190626 by The Southern Cross

The

S outher n C ross

June 26 to July 2, 2019

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

What to do about culture of clericalism

Page 7

No 5142

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Where did we get the Nicene Creed from?

Page 9

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R12 (incl VAT RSA) associates-campaign

Archbishop Slattery looks back and ahead

Page 10

What SA cleric told the pope P

This month, parishioners of Eucharistic Heart of Jesus church in Cambridge, East London, arrived for Mass to see a new mural of clouds behind the old crucifix. Parish priest Fr Varghese Kannanaickal CMI explained that the white and red recall the rays in The Divine Mercy painting: the red for blood and white for water. The dark clouds signify the day on which Jesus was crucified, but in the distance towards Jerusalem the sky is clearing to symbolise Christ’s defeat of death and the hope this brings us. The brightness at the bottom of the crucifix indicates the resurrection of Christ: darkness will not prevail; dawn is coming and the brightness of the resurrection will prevail forever. (Photo from Sharron Reynolds)

OPE Francis prays St Thomas More’s “Prayer for Good Humour” every morning, he told a South African cleric at a private audience in the Vatican. Anglican Father Michael Lapsley, director of the Institute for Healing of Memories (IHOM), told Pope Francis about his life journey, including the experience of receiving a letter bomb from apartheid security forces in 1990: it blew off both his hands and blinded him in the left eye. Fr Lapsley, 70, explained how the bombing led to his work in reconciliation which eventually led to the formation of the Institute for Healing of Memories, which has spread across the world from its beginnings in South Africa. Pope Francis was visibly moved by his story, a statement from the institute said. Fr Lapsley expressed his appreciation for the role of the pope in today’s world, especially in the way he acknowledges the pain of the human family and always insists on mercy, compassion and solidarity, particularly towards the most disadvantaged and excluded people, the statement said. He pointed out the two most common narratives in healing of memories workshops worldwide are gender-based violence (including both domestic and sexual violence) and childhood trauma. Pope Francis was nodding in recognition. The New Zealand-born cleric told the pope that he is serving not only as canon for healing and reconciliation at Cape Town’s Anglican St George’s cathedral but occupies the same role for the Anglican cathedral of Edmonton, Canada. He noted that Anglican Bishop Jane Alexander of Edmonton had written several times to the pope, asking him to visit Canada and issue an apology for the abuse by religious personnel in the residential schools over many years. Pope Francis responded that there were already plans for such a visit in the Vatican pipeline. Fr Lapsley told the pope that indigenous peoples across the world are seeking the Catholic Church’s explicit revocation of the Doctrine of Discovery, which was used by European monarchies as of the 15th century to legitimise their colonisation of lands outside

Pope Francis and Anglican Father Michael Lapsley embrace after meeting in a private audience in the Vatican. Europe. It was issued in Pope Alexander VI’s papal bull Inter Caetera in 1493. Referring to Pope Francis’ visit to Mozambique in September, Fr Lapsley referred to two issues that are obstacles to the healing of the nation: the abuses by Frelimo, the dominant political party in Mozambique, notably the execution of some of its members, including a Catholic priest, Fr Mateus Pinho Gwenjere, in the 1970s. Fr Michael gave Pope Francis a book on the life of Fr Gwenjere, written by Lawe Laweki, who sent two personal messages to the Holy Father. Fr Lapsley also explained to Pope Francis that even after 44 years since independence, many Mozambicans still associate the Catholic Church with the colonial power, Portugal. Referring to the desire of the IHOM to upscale its work across the world, Fr Lapsley asked Pope Francis for ways of obtaining further support from Catholic Church bodies. Pope Francis made a number of suggestions, Continued on page 2

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 26 to July 2, 2019

LOCAL

J&P’s Tavern Project hailed at SA conference BY ERIN CARELSE

HE Tavern Project against gender-based violence which has been spearheaded by Justice & Peace in Klerksdorp diocese was one of the models showcased at the ninth South African Aids Conference, held in Durban this month. The focus of the conference this year was on identifying the unprecedented scientific, social and digital innovations/technologies which could expand possibilities and opportunities towards controlling the HIV/Aids epidemic. In 2015, the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference started a partnership with the UN Women South Africa MultiCountry Office to organise com-

munity dialogues under the HeForShe banner in 144 taverns from four communities in Klerksdorp diocese: Jouberton, Tigane, Khuma and Alabama. There are about 5 000 men who regularly participate in the HeForShe monthly dialogues. The objective is to reach out to communities, engage men, and communicate important messages advocating against gender-based violence to bring behaviour change among men. Over the years, the community dialogues have seen an increase in participation by women. As men have become more involved in discussions and conscientised around these issues, they have opened up spaces for women to participate in forums

that had previously been closed by patriarchal attitudes and sexist behaviour. The HeForShe project is now viewed as an inviting space for men and a safe space for women, and the community has moved on the perception that this is a project for men only. At the conference, it was recognised that there is a close link between gender-based violence and HIV/Aids. Further, it was recognised that it is difficult to find effective models for mobilising men on a massive scale to change behaviour and to be at the forefront of challenging other men who are involved in gender-based violence and risky behaviour on HIV/Aids. Among the behaviour-modi-

fying models, the Tavern Project by the Justice & Peace Commission was showcased. Members of Justice & Peace groups in the Klerksdorp diocese, and tavern owners from the region who play a key role in the Tavern Project, offered a demonstration on how the tavern dialogues are conducted. Archbishop Abel Gabuza, coadjutor of Durban and former chair of Justice & Peace, also addressed the session. Last year the Tavern Project was introduced at the United Nations. The South African Aids conference is the second-largest of its kind in the world. It is attended by over 3 000 people, of whom 25% are from other countries.

What Anglican priest told the pope

Amalia Snyman, 98, of Maria Regina parish in Lyttelton, Pretoria, was presented with the Senior Citizen of the Year award at the annual general meeting of the Centurion Council for the Aged. She is seen here with Dr Elma Kruger and Ina Theunissen of the council. Earlier this year Mrs Snyman received the Bene Merenti medal from Pope Francis. (Photo: Berry Morey)

Continued from page 1 which have not been released to the public. Fr Lapsley praised Pope Francis’ chastisement of leaders of the oil industry in a meeting the previous day for their ongoing commitment to the exploitation of fossil resources and its damaging impact on our common home. The pope smiled broadly as he explained he had just boxed the captains of the oil industry gently on the ears. The audience also had its lighter moments, with Pope Francis and Fr Lapsley enjoying their shared sense of humour. The pope said that a sense of humour is probably the closest thing to the grace of God. He added that every day he prays St Thomas More’s “Prayer for Good Humour” (“Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest…”). See page 11. Fr Lapsley told Pope Francis that he could have brought several thousand people with him for the audience, including his Facebook friends, many of whom were greeting him. The pope smiled, and waved his arms about as he said that there was plenty of space to bring all of them. He greeted Fr Lapsley’s friends back. The audience was facilitated by George Johannes, South Africa’s ambas-

Anglican Father Michael Lapsley (centre) after his audience with Pope Francis in Rome with (from left) Fr Tulani Gubula of Queenstown diocese, who studies in Rome; South Africa’s ambassador to the Holy See George Johannes; Philani Dlamini of Durban, who was part of Fr Lapsley’s delegation; and Fr Simon Donnelly of Johannesburg, who works in the Vatican’s secretariat of state. sador to the Holy See. Mr Johannes said the meeting between Pope Francis and Fr Lapsley was “like two long-lost brothers, embracing and patting each other on the back”. “Both were very excited to see each other,” the ambassador told The Southern Cross from Rome. During the audience, the pope was “very reflective and also keen to learn about the injuries which Fr Lapsley suffered in the bomb attack”. Mr Johannes believed that it is because Pope Francis comes from a country with a troubled past, Argentina, that

Fr Lapsley’s work of healing and reconciliation resonated with him. “They will probably meet again,” he predicted. Mr Johannes said he hopes that the meeting will have a spinoff of encouraging a papal visit to South Africa, something which, he added, would require a lot of preparation and cooperation between the government and the Holy See. “We have been a bit neglected” by the popes,” he said, adding that “Pope Francis is aware of people saying, ‘How about South Africa for a change?’”

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The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

LOCAL

Bishop: Reconciliation needs more than prayer

ECONCILIATION “must find expression in the concrete situations of conflict and not just in a pious way of resorting to prayer”, according to the bishop of Mthatha. Preaching at a Mass to celebrate the conferral of doctoral degrees on two priests and a religious Sister, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka said: “You have achieved the highest academic qualification any university could offer—now is the time for you to make a contribution to God’s Church and society.” Sr Nokwanda Edith Bam CPS received her doctorate in health sciences and Frs Teboho Makoro and John Chikadi Anyanele CMM were awarded doctoral degrees in theology. Invited to the Mass celebration at All Saints cathedral in Mthatha were all religious of the diocese with the equivalent of a bachelors degree and all priests and laity with a masters degree and above. Mass was followed by a brief academic ceremony and lunch. “You are wearing red garments, a colour that is worn by cardinals,

which is a colour of sacrifice, martyrdom, honour, integrity, and prestige,” Bishop Sipuka told the new PhD-holders. In his homily, the bishop referenced 2 Corinthians 6 in which St Paul reminds the Christians to be ambassadors of reconciliation. “The situations of conflict that exist today, with the present tension within the ruling party, is threatening the social and economic stability of the country,” Bishop Sipuka said. “As doctors with analytical minds, you will do well to look at how it can be resolved for the good of the country.” He noted that conflict was widespread around the world, with complicated ideological and religious differences that have led to wars, massacres, bombings, and suicide explosions. “If we say that God is reconciling the world to himself, this reconciliation must find expression in the concrete situations of conflict and not just in a pious way of resorting to prayer,” the bishop said. “While prayer does play its part, God has also given us intelligence,

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha (back) celebrated the conferral of three doctoral degrees at a Mass. With the bishop are (from left) Fr Teboho Makoro (doctorate in theology), Sr Nokwanda Edith Bam CPS (health sciences) and Fr John Chikadi Anyanele CMM (theology). (Photo from Sr Mary Florence Sitwala CPS) we must use it to resolve situations of conflict,” he explained. To be helpful instruments of reconciliation, Bishop Sipuka urged

the three new holders of doctorates to be reconciled people themselves, and prepared to work hard and suffer for this work.

