190807

The

S outher n C ross

August 7 to August 13, 2019

reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5147

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Priest to Jo’burg mayor: Start to clean up mess

What it means to have freedom

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Why we can be proud to be Catholic

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Church reaction to amended polygamy law

By ErIN cArELSE

W

HILE the Church does not accept polygamous marriages, it does recognise the dignity of the first wife as a customary union which still has to be blessed sacramentally, according to the coordinator of the bishops’ Family Life Desk.

Cabinet has passed a new Bill that provides the equal treatment of women in customary marriages in South Africa.

The amendments to the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act will eliminate gender-based discrimination in proprietary rights for polygamous marriages entered into before the commencement of the act in 1998.

Fr Sakhi Mofokeng, coordinating secretary for the Family Life Desk of the Southern African Catholics Bishops’ Conference noted that there are cases of Catholics in customary unions.

There are several older Catholic women in customary unions who desire to join sodalities, Fr Mofokeng said. When they are requested to bring their marriage certificate, “you hear stories”.

“Older men don’t want to have their marriages blessed, saying they can be married twice. It is only when the priest visits and discusses with the husband, that some will agree after [getting] clarity,” he explained.

In South Africa, a customary marriage is understood as being entered into under the traditions and customs of indigenous African customary law. Certain requirements must be complied with to conclude a valid customary marriage.

While a civil marriage is seen as a marriage concluded between two parties, and must be monogamous to be valid, customary marriages differ, as polygamy is permissible.

Fr Mofokeng said he finds it difficult to understand that some cultures are continuing with polygamist marriages.

“Women who are in this situation have no freedom from the onset. Some are forced [into such marriages], some continue their forefathers’ tradition, some are married for childbearing, and so on. These women have

limited rights in a male dominated situation.”

Fr Mofokeng added: “In my experience, some men are not showing that they are polygamists before they marry the first wife; it is only after that they will express it.”

He noted that after the lobola, “women are still regarded as minors, leaving the “protection” of their father to be under their husbands.”

Political analyst Mike Pothier, senior researcher for the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), said that the amendment is a necessary and important step in an attempt to ensure that women in such marriages are not disadvantaged in terms of their right over the estate of a deceased husband.

“The Church doesn’t approve polygamous marriage, but people do enter into it,” he said.

“Regardless of what the Church may or may not see, the reality is Catholics are contracting second and third customary marriages,” Mr Pothier noted.

The most common such situation may be “where a man and woman get married in the Church, and she might be Catholic—but then the husband goes off and takes a second or a third wife, without consulting” the first wife.

Mr Pothier explained that the customary system was reformed in 1998 to protect the rights of the wives, but those who had been married before 1998 were still potentially left at a disadvantage.

“This amendment is just about extending the protections to marriages from before 1998. All customary marriages will now have provisions that mean quite simply that the husband no longer has controlling right over the property belonging to marriage,” he said.

“Certainly, the Church would support the notion that all the spouses concerned have an equal right to make decisions over the property aspects and everything to do with the marriage—but the stipulations that the Church has around what constitutes a valid marriage will not be affected by this legislation,” Mr Pothier said.

Archbishop Peter Wells, the papal nuncio in South Africa, with clergy and servers at the blessing of the new church of St Anne’s at Mataffin in Nelspruit. (Photo: Gugu Msiango)

Surprise visit from the pope

By JuNNo Arocho EStEVES

A

N elderly religious sister who worked for many years at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the papal residence, was at her congregation’s house recovering from surgery when she received an unexpected visit—from Pope Francis.

The pope arrived at Rome’s Regina Mundi House and greeted Sr Maria Mucci, a member of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, as well as members of her congregation.

Since October, Sr Mucci has been recovering from a delicate surgical procedure. Nevertheless, the elderly nun was in good spirits, especially after the pope’s visit.

“Just look! My illness has made all the sisters of the Regina Mundi House who met the pope happy,” she told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

In an interview with the newspaper, Sr Stefania, a fellow Daughter of Charity, said that Sr Mucci took great pride in her work attending to the needs of the pope at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Before her surgery, Sr Mucci “took care of the kitchen and was proud of personally

preparing vegetables for the Holy Father”, Sr Stefania said.

The pope spent some moments contemplating a relic belonging to his p r e d e c e s s o r, John Paul II. The relic was the bloodstained shirt worn by St John Paul during Pope Francis blesses Sr the assassination Maria Mucci on her attempt May 13, sickbed as he paid her a 1981.

Gemelli Hossurprise visit. (Photo: pital, where he Vatican News) received treatment after the assassination attempt, gifted the shirt to the Regina Mundi House for the Jubilee Year in 2000.

Pope Francis also took time to greet the other members of the Daughters of Charity, as well as employees and guests staying at the congregation’s house.—CNS

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the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

LOCAL

Meditation expert to speak at St Augustine

B

ENEDICTINE Father Laurence Freeman, spiritual guide and director of the World Community for Christian Meditation, will deliver a special public lecture at South Africa’s Catholic university next month.

As part of his tour of South Africa, Fr Freeman will speak at St Augustine College in Victory Park, Johannesburg, on the contemplative revolution needed in the Christian tradition and society.

“The deep unity that this brings takes down barriers between peoples of all faiths and beliefs,” Fr Freeman said.

“Crisis comes in many forms— personal and social. Sometimes we see it coming. Sometimes it is wholly unexpected. But it is always a time for change and growth—if we are ready,” he said.

“Meditation as a spiritual practice embedded in daily life opens us to the slow-fuse crisis of interior conversion and prepares us for big lifechanges,” he said.

Fr Freeman will present ten seminars and other events in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town from September 5-16.

At business breakfasts in Cape Town (September 6) and Durban (September 10), the Benedictine priest will engage participants on work and leadership, applying the wisdom of the 6th-century Rule of St Benedict to modern challenges.

He will also be speaking at seminars designed specifically for teachers and catechists called “A Gift for Life: Introducing Christian Meditation to the Young” (Cape Town on September 6, Durban on September 10, Johannesburg on September 12).

The public will have opportunities to interact with the visiting Benedictine who will be in Cape Town from September 6-7, in Durban from September 9-10, and Johannesburg from September 11-14.

Public seminars titled “Contemplative Prayer for Today” will be held in Cape Town on September 6, Durban on September 9.

The public lecture at St Augustine is suitable for those who are new to meditation in the Christian tradition and want to learn more about it as well as for those already practising and who wish to deepen their journey.

It will be held on Wednesday, September 11, at 19:00 at St Augustine’s auditorium, 53 Ley Road, Victory Park.

Entry is free but a cash donation to the college would be appreciated.

Benedictine Fr Laurence Freeman meets with the Dalai Lama, whom he has known for many years. Fr Freeman will give a lecture at St Augustine college on the contemplative revolution needed in the christian tradition.

Catholic mom up for Mrs Africa ErIN cArELSE

A

Bishop Pius Mlungisi Dlungwane of Mariannhill ordained Fr Sibongakonke Gcwaba (left) and Deacon Mlindo Brian Nzama (third left) in St Joseph’s cathedral. With them is (right) Fr Paul Manci, administrator of the cathedral. (Photo courtesy Fr Bhkeki Shabalala cMM) Fr John thompson SDB cuts a cake to mark his 40th anniversary of ordination, with the help of the baker, at robertsham parish in Johannesburg.

(Photo: Sheldon reddiar)

C

ELEBRATING 40 years of his priesthood, Salesian Father John Thompson recalled his journey from growing up in the United States to becoming a missionary in war-ravaged countries before landing up in Robertsham, Johannesburg, where a jubilee Mass was celebrated.

The celebration also marked his 50 years as a Salesian, having entered the congregation at 18.

The Mass was concelebrated by some of the priests whom Fr Thompson had interacted with in West Africa and in Southern Africa, including Salesian Fathers Vincent Nguyen, Mikal Garmendia, Robert Gore and Michael Connell, as well as Fr Jorge Guerra CS of La Rochelle parish.

Fr Thompson recalled how in his mid-teen years he desired to become a Salesian priest. He joined a secondary school in New York and studied in New Jersey. Her then taught secondary education at two Salesian schools, graduated in theology and was ordained a priest in 1978.

Lolo Nkamankeng of St Francis parish in yeoville, Johannesburg, sees the Mrs Africa pageant as a way to empower women. ers in the world.

Michelle was seven when her first book, Waiting for the Waves, was published, and she has been featured in The Southern Cross.

Mrs Nkamankeng comes from a big family with strong Catholic roots and is the firstborn of five children.

“I am a proud and devout Catholic and a former parish pas-

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Salesian’s double jubilee By roy NEWtoN-BArkEr

JOHANNESBURG Catholic sees her nomination as a Mrs Africa 2020 finalist as an opportunity to empower and inspire other women.

Laurentina “Lolo” Nkamankeng, a businesswoman from St Francis of Assisi parish in Yeoville, said she was encouraged by her children to enter.

“My children saw the pageant and said I should enter it. By nature I’m an outgoing and adventurous person and saw this as a challenge so I took myself out of my comfort zone,” Mrs Nkamankeng told Radio Veritas’ Sheila Pires.

Upon Lolo’s arrival in South Africa in 2004 she came across a fellow Cameroonian, Paul, who was studying at Wits University. They married and have four children: three girls and a boy.

Her son is autistic, and Mrs Nkamankeng does public speaking to help raise awareness of autism.

She is also a life and relationship coach, an entrepreneur, mentor, and executive director of the Michelle Nkamankeng Foundation.

The foundation was named after her daughter Michelle, who became Africa’s youngest published author and one of the Top 10 youngest writ-

toral council chair,” she said.

“My parish in Yeoville is very blessed as we have parishioners from all over Africa, from Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Malawi, so we are rich in culture and diversity. We learn a lot from each other, and when we have gatherings we get to try each other’s traditional foods,” she said.

The Mrs Africa pageant was started in 2006 by Carolyn Botha, CEO of Pageants SA. The aim of the pageant, organisers say, is to create a platform which showcases the unique qualities of African women.

Finalists and titleholders are encouraged to make a difference in their communities and support local charities.

“I see Mrs Africa as a platform and an opportunity to open doors for me across Africa so that I can continue to do good,” Mrs Nkamankeng said.

“I want to empower women and let them know that no matter who they are or where they come from, if they follow their dreams and believe in themselves, they can achieve. All women should be the best version of themselves: love yourself just the way you are,” she said.

The Mrs Africa crowning will take place on November 2, and voting is open until the end of October.

He then started serving God as a missionary priest “in the bush” in war-ravaged Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, where he built several churches and schools.

Fr Thompson faced several lifethreatening situations due to his outspoken issues on human rights violations and was often jailed.

He was then transferred to Swaziland and in 2009 appointed to South Africa. After two months in Cape Town, he eventually came to Robertsham, where life was generally much more “normal” for a priest.

In late 2018, Fr Thompson accepted a new position in Lesotho where he is again facing the challenge of leading an impoverished community and learning the local language.

Many of his old Johannesburg parishioners enthusiastically contributed towards a fund-raising effort for Fr Thompson’s Lesotho parish.

Special guests at the jubilee Mass and dinner were Fr Thompson’s younger brother, Paul and his wife Grace, who had arrived earlier that day from the United States.

