts, to treasure these memories when we come home; and use these then as we prayerfully reflect on the Passion and Resurrection of Our Lord.

The Churches After Christianity was legalised in the early 4th century, the Holy Land experienced a boom in the construction of churches which lasted for more than a hundred years.

Most of these churches were destroyed in the Samaritan uprisings of the sixth century, the Persian sack of 614 and bouts of Muslim persecution, as well as by earthquakes, neglect, and the passage of time.

Periodically new churches would be built above those from the Byzantine age. Most of these would also prove to fall short on lasting an eternity.

Only one major church has survived intact from the Byzantine era: the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which marks the birthplace of Christ.

Built in the 4th century and rebuilt in the 6th, the basilica has of late been undergoing a thorough renovation. The ancient mosaics on the walls now gleam, and the columns, once blackened by grime and soot, now reveal images painted on them many centuries ago.

In Jerusalem, the church of the Holy Sepulchre was first dedicated in 335 AD and stood for nearly 700 years until it was destroyed by a crazed caliph in 1009.

After the conquest of Jerusalem, the Crusaders rebuilt the church, and its architecture is much as it was when the church was dedicated

Mass in the impressive church of all Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem. In front of the altar is the Rock of the agony. in 1149.

Apart from the church of St Anne, another Crusader structure, most of the Holy Land’s churches are fairly new. But unlike most modern churches, which often are plain and functional rather than inspiring, those in the Holy Land tend to be beautiful and rich in symbolism.

This is mostly the legacy of the great Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi (1884-1960).

A man of deep faith, he built some of the greatest churches in the Holy Land. Our group saw most of them, and had Mass in the Barluzzi churches of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Flagellation at the start of the Via Dolorosa, and the Good Shepherd in Jericho.

I regard the Barluzzi churches as poetry in stone. Every architectural decision has a meaning.

The church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor has two towers, representing the tents which Peter proposed to erect for Moses and Elijah. It has two altars: in the crypt (representing the temporal) and, high above, on the top of the church, representing Christ glorified.

At Shepherds’ Field, near Bethlehem, Barluzzi shaped the church like a tent of the type shepherds

used in Jesus’ time, with light streaming through the dome to represent the angels who—hark!—announced the birth of the Messiah.

The alabaster windows of the church of All Nations are dark, allowing in only minimal light, to recall the darkness of the night of Jesus’ arrest.

Further up on the Mount of Olives, the church of Dominus Flevit (The Lord Wept) takes the shape of a tear. In its window, a cross is positioned to loom over the Temple Mount, whose destruction Jesus predicted.

And so it goes on. It is rare that architecture prompts us to reflection and prayer. The genius Barluzzi accomplished this.

Holy Masses There are many memorable highlights on a pilgrimage: sailing on the Sea of Galilee; the renewal of wedding vows in Cana and baptismal promises at the Jordan River (hopefully at the authentic site in the desert, not Yardenit, the commercial theme park near the Sea of Galilee); walking the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, and so on.

But always at the centre on pilgrimage is the Mass. And it is special to have Mass in the places where the events we know from Scripture actually took place.

Who among our group will forget the Mass in the church of All Nations, sitting around the Rock of the Agony on which Jesus prayed and sweated blood before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane?

This church, more than any other, is where pilgrims can bring in prayer their deepest fears and most burning concerns to God. This is a place where we can draw solace and strength.

Of all the places where we had Mass, I think it is safe to say, every member of our group will remember one that was celebrated outside a church.

There are several outdoor Mass sites around the Sea of Galilee. I have had the joy of Mass in the Dalmanutha site behind the church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, and many times in the amphitheatre at the nearby church of Peter’s Primacy. These are wonderful.

Lately, the Franciscans at Capernaum have set up an outdoor Mass site right on the shore of the lake. I suspect they were prompted by the need to accommodate the increasing numbers of pilgrims who come in the high seasons (there is also a lovely outdoor Mass site on the Mount of Beatitudes).

Our Mass at that spot was extraordinarily beautiful.

Behind us was the house of St Peter. The waves of the lake lapped gently on the shore. Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, our spiritual director, was bathed in an amber glow created by the canopy that protects the pilgrims from the elements. Our group was in good voice. I think we all experienced the physical presence of Christ among us…

It was one of those Masses which all who were there will never forget.