“As the work of reconciliation by Christ cost him his life, so you too must be prepared to suffer for it, because it is not something that is easily accepted by the forces we try to reconcile. If we are to be reconcilers, we must ourselves be people who are ready to forgive,” he said. The bishop added that their doctoral qualifications should serve the role of reconciliation and unity across nationalities, cultures, and languages, and not be a source of division. “As priests and religious, we are never to take our academic qualifications outside the context of our priestly and religious vows. We are never to think that now that we are doctors, we should be treated differently in terms of remuneration and power,” Bishop Sipuka said. “We are priests and religious, and the skills we acquire and academic qualifications we obtain are meant for one thing only: to continue the mission of Christ of reconciling the world with God and human beings with each other, and thereby bringing about the kingdom of God.”

Marriage Encounter ministry’s ‘first language is love’ BY ERIN CARELSE

HE first language of Marriage Encounter is the one of love, a bishop told participants in a workshop for the organisation. “The language of love first manifests in the daily life of the couples before it is shared with others. I encourage you to share different activities, to grow the spirit of love and unity, so that you can go out to share the same experience of love with others,” Bishop Zolile Mpambani of Kokstad told participants in a homily at Mass. The workshop was conducted by the Department for Formation and Ministry of the Laity of the bishops’ conference and the Marriage Encounter national team at Trefontane Retreat House in Mariannhill.

Marriage Encounter held a workshop in Mariannhill for new facilitating couples of the ministry. Participants were addressed by Bishop Zolile Mpambani of Kokstad. It was aimed at five new facilitating couples who will guide Marriage Encounter weekends. Three couples came from Durban archdiocese, one from Kok-

stad diocese and another from Aliwal North diocese. “The main purpose of the workshop was to train the new couples into furthering the min-

Organist Stephen Holder will be returning to Spiritfest at the Grahamstown Festival this year with a recital featuring music from the hymnswithout-words genre.

Holder organ recital for Spiritfest BY SAMANTHA CAROLuS

ETURNING to this year’s music programme at Spiritfest, held during the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, will be Stephen Holder’s organ recital which will feature music from the hymns-without-words genre. Mr Holder began his musical life in the Western Cape and spent his high school years in Grahamstown where he learnt to play the organ. Thereafter he was organist and choirmaster at several churches. Until recently he was the music teacher at Kingswood College, Grahamstown, as well as the Chapel organist. The organ music genre of hymns without words, as well as the chorale variation set, featured often during the Baroque period in Europe, especially in Germany. This was already long-established when Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his own chorale variations. The genre has two traditions: the organ chorale prelude and the secular

keyboard variation set. The Holder recital will feature music from Claude Balbastre (172499), Johann Sebastian Bach, George Dyson (1883-1964), Knut Nystedt (1915-2014), and Willem Tanke (born 1959). Mr Holder notes that “the chorale variation set is a multimovement work in which a chorale [hymn] melody is treated in different ways. The melody itself is not usually varied, although it might be decorated; and references to the verses of the hymn text are not always obvious.” He said that the genre could be described “as a musical discourse on a familiar theme; different ways of seeing the same thing; a remix according to context”. Stephen Holder’s organ recital will be performed at Commemoration Methodist Church in Makhanda on July 2 at 13:00. n For more about Spiritfest see www. grahamstowncathedral.org/spiritfest

istry of Marriage Encounter in their own dioceses,” said national team member Thabile Ngcobo. “The workshop was also meant for continuous deepening of their love experience before they go out to empower other marriages.” Ms Ngcobo said it was a powerful orientation and preparation for the couples to take the Marriage Encounter ministry forward after 50 years in South Africa. At the Mass on the last day of the workshop, Bishop Mpambani urged the couples to be united as partners in everything they do as each individual has a role to play in their relationship. He also urged them to be a true sign of love and unity to other couples they are going to help. n For more information, contact Thabile Ngcobo on 081 721-2013 or ngcobotb@telkom.co.za

Fr Rayan Robert from India has joined the Carmelite Community in South Africa. Fr Robert, who is well known for his musical talent and preaching ability, will be assisting at the Lumko retreat centre in Benoni in Johannesburg archdiocese. (Submitted by Sanet Karam)

The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Synod doc raises married priests, roles for women BY JuNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

HE Catholic Church must find ways to reach indigenous Catholics deprived of the sacraments in the most remote areas of the Amazon rainforest, and that may include ordaining married elders, said the working document for the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon. “Affirming that celibacy is a gift for the Church, in order to ensure the sacraments for the most remote areas of the region, we are asked to study the possibility of priestly ordination for elders—preferably indigenous, respected and accepted by the community—even though they have an established and stable family,” said the document. Published by the Vatican, the document also said the Church should consider “an official ministry that can be conferred upon women, taking into account the central role they play in the Amazonian Church”. The document, drafted after input from bishops’ conferences and local communities, acknowledged that in the Church “the feminine presence in communities isn’t always valued”. The synod gathering in October will reflect on the theme “Amazonia: New paths for the Church and for an integral ecology”. When he announced the synod in 2017, Pope Francis said it would seek to identify new paths of evangelisation, especially for indige-

Maronite Catholic bishops from around the world met in Lebanon for their annual synod at Bkerke,the patriarchal seat north of Beirut. (Photo: Mychel Akl for Maronite Catholic Patriarchate)

Maronite bishops urge return of Syrian refugees Children pretend to fly during school break in Hiowa, Guyana. The Vatican has released the working document for the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey) nous people who are “often forgotten and left without the prospect of a peaceful future, including because of the crisis of the Amazon forest”, which plays a vital role in the environmental health of the entire planet.

he document’s second part highlighted the dangers facing the region and its people, who are threatened by those “guided by an economic model linked to production, commercialisation and consumption, where the maximising of profit is prioritised over human and environmental needs”. Among the suggestions proposed in the working document’s

third part was the formation of indigenous laity so they can take on a greater role, especially in remote areas lacking the presence of priests and religious men and women. The document also proposed “the reform of the structures of the seminaries to encourage the integration of candidates to the priesthood in the communities”. “The sacraments must be a source of life and healing that is accessible to all, especially to the poor,” the document said. “We are asked to overcome the rigidity of a discipline that excludes and alienates” and instead offer “a pastoral sensitivity that accompanies and integrates”.—CNS

BY DOREEN ABI RAAD

ARONITE Catholic bishops from around the world, meeting in Lebanon, called for unity among politicians and the international community to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees. Returning the refugees to their homeland, the bishops said in their synod final statement, would lift Lebanon from the “heavy burden” it faces in hosting them, which they noted is recognised by international authorities as “exceeding Lebanon’s potential”. It also would encourage the preservation of Syria’s history, heritage and culture, the bishops said. With an existing population of around 4 million, Lebanon has absorbed more than 1,5 million refugees from neighbouring Syria.

This has inflicted humanitarian and socio-economic strains on the tiny country, just over half the size of Gauteng province. Lebanon has the world’s highest number of refugees per capita. Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay of Australia said: “Whenever we’re talking to the faithful that have relatives in Lebanon, they are conveying to us the suffering of their relatives” due to the country’s economic slump exacerbated by the refugee crisis. Increasingly, their relatives in Lebanon are facing unemployment, unable to meet basic livelihood needs and slipping further into poverty, he said. Many have lost their jobs to Syrian refugees. Bishop Tarabay relayed his flock’s distress: “They’re asking, ‘What can be done to help the Lebanese people?’“—CNS

Notre Dame’s first Mass after fire

T SCHOOl PriNCiPAl with eﬀect from the 1st Term 2020

St. Thomas Aquinas School is a co-educational, independent Catholic school situated in Emalahleni (Witbank), approximately 150km East of Johannesburg. Our school celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2014, and is recognised as one of Mpumalanga’s leading independent schools, achieving a 100% matric pass rate for the past 45 years. Our school encompasses classes from Grade 000 to Grade 12 currently with 660 learners.

HE archbishop of Paris wore a hard hat as he celebrated the first Mass in Notre Dame cathedral since a huge blaze devastated the landmark building in April. The Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the Virgin by Archbishop Michel Aupetit to mark the anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral’s altar, an event that usually takes place on June 16 each year. About 30 invited guests— mostly clergy, cathedral employees and building contractors—wore protective headgear because of the

dangers of falling masonry, although the Virgin chapel, situated behind the choir, had been designated as safe. In his homily, Archbishop Aupetit did not mention the fire but stressed the purpose of Notre Dame as a place of Christian worship, and not an ornament of the secular state. He said the building could never be reduced to a cultural or “patrimonial good” and warned the congregation that if Jesus was removed as the cornerstone, it would collapse in a spiritual rather than a physical sense.—CNS

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. A house is oﬀered as part of the package.