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the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

LOCAL

3

Priest to Jo’burg mayor: Time to fix the mess

By ErIN cArELSE

A

PRIEST has called on the mayor of Johannesburg to deliver on the promises made during the elections and to take decisive action with regard to the deteriorating safety situation in the Rosettenville and La Rochelle areas.

Fr Jorge Guerra, parish priest at St Patrick’s in La Rochelle Johannesburg, a century-old parish run by the Scalabrini congregation for the last ten years, wrote the letter—together with his assistant priests, pastoral and financial councils, ministries and groups—to Mayor Herman Mashaba (Democratic Alliance), calling for action.

In the letter, Fr Guerra speaks about his concerns in the area, and how it both saddens and pains him.

One of these is the increase in gangsterism.

“There is an increase of gangsterism in the area and also at the local schools, which led to the murders of two scholars this year,” the priest wrote.

“This is very disturbing to our youth. We know that schooling is

close to your heart and hope that we can find a way to get the discipline, morals and teaching back at our schools,” he told the mayor.

There have also been cases of crime at their church and in the surrounding area.

“Our parishioners have been a constant target of crime in and around the church area, with an armed robbery of two ladies happening inside the church during their quiet time,” Fr Guerra wrote.

“Vehicles continue to be vandalised and items either being broken or stolen, such as mirrors and badges,” he said.

T

he church has also experienced several break-ins, with expensive sound equipment being stolen.

“Our parishioners are very committed to their faith and the wellbeing of the church, and even in these tough economic times, [they] make every effort to support the church financially,” Fr Guerra said.

“We cannot, therefore, allow these hard-earned efforts to just be stolen from us.”

In terms of service delivery, Fr view of the residents, including Guerra said the garbage continues to children and even the police, who, Fr Guerra reported, seem to mount on the street corners, turn a blind eye to the sitwhich is a health hazard, uation. and hawkers make a Many clubs have mess even with counalso opened up in the cil workers cleaning area, with alcohol up twice a day. being consumed on Fr Guerra noted the streets and unthat most of the hygienic cooking time, the street practices on the lights in the road in pavements. Prostiwhich the church is tution is also ramlocated are not pant on the streets. working.

“We have repeatedly reported the ecently, one of matter, got the referthe priests disence numbers—but covered an informal without any resolve. settlement just beFr Jorge Guerra of St This is of great conhind the racecourse Patrick’s in La rochelle, cern for our parishnear the church.

Johannesburg, has taken ioners, who have to “We visited the the city’s mayor to task over attend evening servsite to see how we safety in the area. ices or meetings, and could help, but this results in poor attenis too big and defidance for the fear of being mugged nitely one for the council to sort in the dark,” he noted in the letter. out. There is just no management Drugs are another concern in the of the sites, with blocked sewers area. They are openly traded in full everywhere. There is also a major

R

health risk with an infestation of rats, and there is filth everywhere,” Fr Guerra told the mayor.

“The situation is inhumane and tugs at the heart of the priests and church,” he said.

The parish’s charity project currently feeds more than 500 hungry people weekly with soup. In needy cases, they provide clothing, blankets, school fees, medical attention, and rental payments. Food parcels are distributed weekly to more than 100 desperate families.

In the next few months, the Scalabrini congregation together with the Jesuits, medical doctors and Three-2-Six will launch a project to help the local community with English lessons, an employment access desk, training courses, volunteer projects, and medical assistance.

Fr Guerra ended his letter by saying: “It is now time for the authorities to take decisive action, and we are ready to roll up our sleeves and help in whatever way we can, to improve the living conditions of our people.”

Unemployed youths ready for work

By ErIN cArELSE

S

Drum majorettes from St Dominic’s catholic School for Girls in Boksburg, Gauteng, won both the primary and high school sections in the elite league of the SA Majorette and cheerleading Association national championships. the primary school team, known as “the Saintees”, is coached

by Alisha Venter, Jenna-Lee van Niekerk and Matthew higgs. the high school team, “the Saints” is trained by Allan Donaldson.

Members of St Anne’s sodality process into Polokwane cathedral at a welcoming Mass for its new members. (Photo: corrys Makgotho)

New sodality members for Polokwane

By SELBy MAkGotho

T

HE St Anne’s sodality at the cathedral in Polokwane welcomed new members into its ranks at a vibrant and religiously-charged ceremony.

Polokwane diocese’s vicar-general and cathedral administrator Fr Clemens Selemela performed the welcoming ceremony and had words of encouragement for the new members.

Fr Selemela expressed hope that the fact that most of the new members were much younger than the average age was a true demonstration of the growth of the St Anne sodality at the cathedral.

“We are delighted to see much younger mothers joining the ranks of St Anne’s. This is inspiring particularly as the world grapples with the challenge of the mushrooming of many churches,” he said.

“Your joining of St Anne’s today is a spear and shield to defend the Catholic faith.”

The St Anne is one of the old sodalities in the Church and to see it growing in numbers is pleasing, Fr Selemela said.

OME 23 unemployed youth from disadvantaged and at-risk areas in Cape Town graduated after participating in a life-skills course that will enable them to work in the maritime industry.

They took part in the Waves of Change Programme run by the Salesian Institute Youth Projects (SIYP).

The graduates will now go on to complete the stipulated requirements to work at sea.

Through strategic partnerships, SIYP assists these youths to be compliant to work in the maritime industry, by facilitating key requirements such as obtaining the medical examination; safety familiarisation; marine first aid; marine fire fighting and fire prevention; personal survival techniques; personal safety; and social responsibility.

SIYP also helps them obtain the crucial Seaman’s records books.

young graduates of the Salesians’ Waves of change Programme display their certificates enabling them to work in the maritime industry.

The Waves of Change programme caters for unemployed youth between 18 and 35 years old.

A total of 216 young men and women completed the course in 2018 and 60% were placed into jobs, which is an ongoing project. This

year, SIYP managed to help 53 youth to complete the full required process.

Securing funding is a key focus for SIYP to sustain this programme. n For further information contact 021 425-1450 or e-mail info@salesian youth.org.za

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the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

African bishops want to be a sign of hope

By BroNWEN DAchS

A

FRICA’S bishops pledged to work together to ensure that the continent’s resources serve development and peace of all people.

Delivering the homily at the closing Mass of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SEACAM), SACBC president Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Umtata said that “there must be new beginnings in our lives that demonstrate that we are truly pilgrims making a journey toward God, growing in holiness.”

He urged young people to “keep doing what is good...because you will not only save yourself, but you will also save others.”

“Afro-pessimism, where everything bad is associated with Africa,” and “Afro-optimism, which tends to romanticise Africa as paradise,” should be replaced by realism, Bishop Sipuka said.

“See what is not going well” and name it, but “also see what is good and be encouraged by it,” he said.

“Building on the strength of what is good, we can be encouraged to deal and overcome what is evil.”

Before and after the Mass, Catholic worshippers sang as they drummed and danced outside the shrine.

In their final message from the meeting, the bishops committed themselves to helping young people “to be more deeply rooted in the values of the Gospel in order to prevent them from engaging in all forms of fundamentalism and violence”.

Pastoral care of the family “so that it can bear prophetic witness within the society” emerged as another priority for SECAM members, as is strengthening ecumenical and interfaith relationships, the message said.

Participants also said they would “deepen collaboration with our political leaders and call them to ac-

countability so as to put our human and natural resources at the service of development, reconciliation, justice and peace”.

Attention will be given to “migrants, refugees and all who are still victims of slavery and human trafficking”, the message said.

The bishops urged “missionary exchange among the different dioceses of the continent, particularly with those in North Africa.”

“We urge Christian communities to be more attentive to interpersonal relationships, to sharing, to the struggle against misery; to be involved in the pastoral care of health, both spiritual and physical; and to be committed to responding to integral ecological challenges of our time,” the message said.

Headquartered in Accra, Ghana, SECAM includes 40 national and regional groups of Catholic bishops in Africa.

Church blames Israel government for fire threat to historic church

A

FTER a fire threatened the church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor in Galilee, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land accused Israeli authorities of neglecting the facility, which does not have a regular supply of water nor a proper sewage system.

The forest fire began at the foot of the wooded Mount Tabor, where the transfiguration of Christ is believed to have taken place.

As the fire advanced towards the church, the monks at the basilica were safely evacuated. No fatalities were recorded The Franciscan basilica receives hundreds of thousands of pilgrims a year. In a statement signed by the Franciscan custos, Fr Francesco Patten, the Franciscan Custody accused the Israeli government of

church of the transfiguration on Mount tabor. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) negligence, saying the spread of the fire “is a direct consequence of the state’s neglect of the basic infrastructure of Mount Tabor”.

“For years, Christian churches

have warned the authorities and demanded a normal water supply to the top of the mountain, as provided by law,” Fr Patten said.

“Ensuring the freedom of worship and access to holy sites includes the duty to supply basic services, and safeguard the lives of the monks and visitors there,” he said.

Mount Tabor is where tradition places the Gospels account of Christ taking three of his disciples—Peter, John and James—atop the mountain where he was transfigured before them in heavenly splendour, and spoke to the prophets Moses and Elijah, who appeared alongside him.

The Franciscans built the basilica of the Transfiguration of Christ in 1924, designed by the master architect Antonio Barluzzi.

A man kneels in prayer during Mass at St Famille church in kigali, rwanda. catholic church officials and the rwandan government have been in talks to reach an agreement on the use of contraception and abortion in state-run health facilities. (Photo: Noor khamis, reuters/cNS)

Rwanda church clashes with state on contraception

By JoNAthAN LuxMoorE

R

WANDA’s Church said it hopes to reach agreement with the government of President Paul Kagame after senior officials accused the Church of hampering birth control policy by refusing contraception and abortion at its hospitals and clinics.

“What’s important is for people to know we are in a dialogue. Once we are done with talks, we’ll come up with a clear agreement,” Bishop Philippe Rukamba of Butare, bishops’ conference president, told Rwanda’s The New Times daily.

“Under our current accord, we have many provisions, from use of medicines to management of staff and infrastructure, and in these ongoing talks, we will also discuss the provision of family planning services,” the bishop said. “Without dialogue, people start being confrontational, and that isn’t needed.”

Bishop Rukamba spoke after meeting government officials in the capital Kigali to discuss accusations that Catholic teaching was impeding government attempts to restrict population growth.

In a meeting at the parliament,

Rwanda’s health minister, Diane Gashumba, said she had attempted to “educate the Church” about the need for “full family planning services”, including contraception, at all health facilities, but said the Church was “frustrating efforts to control births” by “allowing only natural contraception”.

“We can’t continue with a situation where health care professionals trained and paid by the government can’t do their job because the Church has prevented them,” the minister told legislators.

“Our many consultations with Church leaders haven’t produced any useful results. It’s time our constitution was respected and our country’s laws enforced, since dialogue with the Church hasn’t worked,” she said.

Rwanda is Africa’s most densely populated country. Catholics comprise half of the country’s 12,2 million people.

The Church runs a third of all hospitals and clinics, many with state-paid medical staff, although many Catholic facilities adjoin government-run “health posts” that provide contraception and abortion.—CNS

New abuse protocols for Vatican City State By cAroL GLAtz

V

contact Vocation coordinator on 072 989 2286 nardvocprom1855@gmail.com

For itinerary see www.fowlertours.co.za/mauritius

Facebook: Franciscan Nardini Sisters of the holy Family

ATICAN City State will have its own reporting system in place before the end of the year for flagging suspected cases of the abuse of minors and vulnerable people and instances of coverup or negligence in handling such cases, the Vatican said.