Some were moved to tears by the experience.

Nobody who took part in this pilgrimage will ever forget this journey. Everybody in the group will have been transformed by the experience and the graces it created, in their own ways and maybe even in ways that they cannot quite define.

Like all pilgrims before them, every time they read or hear the Gospel, they will be transported back to the Holy Land—the Fifth Gospel.

Deo Gratias!

S outher n C ross Pilgrimage HOLY LAND & OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY 21 Aug - 2 Sept. 2020 Led by Archbishop William Slattery OFM For more information or to book, please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

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The Southern Cross, June 19 to June 25, 2019

YOUR cLASSIFIeDS

Fr Ted Molyneaux

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HE priest who lent journalist Donald Woods his clerical garb and passport to help him escape the apartheid security forces died on March 23 at 82.

Fr Ted Molyneaux of Port Elizabeth was an Irish missionary extraordinaire.

Vigils throughout the metropole, a wonderful Requiem Mass at Motherwell, and a memorial service in Ireland attested to the power and influence of his ministry.

He was born on October 28, 1936, in County Kerry, Ireland, to a farming family. The date of his baptism, three days later, was one he treasured and marked each year.

He studied agricultural science but then his great love for the land was surpassed by a calling to the priesthood and he graduated from All Hallows Seminary in Dublin and was ordained there in 1962.

Fr Ted was a great storyteller and kept people enthralled with tales of how he ended up travelling to a strange little outpost called Port Elizabeth at the tip of Africa, the Cradock night train, the sound and smell of the bush, the multiple languages, the toxic politics, the terrible poverty he encountered, and the face of God he saw in all who welcomed him.

He followed his calling from Cradock to South End in Port Elizabeth, to Keiskammahoek, to Mdantsane, and finally to St Peters in Swartkops where he lived for 35 years.

During his time there, he served Holy Name, New Brighton, Pawulos Oyingcwele, Motherwell and Ngqura where he built communities, classrooms and churches.

At his 80th birthday—still in active ministry—his astounding spiritual journey was told and

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.

retold by his past and present parishioners: leading an allwhite parish on pilgrimage into a township at the height of the struggle against apartheid, the joy of leading his township parish in a pilgrimage to the cathedral, lifting the rafters with Xhosa harmonies.

Fr Ted, a Xhosa-speaker, was a passionate warrior for reconciliation. It was at the heart of his mission. He was wounded many times by the struggle of it and lifted by the love of his faith family when he stumbled.

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ne of the most colourful stories of this period was told only recently at his funeral

by Dillon Woods, son of Donald Woods, the former editor of East London’s Daily Despatch.

Fr Ted played a key role in the escape of Donald Woods in 1977, fleeing persecution and banning by the security police for his connection to Steve Biko.

Dressed as a Catholic priest in Fr Ted’s suit and with his passport, Mr Woods crossed the Lesotho border and travelled safely to Britain, where he published the story and writings of Steve Biko. The incident is recounted in the 1988 film Cry Freedom.

By dint of sterling support and cooperation by the Irish government, when the security police came looking for the real Fr Ted, the priest already had another legitimate passport which he could show them, thus throwing them off the scent entirely.

Fr Ted was a healer and liturgist par excellence.

As friend and confidant, he shared people’s sorrows and joys, weddings, ordinations, initiations, births and bereavements.

He was an activist, a peacemaker, an advocate for the poor

This week we congratulate: June 25: Bishop Peter Holiday of Kroonstad on the 8th anniversary of his episcopal ordination June 25: Bishop Siegfried Mandla Jwara, Vicar Apostolic of Ingwavuma, on the 3rd anniversary of his episcopal ordination

PeRSONAL

and dispossessed. He was a sports fan, cyclist, golfer, fisherman, storyteller, a passionate South African yet the epitome of everything Irish.

One of the constant joys and sorrows of his life was the homecoming and leaving of his two countries and two families.

As befits a great-hearted man, he was a great patriot of both lands, deeply in love with both families.

It was a theme in his last years—where to spend his retirement and with whom. Ill health and other circumstances meant that at the end, his priestly and faith family had the privilege of looking after him, holding him close through the last days of his life, held up in love and prayer by his beloved Irish family.