The responsibilities of the successful candidate will include, but not be limited to, the following: • 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 leadership position • SACE registration • Ability to work under pressure and interact directly with parents and teachers • 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 • 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: stthomasaq1@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.

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The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

Three churches agree to Holy Sepulchre renovations

BY JuDITH SuDILOVSKY

OLLOWING the successful cooperation on the 2016 restoration of the edicule in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the leaders of the three Churches who serve as guardians of the holy site have signed an agreement to continue with restorations, this time on the pavement and foundations around the tomb. The edicule shrine is revered by Christians as the site of the remains of the cave where Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. During its 10-month restoration, it was determined that the 19th-century structure remained endangered because of the humidity of the soil beneath the foundations the church, and further work was needed to stabilise it. The Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Armenian Orthodox have agreed to the floor project. Two Italian academic and scientific institutions will undertake the twostage project under the supervision of a joint committee of the three communities. According to the Franciscan Terra Sancta magazine, the current pink stone pavement rests on a metal structure damaged by rust; condensed moisture from leaking underground pipes—some dating back to the Ottoman Empire—and runoff rainwater have accumulated in the underground space. Restoration work will also help shed light on various archaeological discoveries found in the 1960s

Bishop Anthony Kwami Adanuty, retired bishop of Keta-Akatsi, Ghana, greets traditional leaders and faithful at a diocesan celebration. (Photo: Damian Avevor/CNS)

The edicule which holds the tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City. Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian leaders have signed an agreement to continue with restorations, this time on the pavement and foundations around the tomb. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS) by Fr Virgilio Corbo, a Franciscan archaeologist. He discovered the remains of the basilica built by Emperor Constantine beginning in 324; the remnants of the earlier foundations of the Temple of Hadrian, constructed in 135; and first-century tombs near Calvary as well as the graves of Crusader knights, according to the magazine. “The restoration of the pavement of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is important because the actual condition of the pavement is in a state of ruin,” Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, said. He said he hoped the renovations would “help sta-

Young leaders gather for post-synod discussion BY CINDY WOODEN

ATHOLIC young adults felt the hierarchy started listening to them in preparation for the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, and they will do whatever they can to make sure their voices continue to be heard, said a youth minister from New Zealand. “May we be bold,” was the wish expressed by Isabella McCafferty from the archdiocese of Wellington at a Vatican news conference. Ms McCafferty was one of more than 280 young people from 109 countries set to take part in a postsynod youth forum. The Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life asked bishops’ conferences around the world to identify two young adult leaders to participate in the forum.

Ms McCafferty said: “Young people want the Church to give them room to be involved. They want to be part of the things that happen after that, actually implementing changes.” Most of all, she said, young people are looking for “an authentic Church”. “Rather than always thinking of the Church as this thing that happens in Rome, it’s about what it means to be Church in our local area and it always involves “person-toperson contact,” Ms McCafferty said. When a young adult goes to a parish church regularly for months and only one person talks to him or her—it happens, she said—it tells that young adult that an authentic, caring community does not exist there.—CNS

Abortions in England, Wales hit record high BY SIMON CALDWELL

BORTIONS in England and Wales have hit a record level, according to statistics released by the British government. Figures published online by the department of health revealed that abortions in 2018 rose by 4% on the previous year. The 205 295 abortions represented the first time that more than 200 000 have been carried out in a single year. The previous peak was about 198 000 recorded in 2007. Figures released earlier this year by the Scottish government showed that abortions in Scotland, with over 13 000 in 2018, were also at a 10-year high. The latest figures reveal significant trends, including a one-third drop in abortions among women under age 19 over a decade; for girls 16-17, the number decreased by half.

Abortions in women ages 20-24 also declined. In women over 35, there was a rise from 6,7 abortions per 1 000 women in 2008 to 9,2 per 1 000 in 2018. The numbers of repeat abortions also went up: 39% were second or more abortions. Abortions for babies with Down syndrome increased by 42%. One factor that has remained constant is that more than 80% of abortions are provided to single women. Catholic Lord Alton of Liverpool, a member of the House of Lords who has campaigned against abortion, said: “In reality, these figures are a stark reminder of the throwaway culture that willfully misuses and casually disposes of everything from precious resources to life itself.”— CNS

bilise the foundation of the edicule and the floor of the rotunda where it is located”. Some of the pavement tiles, which come from different time periods, will be restored while others will need to be replaced, he said. Fr Patton noted that, following the inauguration of the restored edicule in March 2017, the number of pilgrims visiting the site doubled in size. All three communities will help finance the project with a joint fundraising campaign as well as with financial assistance pledged by the Vatican and King Abdullah II of Jordan.—CNS

The

Ghana diocese celebrates, but Catholics leaving Church BY DAMIAN AVEVOR

AUNCHING 25th anniversary celebrations for the diocese of Keta-Akatsi, Bishop Gabriel Akwasi Ababio Mante of Jasikan said he was worried how charismatic and Pentecostal movements are affecting Catholics in Ghana. “For Catholics who remain Catholics and yet keep running after Jesus, from one to another crusade or fellowship or prayer camp, I am afraid their faith can only be described as a mirage,” he said. “We hope Catholics who have abandoned their faith and left the Church to join these movements are following the dictates of their conscience,” the bishop said.

S outher n C ross Pilgrimage to

CATHOLIC

FRANCE

6-16 October 2019 Led by Fr Lawrence Ndlovu

Lourdes plus Paris (with Miraculous Medal Chapel), Paray-le-Monial (Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion), Marseilles (OMI founder St Mazenod), Nevers, Avignon, Bourges, Orléans and more

For info or to book, contact Gail:

076 353-3809 or info@fowlertours.co.za

www.fowlertours.co.za/france

Bishop Mante, guest speaker at the diocesan celebrations, said he was worried that some of the youth in Ghana are easily enticed by their non-Catholic friends to leave the Catholic Church. This often means young people leave their faith behind in their hometowns when they leave home, and many are leaving because of unemployment. He also cited the desire among some Catholics to practise the faith the way non-Catholics do. “This is also the chasing of a mirage,” he said. These people “are crippling their own faith, and all I want to say to them is: Rise up and walk with the diocese in the promotion of the kingdom of God”.— CNS

The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Brave plumber inspires my penitential walk

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Dropping the ‘Father’?

OPE Francis frequently condemns a culture of clericalism in which priests “lord it” over the laity and pursue a path of self-aggrandisement rather than of service. It is a culture of clericalism in which priests look after priests, no matter what. This is what created the culture of silence on abuses of power and cover-ups that has given rise to all manner of scandal, from sexual abuse to financial corruption, on every level of the hierarchy. The call to eradicate this culture of clericalism must not be understood as an agitation against priests. Indeed, it would be a tragedy if anti-clericalism were to become anti-clerical. We must continue to love our priests and the priesthood. Many priests themselves reject clericalism and seek a reform of how the priesthood is exercised and treated. As we noted in an editorial on clericalism earlier this year, the days when “Father knows best” was the prevalent parish motto are irrevocably gone. The relationship between priest and laity has to be unfailingly collaborative. While the priest-in-charge of a parish occupies the executive position, with all the responsibilities this entails, he must not feel entitled to ride roughshod over his community’s laity. Likewise, lay people must no longer accept it when a priest— or, indeed, a bishop—tries to dominate them. Key to that awareness is to see the priest as a fallible human being, with strengths and weaknesses, and answerable for his failings. It also means that the laity must be charitable when the priest does not meet lofty expectations. The culture of clericalism cuts both ways: priests who set themselves apart, and laity who set the priests apart. Both create an unhealthy power dynamic. In his column this week, contributor Chris McDonnell argues that two external signs serve to create those barriers: “forms of address and the dress code that provides the hiding place for the insecurity of some”. The question of clerical dress is complex: a priest does not lose his humility by the mere act of wearing a soutane, but some priests do use clerical garb to assert their power over those with whom they interact.

It would be absurd to ask priests to cease wearing clerical garb. Indeed, there are times when they should do so. But if a priest turns up at a parish pastoral council meeting wearing a cassock, the question may be asked whether this is an innocuous choice of dress, whether it is intended to be an expression of power, or whether it has an unintended effect of asserting clerical control. The same applies to honorifics. For many Catholics, addressing priests by their first name, without the title “Father”, is improper. But this is exactly what Cardinal John Dew of Wellington in New Zealand recently suggested as a way of “changing the whole clerical attitude”. The practice of calling priests “Father”, Cardinal Dew said, “can be unhealthy because it becomes an expression of dependence which is based on a false and unreal idea of obedience”. This suggestion gives food for thought, even if it is unlikely to gain traction. Certainly, there will be no Vatican directive to this effect. While in the Anglophone world, with its informalities in addressing others, dropping the address “Father” is a plausible proposition, it is less likely to be culturally appropriate in societies where the use of formal titles is entrenched, as it is in most of Africa and Asia, and in many European countries. However, surely there no longer are good reasons to dutifully refer to bishops as “Your Lordships, Graces and Eminences”. Indeed, the demise of clericalism does not depend on people calling Cardinal Dew by his Christian name. But clericalism would be diminished if no priest and no bishop has the instinctive expectation to be addressed by his honorific title. Many priests and bishops have reached that point already. The archbishop of Johannesburg, for example, introduces himself to all, regardless of their social standing, by his first name only. Lay people might try it: at the right time and in the correct context, politely address your parish priest by his first name only (provided he calls you by your first name). If he objects, one may well ask why this is so.