In the meantime, Mgr Robert Oliver was appointed to be the contact person for people with information or concerns about potential cases of abuse and cover-up within the Vicariate of Vatican City State, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported.

Mgr Oliver, a US canon lawyer, is the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

He was appointed to be the contact person for anyone who “may have information or suspicions that a minor or a vulnerable person may be at risk of abuse or may have been subjected to it as part of pastoral activities of the vicariate as well as knowledge of any act of negligence by authorities”, the newspaper said.

Cardinal Angelo Comastri, papal vicar for Vatican City State, sent a letter to each head of a dicastery as well as “spiritual assistants” of Vatican City State, outlining procedures for reporting, the newspaper said.

“Within the year, the Vicariate of Vatican City will establish a public, permanent and easily accessible system for presenting reports concerning crimes and negligence dealing with the abuse of minors and vulnerable people,” it said.

“The system will be gradually incorporated with the measures adopted by other relevant bodies, in particular those spelled out” in the safeguarding guidelines for the Vicariate of Vatican City, it added.

The five-page set of guidelines, which were approved by Pope Francis in March, applies to all areas and all clergy, chaplains, assistants, employees or volunteers of the vicariate.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

Roman basilica dedicated to 20th century martyrs O N an island in Rome’s Tiber River, there is a basilica devoted to the Christian martyrs of the 20th century, the bloodiest century in the history of the Catholic Church.

Flanked on either side by relics of Christians martyred under Communism and Nazism respectively, the main altar of the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island connects the tradition of Rome’s apostolic martyrs to the persecution of Christians today.

The church was first commissioned in 998 by German Emperor Otto III to receive the remains of St Bartholomew, who was flayed alive for his faith, and St Adalbert, bishop of Prague who was martyred in 997 during the evangelisation of Poland.

Today the basilica houses relics of the apostle and medieval evangelist alongside those of St Maximilian Kolbe martyred in Auschwitz, whose feast will be on August 14, and Sr Leonella Sgorbati, a missionary nurse in Somalia in the height of the country’s civil war. Her last words as she was murdered in 2006 were: “I forgive them, I forgive, I forgive.”

Fr Angelo Romano, rector of St Bartholomew on Tiber Island, said that the basilica has received more than 120 relics from the persecuted Christian communities of modern martyrs from around the world.

Many of the objects are secondclass relics, which are items, or fractions of an item, that a saint personally owned.

5

teresa Liu at St Michael church in Sydney, Australia. Ms Liu was imprisoned in china for 20 years because she was a member of the Legion of Mary. She has helped convert hundreds of chinese migrants to the faith in Australia. (Photo: catherine Sheehan/cNS)

Prisoner for her faith now converts hundreds

Pope Francis prays in the basilica of St Bartholomew on tiber Island.

(Photo: Vatican Media) The basilica is currently working on a crypt museum to display the entire collection because the basilica’s side chapels—which preserve the memory of recent martyrs from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe—cannot fit them all.

“The stories of the martyrs are attractive. People want to know about them because they are very close to Jesus, and when you are close to Jesus, people love you,” Fr Romano said.

“These people, they forgave their own persecutors, like Jesus on the cross. This is the strength of love,” he said.

As a priest, Fr Romano said that he is challenged daily by the memory of the martyrs preserved in the

basilica. “The martyrs are questioning us as to the level of our coherence, the level of our commitment, the level of our spirituality,” he said.

“It is quite a challenge because first of all I knew one of them personally,” he explained.

Fr Romano was friends with Bl Giuseppe Puglisi, a parish priest in Palermo, who was murdered for speaking out against the mafia in 1993. His beatification “was a turning point in Sicily, for the whole society”, Fr Romano said.

Recently, the basilica acquired the breviary of Fr Jacques Hamel, who was killed in 2016 by ISIS terrorists in France while celebrating Mass.

“It is a story which continues,” Fr Romano said.—CNA

By cAthErINE ShEEhAN

A

WOMAN who spent 20 years imprisoned in China for being a faithful Catholic has helped hundreds of Chinese migrants convert to the faith in Australia.

Teresa Liu, now 86 and living in Sydney, was imprisoned in Guangzhou from 1957-77 by the Chinese communist government.

She was never given a trial and spent some of her sentence in solitary confinement—at one point for a period of seven months.

Denied access to the sacraments and the Bible throughout her incarceration, Ms Liu kept her faith alive by praying secretly in her cell.

“I could say the rosary only after I lie down in bed, secretly,” she said.

Ms Liu’s crime was being a mem-

ber of a Catholic lay organisation, the Legion of Mary, which was considered an “anti-revolutionary” group by the Chinese leaders.

Following her release, Ms Liu immigrated to Australia in 1980 with her husband, John Bosco Liu, who had been imprisoned for 22 years.

Now a devout and active parishioner at St Michael parish in Hurstville, in southern Sydney, Ms Liu has spent decades catechising Chinese migrants.

She was invested as a dame in the Equestrian Order of St Gregory in recognition of her “outstanding commitment to faith”—investiture in the order is the highest honour the church bestows on laypeople and is given in recognition of extraordinary service to the Church.— CNS

Cuban cardinal dies A PROUD Cuban who pressed for greater freedom for his Church and for an end to the US embargo on his homeland, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, retired archbishop of Havana, died on July 26 at the age of 82 in El Cobre, the city of Cuba’s major Marian shrine.

Serving as head of the archdiocese of Havana for almost 35 years pushed the cardinal into a prominent role as a spokesman for Cuban Catholics on national and international issues, but he also devoted much of his energy to supporting the island’s active Catholics and encouraging them as missionaries to their neighbours.

He spent eight months in a communist-government labour camp in 1966-67, but he went on to become a cardinal and to welcome Pope John Paul II to Cuba in 1998, Pope Benedict XVI in March 2012, and Pope Francis in September 2015 and again, briefly, the following February.

Cardinal Ortega used every opportunity possible to plead with the US government to end its economic blockade of his country, echoing the position of successive popes that the blockade was keeping thousands of people poor while doing little to pressure the Cuban government to expand freedoms and human rights.

In 2014, when it became clear that US President Barack Obama might be willing to loosen the embargo, Pope Francis gave two letters to Cardinal Ortega, asking him to deliver one to Cuban President Raúl Castro and the other to President Obama in the White House.

The Church’s mediation led to a temporary easing of the blockade, which was reversed by Mr Obama’s successor, Donald Trump.

As a public figure, Cardinal Ortega also devoted much energy to pressing his government to allow the Catholic Church in Cuba to have a public voice and to help serve the poor.

To have true religious freedom, he said, Cuban Catholics would need “to have the possibility of communicating with people by radio or television about their faith, the possibility of having Catholic schools or teaching religion in pub-

The

S outher n C ross

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cuban cardinal Jaime ortega.

(Photo: Enrique De La osa, reuters/cNS) lic schools, the right to have Church-run hospitals”.

The Catholic Church’s limited access to public spaces did not, however, dampen Cardinal Ortega’s push to evangelise; it simply meant that he knew sharing the Gospel was something that had to begin small, involve person-to-person contact and, often, service opportunities.

The cardinal was born in Jaguey Grande, Cuba, on October 18, 1936.

After seminary studies in Cuba and at the seminary of Foreign Missions in Québec, Canada, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1964.

His first assignment, as an associate pastor in Cardenas, was interrupted in 1966 when he was detained and sent to the agricultural forced labour camp After his release from the work camp, he returned to parish ministry, working in several parishes simultaneously because of a severe priest shortage in Cuba. Pope John Paul II named him bishop of Pinar del Rio in 1978 and archbishop of Havana in 1981. He was made a cardinal in 1994, Cuba’s second-ever.

In April 2016, Pope Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop of Havana.—CNS

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the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Transfer of feasts

T

HE patronal feast of South Africa, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven, is on August 15. This year the feast falls on a Thursday, and in Southern Africa the solemnity will therefore be transferred to the following Sunday.

As it is several times a year, but especially on the feast of the Assumption, there will be many complaints about the bishops taking liberties by shifting important feasts. Often these complaints are supplemented by observations that the act of transferring a feast serves to dilute its significance, the unity of the Church, and by extension the faith.

The bishops suggest that the decision to transfer feasts that are holy days of obligation—such as those of the Ascension, the Assumption or the Epiphany— from weekdays to Sundays meets a pastoral need.

Many people are unable to attend Mass on the actual feast days, due to work and family commitments, or because of long distances they would need to travel to church. Such people would, firstly, miss out on the celebration of the feast, and, secondly, risk incurring sin by failing to attend Mass on a holy day of obligation.

Since Catholics are obliged to attend Mass on Sundays, a day when most Catholics have more time than on a weekday, the risk of these eventualities is diminished when feasts are transferred from weekdays to Sundays.

Of course, it may be argued that Catholics turn out in great numbers for Ash Wednesday Masses, even though these by definition fall on a weekday.

Therefore, the reasoning goes, it should also be possible for Catholics to come to church on a weekday to celebrate important feasts.

But the bishops’ concern resides not with who could or might come to church, but with those who cannot, especially in rural areas where there are not churches in every suburb.

Since Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, Catholics are at liberty to miss out on Mass that day. For that reason, the bishops needn’t transfer that celebration.

One of the great attributes of the Catholic Church is its universality. Wherever in the world one goes to Mass, the liturgy and

the feasts in the Roman missal are the same—except where local saints are added (for example, as the Church in Southern Africa adds the feast of Bl Benedict Daswa to its liturgical calendar) and where solemnities are transferred.

I

n most traditionally Catholic countries, feasts such as the Assumption, the Ascension and Corpus Christi are still public holidays (a term derived from exactly such holy days of obligation), making it easily possible for the faithful to celebrate them on the given day, often with processions and other public shows of devotion.

However, in countries where such days are not public holidays, these feasts often are transferred. The idea that the bishops of Southern Africa are innovating in some way is misplaced.

Feasts that are days of obligation are likewise transferred in countries such as the United States, Australia or Denmark.

In any case, since the dates of these feasts were more or less arbitrarily appointed—we do not know the date of the Ascension of the Lord or the Assumption of Our Lady—what counts is not when they are observed but the spirit in which they are celebrated.

In a Southern Cross article published in 2016, Bishop Edward Risi of Keimoes-Upington, then in charge of the bishops’ liturgy department, suggested that transferred feasts might be seen as an opportunity to have two bites of the holy cherry: on the actual feast day and again on the Sunday to which the feast is moved.

The bishops “encourage priests and laity to use the traditional days of the solemnities for celebrations in Catholic schools, institutions like hospitals and old age homes”, Bishop Risi said at the time.

It is up to the parishes to offer Masses for the feast days on their actual day, using the particular liturgy—and if this is not offered, for parishioners to ask their priest to do so.

The bishops will need to make this more explicit and explain the reasons for transferring the solemnities more widely, even to priests, also giving guidance as to the correct use of liturgy on the actual feast day.

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.