But now he flies free, no longer torn, traversing the space between the Swartkops River Valley and the River Feale, from the Eastern Cape to Kerry, in one beat of the heart.

He leaves his brother Dan, sisters Mary and Kitty, a tribe of beloved nieces and nephews, his cousin Fr Deenihan, brother priests, and much-loved and loving friends and parishioners, living forever in our hearts.

By Jennifer Miller

Southern CrossWord solutions

Our bishops’ anniversaries

SOLUTIONS TO 868. ACROSS: 4 and 8 Feed the hungry, 9 Blessed, 10 Lordly, 11 Grapes, 12 Confetti, 18 Easterly, 20 Pathos, 21 Loggia, 22 Ramadan, 23 Garden, 24 Sinless. DOWN: 1 Chalice, 2 Entrant, 3 Tralee, 5 Eulogies, 6 Dismas, 7 Heeded, 13 Trespass, 14 Brigade, 15 Tyranny, 16 Safari, 17 Thrall, 19 Thomas.

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday June 23, The Body and Blood of Christ Genesis 14:18-20, Psalm 110:14, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Luke 9:11-17

Tuesday June 25 Genesis 13:2, 5-18, 15:2-5, Matthew 7:6, 12-14 Wednesday June 26 Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18, Psalm 105:1-4, 6-9, Matthew 7:15-20 Thursday June 27, St Cyril of Alexandria Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16, Psalm 106:1-5, Matthew 7:21-29

Friday June 28, Sacred Heart of Jesus Ezekiel 34:11-16, Psalm 23, Romans 5:5-11, Luke 15:3-7

Monday June 24, The Birth of John the Baptist Isaiah 49:1-6, Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15, Acts 13:22-26, Luke 1:57-66, 80

Sacred Heart of Jesus

ABORtION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelife abortionisevil.co.za ABORtION ON DeMAND: This is legalised daily murder in our nation. our silence on this issue is the reason why it continues. avoid pro-abortion politicians. 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 no-

tices 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 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 083 412-4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP on 078 739-2988.

DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena to St anthony at St anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9:00. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30 on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9:00. Phone 031309-3496 or 031 209-2536.

St anthony’s rosary group.

Every Wednesday at 18:00 at St anthony’s church opposite Greyville racecourse. all are welcome and lifts are available. Contact keith Chetty on 083 372-9018.

Neighbourhood Old Age Homes

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

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

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

576 AM in Johannesburg & beyond

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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

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Ss Peter and Paul

Birth of John the Baptist

23

Saturday June 29, Ss Peter and Paul Acts 12:1-11, Psalm 34:2-9, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18, Matthew 16:13-19 Sunday June 30, 13th Sunday of the Year 1 Kings 19:16, 19-21, Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11, Galatians 5:1, 13-18, Luke 9:51-62

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We cARe

081 418 5414 DBN 079 742 8861 JHB

We welcome prayers, volunteers and donations.

www.birthright.co.za

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.

PRAYeRS

MAY ALL I DO today begin with you, o lord. Plant dreams and hopes within my soul, revive my tired spirit: be with me today. May all I do today continue with your help, o lord. Be at my side and walk with me: be my support today. May all I do today reach far and wide, o lord. My thoughts, my work, my life: make them blessings for your kingdom; let them go beyond today. o God, today is new unlike any other day, for God makes each day different. Today God's everyday grace falls on my soul like abundant seed, though I may hardly see it. Today is one of those days Jesus promised to be with me, a companion on my journey, and my life today, if I trust him, has consequences unseen. My life has a purpose. I have a mission.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. God has not created me for naught. Therefore I will trust him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. God does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. John Henry Newman

GOD BLeSS AFRIcA Guard our people, guide our leaders and give us peace.

Luke 11:1-13 The

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the catholic Newspaper & Publishing company Ltd. address: Po Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory editor: Michael Shackleton, Local News: Erin Carelse (e.carelse@scross.co.za) editorial: Claire allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: Yolanda Timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za), Directors: R Shields (Chair), archbishop S Brislin, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, J Mathurine, G Stubbs

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the

S outher n C ross

13th Sunday: June 30 Readings: 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21, Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11, Galatians 5:1, 13-18, Luke 9:51-62

Freedom in discipleship

Nicholas King SJ

D

in about 30 seconds flat, “left him and took the yoke of oxen and slaughtered them”, using the plough for fuel to cook with, and “gave it to the people, and they ate”.