ENANCE seems an odd word in this day and age; as is anything which is uncomfortable or can’t be done from a mobile phone app. But at times in the liturgical year, I undertake a penitential walk. I was inspired to do so by the story of a Brazilian plumber. His wife had just left him, and he was staring down the barrel of old age with a lot of failures and regrets in his backpack. He sold his van and tools and bought a plane ticket to the Holy Land—there comes a time in the life of every man when only au-

Pop SC readings into your pocket

HANKS so much for the “short and sweet” publishing of the Liturgical Calendar in its weekday cycle. It’s so convenient to print just one page and put it in a pocket or handbag, so that hopefully the readings can be looked at sometime before Mass without trying to fit a full Bible (one large or two smaller books) into your handbag or pocket. Thanks too for publishing our Southern Cross (now easily available) both in print and on digital media. Louise Rouessart, Cape Town

Former pornstar refutes cardinal

S Cardinal Joseph Tobin finds Catholic language “bad on homosexuality”. Well, it should be bad and needs to be bad to avert worse. Take the case of Joseph Sciambra, an ex-homosexual pornstar. When he went to consult Catholic priests, they told him God had made him that way. They patted him on his back and left him as they found him: confused. But secretly he had wanted the priests to tell him something else. They allowed him to remain in mortal sin for years, unrepentant and separated from God. Mr Sciambra is living a chaste life now, and luckily he survived, unlike a thousand others. He warns against Fr James Martin SJ and other Catholic leaders who positively spiritualise homosexuality: “It looks like they defend the Catholic Church, but in reality they attack it,” Mr Sciambra says. Cardinal Tobin, who endorses Fr Martin’s book Building a Bridge, should realise that dissenting from the Church’s teaching about homosexuality could jeopardise the salvation of people who hear his message. JH Goossens, Pretoria

Mary Help of Christians Primary School Barbarossa Street, Paarl

Mary Help of Christians is an Independent co-educational Catholic school in Paarl. The School is owned by the Catholic Schools’ Trust, Western Cape, and the Trust seeks to appoint a

PRINCIPAL

as of October 2019, or as soon thereafter as possible.

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

The incumbent should be a passionate, suitably-qualiﬁed and experienced, SACEregistered teacher with proven leadership experience. As well as a commitment to promoting the special religious character of the school, the following skills and competencies are among those sought: • The ability to co-create a uniﬁed vision for the school • A knowledge of the processes involved in Umalusi accreditation compliance • A thorough understanding of CAPS Additional information about requirements can be sourced at the email address below. A succinct CV, including three referees and a letter of motivation should be addressed to: Gary Faulmann, Chair of the Selection Committee at garyfaulmann@gmail.com by Friday, 19 July 2019.

thenticity and the truth will do and he went in search of it. He joined a pilgrim group and on the eve of the visit to the route of the Way of the Cross, he spent the night in prayer. In the morning, one of the group members would lead and carry a replica of the cross and he prayed for that privilege. His prayer was answered. As he placed it on his shoulder, he suddenly felt an incredible weight pressing down on him. It was revealed to him that this was the weight of his own sins. As he walked the Way of the Opinions expressed in The Southern

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HAT is left of the legacy of the Mahatma Gandhi today? Moandas Gandhi came to South Africa in 1893 to do legal work. Here he faced white racism against Indian people, so at the age of 25, Gandhi founded the Natal Indian Congress. It is notable that no Catholic Indian was in the forefront of this congress in fighting racism. Gandhi returned to India in 1914. At this time India was under British rule. Assisted by the people, he used Satyagraha (“Force of Truth”) to make India independent of racist British rule in 1947. Gandhi was all for religious pluralism and peaceful coexistence in India. But there was still disagreement, and Hindu and Muslim leaders wanted separation. He went on a fast which ended only when these religious leaders agreed to solve their disputes. On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by a religious fanatic. Today, at least 90% of India is Hindu—Muslims and Christians are minority groups. Pakistan is Muslim and separated from India. Today, in South Africa, 84% of our population is Christian, of the Body of Christ. But the majority of these Christians belong to Zionist and African Independent Churches. In the former Indian group areas, 60% of people are Hindu, and they hold elite positions. South Africa is part of the BRICS alliance, in which India under Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi is a major roleplayer. QX Nobin, Pietermaritzburg

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Cross, it was so difficult that he fell and struggled; the other pilgrims thought he was play-acting as he collapsed at the end in complete exhaustion. Then, as he described it, he felt that all his sins were absorbed by the cross and when he stood up he felt as light as a feather. He returned to Brazil to an unknown and uncertain future but with a great love for Jesus and a growing confidence in the Lord’s love to carry him through. Stephen A Clark, Manila, Philippines

N English hospitals today, in addition to the many surgical abortions done annually, 100 000 abortions a year are caused by expectant mothers taking two pills, one of which may soon be used here. Britain’s Professor Jack Scarisbrick has thus commented as follows on this development (Christian Order, December 2018). “When women take these two pills they are deliberately killing their own offspring. Some may already be doing so, under nurses’ supervision, in hospital wards and abortion clinics. But to do so deliberately and alone in the intimacy of their own homes, where those children may have been conceived and would have grown up, and probably been much loved, is significantly repugnant,” he said. “Further, when these ‘products of conception’, as they are conveniently called, are not collected and incinerated by the abortion clinics that supply these lethal pills, as will happen in a ‘home’ abortion, the mothers themselves have to throw these ‘products’ into dustbins or down lavatories, something that could haunt, if not traumatise, any woman,” Prof Scarisbrick said. “Finally, when these ‘products’ are thrown down the lavatory, they enter the domestic water system, and together with other human refuse are removed at sewage stations. “If the poisoned bodies of thousands of unborn children so enter into our water system, should we not instinctively shudder when we turn on our taps?” the professor asked. The South African abortion situation is very similar to the English tragedy portrayed by Prof Scarisbrick, and is getting worse, but efforts by our bishops and laity to combat this are almost non-existent. Almighty God can and will assist only those who try to help themselves through prayer and industry. Damian McLeish, Johannesburg

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The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

PERSPECTIVES

Are there limits to freedom of speech? Mphuthumi I Ntabeni T had been long time coming. I finally gathered enough strength to leave our local community’s social media page. Not only was this forum for our suburb slowly making me detest my community, but it also was, bit by bit, turning me into a resentful person. I could no longer queue in supermarkets or sit at a restaurant table without overhearing something that disturbs me, and then wonder if this was the so-and-so from the community page who frequently spews forth nasty, often thinly disguised racist remarks. For me, this situation was untenable, so I followed the Christian counsel of plucking out my eye. The last argument, that final straw, got me thinking about the limits of free speech. Someone had posted pictures to illustrate the brutality of the apartheid regime during the June 16 riots, with what I thought was an honest and innocent caption: “Lest We Forget!”. To my surprise, it inspired an animated debate. The woman who posted the photos—a historical record—was accused of “stirring the pot”. The usual call of “We need to move on” followed. It even got personal when someone accused her of being “confused” because of her mixed-race background. When they can’t dispute the argument, some people usually try to demolish the person. I found the debate ironic. Just a few weeks ago, on the site, we were bombarded with D-Day pictures. I joined in the commemoration for that decisive day in World War II, for the sake of the freedoms of our so-called Free World, including the right to free speech. It is also not uncommon on that site to see the Holocaust commemorated in pictures on the site, rightly so, since we are a community of different and mixed people. And you don’t need to be Jewish to be horrified by the Holocaust, just human.

But when someone posted the need for awareness of the German genocide against the Herero people of Namibia, it was a problem for some people. The same was the case with the Belgian genocide in Congo, whose victims are twice the number of those of the Holocaust. A few days before I quit the social media page, there was an interesting discussion about the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and the series currently playing on TV, which we all agreed was superb and informative.

ore than 90% of the page members were okay with all that—then came the June 16 commemorations. All of a sudden it was said that the community member “should not have done this on a public page”. In a hound-mentality they were ganging up on her, gaslighting and intimidating her, even using vulgar terms in doing so. I don’t usually allow social media to get my goat, but this time I entered the echo chamber and spoke my mind. I monitored the replies before deciding it all was not worth my time or energy. So I left the

A nasty incident on a community social media group caused Mphuthumi Ntabeni to wonder about the limits to the freedom of speech. (Photo: Gerd Altmann)

The cult of clericalism W HEN we come to discuss clericalism, confusion of language can give rise to many problems. Our common sharing, both priests and laity, of baptism is the first calling that unites us all. How that is ultimately lived out and experienced marks the individual journey that we must take. Our recognition of clergy as a defined group has become confused with our appreciation of priesthood, that “royal priesthood” we all share, “a priest like Melchizedek of old”. We need to ask questions relating to our perception of priesthood within community. Trust can only be built on experience of reality—and it is trust that has been severely shaken in recent years, especially by the abuse scandal. How do we repair the damage done to the Church? I would suggest that it is not about “them” and “us”. Too easily (and understandably) the laity have laid the blame on the ordained clergy when in fact we should recognise that membership of the Church is inclusive. Those not ordained need to ask a few questions of their own behaviour: How did we let this happen? What brought the abuse scandal into the public domain? When honesty overcame acquiescence, talking began. Partly it was due to the cult of reverence for the clergy of the ordained. They were trusted without hesitation. Clericalism grew in a protective atmosphere, one priest looking after the other. Maybe it is in the seminary formation that we should seek out the roots of clericalism; there are certainly questions that we cannot avoid asking. Such questions re-