Memories of my dear friend, Jean Vanier J

EAN Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche communities and Faith and Light, who died on May 7, and I became friends after he had visited South Africa in the early 1990s.

I paid three visits to him in Trosly Breuil in France, and saw him for the last time in 2008 when he came to bid farewell to his community of Faith and Light in South Africa, as he was retiring from being the International Representative of L’Arche and Faith and Light.

During one of my visits to Trosly Breuil he gave me a directed retreat, as he was also a retreat master. He was deeply immersed in Scripture.

What was so outstanding about him was his gentleness. It was inspiring to witness his way of communication with everyone. Whether one was an abled human being or mentally challenged or otherwise handicapped, everyone was treated like a precious child of God, with great love and tenderness.

I remember in a special way the love he showed to the community members of L’Arche in Trosly Breuil.

At the evening meal one day he was a bit late and everyone was seated.

Jean walked in, and I was amazed at the reaction of the people, handicapped and abled. Everyone

Redesign theology to fit LGBTI?

Letter-writer Moira Gilmore at table with Jean Vanier and friends on a visit to the L’Arche community at trosly Breuil in France. beamed and some of the handicapped people ran to hug him—and he was all smiles!

Looking at him reacting to the community members, I was struck by his humility and gentleness. The community honoured me by giving me a seat next to him (as the picture above shows).

His humility was also shown in that he took a turn to wash or dry the dishes after the evening meal.

He laughed one day and told me that they complained that he didn’t wash the dishes very cleanly!

He had a saying that friendships opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the catholic hierarchy. letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, cape town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

I

REFER to Br John Nhlanhla Mhlanga’s comments in the report (July 17) on the participation of St Joseph’s Theological Institute in a panel discussion at a Christian LGBTI conference in Durban.

It is important to be compassionate and in dialogue with those who identify and order themselves outside the bounds of the normative understanding of the uncontested biological science that mankind comprises two genders only.

However, Br Mhlanga’s call to “redesign theology” and his criticism of the way in which the Catechism phrases teaching on homosexuality cannot be left unchallenged.

The subject of gender confusion is a sensitive and vexed question, but it is worth pondering the following philosophical questions: How does a person “feel” like a member of the opposite sex if he or she is not of that opposite sex they say they are? How does one “feel” what is not evidenced and is contradicted by our biology? How do we define female or male “feelings” by those who are not biologically what they think they should be?

Are we not reducing human male and female persons into “things” that can be reconstructed depending on mere subjective “feelings” and desires that have no scientific or biological basis?

When a man negates his identity and proposes to “self-identify” as female, is he not denigrating womanhood itself, reducing it to a “thing”, as if women are devoid of the gifts of femininity, childbearing, nurturing, biology and physiology, and their being can arbitrarily be appropriated by any male person? Is being female “a mere gown that can be worn” by a male person and in so doing transform him into a female by mere association and identification?

And indeed, if the individual undergoes surgical transformation, does this not confirm that the person is not what their “feelings” imply? Surely medical treatment “adds” what is lacking rather than affirm what is “felt”?

Br Mhlanga says St Joseph’s is “deeply rooted in the Catholic ethos and faithful to the Catholic faith and teaching” and then, conversely, proposes “redesigning theological education” and cites that “the words of the Catechism…may be polarising”.

To be faithful to the teaching authority of the magisterium implies that we do not subjectively “redesign theological education” to

suit the prevailing social discourse.

The Church doesn’t condemn the sinner but seeks to teach and correct any disorder that undermines the dignity of the children of God. These days those who point out disorders of sin are easily excoriated as standing in judgment and harming the “dignity” of the sinner.

These kinds of responses are mostly used as a club to silence truth.

Our Lord understood our proclivity to fall prey to sin and thus forgave the woman caught in adultery. The story, however, does not end there. Our Lord offers a judgment of non-punishment, and in no uncertain terms charges the woman to “sin no more!”

The Church exceeds the boundaries of society and culture precisely because of her supernatural gifts to transform the sinner into a saint and thus her teachings are sacrosanct and cannot be changed to suit the prevailing culture.

Henry Sylvester, Cape Town

Editorial on our humanity superb

C

ONGRATULATIONS for a superb and heartening editorial “A test of humanity” (July 10).

It should be read by everyone, especially those of us who still have feelings warped by our lives in our political past.

Tony Hoffman, by e-mail

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are made around the kitchen sink. I also had my turn at the kitchen sink at L’Arche.

His first question to me every evening would be: “Did you spend some time with Jesus?” They had a little adoration room where one could reveal Jesus, exposed in a monstrance, by simply drawing a curtain.

Before 1994, I asked Jean why he had not yet opened a L’Arche home in South Africa. His response was: “Whom would I open it for?” He went on to explain that the fraternity, cooperation and love that exists in L’Arche houses would not be possible if there had to be raciallysegregated houses.

He did begin the Faith and Light ministry in South Africa, for couples with mentally or physically handicapped children. This was a means of support for the parents and integration for the children.

In his last days he said: “I am deeply peaceful and trustful. I am not sure what the future will be but God is good and whatever happens it will be the best. I am happy and give thanks for everything. My deepest love to each one of you.”

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the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

PERSPECTIVES

What it means to have freedom I TURNED my eyes to behold the sapphire waves in front of me. My toes wiggled in the sand and the sun covered my skin. I walked to the water and felt the sand turn into sea.

There were shells and there were rocks.

There was the mountain and the sky. From the woes of work and study and the worries of the world, I was at last, free.

Freedom to me is a trip to Cape Town as it is a welcome break from motorists with GP number plates who raise my blood pressure with their driving.

Freedom is a hot commodity in today’s world. We honour those who fight for it, we pray for those who lose it, and spend our working lives trying to get more of it.

But what does it mean to be free? The Supreme Court of the United States in defending the “right” of a mother to terminate the life of her unborn baby asserted the following: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe and the mystery of human life.”

What this statement reveals is the depth of desire that exists in the human heart for freedom. A desire so deep, it is at times twisted enough to attempt to “define one’s own concept of existence”.

While this reality-defying concept of freedom may appear to be rational, it is worth understanding what happens when we are not free.

Often when we think of the latter, we picture a man or woman unjustly impris-

oned, bound in chains and trapped behind bars. This is a very real aspect of the loss of freedom, but there are other less physically demanding but still very damaging ways that freedom is taken from us.

I am reminded here of George Orwell’s novel 1984, which depicts a world in which its inhabitants are under close surveillance. They are controlled through televisions and the watchful eye of Big Brother.

F

reedom exists not only when we frolic on the shores of Cape Town but also when we close our bedroom doors and switch on the lamp on the nightstand and have the room to ourselves to let our

“If we cannot imagine, dream or think for ourselves, then no matter the size of our houses or the comfort of our cars, we are not free,” writes Nthabiseng Maphisa.

Nthabiseng Maphisa

Pop culture catholic

minds wander.

If we cannot do that, if we cannot imagine, dream or think for ourselves, then no matter the size of our houses or the comfort of our cars, we are not free.

And certainly then, no definition of “one’s own concept of existence” is going to help. Doing so will result in the very same behaviour that restricts the freedom of others.

So what happens when the shackles are taken off and when the prison gates are opened?

I imagine that we are like children when the schools have closed for the holidays. For a brief moment we are freed from 6:00 alarms, ironing school shirts and the seemingly ceaseless flow of a thing called homework.

Children, in their happiest moments, are the best examples of how to be free.

They care only to enjoy, and they care not in how they are seen.

I want to be like an eagle that finds its freedom in the sky. I want to play like a child who ignores passers-by. Close to shore and watching the sea, you will find a lady seeking liberty.

Fake priests: What we can do S C T HERE was much shock, horror and trauma over the case of the imposter priest in Durban. This is not an isolated case: in fact, it happens quite regularly. So, what to do?

Firstly, we can remind ourselves of some basic missiology. Every Christian apostle is, by definition, one who is sent.

The sender is the Lord himself and the commission is given through the Church.

There is no such thing as an apostle who is on his or her own, privatised mission.

In the case of priests and religious, the Lord’s sending is done through the one appointed to send and supervise them— either a bishop or a superior.

Hence, if someone purporting to be a priest or religious were to turn up at the door of the seminary where I work and offer to join the staff—even if they were carrying a piece of paper to prove who they are—my first question would be why we had not been contacted by their superior.

In fact, experience has taught that anyone who simply turns up in a diocese or at the door of an institution offering their priestly or religious services, is almost certainly going to turn out to be a crook.

Next, a bit of useful Church history.

The monastic orders have long known of the danger of the gyrovague, the wandering “monk” who goes from monastery to monastery, taking advantage of the community’s hospitality.

Such people were and are disturbed, disaffected or plain con-artists. They have no missionary mandate; they have often long cut ties with their superiors; they are out of control and on the make.

Notice that I have not distinguished between validly ordained/vowed people and imposters. I think one of the reasons why the imposters can get away with their act is that we are not really surprised by the arrival of “arbitraries” at our door.

We just think that, oh dear, here is another of those ecclesiastical drifters.

Hence, if we dealt more firmly with the validly ordained and vowed gyrovagues, then the bogus ones would

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How w fake ‘priest’ conned local Church STAFF REPORTER

A

DURBAN parish is traumatised after a man who passed himself off as a Catholic priest in three South African dioceses was discovered to be a conman.

Emmanuel Kalenda Bukasa, a Congolese layman who presented himself as a priest from the archdiocese of Mbeya in Tanzania, was on the altar at Masses in the archdiocese of Durban, as well as in the dioceses of Umzimkulu and, reportedly,, Kimberley.

According to Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, Mr Bukasa produced a Letter of Introduction and a celebret (a letter from a bishop or superior confirming that a priest may obtain permission from another diocese to say Mass). Both were fraudulently signed in the name of the now-deceased Archbishop Evaristu Chengula of Mbeya, Tanzania.

T he Mas s e s a t w hi c h Mr B u k a s a w a s i ll ic itly on the altar included a Pentecost liturgy with Cardinal Napier and an ordination Mass with Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba in Umzimkulu, even participating in the laying of hands during the ordination rite.

At the parish of St Peter’s in Point, Durban, the fake priest “celebrated” weekday Mass and a 7:30 Sunday Mass, said parish priest Fr Georges Bidzogo SAC. There is one known case of Mr Bukasa violating the sacrament of Reconciliation, he said.

“I am indeed still traumatised by this event. I know most of our parishioners are traumatised as well. May God help us,” Fr Bidzogo told The Southern Cross.

“Let us pray for his conversion,” the priest added.

W h i l e t h e r e w a s n o n e g l i g e n c e i n a c c e pt ing Mr Bukasa’s false credentials, Fr Bidzogo called on the Church to adopt new screening policies, perhaps including secret codes in diocesan letterheads.

Fr Bidzogo said he became suspicious of Mr

Altar servers lead the recessional after a Mass to celebrate the 175th anniversary of St Patrick’s church in Makanda (formerly Grahamstown). (Photo: Catherine Parkinson)

Old SA church marks 175 years

BY SAMANTHA CAROLUS

Emmanuel Kalenda Bukasa, who fraudulently presented himself as a priest in the archdiocese of Durban, with Cardinal Wilfrid Napier at the feast of Pentecost.

Bukasa early on.