Then, rather breathlessly, one feels, “he went after Elijah and served him”.

There is an unexpected freedom here.

The psalm for next Sunday knows that you can trust God enough to enter freely into discipleship: “Keep, me, God, for I trust in you; I shall say to the Lord, ‘You are my Adonai.’”

Then he uses an image from a banquet: “You are my allotted portion and cup; you are my lot”, and sings, “I shall bless the Lord who counsels me…I keep the Lord before me always, and so my heart rejoices.”

He is certain that he can trust God: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, you will not give your faithful one to the Pit.” And the road ahead is no threat, for “you will make me know the path to life”.

That is what Paul is trying to explain to the mutinous Galatians in the second reading; they are, to his undisguised irritation, flirting with the idea that if they are to be proper Christians, they should take on board what the

sumably why Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”) and have to be calmed down; violence is not the vocation to which they are called.

Our attention is drawn to three other people with potential vocations.

The first rather grandly boasts that “I’ll follow you wherever you go”, and is informed that unlike the wild animals, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

The second, when invited aboard, makes the (surely not unreasonable) request to bury his father, and is sharply told to “leave the corpses to bury their corpses”, while he is to “go off and proclaim the kingdom of God”.

The third says, “I’ll follow you Lord, but [after the manner of Elisha in our first reading] first let me go and do the right thing by my family.” The reply to him is, “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks backward is fit for the Kingdom of God.” What does all this say to you about your vocation, this week? Is there freedom here for you?

ISCIPLESHIP is a rather alarming business; for God’s vocation demands absolutely everything of us. So, you mutter, rebelliously, what’s the point of it, in that case? The answer, not absolutely obvious at first, but quite clear once you think about it, is that following God’s call leads us into freedom.

Consider Elijah in next Sunday’s first reading; he has just met God at the mouth of that cave, sounding like a “tiny whispering sound”, and as a result is told to get involved in politics, appointing kings in Syria and Israel, and then to anoint Elisha as his successor.

This nearly did not happen, because when he “found Elisha son of Shaphat; he was ploughing twelve yoke of oxen” and “Elijah approached him and threw his cloak over him”, Elisha’s response was not quite what Elijah had in mind.

It is true that Elisha responds immediately: he “left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, ‘May I say goodbye to my father and mother, and [then] follow you?’”

Elijah, however, is not very impressed: “Go back—what have I done to you?”; so then Elisha gets down to business, and, apparently

Bible says about circumcision and dietary rules.

Against that he insists (and this is the heart of the Letter to the Galatians), “Christ has set us free for freedom…for you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters—just make sure that you don’t let your freedom be an opening for the flesh; instead, make sure you are slaves to each other in love.”

Then he reminds them what it is all about: “The Law is fulfilled in a single command, namely ‘You are to love your neighbour as yourself.’” And they have, quite simply, to be led by the Spirit: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” That is the message of the Gospel for next Sunday. Here Luke begins the long and ominous journey to Jerusalem, which we shall follow almost to the end of the liturgical year.

It starts quite formally: “It happened when the days of his Taking-Up were fulfilled that he set his face to journey to Jerusalem, that he sent messengers before his face.”

After that, things turn a bit explosive, for a Samaritan village “refused him hospitality, because his face was journeying towards Jerusalem”, and so James and John want to “call down fire from heaven” (this was pre-

A young writer gone too soon N

Southern Crossword #868

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

ridicule in adulthood and that demands of us a response beyond the Sunday School and catechism of our youth.

Not least among these challenges is the one of Church, of justifying belonging to one, given the propensity within our Churches for infidelity, narrowness, judgmental attitudes, reluctance to face doubt, and the perennial temptation to wed the Gospels to a favoured political ideology.

Rachel Held Evans struggled to make the journey from the naiveté of childhood, with all its innocence and magic, where one can believe in Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny and take biblical stories literally, to what French philosopher Paul Ricœur called “second naiveté”.

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here, through a painful interplay between doubt and faith, one has been able to work through the conscriptive sophistication that comes with adulthood so as to reground the innocence and magic (and faith) of childhood on a foundation that has taken seriously the doubt and disillusionment that beset us in the face of adulthood.