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Two young priests. In his article, Chris McDonnell argues that “in the experience of being 'set aside' lies the root of clericalism (Photo: Darius Lebok) late to the detail of selection procedures to enter, the age of entry, and the nature of experience over the years prior to ordination. Within the seminary more emphasis is now placed on human formation, with an honest attempt to test the suitability of those following a journey of discernment. Where there are concerns, of whatever nature, then there is a responsibility to voice them for the benefit of all, none more so than the seminary student himself.

fter these years of “process”, the young priest emerges to the experience of work in a parish. The Irish writer Seamus Heaney describes one such priest with these words: “I saw a young priest, glossy as a blackbird, as if he had stepped from his anointing a moment ago; his purple stole and cord or cincture tied loosely, his polished shoes unexpectedly secular beneath a

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The Public Square

group. I’m sure my departure, if noticed, was met with some sighs of “good riddance”. The whole incident got me thinking about free speech and limitations to that right. If political correctness is the practice of regulating our speech, in light of our ideals and values, then a lot hangs on whether those values are right in the first place—after all, even fascists have their own code of political correctness. Whose duty is it to make sure our speech not only aligns with our public values, but that our values are justified? In Germany, for instance, Holocaust denialism is illegal. Should we just follow this trend by criminalising apartheid denialism? We, on the other hand, have people, even a former judge, defending racism because they think “racism is not illegal in this country”. My suburban community is affluent by South African standards, and is full of immigrants from Germany, Britain, the United States and so on. Do the bigots among them see us as the last laager of racist values? If we are to shape our culture, together as equals, then we should be willing to allow others to scrutinise our values. And if these values are out of step with public ones, and we refuse to drop our prejudices, then the options are to adapt to our public values, or face legal prosecution when we clash with these values—as it is in Germany with Holocaust denialism. Is that the future of our free society?

Chris McDonnell

Point of Church

pleated, lace-hemmed alb of linen cloth.” In the experience of being “set aside” lies the root of the clerical club we label clericalism. People come to believe the expectation that is placed on them and so live up to such expectations. Within this closed cultural circle, protectionism flourishes. It comes not only with the singular way of life but in the honorifics, forms of address, and the dress code that provides the hiding place for the insecurity of some. There are those priests who are never seen without their collar and cassock—a line of demarcation is drawn that it is hard to cross. It is this “otherness” that must be the focus of our examination. How has it come about and what continues to encourage it? Being an ordained priest should be about service, not status. Arrival in a parish might be new for the priest but he should always remember that he comes to serve an existing community, one that has roots and heritage, a life that goes back many years. We have been told in no uncertain terms where Pope Francis stands on clericalism. In a homily in December 2016 he said: “There is that spirit of clericalism in the Church that we feel: clerics feel superior; clerics distance themselves from the people. Clerics always say: ‘This should be done like this, like this, like this, and you— go away!’” It happens “when the cleric doesn’t have Continued on page 11

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Pray with the Pope

Shape justice’s arc General Intention: That those who administer justice may work with integrity, and that the injustice which prevails in the world may not have the last word. HE arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This is a famous quote by Rev Martin Luther King Jr on justice in the world. Wonderful and inspiring words—but they can give us the false sense that all will be well in the end; we must just exercise great patience. Rev King’s life of struggle, and indeed his assassination in 1968, underline the fact that we cannot be complacent. He certainly envisaged the necessity of a continual striving for justice. The papal intention also reminds us not to be complacent about the progress of justice for injustice still “prevails in the world”. Does this mean that injustice is winning? It is impossible to know, of course, but it sometimes does seem as if injustice has the upper hand in our grotesquely unequal world where corruption, violence, vicious rhetoric and lies are in the air we breathe. On the other hand, there are those great moments in history when we have a sense that justice is on the march and will triumph eventually. The breaching of the Berlin Wall was one such moment. However, we always need to beware of magical thinking or millenarianism. This world may at times make significant steps towards a vision of the “progress of the peoples”, but these steps never annihilate original sin and nor do they absolve us from “eternal vigilance” and continuous effort. A line of poetry that springs to mind is from the poet and mystic William Blake as he protested in his poetry against the “dark Satanic mills” of the English industrial revolution: “I will not cease from mental strife, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, till we have built Jerusalem, in England’s green and pleasant land.” Blake would have agreed with the former US attorney-general Eric Holder who made this wise cautionary remark: “The arc bends towards justice, but it only bends towards justice because people pull it towards justice. It doesn’t happen on its own.”

‘T

his is precisely the caution we find in the intention. Unless those who actually administer justice do so with scrupulous fairness and integrity, the arc will not of itself inevitably bend towards that justice which we desire and deserve. On the contrary, neglect might actually bend it in the opposite direction of injustice. There is a further implication here. We are said to get the politicians we deserve. Maybe we also get the judges we deserve. Those who administer the law have a responsibility to set a tone of integrity and fairness in our society, but we, the populace, have a responsibility to respond and to help them to do this. In our own country, they have their work cut out and they need all the help they can get. The legacy of the past has left a poisonous moral environment in which people feel free to shout loudly and demonstrate when their rights are infringed, but are quite prepared to break laws to make their point. Demonstrations easily turn violent, property is damaged or destroyed, public amenities are razed to the ground, and sometimes people are injured or killed. Indeed, violence seems to be the default way of solving a problem. We have 55 murders a day. How demoralising is that for the police and the judiciary? The law is something that someone else must obey. As for me, the thinking goes, if I can get away with breaking a law that I consider to be inconvenient, I will break it. It is almost impossible to go out in a car and not witness some oafish person flaunting the highway code and endangering the lives and limbs of fellowcitizens. We have a beautiful country, but it is continuously marred and polluted by illegal dumping. Sometimes one wonders whether we deserve the freedoms we have been given and the lovely land we have inherited. Let us pray for those whose task it is to create a more law-abiding society of integrity and justice. And let us pray that, through our respect for the law, we may deserve such a society.

The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

COMMUNITY

Thirteen octogenarian parishioners of Immaculate Conception parish at Christmas Rock in Kidds Beach district near East London received a special blessing from Fr Peter Whitehead during a Mass concelebrated with Fr Billy Barnes on Trinity Sunday. The following parishioners celebrate their 80th birthdays between January 8, 2019, and January 1, 2020: Lionel Annandale, Eldred Bosch, Geoffrey Gower, Arthur (Zinky) Burton, Mary Nel, Ray Monaghan, Puffy Roux and Gloria du Preez. Those over 80 are Fr Barnes, Eddie Connachan, Peter du Preez, Jill Judd, Hennie Nel and Ivan Schultz. Above are the four among them who made their First Communion together in King Williamstown, with Fr Barnes (left) and Fr Whitehead (right). The four (from left) are Mary Nel, Puffy Roux, Zinky Burton and Ray Monaghan.

Five adults were confirmed at St Peter’s parish in Swartkops, Port Elizabeth, by Bishop Vincent Zungu. The confirmation candidates, with Bishop Zungu, were (front from left) Naledi Sifuba, Kholekile Sifuba, Sibongile Shuping and Yolisa Dlula, and at the back are catechist Johan Gauche and parish priest Fr Mluleki Mynaka.

Parishioners (left) bid farewell to Fr Stephen Giles MHM after 11 years of ministry at St Patrick’s cathedral and Ss Peter and Paul parish in Kroonstad. (Photo: Nicolette Whittle)

Johannesburg’s Junior and Mini council hosted the annual Dean Walt’s Kids Carnival. Council members from Assumption Convent School in Germiston, Johannesburg archdiocese, were among those who dressed up as superheroes and Disney characters. (From left) Cathleen Lam, Micaela de Gouveia, Lisa Godwin and Hayley Knipe. Children from different orphanages had their faces painted, played games, danced and watched a magic show.

Barbara Wirix consecrated herself as a member of the Flammae Cordis, a sodality of laywomen sharing in the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri, at the Oratory chapel in Oudtshoorn. Fr John Atkinson, administrator of Oudtshoorn diocese, administered the rite of the consecration of a virgin to her. Ms Wirix is the first in South Africa to consecrate herself as a member of Flammae Cordis. (Submitted by Fr Leon Mostert CO) umzimkulu diocese launched celebrations of the Sacred Heart Sodality’s 125th jubilee which falls in 2020. The sodality crowned about 800 silver (25), gold (50) and platinum (75) members. Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba was among the first chaplains of the sodality in the diocese. Bishop Dziuba, present chaplain Fr David Dlamini OSPPE and two others were honoured by Sacred Heart Sodality members.

St Theresa’s Convent School in Coronationville, Johannesburg, held a Farm Day for pupils. (Submitted by Raylene Nadasen)

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pics@scross.co.za St Patrick’s cathedral in Kroonstad welcomed Fr Michael Rasello as the new administrator of the cathedral with a cake after Mass.

The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

FAITH

What we Catholics believe – and why We recite the Creed every Sunday at Mass, but do we know its background and meanings? In a series of three articles, MICHAEL MAYER will look at the history of the Church’s statement of its beliefs and its relevance today

E are called to obedience as a heartfelt surrender to authority even when authority may seem questionable, unjust or even seem in error. We are still called to obedience. However, this does not mean pathetic compliance; it means boldness and respect. One can still raise an ardent challenge, to question those in Church authority, but how one does it, and what our motives are, and what forums we choose to present them in—these would arbitrate or judge for or against our obedience. We are baptised into Christ’s offices of priest, prophet, and king, and as such have no less demands placed on us in our obedience to Holy Mother Church, to Christ, and to Christ’s designated authority the bishops (in which office the priests, and the deacons share in service to or under the bishop).