“Very regularly he spoke about the Mass stipend, the priest’s allowance. Yo ou could see a man whose focus was not on the ministry of priesthood but on money,” he recalled.

“He would stay after Mass to speak to the parishioners, but it was more about inviting himself to their homes to bless them. And he would not be shy to ask them for money during or before those visits.”

When he would fail to secure an invitation, he’d become aggressive, Fr Bidzogo said.

“It was ver y disgusting to hear all that from people.”

He started taking important responsibilities of the priestly ministry from Mr Bukasa, he said, adding that he voiced his misgivings to Cardinal Napier after the Pentecost Mass.

Continued on page 3

O

NE of South Africa’s oldest Catholic churches celebrated its landmark 175th anniversary with a special Mass.

The Mass at St Patrick’s church in the university town of Makanda (formerly Grahamstown) was celebrated by parish priest Fr Gerry O’Reilly with visiting priest Fr Anthony Egan SJ. The Mass featured petitions and hymns in languages as diverse as isiXhosa, Afrikaans, English, Shona and Chichewa.

Established in 1838, the parish is ser ves permanent or temporary residents, including students and scholars at the university or one of the many schools in the area.

St Patrick’s serves three other parishes: St Mary’s, St Peter Claver and St Joseph’s. Parishioners from each of these came to share in the celebrations.

The Catholic Church was established in the Eastern Cape in July 1838 upon the arrival of Bishop Raymund Griffiths, who was the first resident vicar-apostolic at the Cape of Good Hope.

The decision was made to make Grahamstown the seat of the Catholic mission.

There was no Catholic priest to attend to the Catholic soldiers of the 27th British Regi-

ment. A Franciscan, Fr Burke, was given £100 to start a church and a school.

Fr Burke died within only a year of service.

Just a few days before his death, recently-ordained Fr Murphy had arrived from Ireland to assist Fr Burke.

Fr Murphy assumed the position of leading the community and proved to be an excellent priest who maintained a close relationship with the Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers, an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army.

This helped him built the mother church of the Eastern Cape.

A grant of land was secured and Bishop Griffiths returned to lay the foundation stone on July 30, 1839.

The building has a distinctly military character and resembles the ancient Battle Abbey in Hastings, England, with its crenellations.

The actual construction of the church was undertaken by Fr Murphy and the officers and men of the Inniskillings.

Bishop Griffiths dedicated the church on July 21, I844. Soon St Patrick’s became a procathedral and the seat of the new vicar-apostolic of the Eastern Cape, Bishop Aidan Devereux. His successors, Bishops Patrick Moran and James Ricards, also had their seat there.

Continued on page 2

the front-page of The Southern Cross in which we reported on fake priest Emmanuel kalenda Bukasa. In his article, Fr chris chatteris SJ offers some advice about how to spot fake priests and religious, and what to do about them. have less “camouflage”. But we don’t. We tolerate them to the detriment of the People of God who end up being exploited and confused.

So, one of the reasons why people pass themselves off as priests and religious is simply that they can, and we in the institutional Church make it easier for them.

A

nother blindingly obvious reason why we have bogus priests and religious conning the Church is money.

Why do people impersonate doctors?

Because it pays, and rather well. For the bogus priest or religious, the rewards might not be quite that of a doctor, but let’s face it, the person in the cassock or habit must be one of the few people in society upon whom people will sometimes spontaneously press cash simply because of who they are.

Here, priests and religious, especially priests I think, need to examine their

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consciences and ask to what extent we have encouraged this. What is our public image? Do we come across as frugal and simple? Is our lifestyle a temptation to the con-artist?

Finally, they do it because of the gratifying sense of power that it gives.

We priests seem often to put ourselves on the theological and institutional pedestal that I thought the Gospel warns us to resist.

Clericalism is back, or perhaps it never really went away. So, not only does it pay financially to posture as a priest, but one can also preen oneself up there on the hierarchical high ground!

These then are my recommendations.

• If someone comes out of the blue claiming to be a priest and/or religious, google the diocese or order they claim to come from and phone up to check them out.

This is not an onerous task. It took me two or three clicks to find the contact information for Mbeya diocese, where the Durban imposter said he was from.

• And let us not hesitate to make an example of imposters. or even genuine priests and religious, who try to exploit us.

If the civil law can be invoked, invoke it. For example, was the man who said he was from Mbeya in the country legally?

• In the medium term, deal with the enabling environment of a Church in which priests and religious seem to be able to wander about at will like mavericks. A firmer policy is needed with this troublemaking category and much wider and more effective sharing of information.

• In the long term, work with Pope Francis to discourage high-living clericalism among priests and religious so that con-artists will be less tempted by ecclesiastical status, standing and affluence.

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7

Fr Pierre Goldie

christ in the World

Whatever our job, God is boss

I

N the Book of Genesis we read: “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” ((2:28ff).

Happily, we have obeyed the first command, to be fruitful and fill the earth (although not always in the marital state).

Humankind is also instructed to be masters of all living creatures on earth and use the seed-bearing plants for providing for our basic necessities.

We are co-creators with God, stewards of creation, meant to use these gifts and our talents to provide for our needs. We have the honour and dignity of being co-creators in finishing off an unfinished world.

Work is more than providing for our human needs, it is a participation in God’s creative activity, as well as being a service to humankind. The Lord is in effect our employer.

It is our responsibility and right to develop all of creation by intelligent effort. Properly organised, work should also be a source of human and spiritual growth, apart from providing for our physical needs.The fact that Jesus worked, adds more nobility to the world of work.

The words “subdue the earth” are laden with meaning, referring to the complex world of work, an activity meant for humankind before the Fall from Grace.

The fact that this world is now characterised by tensions and problems is a result of humankind’s Fall, but work was never a punishment for “original sin”.

In Matthew, Jesus talks about the Father’s providence with confidence. The reality of hunger, inadequate amenities, poor health care and other deficiencies for billions of people means that God’s providence is somehow being stifled, contradicted (6:25-34).

One of the Church’s documents on Catholic Social Teachings, Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno, of 1931, sees the fundamental reason for injustice and variance from Christian principles in social and economic matters as rooted in “the disorderly affection of the soul, a sad consequence of original sin”.

T

he world of work is riddled with tensions, inequities, dishonesty and sheer greed. There is also much to compliment: the amazing ingenuity, discipline, research and hard work, “subduing” the earth to provide amazing goods and services for humankind.

Pope Pius’ letter marked 40 years of the release of Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking document Rerum Novarum, in which the Church first spoke openly about the world of work in a special encyclical.

Pope John Paul II picked up that theme 90 years after Rerum Novarum. His 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens (“In the Exercise of Labour”) deals extensively with the world of work.

The pope avers that work is for man, not man for work; it is not an impersonal force; and the person is not a mere factor of production in the overall equation of work. It serves also to develop the person, not just to provide products.

The dehumanised conditions of employment during the industrial revolution, and the massive inequities which characterise the world economies today have drawn extensive comment from the Church.

Pope Francis has called for a social economy, not socialism. If our creator God has provided the resources for us, why is there hunger, poor or nonexistent medical care, chronic unemployment and lack of basic amenities?

I heard a person on the radio contend that business and work do not mix. Ironically, that person was the chief executive of a magazine that presents soft pornography. Perhaps they did not want their conscience to be bothered!

There is the discipline of business ethics, often a course within business studies. There are also extensive writings by the Church, in its Catholic Social Teachings, and economists looking at economies through humanistic lens, not sheer profit maximisation.

Economics, whether anchored to capitalism or Marxism, is replete with values that can be labelled as religious and social. These disciplines are not value-free, scientific disciplines, as they make themselves out to be. There is no value-free study—all is built on a platform of values, explicitly or implicitly. A student even did a doctoral degree on values found in mathematics!

Business is an essential site for incarnation of Christian values. Jesus refers to the astuteness of the children of this world.

We children of light need to match this wisdom and provide answers to profoundly challenging issues.

8

the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

COMMUNITY

Grade 11 candidates from Marist Brothers Linmeyer in oakdene, Johannesburg, and St Patrick’s parish in La rochelle received the sacrament of confirmation from Auxiliary Bishop Duncan tsoke. three Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood celebrated their jubilees at Mariannhill. they are (front from left) Srs Amanda raich (60 years), Eugenia Ntombela (50 years), and Sebalda kienast (60 years). the celebrating nuns are pictured with (back from left) provincial superior Sr Immaculate Ndolvu, a cMM novice from zambia, Bishop Pius Dlungwane, and Fr Mthembeni Mtambo, assistant priest of St Joseph’s cathedral. (Submitted by Sr Fadzai cPS)

Grade 3 netball girls at St teresa’s Junior Primary School in craighall Park, Johannesburg, participated in the annual interhouse netball festival. Marian house (yellow) came first, McAuley (red) second and Lourdes (green) third.

Send your photos to

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holy rosary Primary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, celebrated its annual parents’ Mass, with the theme being “Love in the home”.

Pictured are rcIA candidates, with parish priest Fr callistus Nwosu SDV, who made their commitment to the church at St kevin’s parish in Windvogel, Port Elizabeth. they are (front from left) tarryn Booysen, kenan Fortune and catherine Merringhton and (back from centre) Lee-roy Pietersen and Sharlton Fortune.

(Submitted by Jolindon Petersen)

catholic Women’s League members of St Francis xavier parish in Bluff, Durban, spent a Saturday morning having tea and cake with priests at Sabbon house, the retirement home for oblates. (Submitted

by Nickole Whittock) Pictured are some of the Green Point, cape town, parishioners, at the home of Gianni and teresa omodeo, who participated in a rosary rally with the statue of our Lady led by Bernard and Bernadette tuffin.

Mater Domini launches the Circle of Friends “100 Club” Planned giving initiative.

Mater Domini is well known for its good work across the Cape Peninsula, providing vital services to Women in Crisis Pregnancy.

Join the 'The Mater Domini Circle of Friends 100 Club'. – donate at least r100 per month Please join hands with us and help us to make a strong start to this initiative!

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Or contact us at: E-mail: communications@materdomini.net Tel: 021 6716008 - Cell: 079 8916749

Puleng Lebata celebrated her 70th birthday with catechism children at our Lady of the rosary parish in thabong, Welkom, kroonstad diocese. (Submitted by David rasello)

the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

FAITH

9

How Our Lady helped win a war A century ago, Russia attempted to overrun Poland as an entry to taking over Europe — but the communists didn’t reckon with Our Lady on the feast of her Assumption, as PAuL SuSkI and LukE hASINSkI explain.

the first won by the Poles in that war. The news of the priest having led the victorious line with the cross spread overnight.

Nobody expected that this event would be a turning point of the war.

Apparitions of Our Lady

V

ICTORY in battle, the First Book of Maccabees says, “does not depend on who has the largest army; it is the Lord’s power that determines the outcome (3:9).

The extraordinary apparition of Our Lady in Poland on August 15, 1920—the feast of the Assumption—is not well-known among Catholics belonging to Anglo-Saxon culture.

And that’s no wonder: even in Poland it was kept quiet for decades, uncomfortable for both sides of Polish political scene in the mid-war period, since most of leading politicians were freemasons and the communist governments after the Second World War openly declared its opposition to religion.