Conrad

O community should botch its deaths. Mircea Eliade wrote those words and they’re a warning: If we do not properly celebrate the life of someone who has left us we do an injustice to that person and cheat ourselves of some of the gift that he or she left behind.

With this in mind, I want to underscore the loss that we, the Christian community, irrespective of denomination, suffered with the death of the US writer Rachel Held Evans (pictured) who died, at age 37, on May 4.

Who was Rachel Held Evans? She defies simple definition, beyond saying that she was a young religious writer who wrote with depth and balance as she chronicled her struggles to move from the deep, sincere, childlike faith she was raised in, to eventually arrive at a questioning, but more mature, faith that was now willing to face all the hard questions within faith, religion and Church.

And in this journey she was beset with opposition from within (it’s hard to courageously scrutinise your own roots) and from without (Churches generally don’t like being pressed by hard questions, especially from their own young).

But the journey she made and articulated (with rare honesty and wit) is a journey that, in some way, all of us—young and old—have to make to come to a faith that can stand up to the hard questions coming from our world, and the even harder ones coming from inside us.

The psychologist Carl Rogers once famously said: “What is most personal is also most universal.” The journey Rachel Held Evans traces out from her own life is, I submit, by and large, the universal one today—the naïve faith of our childhood inevitably meets challenges, questions, and

Sunday Reflections

The Irish philosopher John Moriarty, whose religious story plays out along similar lines to Rachel’s, coins an interesting expression to describe what happened to him.

At one point in his religious journey, he tells us, “I fell out of my story.” The Roman Catholicism he had been raised in was no longer the story out of which he could live his life. Eventually, after sorting through some hard questions and realising that the faith of his youth was, in the end, his “mother tongue”, he found his way back into his religious story.

Rachel Held Evans’ story is similar.

Raised in the Southern US Bible Belt inside a robust Evangelical Christianity, she too, as she faced the questions of her own adulthood, fell out of her story and, like Moriarty, eventually found her way back into it.

In the end, she found her way back to a mature faith, found a Church (Episcopalian) within which she could worship, and, in effect, found her way back to her mother tongue. The Church and faith of her youth, she writes, remain in her life like an old boyfriend, where, while not together anymore, you still end up checking Facebook to see what’s happening in his life.

Many Catholics and mainline Protestants, I suspect, may not be very familiar with Rachel Held Evans or have read her works. She wrote four bestselling books, Inspired, Searching for Sunday, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, and Faith Unraveled. The purpose of this column is therefore pretty straightforward: Read her! Even more important, plant her books in the path of anyone struggling with faith or Church: loved ones, children, spouses, family members, friends, colleagues.

Rachel Held Evans arose out of an Evangelical ecclesial tradition and out of the particular approach to Christian discipleship that generally flows from there.

She and I come from very different ecclesial worlds. But, as a Catholic priest, solidly committed to the tradition I was raised in, and as a theologian and spiritual writer for more than 40 years, reading this young woman I haven’t found a single line with which to disagree. She’s trusted food for the soul.

She’s also a special person that we lost far too soon.

ACrOSS

4 and 8. Do it as a corporate work of mercy (4,3,6) 9. One not yet canonised (7) 10. God’s noble characteristic? (6) 11. Fruit of the vine (6) 12. They could be all over the bride and groom (8) 18. Wind in the Oriental Church? (8) 20. Hot spa can evoke pity (6) 21. Gallery with a horse in the middle (6) 22. Fast time in Islam (7) 23. Danger in Eden, for example (6) 24. Pure, like the Blessed Virgin (7)

DOwN

1. Sacred goblet (7) 2. One going into the competition (7) 3. Home of the Irish rose (6) 5. So glue, i e for the tributes (8) 6. Traditional name of the Penitent Thief (6) 7. Paid attention (6) 13. We pray for forgiveness for those that do it (8) 14. Firemen’s company (7) 15. Despotic rule (7) 16. Was he on this when Stanley met Livingstone? (6) 17. In this, you are in another's power (6) 19. Dubious saint (6) Solutions on page 23

CHURCH CHUCKLE

I

N chemistry class, the teacher asked the learners: “Did you know that protons have mass?”

Mikey’s hand went up: “Sir, I didn’t even know protons were Catholic!”

rEgiSTEr TO BE AN OrgAN DONOr TODAy

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