Opposition to obedience Pope Francis in 2016 classified obedience as faithfulness/fidelity and spoke of the opposition to obedience in terms of resistance that follows three types: l “Open resistance, often born of goodwill and sincere dialogue”. Of this Pope Francis says: “It is normal, and indeed healthy, to encounter difficulties, [to] reform” or change (challenging change in a healthy way), l “Hidden resistance, born of fearful or hardened hearts”, showing apparent willingness to change, but actually wanting no

change (“empty rhetoric” fearing reform, subversion), l “Malicious resistance, which springs up in misguided minds and come to the fore when the devil inspires ill intentions (often cloaked in sheep’s clothing). This kind of resistance, Pope Francis says, hides behind self-justification and accusation; behind tradition, “or make[s] everything personal, failing to distinguish between the act, the actor, and the action”. Armed with this knowledge we now look at witness as an apostolic function of the laity.

The dignity and role of the baptised Pope John Paul II said of the women at Calvary, as representatives of the laity: “In this most arduous test of faith and fidelity [they] proved stronger than the Apostles” (Mulieris Dignitatem, 1988). In reward for faithfulness, he said, they are “the first to be called to announce [the Resurrection] to the Apostles”. And in referring to “the special role of Mary Magdalene” (Jn 20:1618), Pope John Paul called her “the apostle of the Apostles”. This is typographically a lowercase “apostle”, but that does not diminish its meaning, for she bore witness to the Risen Christ before the Apostles”. John Paul amplified this with the prophet Joel: “"I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (2:28). It is within this dignity of the extraordinary role of the baptised that I would like to share some notes on the history of the Nicene Creed, which we recite at Sunday Mass every week. A creed, simply defined, is a statement of belief. The Nicene Creed is named after the city of Nicaea, where a great ecumenical council of Church leaders from throughout the Christian Church gathered in 325 AD to define what

we believe. So the Creed we recite on Sundays was written almost 1 700 years ago. We know a little of the terrible suffering of the martyrs during the Roman persecutions, and we know that the Church faced innumerable heresies that she had to contend with. But, after the crisis of Christ's passion and crucifixion, the next greatest threat to Jesus’ plan for the world—one of the most shattering challenges for the Church—was Satan's attempt to subvert the resurrected and glorified Christ to the pagan status of a son of Zeus, a Hercules, a wonder man—but not the eternal Son of God who pre-existed with God the Father.

The Nicene Creed We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suﬀered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

God’s solutions But, as in every crisis, God had a solution. As always though the Lord demands perseverance of his People, of his Church, as he has done since he first revealed himself to Abraham and to the Tribes of Israel— perseverance. So Christian religious freedom came in 313 AD, after enduring almost two centuries of Roman oppression and at times horrific suffering. Just a few years earlier, there was a terrible persecution— the most severe of all persecutions—under Emperor Diocletian. But the Resurrection provides immediate hope in the face of an almost unendurable trial that often seems never to end. The Resurrection came just three days after the crucifixion—a sure and definite hope that Christ himself proclaimed from the Cross to the man executed beside him: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43). This immediacy does not escape us even in our most immediate danger. Christ’s second coming too should not escape us as having all the immediacy of the Resurrection after the Crucifixion. Certainly the Lord saw it like this “For the Son of man is to come

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:27-28). And who are we to doubt? In Christ, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. It was this immediacy of hope that drove and sustained St Athanasius, the Egyptian from Alexandria, to endure intolerable challenges and near-endless suffering.

At the Council of Nicaea, it was with the help of Deacon Athanasius’ testimony, his arguments on and for the belief in Jesus as God, that turned the hearts and minds of the bishops from doubt and confusion to certainty, to conviction, of what was Truth, of what was orthodox. And this was captured in the Nicene Creed, on which I will reflect over the next two weeks. n This series of article is adapted from a presentation given by Michael Mayer to youth leaders at Empower in Johannesburg.

A brief history of the Nicene Creed BY GüNTHER SIMMERMACHER

HE Nicene Creed was formulated in 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea; in present-day Iznik in Turkey. It came just 12 years after Emperor Constantine had formally legalised Christianity (and other non-pagan religions) in what we now call the “Edict of Milan”. Just a decade before the edict was issued in 313, Christians had suffered the worst persecution yet under Emperor Diocletian. In some regions it carried on right up to the legalisation of Christianity, especially in Africa, Spain and Sicily. Emperor Constantine credited the temporal power he had won to Christ’s intervention. In the decisive battle for power on October 28, 312, Constantine’s army was facing that of Maxentius, which was twice as large, at Rome’s Milvian Bridge. The story goes that the night before the battle, Constantine had a dream: it promised that if he and his soldiers displayed the Chi-Rho sign—the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek—on their banners and shields, victory over Maxentius was assured. Constantine and his army, sporting the Chi-Rho, did win the battle, and the emperor credited the Christian God for his success. Although he did not formally

convert to Christianity until he was on his deathbed in 337, Constantine took a keen interest in Christian affairs. And Christian affairs didn’t look good. Without a central governing body or any kind of uniform doctrine, all kinds of theologies and Christologies were popping up. And when it comes to Jesus, Christians are always ready to fight. One issue was tearing the Eastern Church apart: the Arian controversy, named after the presbyter Arius of Alexandra in Egypt. Arius’ faction held that Jesus was created out of nothing, and therefore had a beginning (in which case he cannot be divine). His opponent was the Coptic Patriarch Alexander of Alexandria, who argued the more mainstream case that Jesus is eternally begotten by the Father from his own being, and therefore had no beginning. At stake was the divinity of Christ! Another big issue was the dating of Easter, which at the time was not uniform. So in summer 325, Constantine convened what we now call the First Council of Nicaea. Of the 1 800 invited bishops, around 300 attended. Among them was Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem, who asked Constantine for permission to tear down the pagan temple which stood above the places the Chris-

tians remembered as the sites of the crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord. Macarius’ humble request was to build a chapel there instead. Constantine went one better. He authorised Macarius to tear down the temple, and then sent his mother, St Helena, to the Holy Land to munificently finance the construction of the huge church of the Holy Sepulchre, and other churches at holy places. Another probable attendee was St Nicholas of Myra, on whom Santa Claus is based.

he Council settled the dating of Easter. Though not forever: after the Great Schism of 1054, Catholic and Orthodox Christians used different calculations again. That schism, incidentally, was predicated on a Latin edit of the Nicene Creed (the Filioque clause—

read up on it on a day when you want to give yourself a headache). The Arian controversy was also settled—at least temporarily (more of that next week). The consensus held that Jesus is begotten and therefore divine and consubstantial with the Father. And to put it in writing, as a way of rejecting and condemning what now was called the Arian heresy, the Council adopted a creed. What was adopted there is mostly identical to what we recite on Sundays—up to the “...his kingdom will have no end”. The rest was added at a subsequent council. Quirks of translation aside, the Nicene Creed is the only statement of faith accepted by Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans and all other major Protestant denominations. The other Creed we may say at Sunday Mass is the Apostles’ Creed

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The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

PERSONALITY

Archbishop Slattery looks back After 25 years as a bishop, Archbishop William Slattery OFM is now retired–but he still has many plans. ERIN CARELSE spoke to him.

OW that he has been succeeded by Archbishop Dabula Mpako as head of Pretoria archdiocese, Archbishop William Slattery will go home to his native Ireland—but only on a holiday. The Franciscan archbishop, who earlier this year marked 25 years as a bishop—nine of them in Pretoria—will take a little break to spend some time with family and friends in Ireland. But then he will return to South Africa, because, he said, he still has many things to do. When the young Franciscan friar William Slattery came to South Africa almost 50 years ago—in 1971—he wanted to share the wonderful friendship he has with Jesus Christ. Even in retirement, going into the future as a Christian, he’ll continue to do that, he said. This next chapter in his life is just another way to respond to the love that God has for him. Archbishop Slattery always just wanted to be a missionary. He recalled the day in August 1993 when the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli, entered his room at the rural mission in the Franciscan novitiate of Besters to tell him that the pope wished to appoint him as bishop of Kokstad. “I refused and gave the names of

other candidates because I had come to South Africa to work as a Franciscan among the poor,” Archbishop Slattery remembered. “Even more, at that moment South Africa was preparing for the first democratic election, removing the apartheid government. The diocese of Kokstad was 92% African and I felt embarrassed to be appointed there as a white missionary.” Three months later, the nuncio came again, “to insist that I accept the appointment”, Archbishop Slattery said. The appointment was made on December 7, 1993; the ordination was on February 19, 1994—almost two years after their previous shepherd, Bishop (now Cardinal) Wilfrid Napier, was transferred to Durban.