However, 47 years before that event, Polish mystic Wanda Malczewska in a private revelation obtained this prophetic Marian message: “As soon as Poland regains her independence, shortly her longstanding oppressors will rise against her. But my young army, fighting in my name, will overcome them, push them far away and finally will force to make peace. I will help them.”

It is worth emphasising here that Mary the Queen of Poland indicated the precise time of her supernatural intervention: it would be on a August 15.

Inevitable disaster For the Bolsheviks, in the full swing of their revolutionary enthusiasm, the advance to the West was an ideological necessity.

Bourgeois Poland was a mere bridge to be crossed in order to link communist Russia with Germany, which was on the brink of revolution.

Lenin called for ruthless victory.

The Red Army Command was absolutely certain that the defeat of the cornered and isolated Warsaw was only a matter of days.

Even the communist press prematurely announced the fall of the capital.

Russian commander Mikhail Tukhachevsky had no doubt of his sweeping victory as the Polish army had been retreating in panic for six weeks, making about 16km daily.

The boldness of his drive west-

Jerzy kossak’s painting “the Miracle on the Vistula” shows Soviet soldiers fleeing in fear as our Lady appears to them. two Marian apparitions are credited with securing Poland’s victory over the red Army in 1920. had the Soviets won, they planned to spread communism throughout Europe. ward was the key to his success.

Moreover the Soviet High Command dispatched 60 000 men as reinforcements.

As the last resort the relics of a patron saint of Poland, Bl Andrzej Bobola (a Jesuit martyr whom Pius

XI would canonise in 1938) and the patron saint of Warsaw, St Ladislaus of Gielniów (a 15th-century Franciscan) were displayed for public homage.

The people of Poland realised that only a miracle could save their country from annihilation. Their faith was tested to the extreme.

Two crucial days Friday, August 13: The Bolsheviks conquered Radzymin and its nearby villages. Resting only 23 km east of Warsaw, the capital was within a stone’s throw.

At this time Poland’s Marshal Józef Pilsudski, the commander-inchief, tried desperately to raise morale of tired and demoralised soldiers, but all in vain.

To make it worse, logistics were a nightmare. The Polish army was equipped with guns made in five different countries and rifles manufactured in six, each of them using different kinds of ammunition.

All diplomatic missions were evacuated to the city of Poznan, about 300km west from Warsaw.

Only the Vatican’s nunciature remained in Warsaw as nuncio Archbishop Achille Ratti (soon to become Pope Pius XI) made a decision to meet the Antichrist one on one.

He appealed for worldwide public prayers for Poland. In Warsaw, people dropped to their knees in droves. The churches weren’t big enough to hold the crowds engrossed in prayer.

French general Maxim Weygand later said: “I have never in my life seen such a prayer as in Warsaw that time.”

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The showdown Saturday, August 14: As the day broke, the Bolsheviks started the offensive and easily overran Polish positions.

Murderous fire of their machine guns ruthlessly mowed down fleeing young and inexperienced Polish soldiers.

Many of them were students of Warsaw schools who a couple of days before had volunteered to defend their homeland.

During a Polish counter-offensive at Ossów, on the outskirts of Warsaw, young army chaplain Fr Ignacy Skorupka, led the extended line to meet wheezing bullets of the enemy.

He moved ahead holding a wooden crucifix. After a while Fr Skorupka was killed by a Russian bullet, uttering as his last words “for God and for homeland”.

That’s the version of the Polish command; another telling of the priest’s end has it that the priest died after being hit by a stray bullet while he was anointing a mortally injured soldier.

The battle of Ossów was one of

Monument to Fr Ignacy Skorupka in Warsaw. the young army chaplain reportedly died leading soldiers in a counter-attack against the red Army while holding a crucifix.

Sunday, August 15: Many accounts report the appearance of Our Lady at approximately the same time in two different locations near Warsaw.

According to the memoirs of Cardinal Alexander Kakowski, the archbishop of Warsaw at the time, Russian soldiers reported seeing “the Mother of God above a priest vested in surplice and holding a cross”.

In another instance, during a night charge by Lieutenant Stanislav Pogonowski, Russian soldiers saw a holy female figure, soaring high above the ground. There was a halo round her head. Blue lapels of her coat were blowing in the wind, covering the glare of Warsaw.

She was holding a sort of a shield which deflected Russian bullets.

The Red Army lost the Battle of Warsaw.

A month later, a second apparition was reported.

On the night of September 1516, 1920, the Soviets were advancing again.

Again, the Polish people prayed through the night in vigils and processions in the churches of Warsaw.

September 15 was the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Polish forces invoked the help of Our Lady of Czestochowa.

Again, Russian soldiers witnessed the apparition of Our Lady of Czestochowa in the sky.

Polish witnesses testified that they met terrified, bug-eyed, almost insane Red Army soldiers on retreat, beseeching them to hide them from the Tsarina, Mother of God. They were subsequently examined by medics and doctors who worked in POW camps. All available reports say that Our Lady appeared solely to the Red Army troops.

After two years of fighting, the Polish-Russian War ended on October 12, 1920.

The Red Army had suffered the only unredeemed defeat in its distinguished history. Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin called it “an enormous defeat” for his forces.

Lenin had seen victory over Poland as the key to building a “Red Bridge” into the rest of Europe— Poland’s victory over the Soviets in 1920 stopped the spread of communism to Europe.

Eventually, a peace treaty was signed in Riga on March 18, 1921, guaranteeing Poland’s borders— until the invasion by Nazi Germany in 1939.

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Top anti-abuse expertt to speak in South Affrica

BY ERIN CARELSE

O

NE of the Vatican’s point men in comb a t i n g a b u s e i n t h e C h u rc h w i l l a d dress the bishops of Southern Africa and various archdioceses in August.

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, will address the bishops at their August plenar y in Mariannhill.

The theme of his address is “Impact of Abuse and Pastoral Care of Sur vivors, Danger of Revictimisation”.

“Having Fr Zollner address the bishops is ver y important, and is also the biggest highlight at the plenary this year,” said Fr Patrick Rakeketsi CSS, associate secretar y-general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).

After the plenary,, Fr Zollner will also be travelling across the region’s metropolitan sees—Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, and Pretoria—to give talks and visit local dioceses to ensure they respond adequately to reports of abuse as they may arise.

Recognised for his tireless work for the prevention of sexual abuse in the Church, Fr Zollner gives worldwide workshops and guides committees to advocate for policies that can protect children, and trains future leaders who will fight abuse.

SACBC secretar y-general Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS, who is also a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors with Fr Zollner, said that the bishops would gain a lot from the German priest’s experience in this field.

“Fr Zollner is such a dynamic person and the passion that he has for the work of safeguarding is amazing. With that passion he will be able to encourage the bishops to be open and ready to listen,“ she told The S o u t h e r n C ro s s .

Fr Hans Zollner SJ, a well-known expert on the protection of minors in the Church, is speaking in South Africa in August. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) Sr Makoro said she hopes that many people will attend Fr Zollner’s talks in the different metropolitan areas he will be visiting, and is looking for ward to meeting up with him again.

“Fr Zollner will tr y to give the bishops a framework from which they can decide on how they will respond pastorally to [abuse] sur vivors in the Southern African region,” said Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg.

However, he added, “I would caution anyone who thinks that Fr Zollner has a silver bullet—the solution to dealing with sexual abuse in the Church. Rather, he will offer valuable perspectives from his professional background and extensive experience.”

Fr Zollner founded the Centre for Child Protection, which is now working in 50 countries, to train specialists capable of promoting a culture of prevention in the Church. He continues to travel the globe to raise awareness among Church leaders.

He was also a lead organiser of the Vatican’s four-day summit of bishops on abuse which Pope Francis convened in Februar y.

The priest noted that many bishops in attendance needed to be convinced that sexual abuse was even a problem.

The foundation stone for a new retreat centre in Benoni was ceremoniously placed by Fr Ar vi n Ta u r o OC D a s fe l l o w C a rm e l i te Fa th e r s B o n i fa ce D ’ So u z a o f Ke m p to n Pa r k, Jo h a n n e sb u rg , a n d M a r i J o s e p h o f Go o d w o o d , C a p e To w n , l o o k o n . Th e C a r me l i te Fa th e r s a re building the retreat centre at 33 Celia Nestadt Road in Benoni. The property borders the L u m ko C e n tr e . Th e C a r m e l i te ce n tr e , w h i ch i s h o p e d to b e c o m p l e te d b y D e c e m b e r, w i l l b e o p e n fo r c l e rg y, r e l i g i o u s a n d l a i ty fo r co n te mp l a ti v e a n d d i r e c te d re tr e a ts .

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the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

FAITH

The blessing of ‘Catholic Pride’ The universality of the Catholic faith goes beyond all national boundaries and cultures, and reveals itself in ordinary situations, writes Dr ShrIkANt PEtErS.

S

HOCK and horror. Those two words ran across my mind as I opened my Twitter feed on April 15 to see the orange, incandescent glow of flames leaping gleefully across the top of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

It was a truly demonic sight to behold: a bastion of Catholicism being gutted right before my eyes.

Our Lady of Paris is the only ancient European gothic cathedral that my wife and I have ever visited.

We attended Mass there, just before we got engaged a few days later, on a cold clear French morning in Versailles.

For this personal reason, it was even more viscerally stomachchurning to see the spire buckle and collapse as Parisians sang hymns with saddened faces in the darkness below.

Despite the sadness and sense of loss that hung about the Seine that night, something else was also clearly on display; something which I immediately identified with—Catholic pride.

You could see it on the faces of the young hymnsters in France, where religion lingers like a hangover from the days of the Ancien Regime, a group of high schoolers were proudly displaying their faith and their woundedness for a symbol of the country’s Catholic heritage.

Living on the southern tip of Africa, what struck me the most was not just how I appreciated the emotion on display that night, but the fact that I actually identified with it.

I understood the verse and rhyme, I could visualise the church bells ringing in mourning, as if I was pulling on the cords in my old ill-fitting and incense-singed altar server’s cassock.

And I felt the pain of a country losing its sense of historic purpose, as it jettisoned its identity into the flames and watched everything turn to ash.

A global community The global community of Catholics in the modern era is visible in the public domain.

At Easter and Christmas, we are bombarded with visuals from multiple media channels: the pope’s Mass in Rome, the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, and the mock crucifix-

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Embracing universality

This feeling of universal togetherness, of mutual understanding, is ions carried out across the world, replicated not just across cities or from Mexico to the Philippines and countries but across the entire everywhere in between. planet—even across the realms of And come Ash Wednesday you reality and fiction. know that someone will inevitably Pick up a Tolkien book and one point out that you missed a spot would immediately identify with during your morning wash. the stories of good vs evil, the sin of Major demonstrations of faith covetousness, and the scandal of disuch as these occur regularly and vision which pepper the stories. are highly visible to Catholics and The Catholic lens is all-seeing, non-Catholics alike. But what I find all-pervading. even more intriguing are the minor, In his novel Catcher in the Rye, J D everyday tell-tale signs of Catholic Salinger comments poignantly on people being Catholic as they go the propensity of Catholics to idenabout their usual day. tify with their Church These include a basic and with each other. sense of courtesy, a As Catholics Travelling nuns sense of nostalgia for asked the main characwe are often the supposed chivalry ter, Holden Caulfield, of yore, a need for strict whether he was a presented with order married to an apCatholic. preciation of chaos, and reasons to be Caulfield points out a smidgeon of irreverthat the conversation ashamed. But he had had with them ence to make it through the day. That and the up to that point was overridingly, fact that some of us very enjoyable. But, he wear rosaries and have Catholics feel a could tell, he knew, surnames like Kennedy that they would have often give us away. And sense of pride in enjoyed it more had he not to forget that been Catholic—which belonging to Catholic pride! he half was.

Take for instance, Growing up in the Church. one of my elderly paSouth Africa, I had tients at the hospital never had my eyes where as a newly-qualified doctor I opened to the “exclusionary” nadid my community service in the ture of Catholic pride and identity.

Cape Flats of Cape Town.

We always seemed more insular Upon seeing me approach him and defensive, given the Catholic in the medical wards, he sat up Church’s minority stature within a slowly in bed and put his glasses on sea of other, more vocal denominato get a better look at the young, tions. brown face in front of him.

The only hint I had of the wider As I paged through the patient’s Church growing up in the 1990s notes—while he waited nervously was the reams of Catholic churchfor good or bad news—I could see a related entries in the Bible-style old rosary wrapped around his wrist encyclopedias we had at home. and a missal on his bedside counter.

Growing up in South Africa, I When I announced that he was had never had my eyes opened to fine and was going to be dis- the “exclusionary” nature of

Pilgrims from all across the globe pray during the World youth Day Vigil in Panama city in January. one of he great things about being a catholic, writes Shrikant Peters, is the sense of belonging which transcends national borders and cultures. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) Catholic pride and identity.

To my great interest, articles would appear alphabetically in those encyclopaedias with standardised names of far-flung places which had sizable Catholic populations: the Philippines, Rhode Island, Croatia and South India.

On my first trip to the sub-continent to visit my wife’s family, I chuckled in delight at one uncle’s church-haughtiness.

Upon enquiring about the different types of churches in his home village, he matter-of-factly let me know—between fish and vegetable stalls in the morning market—that there were only two: Catholic, and those others that didn’t really count as Christian at all.

Good side of Catholic pride The flipside of this unfortunate display of Catholic pride is the sense of unity engendered across national borders, language groups and race.

One hot Easter Sunday afternoon while I was on a student elective, I found myself outside a mudstick-and-stone church, looking out over Lake Malawi.

I had just been dropped off by my Muslim hosts and made my way over to the benches arranged in rows out the back of the packed venue. Gifts were taken up to the altar from the dusty surroundings of the church; cola crates of food and drink, singing and swaying to hymns I had known my whole life in South Africa.

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charged, he let out a gladdened sigh and made a short sign of the cross atop his weathered shoulders and wispy head.

As soon as he’d finished making the gesture he felt the need to explain, enquiring as to my beliefs, and assured me of his respect for all the great faiths.

It pleased him no end, of course, when I told him that I was in fact Catholic, too.

The pretence of respect for other faiths dissolved quickly thereafter.

“We really are the best, you know, Doc, the absolute best—the one true Church!”

I might have chastised him—had I not said something similar at university during a group Bible study: “It’s just inexplicable; it feels so good to be Catholic, you know.”

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dren, one of the fellow worshippers eagerly shook my hand with a characteristic Marawi smile, enquiring, in disbelief, if I was truly a Katholiki. I swear: I saw every single pearly white when I nodded in reply.

It seems unfortunate that as Catholics we are often presented with reasons to be ashamed. But, overridingly, whether black or white, male or female, churchgoer or not, Catholics feel a sense of pride in their belonging to the Church.

For both, those raised in the Church and those attracted to it over time, this is an organically innate, boundary-spanning sense of belonging, which has great potential to reach out across the divisions of the modern era.

While being cautious of descending into routine Catholic snobbery and exclusion, just imagine what Catholic Pride could accomplish over time. Funnily enough, Catholic Pride could even transcend religion itself.

A cousins of mine recently told an evangelist haughtily at the door: “Please don’t lecture us on scripture, our family is Catholic thank you very much”—then quickly shut the door and going about their very Hindu ways. n Pietermaritzburg-raised Shrikant Peters is a medical doctor and lecturer specialising in public health medicine at the Western Cape Department of Health and the University of Cape Town. This article first appeared on Spotlight.Africa.

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the Southern cross, August 7 to August 13, 2019

Fr Canice Dooley SDB

S

ALESIAN Father Canice Dooley of Cape Town died on July 13 at the age of 84.

Canice Edward Dooley was born the youngest of five siblings on February 8, 1934 in Knutsford in the diocese of Shrewsbury, England, to Irish immigrant parents, Martin and Mary-Anne (née Phelan).

After completing his novitiate in Burwash, England, Canice made his first religious profession as a Salesian of Don Bosco on September 8 1954.

After moving to South Africa, he went on to make his perpetual profession on August 15, 1960 at the Salesian Institute in Green Point, Cape Town.

Canice’s intellectual formation saw him taking up studies in Colle Don Bosc in Italy, Beckford in England, and Kimmage in Ireland. During these studies he obtained qualifications in teaching, philosophy, a diploma in printing from the London School of Printing, and in theology.

Canice served as a teacher on the staff of various Salesian houses: Shrigley, Pallaskenry, Battersea, Cape Town and Lansdowne.

On June 24, 1972, Fr Canice was ordained a priest in the Salesian House in Shrigley, England. After his ordination he returned to South Africa where he spent most of his Salesian life and priestly ministry in Cape Town, with the exception of a number of years spent in Robertsham, Johannesburg.

Apart from teaching, Fr Canice served the Salesian congregation in various capacities: rector, bursar, parish priest and spiritual director.

He was also of service to the local Church of Cape Town. He was a consultor to the archbishop and vicar for religious.

Fr Canice gladly gave of himself as he went around Sisters convents and ministered to

provided this fantastic service.

The last couple of weeks of his life was truly Calvary. With very little complaining he walked this journey.

On the night of July 12 Canice took a turn for the worse. His rector ministered the Sacrament of anointing to him and prayed with him that night.

Just after 7:00 in the morning of July 13, Fr Canice died peacefully in his room, having received the sacrament of anointing the previous night.

His Salesian Community gathered within minutes of his death and prayed for him.

Canice is survived by his Salesian Community, his three sisters, Joan Bowen, Nancy O’Grady and Philomene Spruce, and numerous nephews and nieces.

The reception of Fr Canice’s body took place on July 18 in the church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Lansdowne, followed by a concelebrated Mass, presided over by the Salesian vice-provincial, Fr Alberto Villalba.

His Requiem was celebrated by the local rector, Fr Jonathan Daniels with Archbishop Stephen Brislin presiding.

Present for the Requiem was a large gathering of priests, friends of Fr Canice and many parishioners. A wonderful homily was preached by Fr Michael Connell SDB who highlighted Fr Canice’s great talent for making friends, his welcoming hospitality and kind manner in all situations of life.

Fr Michael made reference to Fr Canice’s virtual obsession with Manchester United, a team he supported literally, till death did them part.

Fr Canice was laid to rest in the Salesian burial plot at the Maitland cemetery.

Fr Jonathan T Daniels SDB

them as confessor.

In 2013 Fr Canice went into semi-retirement. What this meant was not always clear because he continued working and ministered as much as before.

O

n May 14 this year, Fr Canice went into Vincent Pallotti Hospital with a chest infection, deep vein thrombosis and an infection. Sadly, he never fully recovered from the various infections he had.

In moments of lucidity, he often spoke of his readiness to “go home” and meet his Maker.

Somehow Fr Canice knew that the end was fast approaching.

Within the first week of his hospitalisation he requested his rector to bring the Holy Oils and to anoint him.

After six weeks spent in hospital, Fr Canice petitioned his doctor to allow him to go home to his Salesian Community. Returning home, he received 24-hour nursing care, thanks to Robin Trust, who

Deacon Paddy Maddison

D

EACON Paddy Maddison of St Charles’ parish in Victory Park, Johannesburg, died on June 4.

He was born in Chester, England, to Pat and Jim who lived in north Wales. The family moved to Yorkshire where Paddy started school at Lazenby village school. At 11, he went to the Jesuit College in Middlesbrough.

The family moved to thenRhodesia and Paddy attended St George’s Jesuit School in Harare. When they moved to Johannesburg, he wrote matric at De La Salle College in Victory Park as part of the school’s first matric class.

After school he studied for the priesthood for five years at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria.

When Vatican II came in, Paddy took a year’s leave of absence, as did some of his colleagues.

It was during that leave of absence when he met and eventually married his wife, Lilian.

They raised three daughters—Margaret, Bridget and Catherine—in Northcliff.

Paddy had a career in banking, and retired early to dedicate more time to his passion—Victory Park parish.

In 2008 he was ordained to the permanent diaconate and served in St Charles parish.

Paddy also served the broader community of permanent deacons.

He was elected to the Board of Deacons (BOD) in 2015 and re-elected in 2018 for a further three-year term.

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From the outset he was appointed retreat coordinator, and was responsible for the planning, organising and recommending of retreat masters who would run the biannual weekend retreats for deacons and their wives.

Paddy was especially focused on using these retreats to reinvigorate the deacons’ ministry through meditation and contemplation.

He was also responsible for bringing to the BOD suggested themes for each retreat. After consideration, a particular theme was agreed upon, and Paddy would then look for a suitably qualified individual who could take on the role of retreat master.

He was a highly regarded member of the fraternity of deacons in Johannesburg archdiocese, with his quiet, calming influence.

At St Charles, Paddy was always an active member, from working on the children’s liturgy to sharing many years with Lillian presenting Engaged Encounter weekends.

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in christ we are eternal and in him we live again. (helen Steiner rice) MARUSic—Martin (tinko).

Gone to his eternal rest 5/08/2014. those we love don’t go away; they walk beside us day by day. Lovingly remembered by wife Poppie, children Susan, Steven, Sonja and families. Sister ruzica, Makso and nieces.

RAteRiNG—David.

12.08.2015. Beloved son and brother, we miss you and love you so very much. rest in peace. Forever in our hearts, Mom, Dad, Lisa karen and family!

iN MeMORiAM

ABORtiON WARNiNG: the truth will convict a silent church. See www.valuelifeabortionisevil.co.za ABORtiON: Monthly Sunday Mass bidding prayer: ‘that Almighty God guide our nation to cease our muders of our unborn infants.’

PillAY—Susanna Maria, affectionately known as rita, peacefully passed on at home on 12 July 2019 (age 91 years). She is fondly remembered by her husband, George; children, Jerome, Vernon, Bernadette and George; grandchildren and great-grandchildren. May God grant her soul eternal rest.

PillAY—Susanna Maria.