The new bishop of Kokstad

The people of Kokstad, most of whom speak isiXhosa and Sesotho, gave their bishop a wonderful welcome in the 160 churches and communities of the diocese. The Irish bishop spent what he said were 17 wonderful years ministering among them. “The pastoral ministry which I exercised was based on the pastoral plan, ‘Community Serving Humanity’. It was very successful for a number of years in forming Small Christian Communities and in engaging many Christians in the life and ministry of the Church,” Archbishop Slattery said. “There was no local vocation in Kokstad in 1994; today almost all the parishes are staffed by local priests. With the excellent help of parishioners we were able to build 30 new churches,” he recalled. During those years the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) gave him the responsibility of overseeing seminary formation—appropriately since he had been the rector of St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria from 1985-91. “This was a difficult task because the struggle for freedom had as its theme ‘Liberation before education’. Which for the formation was difficult, as it left the student distracted. “We also had a continual struggle with staffing, and very few priests had been trained in formation work in the country. By The Southern Cross report announcing the forming the students into appointment of Fr William Slattery OFM as house groups and putting bishop of Kokstad in December 1993. heavy emphasis on spiri-

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tual direction, we managed to offer better formation. Gradually we were able to appoint local South African priests as rectors and professors.” After the seminary responsibility, Archbishop Slattery was elected as chair of the SACBC Department of Evangelisation. “I saw a growth in the Catholic faith of our people during these years, and real efforts were being made in inculturation,” he said. “A great suffering of the Church in these years was that religious vocations had greatly decreased. This meant that the Catholic presence in education and health care had decreased.” But there was also an opportunity in the effects of the decline in religious vocations: “It also emphasised the great need in understanding that the baptismal vocation calls all Catholics to build up the Church according to their graces and talents,” the archbishop said. Another problem he faced was the changing realities of families. “A particular weakness in our culture is the fragility of marriage and family life. It became obvious in the evangelisation work that while preparatory classes will be given to those getting married, there is negligible support for young married couples,” he said. “Yes, there are specialised groups, like Marriage Encounter, but very few people actually participate in their meetings,” he noted.

Moving to Pretoria After 16 years in Kokstad, where all the bishops up to then had been Franciscans, Bishop Slattery was appointed archbishop of Pretoria the day before Christmas Eve 2010. On January 30, 2011, he was installed as the archdiocese’s fourth archbishop in the city where he had served as rector of St John Vianney Seminary. He was the first Franciscan to hold that office. Archbishop Slattery has enjoyed working with the many priests there. His attempt was to move them beyond the narrow confines of purely spiritual ministry and become concerned for the whole lifeexperience of people. “I have urged them to get closer to the people. Their call is to be more than functionaries and to share the intimate struggles of all,” he said. “The frustration for a bishop, especially one who has worked in seminary formation, is that while in the seminary one can accompany the students closely, it is much more difficult to accompany and supervise positively priests living

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Archbishop William Slattery in his Franciscan robe in Jerusalem while on The Southern Cross’ pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Italy in May 2013. alone and in distant parishes,” he said. Archbishop Slattery also placed a high value on catechesis. With less than 2% of Catholic children attending Catholic schools, catechetical instruction depends on the priest and above all the parents in the parishes. “We have over a thousand catechetical volunteers, and catechetical teams in all parishes. This places a lot of pressure on the archdiocese to offer adequate formation, motivation, and support to these excellent people,” he explained. Through the archdiocesan evangelisation department, Archbishop Slattery has insisted on the laity playing a role in pastoral ministries. These include catechetics, youth, marriage desks, Justice & Peace, Caritas and development, Renew Africa, SPREAD, hospital and health ministry, and the prison ministry. “This archdiocese has well over 20 sodalities. The challenge is to move the sodalities from purely internal concerns towards taking responsibilities for ministries,” he said. Archbishop Slattery said he had enjoyed many highlights in his episcopal ministry. Among them, the response of the faithful of Kokstad and Pretoria stand out. “The joy and the peace of the Holy Spirit coming through the congregations every Sunday was triumphant. Every Sunday was a triumphant Sunday,” he said. Working with the youth was another highlight. “I find tremendous generosity in the youth whenever I am with them. Ordaining young men as priests and deacons was also a definite highlight for me. “ The archbishop’s work on Radio Veritas every Thursday will continue in retirement. “To be able to share with many people through the radio and the response from the people” is fulfilling, said Archbishop Slattery, who is also the serving chair of the bishops’ social communications office. Archbishop Slattery is a keen reader of The Southern Cross. “I receive The Southern Cross every week and catch up on the news. This paper does a wonderful job bringing Catholic news to our people, and is a huge element in our very old Catholic identity and has strengthened that over the years,” he said. He counts the Southern Cross pilgrimages he led in 2013, 2015 and 2017 among the highlights of his life as a bishop. “Visiting places like the Holy

Land, Rome and Assisi with groups of Catholic pilgrims was always a great joy and a wonderful experience,” he said. Archbishop Slattery is scheduled to lead the Passion Pilgrimage of The Southern Cross to the Holy Land and Oberammergau in August 2020 (for details see front-page or go to www.fowlertours.co.za/passion).

Plans for the future But there is one highlight that ranks above all. “The response of the Lord to me through his people has been extremely generous. It shows that the nature of God is a God of love,” the archbishop said. On return after his break in Ireland, he will be working in evangelisation, preaching, teaching and ministering in all of its aspects. “I have many things to do and have received many invitations,” Archbishop Slattery said. “But particularly, I’ll be teaching young men joining the Franciscan order, and also young people joining the Neocatechumenal seminary.” Asked about the future of the Church moving forward, the archbishop hoped for “a graceful emergence of participation of the laypeople in the life of Christ and the work of the Church”. “In the past, the Church in South Africa did tremendous work in the schools and clinics, old age homes, and hospices—and that was done then in a large way by religious, especially Sisters and Brothers. “I think the laity—and I see it in Pretoria—are emerging now and realising that this work, this spirit that you see in what was done in the past, will be continued through them.” Archbishop Slattery noted that in almost every parish in South Africa there are medical professionals, teachers, lawyers and so on whose skills can be applied to serve the community and the Church. “My real hope is that the Risen Christ begins to emerge in their lives by the way they reach out and care for South Africa,” he said “I have great hope. South Africa is suffering at the moment, but I believe in the goodness of the basic South African people and have always found them in the majority to be very good people,” Archbishop Slattery said. “What I have received from the people of South Africa and our Catholics far outweighs the little service I have offered them. It is a huge grace to have been called to this ministry in this country.”

The Southern Cross, June 26 to July 2, 2019

YOUr cLASSiFieDS

Polish priest ordained after terminal cancer diagnosis dies

Your prayer to cut out and collect

tHANK YOU to St Jude for prayers answered. Christina.

PerSONAL

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.

Fr Michal Los celebrates his first Mass from his hospital bed in Warsaw. Fr Los, who has died, was ordained in hospital while suffering from terminal cancer.

Prayer for Good Humour Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I”. Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others. Amen.

Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 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 Monday July 1 Genesis 18:16-33, Psalm 103:1-4, 8-11, Matthew 8:18-22 Tuesday July 2 Genesis 19:15-29, Psalm 26:2-3, 9-12, Matthew 8:23-27 Wednesday July 3, St Thomas the Apostle Ephesians 2:19-22, Psalm 117:1-2, John 20:24-29 Thursday July 4, St Elizabeth of Portugal Genesis 22:1-19, Psalm 116:1-6, 8-9, Matthew 9:1-8 Friday July 5, St Anthony St Thomas the Apostle of Zaccaria Genesis 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67, Psalm 106:1-5, Matthew 9:9-13 Saturday July 6, St Maria Goretti Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29, Psalm 135:1-6, Matthew 9:14-17 Sunday July 7, 14th Sunday of the Year Isaiah 66:10-14, Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20, Galatians 6:14-18, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

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YOUNG Polish priest who was ordained last month following a terminal cancer diagnosis (as reported in The Southern Cross on June 5) has died, his community announced. Fr Michal Los FDP was ordained to the Congregation of the Orionine Fathers. “We believe that he met with the Risen Christ whom he so desperately wanted to serve as a priest. Thank you for all your prayers and support,” the congregation said. Fr Los was ordained a priest in his Warsaw hospital bed after being diagnosed with cancer about a month before. At the time of his ordination, he was in a critical condition. Pope Francis granted a dispensation allowing Fr Los to be ordained both a deacon and a priest at the same Mass. The day before his ordination, Fr Los made perpetual vows in his religious community. He celebrated his first Mass, also from his hospital bed. In a video posted on social media that day, Fr Los thanked Catholics who were praying for him, and asked for their continued prayers.—CNA

The cult of clericalism Continued from page 7 time to listen to those who are suffering, the poor, the sick, the imprisoned”, Pope Francis said. “The evil of clericalism is a really awful thing; it is a new edition of this ancient evil”—of the religious “authorities” lording it over others. But, the pope said, “the victim is the same: the poor and humble people, who await the Lord”. His position is clear; he will have none of it. For him it is a prime source of damage within the Christian community. The Christian Church has a future to look forward to, in spite of our evident failings. On a journey, when the map has been misread, it is time to pause, look again and reset the compass. n This is an edited version of a longer article published in the Dominican journal Spirituality.

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NeW PAriSH NOticeS MOSt WeLcOMe: If any parish notices listed are no longer valid, call us on 021 465-5007 or e-mail us at m.leveson@scross.co.za so that we can remove them. Also, we’d welcome new notices from parishes across Southern Africa to run free in the classifieds. cAPe tOWN: A Holy Hour Prayer for Priests is held on the second Saturday of every month at the Villa Maria shrine from 16:00 to 17:00. The shrine is at 1 Kloof Nek Road in Tamboerskloof. The group prays for priests in the archdiocese, and elsewhere by request. Retreat day/quiet prayer 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. 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.

that the wonder and splendour of all creation surround us. “How majestic is your name in all the earth”. We pray to you who calms the raging waters and commands the wind, to provide us sufficient rain to meet our needs. During this time of drought, we are mindful of our dependence on you for all that sustains our body and soul. We pray for the cooling, gentle rain that will once again bring life to the fields and crops that feed us, restore the colourful rainbow of flowers and the cooling shade of the trees. We also pray for all those who are suffering from other natural disasters. May they look to you for the strength to restore their lives and heal their wounded land. Help us to always be good stewards of your creation and care for the many resources of this earth. May your grace refresh our souls. We ask for these blessings through the intercession of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Amen.

PrAYerS

PrAYer FOr rAiN: O God, our Creator, you are the source of all life. It is through your divine providence and infinite power,

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O VirGiN Mother, In the depths of your heart you pondered the life of the Son you brought into the world. Give us your vision of Jesus and ask the Father to open our hearts, that we may always see His presence in our lives, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, bring us into the joy and peace of the kingdom, where Jesus is Lord forever and ever. Amen The

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the

14th Sunday: July 7 Readings: Isaiah 66:10-14, Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20, Galatians 6:14-18, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

E can sometimes feel a bit gloomy about the mission that God seems to have given us. That is certainly the mood of those to whom next Sunday’s first reading is addressed. They are probably the disillusioned exiles who have returned from Jerusalem, only to find that no one wanted to know them. Instead of complaining about their mission, they are invited to “be glad with Jerusalem… all you who were mourning over her”. Then there is a very striking image of being nursed by a mother; now it is God we are talking about with regard to this mission, and we listen with some interest to what God has to say: “For thus says the Lord: ‘Look—I am spreading peace over her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like a torrent that overflows.’” Then the maternal image resurfaces: “Like a man whom his mother comforts, so I shall comfort you, and in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.” So precisely where they thought the mission was impossibly gloomy is where instead they are going to find God’s comfort: “You shall see, and your hearts will rejoice.” There is no gloom at all in the psalm for

S outher n C ross

Rejoice in your mission next Sunday: “Sing a joyful fanfare to the Lord, all the earth, make music to the glory of his name…say to God, ‘How fearful are your deeds.’” And we see a vision of the entire world worshipping God (and hear the sound), as they are invited to see for themselves, “Come and see God’s works”, and reminded of what they have seen: “He changed the sea into dry land, in the river they passed on foot; so let us rejoice in him.” Then the invitation goes out wider: “Come and hear, all you who fear God, what he has done for my soul…blessed is God who did not refuse my prayer.” The second reading is the end of the Letter to the Galatians. Paul has been trying to persuade them that their mission is not to boast of the precision with which they fulfil the Law—“Let it not happen to me to boast, except about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”—then continues with a powerful image of the cross, “through which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world”. What matters in their mission is not the (relatively trivial) question of whether or not they are circumcised, but being a “new cre-

ation”; and people in that category are wished “peace and mercy”. He concludes by telling them, “Let no one give me hassles—for I am carrying the stigmata of Jesus in my body”, and then, a slightly more restrained farewell, “The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.” Mission completed, you may say. In the Gospel we watch in fascination as the first disciples (70 or 72 of them) are sent out on their mission, to prepare the way for him. They are told that there are insufficient of them (“the harvest is great, but the workers are few”), and that it is a dangerous mission: “like lambs in the midst of wolves”. They are to travel light: “no purse or credit-card, no sandals, and no chatting to people on the way”. Their role (and our role, of course) is to depend utterly on God. So they stay in a house where there is “peace”, “eating and drinking what comes from them”. When “they give you hospitality, eat what is placed before you”. There is a demanding job to be done: “Cure those [in that city] who are sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God has drawn near.’” And there is also the possibility that they

What is Christian communion?

Conrad

Sunday Reflections

will not receive hospitality: if that happens, we are to “go out and say in the public squares: ‘We are wiping the dust that sticks to us from your city—but be aware that the kingdom of God has drawn near.’” Then comes a terrible threat: “I’m telling you that it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that city.” None of these negative consequences seems to have occurred, and they come back wagging their tails “joyfully saying, ‘Lord even the demons are subordinated to us in your name.’” Jesus responds, perhaps tongue in cheek, “I saw Satan falling like lightning out of heaven”, giving them powers “to tread on snakes and scorpions, and all the power of the Enemy; and no way is anything going to harm you”, before reminding them of the things that really matter: “Don’t rejoice that the spirits are being subordinated to you, but because your names have been written in heaven.” In the end, our mission is not really about what we might do; it is more about what God could do in us.

Southern Crossword #869

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

HE question of intercommunion within our Churches today is a big one, an important one, and a painful one. I’m old enough to remember another time—actually, to remember two other times. First, as a young boy growing up in the pre-Vatican II Church, intercommunion with other Christians, “Non-Romans”, was a taboo. It just did not happen. An individual maverick might have ventured it, but they would have been called out for doing it. Then things changed. In the early years of my ministry, I worked in dioceses where intercommunion, at least for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, and interChurch gatherings, was encouraged. As a priest presiding at a Eucharist at these gatherings, I was to invite non-Catholics to receive the Eucharist, as their own faith and sensitivities allowed. Those times came to an end. Within the space of ten years, by the mid-1990s, those of us who presided at a Catholic Eucharist were asked to positively disinvite nonCatholics from receiving the Eucharist, irrespective of occasion. The rationale was that the Eucharist is the most intimate act we, as Christians, can share with each other, and that intimate sharing—analogous to the intimacy of a marriage, which is to be honest and meaningful—demands that we be in communion with each other. And given our differences in doctrine, ecclesiology, and some issues of morality, we simply are not in sufficient communion. Further still, this argument suggests that

Nicholas King SJ

Final Reflection

Church leaders after an ecumenical service in Durban in 2017. In his column, Fr Rolheiser looks at the state of communion between Christian communities, and wonders whether the Eucharist can be shared across denominations. accepting the pain of not being able to receive communion in each other’s churches should be the kick in the pants we need to stir us to make greater efforts to come together around dogma, church and morality. What’s to be said for this? First, it is true and has its merits, save for the one salient idea that needs to be lifted out from this apologia and scrutinised more closely—the notion that we are not in sufficient communion with each other to share the Eucharist because of our differences in dogma, ecclesiology, and some moral issues.

hat does it mean to be in communion with each other, in faith, as Christians, at least in sufficient communion to receive the Eucharist from each other’s tables? What constitutes genuine intimacy in faith? Theologically, it’s clear: baptism puts us into the family of faith. All Christians hold this and so too do the Gospels. St Paul, admittedly, adds a qualification regarding receiving communion. However, beyond the theological issue involved there’s also an ecclesial one, namely, while we all share one Christian community through baptism, we do however belong to different faith families and families tend to eat in their own houses. True again. But then this question arises: When does eating in another family’s house make sense and when does it not? The deeper question regarding what constitutes intimacy inside the faith and what constitutes the kind of intimacy that

justifies receiving the Eucharist together is not, first of all, one of doctrine or church affiliation but of oneness inside the Holy Spirit. What makes for oneness among us as Christians? When are we one family in faith? Perhaps no text is clearer than St Paul in chapter 5 of his Letter to the Galatians. He begins by telling us what does not constitute oneness inside the Holy Spirit. We’re not living inside the Holy Spirit or in communion with each other, he submits, if we’re living in strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factionalism, envy, idolatry, sorcery, or adultery. We are, however, in genuine communion, in intimacy in faith, in one family, when we’re living in charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, long-suffering, fidelity, mildness, and chastity. Living inside these is what makes for Christian communion, oneness, for intimacy with each other. Differences on select issues of dogma, Church, and morals are, in fact, secondary. More important is whether our hearts are full of charity or anger, goodness or factionalism, peace or strife, impatience or chastity. We are more in communion, in a communion of faith, with someone of another ecclesial denomination whose heart is fuelled by charity, patience, and goodness than with someone of our own Church whose heart is angry, envious, and judgmental. Ecclesial difference isn’t the real criterion. What constitutes the kind of intimacy that justifies intercommunion? I’m not a bishop and so the pastoral decision on that question is not mine to make. As a loyal son of the Church, I need to trust that the Holy Spirit will work through the persons and offices entrusted to make that decision. As a theologian, however, I have also a task: to look at issues like this and bring various theological and biblical perspectives to bear on them. So I offer this perspective to those entrusted with making the pastoral decisions about what justifies and what does not justify intercommunion.

ACrOSS

1. Harps I move around the community (6) 4. City where Paul waited for Silas and Timothy (Ac 17) (6) 9. One who devotes life to thought and prayer (13) 10. Felt elation in prayer (7) 11. Destined (5) 12. Southern grain you express contempt for (5) 14. You’ll ﬁnd this kind of cat in here (5) 18. Kind of minimum wage earned (5) 19. Devil appearing like Venus (7) 21. Unusual kind of minister in the sanctuary (13) 22. A tense movement in Parliament (6) 23. Informed, we hear, what the church bell did (6)

DOwN

1. Chosen, like the apostles (6) 2. How you promise to repudiate the Evil One at Baptism (8,5) 3. Altar flowers may give it off sweetly (5) 5. Inclined to weep (7) 6. Letter from the Apostle (7,2,4) 7. Pays out money to buy (6) 8. Playing card in the gardener’s hand (5) 13. Track or way to the Bushmen’s paintings (4,3) 15. She heads the nuns (6) 16. He’s an office worker and in holy orders (5) 17. Asked God (6) 20. Some air conditioning begins in African city (5)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

ABLO came to Jerusalem for the first time and wanted to visit one of the city’s famous landmarks. Trouble was, he didn’t know the English term for it. “Take me to place where people wail,” he asked the taxi driver. After a 15-minute drive across the Holy City, the taxi stopped. “Here we are,” said the driver, “the tax office.”

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