Passed away 12 July 2019. our heartfelt condolences to her husband George (former director) of The Southern Cross. May she rest in peace. the Board, editor and staff of The Southern Cross KOHleR—In loving memory of charles henry, beloved brother of Margaret and ursula who died on August 13, 2014. rest in peace. our Saviour’s resurrection was God’s way of telling men, that

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cAPe tOWN—Looking for reasonable priced accommodation over the December/January holiday period? come to kolbe house, set in beautiful, spacious gardens in rondebosch, nestled just under Devil’s Peak. Self-catering, clean and peaceful with spacious gardens.Safe parking. close to all shops and public transport. contact Pat 021 685 7370, 073 263 2105 or kolbe.house @telkomsa.net. Visit our website www.kolbe house.org.za MARiANellA Guest house, Simon’s town: “come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views. Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675, mjsalida@ gmail.com

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday August 11, 19th Sunday of the Year Wisdom 18:6-9, Psalm 33:1, 12, 18-20, 22, Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19, Luke 12:32-48 Monday August 12, Bl Isidore Bakanja, St Jane Frances de Chantal Deuteronomy 10:12-22, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, Matthew 17:22-27 Tuesday August 13, Ss Pontian & Hippolytus Deuteronomy 31:1-8, Responsorial psalm Deuteronomy 32:3-4, 7-9, 12, Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14 Wednesday August 14, St Maximilian Kolbe Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 66:1-3, 5, 8, 16-17, Matthew 18:15-20 Thursday August 15 Joshua 3:7-11, 13-17, Psalm 114:1-6, Matthew 18:21—19, 1 Friday August 16, St Stephen of Hungary Joshua 24:1-13, Psalm 136:1-3, 16-18, 21-22, 24, Matthew 19:3-12 Saturday August 17 Joshua 24:14-29, Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 11, Matthew 19:13-15 Sunday August 18, Assumption of Our Lady: Patronal feast of South Africa Revelation 11:19; 12: 1-6, 10, Psalm 45:10-12, 16, 1 Corinthians 15:20-27, Luke 1:39-56

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SOLUTIONS TO 875. ACROSS: 4 obtrude, 8 Strays, 9 Plenary, 10 Assent, 11 Elated, 12 Indolent, 18 Son of God, 20 Parish, 21 Senior, 22 Moronic, 23 hasten, 24 Settler. DOWN: 1 Islamic, 2 crusade, 3 hymnal, 5 Bulletin, 6 rental, 7 Darken, 13 Enshrine, 14 Egoists, 15 Adoring, 16 capone, 17 Dig out, 19 one day.

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We can use your old clothing, bric-a-brac, furniture and books for our second-hand shop in Woodstock, Cape Town.

Help us to create an avenue to generate much needed funds for our work with the elderly.

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the catholic Newspaper & Publishing company ltd. Address: Po Box 2372, cape town, 8000. tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory editor: Michael Shackleton, local News: Erin carelse (e.carelse@scross.co.za) editorial: claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: yolanda timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za), Directors: r Shields (chair), Archbishop S Brislin, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr h Makoro cPS, J Mathurine, G Stubbs

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30th Sunday: August 18 Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady; Readings: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab, Psalm 45:10-12, 16, 1 Corinthians 15:20-27, Luke 1:39-56

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HE ancient feast that we are celebrating next Sunday sometimes has us Catholics scratching our heads, and wondering if our belief in Our Lady’s Assumption is really biblical.

I think that the readings selected for the feast may help settle our anxieties somewhat; but the basic principle is that from almost the very beginning of the Church, Christians realised that it was important to understand the truth about Mary, not for her sake, but in order to say the right things about her Son. So above all, this feast represents the victory that God has won for us in sending Jesus as a human being and therefore as the child of a Jewish human mother.

In the first reading we are given a sign, with its roots deep in the Jewish scriptures, of the “Temple of God in heaven” and the “Ark of the Covenant”. This “sign” is a “woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars”.

This rich symbolism comes from the Old Testament; and it means that in her, God’s victory is won.

Not only that, but this woman, who is

S outher n C ross

“pregnant and crying out in agony, and in her labour pains”, is under threat from “the Dragon”, who wants to gobble up the child.

Now who is this child? “A male son, who is going to shepherd all the nations with a metal rod.”

However, the child is safe, “snatched up to God and to his Throne” (it is, you see, all about the son, not its mother).

Meanwhile, the woman escapes “into the desert, where she has a place prepared from God”, and we are permitted to eavesdrop on the heavenly choir that sings: “Now it has come, salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.”

So the feast we celebrate today is that of God’s victory over death.

The psalm for the feast also celebrates a woman, in this case the foreign-born new wife of a king of Israel, who needs to be encouraged into her new role: “Listen, daughter, and see…forget your people and the house of your father.”

The point is that she herself is not all that important; what matters is what God is doing in the people of Israel: “May the king desire your beauty; for he is your Lord.”

W

Conrad

rather as fire, divine fire, which because it is godly brings with it a sense of the preciousness, dignity, and uniqueness, of our lives.

But with that too comes (as part of the same package) pride and grandiosity. Simply put, we can’t have godliness inside us and not feel ourselves as special.

And that makes for a less-than-serene situation for the planet. We’re now seven and half billion people on this earth, each one with the same innate sense that he or she is the centre of the universe and that his or her own reality is what’s most real.

That’s the real cause behind what you see happening on the world news each night, for worse and for better. Grandiosity is the source of human strife, but equally the source of human greatness.

Important in our understanding of this is that our innate sense of godliness is also the place where we suffer our deepest wounds.

W

hat most wounds the image and likeness of God inside us? These things: humiliation, lack of adequate selfexpression, the perennial frustration of bumping up against the limits of life, and the martyrdom of obscurity.

Each of us, by our nature, possesses a divinely-given uniqueness and dignity and thus nothing wounds us more than being humiliated and shamed in our struggle to live this out.

A shameful humiliation, even as a very young child, can scar us for the rest of our lives. It’s one of the reasons why we have mass killings. Likewise, as Iris Murdoch once said, the greatest human pain is the

Sunday reflections

Then there is a reference to her bridesmaids: “They are led in with rejoicing and gladness, into the king’s palace.”

What matters, you see, is not the doubtless charming lady from Tyre, but the victory of God. That victory—primarily the victory over death—is what Paul is celebrating in the second reading, over against those maverick Corinthians who seem to have been denying that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

“Jesus has been raised, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Paul locates it in the great story of the People of God: “Death came through a human being [Adam], and through a human being [Jesus] the Resurrection from the dead.”

Then he gives us the order of resurrection: “Christ…those who belong to Christ...then at the end, when he hands over the kingdom to [his] God and Father, until all the enemies are placed under his feet.”

This is all about the victory of God. The Gospel for the feast shows us what the victory looks like: for no sooner has Mary heard from the Angel Gabriel about what is to happen to her, and what has happened to

Our pride and wounds E wake up into life with the incurable sense that we’re special, that we’re the centre of the universe. And, subjectively, we are!

In our awareness we’re the centre of the universe and life does revolve around us. Our own being is what’s most massively real to us. As Descartes famously said, the only thing that we know for sure is real is our own selves; I think, therefore, I am.We may be dreaming everything else.

Spirituality has perennially judged this negatively. Egocentricity, feelings of grandiosity, self-centredness, and pride were seen as the result of the corruption of human nature through original sin.

We called it “The Fall”. Our first parents attempted to overreach, to be more than God intended them to be, and this irrevocably corrupted their nature and we, their children, inherit this.

So we, adult children of Adam and Eve, too instinctually tend to overreach, to puff up in self-importance, to fill with pride, and think first about ourselves.

That doctrine of original sin has something important to say, but it isn’t first of all to shame us in our natural pride and sense of specialness.

The real reason why pride and grandiosity are incurably ingrained inside us is because God built us that way, and that, of itself, is not a fault or a corruption but instead constitutes what’s highest and most precious inside us.

Both Christianity and Judaism take as dogma that we’re born, every one of us, in the image and likeness of God. That’s not to be imagined piously as some beautiful icon stamped inside our souls but

Nicholas King SJ

God’s victory is won

her kinswoman, Elisabeth, than she sets out, alone, across inhospitable country to visit her.

That leads to Elisabeth, “filled with the Holy Spirit”, proclaiming that Mary is “blessed among women” and (for this is all about Jesus) “blessed is the fruit of your womb”.

She also declares who Jesus is: “My Lord”, which is a very lofty statement indeed.

And that in turn elicits from Mary her response, the hymn which the Church sings every evening: “My Soul Magnifies The Lord”.

It is a thoroughly subversive hymn, on the side of the poor and against the rich; but the point of it is the victory that God has won in Jesus, a victory that is extended to the entire human race, including Mary.

Finally, we should notice the discreet charity of the final sentence: “Mary remained with [Elisabeth] for three months [until the birth of John], then returned to her home.”

She is quiet and discreet, and utterly obedient to God. That is why on this great feast we are celebrating the victory of God.

Southern Crossword #875

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final reflection

pain of inadequate self-expression.

There’s a great artist, composer, teacher, athlete and performer inside each of us, but few people can ever give that satisfying expression. The rest of us have to live with perennial frustration because what’s deepest in us lies unexpressed.

As well, we’re forever bumping up against the real limits of our own lives and limits of life itself. In Fr Karl Rahner’s words: In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable, we ultimately learn that here in this life there is no finished symphony.

In the end, all of us die with a life that was never fully consummated. And that isn’t easily accepted! Everything inside us militates against this. Finally, almost all of us live a certain martyrdom of obscurity, recognised and famous only inside our own daydreams, our greatness hidden from the world. That too isn’t easily accepted.

What’s to be taken away from this?

Since we secretly nurse thoughts of specialness should we also nurse a secret shame? Is our innate pride something that sets us against holiness? Is our grandiosity a bad thing? Is our frustration with the limits and inadequacy of our lives something that displeases God? Are our daydreams of uniqueness and greatness something which taints our contemplation and prayer? Is our nature, of itself, somehow corrupt? Must we somehow step outside of our own skin to be saints?

Each of these questions can be answered in two ways.

Grandiosity, pride, shame, frustration, and daydreams of greatness, can indeed be our downfall and turn us into awful persons, selfish, jealous, spiteful, and murderous.

But they can also be the source of greatness, of nobility of soul, of generosity, of selflessness, of generativity, of true prayer, and can turn us into selfless martyrs of faith, hope, and charity.

Our godliness is a very mixed blessing; but it is, no doubt, our greatest blessing.

Southern C ross Pilgrimage

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4. Doubter who will come in an unwelcome way (7) 8. They wander from the flock (6) 9. Kind of indulgence at bishops’ session? (7) 10. Acquiesce (6) 11. With raised spirits (6) 12. Nine told they are lazy (8) 18. Jesus Christ (3,2,3) 20. Capital hospital where your pastor is (6) 21. Elder who sounds like a Spaniard (6) 22. Feeble-minded change on micro (7) 23. Holds a decade and will be quick (6) 24. Colonist who is comfortable? (7)

DOwN

1. Claim is made by Muslim world (7) 2. Expedition with the cross to Holy Land (7) 3. Praise songbook (6) 5. Kind of board for public notices (8) 6. Your tenant owes it (6) 7. Who will do it to your door is unwelcome (6) 13. Put relic into hallowed place (8) 14. For example, I toss out the self-centred (7) 15. Worshipping rain god 7) 16. Gangster Al can pace on (6) 17. Excavate (3,3) 19. Future time for procrastinator (3,3) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE phone in the presbytery rings in the middle of the night. The priest stumbles out of bed and sleepily goes to answer it.

“Hello, is that the bar?” a drunken voice asks on the other side. “We need another case of beer!”

“No,” the irritated priest replies, “this is the parish priest of St Anthony’s church!”

“But Father!” the caller says indignantly, “what are you doing at the tavern at this time of the night?”

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